Related
I have a bluetooth headset for my helmet, which allows me to use my Wizard for GPS navigation. What I would like to do is mount my Wizard onto my handlebars in order to SEE where I am going, as well as hear the directions.
Anyone have a good recommendation for handlebar mounting one of these goodies?
Thanks,
Lowkee
it would be much easier to give you an answer if you can post a picture of your handlebars.
I also ride and there are way too many types of handlebars.
Ill tell you right now, I doubt someone actually makes one that fits a handlebar but Im sure you can mod an existing car one to fit but would you really trust your precious phone like that?
I was also looking for a bike mount and some way of waterproofing the XDA mini S. Eventually bought a tank bag with clear top map pocket.
Maybe this one is the rigth for you!http://cgi.ebay.de/Brodit-PDA-Halter-f-Motorrad-Schutzbox_W0QQitemZ130147547431QQihZ003QQcategoryZ68421QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem but cheaper is to use a tank bag but maybe you find a lowcost copy form china
I used a RAM-mount with a ball and attached it to the smaller sized "aqua box", which has screw holes to attach a RAM fixing onto. Makes for a very neat (and removable) solution! Did not fail me at 70mph on the M4 motorway in the rain here in the UK! In fact TomTom are now shipping their new version 2 GPS sets with RAM mounts. A Google search will find links to these products.
I fitted a see-through tank-bag base to my R1150.
Has anyone tried connectin the phone to an AutoCom. When I try this I cannot disconnect the internal microphone an get so much engine noise the caller can't hear me at speed. Any ideas?
AndrewB
I recently moved into an area with poor AT&T coverage even though their coverage map shows that I'm in "Best" coverage. Almost all of my calls break up and many drop unless I'm outside near a major road, which is obviously inconvenient. Has anyone has success using an external antenna though the port on the back of the phone near the camera lens? I would prefer it to be a solid antenna not a flexible one that hangs down off the phone and of course the smaller the better.
As a side note, I attempted to use BandSwitcher and Edge with 2 bars is the best signal I get in my house and still is a very poor connection. I do not want to purchase an expensive hard wired signal amp and antenna just for home use.
Thanks in advance,
Justin
jbear7 said:
I recently moved into an area with poor AT&T coverage even though their coverage map shows that I'm in "Best" coverage. Almost all of my calls break up and many drop unless I'm outside near a major road, which is obviously inconvenient. Has anyone has success using an external antenna though the port on the back of the phone near the camera lens? I would prefer it to be a solid antenna not a flexible one that hangs down off the phone and of course the smaller the better.
As a side note, I attempted to use BandSwitcher and Edge with 2 bars is the best signal I get in my house and still is a very poor connection. I do not want to purchase an expensive hard wired signal amp and antenna just for home use.
Thanks in advance,
Justin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just an FYI, I bought a RadioShack universal antenna adapter, and it killed my cell phone. PDA still works, but I get no reception at all now. oing to have to send it in for repairs.
i.e. be carefull with external antennas
I did the same thing, bought the Radio Shack antenna, plugged it into my 8525, the phone lost all reception and I had to replace it.
You've been warned!
Hermes external antenna
Search eBay for the ARC Freedom antenna (also need adapter). I bought one and went from 1-2 bars & dropping calls to 3-4 bars and no more dropped calls. I'm not endorsing this product, its just the only one I've come across and so far it works pretty good.
Dr Jay
I switched from a Focus to the Titan about a week ago. I love the Titan, except it seems to me that the antenna sensitivity is pretty poor. Cases in point:
1. On a call on my Titan at the office, I enter a stairwell in the building, and immediately the call drops. With my Focus, I could walk up and down these stairs all day while on a call and never have the call drop.
2. At home, I get very poor coverage. Last night at home my Titan is telling me that there is no network available. I walk over and pick up my wife's Focus and it is showing AT&T network and two bars! I power cycled my Titan hoping that it might re-lock onto the network, but it continued to tell me that no network was available all evening. I was unable to make or receive any calls last evening.
3. Right now, sitting in my desk at work, my Titan is bouncing between 2-3 bars. My Focus, sitting in the same spot would always show 4-5 bars. When I pick up my Titan, the signal strength display drops to one bar.
I really, really like this phone, but if this is the indication of the signal strength that I can expect, I am going to have to return it. Anyone else having this problem?
OK, I may have answered my own question. After posting, I saw this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18523952&postcount=12
I opened the case on my Titan, contacts looked fine. But when I put the phone back together, I squeezed the case very hard at the bottom, and the signal strength indicator immediately went to four bars. Will monitor and see if this takes care of the problem.
Just received my Titan.
The signal is terrible. Sitting right next to my hd7s, the hd7s gets speeds of around 1mbit/sec while the Titan gets connection errors.
Checked the contacts and they are fine
Everywhere I test, the Titan consistently has a weak signal. This is on att in central NY. I wont even compare it to the signal on my Droid with verizon. I absolutely love the phone, but with the signal problems I'm probably going to be returning it
Sent from my Droid using XDA App
Did you get a new SIM card or are you using your old one. The new micro SIM made a big difference on my Titan. I had a one year old sim from my Focus. My nephew had a 15 month (?) old Sim for an Iphone 3Gs. When I put both in two Titans, mine was had better signal and internet connection. I noticed that Titan uses the micro SIM(saw someone with it), so I got a new micro SIM yesterday. My signal is even better. The internet flies on my phone now.
I'm still using my old sim that I had from the Focus (and earlier). Did you get your micro sim at the AT&T store? I may get one myself.
Tempest790 said:
I'm still using my old sim that I had from the Focus (and earlier). Did you get your micro sim at the AT&T store? I may get one myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I did. Make sure to go to a corporate store. It's free. If you go to a franchise they'll charge $20, I believe.
When I bought my phone online, they sent a new SIM with the phone.
Signal strength and quality seem better since I made my original post. Still not as good as my old Focus, but acceptable.
No issues here! Can text in lifts!
Sent from my TITAN X310e using Board Express
HTC Titan low signal homemade solution
eeichhorn said:
Just received my Titan.
The signal is terrible. Sitting right next to my hd7s, the hd7s gets speeds of around 1mbit/sec while the Titan gets connection errors.
Checked the contacts and they are fine
Everywhere I test, the Titan consistently has a weak signal. This is on att in central NY. I wont even compare it to the signal on my Droid with verizon. I absolutely love the phone, but with the signal problems I'm probably going to be returning it
Sent from my Droid using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello there,
After getting my Titan from AT&T, I saw that the signal was much lower than my iPhone 4.
When I got home, I had no service in the house where I had 1 or 2 bars with the iPhone 4.
I checked the contacts, but they where fine, so I started to make test to find witch of the 2 botthom contacts was the positive of the antenna.
With the phone face down, the faar right contact is the ground of the antenna, because it has continuity with the chassis of the phone.
So the left contact is the one to work with.
I then research on the internet for the lenth of a 850mhz antenna, & I found that it is 9 cm.
I then cut a piece of brass shim half a centimeter wide by 9 centimeter long.
I soldered a small hard copper wire thru the left hole of the cover & soldered it to the inside tab of the back cover, making shure that no solder or wire protrude from the contact. Otherwise you will have problems to close the back cover against the phone.
I then made a pin hole thru one end of my brass shim I had previously cut.
I then turned the cover over & pass the brass shim thru the hard copper wire I just soldered on the inside. I used invisible regular tape to secure the brass shim on the back cover & then proceeded to solder the shim with the hard copper wire as close to the back cover possible. I then tested my invention & I have now 2 bars where I had no service before.
Of course, I Had a Hard Cover shell to cover this installation, but the results are fantastic.
You have to be aware that the phone back cover will be altered in case of warranty, but you can get a replacement cover on Ebay for aprox $36.
Do this at your own risk
You can sand this soldering in order to prevent having difficulties putting a protective skin or cover.
I strip of copper can also be used for this homemade antenna.
You can PM me if you need more help for the installation.
I now have a full functioning HTC Titan that I now have learn to cherish.
By the way, the problem that a lots of people are having with slow downloads, is directly related to tha lack of a good antenna on this phone.
Hope this hep some of you out there.
Edited Febuary 2, 2012
I found the real problem with signal issues of the Titan.
I had bought a second HTC Titan & I thought of trying the back cover on my first Titan.
The results are astonishing. The back cover was all that was wrong on my device. With the second Titan I purchased from AT&T on the Web, there is no problem with the sigral.
I have now ordered a new cover from Ebay & will try to get a replacement from HTC for my original one that was defective.
I really think there was a bad batch of those back covers for this Titan & we where the unlucky ones to get them.
If you know someone that has no issues with his Titan, try his back cover on your phone.
Hope this help someone.
Good luck.
READ THIS POST AND POST 74 AND FURTHER
Have you ever seen such quality in the GPS signals and the fixes? (picture 1)
Ever since I got my TFP in early January I have been trying to find a way to enhance the GPS and the Wifi. I read just about all the threads on these subjects and tried every tweak. Even the crazy ones ;-) But because of the form factor I wasn't going to drill holes and put antennas on the back (respect guys, awesome work)
It started with a poster that got flamed straight away. He put a phone on the top right hand corner and got a better GPS. I felt sorry for him because everyone treated him like a retard. Just for the sake of being able to put the flamers in their spot I gave his idea a chance.
And it worked!!! But it was not practical. I can't walk around with a phone pressed against my TFP. But it was a start. Something started happening.
Next came the screwdriver trick. Even better result. Then I discovered the paperclip trick. Again improvement. But still not good enough and certainly not stable. It was difficult to reproduce. It became clear to me that positioning was very critical.
On the Wifi side people started enhancing their signal by placing foil the right Wifi antenna. Then they started using beer cans. It worked for some. But for others it didn't work. Theory was that somehow the Wifi signal got shielded forcing the other Wifi antenna to kick in. Tried it. Worked sometimes and at other moments didn't work. But there was something. And again it became clear to me that positioning was very critical.
Furthermore I started fooling around with grounding to the back plate. It had a dramatic effect on Wifi and GPS. As soon as something touches the back plate the signals die. I got the impression that the Wifi and GPS antenna were to close to each other and with all the RF signals they were screwing each other.
But all together there were things happening. I started documenting exact positions and sizes of the tweaks I was applying. Wifi was reasonable for me as long as I had a good base signal. GPS had my attention. I could get an external GPS, I could tether from my phone, I could buy a map, I could ask directions.
But NO!!!!
I wanted the GPS inside the Prime to get a reasonable fix.
It has cost me a lot of hours of trying, tweaking, adapting, and documenting.
But......
I FOUND THE 10 CENTS SOLUTION!!!
You only need to buy a 1 mm stainless steel cable.
Instructions (also see diagram):
1. First get yourself a beer. And drink it (this is the best part)
2. Then cut yourself a square 15x25 mm from the can (carefull)
3. Stick it in the right place onto the glass
4. Make sure it is isolated with electical tape on the topside
5. Place steel cable across the isolated square (I don’t know if this matters but I used 9,75 mm length = 0,5 x wavelength of GPS)
6. Fix it in place with electrical tape
And ......
ENJOY A GOOD GPS (better than my HTC Sensation)
Up to now this is the best result I can get.
Probably sizes and locations can be optimized.
However my experience is that the cable has to extend outside the plane of the TFP. Either vertical or horizontal. As long as it is inside the confines and flat on the glass of the TFP the signal dies instantly
And the electrical tape on top can be exchanged for something better looking.
Customize it like a sticker of a mouse with the tail being the steel cable.
Or a droid sticker with antenna ears upwards.
Outside and in the car I get a 4 second lock and after 10 seconds 15 sats and 10 locked. Inside has improved but not really good enough.
I have reset the prime before testing, cleared AGPS and Wifi off.
I hope you guys enjoy and appreciate my solution.
And if someone finds a better or more elegant solution please post.
Have fun
Oh I forgot to mention. The trick also works with the paperclip. Use a small paperclip. When straightened the length is 95 mm. Also works. I turned to the steel cable because I wanted something flexible.
very cool.
I currently have a beer can piece myself on my prime
-not as precise as yours, but it improves my wifi
not a beer, but after this j i shall try!
You guys are awesome....I've been looking for this all day..... a reason to drink beer tonight ^_^ oh and a possible gps solution without opening my TFP
Does yours maintain GPS lock while moving at highways speeds?
wynand32 said:
Does yours maintain GPS lock while moving at highways speeds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll test that. Drink beer and going high speed on the autobahn
wynand32 said:
Does yours maintain GPS lock while moving at highways speeds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YEP
Perfect turn by turn navigation.
On the highway about 10 locks and in urban area a minimum of 6 locks.
And all the time average 14 sats in sight.
I have not tried it yet in an area with very tall buildings.
I think the highest buildings during my tests were 6 floors.
If this can be independently verified (and sounds like it can be), then someone could definitely make a little money with this. Not enough to retire on, but a little spending money.
A question: could this be made into something that could clip onto the Prime and so be easily added/removed? While I wouldn't tape anything to my Prime, I'd clip something on it if I were to want GPS to work (which I don't actually, but being speculative here).
wynand32 said:
If this can be independently verified (and sounds like it can be), then someone could definitely make a little money with this. Not enough to retire on, but a little spending money.
A question: could this be made into something that could clip onto the Prime and so be easily added/removed? While I wouldn't tape anything to my Prime, I'd clip something on it if I were to want GPS to work (which I don't actually, but being speculative here).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes can be done.
I have been trying some solutions myself.
But the positioning turned out to be a critical factor.
Had to work that out first.
Wanted to share those results first.
But some sort of minimized and customisable clip on device would be nice.
Either pimped or just simple
I'm thinking you could use a simple clip like we use at home for potato chip bags. Line the inside of one part of the clip with the require metal, add in the wire, and then you could simply clip it on when you need GPS. Those clips aren't particularly strong, either, so no worries about damaging the Prime.
I might give this a shot myself this week, if I get some time.
The 12 Steps to ruin.... and a Hangover
My attempt (not really but could be fun)
1. Drink one can, cut open and place on screen.
Tape was too old. Can kept falling off.
2. Get another can and drink then place on screen again.
New tape stayed on but can didn't work.
3. Get yet another beer. Had a brainstorm idea to try doing the same for Wifi... got another beer.
Drank beers, needed a pee. Wife threw out the empties.
4. Got another two beers. Rang friend to ask if he had a beeter metal cutter....
5. Got two more beers then forgot what I was doing.
6. Glot two more bbers. Needed another pee.... Came back stood on berr cans. They were hiding on the floor.
7. Grot a new crate of beers in from the sheller hic! Drunk clan cut finger with can opener. Oh Eck...
8. Opened nudder bleer. Got drill out and dilled lotsh of oles on can.
Bol*x.... need a pee.
9. Sloped can wid whisky bottle... Poored whiskey on wire... Sh1t.. where da fcuk did wire come ffrommm???
10. Passt hammmmer to schreen. Bloke grass an spong at glue.
11. Glue noo worrrk. Need beeerr. hic!
12. Shud not put fingerss in live lectric shockket!
Fin............. Dont work.
zzzzZZzzZzzzzZzzzzzz
So I guess the prime as a glorified beer coaster wasnt too far off since it can improve signal strength.
hey guys come on.
I'm trying to start a serious thread and now you are turning it into something hilarious.
Well they always say 'keep on smiling'.
Had a great laugh.
Great story.
Let's see if thereś any beer left.
Cheers guys
Jesus.. you couldn't pay me to do this.
BTW, I got better than you without this nasty hack. I have screenshots of 18ft right in my backyard. No tin foil, no duct tape, not guitar/bike wire.
But none of it matters... AS YOU CANT DRIVE AND GET IT TO WORK
Lock-N-Load said:
Jesus.. you couldn't pay me to do this.
BTW, I got better than you without this nasty hack. I have screenshots of 18ft right in my backyard. No tin foil, no duct tape, not guitar/bike wire.
But none of it matters... AS YOU CANT DRIVE AND GET IT TO WORK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VVVVVVVV
dingdonggggg said:
YEP
Perfect turn by turn navigation.
On the highway about 10 locks and in urban area a minimum of 6 locks.
And all the time average 14 sats in sight.
I have not tried it yet in an area with very tall buildings.
I think the highest buildings during my tests were 6 floors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually just got 18 ft in my brother's front yard Same place I kept getting nada for a couple weeks. No mods, but not stable either. Soon I'll have external antenna and be done with it
*EDIT: Obviously with data on, but I was getting 1 bird in and out of view with the same setup pre-.15. That is not to say .15 in any way helped this.
**EDIT:
PM'd you
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Buxtahuda,
So what antenna will you be using?
dingdonggggg said:
Have you ever seen such quality in the GPS signals and the fixes? (picture 1)
Ever since I got my TFP in early January I have been trying to find a way to enhance the GPS and the Wifi. I read just about all the threads on these subjects and tried every tweak. Even the crazy ones ;-) But because of the form factor I wasn't going to drill holes and put antennas on the back (respect guys, awesome work)
It started with a poster that got flamed straight away. He put a phone on the top right hand corner and got a better GPS. I felt sorry for him because everyone treated him like a retard. Just for the sake of being able to put the flamers in their spot I gave his idea a chance.
And it worked!!! But it was not practical. I can't walk around with a phone pressed against my TFP. But it was a start. Something started happening.
Next came the screwdriver trick. Even better result. Then I discovered the paperclip trick. Again improvement. But still not good enough and certainly not stable. It was difficult to reproduce. It became clear to me that positioning was very critical.
On the Wifi side people started enhancing their signal by placing foil the right Wifi antenna. Then they started using beer cans. It worked for some. But for others it didn't work. Theory was that somehow the Wifi signal got shielded forcing the other Wifi antenna to kick in. Tried it. Worked sometimes and at other moments didn't work. But there was something. And again it became clear to me that positioning was very critical.
Furthermore I started fooling around with grounding to the back plate. It had a dramatic effect on Wifi and GPS. As soon as something touches the back plate the signals die. I got the impression that the Wifi and GPS antenna were to close to each other and with all the RF signals they were screwing each other.
But all together there were things happening. I started documenting exact positions and sizes of the tweaks I was applying. Wifi was reasonable for me as long as I had a good base signal. GPS had my attention. I could get an external GPS, I could tether from my phone, I could buy a map, I could ask directions.
But NO!!!!
I wanted the GPS inside the Prime to get a reasonable fix.
It has cost me a lot of hours of trying, tweaking, adapting, and documenting.
But......
I FOUND THE 10 CENTS SOLUTION!!!
You only need to buy a 1 mm stainless steel cable.
Instructions (also see diagram):
1. First get yourself a beer. And drink it (this is the best part)
2. Then cut yourself a square 15x25 mm from the can (carefull)
3. Stick it in the right place onto the glass
4. Make sure it is isolated with electical tape on the topside
5. Place steel cable across the isolated square (I don’t know if this matters but I used 9,75 mm length = 0,5 x wavelength of GPS)
6. Fix it in place with electrical tape
And ......
ENJOY A GOOD GPS (better than my HTC Sensation)
Up to now this is the best result I can get.
Probably sizes and locations can be optimized.
However my experience is that the cable has to extend outside the plane of the TFP. Either vertical or horizontal. As long as it is inside the confines and flat on the glass of the TFP the signal dies instantly
And the electrical tape on top can be exchanged for something better looking.
Customize it like a sticker of a mouse with the tail being the steel cable.
Or a droid sticker with antenna ears upwards.
Outside and in the car I get a 4 second lock and after 10 seconds 15 sats and 10 locked. Inside has improved but not really good enough.
I have reset the prime before testing, cleared AGPS and Wifi off.
I hope you guys enjoy and appreciate my solution.
And if someone finds a better or more elegant solution please post.
Have fun
Oh I forgot to mention. The trick also works with the paperclip. Use a small paperclip. When straightened the length is 95 mm. Also works. I turned to the steel cable because I wanted something flexible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like it close to the location for the Easy Wifi Improvement Mod only with the added wire.
PolishPoet said:
Looks like it close to the location for the Easy Wifi Improvement Mod only with the added wire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's the point.
Kill the primary WiFi (if that's what it does... and I think it does) with the aluminum, then use the wire as a conductor for the GPS signal, just kind of funneling it to the right area for the internal antenna to get a concentrated blast. Per RF theory I've seen around here, the signal then doesn't need a hard line to the antenna, it'll travel that little gap from covered wire to antenna easily.
hey! That crazy asian with the phone on the corner was me! I've been meaning to post my further investigation on this and this is what I did.
1. Bought a Moco case on Amazon for like $12.
2. Put Prime in case.
3. Cut a 5 inch speaker wire. The tiny ones, not monster cable but them average size wire about 22 gauge (?).
4. Place the wire under the case but above the Prime in same location as yours. It stuck out so I bent the end and tucked it into the headphone opening.
5. Went for a drive. I drive a bronco and with the case set up to stand the Prime up, I was able to watch GPS test as I drove. Kept very steady GPS lock with no less than 4 at a time. Tried Google maps with Bluetooth data tethering to my phone to draw map and now I have a 10.1 in screen gps !
I think getting a case (any case) is a good investment for your Prime. It can also very casually and discreetly hide any of these " additions" to your Prime to enhance certain features like those with the foil wifi "mod".
So I didn't get to drink any beer but I sure will not drink scotch out a can!
OMG beard, too funny ...lmao....
I just sent the images below to my Father-in-law to tends to make stuff out of wood. He makes beautiful hutches, cabinets, hope chests, cribs, and other wood furniture pieces that he gives to family members and does it as a hobby. He makes great stuff.
My wife is always complaining that I clutter up the end table near my lazyboy with stuff... I have a TV tray like thing in front of the chair where I have a notebook most of the time so that I can be out with the family while working on my second job and having a storage area that looks like a piece of furniture would be handy.
The hutch idea would give me a place to put that stuff, and provide a central power station at the same time. I am always needing to temporarily plug something into the wall as well, and this would give me a way of doing that without diving behind the couch to get to the socket. Sometimes I need to program a router or plug in a backup drive etc... and I have a power dock now there for my phone, charge my tablet etc...
While I could work from my home office, it tends to get hot this time of year and I prefer to spend more time out with the family.
I think these things should be in stores...
What do you think??
Click for larger Image
Looks nice, and u seem to have most of it figured out, down to the power outlet. very nice.
Just found out that he is building it! Should have it sometime in late May. Will take pictures when I get it.
That's pretty awesome. They should build that into entertainment systems as well. A central plug at the bottom of it to plug into the wall then two power strips that have like 10-15 plugs. We are such power hogs.
krelvinaz said:
I just sent the images below to my Father-in-law to tends to make stuff out of wood. He makes beautiful hutches, cabinets, hope chests, cribs, and other wood furniture pieces that he gives to family members and does it as a hobby. He makes great stuff.
My wife is always complaining that I clutter up the end table near my lazyboy with stuff... I have a TV tray like thing in front of the chair where I have a notebook most of the time so that I can be out with the family while working on my second job and having a storage area that looks like a piece of furniture would be handy.
The hutch idea would give me a place to put that stuff, and provide a central power station at the same time. I am always needing to temporarily plug something into the wall as well, and this would give me a way of doing that without diving behind the couch to get to the socket. Sometimes I need to program a router or plug in a backup drive etc... and I have a power dock now there for my phone, charge my tablet etc...
While I could work from my home office, it tends to get hot this time of year and I prefer to spend more time out with the family.
I think these things should be in stores...
What do you think??
Click for larger Image
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats awesome I need one lol
I like your idea. Have a few of them made. If you can do it for a decent price, I would buy one without thinking twice.
It has arrived... Already put it to use with all my Raspberry Pi clutter...
More info:
http://rpi.tnet.com/project/hardware/hutch