Motorola Droid Turbo Prototype XT1254

[pwrdbykyank]

Came across a Droid Turbo Prototype which has a big difference than the release version. The power button is the Motorola Logo on the back. It's interesting how they decided to drop that design to go with the button on the side, and also gets you thinking how many variations of prototypes they go through with different designs. Would be cool if someone would know how to incorporate this feature to be able to be applied to a release version but would be hard considering the fact the inner parts (moto power button and flex) are not mass produced or available.

In this picture bellow, you can see I circled in red the top connector which is for the flex cable that leads to the motorola logo power button on back (on the release version this connector is not soldered onto the board, and the bottom two connectors I dont know what they are for, but they are covered by a metal shield on the release version board.

You can look at the YouTube video bellow to see the Release version disassembled to compare to the prototype.

 

[kodiak799]

too bad...I would have liked that option for the power button.

Reminds me...I sometimes hit the power button by mistake when I mean to hit the volume rocker - not the greatest design

 

[FoxKat]

Interesting three things...

1. There are two wireless charging coils, one on the back of the back cover which apparently was intended to connect to the motherboard by either what appears to be possibly two gold plated contact tabs at the bottom or the 4 clearly visible on either side of the camera opening. What's interesting is I don't see wire traces or ribbon cable that goes from that coil to either location. The other wireless coil is obviously on the back of the battery and connected by a ribbon cable.
2. The spot for the side power button is still clearly visible in the cover, and the place that it would be soldered into is showing as a cutout with pads on the motherboard where it resides now.
3. The center rear power button is highly specialized or customized for Motorola, so I wonder why they scrapped it.

 

[kodiak799]

I wonder if LG has a patent on a power button on the back

 

[pwrdbykyank]

Interesting three things...

1. There are two wireless charging coils, one on the back of the back cover which apparently was intended to connect to the motherboard by either what appears to be possibly two gold plated contact tabs at the bottom or the 4 clearly visible on either side of the camera opening. What's interesting is I don't see wire traces or ribbon cable that goes from that coil to either location. The other wireless coil is obviously on the back of the battery and connected by a ribbon cable.
2. The spot for the side power button is still clearly visible in the cover, and the place that it would be soldered into is showing as a cutout with pads on the motherboard where it resides now.
3. The center rear power button is highly specialized or customized for Motorola, so I wonder why they scrapped it.

The top 4 contact points by camera you are referring to is for the LED flashes on each side of the camera that touch the contacts on the board. But it is weird how it has a coil on the back cover and one on the battery as well for the wireless charging. I love prototypes since they give you a glimpse into the past and into what could have been but never happened. Wish I knew a moto engineer that worked on these phones to ask them why they would have spent time into developing a rear power button but then scrap it, and also were they simultaneously working on the side power button as an option, since as you mentioned the spot is there both on the case and the main board.

 

[FoxKat]

The top 4 contact points by camera you are referring to is for the LED flashes on each side of the camera that touch the contacts on the board. But it is weird how it has a coil on the back cover and one on the battery as well for the wireless charging. I love prototypes since they give you a glimpse into the past and into what could have been but never happened. Wish I knew a moto engineer that worked on these phones to ask them why they would have spent time into developing a rear power button but then scrap it, and also were they simultaneously working on the side power button as an option, since as you mentioned the spot is there both on the case and the main board.

Ahhh, yes...the flashes. Well that's all too obvious to me now! LOL!. Thanks for that. Yes, it is very intriguing regarding the dual coils.

As for the back button, I would love to be a fly on the wall in the R&D stages, and be able to say "Hey, KEEP THAT!!" to I'm sure what were many ideas that would have been neat but were scrapped.

 

[jkaod]

I would love to be a fly on the wall in the R&D stages, and be able to say "Hey, KEEP THAT!!"

If a fly on the wall talked to me, I'd drop the phone and run out of the room screaming like a little school girl.

 

[pwrdbykyank]

If a fly on the wall talked to me, I'd drop the phone and run out of the room screaming like a little school girl.

Lol are you secretly implying you work for motorola in the R&D ?

 

[pwrdbykyank]

Also I just realized this. The M logo on the Moto X2 or 2014, is almost identical size wise to have originally been intended to be used as a power button. When disassembled, the positioning and how the flex cable comes underneath it but doesn't connect to anything made me realize that originally they planned to use that as a power button. The flex comes to a dead end under the M logo. If the M logo was just to be a logo why have power go to it? I'm assuming on prototype versions of the moto x 2014 there was actually a connection to from the flex to a clicker underneath the M logo but instead now on release versions the flex is covered up there and a metal shield is put along with the M logo.

 

[obxsalvo]

I also like (ed) the power button until I thought how many times I would drop the phone while trying to hold down the power button and one of the volume button at the same time.

 

[Ollie]

I wonder if the two coils are for the two different charging protocols? The S6 will be able to work with either standard OOTB.

 

[FoxKat]

Good point. Have to wonder. They appear to be different sizes and different thickness of wire (gauge).

Both have 11 wraps, but the larger one on the battery also has the larger square three wrap coil around it so maybe that's the two different protocols?

By the way, I love all the best antennas they print into the plastic at the corners. Best seen in the large coil pictures.

There are three. Two at top left and one at top right. They appear as silver flat strips that bend and curve around corners and past screw locations and around the body on the phone internally.