Introduction
Surf's up! The new GoPro Hero4 Session just dropped in and it's totally tubular. It is GoPro's first waterproof camera that doesn't require a case. Will the sealants on this Session keep it far from a 10 on our repairability scale? Grab your board and hit the waves because this teardown is about to hang 10!
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Tools
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After three years of development, GoPro takes the wraps off a radical new action cam with a fresh form factor. Here's what they have to say about it:
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Rugged waterproof design
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1030 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery
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Built in Wi-Fi, micro-USB, and microSD slot (expandable up to 64 GB)
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Plenty of video capture modes, ranging from WVGA at 120 fps to 1440p at 30 fps
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8 MP wide field of view stills
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We grabbed a GoPro Hero3+ for comparison; here's what we found:
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Same weight: 74 g.
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Almost the same ports. Both feature microSD, but the Session moves up to micro-USB instead of mini-USB, and drops the accessory port of traditional GoPros.
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Very similar volume! By our rough understanding of geometry, both the Hero3+ and the Session are just over 50 cubic centimeters in volume.
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Stills or video—capture either with a single button! GoPro also included handy directions on the back for how to do either.
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Before we begin, let's turn the tables on this GoPro and shoot some video of our own.
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Our awesome friends at Creative Electron gave the Session a spin in the
clothes dryerX-ray machine, revealing a radical 360-degree view of the internals. -
It looks like we have our work cut out for us.
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Hey look, a batch of T4 Torx screws on the front! You had us worried for a second there, GoPro.
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Screws out, and the lens cover comes free, revealing access to... an o-ring.
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Okay, so the screws were a bit of a red herring. They'll come in handy for replacing a cracked lens cover or o-ring, but they didn't get us inside.
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Prying at the front and back covers didn't get us anywhere either. So, we gave our new camera a hot iOpener hug to soften up the adhesive on its rubber cover—and then started cutting and peeling.
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At the top of the camera, the shutter button is integrated into the rubber cover, with a hole in the plastic case underneath exposing the microswitch.
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With the rubber cover peeled off, we get a look at what lies beneath—a clear plastic cube, tantalizing us with exciting innards like one of those sweet see-through phones.
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Unfortunately we didn't find any external screws or clips—looks like this puppy is all sealed up. Time to attack the Borg cube with some flush cutters.
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There has to be a better way to get inside that we're just not seeing, right? Let's peel up this end cap.
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...and this metal plate...
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...and nope. No way in. Back to clipping.
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Houston, we have liftoff—of one portion of the outer case. The interior components are a tetris'd tangle of parts with no obvious way to extract the battery.
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Sigh.
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Impatience gets the best of us and we bust out the rotary tool for the last stretch.
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Success! Time to actually do some analysis.
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The first component out is the wireless communications daughterboard, featuring some Qualcomm hardware:
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Qualcomm QCA6134X-AM2D Wi-Fi/Bluetooth SiP
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After savaging most of the exterior, we aren't surprised to find the GoPro's battery soldered to the motherboard and glued into a bracket.
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No more removable batteries—presumably in the interest of waterproofing.
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The Hero4 Session packs a 3.8 V, 1000 mAh, 3.8 Wh battery, just about on par with the Hero 3+, and smaller than the 1160 mAh battery in the Hero4.
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With a flick of the wrist goes the display and the power/capture button—everything a user needs to operate the GoPro on one confusing bracket.
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Finally! The heart—er, eye of the GoPro is free!
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Just like the Hero4 cameras that came before it, the Session features an ƒ/2.8 glass lens with an "Ultra wide-angle field of view with reduced distortion".
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Remember back when you could unscrew the image sensor board from the back of the lens assembly? iFixit remembers.
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Alas, those days are long gone. A ring of glue is the only thing that adheres the lens to the image sensor in the Session.
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The 8 MP sensor in the Session drops the 4K capability found in the Hero4 Black/Silver 12 MP sensors, instead supporting resolutions up to 1440p at 30 fps.
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The last tetris block is the tricky, angled microSD card slot. Also part of this assembly: the micro-USB port.
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Unlike its bigger, more expensive brothers, the Session lacks an accessory port. This means that you won't be able to mount things, such as an LCD screen or secondary battery, to your GoPro.
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While it's the last component out of the camera, this teardown's not quite over...
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That's right—it's X-ray time! With the GoPro magically reassembled and re-compactified, we can get a closer look at how it all fits together.
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If there's room to pack anything more into this little cube, it's news to us. Look how the little microSD card slot has to angle its way in there.
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That multi-stage mushroom cloud is actually the lens assembly!
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The oblong, noodley oval is the battery, composed (like an onion) of layers.
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GoPro Hero4 Session Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)
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The front bezel is held in place with eight T4 Torx screws and is easily replaceable.
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Accessing the device for internal repairs means ripping, tearing, and dremeling through a rubber band, plastic casing, and copious amounts of glue, making reassembly infeasible.
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The inner components are assembled together in a web of circuitry and adhesive.
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The "integrated" battery is soldered and glued to the rest of the device, meaning battery replacement is next to impossible.
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As always, a hearty thanks to our friends at Creative Electron for their eye-popping images and expertise!
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30 comments
The Hero 3+, 4, etc, all have a Mini USB port, not Micro USB. The Session is the first GoPro device to finally use MicroUSB.
Actually the Hero+ LCD is the first
Nigel -
Hey Tony, thanks for the heads up! We've updated the teardown.
Aside from the difference in how easy they are to work on, this camera really reminds me of the G4 Cube. If only it was as easy as a Cube to work on!