Database Users

[Q] Anyone using the Touchstone mod w/a case of any type?

I'm considering doing this over the next week or so, but I have a Seidio Inn. case. I'm wondering if anyone that has completed this mod has any input on whether they are able to charge the phone w/a case on? And is the phone still held in place by the Touchstone when the case is on?

Why not just mod the inside of the innocase? I have thought about doing this and just placing exposed connectors that connect to a receptacle that I would wire on the phone...or just cut two small holes for the connectors to pass through the back of the phone. The holes could be easily plugged when the case is not used. This way the thickness of the case is not a problem and the touchstone is removable.

I thought about doing that. I thought about increasing the magnet size inside the Touchstone to overcome the thickness of the case. I also thought about getting a couple washers, Rotozipping a little out the inside of the INNO case, and affixing the washers inside there. I'm going to play with it a little to find out the best option, I was hoping that someone here had already done it. Oh well, I'll figure it out

Wireless charging solved

This makes the phone much more enjoyable. Take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-KUgDNrwM
Whole phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWgaSfwSrI

You keep posting links to this video, but is there a step by step guide for this method? Looks awesome BTW. I found guides using wire and using the copper tape on the Nexus, but none that put it all together for this phone. I have several touchstone and my Palm Pre back, but am going to try the Pixie back.

Thanks so much! The pixi back is best because the positive and negatives line up with the phones positive and negative. The pres back has the negative on top so its more difficult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-KUgDNrwM
Whole phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWgaSfwSrI

I saw your posts/videos over in the international thread. Finally got my stuff in yesterday to try this out and got it all working today. So far the touchstone seems to work great and there is only very minimal bulge showing in the back (small enough that unless you point it out most people wouldn't notice it)

Great job. Any pics? You live so close to me. Lol

Here are some pictures.
As you can see there is almost no bulge. It can only really be seen when reflecting light off the back's glossy surface.
I used the pixi coil and some copper tape. The hardest part was getting the proper placement of the contact points.

<facepalm>
I was just going to post how my NFC stopped working after I did this but just found that NFC got turned off on my old GS2 (only other NFC device I have to test with)
Turned it back on and everything works....
</facepalm>

so is there a how to or a site you can buy the modded back covers or something other then pics?
would be nice to let everyone know.

So sorry blownco as there is no tutorial as i did not personal mod my phone. I bought a spare cover that i will try and mod myself as soon as i receive my rare earth batteries.

Pmentior greay job with the mod. Looks so clean too!

BLOWNCO said:
so is there a how to or a site you can buy the modded back covers or something other then pics?
would be nice to let everyone know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
**Update**
I have removed this mod temporarily as I was have some issues with the connection between my pixi coil and the copper tape. I should have this fixed in the next couple of days. Use the following steps as a frame work for your own mod not as a comprehensive guide!
**Update 2**
I have redone my mod and have updated this posted with new or modified steps.
My new build adds a little more bulge due to using a shot section of soldered wire.
There isn't really all that much to it.
Material needed:
Galaxy S3 (obviously)]
Palm Touchstone - I got the kit that includes the power supply and usb cord because some people have been having trouble with using other cords
Palm Pixi Touchstone Back
Copper Tape
Soldering Iron
Other Materials:
Double Sided Tape
Electrical Tape
Steps:
1) Peels the Coil out of the Pixi Back
After you get the black sticker off you will see all the pieces of the coil still stuck to the Pixi Back.
The 4 small metal disks spaced around the coil are important so move them too.
Carefully remove all these pieces and reassemble them back onto the black sticker
Tip) I used the touchstone base (Unplugged!) to help align the metal disks correctly. This helped the magnetic attachment between the phone and the dock. Just reassemble the coil assemble on the touchstone dock and the magnets in the dock pull the disk into the correct place on its own.
2) The copper tape is used to 'move' the leads on the Pixi back to the correct position so they line up with the contact points of the GS3
Don't let the 2 leads touch each other!
You need to add a little cushion under the ends of the copper tape so they connect properly.
3) Required step:The contact between the original pixi contact point and the copper tape needs to be soldered to maintain the connection.
Note) I had trouble getting the copper tape soldered directly to the pixi contact point. I used a small wire to connect the pixi contact with my new copper tape contacts. The wire was scavanged from an old extra USB cord I had laying around.
4) Use some electrical tape to cover the soldering points to make it look nice and to reduce risk of shorting.
5) Put the GS3 back back on and check the fit then place the GS3 on the touchstone and see if it works.
6) Adjust positioning if needed.
**edit**
I just went off the pictures/videos stu5797 has posted.
I may have missed something as I wrote this from memory of what I did. The mod was a lot of trial an error as I only went off of a few pictures.

What did you use to make the bumps for the contacts?

I just used a little bit of wadded up electrical tape underneath the copper foil. So far that part at least has made consistent contact.
I have been have trouble with the connection between the coil and the copper tape (this connection is under some black electrical tape in my picture, not the part that has the cushion under it.)and need to work on that the next few days. It will probably be solved with a bit of soldering (no modification will be done to the main part of the phone only the back cover and will be fully reversible) as I was too lazy to do it that way the first time.

i'm hoping that somewhere deep within China some eager little entrepreneur is making a cheap back cover that has the contacts already in it and they will appear on Ebay shortly.
Don't really want to wait until September for the Samsung and the thought of rigging it myself with tape and thin wires makes me nervous.. i take the back cover off too often to change out batteries and figure eventually i'd cross the wires and maybe ruin the phone.

Just ordered a pixi back and touchstone for about 8/9 bucks shipped on Amazon.

Unfortunately soldering is needed on the pixi back with copper tape to give the phone a constant great charge. Dont forget to get magnets and copper tape

I was hoping to avoid soldering with my first install. It work great for a while but then started to lose connection. I figured that I was probably going to have to solder it so I ordered 2 pixi backs to begin with in-case I screwed one up.
I don't think adding more magnets are really a good idea. Adding them to the phone will probably mess with the compass pretty badly. The touchstone system has the mags built into the base and just some metal pieces in the phone. If I can find something to replace the tiny metal disks in the cover though it should help keeping the phone onto the dock.

[Q] Anyone tried a Qi charging insert?

Like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wireless-Qi...S_Cell_Phone_PDA_Chargers&hash=item2c7582c278
Does it work reliably? Does it add significant thickness with the original battery cover?
Thanks!

Pfhortune said:
Like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wireless-Qi...S_Cell_Phone_PDA_Chargers&hash=item2c7582c278
Does it work reliably? Does it add significant thickness with the original battery cover?
Thanks!
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Hi!!..
I tried the cheaper amazon and ebay wireless charging inserts with a combination of different situations and yes there pretty good.. I have name brand chargers like the lg puck and the nokia one that is a little larger but i could'nt be happier... yes it had a very small bulge to the back of the stock case and it is so small that it's only a problem if u use a soft backed case like a tpu case.. made the phone kind of wobble in the middle when u set her down... but when I switched to a cheap hard backed case at that point it does not distort any longer and sits flat and fine.. The hard backed case makes finding the sweet spot on the charger a little harder and it takes a little extra to get it started charging simply because the hard backed case i have is WAY thicker than any tpu case I've used so it increases the distance from the receiver to the charger and makes the activation spot harder to find but once it is on its golden and charges just as fast and well as my old s4 I had that had the samsung charging back which made EVERY standard case totally incompatible... which was very frustrating considering I was trying not to wear out my fragile charge port and keep the phone unscratched... It was impossible so I went this way with my note 3 and all cases still fit.. and for $13 shipped for the receiver. It's much cheaper. And considering I still cant find the official back in stores around my area its a much better alternative.
I used these guys and this reciever.. ordered two so far... http://www.ebay.com/itm/31077619690...eName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
I even took one and soldered some pins cut to the correct size to both of the leads and use this bad boy with my hyperion extended battery.. worked like a charm with minimal bulge coming out of the back case... so with the bulge u might want to invest in a fatboy pillow type charger... that way the bulge that is there wont even exist to the surface or bother u at all. Hope this helps.. :highfive:

The back comes off?

So, I dropped my phone. Noticed that around the volume button and then on the other side that the back was separated from the front. Thinking, oh crap, the back doesn't come off, I was already having nightmares about going to verizon. I pushed the back, back onto the frame and it snapped into place on both sides. I was too much of a wuss to try to remove it again but, I think the back actually comes off this phone and is just held on like all removable back phones, it just snaps into place. I have the ballistic nylon back.
ANyone know for sure?

xkape said:
So, I dropped my phone. Noticed that around the volume button and then on the other side that the back was separated from the front. Thinking, oh crap, the back doesn't come off, I was already having nightmares about going to verizon. I pushed the back, back onto the frame and it snapped into place on both sides. I was too much of a wuss to try to remove it again but, I think the back actually comes off this phone and is just held on like all removable back phones, it just snaps into place. I have the ballistic nylon back.
ANyone know for sure?
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Click to collapse
I watched the teardown video. The back is held down by clips I think, so you can actually pry it off if you have a shim to get into there.

Well yeah, if it can be put together it can be taken apart. What it comes down to is how easily it can be done without damaging the phone. iDevices have always been made without a removable back, but as far as I know all of them can be taken apart for servicing. I replaced the HDD in my 2nd or 3rd gen iPod like 5 times and the battery once before wising up and ditching that Apple crap (that was my first and last Apple product).
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

A guitar pick has always worked great for me, Razrmaxx, & RazrmaxxHD. I haven't needed to yet on my ballistic 64, but the video shows it working like the past Moto's

Second that. guitar pick worked great!

I see that there are ballistic nylon backs being sold on eBay now. I wonder how long before the metallized Kevlar backs show up. It will be awesome to be able to switch them out.

I put the red volume key in the black plastic so it now it has a red accent. Also the M comes out on the ballistic nylon. I actually plan on removing the M, I'm putting in some sort of metal dish. Then using that does to attach to a magnetic car dock for wireless charging. yeah, I might end up taking this too far lol

zathus said:
I put the red volume key in the black plastic so it now it has a red accent. Also the M comes out on the ballistic nylon. I actually plan on removing the M, I'm putting in some sort of metal dish. Then using that does to attach to a magnetic car dock for wireless charging. yeah, I might end up taking this too far lol
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Could you keep us up to date on your progress? I'd really like to make my own magnetic car mount as well. I had one with my Galaxy SIII using a Palm Touchstone. It was amazing.

JTH182 said:
Could you keep us up to date on your progress? I'd really like to make my own magnetic car mount as well. I had one with my Galaxy SIII using a Palm Touchstone. It was amazing.
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Click to collapse
The camera picked up every flaw the eye cant see lol I took one of the LG car charging pads, a cheap $10 RadioShack car dock. Took the charging pad apart and put four magnets. One in each corner. then I took the cheap Doc I bought and cut the legs off of it and plastic welded them to the LG pad . Then I took the sticky part of the cheap dark and super glued it to the pad. It holds just fine without the little legs. But I like the extra support. Doesn't look too great without a phone on it. But once I put my phone on it all you see is the phone. looks like it's floating.
Edit. the back of the Droid turbo has metal in it. So its magnetic. If you put a magnet on the center and triggers the flip case. But keeping them off the side seems to be just fine

But the real question is... Can you access, remove, and replace the battery?
Sent from my XT1254

ccheww said:
But the real question is... Can you access, remove, and replace the battery?
Sent from my XT1254
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, it doesn't look too difficult. There is a teardown video here: Motorola Droid Turbo XT1254 Disassembly / Tear Do…: http://youtu.be/l_AOQ6U2Zb0

zathus said:
The camera picked up every flaw the eye cant see lol I took one of the LG car charging pads, a cheap $10 RadioShack car dock. Took the charging pad apart and put four magnets. One in each corner. then I took the cheap Doc I bought and cut the legs off of it and plastic welded them to the LG pad . Then I took the sticky part of the cheap dark and super glued it to the pad. It holds just fine without the little legs. But I like the extra support. Doesn't look too great without a phone on it. But once I put my phone on it all you see is the phone. looks like it's floating.
Edit. the back of the Droid turbo has metal in it. So its magnetic. If you put a magnet on the center and triggers the flip case. But keeping them off the side seems to be just fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. That blob in the middle is the sticky part of the cheap dock? Do the magnets hold the phone without that sticky stuff? Is it hard to line up the phone with the charging coil? Does it get a steady current to charge?
Also, would you be able to point me to the exact charging pad you used so I know it would work?
I may have myself a project, lol... I'm wondering if something like this would work with the Turbo:

JTH182 said:
Interesting. That blob in the middle is the sticky part of the cheap dock? Do the magnets hold the phone without that sticky stuff? Is it hard to line up the phone with the charging coil? Does it get a steady current to charge?
Also, would you be able to point me to the exact charging pad you used so I know it would work?
I may have myself a project, lol... I'm wondering if something like this would work with the Turbo:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without the bloob it will hold. But not really strong. I'm going to revisit this project, I just needed the dock backup so I could go to work lol because I tried 2 hours and I like having somewhere to put my phone. Any qi charging pad will work with the Droid turbo. The one I have is the LG puck. Just make sure whatever you get it's designed for a car. 12 volts, not 110.
Probably next weekend or whenever I have the time I'm going to take off the back of the Droid turbo and put some metal in there, like grind down some razor blades to fit. One just below the M & 1 just above the droid logo. That will give it a much stronger hold that I can get rid of the blob and the legs. I just have a very strong fear of the phone falling off while driving and face planting into my shift knob lol.

jal3223 said:
Yep, it doesn't look too difficult. There is a teardown video here: Motorola Droid Turbo XT1254 Disassembly / Tear Do…: http://youtu.be/l_AOQ6U2Zb0
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Click to collapse
Wow. That was painful to watch. That guy sucks at life.

So, I re did it. Turned out pretty good

jal3223 said:
Yep, it doesn't look too difficult. There is a teardown video here: Motorola Droid Turbo XT1254 Disassembly / Tear Do…: http://youtu.be/l_AOQ6U2Zb0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha. Your version of "not too difficult" definitely differs from mine. I suppose if your battery was absolutely dead and you had no other choice, but when you start talking about adhesive and heat guns thats a little outside of realm of a simple replacement.

timofcourse said:
Ha. Your version of "not too difficult" definitely differs from mine. I suppose if your battery was absolutely dead and you had no other choice, but when you start talking about adhesive and heat guns thats a little outside of realm of a simple replacement.
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Oh then you definitely gotta google how to replace just the glass on The Droid Ultra/Maxx or any other phone for that matter... U'll get a definition of what difficult actually is! I personally did... And after seeing that everything else seems damn easy.... Replacing glass is so difficult that even Manufacturers don't prefer to do it!

zathus said:
So, I re did it. Turned out pretty good
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How did you make that one? Does it really stay on there while you're driving? What magnets did you use? Did you put the metal inside the phone?
I bought some neodymium magnets, but I still don't think it will hold while driving. I haven't finished yet though. I also have a bad feeling it won't actually charge because the magnets are interfering with the charging coil.

JTH182 said:
How did you make that one? Does it really stay on there while you're driving? What magnets did you use? Did you put the metal inside the phone?
I bought some neodymium magnets, but I still don't think it will hold while driving. I haven't finished yet though. I also have a bad feeling it won't actually charge because the magnets are interfering with the charging coil.
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Tonight or tomorrow I'll make a little video explaining when I did. Easier than trying to type it lol and easier to understand.

zathus said:
Tonight or tomorrow I'll make a little video explaining when I did. Easier than trying to type it lol and easier to understand.
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Thanks! That would be awesome:good:

custom turbo magnetic wireless charging car dock

so, Ive wanted a magnetic car dock for a while. Airdock makes a nice one. but the airdock 2 is not available. at least last time i checked. So i decided to make one. this has been an on going project for about a month. the first one i made was quite simple. very much like the one on youtube. just 4 magnets placed in a LG charging pad. problem was, the charging would start and stop randomly. I assumed it had to do with the magnet locations. some how it was effecting the charging (considering Qi charging is magnetic)
back to the drawing board! and then project after project lol. I think i must have made 8 docks. all had issues and I was not satisfied. I even made one out of carbon fiber, or an attempt to! didnt turn out well.. then I went a bit out side of the box. so heres what i did
First, i had an extra Turbo battery cover. i plastic dipped that. my theory was plastic dip would work as a release agent for my next step. then I took an old iphone bumper case my wife had and used that as my frame.. alined 4 magnets next to the moto symbol (i put 2 small peaces of metal in that area in side the phone) then i used tap to cover all the gaps the case would have on the phone, and poured in a full tube of plastic weld epoxy. I had no clue what would happen but i was willing to try!
after everything cured it worked really well.. I was able to take the epoxy off the phone cover fairly easly (you can see it pulled off some of the vz and droid writing.. as well as the moto symbol)
now, i have a form that matches the turbo exactly.
the next step was just a mater of sanding and cutting off any of the over pour and any imperfections in the epoxy.
then i put in the wireless charging pad
next, i plastic dipped the front (being rubber it works really well as a non slip surface)
then i warped the outside in some auto chrome trim
and that was that! new charging dock for my car that fits like a glove! because it matches the turbos curves, it auto centers it self. and holds super tight! phone wont move at all... very happy with the out come.. let me know what you guys think! thanks

thats really sweet ill buy one ?

That looks sweet!!!
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Would love to see some links to the supplies you used. I've been wanting to make my own magnetic car dock.

Bad ass! I already tried to make a dock, but it doesn't charge, and the magnets don't hold that well. I don't have the patience (or cajones to open up my phone) to try this.

Im Saint said:
Would love to see some links to the supplies you used. I've been wanting to make my own magnetic car dock.
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Not really links I could use as everything i got was locally bought. Magnets from ace hardware. Cheap iPhone 4 case. Plastic dip and plastic weld epoxy made by jb weld. Got that stuff at pep boys. Just gotta get creative lol. Oh, and the small metal I put in the phone was from my Wifes ear rings =). Super thin metal. Earrings work great!

Wait... why does it look like it's Qi charging??? Did I miss that step?

boneriffic said:
Wait... why does it look like it's Qi charging??? Did I miss that step?
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Guess so lol. There's a pic and I said "then I put in the wireless charging pad".

zathus said:
Not really links I could use as everything i got was locally bought. Magnets from ace hardware. Cheap iPhone 4 case. Plastic dip and plastic weld epoxy made by jb weld. Got that stuff at pep boys. Just gotta get creative lol. Oh, and the small metal I put in the phone was from my Wifes ear rings =). Super thin metal. Earrings work great!
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Fair enough!
I guess what I really wanted to know was which wireless charging pad you had in there. Just a generic Qi charger?

Im Saint said:
Fair enough!
I guess what I really wanted to know was which wireless charging pad you had in there. Just a generic Qi charger?
Click to expand...
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Oh of course.
http://www.shopandroid.com/lg-wcp-300-qi-wireless-charging-pad/5A233A18004.htm
That was just the first link I found. I got mine for like 20 bucks.
I guess I should add, I cut the back off a cheap car dock and glued it to the back of the wireless charging pad.

Just checking in - any issues with this long term? All sensors working? Does the compass work properly while on the stand?

How much would you say this cost in total? $50?

gqskrub said:
How much would you say this cost in total? $50?
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Yeah. About that I'd say

Necro-posting...
When the phone back cover was open, did it look like there was enough room to install a metal ring, for use with current magnetic phone holders (Qi chargers)? I have to open the case to replace the battery and figured I might try a magnetic Qi mount as well (easier to rotate from portrait to landscape without a large plastic exo-frame). It's that, or use a thin cover and put the ring between the phone and the accessory cover (I have the ballistic nylon back).