Database Develop

BEST case, keyboard, headphones (finally...)

never being happy with what is already made..i decided to modify my accesories so they fit my needs.
keyboard: took a chance on this one..wasn't sure if it worked with hd2 bluetooth stack but it worked right out of the box (press a button and connect it to the phone..that easy). and it's actually great..the keys are very clicky with good depth despite the really tiny size (as big as the hd2). it comes with an optional stand and a case. and btw..it's cheaper than other keyboards...around 50$ and it's designed in canada..actually made in china..but still..
the headphones..this project has already been done before..but i used the great headphones from my old omnia phone..really good fit..deep base..buttons and mic still work after i soldered the wires inside it
and for the case ..this was the biggest pain in the a..; this case made by melko protects really well the hd2 by covering all the edges without covering any part of the screen. however it has design flaw..i had to chop of the top of the back part..(see photos) so the "hook" that grips over the phone (there is no magnet etc) can go all the way back. if not..the front part of the case would stay a bit open..dumb.
the second modification is that i "transplanted" the the clip from an old cellet case to the back of the case (glued it under the leather and sewed it through the plastic of the case with a nylon double wire..extra safety..you know. and ofcourse i had to buy the new metal clip that works with any cellet case. only downside is that i removed the zagg shield from the back and side. total cost for the case and new clip..about 30$..plus a few good hours of work.
oh..and the case doubles as a reasonably solid stand
so what do you guys think?

one last pic

mikgangal said:
one last pic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is still big keyboard have a look here ..
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/mini-bluetooth-keyboard-for-smartphones/

yup..u're right..it's smaller..but i don't see myself actually typing a text on that.
on the one i got..i can type with full speed

Wow. That keyboard is huge. I think I'd rather pull out my netbook...

wow all looks good to me!
how did u solder the headphones? i would like to try it too!

wow all looks good to me!
how did u solder the headphones? i would like to try it too!

actually this project has been done b4
in short..you pop open the buttons (with your nail). gently you pull out the circuit board from the case and you give yourself some loose. you clean up the white stuff around the connections..unsolder the old headphones and then clean up the extra solder so that you can see the holes.
IMPORTANT the wires of the headphones you wanna add have to be cleaned either with heat from the soldering iron or with aspirin works best i believe (put the wire over the aspirin..heat it up..and as it melts you 'wash' the wires in the aspirin really well..carefull not to inhale !)
this will help uncoat the wire from the protective plastic film. then just solder them to the circuit board...use some epoxy over the connections for extra strength..put everything back togather...and voila

Modify Leo HTC Headset to In-Ear Headphones

Zagg SmartBuds Review

Zagg SmartBuds
by zagg.com
The ear buds that came with the Defy were nothing to write home about, for me the buds were to big and didn't fit my ears well, the ones that came with my Cliq XT were much better but didn't play well with the Defy. I like the Zagg Invisible Screen protectors for my electronic toys as my wife calls them I decided to check out their SmartBuds, which from reading reviews on I think this is maybe the 3rd generation of this product.
SmartBuds come packaged in a pyramid shaped box with he 2 buds visible at the top. The bottom opens and the entire insides slide out revealing the SmartBuds and a nice hardshell round zipper case for carring your new Buds. Inside the case is a small pouch where the extra bud ear pieces are stored or you can store maybe an extra SD card you choice.
What in the box
Zagg SmartBuds
Zipper case
Silicone tips - 3 sizes
Foam tips - 2 sizes
SmartBuds are a little different than the other ear bud type headset that I have now or have owned in the past. The SmartBuds are made to slip over your head so if the buds fall out or you need to take them out they will fall over your shoulder. This is real handy if you need to remove the buds as they will just hang there on your shoulder. This is accomplished with a sliding bead that the wires pass through to make the loop adjustable. There are 2 more sliding beads lower on the wire that allows you to adjust the cord in the front too.
The wire is protected with Zagg's Invisible Shield product so the wire doesn't tangle as much and if it does it seems a good shake will untangle it, nice feature when you have spend 15+ minutes untangling a pair of earbuds.
One end has a standard 3.5mm plug which is pretty much the standard now days on small electronic devices and is even the same used in my laptop so the SmartBuds can be used in things besides phones. Follow the wire up to a small plastic barrel that is the splitter as from there 2 wires continue for the left and right earbuds. A little further up on one of the single wires is another plastic barrel, this one has a button and a slider on it. Once I got the angle of the earbuds figured out they fit in my ears very well and are very comfortable, I have wore them for 3 or 4 hours without a problem or ear irritation.
The slider is an analog volume control that only effects the earbuds themselves so the main volume is set on the phone itself. The button control the music player or can be used to answer or hangup the phone. When the phone rings press it once and it will answer the phone, when finished press it again and it will hang up. Most music players will pause when the phone rings and continue when it is hung up. While listening to music 1 press of the button will pause the selection, another press will continue. 2 presses will forward to the next selection and 3 presses will go back to the previous selection. At least this is the way it works with PowerAmp, so your mileage may vary here.
I think the hole in the bead that is used for the adjusters could be a little smaller so that they don't slide so easy and would stay were put. This especially goes for the ones that goes behind the head. To test this theory I put a black wire tie through the hole to take up some of the extra space. The 2 front ones don't seem to matter.
The above is all well and good but I guess the real reason any of us bought earbuds in the 1st place was to listen to music, if we just wanted to talk and answer the phone we would have bought one of the bluetooth hang on ear thingees. My ears are not real sensitive so the audiophiles in the group may disagree and that is fine. I think the SmartBuds produce amazing sounds with good separation, I read in some other reviews about a lot of bass I didn't notice and thought the sound was on the flat side but still very pleasing even when not using and equalizer. Personally I like the PowerAmp preset named Bass/Trebble.
The Zagg SmartBuds are not the cheapest earbuds on the market and they are by no means the most expensive either. The list price at Zagg.com is now $49.95 and I dug around and found a 20% coupon so at $39.96 they are reasonable and I have heard reports of 50% off coupon codes from time to time, which at $25 is definitely a good deal.

[Q] Standard Earbuds not compatible with my Ears

So I just got my Nexus S yesterday, I love it, but... right about now, I'm feeling extremely dumb. Either that, or I have a horrible ear canal for listening to music.
I've tried everything to get the earbuds that came with the Nexus S to stay in my ear, but it just won't work. I've even watched YouTube videos to figure out how to get it to fit my ear. Something's wrong. No matter how deep in the ear canal I stick the earbuds, they won't stay for longer than 5 seconds. The slightest movement causes them to fall off.
Am I doing something wrong, or is this a common problem?
Is there a way to reduce the radius on the earbuds so I can try fitting them better in my ear? I really want to start using these standard headphones. They look extremely nice, and the rubber tips really enhance the sound, at least for the few seconds I manage to hold it in my ear. I don't want to go back to using my crappy Motorola ones. Help!

I was like this at the start when i first started to use in-ear earphones. I had to kinda force them into my ears. It was annoying at first but now its natural. Dunno if you are the same as me though

same problem here! I cant figure those damn things out lol. I had to go back to my iphone headset.

What headphone models have been comfortable for you?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Had this same problem with the last few handsets I've had. The solution I found was to get some of those foam pads for the earbuds. The friction between the foam and your skin keeps the earbuds solidly in your ear. Without the foam, my earbuds constantly fell out which drove me insane.

i have small ears too, i hate ear buds headphones as it causes a lot of pain after 15 min when using over sized ear buds, which are "normal" sizes for big ear peoples
very few products over mini ear buds (normal sizes for us), like a couple of Sony Bluetooth headsets i found in the past.
so i always use headsets that have an ear hook

I find the cable causes the most problems, If I have the cable exiting downwards, I cannot push the earbud in far enough. The only way to get a good fit is to turn them upside down and have the cables looped over the top of my ears.

Haadkoe said:
Had this same problem with the last few handsets I've had. The solution I found was to get some of those foam pads for the earbuds. The friction between the foam and your skin keeps the earbuds solidly in your ear. Without the foam, my earbuds constantly fell out which drove me insane.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean those black foam pads that used to come with iPods? Do you know where I can find one nowadays? Or is there an easy way to improvise?
And thanks for the response guys, assured me that I'm not the only one to have problems with earbuds.

If you're using in-ear headphones there are 2 solutions:
Comply Foam Tips - Super comfortable but a little bit too expensive for me considering you have to change them every month (or two).
Sony Hybrid Tips Comes in 4 different sizes so you can mix-and-match if your ear canals are not the same size. Very comfortable and durable.
NOTE: There are some "Replacement Sony Silicone Ear Tips" on eBay, most (or all) of them are not the genuine ones. Quality wise is OK but the material is harder than original Sony Hybrid Tips so they may not as fit and comfortable as the real ones.

I thought it was just me I'm living with em until i have enough cash to buy a nice new pair of cans.
Sent from my Google.

you can get some rubber ear bud, the one that came standard is too big for me, so i got some sony ones, they are quite expensive, but you can get the non sony one's, works just as good, but much cheaper.
non sony one set USD 0.64
sony from most country set of 3 (S.M.L) USD 10
sony from japan two set either XS, SS, S, M, L and other sizes in between USD 5.75

Try
I am an earbud addict, try these J3Ms: http://earbudreview.org/earbud-reviews/jbuds-j3j3m-earbud-review/ They come with different earbud pieces so if you have a big ear (it seems like), then you can swap them out for the big earbud pieces.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, but is there anything I can do with these default ones?

EonHawk said:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, but is there anything I can do with these default ones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as mention, get some new earpads.

suksit said:
If you're using in-ear headphones there are 2 solutions:
Comply Foam Tips - Super comfortable but a little bit too expensive for me considering you have to change them every month (or two).
Sony Hybrid Tips Comes in 4 different sizes so you can mix-and-match if your ear canals are not the same size. Very comfortable and durable.
NOTE: There are some "Replacement Sony Silicone Ear Tips" on eBay, most (or all) of them are not the genuine ones. Quality wise is OK but the material is harder than original Sony Hybrid Tips so they may not as fit and comfortable as the real ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can vouch for comply tips. I use them with klipsch s4.. Outstanding.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

Homemade Nexus S Dock with resistor trigger

After a bit of searching I made a dock for my Nexus S and thought I'd show the results here.
I found out about polymer clay in this post (the thanks button is disabled for some reason...).
And I used the resistor values listed here, as some other threads showed they also worked with the Nexus S: Fun with resistors (home/car dock mode + more)
I ordered a Sparkfun microUSB breakout board, bought some resistors at a local electronics shop and four blocks of black Fimo clay at a nearby arts shop. I had the other supplies on hand:
-Soldering iron, solder, etc.
-Shrink wrap in various sizes.
-Hot glue.
-Aluminium plate.
-USB cable.
-Narrow and slightly rounded file.
-Box cutter or exacto knife.
I made the cable first (and did not take pictures at that time) and ensured that part worked before tackling the clay portion of the project.
I soldered one end of the resistor on the breakout board and the other directly on a stripped portion of the ground cable. The data wires remain functional as I am using a wall charger that properly shorts the D+ and D- wires to enable AC mode. I secured everything to the board with hot glue and finished off with shrink wrap.
This was my first time working with Fimo and it went well. I wrapped my phone in cellophane for a test fit along with the modified cable. The cable however isn't rated for the baking temperature so this was only temporary.
After baking, it turned out that I had misplaced the portion meant to hold the cable, so I snapped it off and made another with some left-over clay. The cured material can handle rebaking with no issues.
A bit of rework on the attachment point with a knife, test fit again, glue the board and file a notch for the buttons.
The phone slides in and out smoothly. I'm quite satisfied with the results.
Update: dock still works great. I've made one mod though: I took an old mouse pad, tore off the cloth on the top, cut a shape matching the dock's bottom, and hot glued the two together. This anti-skid pad means I can turn off the alarm or answer a call (which the phone answers in speakerphone mode right away) without inadvertently moving my phone on the nightstand.
Goodbye,
Darkshado

Wow really cool, and might have to try it.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G

nice work! I still have mine intact and it suffered some serious banging. Love your design too! Cheers.

a video of the process would be awesome for us noobs

Thanks for the feedback!
daudster: sorry, but its too late for a video. The good news is that there are plenty of good soldering tutorials out there.
This post by Fallon also has nice pictures that are very close to what I've done myself.
I started with the cable.
My "donor" USB cable was a standard compliant color coded affair. (Red Vcc, Black Ground, Green D+, White D-)
Checking with a multimeter to be safe is a very good idea.
Given the gauge of your typical USB cable wires and the breakout board's holes I suggest you presolder your wires.
Holding the stripped end of your wires with a sufficiently massive pair of pliers will make a nice heat sink to prevent melting the insulation when soldering.
Instead of doing like Fallon and placing the resistor above the breakout board, I soldered one pin on the board, the other on a stripped section of the ground cable "downhill" from the board. If you want to do it like this, make sure that you don't short your resistor with the ground cable. Then cover with shrink wrap.
Lousy ASCII art diagram below:
(Breakout board on the left)
ID--------R------\
GND--======---====
Depending on your exact design, this may not be necessary, but I opted to secure the small gauge wires to the board with hot glue, prior to covering with a larger diameter length of shrink wrap. While this cable's solidity might not be commercial grade, tugging on the cable by mistake would not risk as much damage.
Also a departure from Fallon's post is that I am using a Samsung OEM wall charger that shorts the Data wires in the charger itself, enabling AC mode, so no need to do it on the breakout board. My cable is confirmed working on the computer with both ADB and USB Mass Storage file transfer.
Test as you go to make sure none of your solders introduced unwanted short-circuits. (Fail to do this is and you could very well KILL your precious Nexus S or computer.)
Now, the Fimo part.
This was my first time ever working with Fimo and it turned out to be easy. As you work the material you heat it a little (friction) and it becomes a bit tacky to the touch so I worked on a small sheet of aluminium foil, wax paper might be better yet.
The aluminium plate is used for curing, as its much easier to handle with oven mitts and solid enough for this purpose.
Roll three blocks of Fimo in a sheet about 6-8 mm (¼") thick. With a blade, cut the excess on each side to end up with a properly sized rectangle for the back and bottom of the dock. These leftover bits will serve to support the back as well as the breakout board.
I kept my back flat, you may want to have it curved like the Samsung OEM one. Your choice, I chose flat because its easier to make and to simplify reuse with minimal modification when I'll change phones down the road.
The notch in the bottom for the buttons may be done before or after curing. Before, your fingers, a pen, coffee stirrer sticks or popsicle sticks all work. After, a rounded file or sandpaper.
My first breakout board support was misaligned so I had to break it off. For this reason I suggest you consider doing it in a second curing. This way your test fits are going to be much more accurate.
Most cables aren't rated for high enough temperatures to follow the Fimo in the oven for its curing. That's what lead me to making a support with a notch and using hot glue to finish the job. It's also flexible enough in case your alignment isn't perfect.
Goodbye,
Darkshado

Realy nice work

a quick sanding and molding would of gone miles to make it look normal!

i think that i'm going to try this!
thanks:good:

why is the headphone jack on the top?

Can someone explain to me the rationale why the headphone jack is still on the top?
When you hold the phone, the jack stick out from the top then bends down as the gravity pull down the rest of the cable. it makes no sense.
This is annoying because sometimes the cable can block the screen, I use a real headphone like audiotechnica, which has a very heavy coiled cable, the weight of the cable pulls the top side down, making the phone difficult to handle.
When you put the back into your pocket, you first have to change the orientation of the phone in your hand because you can just stick it because the headphone jacket is on the top.
This is one area iPhone gets it right.
Stupid samsung.

I prefer the headphone jack on the top because I put my phone in my front pocket top side up.
I would have been the OP of this thread if they had put it on the bottom. You can't please everyone.

My headphones have a "L" shape 3.5 mm plug that plugs to the phone.

kuromusha38 said:
front pocket of what? your shirt?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pants.

There's no right or wrong way here, both have their advantages and disadvantages. Having the headphone jack on the bottom is nice, it makes the phone easier to get out of your pocket, it means that if it's playing musing on a desk the screen orientation is already correct etc etc. But having the headphone jack on the top is good as well. I use the phone quite close to my chest sometimes (public transport) and I wouldn't want something sticking out from the bottom of it and into me. Also, having a jack on the top means that I can put the phone on a stand on my desk (like a Tylt Vu) so I can see the screen, and this stand doesn't cause any problems when using headphones because the jack is accessible.

Sky427 said:
I prefer the headphone jack on the top because I put my phone in my front pocket top side up.
I would have been the OP of this thread if they had put it on the bottom. You can't please everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here!

Bluetooth headphones problem solved.
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Sky427 said:
I prefer the headphone jack on the top because I put my phone in my front pocket top side up.
I would have been the OP of this thread if they had put it on the bottom. You can't please everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also put phones in my pocket top side up and its also easier and more accessible for example on my last car with had bluetooth phone calls but not bluetooth audio play so had to use aux input
other than that I think the connector being on the bottom is ugly! but thats my opinion.

Brava27 said:
Bluetooth headphones problem solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So true; especially with AptX providing higher fidelity than a wired jack. I wouldn't want the jack at the bottom anyway. If you use a dock or a stand you can't use the jack at the same time. Nor would I want the USB cable and jack both on the bottom in cases where I'm using both. My N10.1-14 has it on the left side 2mm from the top which is fine. Just because Apple does it doesn't mean it's right.

I also prefer it on the top, if the cable dropping over the phone bothers you just let it fall behind the screen?

I also like it at the top. Feels better for me. Also doesn't bug me if I grab my phone wrong cause turning it around in my hands takes only a couple seconds. I never understood really what the point of having the jack at the bottom of the phone really does. Is there really and benifit?

I have had devices with the jack on both the top and the bottom, and I must say I find the ones on top to definitely be the most versatile. I can't stand the jack on the bottom. If I'm lying down on my stomach on a bed or something, listening to some music while reading, the bottom jack will be smashed against the bed. Not so great for the jack or the cord. On top? No problem. It's also better when my phone is in my pocket...when it's top-side-up, the buttons are still easily accessible to change volume or track. If I had to put my phone upside down in the pocket, I'd have to pull the phone out more just to reach the buttons. It's also more compatible with generic docks that still use auxiliary input.
If Samsung starts putting it on the bottom, I'll be forced to buy new bluetooth headphones. I really don't want to spend money on that yet.

I prefer the jack on top

I don't care about your preferences or opinions. I am only after logical reasons to why the jack is on the top.
As I have stated in my OP.

kuromusha38 said:
I don't care about your preferences or opinions. I am only after logical reasons to why the jack is on the top.
As I have stated in my OP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because Samsung hates you I guess, I mean if whats been posted here is not acceptable as a logical reason then why should anyone care about your opinion.
Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. We did. Happy Holidays.

kuromusha38 said:
I don't care about your preferences or opinions. I am only after logical reasons to why the jack is on the top.
As I have stated in my OP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably because the S-Pen, microphones and charge port take up some space. And probably because when having the jack on the top, it's easier to connect it to the main circuit board.

kuromusha38 said:
Can someone explain to me the rationale why the headphone jack is still on the top?
When you hold the phone, the jack stick out from the top then bends down as the gravity pull down the rest of the cable. it makes no sense.
This is annoying because sometimes the cable can block the screen, I use a real headphone like audiotechnica, which has a very heavy coiled cable, the weight of the cable pulls the top side down, making the phone difficult to handle.
When you put the back into your pocket, you first have to change the orientation of the phone in your hand because you can just stick it because the headphone jacket is on the top.
This is one area iPhone gets it right.
Stupid samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. I think the headphone jack should be on the bottom because it makes more sense. If I have my charger in, and have headphones is, I have a cord coming out of the top, and the bottom. This makes it much hard to get comfortable

kuromusha38 said:
I don't care about your preferences or opinions. I am only after logical reasons to why the jack is on the top.
As I have stated in my OP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the most logical reason, judging by the post above, is that most of us prefer it at the top..
technically reason, could be anything... best asking samsung about that as only they would know

Think what we've discovered here is there is really no right or wrong reason, and as you can tell from various posters some prefer it on the top and some preferred on the bottom. It's all a matter of personal preference.
As to the logical reason, the one poster who mentioned the location on the motherboard and the simplicity of connections may have actually been correct. Consider the fact that the speaker and the headphone jack are both at the top on most phones, which means that from a circuit aspect, connections for sound are close to the top of the phone for most phones.
Some phones do you have the speaker at the bottom, and so I've never done any correlation research to see if those are the ones that have the headphone jacks on the bottom or not, but it would make sense that the headphone jack should be close to where the speaker is since it's just a matter of a physical disconnect of the speaker and physical connective the headphone jack.
Other logical reasons, I couldn't say I can't think of one in particular but I'm sure the engineers had their reasons.
As far as the cord is concerned, using a full blown head set such as the Audio Technica with a heavy cord in your phone will ultimately put extra strain on the headphone jack in your phone and potentially could cause it to become detached electrically from the motherboard due to that heavy pulling as you mentioned.
I might suggest that you go with either an extension cord that has a nice light cable and then plug your headphones into that extension cord, or the suggestion for Bluetooth was not all that bad. There are Bluetooth receivers that are high fidelity run by a small battery typically aa our aaa, and you can plug your headphones into that little receiver and then set your Bluetooth output on your phone and now you have completely wireless audio in your high end headphones.
Any other suggestions?
Oh and by the way, let's keep the responses light and pleasant and respectful. No need to get sarcastic or snippy.

kuromusha38 said:
I don't care about your preferences or opinions. I am only after logical reasons to why the jack is on the top.
As I have stated in my OP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is your response? You want us to care about your pref. but we can't .... never mind. Not wasting my S-pen tip to continue
Kicking Deuce on the Beast, Note 3