Disassembly

Disassembly of the Anne Pro 2 is quite simple owing to the use of a single, higher profile plastic case. It can then be treated no differently from a metal case, and five screws are installed into brass-threaded inserts that are part of the case itself. Accessing these screws is possible after removing some specific keycaps as seen above, and you will need a Torx T5 screwdriver instead of the usual Phillips screwdriver. Once done, pry apart the two main keyboard pieces to where you can get to the internal cable connecting the two, dislodging which helps completely separate them.


The Type-C port is soldered to the PCB itself, and this internal cable is in fact for the battery, going from the 1900 mAh (1973 mAh if going by the 7.3 Wh and 3.7 V numbers on it) battery that is glued to the case recess. A foam pad in between prevents shorting, but there is otherwise not much sound dampening from this small surface area. The other piece is the PCB itself, with a steel plate the switches go through for structural integrity. No hot-swappable switches here, which makes the wide range of switches from the factory all the more important.


The PCB is blue, and on the case, we see more foam pads for support and to prevent electrical shorting. Solder quality is very good, including with the Type-C port and all the other components here. There is what appears to be an RF shield over an IC I can't identify, but it may be the Bluetooth controller. [Update: A TPU reader, Alaap Joshi, was kind enough to confirm it is indeed the Texas Instruments CC2541 Bluetooth 5.0 transceiver.]


We also get a better look at the on/off switch, and powering the keyboard is a Holtek HT32F52352 32-bit ARM Cortex microcontroller operating at 48 MHz and with up to 128 KB onboard flash memory and up to 16 KB SRAM. It is not a newer MCU, but no one said the Anne Pro 2 is a 2021 launched device either. As we will see later, there is some functionality in terms of key assignment, and the MCU had no issues handling them. There is also a Winbond 25X40CLNG 512 KB onboard flash memory module to help store all the onboard functions, both pre-programmed and user customizable. All the components, including the switches, LEDs, and capacitors, are soldered to a multi-layered PCB.

Before we move on, be advised that disassembly may void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decide to go ahead and do so anyway.