23 replies to this topic

[akuma3d]

I took my SDA (us) completely apart.
It made me think.  The back top part, or hump,is a separate piece.
Does anyone overseas know of a place that I can get this part(with out hump)?
Then i could just replace it, and be hump free.

Anyone have any ideas.  I was thinking one of those ebay dummy phones, but would it have the antenna plug inside of that part?

any ideas would be Great!

thanx

[sporkguy]

I always assumed that the hump was an important part of the SDA because it contained all the antenna equipment?
You could by all means attempt to buy a replacement housing from eBay, but I think it may detriment the functionality of the phone.

[fluffcat1]

Somebody in the US has bought a c600 casing from me to do just this. You will need to change the moulded chassis as well as the aeriel cover, and I believe the power button pusher is located differently so that may require some modification.

He's promised to do a method if it all works out OK.

Richard

[merwin]

I have owned both an SP5m and currently, a T-Mobile SDA. The hump serves to provide better sound quality when using speakerphone. I have noticed a LOT better quality because of it. Less vibration, etc.

And pardon me, but I have to...

My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps.

[akuma3d]

fluffcat1, on May 19 2006, 13:01, said:

Somebody in the US has bought a c600 casing from me to do just this. You will need to change the moulded chassis as well as the aeriel cover, and I believe the power button pusher is located differently so that may require some modification.

He's promised to do a method if it all works out OK.

Richard

Reply:  I'll check into the C600.  Thanks for the idea!



It's good to know the hump might actually do something.  Just seems strange that you don't hear complaints about the "no hump" verison in the UK.  I guess i'm just FCC weary...

Edited by akuma3d, 20 May 2006 - 12:16 PM.

[robrosen]

fluffcat1, on May 19 2006, 13:01, said:

Somebody in the US has bought a c600 casing from me to do just this. You will need to change the moulded chassis as well as the aeriel cover, and I believe the power button pusher is located differently so that may require some modification.

He's promised to do a method if it all works out OK.

Richard

  
     I did purchase a c600 casing from Richard recently to fix a scuffed exterior on my 2125.  Worked out fine (more or less).  A few things to note:

     (1) I replaced only the front and the perspex (in the US we call it 'Plexiglas') cover.  I didn't replace the back, or the aerial cover since neither piece actually would be a stock replacement for the 2125 housing due to the hump.  That was fine for me since the back of my phone was OK, it was just the front that was damaged.

     (2) As Richard notes, the power button is different on a C600 than on the 2125.  The mechanical switch on the circuit board is identical, however.  The c600 power switch is actually an easier way to power-on the phone; after taking apart my 2125 I discovered that the reason the power-on switch on the 2125 is so wacky is because the addition of the hump prevented the switch from being activated using the c600 button.  So they (presumably HTC, on Cingular's direction) bolted on the wacky power button to accomodate the hump.

     You'll need to manually remove the c600 power button from the front casing, but that's quite easy (just pull it off.  The plastic HTC used for the housing is about as solid as model airplane plastic - a bit disconcerting, actually).

     (3) There's some contact metal that surrounds the LED housing on the top of the phone.  I relocated that metal tape from the old front to the new one to ensure the LEDs would fire appropriately.  

     (4) It's helpful to use surgical gloves while handling the Plexiglas.  Otherwise you'll run the risk of oil from your fingers getting on the wrong side of the Plexiglas, causing display difficulties.

     (5) I didn't need to swap the chassis (or even disconnect any ribbon cables).  

     (6) I used a Torx #6 to remove the screws on the housing since I couldn't find a Torx #5.  The screwdriver was helpfully labeled "for use with cellular phones."  Took a bit more elbow grease than I expected, but it worked OK although I couldn't remove the additional two screws that would have enabled me to pull out the chassis and circuit board.

     (7)  Many have moaned the lack of a good case for their 2125s.  I ended up repurposing a Nokia case (model number CTU-07); accomodates the hump just fine.  I don't care for the plastic cover over the keypad so I snipped that down using a pair of nail scissors, otherwise no complaints.  Had I purchased this case earlier, I wouldn't have damaged the front of the phone when I dropped it, necessitating this procedure.

     Rob

     Thanks to Richard and also Bret for their detailed dissasembly instructions.

[Typhool]

fluffcat1, on May 19 2006, 09:01, said:

Somebody in the US has bought a c600 casing from me to do just this. You will need to change the moulded chassis as well as the aeriel cover, and I believe the power button pusher is located differently so that may require some modification.

He's promised to do a method if it all works out OK.

Richard

I think de-humping the Cingular 2125 may be possible because at least from the front it has the same layout as the C600. The t-mo SDA looks like a different animal if thats what we are talking about here and I dont see how that could be coerced into the C600 case unless under the covers the joystick and keys etc really are the same as the 2125/C600.

Anyway I agree, its not clear that we needed a hump. My Typhoons do just fine without it as does the C600 and they look a lot cleaner and fit into that otherwise useless pocket in my jeans.

BTW I'm the one that bought the C600 case from Richard, more news next week I hope when I attempt to turn Quasimodo into Cinderella.

[Thumper Net]

typical HTC make a special hump on the phone for the us market knowing how things have to be bigger there and you want to remove it , it will be like turning a suburban into a mini   only kidding .. the reason for the hump is that the gsm network coverage is not very good in the us as it is in europe , by removing and changing  it you may end up loosing signal, my only tip is to not throw away the old case until your sure it works as it did before

[fluffcat1]

Typhool, on May 21 2006, 02:14, said:

The t-mo SDA looks like a different animal if thats what we are talking about here and I dont see how that could be coerced into the C600 case unless under the covers the joystick and keys etc really are the same as the 2125/C600.

Yep, my mistake, the current t-mob US SDA with the hump is an sp5 casing. I'm confused    as I've seen a '2125' style handset with t-mob logo recently. Plus I'm from GB where we have a completley different SDA....

Anyway, the board should fit inside a c600 casing but the keypad assembly is different as Typhool says, and the US SDA fascia ( if the same as the sp5 ) will not fit the c600 chassis so you can't mix'n'match.

Typhool, on May 21 2006, 02:14, said:

Anyway I agree, its not clear that we needed a hump. My Typhoons do just fine without it as does the C600 and they look a lot cleaner and fit into that otherwise useless pocket in my jeans.

Signal strength. We europeans have a higher concentration of cell towers to fry our brains with and give us a good signal....

eg : early multi-band phones for use in the US had an extendable aeriel where the UK model did not. ( Nokia 8850 / 8890 )

Richard

[Typhool]

robrosen, on May 20 2006, 21:07, said:

I did purchase a c600 casing from Richard recently to fix a scuffed exterior on my 2125.  Worked out fine (more or less).  A few things to note:

     (1) I replaced only the front and the perspex (in the US we call it 'Plexiglas') cover.  I didn't replace the back, or the aerial cover since neither piece actually would be a stock replacement for the 2125 housing due to the hump.  That was fine for me since the back of my phone was OK, it was just the front that was damaged.

     (2) As Richard notes, the power button is different on a C600 than on the 2125.  The mechanical switch on the circuit board is identical, however.  The c600 power switch is actually an easier way to power-on the phone; after taking apart my 2125 I discovered that the reason the power-on switch on the 2125 is so wacky is because the addition of the hump prevented the switch from being activated using the c600 button.  So they (presumably HTC, on Cingular's direction) bolted on the wacky power button to accomodate the hump.

     You'll need to manually remove the c600 power button from the front casing, but that's quite easy (just pull it off.  The plastic HTC used for the housing is about as solid as model airplane plastic - a bit disconcerting, actually).

     (3) There's some contact metal that surrounds the LED housing on the top of the phone.  I relocated that metal tape from the old front to the new one to ensure the LEDs would fire appropriately.  

     (4) It's helpful to use surgical gloves while handling the Plexiglas.  Otherwise you'll run the risk of oil from your fingers getting on the wrong side of the Plexiglas, causing display difficulties.

     (5) I didn't need to swap the chassis (or even disconnect any ribbon cables).  

     (6) I used a Torx #6 to remove the screws on the housing since I couldn't find a Torx #5.  The screwdriver was helpfully labeled "for use with cellular phones."  Took a bit more elbow grease than I expected, but it worked OK although I couldn't remove the additional two screws that would have enabled me to pull out the chassis and circuit board.

     (7)  Many have moaned the lack of a good case for their 2125s.  I ended up repurposing a Nokia case (model number CTU-07); accomodates the hump just fine.  I don't care for the plastic cover over the keypad so I snipped that down using a pair of nail scissors, otherwise no complaints.  Had I purchased this case earlier, I wouldn't have damaged the front of the phone when I dropped it, necessitating this procedure.

     Rob

     Thanks to Richard and also Bret for their detailed dissasembly instructions.

Excellent info, thanks for posting it. It is encouraging to hear that the 2125 circuit board looks standard and it was the 2125 case that was hacked around to relocate the power button so things are looking good for the transplant into the C600 case.

I think it has been mentioned in here several times that the Husky HD-74502 driver set (Home Depot, around $6.00) is a great tool for phone dismantling with 4 double ended Torx bits of varying sizes. I liked it so much I also bought the HD-74501 which has the straight and phillips bits. On both units the bits store in the handle.

[akuma3d]

Thanx for the ideas!


I found out the the Cingular 2125, and the SDA (us) are exactly same hardware; I mean, shape too; the difference is the keypad-bord which seems to have the same connection, and interchangeable.  If this were interchanged, then one could change the entire housing of the phone.  This seems reasonable sine it would save HTC allot of money, just new keypads, and different housings, and sell them to everyone as something different.  So, now, i'm looking into the possibility of the keypad-bord for the SDA UK, (not the music edition).  This one is nice, has big buttons, and takes care of these silly music buttons, which seem to ALWAYS be in the way, plus it’ll be fun to rip it apart, and make something.     

I've heard the UK version isn't QVGA, so does that mean with the low res screen that the screen is actually physically smaller?

Edited by akuma3d, 23 May 2006 - 12:27 AM.

[Typhool]

Typhool, on May 21 2006, 09:22, said:

Excellent info, thanks for posting it. It is encouraging to hear that the 2125 circuit board looks standard and it was the 2125 case that was hacked around to relocate the power button so things are looking good for the transplant into the C600 case.

I think it has been mentioned in here several times that the Husky HD-74502 driver set (Home Depot, around $6.00) is a great tool for phone dismantling with 4 double ended Torx bits of varying sizes. I liked it so much I also bought the HD-74501 which has the straight and phillips bits. On both units the bits store in the handle.

This is just a quick update (more complete description with pictures to follow) to say that the transplant of the 2125 innards to the C600 case went well with no surprises and it is a very straightforward conversion. As far as I can tell all that the hump on the 2125 is doing is accomodating a little more metal for the antenna and my de-humped version is working fine, as I expected, just as my Typhoons work fine sans hump.

You need the complete C600 case (front, chassis and antenna cover at least) because the 2125 front does not have the power switch and IR bits and it cant be re-used for this project.

Start to finish the project took about 30 mins, most of which was fabricating an antenna using Richard Fluffcat1's patented technique and keeping the screen clean of my fingerprints and cat hair.

I now have a Cingular 2125 phone in an Orange SPV C600 case using a T-Mo SIM. It has been christened "Frankenphone".

Based on  the previous post that the SDA and C600 style phones only differ because of the keyboards and that the C600 style keyboard is plug compatible with the SDA motherboard then there is a good chance that the innards from a WiFi-enabled SDA could be put into the C600 case as long as you had a spare C600 style keyboard assembly, giving you the best form factor (the C600) with the best capabilities (the SDA).

[merwin]

akuma3d, on May 22 2006, 17:25, said:

Thanx for the ideas!
I found out the the Cingular 2125, and the SDA (us) are exactly same hardware; I mean, shape too; the difference is the keypad-bord which seems to have the same connection, and interchangeable.

They're not the same hardware. The 2125 does not have WIFI, while the SDA (US) does.

[fluffcat1]

merwin, on May 27 2006, 09:04, said:

They're not the same hardware. The 2125 does not have WIFI, while the SDA (US) does.

I think what he meant was the board shape is the same, which they are, and the majority hardware is the same, which it is - otherwise we'd all be flashing 2125's / c600 with the imate / sda rom etc rather than looking to put an SDA board in a c600 casing.

Richard

[MadSci]

Typhool, on May 27 2006, 00:14, said:

This is just a quick update (more complete description with pictures to follow) to say that the transplant of the 2125 innards to the C600 case went well with no surprises and it is a very straightforward conversion. As far as I can tell all that the hump on the 2125 is doing is accomodating a little more metal for the antenna and my de-humped version is working fine, as I expected, just as my Typhoons work fine sans hump.

You need the complete C600 case (front, chassis and antenna cover at least) because the 2125 front does not have the power switch and IR bits and it cant be re-used for this project.

Start to finish the project took about 30 mins, most of which was fabricating an antenna using Richard Fluffcat1's patented technique and keeping the screen clean of my fingerprints and cat hair.

I now have a Cingular 2125 phone in an Orange SPV C600 case using a T-Mo SIM. It has been christened "Frankenphone".

Based on  the previous post that the SDA and C600 style phones only differ because of the keyboards and that the C600 style keyboard is plug compatible with the SDA motherboard then there is a good chance that the innards from a WiFi-enabled SDA could be put into the C600 case as long as you had a spare C600 style keyboard assembly, giving you the best form factor (the C600) with the best capabilities (the SDA).

Yeesh!  I'm always confused by the names for the HTC 'types' and 'variants'.  Now we are making our own!

To keep things clear, lets name this "Hump-Free" variant the Bogart.  

MadSci

[Typhool]

Typhool, on May 20 2006, 21:14, said:

I think de-humping the Cingular 2125 may be possible because at least from the front it has the same layout as the C600. The t-mo SDA looks like a different animal if thats what we are talking about here and I dont see how that could be coerced into the C600 case unless under the covers the joystick and keys etc really are the same as the 2125/C600.

Anyway I agree, its not clear that we needed a hump. My Typhoons do just fine without it as does the C600 and they look a lot cleaner and fit into that otherwise useless pocket in my jeans.

BTW I'm the one that bought the C600 case from Richard, more news next week I hope when I attempt to turn Quasimodo into Cinderella.

Here is a description of how I de-humped a Cingular 2125. I'm not recommending this as something anyone should do, just providing a few more data points to add to this discussion.

 Cingular_2125_to_C600.pdf   1.45MB   524 downloads

[PaulOBrien]

Hmm, the idea of putting a Tornado inside a Faraday case definitely appeals to me...

P

[sporkguy]

Paul (MVP), on Jun 16 2006, 13:18, said:

Hmm, the idea of putting a Tornado inside a Faraday case definitely appeals to me...

P

[fluffcat1]

Paul (MVP), on Jun 16 2006, 13:18, said:

Hmm, the idea of putting a Tornado inside a Faraday case definitely appeals to me...

P

It's in hand. I have a donor t-mobile SDA US just waiting to find a spare c600 keypad :-)

Richard

[HighProtein]

akuma3d, on May 19 2006, 10:09, said:

I took my SDA (us) completely apart.
It made me think.  The back top part, or hump,is a separate piece.
Then i could just replace it, and be hump free.

Hmm I don't see a reason in taking apart a phone that works just fine
or taking off a piece of a phone that has a big purpose.
If you don't like how it looks and looks is an "issue" with you buy another phone maybe?