MSI Mega Stick 1 - The Mini Wonder

Out of the Shell…

There is quite a bit going on for the Mega Stick 1 under the hood, as far as its intricate design is concerned. From the size and the unit's five-in-one function, one can deduce that the design is intuitively packed. Dismantling the Mega Stick 1 was a tricky task, as the size alone was a feat for MSI to overcome.

The first item that comes into view is the LCD module, which while small, does take up a considerable amount of real estate.

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Underneath the LCD module is the brains behind the Mega Stick: SigmaTel's SMTP3410 audio decoder. The SMTP3410 is a single-chip solution specifically designed for MP3 players, PDAs, and cell phone applications. It functions as a USB, storage, and LCD controller, among other things. Next to the SigmaTel SMTP3410 lies the Samsung K9K1G08U0M-YCB0 TSOP flash memory, in this case, of the 128MB variety.

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For Mega Stick 1's FM tuning capabilities, MSI turned to a Philips TEA5767 FM tuner, which lies between the microphone and headphone jacks.

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The bottom side of the board is home to the various buttons and the power circuit, which uses any AAA battery to function.

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