First Hudl2 Teardown?

We’ve had a Hudl2 for a couple of weeks pre-launch for research purposes. The switch of CPU from Rockchip to Intel has removed the security issues we have talked about previously, which is great news.

The spec is impressive for the price too. Build quality is high and it appears to be more rugged; screen damage from drops or knocks seems much less likely than with the original Hudl.

Of note is the 1920×1200 screen and surprisingly good audio. Software is likely to impress, particularly the easy-to-use child security suite.

Anyway, time to strip it down

Component and build quality was good, particularly mounting and connectors. Many low price tablets have the internals soldered together, over time and with bumps and shocks these degrade and the device fails. With the Hudl2 components have dedicated connectors and ports, meaning the lifespan of the device is likely to be good even with a heavy handed user. The fact that the case is screwed together rather than being a press fit speaks volumes too.

A nice big 5700mAh battery occupies most of the case, though battery life from a full charge is quoted at 7 hours, slightly less than the first iteration of the Hudl’s 4300 mAh battery. Next we can see the CPU, an Intel Atom. This is a low watt version of the x86 chip found in many PCs. Close by there are 2 of the 4 SK Hynix RAM chips, providing 2gb of memory which is nothing to be sniffed at for a tablet. These are actually designed for graphics cards so they’re way above standard spec.

The AzureWave wireless chip also is capable of handling FM radio making it an interesting component in its own right, yet we couldn’t find a radio function in the software. Maybe we missed it, or maybe it’s not enabled. Might be useful in future! The power management chip syncs up the battery and the USB port. Made by Dialog it’s designed to work with the Atom processor. The audio chip is from Realtek who have a good track record and some pedigree. We understand that Dolby have been involved in optimising the audio too, which may explain the high quality sound.

The accompanying video is a available here.

Component layout

Motherboard front

On flipping the motherboard over we find the other 2 RAM chips, and the 16GB Kingston NAND flash storage chip. For those in the know, Kingston has built quite a reputation in the world of storage and memory, this chip is great to find in a device at this price. The touch management for the screen is handled by a Goodix GT8110, capable of providing a 10 point simultaneous touch interface, that’s all of your fingers and thumbs! The final chip contains the firmware flash memory from where the device boots.

Motherboard rear

Conclusion

Overall we’re very impressed, and not just because of the price. The components buried inside this device are so much more than capable of doing their jobs. The final point to be made is that, because of the processor choice, this device doesn’t suffer from the security issues that its predecessor did.