Database Info

multi basys car kit from Carcomm

Hi All,
just got the second part of this car kit turn up today from totalpda
The kit does not come with a window mount so you will have to source one, but the fixings do have the standard "AMPS" pattern 4 hole screw mounting, so pretty much anything on the 'bay will "do"
There are 2 cables - one for 12/24v DC, terminated in two open wires , and an antenna cable with the usual ..er...FME(?) trailing plug attached to it . The base plate also comes with an in-line fuse holder to make things safer, but you have to provide your own scotch-loks or terminal strip ! theres no provision for connection to an external microphone or line in of the car stereo (Ive been *****ing to carcomm since the HTC TYTN for the latter) However,I have a bluetooh enabled stereo now so this no longer bothers me
The antenna coupler is (I assume) capacitively connected (via an air gap) to the radio antenna but produced a very useful 5dBm CPICH power improvement when wired up to a tri-band band glass mount antenna (verified in the Desires extended engineering hidden menu)
flaws? well just one major goof!
A few times I have used the rear facing camera on my phones, suitably cradled, to capture video of bad driving or other crimes committed in front of me .
no chance of doing that now! the antenna booster section obscures it totally!!
overall though - rather good - although I would have liked to have seen composite video out so i can feed the sat nav output into my flip up TV screen like I "jury rigged" my old htc raphael
hope that helps someone out there - any questions just ask and I will try to answer them
regards
Rob
--
MW0CQU

Photos would be good, thanks

Photos would be good, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a fair point, well made ;-)
ok lts see if this will work:
First pic - The empty cradle straight on
the two wires are DC power and antenna cable as described above
Second pic - A side view. odd angles due to door pillar and me being too lazy to unstick the mount. The antenna bulge is part of the "front" plate the back piece is thin and rectangular in section. the whole concept of the multi-basys is to have interchangable front pieces as you change phones over time.
Third pic - Phone fitted , showing a Map
Fourth pic - showing the flaw in that you can put the unit horizontal but you cant use it to video things happening in front of you as the antenna bulge obscures 50% of the view of the camera
hope that helps
Cheers
Rob
--
MW0CQU

G Tablet Hardware Breakdown (with pics)

So, I posted this in two of the posts buried deep within the bowels of the original thread, but I think it's a good idea to have it separated into it's own thread.
There are 4 screws under the rubber feet on back of the tablet that help hold the device together. Aside from these 4 screws, there are 3 plastic clips per side that hold the case closed.
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When you break the case open, you'll see the 2-cell, 7.4V battery, the motherboard, and the metal inner frame. The frame is held in place by screws around the perimeter, including 1 screw that is covered by the motherboard.
The EMF shield simply snaps off, revealing the hardware within. The Tegra 2 chip is of the T20 series, and the board is populated with 512MB of RAM, and the 2 chips composing the 16GB flash storage. The WIFI/Bluetooth module is made by USI. Audio is processed by a Realtek ALC5623 chip, through two separate speakers which are built into small enclosures.
Also, there are spaces for a 3G modem and what could be assumed to be a GPS unit left unpopulated.
There is nothing interesting to be seen on the back side of the main board except that it can be noted that there is space for an additional 512MB of ram to be added to the board and an EMF shield to be placed around it.
There is a hard-reset button on the main board, located next to the battery and below the 3G pads. There is also an unpopulated space for a second button.
Although not pictured, the screen is a standard netbook screen (which explains the viewing angles). It is manufactured by AU Optronics, model B101AW06. It is controlled by a Texas Instruments LVDS83B.
The capacitive functions are handled by Tango S32s. There is an AMTEL chip on the board with them. I'm assuming it's an interface between the main board and the capacitive controllers.
---
On the whole, this is a very well built device. There is room to upgrade for those daring enough to take on the task. It will be interesting to see what people do the device when it becomes more mass market in the coming weeks.
---
Updates:
The chipset for the wifi/bt module is a Broadcom BCM4329.

I found this if someone wants to give it a try it can make your tablet a cdma 3g device for use with either sprint or verizon. http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/284022690/CDMA_Module.html
View attachment 442763

It looks like that touch controller is capable of more than just the two points that it currently allows. Apparently its software controlled how much it can sense.

t3h_g3n3r4l,
can you take a look at the front facing part of the frame, and see what is behind the 4 front buttons? I was wondering if you could use nail polish remover to remove the paint behind the buttons (so some light would shine through). How hard was it to remove the main board from the case?
Thanks!

cttwarnock said:
t3h_g3n3r4l,
can you take a look at the front facing part of the frame, and see what is behind the 4 front buttons? I was wondering if you could use nail polish remover to remove the paint behind the buttons (so some light would shine through). How hard was it to remove the main board from the case?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a circuit board down there. I didn't bother to see what all was on it though. It might be possible to use some sort of SMD LED backlight and use light-piping to etch lit buttons in whatever color you want. The only downside is that you'd most likely lose the ambient light sensor functionality.
It was fairly easy to pull the main board. All of the wiring connectors use positive force to keep them together as opposed to locking connectors, so it was just a matter of pulling everything loose, which wasn't difficult.
The hardest part was getting into the case. When pulling it apart, it's easiest to start at the corner diagonally opposite the volume button working towards the front panel buttons, then down the side with the volume controls, then down the side with the dock connector, then finally the edge with the USB ports.
Marine6680 said:
It looks like that touch controller is capable of more than just the two points that it currently allows. Apparently its software controlled how much it can sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I wonder if the AMTEL chip on the board with those sensor chips is actually what is limiting us the two-point multitouch, as opposed to Android. It looked like a microcontroller chip (I think maybe a PIC), I just never really bothered to read all of the etchings on it.
Looks like I need to open this thing up again and see what else I can discover.

I can't stop thinking about those pads for the additional 512mb of memory. Sourcing the chips and some extremely steady hands could pay off in spades.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

amathophobia said:
I can't stop thinking about those pads for the additional 512mb of memory. Sourcing the chips and some extremely steady hands could pay off in spades.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't directly solder to the chips. A toaster oven, otoh, should do the trick.

cttwarnock said:
t3h_g3n3r4l,
can you take a look at the front facing part of the frame, and see what is behind the 4 front buttons? I was wondering if you could use nail polish remover to remove the paint behind the buttons (so some light would shine through). How hard was it to remove the main board from the case?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love to see someone do this!!!!!

t3h_g3n3r4l said:
You can't directly solder to the chips. A toaster oven, otoh, should do the trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have hand soldered to a surface before, there's actually lots of tutorials online of how to get good at it, it becomes an art form to some. usually comes down to using the right amount of flux paste in the right areas.
If I can get one of these devices, and someone can find a source for those chips I am 100% sure that I can get those chips on.
same with the 3G and GPS modules
If you all find it, I will solder. but, y'know, make 100% damn sure their right first.
also, even if I DO get them on the board, will the device even recognize the hardware? It might right of the bat, but more likely, we'll have to modify the kernel, which hey, I'm hardware, not software, someone's gotta be with me on the other half of this project if the need arises.
EDIT: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...GPS-SG-T/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuD5AK9w5s05iDvClDmkWN6 this might work for that gps space... I'd really have to get my hands on the hardware to see if it's compatible...
EDIT EDIT: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/109064341/LEA_5S.html actually I think this would work better.

cttwarnock said:
t3h_g3n3r4l,
can you take a look at the front facing part of the frame, and see what is behind the 4 front buttons? I was wondering if you could use nail polish remover to remove the paint behind the buttons (so some light would shine through). How hard was it to remove the main board from the case?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when I get mine I will break out the multimeter and see if there are any loose spots i could drain power to some led's for. that takes care of the light source, but making the light shine through is a whole other problem. making it shine through the pre-existing plastic is also going to be finicky, you want to make sure you arent going to damage anything that would break the capacitive touch screen.

Lemcott said:
I have hand soldered to a surface before, there's actually lots of tutorials online of how to get good at it, it becomes an art form to some. usually comes down to using the right amount of flux paste in the right areas.
If I can get one of these devices, and someone can find a source for those chips I am 100% sure that I can get those chips on.
same with the 3G and GPS modules
If you all find it, I will solder. but, y'know, make 100% damn sure their right first.
also, even if I DO get them on the board, will the device even recognize the hardware? It might right of the bat, but more likely, we'll have to modify the kernel, which hey, I'm hardware, not software, someone's gotta be with me on the other half of this project if the need arises.
EDIT: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...GPS-SG-T/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuD5AK9w5s05iDvClDmkWN6 this might work for that gps space... I'd really have to get my hands on the hardware to see if it's compatible...
EDIT EDIT: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/109064341/LEA_5S.html actually I think this would work better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I might have to give the whole solder to a grid array package another look.
I also agree that the uBlox GPS would be the better choice.

Lemcott said:
I have hand soldered to a surface before, there's actually lots of tutorials online of how to get good at it, it becomes an art form to some. usually comes down to using the right amount of flux paste in the right areas.
If I can get one of these devices, and someone can find a source for those chips I am 100% sure that I can get those chips on.
same with the 3G and GPS modules
If you all find it, I will solder. but, y'know, make 100% damn sure their right first.
also, even if I DO get them on the board, will the device even recognize the hardware? It might right of the bat, but more likely, we'll have to modify the kernel, which hey, I'm hardware, not software, someone's gotta be with me on the other half of this project if the need arises.
EDIT: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...GPS-SG-T/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuD5AK9w5s05iDvClDmkWN6 this might work for that gps space... I'd really have to get my hands on the hardware to see if it's compatible...
EDIT EDIT: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/109064341/LEA_5S.html actually I think this would work better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An easier route may be to resolder what looks to be the Mini-PCI express port back on. That would let you pop in all sorts of cards, notably a 3G+GPS card. Step one is finding out if its mini-pci express. From the pics they look close.

SMT soldering is not too difficult by hand with the proper set up. I had to learn to do it while in the military, everything from SMT repair to repairing boards with bullet holes through the middle. The only chips that need an oven to solder are the ones with a grid of contacts on the bottom surface of the chip like CPUs.

People used to add memory to the original xbox. Not sure if the process the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi3Bi2i2bEg
There are a lot of diagrams and source info on adding mini pci cards on mydellmini.com.
http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-1010/12234-serious-talk-about-mini-pci-e-slots-4.html
http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/del...s/4635-sdhc-mini-pcie-adapter-would-work.html
Hope these can be of some help.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

amathophobia said:
People used to add memory to the original xbox. Not sure if the process the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi3Bi2i2bEg
There are a lot of diagrams and source info on adding mini pci cards on mydellmini.com.
http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-1010/12234-serious-talk-about-mini-pci-e-slots-4.html
http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/del...s/4635-sdhc-mini-pcie-adapter-would-work.html
Hope these can be of some help.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the Viewsonic uses BGA memory, which means the solder points aren't exposed and unfortunately you can't use a soldering iron on them. Ovens have to be used to solder them.
It would be interesting to find out if the Mini-PCIe connector would work though.
EDIT:
The next time someone has one of these tablets apart, would you please measure the height of the standoffs for the Mini-PCIe? If I can get that info, I'll order a connector and give it a try. Might be nice to add 3G/GPS for (relatively) cheap.

KorbenD said:
I believe the Viewsonic uses BGA memory, which means the solder points aren't exposed and unfortunately you can't use a soldering iron on them. Ovens have to be used to solder them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my original point. I think it can also be done with solder paste and a heat gun, but you may as well go ahead and bake the whole thing at that point. I would be much more comfortable soldering to the USB host and adding some additional ports/gadgets than I would be with breaking out a heat gun and torching my brand new tablet.

Guys i like where this is going.....lets keep on it this!
Any updates?
Getting 3g/gps and possibility of the keys to light up......this would be killer!

Kov695 said:
Guys i like where this is going.....lets keep on it this!
Any updates?
Getting 3g/gps and possibility of the keys to light up......this would be killer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not lately. I've been completely wrapped up with school. I have the feeling it will be 2 or 3 more weeks before I get the free time to do anything with my tab other than just load firmware and use it.

did pci-e can use turbo memory？

looks like there might be room near the usb ports for a stripped down usb hub and 3g modem. We could get both 3G data and voice with skype or fring

[Q] Can we build a better antenna?

The signal on this phone is way worse than my old Motorola Milestone. The only time I see green for cell signal in "battery use" is when I'm outside, whereas on the Droid it was almost always solid green. I'm never out of signal but I understand that the better the signal, the less battery use by the radio.
I found a thread in the Incredible S section and a video on youtube that tried to make the antenna in the cover better by sticking aluminum foil onto the back, extending from the pins on the cover.
To test, I first tried taking off the cover (lost signal) and putting 2 thin strips of aluminum directly on the contact pins on the phone to see if I could get signal without the cover. It worked.
I then built 2 random network of strips extending the pins on the cover (without touching the other pin's extension network) and sticking them down with tape. I made contact between the aluminum foil and the pins, and with itself always non-shiney to non-shiney side. I think the shiny side might be coated with something that isn't conductive.
Now the cover is back on but I'm not sure it's making any difference. Still -87db to -97db while holding the phone in the house.
Has anyone else tried this? I might try thin copper wire next.
Any wisdom on how the stock back cover works as an antenna? Isn't it plastic? Is it just the small gold pins?
Let's build a better antenna
Sent from my Sensation using XDA App

I'm not very good but I agree with you the signal are very week
In my house I get 1 bar of signal whereas if just step one foot out of my house the signal bar goes full
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda premium

You can make one new antenna, but you must remove old one, or else, your new one can not work as you expected. I think original one should not worse than some standard, so flash a new radio package should have some improve one this problem. I have GPS signal weak problem some months ago, but after I flash latest radio package, GPS can be locked within several minutes without a valid data connection. Before that time, my GPS can not be locked within ten minutes.

Take a look over at the HTC Titan forums, there were a few guys over there looking into signal problems and they had all sorts of ideas while I had a Titan. The titan is pretty much a sensation xl with wp7 and the titan, xl and our sensations antennae all work in the same way with the contacts on the phone and battery cover. Hope this helps.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE using xda premium

sparx180 said:
Take a look over at the HTC Titan forums, there were a few guys over there looking into signal problems and they had all sorts of ideas while I had a Titan. The titan is pretty much a sensation xl with wp7 and the titan, xl and our sensations antennae all work in the same way with the contacts on the phone and battery cover. Hope this helps.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll try a search there. Do you remember anything working?
I'm interested to know how the stock antenna/battery cover works first. That'll help me understand how we could improve it.
Sent from my Sensation using XDA

Flyview said:
Thanks, I'll try a search there. Do you remember anything working?
I'm interested to know how the stock antenna/battery cover works first. That'll help me understand how we could improve it.
Sent from my Sensation using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They were using copper strips on the outside of the case that worked but obviously was ugly. But last time I checked they were looking into scraping away the top layer of oxidized contacts to get a better contact with the phone. But Titan mobile signal and WiFi signal is waay worse than sensation. Mine was so bad I sold mine and got my XE so I'm sure someone over there could fill you in or you could find something worth experimenting with.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE using xda premium

hello,
i've tried such things when i had a sensation. I gave up since the problem wasn't that bad for me and for some more effective measures to be taken the phone itself had to be modified in a way that warranty service people would not like.
Anyway, the antennas on sensation are, as you know, located in it's back cover. Those small exposed copper pins make contact to the corresponding locations on the phone. If one would crack open the sensation's back cover and rip off it's 3 layer construction, one would see that those copper pads are linked with some small copper conductor, forming the antenna system. Unlike older htc phones i've hacked, sensation uses a different antenna layout. If I were to try to improve it, i would go by the following steps/rules:
1. Any antenna on these type of devices, is actually a bridge between 2 points, as opposed to more traditional antenna design that has a ground pin (cold connection) and the so called hot wire - the antenna itself. These 2 are separated in normal designs, but since the nature of the wavelengths involved in gsm communications these 2 wires are actually bridged and form something called a ground loop.
2. here's a typical setup for a phone implying the same antenna system like sensation. (click for a larger version)
The small pads (blocks) are pairs used for each wireless functions. So let's say that green is gsm, blue is bluetooth/wlan and red is gps. In the right side, the phone side (without the cover) you can see that these section have their ground connections linked together. If you were to use a multimeter on the phone side and try to measure each point for continuity (with the ground connection - ex. metallic shield of the microusb connector) you will find the ones corresponding to ground.
If you look into the left side, the battery cover part, you will see that each pair has it's pins linked together. At first, if you connect the cover to the phone, it would appear that you actually short circuit everything there and it looks like a huge mess. That's true, but the manner in witch the short circuit is made, creates a ground loop. These are sensible to RF signals and although hated in other areas (hum noise on some audio equipments, etc) they are essential here as they are actually what the phone uses as an antenna.
3. note that since i currently don't have a sensation, the simple graphic representation placed above may not be 100% accurate to what you will find in this particular phone. The ideea remains the same. One must use a multimeter, placed on continuity tester to measure the points on the battery cover then - the ones on the phone. You try to place your probes on those pins - the multimeter beeps, then you've found a pair. On the phone itself you'll find more pins that "beep" when measured together, once you found all of them, you'll figure out what's the phone's ground pins for these antennas.
4. Once you have a pretty good ideea on what is linked to what and how the connections are made, it's time to figure out what antenna does what function. With the back cover removed, you should try to connect each pins corresponding to a pair, you can use a small copper wire (careful not to touch anything else). If you see gsm/bluetooth/wlan/gps working, you would have found what what each pair of pins does.
5. redesigning the whole antenna system would involve placing some copper foil as material for the bridge between the pins. Small copper wire isn't good here, you need something with a greater conductive surface.
6. Experiment, you may notice some improvements but take care how you mix the parts of your custom antenna to the original battery cover. In reality, the results will be less spectacular since the whole design is, if i am to say,well ... badly engineered. The fact that these antennas are almost all the time covered by your hand when holding the phone, doesn't help either. It just proves that simpler designs (like the hd2 for example) are superior in both sensitivity and stability in this matter.
One important note, however. It is recommended that you use surgical gloves and/or use a wrist strap to reduce the amount of static electricity produces by your body and induced on those small antennas. Some of them are very sensible to these things, you may actually further reduce their performance by damaging (reducing overall gain though transistor degradation) the small and delicate input stage of their RF transceivers.

facdemol said:
hello,
i've tried such things when i had a sensation. I gave up since the problem wasn't that bad for me and for some more effective measures to be taken the phone itself had to be modified in a way that warranty service people would not like.
Anyway, the antennas on sensation are, as you know, located in it's back cover. Those small exposed copper pins make contact to the corresponding locations on the phone. If one would crack open the sensation's back cover and rip off it's 3 layer construction, one would see that those copper pads are linked with some small copper conductor, forming the antenna system. Unlike older htc phones i've hacked, sensation uses a different antenna layout. If I were to try to improve it, i would go by the following steps/rules:
1. Any antenna on these type of devices, is actually a bridge between 2 points, as opposed to more traditional antenna design that has a ground pin (cold connection) and the so called hot wire - the antenna itself. These 2 are separated in normal designs, but since the nature of the wavelengths involved in gsm communications these 2 wires are actually bridged and form something called a ground loop.
2. here's a typical setup for a phone implying the same antenna system like sensation. (click for a larger version)
The small pads (blocks) are pairs used for each wireless functions. So let's say that green is gsm, blue is bluetooth/wlan and red is gps. In the right side, the phone side (without the cover) you can see that these section have their ground connections linked together. If you were to use a multimeter on the phone side and try to measure each point for continuity (with the ground connection - ex. metallic shield of the microusb connector) you will find the ones corresponding to ground.
If you look into the left side, the battery cover part, you will see that each pair has it's pins linked together. At first, if you connect the cover to the phone, it would appear that you actually short circuit everything there and it looks like a huge mess. That's true, but the manner in witch the short circuit is made, creates a ground loop. These are sensible to RF signals and although hated in other areas (hum noise on some audio equipments, etc) they are essential here as they are actually what the phone uses as an antenna.
3. note that since i currently don't have a sensation, the simple graphic representation placed above may not be 100% accurate to what you will find in this particular phone. The ideea remains the same. One must use a multimeter, placed on continuity tester to measure the points on the battery cover then - the ones on the phone. You try to place your probes on those pins - the multimeter beeps, then you've found a pair. On the phone itself you'll find more pins that "beep" when measured together, once you found all of them, you'll figure out what's the phone's ground pins for these antennas.
4. Once you have a pretty good ideea on what is linked to what and how the connections are made, it's time to figure out what antenna does what function. With the back cover removed, you should try to connect each pins corresponding to a pair, you can use a small copper wire (careful not to touch anything else). If you see gsm/bluetooth/wlan/gps working, you would have found what what each pair of pins does.
5. redesigning the whole antenna system would involve placing some copper foil as material for the bridge between the pins. Small copper wire isn't good here, you need something with a greater conductive surface.
6. Experiment, you may notice some improvements but take care how you mix the parts of your custom antenna to the original battery cover. In reality, the results will be less spectacular since the whole design is, if i am to say,well ... badly engineered. The fact that these antennas are almost all the time covered by your hand when holding the phone, doesn't help either. It just proves that simpler designs (like the hd2 for example) are superior in both sensitivity and stability in this matter.
One important note, however. It is recommended that you use surgical gloves and/or use a wrist strap to reduce the amount of static electricity produces by your body and induced on those small antennas. Some of them are very sensible to these things, you may actually further reduce their performance by damaging (reducing overall gain though transistor degradation) the small and delicate input stage of their RF transceivers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome!!! Thanks bud. I'm gonna bust out the multimeter.
So the antenna is basically some copper inside the cover connecting two adjacent pins? I assume just connecting them straight isn't the best antenna (or else they would have just done that on the phone). [EDIT: Ah, for the other two antennas, they are indeed linked with a straight piece of copper. The GSM antenna is two small contacts that I assume are somehow linked through the inside of the cover] Is this connection actually long (distance) within the cover?
Also, what are those "extensive modifications" that would actually create a big difference? I bought my phone second hand so I don't think I have warranty (or do I?). Is it building a traditional ground + hot wire antenna?

Ok, here is what I found. I'm pretty sure I used the multimeter correctly. Didn't have a continuity setting per se, but there was one in the resistance category that had an arrow pointing to a plus and it worked like in example 1 here.
What I found on the cover, is pretty much what we expected.
What I found on the phone is kind of surprising: each pair is connected to itself. Each pin is connected to the ground already as well, EXCEPT for 1 near the top.
Thoughts on how the ground loop is generated and what to try bridging with copper foil next?
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the design i've draw in the previous post, took the simplest design when using a ground loop in a phone like the sensation. As you can see, in reality, things are a bit more complex. Since you have those pins already connected one to another and those pairs to the phone ground (usb metallic shield) you already have a ground loop inside the phone and you actually extend it when you place the back cover.
Without trying to be more technical about multilayer pcb design or ground planes on a pcb, let's see what can be done about the gsm antenna and it's performance.
1. a logical first step would be to identify the pins corresponding to this antenna. Try to make some sort of cable with one end that can be fitted over those pins on the phone and the other end to an external antenna (piece of metal, if needed, use a simple metallic spoon or fork). The cable has to have 2 smaller cables inside, one for each pin. Once you find where are the pins for the gsm antenna we can proceed further. You may want to try other means to identify this, it's just that you may need a cable later on this "guide" so i've suggested to have one ready.
2. it's kind of difficult to experiment with high frequency antenna designs since there are no hobby tools capable of measuring these kind of frequencies (in the 0.8 - 1.8 - 2.4 Ghz area) and neither their amptitude in a given circuit. Since the phone itself has some means to measure this, we'll .. aah, use the phone. Signal bars, dB meters, whatever you find relevant. Another thing i do when i experiment, is to .. oversize things for more visible and clearer results. Of course, if, let's say you have a broken old phone and want to see if it still works, you won't remove it's battery and plug it to a car battery - you will blow it up. That's not one of those things were you want to oversize. Helpfully, antennas are of different nature. So, when you have to decide if a particular type of antenna is helpful, make a bigger one just like it. If the bigger one works, and the smaller one doesn't - then the design works but it's a size problem. If the bigger one doesn't work, then surely the smaller one won't work either here so you shouldn't try to make one to fit in the phone.
3. So, you got your pins right and know what's the gsm ones. Let's talk about some of the most simplest designs. Since RF energy is invisible and.. without any tools, impossible to measure, i'll be making an analogy with magnets and magnetic forces because they are of a similar origin but you can observe the effect of magnetic forces applied to an object even if you don't see the actual magnetic fields.
So, here are the 2 examples we’ll be talking today.
As you can see in the picture, the first one is a simple metallic plate and the second one contains 2 plates, one smaller then the other (about ¼) separated and not touching each other. Below each design, you have a representation of what would you see if we were to look at them from their profile, with the antennas standing vertically. Let’s talk about how they work. In case of RF energy, you would have a RF field, a spatial area on witch these waves propagate. If you place a metallic object in this field, an amount of this field’s energy will be passed to the metallic object (the process is called “induction”). We can measure this since this process generates a bunch of free moving electrons inside our metallic object. The stronger the field or the larger the surface area -> we “aquire” more electrons. If the field is too strong, a lot of electrons are being induced, they kind of “rub” on each other and surrounding molecules (it’s called brownian effect) so we produce heat - a microwave oven works like this. If we still were to pump up a greater field and to induce more energy, we will produce more heat. If we still try to induce more energy, we will obtain nuclear fusion. If we find ourselves rather more insistent and still try, we will obtain energy-matter convesions (like einstein's e=mc2) and if we still try to induce more and more energy, the matter we create will collapse under it's own gravitational field, thus we'll obtain a small black hole and surely we'll get banned from XDA for this. But to scale things down a bit and still talk about some lonely electrons, based on the general definition of the electric current, our electrons constitute a small electric current induced in the metallic object by that RF field. In a phone, that electric current is what’s being filtered and amplified. All forms of RF fields work just like this, so in the phone’s case, gsm, wlan, bluetooth etc. Thus, we need to “aquire” (it’s not the most physically correct term.. I know, but I try to keep it simple) more electrons. That’s the role of any antenna. The first design works great in areas were you have a relatively good field strength (phone signal) since it offers a big contact surface with the electromagnetic waves. This however is not always enough in places where you have a weaker field since the longer the distance to the source, the more the waves dissipate over a greater surface and from the point of view of a single receiving device – loose energy. The second design is a hybrid between those satellite dishes you may see on top of some buildings and some high gain antenna designs use in wi-fi networking. Simply adding a second metallic plate to the larger one, changes things quite a bit. I’ll get back on it after another schematic, showing how these 2 designs receive those badly needed electrons.
So, you can see, the red square (we’ll call it emitter) and our antennas. In the first case, the red thing emits and the black thing (antenna, profile view) receives those red curved lines (field energy). Because of this, a bit of red “appears” inside the black thing.
The second case looks a bit more complicated and yep.. it is. Remember that some time ago, I’ve talked about comparing RF fields with magnetic fields for the sake of simplicity. Well.. it’s time to do that stuff.. Imagine the red thing as a strong magnet. You have 2 iron plates at some distance from the magnet. You also glue these to keep them secure and not attracted by the magnet. In this setup, we say that we’ve “placed the metallic things inside the magnetic field generated by the magnet” (or something like this). The metallic plates are subjected to the force of the magnetic field, we can observe this easily because we have to keep them secured in place, not to move near the magnet. It’s the equivalent of the RF field described above. BUT something extra is also happening. While being attracted to the magnet the plates also become temporarely magnetized. So, they, themselves, will attract other metallic objects. This means that they have created a magnetic field of their own. The smaller plate, closer to the magnet, produces a larger secondary field, it’s effects reaches the second larger plate and get’s added up to the magnet’s field. Thus, the larger plate, receives a greater magnetic field in this case as opposed to the first example were only one plate is being used. The larger plate will also produce a magnetic field of it’s own, it will also reach the smaller plate, it will be induced in it, then the smaller plate will “re-emit” it to the larger one … and it’s kind of complicated even here.
The fact is, and it’s important, if we get back to waves.. it can go the other way around. Some bunch of electrons moving inside a metal plate will also create a RF field. So, maybe it’s easier to understand now, it’s actually rather difficult to design antennas since they act in both ways. They receive a part of the RF field, but they also can emit at the same time, a part of the energy they just received. The second design incorporates this facts.
4. After all of this.. how do we link those phone pins to these plates? Well that’s simple. In the first case, we will solder of at least secure 2 wires to 2 opposing corners of that plate. Those will be linked to the phone’s pins (polarity doesn’t count here). In the second case, some experiments must be done. First connect the larger plate to the phone, just like in the first case. Observe if you have any improvements, try to also connect the smaller plate to one corner or the other (by another wire). See what produces best results.
5. How big is .. big? When experimenting with larger antennas, I suggest that the larger plate to be around 50cm – 80cm in diagonal.
6. Materials… My choice would be copper. Thickness is very less relevant. Since copper foil is harder to get, you may also use aluminum foil if you manage to secure wires on it. Copper can be found on electronics store as prefabricated “blank” PCB’s. They are pretty cheap also. You can easily solder a wire on them. If you get these things, go for a single plated one, not the ones that have both sides covered with copper.
7. If you find a design that works for you in the large scale, then will try to find a way to make it smaller and fit it the phone's back case. But if the larger one doesn't work, if any large antenna design doesn't improve things much, the smaller ones surely won't help either and the problem must be searched in other places (phone's firmware, hardware etc).

I'm sorry I've got nothing useful to input in this but a guy on here before was suggesting to create a fractal antenna? something that maximizes the area of the back cover. I googled it a bit and though it was a good idea but I totally have no ideas about how to do such.

You can get stickers that you stick inside your back cover that are supposed to improve the signal. I've read mixed reviews as to whether this actually works...
http://www.phoneaccessoriesuk.co.uk/htc-sensation/268-htc-sensation-signal-booster.html

fractal antennas are better in the respect that they minimize the space requirements for antenna modules inside the phone. However, that's not diy stuff
One could try to reproduce the design with various house hold items but at this scale, when talking efficiency a simple copper plate would outperform any household fractal antenna system.
In general, although there are phones with fractal antennas, they are more efficient in higher wavelengths (lower frequencies). For example,you may have seen frigate class military vessels at sea. They have some tall 6-7 meters antennas (not the radar dishes, or "tv antenna like" yagi ones) that look like a simple rod or an extended version of your car's fm radio. They use fractal designs, and what you see as the "antenna tube" is only the flexible, weather proof casing of the actual fractal antenna inside. But they operate on a different band/wavelength.
@chrisw99 those things are actually what i was talking when suggesting my second example for antenna design. The phone's antenna acts like the bigger plate in that example and these stickers do the job of the smaller plate. Actually in theory they should work but because of the fact each phone has a slightly different antenna or placement for the RF module and these stickers try to be the "one size fits all" type, in reality your mileage may vary.

While I like the idea of building a better antenna (I’m going fiddle w/ this tonight after work), this phone has had much better signal, GPS and Wi-Fi then my Nexus 1 could ever dream of having. GPS is instantaneous on|off (N1 would stay on for up to a min after app close), Wi-Fi connects immediately (N1 would show connection but lag before my icon turned green). I have been VERY happy w/ all aspects if it’s signal.

Ahhh, great info to wake up to haha.
The GSM pins, I forgot to mention, are definitely the bottom ones.
I agree, the wifi has great reception (except when touched; very top pins). Is the wifi antenna still propogating through the cover? Or is it just the little strip of contact?
Sent from my Sensation using XDA

normally wifi antenna should be linked to a small copper foil inside 2 layers of the battery cover. That cover seems to be made out of about 2-3-4 layers of plastic, glued together in some way. One thing i never understood, why the holes in the housing?.
If i remember well, when i had the sensation i was most impressed with the gps performance. That was above any other phone i used before. Wifi performance was not that good, especially when browsing in landscape and covering the antenna with one hand. I also had one hd2 and gsm performance was kind of worse in low carrier coverage areas. Things like hd2 having 1-2 lines of signal indicator, sensation - none.
The wireless performance of the sensation is kind of mixed, some people compaining some never having any problems.

What do you think about rewiring the antennas to switch the wifi and GSM? I.e., cover up the contacts and run wires to the other antenna from the now covered original contact points.
P.s. keeping the phone in 2G mode gives me substantially better signal (ex. -69db instead of -83db).
The only reason I want to improve the signal is for battery use for the radio. I haven't actually had no signal anywhere I've gone...yet. Am I correct in thinking more power is given to the radio under "low" signal conditions though?
Sent from my Sensation using XDA

yes, that is correct. Under poor signal, the phone's tranceiver will require more power to operate. The amplifier stage inside the transceiver will need to increase it's overall gain in order to compensate, that uses more power. However, in modern phones we're talking about 1-2mA (max. 3mA) variations in stand by. That's rather small, if we also take notice of the fact that even so, the phone won't draw 2-3mA extra all the time, only when updating it's status with the corresponding GSM cell in your area (that's why they call it "cellular network"). On older phones (i mean really old) yes, that used to be a problem since individual GSM antennas were further apart from each other, phones back then needed to have stronger transceivers inside, that were able to cope with the increased distance. A small fact: the miniaturization of phones today was possible not primarily because of evolution of electronic stuffs that go inside a phone, but because carriers upgraded their networks and newer phones didn't need powerful RF transceivers inside - along with with all their required circuitry. The second most important thing is the development of high performance li-ion / polymer cells and only at third place, the evolutions in cpu/mcu or other highly intergrated circuits that now equip even the most basic phones. Since the bulky old transceivers were gone, we had a lot of space inside to put new things like cameras or bluetooth/wlan transceivers.
About switching gsm with wlan, first of all you must test how big is the improvement. Don't switch it yet, instead place a larger copper aluminum plate for the gsm antenna and check out if it improves things. If you find out that a 0.5 meter plate improves signal reception by only 20%.. well i don't think it will be relevant at the small scale, when you switch the antennas.

Really? Only 2-3mA draw difference between perfect and low signal? I might be mistaken but I remember my old phone's battery draining quicker under low signal.
I'm going to try aluminum first, that's all I have. Does it matter how long the connecting wires are?
P.s. my signal goes down considerably during a call. -69 to -90db! Just tested outside in my backyard.
Sent from my Sensation using XDA

yes, only a few miliamps. I've conducted some tests at hardware level for this. For example, the HD2 (latest phone i've test using this, here's the topic: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1018833 ) has a standby consumption of about 4-5mA (ranging from 0.2 - 6 mA). Standby means screen off, all wireless off (except gsm), processor in low power state. If i remove the antenna, the phone will still have about 1 line on the network signal indicator. Power consumption will increase with 2-3 mA. But that's about it.
The measurements are being done using a professional multimeter directly linked in series with the phone's battery.
The situation will be different if you use the phone in order to make.. phone calls. With full signal, once you make a phone call the phone's transceiver must begin to emit to a nearby carrier antenna, therefore a lot more power will be used. While having the screen off, consumption will jump from 2-3 mA to about 210-240mA during a call. If you have low signal, you can add another 100mA. (that's much...).
So if you make frequent phone calls or use the 3g networks all the time (always on type of connection) you will increase your power consumption with about 40-50%. Stand by and some rare phone calls won't have a noticeable impact, but actively using 3g and making phone calls.. well, that's another story.
Yes, it's normal for signal to drop a little when on a phone call, especially on poor carrier coverage areas. In fact, the signal is constant but your phone's RF transceiver is using very much power to transmit and due to something called supply voltage collapse (voltage drop occurring when a large amount of energy is being drawn from the battery) the receiving part will lose some of it's sensitivity.
2G signal is actually more stronger then 3G from the user's point of view. 2G was developed first, there are more 2g antennas then 3G ones, they covered a greater area with better antenna density. It's far easier and cheaper to build and install a 2g antenna then the more complicated 3G, 3.5G or 4G ones. 2G frequency emission require less power from both antenna and connecting phone then that of 3G.
as an interesting fact, a dual core cpu phone will have a maximum consumption of about 550-600mA. This is only occurring at full load (all wireless on, benchmarks, full screen brightness, etc). From a simple calculation based on the fact that this measurement was done on a 4V battery (about 60-70% charge) we can deduct that a modern phone consumes a maximum of about 2.2Watts

Relay 4G Hardware Reference Guide

I've only had my Relay a week and already it's been torn apart! But what's bad for warranties is good for you, because now I can make a hardware reference guide for this phone like I did for the Sidekick 4G.
As before, this is a work in progress and based on my own research. I'm not an expert on cell phone tech, so everything here is provided with no warranties. Please let me know if you notice any mistakes and I'll be happy to update this document. I'm particularly interested in better documentation for the various components, like in-house PDFs.
Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G Specifications:
Released as T-Mobile exclusive on September 19th, 2012.
SGH-T699
FCC ID: A3LSGHT699
2G Network: GSM/GPRS/EDGE – 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
3G Network: UMTS/HSPA+ – 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz
WiFi: 802.11A/B/G/N dual-band 2.4/5GHz
Bluetooth 4.0
Near Field Communication
CPU: 32-bit 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (ARM V7 Architecture)
GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 225
RAM: 1 Gigabyte DDR2
Flash: 8 Gigabytes, ~5GB available to user under stock ROM
MicroSD slot for expansion
Display: 4" Samsung SuperAMOLED screen @ 800x480 with Multi-Touch Capacitive Touchscreen. 16,777,216 colours
Keyboard: 5 row 52-key QWERTY keyboard with inverted-T arrow keys
Rear Camera: 5 Megapixel with LED flash
Front Camera: 1.3 Megapixel
Other Features:
Augmented GPS/GLONASS
Accelerometer/Gyroscope
Compass
Light sensor/Proximity sensor
Mobile High-Definition Link (HDMI)
Size: 4.96" x 2.56" x 0.53"
Weight: 5.6 Ounces
Power: 1800mAH Lithium-Polymer rechargeable battery model EB-L1K6ILA with NFC antenna integrated.
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...y_S_Relay_4G_English_User_Manual_UVLG8_F4.pdf - User manual
http://www.jax184.com/projects/Relay 4G/Draft Users Manual.pdf - Early draft of user manual, submitted during FCC approval.
Hardware Details:
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0. Qualcomm MSM8260A Integrated Snapdragon S4 CPU, Adreno graphics core, UMTS modem, WiFi/Bluetooth backend, GPS/GLONASS receiver, DSP and USB controller
Marked:
Unknown
(Located under RAM IC as package-on-package)
1. Qualcomm WCD9310 "Tabla" Audio codec
Marked:
WCD9310
NCM218R1
A228002
13
2. Silicon Image SiI9244 MHL Transmitter
Marked:
SIMG
9244BO
NCS371A
10L2230
3. Samsung 8Gb (1GB) Low Power DDR2 DRAM
Marked:
Samsung 210
K3PE7E700D-XGC2
GKB2709U
4. Samsung 8GB NAND Flash
Marked:
Samsung 228
KLM8G2FE3B-B001
HHGX259X
5. Qualcomm HSPA+/CDMA2K/TDSCDMA/EDGE/GPS Transciever
Marked:
WTR1605
OVV
PHX403R1
AA22501
6. Qualcomm Dual-band Wi-Fi A/B/G/N, Bluetooth and FM Radios
Marked:
WCN3660
PGW541R1
A222002
7. Unknown
Marked:
SWt
GAD92
8. Anadigics Multimode Multiband Power Amplifier Module
Marked:
ALT6181
33945AC
1231PH
9. Anadigics AWT6624 UMTS1700 Power Amplifier
Marked:
6624R
4233AD
1230 PH
10. Anadigics AWT6622 UMTS1900 Power Amplifier
Marked:
6622R
4110AA
1228 PH
11. Invensense 6050 six-axis gyroscope/accelerometer
Marked:
Invensense
MPU-6050M
D2G554-K1
EI 1226 D
12. Qualcomm Power Management IC
PM8921
AD35130
f3228004
13. Analog Devices Mobile I/O Expander and QWERTY Keypad Controller
Marked:
ADP
5587
#215
14. Texas Instruments BQ24157 Lithium-Ion Battery Charger
Marked:
TI27A3JXI
BQ24157B
15. NXP PN544 Near Field Communication Controller
Marked:
44501
10 05
NXD2314
16. Atmel MaXTouch mXT224E
Marked:
MXT224E
MAH-IR0
2W1315B
http://www.jax184.com/projects/Relay 4G/Internal Photos.pdf - Photos of a prototype Relay submitted to the FCC for approval. Notice that the PCB, RF plate, keyboard frame and even the back cover have all been revised.
http://www.jax184.com/projects/Relay 4G/Test Results.pdf - Results of FCC testing of the NFC radio.
Take Apart:
Start with the phone turned off.
Flip the phone onto its back and remove the battery, SIM card and MicroSD card.
Remove the 8 long screws around the edge of the phone and the two short screws in the battery bay using a fine-tipped Phillips screwdriver. Be sure not to mix these screws up when reassembling!
If available, use a thin nylon guitar pick for this next step. Metal tools will mar the plastic.
Unlike most Galaxy S devices, the seam between the inner back and the front case of the Relay 4G is not visible from the back of the device. Instead it is on the front, around the perimeter of the keyboard. Insert a thin prying tool here and gently unsnap the plastic halves.
Lift the back off.
Gently disconnect the headphone jack cable. This connector is very fragile, and should not be pried on with metal tools. Instead it should be gripped with fingernails and slowly pulled upward.
Disconnect the screen cable along the left side of the board. Like the headphone jack, this connector is fragile and must not by forced apart. Then remove the 5 short screws which hold the PCB to the front frame.
Gently lift the PCB upwards. There are clips around the edge which will need to be gently pressed to free the board.
If needed, the keyboard can now be removed. To separate the keyboard frame from the screen, remove the final screw and gently pull the plastic straight up. Be sure not to put undue stress on the screen cable. It is held to the keyboard frame in the gold plate, which is attached using double-sided tape.
I did not dismantle the screen section of my phone beyond this point, but further disassembly appears to be straight forward.
To continue dismantling the PCB, gently disconnect the camera and MicroSD card socket cables. As above, these connectors are delicate and must not be forced apart.
Remove the two screws on the keypad side of the PCB to unfasten the RF plate.
Lift the RF plate off of the PCB.
The PCB is now bare.
Assemble in reverse order.
The PDFs linked to in the above document are owned by their respective companies. All else is covered by the following:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.​

Great thread.
Just wanted to share my picture of the broken 4G that I have.
So part of the flex cable is broken and the following things don't work anymore:
- Frontcamera
- lightsensor
- LED indicator
- normal phone speaker.
I ordered a new display that comes with a cable from here, to solve the problem, because I could't find the flex cable itself and T-Mobile didn't want to invoke a warranty case(I am in germany, that's the main reason)
Ciao fsg

GPS antenna
I'm not happy with my phone's GPS, the reception quality is really poor. I've found several threads discussing the problems with Samsung's phones' GPS antenna contacts, e.g. this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39570338
So I've disassembled my Relay and found those contacts after experimenting without any antenna attached. The picture is below.
I've gently bent the PCB contacts toward the rear panel to make sure they will touch the antenna pads with pressure. The GPS works much better now. In case if it'll not last long, there is a possibility to solder them with tiny copper wires.

Great thread.
But does anyone have experience or insight they can share as to how to dismantle/reassemble the front fascia/housing surrounding the screen.
Mine is mashed up and needs replacing, my replacement housing arrives tomorrow.
Thanks in advance
Sent from my SGH-T699 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Just received my Relay yesterday, planning to do some surgery on it to add Palm Touchstone charging to it.
I can't really tell from the photos if it's a separate board, but I found this on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Charging-US...Galaxy-S-Relay-4G-T-mobile-T699-/151050168018
I don't want to solder on the original parts so if that's the right part I'll grab one and solder on that instead?
Thanks.

ToniCipriani said:
Just received my Relay yesterday, planning to do some surgery on it to add Palm Touchstone charging to it.
I can't really tell from the photos if it's a separate board, but I found this on eBay:
<link>
I don't want to solder on the original parts so if that's the right part I'll grab one and solder on that instead?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's related to Palm Touchstone in anyway, from the link you posted:
...OEM USB charging For Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G T-mobile SGH-T699
...
...3. Replace your broken, damaged, cracked, unusable
So, by my understanding it's just a replacement board for the regular USB charging.
The wireless charging is not possible without a special "antenna" - a coil regularly attached to the back cover, e.g. see:
www ebay com/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Wireless-Charging-Back-Cover-Touchstone-Dock-White-/161017497675
(please replace spaces with dots, I can't post links at the moment)

aragats said:
I don't think it's related to Palm Touchstone in anyway, from the link you posted:
...OEM USB charging For Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G T-mobile SGH-T699
...
...3. Replace your broken, damaged, cracked, unusable
So, by my understanding it's just a replacement board for the regular USB charging.
The wireless charging is not possible without a special "antenna" - a coil regularly attached to the back cover, e.g. see:
www ebay com/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Wireless-Charging-Back-Cover-Touchstone-Dock-White-/161017497675
(please replace spaces with dots, I can't post links at the moment)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No no, that's not what I'm getting it for. I just want to make sure that is indeed the USB board for our phones, since the pictures seem to indicate the port is actually on the main PCB. If it is a separate board, I rather solder on a separate piece rather than the one that's on the phone.
I'm scavenging the coil from my old Pre, then tapping the volt line into USB. That's how it was done on the Nexus S and EVO 4G.

For future reference, that auction is NOT for the Relay. It's for some random phone. The Relay's USB port is soldered straight to the mainboard. Anyone with a broken USB port should NOT order that one from eBay.

GPS antenna
aragats said:
I'm not happy with my phone's GPS, the reception quality is really poor.
...
So I've disassembled my Relay and found those contacts after experimenting without any antenna attached.
...
I've gently bent the PCB contacts toward the rear panel to make sure they will touch the antenna pads with pressure. The GPS works much better now. In case if it'll not last long, there is a possibility to solder them with tiny copper wires.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replying my own post just to confirm: after extensively using the phone's GPS the last 4 days in wildernesses (without any data channel available) I can confirm, that there is a HUGE difference between "before" and "after". Now GPS locks satellites in 2-3 seconds, I had no problems in deep forests and narrow canyons.

Jax184 said:
I've only had my Relay a week and already it's been torn apart! But what's bad for warranties is good for you, because now I can make a hardware reference guide for this phone like I did for the Sidekick 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the great guide!
I experienced that after some drops the screen-unit and the keyboard-unit of the device get more and more loose. One unpleasant effect is, that if the slider is closed and I tap the screen, the screen unit yields a bit due to a too big gap between screen unit and keyboard unit. It rattles, when I write s.th. on the virtual keyboard.
I did not understand from the guide, which screws I have to tighten, to solve this issue. I'd be very grateful for any ideas.
Thanks!

fsg4u said:
Great thread.
Just wanted to share my picture of the broken 4G that I have.
So part of the flex cable is broken and the following things don't work anymore:
- Frontcamera
- lightsensor
- LED indicator
- normal phone speaker.
I ordered a new display that comes with a cable from here, to solve the problem, because I could't find the flex cable itself and T-Mobile didn't want to invoke a warranty case(I am in germany, that's the main reason)
Ciao fsg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please, do you remember having relay dissasembled? Is it possible to change the display flex cable from other device (e.g. with cracked display)?
Thank you very much for you answer, I'm having probably the same problem with the relay (too much keyboard opening I suppose...)

sorgo said:
Please, do you remember having relay dissasembled? Is it possible to change the display flex cable from other device (e.g. with cracked display)?
Thank you very much for you answer, I'm having probably the same problem with the relay (too much keyboard opening I suppose...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Relay's cable is custom to the Relay, as far as I know.

Jax184 said:
The Relay's cable is custom to the Relay, as far as I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant other relay s 4g device with cracked display. is the cable fixed to the screen in any way? or can I disconnect it with no problem?
Thanks

The way I've seen these sold in the past is the LCD and digitizer is sold as one unit and replaced as such, here
http://www.sinomobileparts.com/for-...ay-touch-digitizer-screen-assembly_p4624.html
So if you want to swap this out of another relay it should work fine, the main flex cable is separate than the cable coming from the screen
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

demkantor said:
The way I've seen these sold in the past is the LCD and digitizer is sold as one unit and replaced as such, here
http://www.sinomobileparts.com/for-...ay-touch-digitizer-screen-assembly_p4624.html
So if you want to swap this out of another relay it should work fine, the main flex cable is separate than the cable coming from the screen
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your answer. So I could eventually replace the main flex cable from a unit with broken screen? Do I get it right?
But I will take a risk anyway, as I only suppose it's the main flex cable problem.
Is there a possibility that by opening/closing the keybard other parts are bended or stressed? Or would you guess it's main flex cable problem for sure?
Thanks

Guess is the main flex, and yes you can swap parts from another relay but maybe do a little digging first around the net to see if anyone sells only what you need as it may be cheaper
Best of luck!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

The info is incorrect: no 900 Mhz for 3g in my country !

Hi!
Could somebody help me to find Main Flex Cable for Relay with worldwide shipping? I would be very grateful.

linoskoczek said:
Hi!
Could somebody help me to find Main Flex Cable for Relay with worldwide shipping? I would be very grateful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I was desperate a month ago, as my relay display gone blank for good after going blank in some specific position, due to the main flex cable. That's the Achilles heel of this phone. I was considering buying a device with broken screen and replacing it, but ended up waiting for a brand new one (unused). That decision came because now I'll have one device full of spare parts for any case.

sorgo said:
Hi I was desperate a month ago, as my relay display gone blank for good after going blank in some specific position, due to the main flex cable. That's the Achilles heel of this phone. I was considering buying a device with broken screen and replacing it, but ended up waiting for a brand new one (unused). That decision came because now I'll have one device full of spare parts for any case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't you consider to buy main flex cable itself?

Nexus 5 microphone only works in speakerphone [SOLVED!]

Hello everyone,
I am having a major problem with my Nexus 5’s microphone (LG-D820). Before I continue, I have searched for threads with the same issue but none appears to be the same, despite being similar. I keep finding that others mention that other people can hear them as if they're distant from the phone. Others mention a fix by plugging in headphones and toggling speakerphone as a fix. None of these are true for my device. I found a bug report thread on Google’s bug list for AOSP (https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=80251) but it has a small priority with no resolution to the issue.
Onto the issue: The microphone does not work at all unless I make a phone call and activate the speakerphone. Even sound recording apps or Google’s voice recognition search does not work. I have noticed that there is a 2 second static when trying to record audio using sound recorder, which is amplified by covering the mic on the top of the phone.
Since the mic appears to work on speakerphone, I figured it couldn't be a hardware problem. I tried restoring back to Google’s original build (4.4 KRT16M) for the nexus 5 to see if it was an issue with 5.0.1 and I had no luck. I literally tried every single build released by Google (KOT49H, KTU84M, KTU84P, LRX210, and LRX22C) and I have had no luck. I even went as far as installing Sailfish OS and Firefox OS to see if a non-android OS would fix the issue. No luck.
Desperate for a fix, I purchased the Charging USB Port Dock Connector Mic Flex Cable (for reference: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111297706019) to replace my old one and it didn’t fix anything of course.
At this point, I’m all out of options and afraid that I’ll have to buy another phone. I seriously do not want to stray from the nexus 5 but I don’t know what else to do.
Does anyone have idea what else I could try to fix the issue? Even any thoughts on why a non-android OS wouldn't fix the issue are welcome. Thanks in advance guys.

bump

Last shameless bump

You did a factory reset right?

zerosum0 said:
You did a factory reset right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes I did.
UPDATE AND FIX:
So upon reviewing the aforementioned AOSP bug list thread, someone posted a link to the product forums (https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/kUrmrlzYJ_o[301-325]) and then a user by the name of Alexandre Macedo suggested pressing on the battery cover, just underneath the camera/flash.
So i tried it and it did in fact fix the microphone issue. I opened the phone again to see what could be the cause of the problem. From what I can tell, the vibrator motor needs to be pressed down to connect with the motherboard.
In all honesty, I do not understand why the vibrator motor should affect the nexus 5's microphone at all.
In addition, I noticed I need to now press and hold the battery cover at all times in order to use my microphone. I tried another battery cover (from my brother's nexus 5) and i still need to maintain the battery cover pressed down.
Anyone have any ideas how to fix this new yet less serious issue?

FINAL UPDATE:
After applying manual pressure on different parts of the exposed motherboard, I isolated the pressure point to the left part of the connector that leads from USB Charging Port/Mic up to the motherboard.
I tried cleaning out the port and the connector and it doesn't seem to work without applying a bit of pressure on the connector. At this point I'm thinking it's just some wear and tear or a bit of malfunction on the motherboard port.
To fix the issue I ripped a small piece of my business card and used a bit of double sided 2mm tape to hold the piece of card between the connector and the chassis covering the motherboard. This pressure seems to be more than enough to establish a proper connection.
Alas the issue is fixed. Hopefully this will help someone else in the near future. Thanks everyone for reading at least.

seromba said:
FINAL UPDATE:
After applying manual pressure on different parts of the exposed motherboard, I isolated the pressure point to the left part of the connector that leads from USB Charging Port/Mic up to the motherboard.
I tried cleaning out the port and the connector and it doesn't seem to work without applying a bit of pressure on the connector. At this point I'm thinking it's just some wear and tear or a bit of malfunction on the motherboard port.
To fix the issue I ripped a small piece of my business card and used a bit of double sided 2mm tape to hold the piece of card between the connector and the chassis covering the motherboard. This pressure seems to be more than enough to establish a proper connection.
Alas the issue is fixed. Hopefully this will help someone else in the near future. Thanks everyone for reading at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man ! I think I'm having the same issue on my nexus 5, if I press on the back under the camera, it hears me, but if not the phone doesn't recognize my voice.
Speakerphone is okay, voice calls are working..
Can you help me ? Can you explain how should I fix that ?
Thank you a lot I'm desperated

jordanl68 said:
Hey man ! I think I'm having the same issue on my nexus 5, if I press on the back under the camera, it hears me, but if not the phone doesn't recognize my voice.
Speakerphone is okay, voice calls are working..
Can you help me ? Can you explain how should I fix that ?
Thank you a lot I'm desperated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey man sorry for the late reply, i just got home from vacation.
so what i did to fix it (sort of) was put a little thick piece of paper between the plastic that covers the motherboard (top half of the phone, above the battery) and the battery cover in order to apply the pressure needed to press down on the connector/port for the Charging USB Port Dock Connector Mic Flex Cable (check my original post for reference) .
I used a bit of double sided 2mm tape to hold the paper in place. I had to sort of guess where to put the paper but it's pretty easy if you just take a look at the motherboard underneath the aforementioned plastic cover.
keep in mind i still have issues here and there when the battery cover shifts a little and removes the required pressure, so it's not a full fix.
if you need pictures, don't hesitate to ask. i'll post them asap if you do. good luck!

Having same issue exactly. I don't 'get' where exactly you put the piece of paper. Could you post pictures?
Thanks

newton23 said:
Having same issue exactly. I don't 'get' where exactly you put the piece of paper. Could you post pictures?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used MS paint to specify exactly where I placed the piece of paper needed to apply pressure. As a precaution, the photo with hands does not belong to me, I simply used paint on a photo from the iFixit website.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
The picture above shows the problem area (on my phone at least), which includes the USB charging port connector and the corresponding port on the motherboard.
This picture is an actual photo of my device. I used the 2mm double sided tape I had to affix the piece of paper on the white battery cover panel on the right. The red circle the left (the one on my actual device) is merely there to provide an idea of where you need to apply pressure on the phone in order to have the connector and port make a solid connection.
I started having issues with the battery cover getting a little bit loose because of the paper inside so I started using a tight case (a cheap $2 Chinese knockoff case i found on eBay) to keep the battery cover and paper intact.
Also keep in mind that the vibrator motor is right above the spot I mentioned for the piece of paper so if your phone begins to have a flaky vibration, the piece of paper may be too thick.
As I mentioned in previous posts, this is by no means a permanent fix to the issue. I've come to the conclusion that this issue is hardware related and most likely a problem with the motherboard. I absolutely love my nexus 5 and I can't think of another phone I would want instead, so this "fix" will have to do. If anyone else finds a better solution, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Mine stopped working halfway through the day yesterday. Made calls all morning then zip.....pressing on the back of the phone works fine for speech input but is intolerable for phone conversation. Switching to speakerphone works fine, so I'm assuming its not an actual microphone problem. Doesn't record audio when video recording either. This sucks. Love this phone.

rehpot1 said:
Mine stopped working halfway through the day yesterday. Made calls all morning then zip.....pressing on the back of the phone works fine for speech input but is intolerable for phone conversation. Switching to speakerphone works fine, so I'm assuming its not an actual microphone problem. Doesn't record audio when video recording either. This sucks. Love this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I had a lot of trouble pinpointing the culprit for this issue since it appears to be hardware related but has hints of software relation. I haven't found any other thread or website with anything similar to what I have tried so I don't have much information.
Seems like the only solution to the problem is pressing the back of the phone around that flash area but no one seems to try opening up the phone. If you find out any info not mentioned in this thread, please post your results so we can find a fix for it.

Thanks for that. I've put a small piece of thin cardboard with doublesided tape where you indicated. It is working... so far!
It's a pretty big workaround (in a way). Not sure what a more permanent solution would be. Hopefully this works for a while.

newton23 said:
Thanks for that. I've put a small piece of thin cardboard with doublesided tape where you indicated. It is working... so far!
It's a pretty big workaround (in a way). Not sure what a more permanent solution would be. Hopefully this works for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy I could help.
I know it's kind of a hassle, I had to play with it a few times to get it to work again (either mic would give in and out or the vibrator motor wouldn't work).
Unfortunately for me, I dropped my phone and shattered the screen for the 2nd time and I decided it was enough money spent on my nexus 5... time to go check out the desolate page for the 2015 moto e.

rehpot1 said:
Mine stopped working halfway through the day yesterday. Made calls all morning then zip.....pressing on the back of the phone works fine for speech input but is intolerable for phone conversation. Switching to speakerphone works fine, so I'm assuming its not an actual microphone problem. Doesn't record audio when video recording either. This sucks. Love this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I bought a nexus 6 and decided to try and fix the nexus 5 by sending back to have it repaired. Because I bought the phone from the google website I started by going to their website clicking on support, reading about booting into safe mode, blah blah blah. Ended by clicking on the chat with us button.
After a little Q and A, ended up talking on the phone with someone in support (google) and they told me it was out of warranty but that I could send it into LG for repair. They transferred me to LG. Was told that LG would look at it and contact me with repair options. LG sent me a prepaid FedEx airbill that week, I sent it to LG. They sent me an email quote of $50 to repair or $150 to replace with refurbished. I chose repair. It's working fantastic. Your results may vary, but I was impressed with the process and the result.

The Same Problem
So... which is the final solution for this problem (I have this exactly problem). Have I to open it? if so, could you send me a video or something to guide me please.

It's works. Thank you!
seromba said:
FINAL UPDATE:
After applying manual pressure on different parts of the exposed motherboard, I isolated the pressure point to the left part of the connector that leads from USB Charging Port/Mic up to the motherboard.
I tried cleaning out the port and the connector and it doesn't seem to work without applying a bit of pressure on the connector. At this point I'm thinking it's just some wear and tear or a bit of malfunction on the motherboard port.
To fix the issue I ripped a small piece of my business card and used a bit of double sided 2mm tape to hold the piece of card between the connector and the chassis covering the motherboard. This pressure seems to be more than enough to establish a proper connection.
Alas the issue is fixed. Hopefully this will help someone else in the near future. Thanks everyone for reading at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem and after teardown my device many times I tried this and works!!
Thanks!

seromba said:
FINAL UPDATE:
After applying manual pressure on different parts of the exposed motherboard, I isolated the pressure point to the left part of the connector that leads from USB Charging Port/Mic up to the motherboard.
I tried cleaning out the port and the connector and it doesn't seem to work without applying a bit of pressure on the connector. At this point I'm thinking it's just some wear and tear or a bit of malfunction on the motherboard port.
To fix the issue I ripped a small piece of my business card and used a bit of double sided 2mm tape to hold the piece of card between the connector and the chassis covering the motherboard. This pressure seems to be more than enough to establish a proper connection.
Alas the issue is fixed. Hopefully this will help someone else in the near future. Thanks everyone for reading at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I have to replace my battery on the phone and before I could put it in my mic stopped working. I was considering calling Google, but didn't want to be without my phone. This was holding off my new battery replacement. Now I should be able to fix both. Thanks for the knowledge, I know what to look for.

seromba said:
I'm happy I could help.
I know it's kind of a hassle, I had to play with it a few times to get it to work again (either mic would give in and out or the vibrator motor wouldn't work).
Unfortunately for me, I dropped my phone and shattered the screen for the 2nd time and I decided it was enough money spent on my nexus 5... time to go check out the desolate page for the 2015 moto e.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that you ended up needing to replace your Nexus 5 Pesky gravity. How is the Moto E working out for you?
This problem has come up recently for me during calls when I tilt my phone a certain way. No issues with voice recognition though. If you'd still bother to dredge this topic up, how did you find balance mic fix and vibration? I've been toying with the right size and thickness of the business card. Started off with a 9x3mm piece, which looked to fit about the red circle you had drawn--this worked but disabled the vibration. Tried pressing on the back of my battery cover, but vibration only worked for a couple seconds. Snipped it to 5x3mm and removed one ply from the card--vibration works but mic doesn't. I'm wondering if there's a certain way I should place it? Are there certain parts of the motherboard the card should or shouldn't touch (e.g. the metal surrounding the motor slot on the motherboard)? Been playing with this for the better part of 2 hours but don't know what considerations I should be making.
Much appreciated!!

Has anyone tried......
Has anyone tried to re-seat the the cable? I just did it to a co-workers N5 and it works just fine now.