Inside stuff - teardown and repair of a Spy Pen

This came out of a "box of things" that I regularly purchase on eBay. They consist of new items that are DOA (dead on arrival).

It's a "Spy Pen" or "Spy Stick" - a USB stick with a 4GB capacity that also has a camera inside.

The second line under the title makes absolutely no sense, it's like someone used OCR + Google Translate:

The end cap was unglued, also the stick would not take a charge. With a bit of force the motherboard slides out, revealing a camera module that's literally plugged in:

Great, I get a 4GB microSD for free:

Also notice the reset button, I have no idea what's that for, I assume pressing it while plugging the stick in will allow uploading new firmware. Also, the battery is held in position with sticky tape.
The other big chip is a 25Q80SCP, 8Mbit flash, probably holding the camcorder firmware.

A clearer picture of the battery side with the camera connector. I don't know what this chip is but I assume it's an integrated solution for cheap camcorders: Anyka AK1120Q06402:

The battery was dead so I tried removing the kapton tape and access the third terminal. This allowed me to bypass the protection circuit and charge the small battery.
When charging an unknown LiPo the safest maximum setting is 1C - in this case 160mAh. Just be aware of the fact that many manufacturers fake the printout, putting you at risk of overdriving the small LiPo and causing it to explode. Your best bet is to find a similar-sized battery that is original and use that capacity as guideline

With the battery off the camera can still be used, it draws around 50mA which would make it perfect for a flight cam or other small embedded project:

The "innovative" packing method is used to put the pen back together:

Hopefully I will remember to put some samples from the camera here, the quality is not so bad as I would have expected. It's certainly better than most camera phones pre-smartphone-era.