iFixit Says the Playdate Is a Surprisingly Repairable Game Boy Throwback (arstechnica.com) 17
Playdate, the one-bit gaming system with an analog crank, will be relatively easy to fix if you ever need to replace its battery or buttons. Ars Technica reports the findings from iFixit's teardown: The most interesting findings: The Playdate's signature crank uses a Hall effect sensor rather than a spring or another kind of wear-out-able physical mechanism, so it shouldn't suffer from drift over time like some console controller joysticks do. And while there is a warranty sticker inside the Playdate, it specifically says that you'll void the system's warranty if you break anything inside it, not that you'll void it just by taking the system apart. This strikes a good balance between "don't come in here if you don't know what you're doing" and "we trust you to make your own repairs if you need to."
The teardown also gives us a few specifics on the Playdate's intentionally low-powered hardware, which includes a 216MHz ARM Cortex M7 processor, 128 megabits (or 16MB) of RAM, and 4GB of eMMC storage. The one major complaint iFixit had is that the LCD screen appears to be glued to the front of the Playdate -- replacing the screen will probably necessitate replacing the entire rest of the casing as well. But since the front of the Playdate is simple yellow plastic rather than metal and glass, this part shouldn't cost as much as it does when your phone's screen breaks.
The teardown also gives us a few specifics on the Playdate's intentionally low-powered hardware, which includes a 216MHz ARM Cortex M7 processor, 128 megabits (or 16MB) of RAM, and 4GB of eMMC storage. The one major complaint iFixit had is that the LCD screen appears to be glued to the front of the Playdate -- replacing the screen will probably necessitate replacing the entire rest of the casing as well. But since the front of the Playdate is simple yellow plastic rather than metal and glass, this part shouldn't cost as much as it does when your phone's screen breaks.
As it should be (Score:3, Interesting)
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*EXPLOSION!* IFIXIIT!! (Score:1)
We interrupt this...
Uh. never mind...
Glued plastic bezel (Score:2)
I'm willing to bet the front LCD is a bog standard off-the-shelf part. Being attached to nothing but a plastic bezel means that you can print up a replacement bezel without too much trouble once there are plans available -- either straight from the designer, or reverse engineered. iFixit sounds like they're aware it's a big ask too, but they have to at least wish for a pony.
One-bit color perhaps (Score:1)
But the ARM Cortex is hardly a one bit processor. This is certainly some advertising here.
How is it repairable? (Score:1)
Can't upgrade the CPU, can't upgrade the RAM or the solid state drive. The only thing it has is that the battery is somewhat replaceable, but you still have to open the case but the display is glued to the case.
So I would call it about as repairable as your average MacBook.
Re: How is it repairable? (Score:2)
So it's an all in one board with the LCD glued to an inexpensive bezel and a battery you can replace easier than in an iPhone.
If it breaks, you might as well buy a new one.
There are a lot of products that are "fixable" but is is worth it to do so?
Re: How is it repairable? (Score:2)
"Can't upgrade the CPU"
Why would you want to? It's a purpose built device playing rather simple games which it was only meant to do.
If you want to "upgrade", you might as well use a Raspberry Pi+MAME and roll your own system.
Choice of screen, controller, casing, etc...
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The article said they found it very repairable. That means I can take parts off and put them back in without soldering stuff. It's a fully customized board, there is nothing repairable about it.
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welcome to all electronics manufacture in the last 30 years.
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1 bit... (Score:2)
216MHz ARM Cortex M7 = 32bit
This is like saying that some of the monochrome Powerbooks were 1 bit computers because their graphics hardware was only capable of of black and white with no true greyscale.
I owned such a "1 bit" Powerbook decades ago.