What Apple Prototype Did I just Stumble Upon “Flamingo” ? 920-1873-03

[jajan547]

So I recently got this little guy and I have no idea what is, what it was meant for, or what it does. I’m thinking it’s from 2003 hence the -03?

 

[CC_333]

I'm only guessing, but that looks like it could be some kind of very early iPhone prototype?

In particular, I note the presence of those two components near the center of the board that look like RF connectors for some sort of antennae.

c

 

[jajan547]

I'm only guessing, but that looks like it could be some kind of very early iPhone prototype?

In particular, I note the presence of those two components near the center of the board that look like RF connectors for some sort of antennae.

c

Yeah that’s what I’m trying to figure out at the top left there are two USB B jacks and looks like it runs off maybe 5V, Not sure. But if it is 03 the first iPhone released 08 so this would be extremely early.

 

[macuserman]

I'd be strongly inclined to believe this is a dev kit and not a prototype, we make kits like this for our hardware projects regularly at my company. It has so many headers it's a dead giveaway. Prototypes are usually far more polished while still having a couple debug headers etc.

 

[jajan547]

I agree definitely seems more dev maybe prototype was a bit off I assume this may be a mobile device because as @CC_333 said it has antennas. But having looked at the iPhone 2G dev board it doesn’t match but it’s similar.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

How are you sure that's an Apple prototype?
In any event, I wasn't able to find any apple products with the codename of Flamingo or Cumulus. C1 was a prototype for the Bondi iMac G3 but that obviously isn't what this is.

The main chip is a microcontroller.

 

[jajan547]

This is similar to other iPod and iPhone dev boards. There is a iPhone 2G development board code name “Grape” that isn’t ever brought up in searches but pictures show its name.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Hmm ok. 2003 is definitely too early to be an iPhone dev board, more likely to be an iPod dev board if it is one.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

That's newer than you think it is. That microcontroller family released in 2009.

 

[max1zzz]

Cumulus is the codename of the touchscreen controller on the iphone 5 - 6S (and possibly later, I don't have schematics saved here for anything newer than the 6S to hand and cba to search them out). I don't *think* that board has the actual Cumulus IC on it though so I guess it would plug into one of the connectors on a sub board

That micro looks to have a 2011 date code on it so given the antennas i'm guessing this is a test board for some portion of the cellular circuit for the iPhone 5

 

[Phipli]

03 is the board revision, not year.

 

[jajan547]

Appreciate all of the responses I had no idea so this really is super cool to hear. Amazed you guys figured that out so quick! I can’t get it to do much as the device just doesn’t seem to show up on my Mac. It does power on though. I’ve also noticed there’s are connections for flex cables like those seen on iPhones, iPads, iPod touches etc. there also appears to be a connection for a screen or a battery I’m assuming.

 

[olePigeon]

@haplain might have some insights on how it works or know someone who does.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Try to get into contact with donglebookpro as well! He knows a lot about prototype stuff.

 

[robin-fo]

How do you know it‘s from Apple?

 

[ArmorAlley]

Is there anyone here who can read the Chinese characters in picture 7?

 

[jajan547]

I'll try and reach out to him is he on Twitter? Also to recap the two small chips the antenna posts are between have the following markings:
"BCM5976C1"
"KUFBG"
"TE1241 P31"
"P9L2X N3A W"


The Atmel chip is legible and is a "ATSAM3U4C." The other chip I see reads as follows:
"EFTDI"
"1225-C"
"GO080771"
"FT232RL"

I cannot figure out what the Chinese characters say.

 

[Phipli]

Is there anyone here who can read the Chinese characters in picture 7?

Almost 1.2 billion

FT232RL

This is just a common serial chip.

The SAM chip is an ARM core microcontroller - a fancy arduino basically.

 

[switch998]

Plug it in and attach a USB cable. One of them should go to the UART chip, and you can use PuTTY or Serial (on mac osx) to query the device. This was probably used for Radio testing judging by the lack of other components on the board.

 

[joshc]

Is there anyone here who can read the Chinese characters in picture 7?

Google Translate thinks it says "high value"