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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
Just curious, were the antenna or antenna(s) are located on our device?
I would think the bottom since the top of the back side is occupied by the camera...
Anyone?
Could the ring around the camera and the metal strip on the back be used for the antenna?
I'm thinking there's probably one at the bottom of the phone...
Anyone?
Anyone?
I have a feeling the metal strip on the back is used as an antenna. If you look at the inside of the cover there are two little connector pieces that touches the camera metal ring, which is connects to the metal strip on the back cover...
Can anyone confirm this?
Dunno for sure - my time has been pretty tied up in this phone and I haven't gotten around to a lot of what I want...finding a teardown has been one of my to-do's.
I can say from my extensively thorough testing of GPS/ A-GPS on the phone that the signal is hindered by placing your hand around and over the top of the screen in the upper left corner, including covering the volume controls from the side.
I have been watching readouts on my screen which get weaker when placing my hand in that position and stronger when removing it, almost instantaneously...duplicated more times then I can count.
Not exactly what you were looking for, but one more puzzle piece to play with.
Thanks for the input!
Yea I think you're right...It's somewhere in the upper (top) portion of the phone where the camera is located. Also as mentioned, I think the metal ring around the camera and the metal strip on the back cover is also a part of the antenna.
If you take the back cover off you'll see two little connector points. Most phones utilize the metal around the camera when can.
Hope to find a tear down soon....Glad to see someone else with interest of a tear down....Always fun to see a break down.
Cheers.
Blue6IX said:
Dunno for sure - my time has been pretty tied up in this phone and I haven't gotten around to a lot of what I want...finding a teardown has been one of my to-do's.
I can say from my extensively thorough testing of GPS/ A-GPS on the phone that the signal is hindered by placing your hand around and over the top of the screen in the upper left corner, including covering the volume controls from the side.
I have been watching readouts on my screen which get weaker when placing my hand in that position and stronger when removing it, almost instantaneously...duplicated more times then I can count.
Not exactly what you were looking for, but one more puzzle piece to play with.
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Click to collapse
Hello Guys,
I was loking for hours to find Aluminum Covers for the DHD to replace the plastic parts but wasn't able to find them (if they even exist).
I only know that HTC never officially released them.
But since I saw the MAO Method they used on the One S I wanted the same for my DHD
Does anyone know a shop where I can find these covers made of aluminum?
Thanks
MiXed
MiXed92 said:
Hello Guys,
I was loking for hours to find Aluminum Covers for the DHD to replace the plastic parts but wasn't able to find them (if they even exist).
I only know that HTC never officially released them.
But since I saw the MAO Method they used on the One S I wanted the same for my DHD
Does anyone know a shop where I can find these covers made of aluminum?
Thanks
MiXed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the doors? Won't find them because the clips to hold them in place wont function being made out of aluminum. Thus why only the immobile parts are made of it. If that is not what you are talking about, ignore me Not to mention the signal loss of grounded aluminum over the antennas would be crazy.
Darunion said:
You mean the doors? Won't find them because the clips to hold them in place wont function being made out of aluminum. Thus why only the immobile parts are made of it. If that is not what you are talking about, ignore me Not to mention the signal loss of grounded aluminum over the antennas would be crazy.
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Click to collapse
But would't it be possible to make the outer part of aluminum and just the clips of plastic?
But ok seems to be impossible sad to hear
MiXed92 said:
But would't it be possible to make the outer part of aluminum and just the clips of plastic?
But ok seems to be impossible sad to hear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
possible yes, but the biggest factor would be that each plastic door covers an antenna. the led flash covers the gps, the battery covers the wifi, and the bottom door covers your cellular antennas. So replacing those with any kind of metal would connect them to the outer shell and ground them, almost completely shielding your phone from signal.
I just looked at the antenna except of gps (didnt want to open it all up). Wifi is just simply spaned mabe same with GPS. Only antenna that runs a bit through the door is the Sim/SD Door Antenna but if you would take a pretty flat and small cable you could run it through the left hole beside the two connectors. I dont know much about antennas but this could even make a stronger signal doesnt it?
p.s. The hole i mean is a bit upper left the two connectors (phone up side down)
MiXed92 said:
I just looked at the antenna except of gps (didnt want to open it all up). Wifi is just simply spaned mabe same with GPS. Only antenna that runs a bit through the door is the Sim/SD Door Antenna but if you would take a pretty flat and small cable you could run it through the left hole beside the two connectors. I dont know much about antennas but this could even make a stronger signal doesnt it?
p.s. The hole i mean is a bit upper left the two connectors (phone up side down)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the simple answer is no. antenna length is specific to the frequency it uses.
I understand you need a specific lenght of the antenna for certain frequenzies. So the cable that would be needed to connect the two connectors should have around the same lenght as the the Antenna in the plastic door.
Do you know how accurate this would have to be and how do they realize to use different frequenzies with one antenna GSM around 900 MHZ and WCDMA around 2,1 GHZ?
Anything can be done the real question is how much are you willing to spend?
And is it really worth the trouble to go through trying to fix it?
You should just get a new phone instead of changing the parts.
So I was having a horrible time with my GPS constantly losing signal all of a sudden, to the point where it stopped getting a signal all together. I flashed it back to stock kitkat, and still the problem persisted!!!!! I had been on stock Lollipop and read some people thought that could be the issue. I've read a lot of other people having GPS problems on the G3.
This fix may not apply to all, but it was the ONLY FIX that worked for me, and it worked good.
I had modded my phone to put a copper shim under the CPU with some thermal compound, and this worked good at cooling my CPU, but over time, somehow it caused the GPS to lose signal. I found a service manual for the G3 and the GPS antenna runs right along the edge of the CPU, and was either causing the GPS signal to be shielded, OR, my copper shim was too thick and caused the contacts for the GPS antenna to have issues. As soon as I removed the copper shim, and made sure the screws in the upper left hand part of the phone (when looking at the phone from the back) were secure, very snug, but not too snug, then my GPS signal was fine!! I can post screen shots later, but I thought I'd write a fast post about how to solve this issue, for some at least. :good:
I can't be SURE if the copper shim was shielding the antenna from the signal, or if it was just causing poor contact for the antenna in the black plastic that makes contact with the board, (I'm NOT talking about the NFC antenna on the back of the case). I will test again later with a thinner copper shim, but when I had the shim removed, and had the phone together without screws, it still didn't get a GPS signal. As soon as I put a few screws in, the ones in the left upper corner, and snugly, the signal came back. I really want to be able to use a copper shim in my phone so when I have more time I will investigate this more but so far I've had ZERO luck getting the GPS signal to work again with the shim in the phone.
Ok, I have attached a picture showing the path of the GPS antenna from the service manual. The larger picture shows the main CPU, which has shielding all around it on the actual board, this is shown with no shielding. The top of the CPU is exposed of course, which is where people apply thermal compound and in some cases a copper shim to help with heating. The smaller picture shows the other side of the board completing the path of the GPS antenna. This is the upper left hand corner of the board, which, is where even without the copper shim, if I don't put the screws in the plastic part covering this corner, I get no GPS signal. So it's possible that the copper shim caused the plastic part to bulge just enough so that over time the plastic bent and lost sufficient contact with the GPS antenna contacts on the board and it could be that the copper shim does not directly interfere with the reception other than that. Especially considering the fact that it worked for about 3 weeks after I installed the shim and only GRADUALLY started having GPS problems. When I find my slimmer copper shims, I will try it again and post back.
I had the same problem when i tried a cooper shim. Drove me mad at the time case i tried so much diff rooms but it was the damn shim =/
Hello every one,
About a week ago I accidentally dropped my galaxy s7, although there were no visible damage to front and back but just after that I realized that my wifi range has become very weak.
I'm able to connect to my router if I stay close to it, but as soon as I starts moving away signal drops dramatically. This was not the case before my phone was dropped.
Someone told me that may be wifi antenna connection is loose.
So today I decided to open my s7, I successfully open the back cover but now I have no idea where the wifi antenna is. I search over the Internet some page says the antenna is at the top some says they are at the bottom.
So can anyone please tell me the exact location of where the wifi antenna is in galaxy s7.
It would be great if you can share images of that portion.
Thanks
That's the kind of infos to look for BEFORE opening a phone, don't you think?
Well, after some search, it seems that when you open the back cover of the S7, at the top of the phone, you have some kind of black plastic plate with metal parts in it, and there is another one at the bottom of the phone. The one at the bottom seems to include the speaker.
Both top and bottom parts are antennas, but my guess is that, due to the position of the phone when holding it for a phone call, they probably have tried to put the phone network antenna as far as possible from the head.
So I would say the top part is the Wifi antenna and the bottom part should be the phone network antenna.
Also, from my searches, it is said on different places that this top "black plastic plate with metal in it" which should be the Wifi antenna, is kind of weak and we have to be very careful when dismantling it. So it is possible that it broke when you dropped your phone.
Sorry, that's all I can do for you, nothing is sure as even in spare part, they only talk about "internal antenna" without specifying Wifi or not.
Even if it's for S7 edge, in your S7 you're looking for a part at the top of the phone that looks like this: https://stellatech.com/en/samsung-sm-g935f-galaxy-s7-edge-antenna-module,a,823480.html/
I've got exactly the same problem.
Did you find a fix?