Database Info

GPS Improvement Something Different!

I greatly improved my GPS performance by doing this: First, a brief background: I was always curious about the two electrical contacts mating to the aluminum battery cover; if they were a ground plane or part of the antenna. For the heck of it I tried improving the connections by cleaning the small square contacts on the inside of the cover with a pencil eraser (they looked like they had a thin coating on them) and then gently, slightly prying up the contact on the right with a small screwdriver (the left is spring-loaded) and thats it. I was surprised to see an immediate improvement in signal strength resulting in locks within a minute and spot-on navigation. As a side note I noticed a better signal if I held the phone by it's sides vs cradled in my hand. It may be my imagination but I also seem to get a better signal (more bars) on the phone itself. This was probably an issue with my specific unit but I thought I would share.
Edit: Wow! Looks like many have had a similar experience. Still seems too good to be true, would like to know if you see sustained results. I'm curious if oxidation may eventually occur on the bare metal contacts in the cover, might be beneficial to re-clean with an eraser periodically. Be careful, as there has been a report of a broken contact, pry gently! Keep posting your results and thanks to those who gave me a thanks!

Could be - everyone tried to see if the contacts effected cell signal - But i don't remember anyone checking GPS signal with them.

Interesting. I will check this out tomorrow and see.
The thing is though, there are times when GPS would work great and some when it won't. It's usually in different areas though. For instance, around NYC area and where I live, it always works. When I went to Mass over Thanksgiving, I could barely get anything. This is without touching the casing and having a hard plastic case on.

can you post pics of what you did?

Interesting. Scratched some of that top layer off the contacts on the door and used a screwdriver to pry up the contact on the phone a bit. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Got a much higher mobile speed test result than I usually do, but that can vary wildly so it could just be coincidence.

I am very much interested, please do provide more test results and pictures, please. Ever since reverting back to eclair (with the minor update that "fixed" tethering... I mean GPS signal, it was horrible. I needed it badly today and lucked out when I just had barely caught enough to get me to my destination. Thank you.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

jz3 said:
I greatly improved my GPS performance by doing this: First, a brief background: I was always curious about the two electrical contacts mating to the aluminum battery cover; if they were a ground plane or part of the antenna. For the heck of it I tried improving the connections by cleaning the small square contacts on the inside of the cover with a pencil eraser (they looked like they had a thin coating on them) and then gently, slightly prying up the contact on the right with a small screwdriver (the left is spring-loaded) and thats it. I was surprised to see an immediate improvement in signal strength resulting in locks within a minute and spot-on navigation. As a side note I noticed a better signal if I held the phone by it's sides vs cradled in my hand. It may be my imagination but I also seem to get a better signal (more bars) on the phone itself. This was probably an issue with my specific unit but I thought I would share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how much did you pry up the contact on the right? A small paper clip works well as your can actually slide it into the rounded up portion and use leverage from the side to lift up. I lifted it a little bit but i mostly settled back down into original position..maybe slightly lifted from original position. I can tell they have been making connection because there are worn spots on the corresponding contact points on the door.
The coating on the contact spots looks possibly to be some kind of spray coating similar to a thermal paste only dry? Wonder if the connection would be better without it or if it was removed and replaced with a very conservative amount of quality thermal paste. (Also when you cleaned them with eraser was the white film removed or still present?). Mine is still present although there are small worn spots where you can see the metal from where the contacts were touching.

bames said:
how much did you pry up the contact on the right? A small paper clip works well as your can actually slide it into the rounded up portion and use leverage from the side to lift up. I lifted it a little bit but i mostly settled back down into original position..maybe slightly lifted from original position. I can tell they have been making connection because there are worn spots on the corresponding contact points on the door.
The coating on the contact spots looks possibly to be some kind of spray coating similar to a thermal paste only dry? Wonder if the connection would be better without it or if it was removed and replaced with a very conservative amount of quality thermal paste. (Also when you cleaned them with eraser was the white film removed or still present?). Mine is still present although there are small worn spots where you can see the metal from where the contacts were touching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pried it up just a hair worrying that it might break off. Mine looked like it was not making good contact as there was no wear marks. I first removed the film by scraping it with a knife then using an eraser. Underneath the film it is just the bare aluminum.

You could just move to Axura if you want great GPS without messing with the contacts.

adamholden85 said:
You could just move to Axura if you want great GPS without messing with the contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That assumes there is no hardware issue. Due to the huge variations in GPS success with people on the same software, there is probably more involved. One possibility is antenna, another likely culprit is "disk" IO blocking GPS functions.
If the contacts and antenna are an issue on a phone, changing OS or tweaking softrware will not make things better.

I think you stubbled on something here, I'm picking up sat. in my home, have not tried it on the road yet, but I am excited to test it out. I've been fighting this
GPS problem since day one. It is the only problem I have with the phone. Thanks for posting your discovery. Man, I think everyone should at least try this and post your results, because I am getting extraodinary results.

alphadog00 said:
That assumes there is no hardware issue. Due to the huge variations in GPS success with people on the same software, there is probably more involved. One possibility is antenna, another likely culprit is "disk" IO blocking GPS functions.
If the contacts and antenna are an issue on a phone, changing OS or tweaking softrware will not make things better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not saying Axura will help everyone but boy has it helped quite a few. Check the poll I put on the OP.

If you're gonna do this, use an INK (white) eraser. They work much better at cleaning electrical contacts.

adamholden85 said:
You could just move to Axura if you want great GPS without messing with the contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nm... I can't count.

I cleaned off the 2 contact points on the lid using my pocket knife. There seemed to be some white coating on it. My gps is working real well now.

1 sat in an office building (no lock but actually see's it) .. 5x5 bars 3g download 1889kbps/ up 517kbps (was lucky to get 900kbps before..) so yah it is both the Cell ant which is the spring loaded one and the other is the GPS. The coating isn't actually a coating just the oxidation at assmb. emery paper prob works the best just don't try to make it too shiny or remove to much metal.

Wow!! You may have really got something here. I just spent 2 minutes cleaning off and prying up the contacts and the results were instant! As soon as I booted the device back up my 3G signal strength increased by two bars! Not only that but I got a GPS lock in record time - only a few seconds. YMMV
Thank you for posting this!!

Long time browser here. Just made a forum account to post my results of doing this.
Let me first say that you might really be onto something here. I powered my phone down then scraped the white coating on the cover contacts to bare metal using a pocket knife. Then pyred the right contact up to about a 45-50 degree angle. About putting it all back together and powering the phone up and killing all the apps afterward I launched gps test ap. I got 7 sats and a lock under 10 seconds sitting here at my desk. Beforehand I would've been lucky to ever see 1 sat sitting here and even more luckier to get 5+ or a lock holding it against the window to my right.
Haven t tried this outside but I will on my trip to the phili airport this even.
Thanks a bunch!
+Getting 7-10 locks with 32-49feet accuracy here at my desk. Never ever got a lock here before!
+5:30 est. Just did a speed test on 3g. Usually getting around 600-700kbs here at my desk. Getting 1.5-1.7k+ Now...
Also should I be concerned about scratching up the back tabs while removing the coating. Looks like I took sandpaper to them. I mean the its aluminum so rust isn't a problem. And nothing will be touching or getting on them to cause any type of corrosion.

Wow, I normally have 5 bars where I'm at so I couldn't see any change in that obviously, but GPS is perfect sitting here in my house, can't wait to try it out on the road! By the way, I gotta say this again, when I say GPS is perfect, when I zoom in all the arrow is sitting exactly on the portion of the house that I'm in. I'm amazed.
Edit - Just did a speed test and WOW immediate speed increase, ping was 100 below normal, did 1mb/s up AND down! This is definitely a nice little trick you've found.

First time posting. I just tried this, and am getting a lock inside the house for literally the first time.
However, I also got a lock while driving this afternoon for the first time (my GPS experience has been exceedingly poor), before I cleaned the contacts. Maybe it's just a good.day for GPS signal in my neck of the woods today.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

[Discussion/Guide-in-the-making] Housing Replacement

EDIT 2011 08 13: Skip to the post where I'm working on a guide.
Also:
EDIT 2011 08 13: I have since ordered a Black Battery Cover to match it. However, I still can't find a Black "8.0 Xenon" label and a Black little rubber from the top left.
====
Background info:
Ok, so my XT720 is really beat up right now, and I'm looking into replacing the whole housing of my phone.
I bought these:
Front and back housing
Battery cover
(Yes, so the back housing is black and the battery cover is blue, I plan on vinyl dying it)
But I haven't been able to find any guide on disassembly and assembly...
Has anyone tried?

Hmm, you may run into some issues, that is for the xt701 which as far as I know has no HDMI out.
So the housing probably will not either

cdstewart said:
Hmm, you may run into some issues, that is for the xt701 which as far as I know has no HDMI out.
So the housing probably will not either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked just now, it actually does have the HDMI out port.

The XT701 case will not fit the XT720. I read somewhere else, someone ordered this and tried. Will not fit. No HDMI port on the 701 and the USB port is on the other side up by the power button.
Why not use the correct case? http://cnn.cn/shop/motorola-milestone-xt720-housing-p-10055.html

dude,
the phone is made of really strong casing. I'm wondering how did u do it to be beaten up.
I think no one has gone thus far till taking the phone apart. Just my two cents here, beware that the body has 6 screws, 2 totally hidden and 2 partially hidden.
the top two screws are hidden under the rubber bud beside the camera lens and under "8.0 Xenon" label.
the middle row of 2 screws are visible just above the battery.
the bottom row of screws are partially hidden underneath the loud-speaker grills. The grill might be damage in the process of removing these screws. but since you're replacing the whole housing, it won't be a problem for you.

Brian5475E said:
The XT701 case will not fit the XT720. I read somewhere else, someone ordered this and tried. Will not fit. No HDMI port on the 701 and the USB port is on the other side up by the power button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you link me to that source?
Because the housing I got has an HDMI port on the other side of the power button, and the USB port is on the left side of the phone, just like my current housing.
spiderx_mm said:
the phone is made of really strong casing. I'm wondering how did u do it to be beaten up.
=snip=
The grill might be damage in the process of removing these screws. but since you're replacing the whole housing, it won't be a problem for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly, thanks for the heads up about the screw locations!
I carry my phone in my keys pocket, and it banged up the chrome bezel a lot... After I swap it I'll put it in another pocket.
The grill actually doesn't come with the replacement housing, so thanks for the warning about potentially damaging it!

Ok so I finally decided to try putting on that XT701 casing on my XT720.
==== Step 1
I used a T5 screwdriver. And as explained, there's 6 screws:
- 2 of them are openly accessible after you take off the battery cover.
- 2 of them are under the speaker grill - simply run your fingers under it to pry it out
- 2 of them are at the top:
1 under the "8.0 Xenon" label - use a push pin and run it along the edge to pry it open
1 under the top left tiny rubber cover - again, use a push pin, dig into it and pry it out
==== Step 2
Run your fingers along the egde of the blue plastic (where the blue and silver meet) and dig your fingers in to unhook the mechanism. The blue back cover should come right off after you run your fingers around the contour 1-3 times.
==== Step 3
Here's where I'm stuck. I'm trying to separate the electronics from the front silver part. There's some screws that I believe attach the screen to the front cover. But those screws are even smaller and my T5 did not work on them. I just ordered a set of T4 and T3 screwdrivers from China. So I'll get back to this in maybe 3-4 weeks.

Wow, black looks sexy. Post some pictures when youre done.

You got as far as I did
Hahutzy said:
Ok so I finally decided to try putting on that XT701 casing on my XT720.
==== Step 1
I used a T5 screwdriver. And as explained, there's 6 screws:
- 2 of them are openly accessible after you take off the battery cover.
- 2 of them are under the speaker grill - simply run your fingers under it to pry it out
- 2 of them are at the top:
1 under the "8.0 Xenon" label - use a push pin and run it along the edge to pry it open
1 under the top left tiny rubber cover - again, use a push pin, dig into it and pry it out
==== Step 2
Run your fingers along the egde of the blue plastic (where the blue and silver meet) and dig your fingers in to unhook the mechanism. The blue back cover should come right off after you run your fingers around the contour 1-3 times.
==== Step 3
Here's where I'm stuck. I'm trying to separate the electronics from the front silver part. There's some screws that I believe attach the screen to the front cover. But those screws are even smaller and my T5 did not work on them. I just ordered a set of T4 and T3 screwdrivers from China. So I'll get back to this in maybe 3-4 weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, you got as far as I did... I got the smaller torx bits & started my attempt to separte the electronics from the face plate... found my fingers were too large to manipulate & figured I'd do more harm than good... I still have the replacement housing... phunny thing, a few months after giving up, my 3g radio stopped working.. Cinci Bell tech couldn't fix (go figure!)... so I ended up buying the phone insurance for 6 bucks a month & got a free replacement.... Housing fixed! Bouyaaah!... If anyone wants the housing I have, you pay shipping & I'll send it to you... it is missing the USB door (i used it on my old XT720). Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[Q] Opening lower case plastic flap

Morning!
Has anyone yet taken a closer look at the lower plastic flap of the case? The upper one with the power key opens readily to accept the SIM Card, but there also is a gap of about the same size on the lower part of the phone, just below the beatsaudio logo. This one has no opening to pry open with the fingernail, but i could nudge and move it a little by ever so gently prying with a tiny flathead screwdriver. There also is a small hole pointing within this flap on the very bottom of the phone.
Q: What is the hole? Drainage hole in case the phone gets a soaking bath? Hardreset microswitch? Or is it maybe a releaser that unhooks the flap and allows for easy removal (similar to the holes beneath DVD-Drive trays to remove a disk if the Drive is broken)?
I am trying to figure this out as of now, but for the life of my I cannot find a slim enough needle to get into the hole. Guess I will need to grind / file something down to see if something happens when inserting it.
Has anyone investigated this yet? Anything interesting beyond or is it just a second flap with additional antennas and no access to interesting bits and pieces?

Wonder is it where the battery placed? Perhaps there are website trying to disassemble One S to see is it easy to replace the internal battery.

If you are referring to the tiny hole at the bottom of the phone, that hole is the mic. Wouldn't advice on putting anything in there

lol its the microphone. in almost all devices it is locates there

Funniest sunday topic
You made me laugh... I remember first iphone users were talking about " OMG one of two speakers under the phone doesnt work OMG OMG "...And someone told them " It is mic ! " LOL....

psych0t1c said:
Morning!
Has anyone yet taken a closer look at the lower plastic flap of the case? The upper one with the power key opens readily to accept the SIM Card, but there also is a gap of about the same size on the lower part of the phone, just below the beatsaudio logo. This one has no opening to pry open with the fingernail, but i could nudge and move it a little by ever so gently prying with a tiny flathead screwdriver. There also is a small hole pointing within this flap on the very bottom of the phone.
Q: What is the hole? Drainage hole in case the phone gets a soaking bath? Hardreset microswitch? Or is it maybe a releaser that unhooks the flap and allows for easy removal (similar to the holes beneath DVD-Drive trays to remove a disk if the Drive is broken)?
I am trying to figure this out as of now, but for the life of my I cannot find a slim enough needle to get into the hole. Guess I will need to grind / file something down to see if something happens when inserting it.
Has anyone investigated this yet? Anything interesting beyond or is it just a second flap with additional antennas and no access to interesting bits and pieces?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't yet have the HOS. But I can tell you that the little hole in the bottom of the HOS is the phone mic...
And be aware that doing what you intend to do will eventually void your warranty... but go right ahead... it's not my money if you screw things up...

I have taken apart enough devices to know what I am doing (except for the stupidity of not considering the mic hole because they have becme so invisible these days that its easy to just forget about them heh...).
I changed broken digitizers on DHD and did a complete disassembly / reassembly of a Desire Z that took an Soda bath and both devices work to this day. I am just hell of curios regarding the PCB layout of the One S, mainly for the storage question (soldered or aftermarket slotted microsd mounted under the hood)
And FYI, under the lower flap is just another boring antenna and another plastic cover, no more screws like behind the top flap. Do't have the right tools here to go any further without actually risking damage, but after easter I will have a closer look at it in the company. Unless iFixit comes out with a disassembly tutorial faster than that hehe.
Warranty? Well warranty. I've had a few devices now from HTC and none ever had to go to service. And with the knowledge of how to fix it comes the option of just paying for the OEM spare part from some retailer later on and fixing it yourself in 1 day instead of sending your phone in and waiting on it to come back for 1 week or 10 days.
But thanks for the hint, I might have actually forgotten about that.

Fix your antennas!

After taking apart the GPS antenna module(led flash cover), cleaning the antenna contacts on the cover and spring clips on phone, and SLIGHTLY bending the spring clips out for improved contact with the cover the GPS lock was back to being less than 10 seconds for initial fix and instant refix.
With such an improvement I decided to do the same procedure to the other 2. The antenna under the battery cover(clean and bend spring contacts out alittle), and the one under the sim/sd card cover(clean and bend spring contacts out a little). My WiFi signal is definitely much better at distance! Bluetooth is better as well!
It is not difficult to do at all, and the results are immediate and VERY noticeable.
Search YouTube for desire hd/inspire 4g GPS antenna cover removal so you don't f it up. Hardest thing is getting GPS cover off, and it takes all of 5-10 minutes!
Good luck all.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA

Thanks. This actually increased the speed of my stock inspire and battery life.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA

GPS FIXED!
I wanted to bump this thread, as I ended up finding this solution on another forum. I have almost always had issues getting my GPS to lock. I tried all the software based fixes, but none of them seemed to really work. I opened my antennae, cleaned/bent the pins, and now I get INSTANT GPS lock (without any software fixes installed). I strongly urge anyone with issues to try this.
Another alternative is to solder a new antennae:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1318892

yes it is a good thing to clean the contacts and rebend them for additional contact force. That ghetto wire solder job that the person did in your link is only a hair above trying to get a gps signal while hopping on one foot. There is quite a bit of calculations that have to be done to choose antenna length and thickness in respect to the frequency it operates on. What this user did was just pick a random length of wire and connect it, and poorly soldered at that (they probably have a coat hanger coming out of their tv). This type of modification is a TERRIBLE idea and should be avoided at all costs.
But as I said, what the OP did in this thread with the cleaning, this is a good idea.

what did u clean it with?

Im looking at the silver led cover and im like how the hell you take that off I know like something needle nose pliers.

I basically just scraped the metal until it was shiny. A fine steel wool would work, or even sand paper. You just want to get any gray stuff off.
CYRAXDroid said:
Im looking at the silver led cover and im like how the hell you take that off I know like something needle nose pliers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do it from the inside .
Summary: You are going to remove the battery and then It should reach back to where the plastic cover is. From there you can push (from the inside) the plastic peach and then slide something under it to keep it propped open.
1) Remove your battery
2) You need to prop the plastic piece up from the inside of the case. You could bend the tip of a knife, or whatever.
3) You slide the "prop" inside the battery slot and you want to line it up under the plastic piece around the light.
4) From there you can "push" it up and slide something under the edge to keep it lifted (I used guitar pics). You probably want to use a couple to work your way around.
5) Remove it from the battery facing side first.
Once you have it off it should be obvious where the metal pins are. Bend them upwards, and scrape/clean them off if there is any discoloration.
Putting it back together is a little tricky. Be careful to not break any of the snaps .
Thank me if this helps!

Well I didn't do it but still thank you for posting that info
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using xda premium

[Q] My GPS is no more working.

Tried the app TopNPT, but did not work.
Tried AGPS Patch. Did not work as well.
I don't know if it is because of the new 4.3 version of Jelly Bean. I've tried a few 4.3 AOPK ROMs, but none of them gave me GPS signal.
I've tried installying UBER kernel to see if there is any difference, but not luck.
Now, I have no idea what to do. Maybe try to install 4.1 Roms but don't really know which Rom is good for my GPS to work, because I believe I saw the OP in the "AGPS Patch.." said Agps or GPS code is disable in CM.x roms...
:crying:

hmmwhatsthisdo said:
Tried the app TopNPT, but did not work.
Originally Posted by hmmwhatsthisdo View Post
Holy thread necromancy, Batman!
I just got around to opening the phone and trying to fix it. It works BEAUTIFULLY now.
I used these parts:
A small Phillips screwdriver - not quite sure what size, but a fairly small one should do.
A few lens wipes (the alcohol-soaked and foil-packed kind, not the microfiber ones)
A small flathead screwdriver
A thin, bevelled plastic card - If you have a guitar pick, these work MUCH better. Spudgers are awesome too.
Here's what I did:
Remove your case (if necessary), your battery cover, battery, microSD, and SIM.
Unscrew all 7 screws under the battery cover. 5 are on the top, two are just below the battery slot.
Use a guitar pick, spudger, thin non-PVC card, or other soft bevelled edge to separate the rear bezel from the rest of the phone. Do NOT use a non-bevelled-edge PVC card, screwdriver, or other metallic implement. You'll scratch something.
Once all the clips are popped, the rear housing should lift right off.
Open the lens wipe packet, and gently wipe ALL of the gold plates and springs in the housing and on the mainboard. I think there were a total of 5 or 7 plate/spring combos. Do NOT rub against the spring, only in the direction the spring points.
Use a jeweler's screwdriver to GENTLY bend the springs up just a hair. Put the screwdriver under the top end of the spring and lift SLOWLY and EVENLY across the left and right parts of a spring. You shouldn't go farther than 0.5mm (about 1/64th of an inch)
Once you feel satisfied, make sure all ribbon cables are seated evenly and put the rear housing back on. It should fit securely and no clips should be left un-popped.
Put all 7 screws back in. Tighten them AS TIGHT AS SAFELY POSSIBLE! Pay special attention to the screws next to the SIM and the top mic.
Put the rest of the parts of the phone back together, and use GPS Status from the Play Store to verify GPS is fixed.
:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. So I think I fixed the problem following this guide......