Database Users

I did a carbon-look back cover :D

So i did this with 3m 1080 scotchprint carbon series and with nail scissors cutting it from 10x20cm took a while, about 2 hours to get it look nice i also cut a piece for the home button which took awhile too to get it fit perfectly!
to make this thread not so useless, recommend or post pictures of your customized gs2
anyway, what do you think ?

Looks excellent mate, would love a tutorial wouldn't mind that look myself.

Very nice...
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

Nice, I have a Samsung mesh case on mine which would cover that off

Does it say 0.8 MP?

That looks really nice, shame your not selling them

Its 0.8 because is on mirror ( 0.8 | 8.0 )

cost of this project was about 10-20 bucks. really, its not that difficult to make, just needs patience and good light. that is the first one i've ever made!
@itehappy most definitely hope its not a 0.8mp unit anyway nice to see people here from i8910 community!

Thanks for the prompt... Just ordered a sheet of 1200 x 300 for under $AUS 10 .
What did you cut it with? Just a normal sharp knife/razor blade? Any tips on cutting the corners, makig the holes, putting the sides and corners on etc???
I know it doesn't require a huge 20 page instruction book but if you could provide some tips or suggestions I think that would be great... Unless you plan on selling them then I suggest not to give the tips
Edit: Just realised you only did the back cover and not the edges... Maybe I will report back when I finally get my sheet and start cutting.

Nice! Tutorial would be appreciated!

When I read the thread title I imagined it would look tacky, but it actually looks really good

Nice. If you want to make some to sell I will buy.

I have a Silver one and you buy them online... o.o

looks great dude, what's the texture of the tape like though? The phone is slippy enough with the stock cover, with smooth tape it must be worse!

i want this too! Looks very nice!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

+1 for you making them and selling them. (I don't have the patience)

viva.fidel said:
looks great dude, what's the texture of the tape like though? The phone is slippy enough with the stock cover, with smooth tape it must be worse!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually textured, the "weave" is bumpy, raised a few cm, provides a bit of a rough, oil free surface without being uncomfortable. And you can do a fun DJ scratching imitation if you run your fingernail over it quickly.
I've been using it (they call it 3M Dynoc in North America) on the back of my SGS1 for over a year now, and on the back of my Tab 7" for nearly as long.
I couldn't be arsed to cut my own, so I bought mine pre-cut from PhantomSkinz (Skinomi also sells a very similar "skin"). The phone kit costs ~$25 before coupon, and it covers the entire back, the sides, and even comes with a wet-apply screen protector.
It's dead easy to apply, though the edges take a bit of practice...but if you screw up, just lift it up and try again.
It's durable as hell, the SGS1 has one minor, nearly invisible scratch in it after a year of abuse in my pocket, in my motorcycle jacket or tank bag, dirty tables, etc. They look far more "high tech" than the funky designs Samsung used on the back of those devices, especially the Tab.
Occasionally, I'd catch the bottom edge of the tape on the SGS with my fingernail when removing the battery cover and it'll lift a bit. Apply some heat and it goes right back into shape.
Little trick with the rough feel on the edges...heat it (desk lamp or hair dryer both work well) and run your fingernail over the edge...this thins it, making it much smoother.
I just placed an order with Skinomi for both a SGS2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 "carbon" kit. On the SGS2, I'm thinking about leaving the battery cover naked since it's cheap to replace and already textured, and just using the carbon on the chin and sides. The chin on mine is starting to show some friction wear along the edge closest to the battery cover, and the sides get slippery as a bar of soap.

pbrown77 said:
Thanks for the prompt... Just ordered a sheet of 1200 x 300 for under $AUS 10 .
What did you cut it with? Just a normal sharp knife/razor blade? Any tips on cutting the corners, makig the holes, putting the sides and corners on etc???
I know it doesn't require a huge 20 page instruction book but if you could provide some tips or suggestions I think that would be great... Unless you plan on selling them then I suggest not to give the tips
Edit: Just realised you only did the back cover and not the edges... Maybe I will report back when I finally get my sheet and start cutting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wait wait whaaat? 1200x300 for $10 dollars??!? is it 3M 1080 series or 3M Di-noc?
i cut all this with little scissors, about the length of a palm, maybe just a bit more. corners wont need any special stuff, just a hair dryer to get it a little more flexible. ONE THING, when i bought the carbon, I tought that i'll just bend anything which comes over the edge, to backside of the plate. well its not that easy. gs2 cover is so precisely cut that it doesnt allow any kind of extra stuff under the cover, so you just need to cut it little bit at a time, then try it, and cut a bit more and try, untill it fits properly. this will take most of the installation time. just be careful not to cut too much! same goes for the camera hole. very carefully and take the time it needs, even if there is 0.1mm too much, the camera wont fit properly. not difficult, but takes time. a hour atleast.
meh, im a nice guy, i'll give all the tips needed
@viva.fidel
the surface of the new 3M 1080 series has more rubbery feel than the Di-noc (what skinomi uses) and there is seriously good grip! Doesn't feel sticky, but still offers awesome grip believe me! maybe because of the carbon texture i dont know but has good grip for sure!
sorry if theres typos, wrote whole message with GS2 in PORTRAIT mode

Hi, If you were to sell any, I would buy one, It look really nice

ignore now!

[MOD]i do beleive ive solved our wobbly screen dilema

okay well a few of you may no that my epic broke well i decided to completely disassemble it to prep it for repair. I noticed something while i was examining the screen hinge. The edge pieces are very wobbly, i think this is because samsung didnt use any washers on the screws. Well because ive never seen washers that small i decided to substitute them for something that will hold the piece still and will squeeze the hinge better. The answer is super glue... yeah that's right super glue( or nail glue if you don't have any and your mom/wife has it). Basically i layed the back plate hinges down and applied a bit of pressure and glued were there was a small valley (left side) and for the right side i did the same but instead of glueing in a valley it has a corner edge that i glued. I will find out just how sturdy it is when my screen comes today. it seemed very sturdy because i screwed a sheet of plastic i had and tired to wiggle it like it would if it were on the phone and it didnt budge at all. The slider mechanism still slides extremly smoothly to if you wanna take it a step further u can dip the head of a small screwdriver in some oil (not wd40 i think itl melt the plastic) and just touch the valleys were the slider moves in to let them move a little better hope this helps ill be posting picture later.
okay so in regards to the picture pon the left side glue in the seperated areas only ere the arrows point on the right side do the same but the seperated areas are a little less critical
Edit* actually use the back side of a needl ergo the non pointy side haha happy (extremely simple) modding
edit* in the words of shirley temple "oh my guness" it works like a charm theres almost no wobble at all i decided to put some painters tape under the metal slider bar and now its very very solid its about as solid as... the droid 3 and any body who has used it knows that that screen is on there tight
edit* my only concern now is how will the flat cable hold up with such a tight screen..... its worth a shot i have 2 so i have 2 tries at this

... How about some punctuation? Dear god it's a solid wall of text.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA

bigdbag said:
... How about some punctuation? Dear god it's a solid wall of text.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha that usually how all my posts are sorry ill get right on it

May need this thanks... I've dropped my epic a few times and the screen has become a little wobbly =].
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

matrixzone5 said:
haha that usually how all my posts are sorry ill get right on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I put too much
Now my keyboard won't close in
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

iSaint said:
I put too much
Now my keyboard won't close in
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exveryone please wait for the pictures they will further explain this
EDIT* picture is up everyone feel free to look

It would be the **** if you could make a tutorial of this if it works out well.

good idea
muyoso said:
It would be the **** if you could make a tutorial of this if it works out well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats a great idea ill make one if i can find my tripod

some modifications after dropping.

I don't know if this fits in the general thread here, if so mods can move or delete it.
A while ago my GSII felt on the floor and the chrome trim was a bit damaged. Nothing serious, just in one corner the chrome layer chipped off.
Because i'm planning to buy a new phone soon i thought like: nothing to loose lets try to remove the chrome trimming.
So what i did was sanding the chrome off and that went easely and smooth. But dismantle the glass from the frame is almost a no go, and so it was not easy to remove the chrome between screen and the border around the screen.
I used more rough sand paper and removed the the whole border that was sticking out above the screen.
Used 3 types of sandpaper from rough to end with sandpaper 400 to give it a matt finished look.
Here are some pics where you can see that the border is more flush with the screen and not rounded anymore like original.

I actually like that
And wow, you must have some bal, erm, i mean patience

That's cool. It's like having a new phone
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

You would be surprised how easely the chrome comes off. from the damaged corner you can easely chip it of with your nail. Only because the chrome is smooth and slick you think its hard to get it removed.
Getting the chrome of is just a matter of minutes, then you stick some tape on the glass and start sanding with the rough sand paper. Its reallly soft plastic and with the sandpaper 400 it gets smooth in no time.
@ ephraim033, yes it looks like an other phone, the dark border blends with the dark screen and the rounded edge makes the screen more borderless.
I was surprised too with this small mod that phone looked different.

Maybe you can reconsider selling it. After all, it looks nice. Anyway, I'm not worried with mine since the boarder or my phone is black and not silver. I was jealous of the silver part last year but got used to the black one since when it gets damage, no paint will fall off (even if it will, it might not be that noticeable compared to the silver one) .
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

looks kind of iPhoney.... in a good way

Nicely done.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app

Wow that's look nice.
I'm planning to do that too; since my chrome scratch by a key but I'm paranoid that I might damage my phone. (I'm really bad at handicraft lol)
After look at this I might doing this too.
Sent from my GT-I9100

Its really not difficult. Or you tape the bottom part or you remove your top part(screen and bezel). Of course you tape your screen too. I made first a plastic template of the rounded corners and each time I did put a tape on that template to get a perfect matching tape to stick in the corners.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Just don't mine... I sanded all my phone with some fine sand paper.. no more chrome just a smooth matt black finish.. love it
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Thank you for posting this idea. 3 of my corners were banged up and I always hated the fake chrome look. I've been sanding a bit here and there and almost have it looking perfect, so much better. I love the more "rubbery" feeling I get when I hold it.

jsmith8858 said:
Thank you for posting this idea. 3 of my corners were banged up and I always hated the fake chrome look. I've been sanding a bit here and there and almost have it looking perfect, so much better. I love the more "rubbery" feeling I get when I hold it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome, As long the chrome trim is in mint condition then the phone looks ok, but like you said the chrome trim is actually looking very cheap.
When you keep your phone in bright light you could even see that the chrome wasn't even smooth.
I didn't drop my phone on purpose but i'm happy the way it looks now.

[HARDWARE MOD] Microphone Cover

Hello everybody!
I´m new to this Forum and want to share my little Hardware Mod tutorial for our RAZR i.
Q: What it does?
A: It strengthen the bottom plastic cover.
Q: Why i does it?
A: Because my bottom cover makes creaky noises when pushing with my fingers.
Q: What do i need for this mod?
A: Only your fingernail and a piece of paper.
Q: Is it easy to do?
A: Yes, realy easy.
My Problem with the bottom plastic cover was that it makes creaky noises when i push
it with my fingers. This was realy annoying for me as the rest of the phone is
made of metal and only the bottom plastic cover has a weak feeling...
So i open the plastic cover with my fingernail, starting on the edge.
It is only hold in position with a few plastic clips and a little doublesided-tape.
So no problem to open. Dont worry! Just put your fingernail under the plastic and open.
The plastic cover has two little plastic pins that fit in two little holes in the phone-housing.
But these pins are (in my case) a little to short or the holes are a little to deep.
So if you push the plastic cover will bend until the plastic pins reach the end of the holes.
This makes the creaky noise.
So i looked at the holes in the phone-housing to fill them a little up with something.
I decided to put a little bit of paper in the holes. That helped a lot!
Just try how much paper you have to put in until it is to much and the cover won´t fit again.
After that you can easy put the cover back. No need for doublesided-tape because of the plastic clips.
Now if i push the plastic cover together with my fingers it never bend and never makes
creaky noises! It feels a lot better than before!
On the Picture you can see the red arrows show the two plastic pins i mean.
I hope everybody can understand what i mean. Sorry for my poor english...
Also i hope you like my little tutorial and happy modding!
greetings, 5m00v3
P.S. DONT BLAME ME IF YOU BRAKE SOMETHING. THIS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK!
IT ALSO CAN VOID YOUR WARRANTY. A SPAREPART IS AVAILABLE FOR 2$.

Huh, neat! I'll have to try this, I've been having the same problem.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

I have the same problem but I really dont notice it unless I press tha plastic on porpuose. I tried aligning the papes so as not to have the sound but I only decreased it. So I took them out in fear that I would bread the plastic, It seemed blown up

Just tried it, works like a charm! Makes my phone feel really sturdy.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

clickstop said:
Just tried it, works like a charm! Makes my phone feel really sturdy.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice to hear! :good:
@rodrigoauditore
Did you fill up the holes or where did you put the paper?
If it is blown up then maybe you put to much in it?
Or try some different positions under the cover to fill up...?

5m00v3 said:
Nice to hear! :good:
@rodrigoauditore
Did you fill up the holes or where did you put the paper?
If it is blown up then maybe you put to much in it?
Or try some different positions under the cover to fill up...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stuck little balls of paper were you originally posted, but that didn't do the trick so I leyed down another paper on top of everyting, almost covering the glue or whatever the sticky thing is. I think I need better instructions as of where to put the paper

U need only to fill up the holes for the two plastic-pins...
I will try to add more Pictures to show where to put the Paper.

I tried once again and this time I got it right. It only makes sound when I press it too hard on the center. Thank you!

[Guide] Turn your G4's glossy black edge into a matte black edge! No paint and easy!

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any unwanted damage you may cause to your device, this is to be a sharing of an idea which happened to work for me and a sort of framework for how you may also accomplish this.
So basically, I despise how terribly fingerprints show on my G4's edge, that's a nit pick. My main complaint is that because it's a glossy plastic, it gets scratched very easily and shows that just as bad, not to mention it's obviously plastic masking as metal and not doing a good job, or more simply put, makes this flagship look cheap. I had a vision of a G4 with a flat black edge, I thought I'd grab a nail file from my bathroom -the giant popsicle stick ones- and use it to gently wear away at the shiny coating. My nail file had two sides, a fine side and a coarser side, I used the fine side exclusively with higher pressure strokes in the beginning to remove the shiny coating, using gentler and broader strokes to smooth, got one of those crazy nail file tools that have multiple sides and are made of two sides with softer layers of material in between, the two sides are also split into different functions, ones usually a buffer and the other is a super fine nail file, fine than the former one.....then I used this same tool to buff and clean up the edges and make sure all is smooth and nice, worked excellently, can also probably use super fine sandpaper and a cloth.
My back plate was off and battery removed, I used the popsicle nail file one side at a time starting with rougher strokes to get rid of the shiny coating -which will distinctly flake away as white little crumbs of plastic- it will take a few passes to completely strip the coating off the edge, you'll notice it lingers like a sort of residue as it contrasts quite distinctly against the revealed plastic, once the coating is nonexistent begin to smooth and finish the side until it is uniform in color and looks completely smooth, you want to keep the direction of the strokes consistent as it will impact the uniformity and smoothness, I went horizontally around the phone if it were laying flat and that gave me great results, give the corners some extra attention but its the same idea, and thanks to the battery back being off I was able to make the finish meet the edge of the battery door by angling the file accordingly, repeat these steps loosely and gently with either the multi-tool-file or extra fine grit sandpaper, use your judgment, buff and finish to your heart's desire. During the entire process be sure to regularly clean off the sandpaper, file and sides of the phone on a cloth of some sort between passes as you will notice the sandpaper glide and will be clogged with material, I was wearing some bumming pants so I just rubbed it off on those, worked wonderfully. Obviously you are removing incredibly small layers of material so guys be careful, you could probably remove quite a bit before anything happens but that can also effec look of things quite badly so try to make it even. I plugged important holes with bits of tissue, only the headphone jack really, the usb port is shallow enough where some air remove any particles.
The file helps especially because of its rigidity and shape, allowing me to have a lot of flexibility when dealing with such a small surface area.
You are putting files and sandpaper near your screen, be careful. I had a very good screen protecter but even then I didn't touch my screen once, you can get at a pretty steep angle like 45 degrees away from being parallel with the screen and still be fine, maybe less, just be wary, it's easy to slip and scratch, I don't think a soft brush would do much but a rough scratch could leave marks.
My IR blaster still works and it received the same treatment, I made no effort to avoid it.
I will post pictures soon, I wish I could use my phone to take a picture of my phone. I'll use someones phone tomorrow to do so.
Feel free to ask me anything if you have a question or I left some vital info out.
:laugh:

okay, waiting for the pics and a more detailed steps before jumping in.

superbonto said:
okay, waiting for the pics and a more detailed steps before jumping in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I don't know how to post the pics cus as a new user I can't use links...

Also, you might consider adding a step of using progressively higher grits of sandpaper, and even going all the way to a rubbing compound to get super fine control over how much matte effect you desire. The matte of 300 grit sandpaper is different than the matte of say 450 grit etc.

KingFatty said:
Also, you might consider adding a step of using progressively higher grits of sandpaper, and even going all the way to a rubbing compound to get super fine control over how much matte effect you desire. The matte of 300 grit sandpaper is different than the matte of say 450 grit etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes absolutely, this is worth considering. I merely outlined how I did it to show that its not really necessary to get specific, I didn't go out of my way to get any of the tools I used and it came out satisfactory. I'll probably add it in once I get pics up and if people feel it's not as accessible as I thought.

mp2195 said:
So, I don't know how to post the pics cus as a new user I can't use links...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
give us the link like www. linkhere.com/blah.img

mp2195 said:
So, I don't know how to post the pics cus as a new user I can't use links...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use https://imgur.com/ to upload the picture and then post the direct link here, I'd love to see some pictures of this.

mp2195 said:
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any unwanted damage you may cause to your device, this is to be a sharing of an idea which happened to work for me and a sort of framework for how you may also accomplish this.
So basically, I despise how terribly fingerprints show on my G4's edge, that's a nit pick. My main complaint is that because it's a glossy plastic, it gets scratched very easily and shows that just as bad, not to mention it's obviously plastic masking as metal and not doing a good job, or more simply put, makes this flagship look cheap. I had a vision of a G4 with a flat black edge, I thought I'd grab a nail file from my bathroom -the giant popsicle stick ones- and use it to gently wear away at the shiny coating. My nail file had two sides, a fine side and a coarser side, I used the fine side exclusively with higher pressure strokes in the beginning to remove the shiny coating, using gentler and broader strokes to smooth, got one of those crazy nail file tools that have multiple sides and are made of two sides with softer layers of material in between, the two sides are also split into different functions, ones usually a buffer and the other is a super fine nail file, fine than the former one.....then I used this same tool to buff and clean up the edges and make sure all is smooth and nice, worked excellently, can also probably use super fine sandpaper and a cloth.
My back plate was off and battery removed, I used the popsicle nail file one side at a time starting with rougher strokes to get rid of the shiny coating -which will distinctly flake away as white little crumbs of plastic- it will take a few passes to completely strip the coating off the edge, you'll notice it lingers like a sort of residue as it contrasts quite distinctly against the revealed plastic, once the coating is nonexistent begin to smooth and finish the side until it is uniform in color and looks completely smooth, you want to keep the direction of the strokes consistent as it will impact the uniformity and smoothness, I went horizontally around the phone if it were laying flat and that gave me great results, give the corners some extra attention but its the same idea, and thanks to the battery back being off I was able to make the finish meet the edge of the battery door by angling the file accordingly, repeat these steps loosely and gently with either the multi-tool-file or extra fine grit sandpaper, use your judgment, buff and finish to your heart's desire. During the entire process be sure to regularly clean off the sandpaper, file and sides of the phone on a cloth of some sort between passes as you will notice the sandpaper glide and will be clogged with material, I was wearing some bumming pants so I just rubbed it off on those, worked wonderfully. Obviously you are removing incredibly small layers of material so guys be careful, you could probably remove quite a bit before anything happens but that can also effec look of things quite badly so try to make it even. I plugged important holes with bits of tissue, only the headphone jack really, the usb port is shallow enough where some air remove any particles.
The file helps especially because of its rigidity and shape, allowing me to have a lot of flexibility when dealing with such a small surface area.
You are putting files and sandpaper near your screen, be careful. I had a very good screen protecter but even then I didn't touch my screen once, you can get at a pretty steep angle like 45 degrees away from being parallel with the screen and still be fine, maybe less, just be wary, it's easy to slip and scratch, I don't think a soft brush would do much but a rough scratch could leave marks.
My IR blaster still works and it received the same treatment, I made no effort to avoid it.
I will post pictures soon, I wish I could use my phone to take a picture of my phone. I'll use someones phone tomorrow to do so.
Feel free to ask me anything if you have a question or I left some vital info out.
:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just came across this. I will be doing this tonight whn i get home from work. My otter box has scuffed mine pretty good. I like the nail file idea. Its work. Lol make u respect it a little more from the hard work.

make pressure on him so he shares the pics. :/

can the leathe from back cover be removed, am should be getting mine and it might be with leather.. i dont like it. just wondering if someone has taken the leather off the cover.. what it looks like. just plain molded plastic?

raptorddd said:
can the leathe from back cover be removed, am should be getting mine and it might be with leather.. i dont like it. just wondering if someone has taken the leather off the cover.. what it looks like. just plain molded plastic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont do it! It will look horrendous! You better get a plastic back cover from eBay, I got one so I could use a Spigen Neo Hybid without damaging the leather back cover.

pakitos said:
Dont do it! It will look horrendous! You better get a plastic back cover from eBay, I got one so I could use a Spigen Neo Hybid without damaging the leather back cover.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think leather looks GAY . no offense guys its just my opinion.. so it would be just a molded plastic right.? ill try see some stuff on amazon. what is the variant you have? is it from mexico..

raptorddd said:
i think leather looks GAY . no offense guys its just my opinion.. so it would be just a molded plastic right.? ill try see some stuff on amazon. what is the variant you have? is it from mexico..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not molded plastic but lots of glue and sew points. Mine is from Telcel H815P

pakitos said:
Not molded plastic but lots of glue and sew points. Mine is from Telcel H815P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless glue cant be removed then itll look ugly... as foe the sewing points , thats a plu you get ventilation there.
this weather up north isnt very friendly... too bad you cant unlock bootloader.. whers the fun ?

Matte G4 Edge https://imgur.com/a/Bzspg

solventh said:
make pressure on him so he shares the pics. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Matte G4 Edge https://imgur.com/a/Bzspg

Thanks. Gold idea. Will try this when my broken test g4 arrives.
Can you pls seit the first post with the pics?

mp2195 said:
Matte G4 Edge https://imgur.com/a/Bzspg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks so much, man :]

Bullnados said:
Thanks. Gold idea. Will try this when my broken test g4 arrives.
Can you pls seit the first post with the pics?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For some stupid reason it won't let me edit my original post, weird. I'll try on my PC when I get a chance.

Perhaps to old?