iPod A1051 (iPod Mini)

     In January of 2004 Apple released its first iPod mini, which was kind of a big deal - it was the first iPod to feature the "click wheel", where the buttons for playback control were integrated in the scroll wheel itself. I never found much use for a music player with only 4gigs of capacity however... I've had the 6th gen. A1238 160gig iPod classic for years and we're in a committed relationship. 

In the interest of full disclosure (despite the fact that I love my iPod and iPhone) when it comes to computers I should mention that I'm a definitive PC man (suck it Apple). However, as a designer myself, I have to give Apple's lead designer Johnathon Ive some serious props for creating some iconic pieces of design. We could get into whether or not the simple-leaning lack-of-many-buttons interface is a good or bad thing, but let's just get on with the photos, shall we? 

To start, both ends had simple pressure-fit plastic caps (removed in photo). Fairly cheap feeling/ looking when compared to the completely sealed iPods we have in later generations. Mr. Ives, you improved your design over the years, bravo. This is the top, and you can see the space where the hold switch is (left), and headphone jack with 4 pin "remote accessory" connector (right).

After the plastic caps, there were metal caps, also pressure fit. These pics are from the bottom where you see the charging port.

Man, that was way easier than I thought it would be. After the caps were popped off, I just pressed the scroll wheel down through its hole in the aluminum case and slid it out.

Sweeeet.

Detail of top and bottom of scroll wheel

Detail of the integrated buttons beneath the scroll wheel. The 4 buttons in the bottom photo are the menu, play/pause, next track, and previous track buttons, while the button in the top photo is for the center button of the wheel. 

Would you look at that, the rest of the guts slide right out as well. Easy as pie. This guy was made to be modified or worked on easily, and in fact upgrades were common to both the battery (poor/ decreasing life) and hard drive (to solid state/ higher capacities).

The case was cast as one part, and you can see tracks molded in to the frame to facilitate the sliding in of the components for assembly.

If it's not obvious (but it is right?) that's the battery and HD.

Here's the headphone jack. The circuit board for it was so cool and oddly shaped, but rather delicate - it's a shame I broke it sliding the guts out.

The headphone jack circuit board plugged into the receptacle in the center of the frame. But what's that black box with a pin hole in it? If experience from other tear downs has taught me anything, that's either a microphone or a speaker. It was pressed right against the metal case which I guess would act as an amplifier of sound either way. The red/black wires go to the battery pack.

The screen had a ribbon connecter which unplugged easily, then popped off from the motherboard.

Another obligatory money shot.

I tried taking apart the screen this time around, and found 5-6 different filters/ screens sandwiched in behind the glass of the screen itself.

Odd, right? Some of the filters seemed to be magnifiers, some seemed to be light diffusers.

I also attempted taking the battery apart a bit further... but this is as far as I got. looks like all the great acids and whatnot are sealed in that (very flexible) metal case. Think, I'll leave that alone...

The hard drive unplugged without a problem as well. I'm really a bit surprised considering how anal Apple is about its proprietary everything. Maybe they became more concerned with keeping things closed source towards the late 2000's?

The name does it justice, that is definitely a micro drive.

OH COME ON. Another screw type I can't open. Not only is it not Phillips, flathead, or Torx, but its a new level of tiny. I Mean, look at that guy, it makes my mini screwdrivers look gigantic.

Last few money shots.

     The iPod's come a long way aesthetically, but Apple was doing a great job engineering them well all along the way. There seems to be a direct correlation between going tiny spatially and going big in design/ engineering feats. I can't wait to open up that tiny HD... bet its got a new level of fantastic marvels I have yet to see.