Database Users

Wizard Re-Design

Hey everyone...
I'm currently working on a school project to re-design the housing of a pda.. I've decided to use the 8125 as my base. I've just recently started researching and learning about the software. I plan on upgrading to WM6, adding Touchflo, and whatever mods seem interesting. I was curious if you all had any suggestions as far as improving the overall original design. I'll be making two phones. One being a slide with a rotating screen feature, and two being a thin, non-slide, full touchscreen model similar to the HTC Touch. Any suggestions you all have would be great to work with and put into my research report. Keep in mind I can change just about every physical aspect of the phone, speakers, battery, buttons, ect... Thanks very much guys.. Looking forward to some intersting feedback..

they never did stuff like that when I was at school!
I would change the D pad because the up button has to be quite precise, maybe make it with a bit more relief.
Also would move the speakers from the side because I tend to cover them when I hold the phone (thumb covers right side, forefinger covers left) in my left hand. possibly put them on front.
I use infra red a bit and sometimes wish it was on top of the device instead of the side.
good luck with the project.
Edit: nearly forgot to say move the stylus silo from the bottom then if it goes loose (they all do) then it wont fall out as easily.
some pics would be nice when its done.

Sounds good.... Thanks you for the reply. I'll definately post photos when I finish.

I always liked the "tablet" design of the Universal...if you could make it a little less bulky. Of course I've never used that device, but it theory it seemed cool.

Well since you said that it will be using TouchFlow my first bit of advice would to be to make the screen flush with the housing. The biggest issue I have with the Wizard when it comes being finger friendly is hitting the X/ok key in the upper right corner. If the screen was flush with the casing this wouldnt be an issue.
Another thing would be to switch out the mini audio jack on the bottom with a standard headphone jack. I know that you might loose the ability to use a mic with headphones but it would be a small price to pay for the ability to use a nice set of phones without the need for an adapter sticking out the bottom. Not to mention that Bluetooth would take care of the need for a headphone with mic.
I read in one of the tech user manuals for the Wizard that there is a 2megapixel CCD for the phone along with the stand 1.3mp. Im not sure of the validity of this, but if you can get your hands on it that might be pretty nice.
Adding a more powerful IR to the phone and placing it at the top would be a nice touch as well. Would be nice to have the TV remote function with this phone.
Im sure Ill think of some other things, and Ill post them here as well.
PS another Idea would be to use the hardware listed here... pretty cheap if you ask me. http://www.compulab.co.il/x270em/html/x270-em-datasheet.htm
Good luck.

Awsome... Thanks very much for the suggestions... I checked out the Compulab Embeded phone... However, the minimum quantity they will sell is 1000 units. It would make for a nice base though...

Unresponsive screen when in car dock?

Basically, the phone screen is unresponsive when your not holding it or any time it's not grounded. If I put it in the car holder and then touch the screen, its very sporadic. I have compared it with the droid eris and the Moto Droid under the same conditions at the same time, and it performs flawlessly. I have tried the incredible with the screen protector and without. If I take it out of the dock and hold the phone in my hand, it works great again. It's not just the car dock either. If I set it on certain surfaces and just touch it with one finger it does the same thing.
The car dock itself has nothing to do with it. I've narrowed it down to a grounding issue. I've also tested 3 Incredibles and ALL of them do it. I am going to post another video showing it on top of a piece of styrofoam which also creates the problem. It's definitely more widespread then just a few phones. Basically, If the phone has very little ground it is unresponsive. If you ground it, either by holding it or placing it on a surface that is grounded then it solves the problem. If you plug anything into it that is grounded it solves the problem.
Here is a new video on different surfaces. It's not a car dock issue. If it is some static issue as some are saying, it works great on a eris, or a moto droid so it's not capacitive screen in general.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL6sLW7Ll0E
The Car Dock one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKc1_wG0zg
My goal for this thread, (now that I see it is happening to a lot of phones) is too get enough info out there so that other people can effectively recreate this problem on their phones. With enough people, I am hoping HTC or Verizon can offer a fix not just a work around.
UPDATE 5-17-10
I received 2 replacement Incredibles from Verizon. Both phones respond in the same way as the original. I called verizon, and they said "they are compiling a list of problems to send to HTC and they will add this one to the list". Hopefully the rep that I spoke with wasn't just trying to shut me up. I don't know... Anyway, Here is the last video I am going to do on the topic. In this I wanted to clearly show the following:
- It is not a "Capacitive" screen issue in general (MOTO Droid, and Eris are fine)
- It is a MASS DEFECT of this phone. (I am not saying ALL phones)
I am going to forward this message and the video to HTC. I will post the response. Here is the link to the new video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQRgT3gtmsI

not the same as yours but i have a similar issue. i ordered a few usb wall plugs from monoprice. whenever i use one of the usb wall plugs to charge, the touch screen is unresponsive. The volume rocker and power buttons, but the screen and bottom row of buttons dont work. Using the factory usb wall plugs everything works fine.

igl007 said:
I have searched for someone having this problem and haven't found anything yet. So I apologize if I missed it somewhere. It's one of those problems that is difficult to recreate ALL the time so that's not making it any easier.
Basically, the phone screen is unresponsive when your not holding it. If I put it in the car holder and then touch the screen, its very sporadic. I have compared it with the droid eris under the same conditions at the same time, and it performs flawlessly. I have tried the incredible with the screen protector and without. If I take it out of the dock and hold the phone in my hand, it works great again. It's not just the car dock either. If I set it on the table and just touch it with one finger it does the same thing, However when it's on the table it's much less consistent to create the problem. Has anyone heard of this? My wife has the incredible also, and it's doing the same thing in her car. Did we just get a bad batch of phones? Is this screen just crappy under those conditions? It would make this a totally useless phone if i can't use it in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had a capacitive touchscreen phone, so I don't know for sure; but maybe it has something to do with the relative capacitance. When you have one hand on the back and then touch the screen, maybe it senses a greater variance in the capacitance. If it's on the table or in your car cradle, maybe the variance in capacitance isn't great enough to register a touch. I'm not familiar with Android either, but maybe you can adjust the sensitivity? Just like those touch lamps, capacitive sensors are triggered by a relative change in capacitance and if it's not greater than the preset threshold, it doesn't register that you touched it.
Just an idea... again, I'm not really sure. I'm only lurking around in these forums because I have an Incredible on order. I'm just throwing some odd ideas out there. Good luck!

It is the type of charger/how you are using it! I had this issue. I could plug in via the provided charger and it would work. But I went on a trip and hadn't purchased a car charger yet so I grabbed my laptop ac/dc converter and plugged in the provided charger through it and my phone became unresponsive. If I plug it in the wall presto it works. The new car charger works as well!
I am sure it has something to do with the voltage being released through the charger.

Here are a couple of video's I did on the topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKc1_wG0zg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXB1MjYM5Ks

Me too
I'm also having the same issue and I am using the Verizon OEM Holster Mount Combo (Perfect fit for Incredible, no power).
I'll post over at PPCGeeks, and AndroidForums to see if we can find a fix.
jakewill

You have to use original charger ... it has voltage regulator and earth pin on the other end ... static should not travel on the screen otherwise it will do the same ..

Workarounds
I did find out that it is pretty easy to do the following:
1. Plug in either the charger or headphone jack. Either of those seems to ground it out enough... I also tried just clipping the headphone jack (metal part) into the clip part of the belt clip, and that worked, so there just needs to be SOMETHING else attached to the phone or mount that gives it more of a ground.
2. Just hold the sides (or just one side) with your thumb and ring finger while navigating with your index finger. That seems to do the trick.
Hope it helps.
jakewill

I'm not seeing this issue, but this can't be the real dock for the incr... which one are you using?
Capacitive screens become less responsive in the cold.... if it's in front of an A/C vent with it blaring, that could be the root cause.

syntrix said:
I'm not seeing this issue, but this can't be the real dock for the incr... which one are you using?
Capacitive screens become less responsive in the cold.... if it's in front of an A/C vent with it blaring, that could be the root cause.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The car dock has nothing to do with it actually. I've narrowed it down to a grounding issue. I've also tested 3 Incredibles and ALL of them do it. I am going to post another video showing it on top of a piece of styrofoam which also creates the problem. It's definitely more widespread then just a few phones. Basically, If the phone has very little ground it is unresponsive. If you ground it, either by holding it or placing it on a surface that is grounded then it solves the problem. If you plug anything into it that is grounded it solves the problem.

Updated the 1st post with a new video.

Same issues plus some new ones
I seem to have the same issues that were reported in the youtube videos because I have a similar car dock. I am also having the same issues as hoop762 as I also purchased the wall charger from monoprice. When I have it plugged in the touch screen does not work, the OEM charger works perfect. I also purchased the car charger from monoprice but that does not cause the same issues.
I have had another similar issue when I have it plugged into my car stereo via the audio jack and a male to male 3.5 cable. When it is plugged in and I try to listen to music withe the stock audio player it starts fast forwarding and skipping songs. If I pause the music then start it again it sometimes plays for a while but will then act a fool again. I had the same issue using pandora when it skipped songs until it I ran out of skips but i have not seen the issue in other programs. I have had this issue in and out of the car dock. I will add a video later if I can.

I replied to one of your videos (as tjowatonna)
"I have never noticed this issue on my Incredible and I just tested on a variety of surfaces using the Etherial Dialpad app (it's neat, check it out if you're a music nerd) to test and had no issues regardless of if it was placed on glass, plastic, cardboard, pillows. I didn't have any styrofoam to test."
Have you had anyone else try these tests on your phone? I'm just wondering if it's not something about your body that it doesn't like as much or that it likes more for people like me that can't reproduce this.

Again, there is no car dock specifically for the DI yet.
It looks like the edges of that generic dock have a big foamy area that might be very close to the screen.
It also looks like the phone/dock is touching the dash in the video.
I put mine on an anti-static bag on my workstation and tried to only use a finger. Everything worked just fine. I know you said you tried other areas with the same result. Do you have a screen protector on?
I'm just scratching my head here.

I can confirm this issue on my Incredible as well. For what it's worth, I have a Zagg shield on the screen, and I did *not* peel it off for testing.
In *any* situation where the phone is completely isolated from ground it seems to happen. I can reproduce the symptoms by setting the phone on a huge variety of surfaces or by placing it in my (plastic) car mount, and then trying to use it with just a single finger.
As has already been posted, touching the phone body even lightly with an additional finger while it is in this state (even one from same hand) will allow full responsiveness, as will any other sort of ground such as many cable connections. Also, the silicone case from Verizon can be installed or removed, and there is no difference either way.
I also just booted my old Hero (also has Zagg shield) to check its behavior and was unable to reproduce this, even with it sitting on a double folded rubber mat on top of a big pillow. It is 100% reproducible on my Incredible though.
So be it.
EDIT: In addition to the role that grounding clearly plays, static might be a factor too (as others have mentioned).

I tried my hardest to reproduce this affect and i was unable to. I have a new zagg screen protector i have not yet put on. I will add it and re-test again and post my results
** Update
I added on the Zagg Screen Protector and tested it again. I lost some responsiveness in general nothing still like has been demonstrated.

askwhy said:
I can confirm this issue on my Incredible as well. For what it's worth, I have a Zagg shield on the screen, and I did *not* peel it off for testing.
In *any* situation where the phone is completely isolated from ground it seems to happen. I can reproduce the symptoms by setting the phone on a huge variety of surfaces or by placing it in my (plastic) car mount, and then trying to use it with just a single finger.
As has already been posted, touching the phone body even lightly with an additional finger while it is in this state (even one from same hand) will allow full responsiveness, as will any other sort of ground such as many cable connections. Also, the silicone case from Verizon can be installed or removed, and there is no difference either way.
I also just booted my old Hero (also has Zagg shield) to check its behavior and was unable to reproduce this, even with it sitting on a double folded rubber mat on top of a big pillow. It is 100% reproducible on my Incredible though.
So be it.
EDIT: In addition to the role that grounding clearly plays, static might be a factor too (as others have mentioned).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for testing your phone and also trying it against another capacitive screen phone.
I talked to Verizon and they are sending 2 new Incredibles as both my phone and my wife's phone have the problem. I will report my results on tuesday...

aol8mydog said:
I've never had a capacitive touchscreen phone, so I don't know for sure; but maybe it has something to do with the relative capacitance. When you have one hand on the back and then touch the screen, maybe it senses a greater variance in the capacitance. If it's on the table or in your car cradle, maybe the variance in capacitance isn't great enough to register a touch. I'm not familiar with Android either, but maybe you can adjust the sensitivity? Just like those touch lamps, capacitive sensors are triggered by a relative change in capacitance and if it's not greater than the preset threshold, it doesn't register that you touched it.
Just an idea... again, I'm not really sure. I'm only lurking around in these forums because I have an Incredible on order. I'm just throwing some odd ideas out there. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I have my Incredible, I have the same issues. Fortunately, I don't use it in a car-dock very often but I do plan on occasionally using it that way. If Verizon or HTC doesn't come out with a fix, I may just see if I could find a soft rubber-like material that also conducts electricity to make a grounding pad with a wire connected to the vehicle's ground on the cradle/dock so the phone's back can make contact when docked.

Update in first post...

I ordered my device on launch day, and this thing has had none of the issues you have shown, I even put it on styrofoam just to try it all out, works flawlessly.
sorry for your bad luck.

[Q] MyTouch 4G no touch on car cradle???

Very strange: when I put my MyTouch 4G in my car cradle (it's a generic one: http://www.officedepot.ca/a/products/494874/Gilsson-Universal-Windshield-Mount-Black/) the screen generally will not respond to touch making it essentially impossible to use.
I did notice that if I cover the back camera with my finger, the screen does respond to touch, even after I remove my finger. But then other strangeness occurs like it never times out to sleep mode and if I force it to sleep by pressing the top button, when I press the button again there is no lock screen and I need to cover the camera again to make it recognize touches.
I actually had a similar issue with my last phone (an Acer Liquid E) although using a hack to increase the touch sensitivity seemed to fix it on that phone.
I don't understand what is it about being put on a cradle that makes the phone behave this way. I have checked that the arms of the cradle aren't pressing any of the buttons and, in fact, just resting the phone in the cradle with the arms extended beyond the width of the phone does the same thing.
Anyone know what's going on?
Thanks!

probably time to return the cradle haha. but seriously speaking that just sounds super weird. especially the part where you say if you cover the camera the touch screen works. haha.

Does your cradle provide power ti the phone through use port? Generally this happens when there is voltage going to the phone that is interfering with the touch screeb, like using a generic charger.

I've seen this. It was caused by the cradle pressing in on the volume control. Adjust your phone on the cradle so the volume isn't touched and see if that solves it for you.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

No the cradle doesn't supply power it's just a generic holder. I did check that the arms aren't pressing any buttons as that's the first thing I suspected. Even with the arms open so that there is a space between them and the sides of the phone, so long as the phone is resting on the cradle (just by gravity) this happens.
The fact that covering the camera temporarily seems to fix it is also really strange. I almost started believing the phone can detect the dash of the car through the camera and shuts itself off so you don't play with it while driving. But that seems a little far fetched.

I've had the same behavior with my generic car dock as well. It's very sporadic (maybe once a week), and I can't figure out the cause. But for my $10 it's good enough until there's an official dock that's custom fit.
tmagritte said:
Very strange: when I put my MyTouch 4G in my car cradle (it's a generic one) the screen generally will not respond to touch making it essentially impossible to use.
I did notice that if I cover the back camera with my finger, the screen does respond to touch, even after I remove my finger. But then other strangeness occurs like it never times out to sleep mode and if I force it to sleep by pressing the top button, when I press the button again there is no lock screen and I need to cover the camera again to make it recognize touches.
I actually had a similar issue with my last phone (an Acer Liquid E) although using a hack to increase the touch sensitivity seemed to fix it on that phone.
I don't understand what is it about being put on a cradle that makes the phone behave this way. I have checked that the arms of the cradle aren't pressing any of the buttons and, in fact, just resting the phone in the cradle with the arms extended beyond the width of the phone does the same thing.
Anyone know what's going on?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

So it's even weirder than I thought. Turns out this doesn't only happen with the car cradle, but also sometimes when the phone is lying on its back. Tends to be more likely on a soft surface like my couch or a carpet, but it's also happened on my work desk. In these cases slightly repositioning the phone seems to fix it. Also, it doesn't seem to happen if a charging cable is plugged in, so at least that should be a workaround for car use. It happens when waking from sleep. Once the touch input is responsive, it remains so regardless of what position the phone is put in until the phone goes to sleep.
I put up a video to demonstrate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NX_3uds_Ek
The other thing I noticed is a purple light that comes on underneath the touchpad when its pressed. It's not really visible by eye but for some reason the camera really picks it up... Is that the pad's touch sensor?

[Q] HTC HD2 weak wifi signal

Hey i installed gingerbread android 2.3.7 on my phone again but this time im getting really weak wifi signals... i'm only 5 feet away from router. It was not like this before so i do not know whats going on ( i only dropped my phone twice)
can you guys help me? is it a software issues or hardware?
happy thanksgiving

I would recommend installing a few different roms (that are known to work with wifi) and see if anything changes/improves.
If nothing improves, maybe flash back to winmo 6.5 and see if wifi improves.
If nothing improves then, you may have damaged your wifi antennae when you dropped it then hit up T-mobile!
Best of luck mate.

Possibly knocked the wifi coax loose from the mainboard. It's pretty easy to open up an HD2 and reattach that cable, I've had mine come loose before and that's what I had to do.
I'd definitely try the steps in the above post first just to make sure it's not a rom or kernel specific issue. And if it's still under warranty, don't bother taking it apart and ruining your warranty, obviously just return it to t-Mobile.

hey can you explain in more detail how to push back the wifi coax cable your talking about

Remove the battery cover, battery, sim card, and sd card.
Remove the 4 torx screws that are under little round stickers under the battery cover.
Using an old credit card or a plastic knife, slide between the screen and the housing to release the little plastic clips one by one which hold the housing to the phone's chassis.
Take your time and be careful not to scratch the housing or stick the card/knife in too far, damaging the fragile stuff inside,
It helps to put a little pressure on the back side of the screen wth your thumb while orying with the credit card (back of screen under battery)
The wifi coaxial cable runs from one corner of the mainboard, up along one side of the chassis, is taped together with some other wires, and leads to another small board up near the top of the phone.
Check the connections at both ends, making sure they are connected firmly and are in straight.
You might want to unplug them, just to be sure and hear/feel them click into place.
Take your time, set yourself aside a nice little workspace, and if you are unsure of anything, don't hesitate to come back here and ask.
There is a disassembly video here in the HD2 section somewhere, I think it's in HD2 General. It'd be worth it to search for it and watch at least the first part of the video, just to get an idea what you're dealing with. It's not a very hard job, it should take you like maybe an hour/hour and a half start to finish.
This will void your warranty permanently though.

Thank you sir i just followed the steps you did and it fixed the problem my wifi works fine but now i have another issue....
i dont know if i touched something or disconnected something in the process but my sound, vibration and volume button does not work. External speaker is not playing any sound (no music or key button taps) and no sound is made when placing a phone call BUT the other person on the end can hear me just fine so i'm guessing i might of disconnected like the speaker. ( my assumption)
thanks again for your help

Oh and when a call is being placed or recieved the screen automatically turns off and it becomes non responsive i.e if i take my phone off the ear and want to put it on hold the screen is still black instead of turning back on

The screen going black during a call is a pretty common problem with the HD2, and is likely not related to disassembling your phone as long as the screen functions normally otherwise. Since you didn't take your phone far enough apart to affect the light/proximity sensor, I can't imagine how disassembly would have affected it. You would have to take the mainboard and screen out from the chassis to get to that sensor.
The volume problem on the other hand, is probably due to either your volume rocker not being placed correctly during re-assembly, or the speaker contacts not being aligned properly. You'll have to take it back apart and ivestigate what went wrong.
Try going into Settings/Sound, and checking that the volume is not turned all the way down. If the volume is not all the way down, then you should be able to hear sound, so your speaker is probably not aligned properly.
Does your volume rocker feel different than before? If it doesn't make a definite 'click' when you press it, then it is probably slightly out of place. Also look for any wires that could have been pinched and damaged when you snapped your phone back together.

What is a volume rocker? When i start the phone it usually vibrates once then goes through the starting procoess. Now it doesn't vibrate at all. Phone turns on and i click the volume button up and nothing happens. I checked settings and everything is up
I have the phone opened as we speak and the reciever cable is connected and the vibrator cable is connected too. I tried to use tweezers to see if i can unhook it but their on too tight so thats a good thing. The two orange dots on the volume thing.. the bottom on was slightly off so i put i centered it
Still nothing works. no vibrating no sound ( the person on the other line can hear me but i can't hear anything) but the phone works great.
Im so confused

The volume rocker is the button that 'rocks' back and forth to control the volume.
It has to be positioned right in order to push the contacts that lie beneath it.
Since your phone's apart right now, what happens when you hold the battery in it with one hand, boot it up, and press the volume button contacts manually? If they buttons themselves do nothing, then it must be that they lost their connection somewhere, you'd have to trace the wires and figure out where they're not connected. If they do work, then the volume rocker was just misaligned.
As for the speaker, it has to be that it is not contacting the two little contacts correctly. Look at the speaker and make sure it is sitting correctly in the housing, and look ffor any obstructions near the vibrator motor.

No i can't press down on the volume button ever since i opened it it hasn't fit back right. Doesn't make a click sound
and what contacts on the speaker should i be looking for? are they under the speaker itself? should i remove the speaker? Theres no destruction on the vibrator its looks though like its sitting kinda tight between that camera flash being there..the metal spinning thing on the end of it can spin 360 so nothing its preventing it from moving.

I also can use my headset and the sound and call works fine besides the going to the black screen and not responding. i also noticed my camera does not load up either. but that could probably be solved with a clean install of gingerbread nand rom

[Nexus 7] Externalize/Extend Power Button?

There are many of us in the Nexus 7 community who are looking to build our tablets in to our cars and other places where the power button will not be practically accessible. I am one of those people. I was wondering if anybody had any ideas on how to extend the power button?
The ribbon cable for the power and volume buttons can be seen here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Nexus+7+Power+&+Volume+Button+Cable/9926/2
The header/connector on the board for the cable looks way too small to solder to and so my latest idea is finding a replacement ribbon cable that I could extend in to a tiny gauge wire and externalize from the case. From what I've been able to find so far, I think this is a ZIF FPC/FFC type ribbon cable and connector? I was thinking of something like this: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...GAEpiMZZMvyL%2b65tEJ/L29YMZjxdjhiuZuU4IfHbXs= But I truly have no idea if this cable will fit? Anybody who's great with PCBs who would like to chime in?
If it helps I found a Molex catalog that has a couple connectors that look similar:
http://www.molex.com/catalog/web_catalog/pdfs/F.pdf

Subscribed!!
Ive been considering the nexus for my car pc aswell. Once i pick mine up i will tear it down and see if a ribbon cable could be either extended or possibly simply cut and have wires soldered to it for external power and volume. I have already designed a power supply for the nexus in the car that would also power a DAC and a HDD. I can provide the part number for the TI power chip that i used if anyone is interested. Its capable of producing 6 amps of current at 5 volts.

physical buttons suck. make all phone with only capacitive buttons,.

Interesting

jllbenson said:
physical buttons suck. make all phone with only capacitive buttons,.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would that make externalizing the buttons as needed in this application any easier..?
irishboym4 said:
Ive been considering the nexus for my car pc aswell. Once i pick mine up i will tear it down and see if a ribbon cable could be either extended or possibly simply cut and have wires soldered to it for external power and volume. I have already designed a power supply for the nexus in the car that would also power a DAC and a HDD. I can provide the part number for the TI power chip that i used if anyone is interested. Its capable of producing 6 amps of current at 5 volts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I ended up doing. I got some good advice from another XDA'er who suggested I just pop the bubble button off the ribbon and solder to the contacts directly. In reality the bubble buttons are on a laminated sticker that I could just peel back. Then I soldered to the pads and pushed the cables out through where the rubber for the power button used to be. So far things seem to be working well, I'm a little weary of how this soldering will survive the swings in temperature being left in the car, but I guess there's only one way to find out. Observe:

dmexs said:
How would that make externalizing the buttons as needed in this application any easier..?
This is what I ended up doing. I got some good advice from another XDA'er who suggested I just pop the bubble button off the ribbon and solder to the contacts directly. In reality the bubble buttons are on a laminated sticker that I could just peel back. Then I soldered to the pads and pushed the cables out through where the rubber for the power button used to be. So far things seem to be working well, I'm a little weary of how this soldering will survive the swings in temperature being left in the car, but I guess there's only one way to find out. Observe:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats very nicely done. I want to do power and volume for my setup. Did the wire size you use work well or would you recommend smaller? otherwise i will need a separate volume control solution for the system. what do you have your tablet connected to for your amp and speakers?

Thanks. I used a 22 gauge wire, the smaller the better I think, as long as it's not bare. As far as amp, I'm using an aftermarket CD deck with a 3.5mm audio in. So I don't really plan on changing the volume on the tablet itself. I'll probably just keep it at 90% to avoid clipping and then adjust the gain with the CD deck. I haven't put it in my car yet though.

Steering Wheel Controls for Car PC
Has anyone tried the Joycon steering wheel control system with an android yet? It supports HID and no drivers are required for windows. It says that it cannot be programed from a linux or mac computer but just windows. Though once its programed it can be used with linux. Im thinking USB OTG plus this guy and you could control the tablet right from the steering wheel.

The solder will last fine on that job. The only thing I would be concerned about is getting false "presses" from the one lead that's soldered to the middle touching the outside ring. Perhaps just place a piece of electrical tape under it. Your other option might be to go straight from the connector the the flex plugs into. Just use a multimeter to test which pins you need to tap.

Thank you so much.
dmexs said:
How would that make externalizing the buttons as needed in this application any easier..?
This is what I ended up doing. I got some good advice from another XDA'er who suggested I just pop the bubble button off the ribbon and solder to the contacts directly. In reality the bubble buttons are on a laminated sticker that I could just peel back. Then I soldered to the pads and pushed the cables out through where the rubber for the power button used to be. So far things seem to be working well, I'm a little weary of how this soldering will survive the swings in temperature being left in the car, but I guess there's only one way to find out. Observe:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just wanna thank the hell out of you. I have been searching and measuring that tiny little cable for about 2 hours now trying to find a connector and cable the right pitch/pins. Somehow the magical world of google brought me here. A site, despite my post numbers, I frequent very often. I'm installing the tablet in my car as well and I too needed a solution to the power button. Cant believe I didnt think to check here. You posted this just a few days ago. Crazy. Once again thank you. I should be able to pull this off no problem.
---------- Post added at 07:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 AM ----------
Oh and by the way any issues with this so far? I dont imagine you have seeing as a switch on the to ends of the wire are doing exactly what the little foil button does. Just wanted to ask though before I commit to this in a couple of days.

I recommend if you are going to put it in a car, it needs some sort of quick release. If any stress is put on that cable, the contacts would either lift or the flex would rip pretty easily. I did my nook soldered straight to the main board and a quick release in the cable between the board and the button. I also did as much as I could to keep the cable from the back housing to board from moving by putting tape and locking the cable down when I put the back housing on.
The first picture shows the main board of the Nook. I just took off the old button and replaced it with my wiring. I used hot glue to keep it from wiggling.You can see the quick releases I used in the second picture. I just pulled them from a donor PC I had laying around.

Being a USB fan, I'd try to see if a custom USB device could do the job.
Just recently I made a USB volume control for Windows.
It works on my Nook Touch too.

Omyn said:
I recommend if you are going to put it in a car, it needs some sort of quick release. If any stress is put on that cable, the contacts would either lift or the flex would rip pretty easily. I did my nook soldered straight to the main board and a quick release in the cable between the board and the button. I also did as much as I could to keep the cable from the back housing to board from moving by putting tape and locking the cable down when I put the back housing on.
The first picture shows the main board of the Nook. I just took off the old button and replaced it with my wiring. I used hot glue to keep it from wiggling.You can see the quick releases I used in the second picture. I just pulled them from a donor PC I had laying around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I'm planning on using a male and female molex connector I found at radioshack. Currently I'm trying to figure out some intricacies involving Google Music and external storage but soon I'll have more pictures up here.

dmexs said:
Exactly. I'm planning on using a male and female molex connector I found at radioshack. Currently I'm trying to figure out some intricacies involving Google Music and external storage but soon I'll have more pictures up here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
keep us posted on the google music + external storage because i will be doing that soon aswell.

Have you tried connecting a faux USB HID device (like the Arduino Leonardo) and sending arbitrary keycodes while it's "off" to see whether any might be capable of waking it up? I don't know whether that could power it up from a "cold off" state, but I'm 99% sure you could wake it up from "screen off, asleep" that way.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

bitbang3r said:
Have you tried connecting a faux USB HID device (like the Arduino Leonardo) and sending arbitrary keycodes while it's "off" to see whether any might be capable of waking it up? I don't know whether that could power it up from a "cold off" state, but I'm 99% sure you could wake it up from "screen off, asleep" that way.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried this. I've just been using my externalized power button to wake the device from both warm and cold off states. I have a CNX-2140 power supply from my old car PC setup that has an ACPI pulse. I use this to wake the device from a warm sleep.

Thanks you XDA for being here. Just solved half of the problem my friend was having for his tablet . Mounting it in a 2006 Mustang. Now, Gotta see if he can use the POGO for charging and a USB OTG for the external camera

its help!! thanks!

What do you terminate the raw wire ends to now? I'd by looking at mounting some kind of button inside the cab of my vehicle to turn it on/off. What kind of button would a person look for? Thanks
---------- Post added at 09:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 AM ----------
dmexs said:
How would that make externalizing the buttons as needed in this application any easier..?
This is what I ended up doing. I got some good advice from another XDA'er who suggested I just pop the bubble button off the ribbon and solder to the contacts directly. In reality the bubble buttons are on a laminated sticker that I could just peel back. Then I soldered to the pads and pushed the cables out through where the rubber for the power button used to be. So far things seem to be working well, I'm a little weary of how this soldering will survive the swings in temperature being left in the car, but I guess there's only one way to find out. Observe:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you terminate the raw wire ends to now? I'd by looking at mounting some kind of button inside the cab of my vehicle to turn it on/off. What kind of button would a person look for? Thanks