Tried searching the forums, but came up empty. Is there a way to add an external WiFi antenna to the Nexus S? Is just as simple as getting an antenna with the proper connector and plugging it into the port on the back of the phone (under the two back plates)?
If you're talking about the small connector right on the side of the top-right corner of the battery, I think it's a connector for GSM antennas, does anybody knows it's for something else?
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ozone89 said:
If you're talking about the small connector right on the side of the top-right corner of the battery, I think it's a connector for GSM antennas, does anybody knows it's for something else?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda app-developers app
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Yep, that is the exact one I was talking about (can be seen below in this ifixit.com picture). OK, that stinks, I thought that it might have been for wifi testing. The trace for that connector seems to run to the bottom of the board to those metal tabs, which seem to run to something in the case (which I assumed was the stock WiFi antenna) right at the bottom of the phone. If that is GSM (which is entirely possible), where is the stock WiFi antenna, because the only other antenna I could ID was the NFC antenna in the center of the outer case (sitting roughly over the batter).
<<edit>>
OK, I don't have enough posts to add a link to the picture, but if you go to ifixit's website and type in Nexus S, click on the first link that comes up, click on motherboard, and the scroll to the second page, you can see it in the third picture down.
I'll add some more spare infos to my answer
That connector is an SMC one, and it's been used since, uh... maybe always
In most cases it's hidden under a little round cover, which pops out by levering it with a needle.
Noticeable example of such a concealing are the old SonyEricsson phones, where it's also used as a mirror if a front camera is present (see w810i) and LG cookie K500
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ozone89 said:
I'll add some more spare infos to my answer
That connector is an SMC one, and it's been used since, uh... maybe always
In most cases it's hidden under a little round cover, which pops out by levering it with a needle.
Noticeable example of such a concealing are the old SonyEricsson phones, where it's also used as a mirror if a front camera is present (see w810i) and LG cookie K500
Sent from my Nexus S using xda app-developers app
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OK, thanks for the info. SO the money is on it being for the GSM rather than the wifi, right?
Yup.
It's also the most logical thing to do.
On a phone, gsm is way more important than accessories like BT or wifi
Sent from my Nexus S using xda app-developers app
Related
So.. after some tinkering (and massaging) I got the back cover off of my Captivate and was able to snap some pics of the innards for your viewing pleasure.
It's very similar to the standard Galaxy S, but some of the chips are laid out a bit differently, also, I apologize for the substandard picture quality, the only thing I have available to take pictures is a Blackberry Storm2 with an led flash.
Update: I've taken some better pictures now, and I've got them uploaded:
Teardown Photos
Enjoy!
Update:
Step by Step Teardown
Very cool
That is cool. Wonder how long it will be until we see a complete tear down of the phone
That is (almost) as far as you can go. Theres one more PCB thats actually attached to the screen. Other than that, that main board and the sim/sd card board that sits on top of it are all thats there.
Edit: Here are some better pictures I was able to take this morning, unfortunately EVERY single picture I tried to take of the small Broadcom chip turned out like crap, or you could not see the writing on the chip. I could not read it myself, as the writing on the chip is extremely tiny, and I don't have a magnifying glass.
Teardown Photos
Any way you could do a photo-by-photo instruction for the tear-down? Maybe put some o' dem fancy photo-ma-shop arrows in there?
I suppose I could do that
I just need a few more photos of the "in between" steps to give a better idea of what needs to be disconnected and how to get the back cover off.
And then there's the whole write up thing. -- Question about that, should I do a new "tear down" thread, I'll get a bit more in depth this time as well, I'll get all the chip numbers down (I found a magnifying glass!) so we can better cross reference what hardware we have in comparison to the Galaxy S i9000.
Will probably be a day or two until I can get it up, maybe longer depending on the write up.
Yeah, I'm guessing a tear-down thread would be in order unless there's some way of changing your thread title. Appreciate it.
I spilled a bit of an "adult beverage" on my Captivate last nite. Dang cat... Nothing went wrong w/the phone... save for the power button & the volume rocker... They were a bit... sticky.
I was able to get them cleaned up a bit using a razor blade & some alcohol wipes, but I'd love to be able to fully clean everything by disassembling the phone. I removed the 4 screws in the back beneath the battery cover, but got nowhere...
Can someone confirm if the fm radio chip is there?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
t-readyroc said:
I removed the 4 screws in the back beneath the battery cover, but got nowhere...
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Click to collapse
There are actually 6 screws. Two are hidden underneath the sliding latch for the battery door.
isyiwang said:
Can someone confirm if the fm radio chip is there?
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Click to collapse
Thats one of the purposes of tearing the phone down, I'm hoping to answer that question, or at least give enough people enough information to find out.
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas...me=N&application_id=200666&fcc_id='A3LSGHI897'
pretty cool u think now that we can tear it down, we can add the front camera too it?
I don't know, it would definitely take someone much more skilled than I to fit the Front camera in.
The layout on the top is a tiny bit different, and it would require some changes to that as well as making space above the screen on the opposite side for the camera.
So, definitely NOT an easy job, if it is even possible.
if you look at that video of the teardown of a galaxy S i9000, it looks like the FFC is part of the rear facing camera module
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt9XNnjAcBc&feature=player_embedded
at 2:59 in the video the camera is taken out, and at 3:07 she turns it over and you can see the front facing camera - does your rear facing camera look different (except for the obvious, missing that small black square with the FFC)?
if it's not different, except for the missing ft camera, i suspect these are all modular components so sammy could assemble them, as needed, to a customer's specs - which means, if someone can source that correct module w/ffc, and rip the driver and software for it from the i9000, that it'd be possible
The camera is identical, minutes the front facing piece, if course. The connection to the main board is the same as well.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
if you pull it apart again, it'd be nice if you had a magnifier or a camera capable of macro shots so we can definitively identify that gps chipset
The macro on my camera is good, but not that good =)
My magnifying glass, however, shows me that the chip is a BCM4751.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
My research shows that this chip does not do anything with FM radio so that is quite disappointing. Dammit AT&T! Always got gotta crap up a great phone. So now we don't get FM radio and we don't get the FFC.
if its the same camera module minus the FFC, im sure we will find some junk galaxys on ebay for parts soon enough, sum1 will develop a new front for us hopefully, pop in the new camera, get the ROM for it to work, and hope it can work. i am by no way an engineer or anything technically, so im not saying its plausable, just saying it could work if some1 knew how to do it.
NikAmi said:
My research shows that this chip does not do anything with FM radio so that is quite disappointing. Dammit AT&T! Always got gotta crap up a great phone. So now we don't get FM radio and we don't get the FFC.
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Click to collapse
This chip is the broadcom gps. He replied to the larryccf question.
So, I hope fm radio is here.
Broadcom BCM4751 is a single-chip GPS receiver used for tracking and navigation, primarily in mobile devices.
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Click to collapse
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iLoki said:
The macro on my camera is good, but not that good =)
My magnifying glass, however, shows me that the chip is a BCM4751.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
tks - it may be sammy did use a different gps chipset in the captivate
and btw, macro will magnify - take a high res shot, then open on your pc, depending on how hi res, i've had them open the picture in 25 X 22" or so sizes
and you can see mosquito footprints - had an Omega, a high end one that had a serial number on the backside way too small to read even with a 6X magnifier - had to have been laser etched
used a macro shot to read it - no joke
try it some time
Now granted this is something that I'm not greatly concerned but as I have been able to replicate it over and over with my phone...
If you hold the phone sideways so the hard-keys are towards your right hand. Now I say the following because people have different grips for their phonez but to emphasize my point that it is possible (the way I held the phone did) to actively see wifi drop. So just as a demonstration while holding the phone in your right hand when you have full wifi bars and 'palm' the 3.5mm jack side in your left hand emphasizing pressure on corner with the audio jack. (Make sure you have full bars when testing)
Now I understand the easy solution would be to flip the phone horizontally the other way. But I'm just curious if someone else had noticed this already?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
lol made me lose two full bars. Good find. It is happening as I type in landscape right now.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Never fear. It's called attenuation and happens on all phones. They have to put the antennas somewhere, and your body attenuates antenna reception.
strung said:
Never fear. It's called attenuation and happens on all phones. They have to put the antennas somewhere, and your body attenuates antenna reception.
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Click to collapse
Pfffft I knew that
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
...
strung said:
Never fear. It's called attenuation and happens on all phones. They have to put the antennas somewhere, and your body attenuates antenna reception.
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Click to collapse
Yea... I figured that it had to go somewhere lol, but I realized this after getting so damn comfortable with how I held the phone that way. Even which hand the hard-key side of the phone settled in, haha. =X
Agree, it doesn't happen close to the wifi but the weaker the signal yes it will..
But that's expected and happens on all devices and imo doesn't need a thread.
smashpunks said:
Agree, it doesn't happen close to the wifi but the weaker the signal yes it will..
But that's expected and happens on all devices and imo doesn't need a thread.
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Click to collapse
You learn a little at a time, I guess. Sorry for the apparent redundancy of this thread...
Does anybody know the location of the transmitter on the htc one s, i'm trying to see if theres anything i can do to boost my signal in a couple key areas ie my apartment and at work.
Gman355 said:
Does anybody know the location of the transmitter on the htc one s, i'm trying to see if theres anything i can do to boost my signal in a couple key areas ie my apartment and at work.
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Click to collapse
I believe its at the top and the plastic at the top is part of it too.
Darknites said:
I believe its at the top and the plastic at the top is part of it too.
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Click to collapse
I'd say it's on the bottom, behind home button...
No its on the top, next to the other antennas.
Its quite obvious for me. I got quite bad reception at my PC, and if I place my finger covering the top plastic, the reception goes down further, sometimes even disappear all together.
Goatshocker said:
No its on the top, next to the other antennas.
Its quite obvious for me. I got quite bad reception at my PC, and if I place my finger covering the top plastic, the reception goes down further, sometimes even disappear all together.
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Click to collapse
well.. for me it isn't that obvious - I don't have any mobile signal loss after removing top cover (just wifi loses it's signal and probably BT if I had it enabled). It's on the bottom and it was already mentioned here on the forum in another topics or you can just google it..
odl said:
well.. for me it isn't that obvious - I don't have any mobile signal loss after removing top cover (just wifi loses it's signal and probably BT if I had it enabled). It's on the bottom and it was already mentioned here on the forum in another topics or you can just google it..
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Click to collapse
See I knew that the top cover did something lol.
How is it on the bottom when I as well after using my hand to smother the top the Wi-Fi goes from full to nill? Same as every other device I've ever owned.
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Spastic909 said:
How is it on the bottom when I as well after using my hand to smother the top the Wi-Fi goes from full to nill? Same as every other device I've ever owned.
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Click to collapse
wi-fi, BT and probably GPS are on top; mobile network is on the bottom.
A bit of the black part of the antenna that is circled in the picture kind of broke off when i was disassembling my phone. I think this is the thing that controls your phone signal. If it is, does anyone know if this will stop my signal completely and mean I have to buy a new antenna? I have no way of checking because I broke the cable connecting the antenna to the main board (don't ask) and the replacement doesn't arrive for a while. (The picture attached isn't the picture of my exact phone. It's from google images. But its the same model) The other 4 thingies are still in tact but the thing circled is broken off.
markboi13 said:
A bit of the black part of the antenna that is circled in the picture kind of broke off when i was disassembling my phone. I think this is the thing that controls your phone signal. If it is, does anyone know if this will stop my signal completely and mean I have to buy a new antenna? I have no way of checking because I broke the cable connecting the antenna to the main board (don't ask) and the replacement doesn't arrive for a while. (The picture attached isn't the picture of my exact phone. It's from google images. But its the same model) The other 4 thingies are still in tact but the thing circled is broken off.
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Click to collapse
anyone?
markboi13 said:
anyone?
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Click to collapse
This question cannot be answered without testing. Try it, if it works, the answer is no, if not, the answer is yes.
Unfortunately, waht exad said. Stuff like that is so unpredictable. Keep in mind that pretty much EVERYTHING on modern phones is tiny. There are entire chips and resistor packs that would be described as miniscule, but are critical.
If you have it apart already, and can find a replacement part and it's easy enough to replace, I'd hedge my bets and just replace it while I'm in there rather than putting it back together and learning the hard way that you have to go through it all again.
similar issue
Have the same issue.I accidently trapped gsm antenna wire between housing and dock connector. Its been bent in 4 or 5 points.searching for network gives error."error while searching for networks ”
Please suggest what can I do.
Replace the part.
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hi everyone,
can anyone confirm if the LG G2's battery, can fit inside the Nexus 5 ?
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souleater11 said:
hi everyone,
can anyone confirm if the LG G2's battery, can fit inside the Nexus 5 ?
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Seeing that g2 battery is 30% bigger i'd have to say no it wont fit.
souleater11 said:
hi everyone,
can anyone confirm if the LG G2's battery, can fit inside the Nexus 5 ?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
The G2 used a "unique stepped design" (says LG) that allows it to fit a physically larger battery in it. N5 will just be the standard flat shape.
Thus, the answer is no.
neugenusis said:
The G2 used a "unique stepped design" (says LG) that allows it to fit a physically larger battery in it. N5 will just be the standard flat shape.
Thus, the answer is no.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There might be enough room vertically to fit this larger battery:
http://www.droid-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/IMG_7374.jpg
On the other hand, notice the empty space on top of the battery (in between the battery and camera). If one were to grind down the little vertical walls, it may be possible that a larger flat battery like from the Optimus G Pro may fit.
Hopefully someone will feel adventurous enough to investigate more into this once they receive their Nexus 5
ctbearz said:
There might be enough room vertically to fit this larger battery:
http://www.droid-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/IMG_7374.jpg
On the other hand, notice the empty space on top of the battery (in between the battery and camera). If one were to grind down the little vertical walls, it may be possible that a larger flat battery like from the Optimus G Pro may fit.
Hopefully someone will feel adventurous enough to investigate more into this once they receive their Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, you mean grinding away the back of the phone where the NFC antenna, Qi charging coil, and potentially even the cellular/wifi antennas are? Yeah, good luck with that!
Vincent Law said:
Uh, you mean grinding away the back of the phone where the NFC antenna, Qi charging coil, and potentially even the cellular/wifi antennas are? Yeah, good luck with that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I'm referring to small the vertical spacer walls that surround the battery as you can see in the picture. Specifically, the one on top of the battery. This may allow you to fit a battery that is longer in length. Just being hopeful here...
If you're referring to the grey area in that photo above the battery, that's only visible because there's a giant electronics board that's missing. You could remove the vertical wall but it'd only buy you an extra millimeter or so, nowhere near enough to fit a new battery in it.
I'm kind of interested in this, I wonder if a company will find a way to fit in a larger battery
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