HTC DNA Disassembly - Teardown Done|

[pwrdbykyank]

Hey guys, i finally decided to take apart my personal HTC DNA. Back cover is held down with clips all around, and some adhesive surrounding the speaker. It also seems to have a water tight seal around it. I was hoping to find a hidden sd card slot underneath but it doesnt. The picture where i circled in red is where the front notification LED shines through, and there is a small square plastic which can be removed to allow more light through. Also the LEDs for the navigation soft keys can be changed to different colors since they are easily accessible. Enjoy.

 

[yearn2burn]

Nice work!

Regarding the missing SD slot, do u know where it is on J Butterfly and if there may be.some vestigial connection on the DNA? Also, how snug is the battery? Might there be room for a bigger one?

 

[pwrdbykyank]

i dont think you would be able to put a bigger battery unless you put a larger battery door. Now here is the thing. Im almost positive you can add SD card support in the future. Since the htc j butterfly is a little thicker and supports sd card, the phone aside from the battery door is identical. Once parts become available to order for these phones, im sure you can purchase the small board which holds both cameras and the sim card slot from the htc j butterfly, and pop it into the htc dna as the cables would be the same. You would also need to put the htc j butterfly door on the phone to permit the sd card slot, and thats not a bad idea since you can chose from white red or black on the butterfly, which in my case i want the red one! But as far as the stock small board which currently is in the dna and holds the cameras and sim slot, no it does not have any slot which you can see and say oh the sd card slot would go there.

 

[Anna222]

Can you please make a disassembly video. I really want to take mine apart too.

 

[yearn2burn]

Even if there is not a slot, if there are contacts that it could be soldered, you could theoretically add one. It could be left in the case and nonaccessible from a practical standpoint if you put in a big card.

 

[pwrdbykyank]

ya i know what your saying but no it does not even have the space for it or the contacts as your talking about, trust me i checked lol thats the main reason i took it apart. The small board which holds both cameras and sim card is the part that should have it which on the dna does not, but on the j butterfly it does, so its just a matter of ordering that small board part which would prolly run about $60 when parts first become available and swapping it with the DNA one since flex cables will be identical and there you have it a sd card slot. You might need to also buy the j butterfly battery door cover since its more extended outward to house the sd card flap and fit right. Just give it a month the parts will come around, i will convert mine for sure.

 

[pwrdbykyank]

Can you please make a disassembly video. I really want to take mine apart too.

If i find the time, i will try to do it lol too much time consuming.

 

[yearn2burn]

Just give it a month the parts will come around, i will convert mine for sure.

Looking at the internal packaging, could a bigger battery theoretically fit with a bigger back? It seems the battery on mine is still a little small. Not like my old Thunderbolt, but not good for a full day of moderate to heavy use.

 

[pwrdbykyank]

maybe, id first have to see the battery cover for the j butterfly

 

[jkaetz]

Hey guys, i finally decided to take apart my personal HTC DNA. Back cover is held down with clips all around, and some adhesive surrounding the speaker. It also seems to have a water tight seal around it. I was hoping to find a hidden sd card slot underneath but it doesnt. The picture where i circled in red is where the front notification LED shines through, and there is a small square plastic which can be removed to allow more light through. Also the LEDs for the navigation soft keys can be changed to different colors since they are easily accessible. Enjoy.

Hard to judge scale in the pics, but comparing with the j butterfly pic below, the slot on the right of the bottom picture would have to be a combo microsd and sim slot but I haven't been able to find one that has both cards on the "top". Usually one is on the top and the other on the side or bottom. The odds of the interconnects being there are probably good but would likely be a nightmare to do the actual solder work. Certainly not going to be an easy job unless we can source the j butterfly parts.

 

[pwrdbykyank]

yup exactly, like you mentioned will be on top of eachother. On the J butterfly, the sim card slot from what i have read is a micro sim slot, same size sim as iphone 5 which is much smaller. Also the j butterfly door is more thicker like an extended back cover to accomidate the sim and sd being on top of eachother. If you compare the width of it to pics of the dna you will see the size difference. The front of the phone and sides are identical, no differences at all, and looking at the dna from inside, the whole front (lcd digitizer front housing with frame will be also identical to the j butterfly. The only difference on the j butterfly is the back cover and the top small board which will hold both sim and sd card slot. So all we would need is the back cover from j butterfly (which over time will be available to find) and the small main board part which should also pop up on ebay n stuff eventually. Then were set, but again im not sure if software on the DNA would read it or not but i dont see why not. Maybe rooting it and some tweaking on the system would do it. Im trying to get my hands on a j butterfly asap so i can test this out and let you guys know, so if anyone knows someone from japan, lol point me there way

 

[yearn2burn]

the sim card slot from what i have read is a micro sim slot

wonder if we can get Verizon to change out our sim for a micro sim??? they may refuse, or just pretend it's impossible...

 

[pwrdbykyank]

If they dont, next option would be to find someone with an iphone 5, activate a sim on the iphone 5 and then pop in the active sim to your phone

 

[spider210]

this would be sweet and give me a great reason to open mine up

 

[yearn2burn]

Hard to judge scale in the pics, but comparing with the j butterfly pic below, the slot on the right of the bottom picture would have to be a combo microsd and sim slot but I haven't been able to find one that has both cards on the "top". Usually one is on the top and the other on the side or bottom. The odds of the interconnects being there are probably good but would likely be a nightmare to do the actual solder work. Certainly not going to be an easy job unless we can source the j butterfly parts.

View attachment 58606

Looking at your image and the side view image below, it appears that the J Butterfly is no thicker than the DNA. It just doesn't taper at the top like the DNA does, although it tapers the same way at the bottom. Great for the pocket, not so great for the prospect of fitting a bigger battery in there.