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PS Vita teardown reveals hefty battery

Sony's forthcoming gaming handheld has been subjected to a full teardown, being opened and laid bare for our viewing pleasure.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

So the manual isn't enough for you? Behold! The PS Vita has been subjected to a teardown, with every undignified part of it being snapped. It's pure geek porn.

The handheld console went on sale in Japan on Saturday, but that was more than long enough for Nikkei Electronics' Teardown Squad's curiosity to pique. They talk us through the process in the kind of cold terms we imagine a serial killer using while dismembering his victim. "Looking at the case of the console, we found some screws used on it... They did not seem to be special screws. So, we removed them with a screwdriver." Chilling.

We'll spare you some of the more mundane details of the whole seven-page extravaganza. In summary: the battery has a voltage of 3.7V and capacity of 2,210mAh, which is significantly larger than a normal smart phone battery; the PCBs are connected using thin metal plates, which is apparently unusual; and they had to buy a special T2 screwdriver (the last in the shop!) to remove the 3G module.

There are some pretty cool pictures of the insides though, including the wiring pattern for the touch panel on the back which they peeled off. 

If you're eager to find out all you can about the handheld, Sony posted the entire English-language manual online, so you can get studying a full two months prior to the UK launch. A word of warning though: the console is locked to one account, so if you want to access your settings and media on someone else's, you'll have to insert your memory card and do a full factory reset. So best ask first.

Will you be buying a PS Vita come 22 February? Let us know below or on Facebook.

Image credit: Nikkei Tech-On