Playstation Move gets iFixit teardown
updated 08:55 am EDT, Mon September 20, 2010
Move contains many smartphone components
No sooner had Sony’s marquee peripheral, the Playstation Move, hit North American shelves today, it has immediately been stripped by the iFixit team. The teardown yielded two significant surprises. The motion controller is very easy to dismantle by comparison with most devices, the repair team first said.
They also discovered that the Move includes many components that are typically included in today’s smartphones. It has not just an accelerometer and a gyroscope but a full processor, a vibrating motor, Bluetooth and a compass.
Compared to the WiiMote, which relies on an infrared (IR) sensor built into the controller, and uses triangulation from the IR emitters on the sensor bar placed near the TV to locate itself, the Playstation Move is a much more complex device. Using the Playstation Eye camera, the Playstation Move controller can be located in 3D space as the camera is capable of recognizing the X/Y position as well as the relative size of the glowing sphere in order to pinpoint the controller’s location.
The Playstation Move is on sale now at $50 for an individual remote or $100 for a bundle with a camera and Sports Champions. A full PS3 bundle costs $400.
