Me Plus Expensive Electronics Equals Disassembly…

I’ve always had a fascination with electronics. Even as a young child, I would stick LEGOs into the old man’s Hi-Fi system, and take apart stuff when I would become “Un-Supervised”. As you can tell, I’ve probably got a good list of “Electronics Carnage” on my resume. The list didn’t stop there. Later on in life, I would take apart various other things which of course, includes computers, game consoles, and even cell phones and PDA’s. Probably my most famous dismantling was the Nokia 8890 when it first came out. That article was so popular that it was copied into Chinese, French, and German I believe. I just wish someone recorded me doing what I’m about to tell you about…

I was out at the LG Canada Holiday Tech Tour this past Tuesday to see what was hot for this holiday season. Another interview was going on so I hung out, drank their coffee and ate their croissants. I placed my coffee down on the table where a selection of LG goodies were laid out which included a few new phones that were going to be launching in Canada. My coffee was quickly whisked to another table beside me. Hmm… strange… Anyway, of all the phones on display, these two “Shiny” ones caught my eye…

Mmm… Shiny…

LG was showing off the 8700 Shine and TU720 Shine. I actually saw the phones Asia counterparts earlier this year so they weren’t new to me, but it was nice to see them finally show up in the Canadian market finally. Of course, like any good techie, I started fiddling with them and doing my thing. The 8700 Shine had this dangly thing attached to it that really didn’t appeal to me. Worst, was the fact that it would probably just end up scratching the crap out of the phone in your pocket. Well, not my pocket because it was a total chick phone. After pulling the back cover off, I noticed it was CDMA so that means I won’t be using it with my GSM smartcard. Umm… not interested…

The LG Shine TU720 wasn’t your regular garden variety TU720. It had these “rhinestone” things set into the back cover around the LG logo, the camera lens, and they also spelled out the words “Ready To Shine”. I didn’t much care for them so I started picking at them to make sure that they at least weren’t going to “fall out” or something. Continuing with my need to satisfy my curiosity, I started dismantling the phone. I pulled off the “rhinestone” encrusted backcover and started trying to yank the battery out. I was pleased to see that it was GSM, but the smartcard slot was blocked by the battery. I couldn’t quite get a good grip on the battery so I used a corner of the cover to “pry” it out.

As I was reassembling the phone, I was met with a look of great concern from the LG people. I was wondering if maybe the phones were one offs, or prototypes that could fall apart at any time. They didn’t feel flimsy so I figured that it was because they didn’t like to see their phones in pieces. I can’t help it. It’s just my “thing”. If you don’t want it dismantled, don’t leave me alone with it

Whoops…

Well, apparently, the phones were one-offs afterall. In fact, they travel in a locked briefcase most of the time. I asked about the sparkly stones in the back of the TU720 and was told that they weren’t “rhinestones” or even “cubic zirconiums”. They were all REAL diamonds. What? You mean the silly little shiny things that I was picking at the whole time were diamonds? Even the silly dangly thing attached to the 8700 Shine was embedded with real diamonds. When I inquired about the price I was told that the TU720 Shine that I dismantled was 30,000. I was like “30,000 what? NT?” Since I saw the phone for around that price in NT Dollars in Taiwan, I figured that was what was implied. I mean, seriously, who would ever pay $30,000 for a phone? I was wrong.

So there I was dismantling a $30,000 phone, picking at the “diamonds” and “prying” the battery out of it with the diamond encrusted backcover. No wonder I was getting the nervous looks and evil eyes! I thought there was something peculiar when my coffee was literally “evacuated” from the general vicinity of these shinies. Although this phone was a one off, LG is actually seriously thinking of producing them, albeit in VERY limited quantity. $30,000 for a diamond encrusted cellphone? Of all the excessive things I could spend $30,000 on, I can’t say that this would be one of them. No matter how much it costs, it still feels like a $1000 phone to me. This should also teach people to leave me unsupervised with their uber expensive toys

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