GTA02 Board only option in October?

Kyle Bassett kylebassett at gmail.com
Sun Jul 29 21:07:44 CEST 2007


Harald,

I am curious, what do you estimate the cost (as a percentage or dollar
amount) that the GTA02 board "kit" would run compared to the expected $450
base price?  I do prefer your idea about selling the GTA01Bv4 instead of
upgrading...some people would just rather do it themselves...bragging
rights?  ;)

Thanks

Kyle


On 7/29/07, Harald Welte <laforge at openmoko.org> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Jul 09, 2007 at 10:12:47AM +0100, Cass, John P wrote:
> > I have a question before I go ahead and order my Neo - there was an
> > earlier discussion about the possibility of getting a GTA02 board in
> > October so we can upgrade our Neos to 02 without having to buy a whole
> > new phone (call it the Philosopher's Neo).
>
> The issue is a bit more difficult.  As of now, the 'board kit' would
> have to be:
>
> 1) the mainboard, including the stacked wifi PCB and the bluetooth FPC
> 2) the translucent buttons (otherwise you won't see the new much-
>    requested LED's)
> 3) adhesive rubber between LCM and PCB
> 4) new plastic inset (speaker assembly)
> 5) adhesive shielding tape for LCM-PCB cable
>
> Even then, the assembly steps are not exactly trivial, since you
> * need to remove the LCM from the PCB.  This is glued, and it is quite
>   hard to remove without damaging the LCM, especially the very fragile
>   FPC cable between LCM and PCB
> * need to remove the current white plastic stereo speaker compartment
>   and replace it with the new mono speaker compartment (we had to find
>   space for the wifi somewhere...)
>
> Yes, you could keep the GPS antenna, the plastic case and the LCM.  But
> seriously, if you consider the amount of effort that we have to spend on
> creating a detailed step-by-step guide with photographs on the assembly
> process, plus the inevitable amount of customer support with people who
> think they'd get it done but now can't manage (or actually broke one or
> both of the devices now), I'm not really sure if it makes all that much
> sense.
>
> In the end, all you keep is the LCM.  Yes, it is an expensive LCM.  But
> in the overall picture, that 'mainboard kit' would only be
> insignificantly cheaper than the full GTA02 device.   Oh yes, the case.
> Which costs close to nothing, and your old case might already have some
> scratches at GTA02 release time ;)
>
> So you probably wouldn't save more than USD 50 (maximum) that way.  And
> for that, you have all the risk of some assembly problem?
>
> Thus, my personal conclusion: Isn't it much better to keep the old GTA01
> and sell it to somebody who can't afford a GTA02?
>
> So I don't think we'll have an official upgrade kit.
>
> We will start selling spare parts at some point, though.  The schedule
> is still somewhat unclear.  Maybe there is a chance you can combine your
> kit out of spare parts.  But still, I don't think it makes much sense.
>
> Sorry,
> --
> - Harald Welte <laforge at openmoko.org>
> http://openmoko.org/
>
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