iPod Touch 1st Generation

The iPod Touch First Generation (also written 1st generation) was a wonderful piece of technology manufactured by the Apple Corporation. It was not just a music player, but you could watch movies, surf the internet, and have access to mail, maps, weather and almost any type of information available on the internet. There were three virtually identical versions with differences in memory capacity of 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB.

In this early marketing image, you can see that right from the start, it was a very powerful handheld gadget with features that are still useful to have. The ability to pack all the required electronics including a Wi-Fi transceiver into such a small size of only 110 mm × 61.8 mm × 8 mm, and mass 120 g must have been a feat of engineering at the time. You can get the full specs and features guide here if you are interested in getting a pre-used unit and want to know what this gadget is capable of.

Review

I managed to get a broken iPod going for a couple of pounds on eBay because I wanted to have a look at the electronic engineering to study its construction and chipset. I did not pay much for mine as it was in a very bad condition, however a unit in mint condition sealed in its original packaging can command hundreds of pounds. It is not surprising that there are still many people who would like to own this early version again perhaps for sentimentality reasons because it was an iconic product with a huge following.

When I disassembled mine, I learned that the digitizer panel is integrated into the front half of the case; hence a cracked front panel usually involves replacing the front half which can turn out to be expensive. If the front panel is dented or scratched like mine, then it will be costly to make cosmetic changes, however sometimes the parts are available online. In this design, the headphone socket is soldered to a flex cable, which makes replacing it very tricky. The LCD panel can be replaced easily and is secured to the front panel by some miniature screws; however the crack damage usually occurs to the digitizer panel that is in front of the LCD panel. Replacing the battery is fairly straightforward and involves soldering three wires, but finding a good affordable replacement may prove to be difficult. Enjoy the photographs in the following pages of this article and perhaps they may offer some ideas to repair your iPod.

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