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case question

P

plc613

Newbie
Hi All.

I got my SG3 about a month ago. Rooted it the first day, flashed a custom rom the day after that and flashed a leaner kernel a week later. Love the phone and everything I customized about it.

Problem:
I've been shopping around for a case to properly protect my investment. I finally landed on a very affordable aluminum bumper style case on eBay and bought it. Turns out I lose on average 20% of my signal when the phone is in the case. Not a huge deal working back from 100% but in my house I only get about 20% so it's a show-stopper. A few questions:

1) Does anyone know where the antenna is located and how it expects to receive the signal?
-wondering if I make a whole in the bumper where the antenna is if this issue will become moot. FYI I lose about 10% when I put the phone in the bumper and then another 10% when I slide the bezel on.

2) If I can't do 1) for whatever reason, what case can I purchase that is affordale(affordable in my opinion is ~$25) for which I will be *certain* there is no signal loss and will properly protect the phone?

Thanks in advance.
 
For number one, manufacturers started putting the cell antenna at the bottom of phones because of the brain cancer scare so im guessing its that dark coloured thing you can see inside the plastic south of the bottom of the battery :thumbup:
Drilling a hole in the bumper.... no mate lol. Im no scientist but if you think about electro magnatism, the bumper as a whole is probably affecting the field instead of simply blocking a part of it :)
2) plastic :)
I actualy fancy a nice metal bumper. Think it would look hot :)
 
Lmao :D yeah sorry i updated my post lol but now i can just imagine you drillin through the phone :)
You can try different radio firmware, ive been experimenting with different modems tonight because my data has been really flakey but ive realised its just because the carriers here are **** :)
 
Okay. So you must be right. If I pop the case off and hold my hand on the bottom right corner(when I'm looking at the back) I can forcibly drop the signal down to 0%. Actually, now that I've studied that corner a bit more, looks like there's a tiny hole for the radio which my case accounts for. So why the signal loss when I put the case on then? Is the like the iPhone, in that it's getting shorted out because it's metal perhaps?
 
The microphone? :)
Tbh i dont know mate lol. I just know the new Nokia Lumia has real metal around the edges so theyve made that metal BE the antenna. Cant explain the hand thing though, Arnie :)
 
So I can flash ROMs (which in my world is the equivalent of the OS), Kernels(heart of the beast) and radio/modem firmware? pls bare with me as I learn this...Is the modem code contained within the ROM or kernel or is that separate code? Also, is it the same procedure as the other parts of code I flashed?
 
Mate, im not that technical but tonight, after i flashed a rom, i had to flash my preferred kernal (your discription sounds perfect) and modem again so id guess when you flash a rom, it replaces the kernel and modem but you can then flash them separately.
I just flash these things using the custom recovery (which the rom doesnt replace/overwrite). Do you have custom recovery installed? TWRP, CWM, etc.. :thumbup:
 
plc613 said:
So I can flash ROMs (which in my world is the equivalent of the OS), Kernels(heart of the beast) and radio/modem firmware? pls bare with me as I learn this...Is the modem code contained within the ROM or kernel or is that separate code? Also, is it the same procedure as the other parts of code I flashed?
Click to expand...

Radio/firmware is different from the kernel and rom. To change it you'll want to do another separate flash.

You'll flash a different radio just as you would a rom or kernel.

Don't forget to nandroid first :p
 
Oh yeah! I've sucked in SO much info in the last month on these things I may be forgetting what I learnt first. Yes, flashing the ROM wipes the modem to that of the one in the ROM. Which also implies you must flash the modem last. I have yet to come across any site allowing to download the modem. Where are you getting yours? We don't quite have the same phone but...

If I google "android radio" I get tons of listen to the radio... type stuff and if I search for modem it's all about tethering.
 
Cheers DS. so yeah, u could just flash a different modem and stay on the same firmware but i doubt (hope im wrong) that itl help the problems that sexy bumper is causin mate :)
 
funkylogik said:
Mate, im not that technical but tonight, after i flashed a rom, i had to flash my preferred kernal (your discription sounds perfect) and modem again so id guess when you flash a rom, it replaces the kernel and modem but you can then flash them separately.
I just flash these things using the custom recovery (which the rom doesnt replace/overwrite). Do you have custom recovery installed? TWRP, CWM, etc.. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

A rom replaced your modem/firmware? You sure you didn't just flash an older OTA based rom and it just shows its an older baseband in about where rom shows?

It should never change your radio until you actually change it via flashing
 
funkylogik said:
...but i doubt (hope im wrong) that itl help the problems that sexy bumper is causin mate :)
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'm sure you're right. But just like you said, I've been getting flaky signals on data too. When I cross from wifi to data and back many times I have to reboot to get the data side working. The phone side always works -unless I put my uber-sexy cover back on :)
 
plc613 said:
Oh yeah! I've sucked in SO much info in the last month on these things I may be forgetting what I learnt first. Yes, flashing the ROM wipes the modem to that of the one in the ROM. Which also implies you must flash the modem last. I have yet to come across any site allowing to download the modem. Where are you getting yours? We don't quite have the same phone but...

If I google "android radio" I get tons of listen to the radio... type stuff and if I search for modem it's all about tethering.
Click to expand...

I get mine from an XDA thread mate and yeah our phones are very different. Try searching like "your phone model, your carrier, modem, download, zip"
What carrier are you on? One of the All Things Root sub-forums at top of this forum would probably be more helpful and you definately seem keen on the rooting type stuff :)
 
Yeah get one and drill it (right next to the microphone), put a bit of string through, connect it to the world outside of North Ameica, and be one of us :)
Oh man i have a Canadian ex... :)
Good luck bro. Hope to see u around the general forum... with a shiney pimpass big metal phone bumper ;)
 
Be very careful and make sure you know what you are doing before messing with the radios. You can hard brick your phone if you mess up.
 
DragonSlayer95 said:
A rom replaced your modem/firmware? You sure you didn't just flash an older OTA based rom and it just shows its an older baseband in about where rom shows?

It should never change your radio until you actually change it via flashing
Click to expand...

Its a samsung stock-based rom mate so yeah it prob brought its own radio with it :thumbup:
It actualy gave me the latest modem but id been using that for the past month and been experimenting with an older one so i had to reflash the older one after flashin the rom
 
Gmash said:
Be very careful and make sure you know what you are doing before messing with the radios. You can hard brick your phone if you mess up.
Click to expand...

Yup. Have a nandroid backup before flashing anything :) can you really kill the hardware mate?
 
Gmash said:
Be very careful and make sure you know what you are doing before messing with the radios. You can hard brick your phone if you mess up.
Click to expand...

Just poking fun at you but...How would one ever "know what they're doing" if they've never done it before. I'll only know what I'm doing...Once I know what I'm doing :)
 
To elaborate on the whole case issue -the purpose of the topic- I decided to humor the vendor since they claim they've "never had any complaints" (Yes, I do air quotes when talk to...).

Turns out the signal loss is only on certain networks. When I'm in older networks Edge, HSPA and whatever(in and near my home town) others there exists I got really poor signal with the metal case. If I remove the case I get a solid signal 50-60% +. I newer networks 3G/4G(work area), much to my surprise, I don't notice a signal loss at all.

So....Are newer networks fed stronger signals? Logically it would make sense for obvious reasons. Technically, I suppose newer signals using better technology would give a better signal.

I suppose the moral of the story is if you want a strong signal everywhere don't pimp out your phone with a metal case. If you can live with a subpar signal in certain areas; pimp dat phone jack!
 
funkylogik said:
Yup. Have a nandroid backup before flashing anything :) can you really kill the hardware mate?
Click to expand...

Yeah I find that hard to believe. Many ppl warn about bricking your phone when flashing ROMS and kernels and it's simply not true. I've bricked mine beyond belief and have always brought it back to life. Easy peasy...But maybe when it comes to the radio you can...many posts certainly imply it's possible?! How can one find out for certain. Just because someone posts they bricked their phone doesn't mean it was technically *impossible* to recover it...
 
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