Introduction
We’ve seen (and torn down) pretty much everything, but now Zanco’s Tiny T1 is here. It’s oblivious to your obsession with screen-to-body ratios, impervious to your petty PPI comparisons, and contemptuous of those quadruple-digit smartphone price tags—but it might just take the thin-and-light crown for good. Join us for the Tiniest teardown we’ve ever done. It’s gonna be big.
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The Tiny T1 may be small—but is it mighty? We'll let its specs do the talking:
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Mediatek MTK6261D SoC
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0.49" OLED display with 64 x 32 pixel resolution (146 ppi)
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Built-in voice changer
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32 MB RAM and 32 MB ROM
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Backlit keyboard
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2G network connectivity
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MicroUSB port
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While it's not the most popular tiny phone form factor, the T1's chocolate bar layout makes dialing and texting with human-sized fingers a breeze.
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The metal back case is smooth except for a regulatory sticker and speaker grille. No fragile glass panel to shatter. No unsightly rear camera bump.
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A "micro"-USB port occupies the bottom of the phone—and Zanco has managed to squeeze in a pinhole microphone alongside it.
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Nano is such a relative word, as the "nano" SIM slot dominates the right edge of the phone.
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Does size matter? We compare the Tiny T1 to its modern compatriots: a tech writer's LG ENV3 and a Samsung Galaxy S9+.
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Opening a phone of this scale requires specialty tools. Fortunately, iFixit has got it covered.
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Despite its retro aesthetic, this opening procedure is far from obsolete. Some micro spudger action frees up the front clips, and the top plastic plate is free!
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We move the keypad aside and find the button pad soldered to the board beneath.
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To supply backlight to the keypad, two white adhesive pads diffuse light from four surface-mounted LEDs underneath.
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While most modern phones are held together by an army of screws and nasty adhesives, the Tiny T1 has none of that. Zero screws! Zero adhesives!
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The entire innards pop out with a single pry with a (normal) sized spudger.
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Here we have the inner workings of the Tiny T1—all of them. It's just one board, with (nearly) everything soldered to it:
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Speaker
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Microphone capsule
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High tech Bluetooth antenna (it's a wire)
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"Nano" SIM slot, ironically hogging nearly half the board
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Two mysterious pogo pins, which are accessible from outside—possibly for charging? Accessory port? A tiny taser?
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200 mAh 0.74 Wh battery (for comparison, the ENV3 has 3.5 Wh, while the Galaxy S9+ weighs in at 13.48 Wh)
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That's a wrap to this Tiny Teardown!
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The T1 shows you can make a working phone with just a little hardware—and with technological advancements, you can make it that much little-er.
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We've come a long way from the first mobile phones of over forty years ago, even surpassing the wildest concepts from spy films and science fiction.
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The Tiny T1 earns a 5 out of 10 on our repairability scale (10 is the easiest to repair):
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The phone is held together by clips alone, making the opening procedure easy and painless.
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The front plastic plate, which is prone to cracking, is easily replaceable.
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Most components, including the battery, are soldered to the motherboard, making repairs difficult.
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12 comments
Nice tear down. I did notice the tiny pliers with blue handles. I believe that is from one of the Pocher 1/8 scale car kits, possibly from the Ferrari Testarossa tool kits. Obviously it is just for decoration!
Oh no, this phone has a definite purpose. Although chances are if you don’t know what that purpose is, you probably don’t need one 😂
IDK if I edited it correctly, but I tried to get the “Y” in “N.I.F.T.Y!” at the top to link to the ifixit YouTube channel.
Tommy, that’s a genius idea! It didn’t turn out properly but I got it worked out.
So this is a real phone!?
kc8wzm -
Yes! It is a real working phone that works on 2G networks.