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Has anyone ever done a teardown on the recent phones like Desire or Desire HD.
Would it be theoretically possible to carefully disassemble it and replace the low quality speaker with some equally sized component from radio shack or a similar electronic parts dealer or is the entire build much too restricted/crammed/impossible to dis- and reassemble?
I assume it would require soldering and I would leave that to a skilled technician, but generally speaking - is it a pipe dream or a possibility?
Comments (except for that it would void the warranty)...?
Well i'm guessing that the speaker would already be jammed up in there. Considering that there is not much space around the screen and the phone is quite thin, I dont think it will be possible. If it was as you say you would have to be a skilled technician and know all about how much power goes to the speaker etc to be able to find out which one is the right one to buy.
I've just bought a Iconia A500. Very happy so far But next week I'm heading back to university and were planning on using it to take notes. On my phone and laptop I've got the Evernote app which works great and syncs across the platforms. It has a feature for recording sound whilst taking notes.
I tried using it on the Iconia, but the internal mic was, to be honest, crap. Cause the lecturer is at least a few meters away and I could hardly hear a thing.
Q: Do you know if it's possible to use a either a USB mic, Bluetooth mic or a standard 3,5mm jack?
I tried first plugging in a standard MIC 3,5mm jack, nothing. Then I tried the combo headset/mic I've got for my HTC Desire; it worked, but the audio was still pretty crap when faced with the problem of a speaker a short distance away. I also tried connecting my H4N zoom recorder (USB), but nothing.
Any ideas or experiences on this???
Thanks for your time
The problem is not the mic, but the 3.1 Android OS, I have connected an external mic and recorder sound is crap. As far as I see our only hope is to wait for 3.2 to fix the issue, and if not contact Acer and ask for a fix. Again is not hardware related issue but software one.
As for external mic to work, you need one that uses the fourth ring (the first one if I not mistake), that is the ones like iPhone and similar headsets with mic integrated, standard mic doesn't work even they are 3.5 mm jacks because the wiring is different.
[]===> (Jack)
. |
mic wiring (1st one of four)
If you have an older batch of the Acer A500, then you are out of luck... or ALMOST
The newer batch of the A500 (same SKU, same Part Number, same Model Number...) has a major design change/correction that resolves the microphone issue. I saw one a few days ago. On an older batch, the microphone is located on the left AND under the glass, MUFFLED, that is. On the newer batch, the microphone is located in the center, where the glass meets the aluminum AND there is a visible rectangular (small, but visible) opening for the microphone TO BREATHE!!! HAHAHA. Acer finally corrected the DESIGN FLAW. BUT Acer will claim that there is nothing wrong with your flawed designed A500!!! GO FIGURE. Suggestion? Try to force Acer to replace your STILL IN WARRANTY unit for you AND do everybody else a favor, as I have done, and contact the Better Business Bureau, your State Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, your Senators and everybody that you know who has an older batch of the A500. Acer's support is crap. Their customer service is crap and dumb. Their US operation is crap. They will remain crap until they replace the piece of crap THAT IS UNDER WARRANTY, a warranty that states the following actions to be taken in case of poor performance or design...
1. repair (unit is unrepairable)
2. replace
3. refund the amount you paid for this piece of crap
People, act. Don't just sit and complain.
rokimbo said:
The newer batch of the A500 (same SKU, same Part Number, same Model Number...) has a major design change/correction that resolves the microphone issue. I saw one a few days ago. On an older batch, the microphone is located on the left AND under the glass, MUFFLED, that is. On the newer batch, the microphone is located in the center, where the glass meets the aluminum AND there is a visible rectangular (small, but visible) opening for the microphone TO BREATHE!!! HAHAHA. Acer finally corrected the DESIGN FLAW. BUT Acer will claim that there is nothing wrong with your flawed designed A500!!! GO FIGURE. Suggestion? Try to force Acer to replace your STILL IN WARRANTY unit for you AND do everybody else a favor, as I have done, and contact the Better Business Bureau, your State Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, your Senators and everybody that you know who has an older batch of the A500. Acer's support is crap. Their customer service is crap and dumb. Their US operation is crap. They will remain crap until they replace the piece of crap THAT IS UNDER WARRANTY, a warranty that states the following actions to be taken in case of poor performance or design...
1. repair (unit is unrepairable)
2. replace
3. refund the amount you paid for this piece of crap
People, act. Don't just sit and complain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sir, are a tool .. And completely wrong to boot. Verify facts, then rant - not the other way around.
I'm looking at my A500 right now, I can clearly see the microphone port at the top center (as you say is the "new" design - only bought mine a few weeks ago, but no idea when it was manufactured) and guess what - Microphone quality is rubbish. I'd love for you to be right (because then I would have a working mic!) but, you're not. Now get down off your soapbox.
To the OP,
I don't know what to tell you except to sit the tablet upward facing your instructor or whatever speaker is loudest in the room. Though I'm sure you're probably using it to type notes as well or whatnot? I would recommend a bluetooth mic but I don't think there is such a thing. The only one's I've seen are for camcorders and I'm guessing they are made specifically for them somehow. I feel your pain
Unfortunately, this may not be the best tablet to do what you want to do with it. If you just bought it, maybe you can return it and try something else? The Transformer is roughly the same price and I haven't heard of people complaining about the mic on that. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 may also be a better choice in terms of mics, but it is more expensive. The Galaxy Tab Plus is coming out and should be $400, in case you don't need a 10" screen. If you want or need the USB port, there's the Toshiba Thrive.
Good Luck.
rokimbo said:
The newer batch of the A500 (same SKU, same Part Number, same Model Number...) has a major design change/correction that resolves the microphone issue. I saw one a few days ago. On an older batch, the microphone is located on the left AND under the glass, MUFFLED, that is. On the newer batch, the microphone is located in the center, where the glass meets the aluminum AND there is a visible rectangular (small, but visible) opening for the microphone TO BREATHE!!! HAHAHA. Acer finally corrected the DESIGN FLAW. BUT Acer will claim that there is nothing wrong with your flawed designed A500!!! GO FIGURE. Suggestion? Try to force Acer to replace your STILL IN WARRANTY unit for you AND do everybody else a favor, as I have done, and contact the Better Business Bureau, your State Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, your Senators and everybody that you know who has an older batch of the A500. Acer's support is crap. Their customer service is crap and dumb. Their US operation is crap. They will remain crap until they replace the piece of crap THAT IS UNDER WARRANTY, a warranty that states the following actions to be taken in case of poor performance or design...
1. repair (unit is unrepairable)
2. replace
3. refund the amount you paid for this piece of crap
People, act. Don't just sit and complain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you get this information? I got my A500 the day it was released in the U.S (thus, the old batch) and my mic is in the center. I have never seen an A500 mic under the glass on the left, that's more than likely the light sensor you're talking about.
Furthermore, afaik the mics on all of them are the same. I think the problem some people have is that they think of them like phone mics (multidirectional) and they seem to be (whether by design or not), unidirectional for the most part, capturing sound from directly in front; adding insult to injury, they are noise cancelling so it actively filters background 'noise' which in some cases, consist of the person's voice. In essence, I've found it great if I act like I'm using the tablet to make a video call and speak loud and clearly, but otherwise it's sub par for use as a recording device. I use it for Voice actions and it works exceptionally well, better than my phone - ironically.
I'm no sound engineer, but I bet that if Acer allowed 1 of the mics to turn off or allowed echoing (through a setting in the OS) or put in a mic boost setting, the perceived quality would go up exponentially. This is a case of technology working against itself.
very nice and informative thread
very nice and informative thread. Thanks to you who have contributed. Exciting the understanding that it is not a hardware problem but a software problem. My mic is also bad even when I use an external headset. Good to understand that even if you put an external headset remains the built-in mic active.
mikkel
About three weeks after I got my G2 back in November, I noticed a few dead pixel spots on my screen. Small spots, so I decided to live with them and not get a replacement.
But recently, I've been getting less than solid headphone connects, i.e. it'll plug in but the recognition will disconnect a few times is the headphone cables are moved or twisted: a weakening headphone jack.
I'm inclined to take up LG's manufacturer warranty, and I'm wondering if you guys think it will be covered as a manufacturer defect. I can say that the screen issues came that way, but the headphone jack issue probably isn't convincing enough to be a manufacturer defect.
Any thoughts? I need to unroot before I go to the Verizon store anyway...
wm388 said:
About three weeks after I got my G2 back in November, I noticed a few dead pixel spots on my screen. Small spots, so I decided to live with them and not get a replacement.
But recently, I've been getting less than solid headphone connects, i.e. it'll plug in but the recognition will disconnect a few times is the headphone cables are moved or twisted: a weakening headphone jack.
I'm inclined to take up LG's manufacturer warranty, and I'm wondering if you guys think it will be covered as a manufacturer defect. I can say that the screen issues came that way, but the headphone jack issue probably isn't convincing enough to be a manufacturer defect.
Any thoughts? I need to unroot before I go to the Verizon store anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you should unroot it. Depending on the store you go to, they might not even be able to power it on (dumb as hell) but its better to be safe then sorry
Sent from my VS980 4G
wm388 said:
About three weeks after I got my G2 back in November, I noticed a few dead pixel spots on my screen. Small spots, so I decided to live with them and not get a replacement.
But recently, I've been getting less than solid headphone connects, i.e. it'll plug in but the recognition will disconnect a few times is the headphone cables are moved or twisted: a weakening headphone jack.
I'm inclined to take up LG's manufacturer warranty, and I'm wondering if you guys think it will be covered as a manufacturer defect. I can say that the screen issues came that way, but the headphone jack issue probably isn't convincing enough to be a manufacturer defect.
Any thoughts? I need to unroot before I go to the Verizon store anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both things should be covered. Doesn't hurt to try either
Im having the same headphone jack problem too. It seems to be pretty common issue. Im gonna try Verizon tommorrow. Ill let ya know how it goes.
Hi everyone,
As said on tittle, I'm looking for a smart watch with the following requisites:
- Android complete 4.2 or higher
- Cell phone itself (gsm/wcdma)
- IP68?
I need it for swimming/surfing/similar, due to my work, I need to be contactable (calls/email) everytime, and sometimes I go swimming/surfing.
I bought an Imacwear M7, but the people said it's not ip67 and that it will die if I use it on the sea.
Does anyone tried this? Any other smartwatch? Any other options?
I'm a little bit lost, need your opinion and/or experience
Thanks a lot
none of the standalone (phone) watches will be fully water proof, because of microphone/speaker, if ever there will be one
some of them might claim water resistance but i wouldn't wear them not in shallow water, let alone the sea
the Sony Smartwatch 2 for example, claims to be ip57, but can't survive a shower. that watch doesn't even have a microphone or speaker
might be build quality related though
Swimming and surfing plus speaker and mic? That's 1 ATM (10m/30ft) rating at a minimum. No such creature exists, yet. It is possible to do, but companies would rather sell fashion smartwatches with laughable IP ratings instead.
Send it away and have it Liquipelled. http://www.liquipel.com/
SerialKilla said:
Send it away and have it Liquipelled. http://www.liquipel.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't waste your money. Tried that on three smartwatches, as well as a fourth project smartwatch of my own. It doesn't work. The treatment wears off when it comes in contact with pretty much anything. Oil deposits in the air from cooking, your skin, cloth, sand, dirt.
airtemisa said:
Hi everyone,
As said on tittle, I'm looking for a smart watch with the following requisites:
- Android complete 4.2 or higher
- Cell phone itself (gsm/wcdma)
- IP68?
I need it for swimming/surfing/similar, due to my work, I need to be contactable (calls/email) everytime, and sometimes I go swimming/surfing.
I bought an Imacwear M7, but the people said it's not ip67 and that it will die if I use it on the sea.
Does anyone tried this? Any other smartwatch? Any other options?
I'm a little bit lost, need your opinion and/or experience
Thanks a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Tempo Trainer Pro watch. U can find it here http://www.proswimwear.co.uk/ . It's includes a clip for dry land exercise. I am sure you will find it better then apple watch or Garmin.
I still havent found what im looking for...
Like I said before, no such creature exists. The best you can hope for is a regular smartwatch and then have somebody like me mod it to get it to a 1ATM (33ft) WR rating.
Hi lokifish Marz.... I´ve been thinking about doing that in my M7 smartwatch, but finally never tried it.
If finally doesnt appear that desired model, i will try to mod it for submersing
The M7 is like the Omate and is a serious pain to get IP67, much less anything better than that. About the only sort of easy way to get past a useless IP rating is fill the entire case with RTV silicone sealant, otherwise you are looking at a complete teardown and machine work.
I've been trying with liquid neoprene. It seals perfectly, very fluid, very good handling and also cheap!
Now I need to identify all the holes of the watch and work then properly.... It should work!
List of ingress points that need to be addressed to reach a minimum of 1 ATM water resistance needed for swimming/surfing;
Case back (requires complete redesign of seals or permanent sealing of back to case)
Case back screws and screw holes (requires complete redesign of seals or permanent sealing of screws into the case)
Buttons (requires complete redesign of button seals)
Camera (requires removal and filling of camera housing of replacement of housing glass)
Speaker (requires secondary sealing layer between speaker and outside)
Mic (requires secondary sealing layer between MIC and outside)
SIM Slot Door (requires sealing of screw holes and better gasket)
Charging contacts (requires the contact assembly in the case back be remounted and sealed using marine epoxy)
Display (requires the case be redesigned or pressure injecting sealant or marine epoxy from the backside)
Antenna ports (requires the bands be removed, the ports cleaned out. The bands then need remounting and a stiff silicone sealant be injected into the ports)
MIC and speaker secondary seal will negatively affect audio performance. This is however required as MIC and speaker damage will occur otherwise.
Display sealing issues are due to the lack of a large enough lip for the display to be mounted on to provide a proper seal
*Alternative approach (Untested)
Completely seal the display,PCB, SD Card, SIM Card, and battery in one solid block of silicone or some other water resistant material. Drawback is this seriously affects usability of the buttons, camera, MIC, and speaker. This also makes SIM, SDCard and battery swapping impossible.
(I've had over two years to think about this as well as attempt to get the TS and it's clones to pass a proper 24hr immersion test at 10m/33ft/1ATM. To date, I have not succeeded.)
Uffff.... so... you need to do a master.... its a marathon!
Thanks Lokifish... i think maybe i wont try...
i95,android 4.3,ip65,dial/answer phone call,you can know more from tinydeal.but i think Lokifish is right,no smartwatch can survive after a long time in the sea.
jack5847 said:
i think Lokifish is right,no smartwatch can survive after a long time in the sea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly true. If he wanted a companion smartwatch it's not the hard at all. The issue is with him wanting to be able to do that with a standalone, or otherwise known as a watchphone. That requires far more engineering. The closest he could get to any out of the box solution would be the massive Timex Ironman ONE GPS+ and all that would give him is something similar to SMS texts and that's it. The other option is a decently made standalone then seal it completely with a SIM inside. He would lose the mic and speaker function but would at least be able to send/receive texts and know who's trying to call him. Not a pretty solution but it would work.
I think i´ve got it!
Doodgee S1.
I dont link to any shop, but you can find it very easy. I´m waiting for some reviews...
airtemisa said:
I think i´ve got it!
Doodgee S1.
I dont link to any shop, but you can find it very easy. I´m waiting for some reviews...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, ignore any IP67 rated. IP67 is 1m/3ft immersion with absolutely no moving allowed.
I agree with Lokifish - I don't think that animal exists. I just bought the No 1 A10 to evaluate it for workouts, including swimming...
http://www.gearbest.com/smart-watches/pp_286212.html
...and am looking at the D5 for "office wear". I have to admit that I'm more attracted to the idea of "one watch to rule them all" - but - I'm also looking at $56 for the A10 (I bought it when it was on sale) and $130 or so for the D5 (or similar) so for the total outlay it's a pretty compelling use case. I was an original Omate TrueSmart backer and was profoundly disappointed. After spending $360++ for a watch that *wasn't* waterproof I went the "dedicated exercise computer as a watch" route - in the form of the Polar V800. I had to wait another year or so for smart notifications to show up (for Android) and Polar *still* hasn't done some basic data integration with 3rd parties like MyFitnessPal and the like. That was another $500+ and it *still* doesn't collect accurate heart rate data in the water. So - there's that... and of course there's no *real* smartwatch functionality to speak of.
I had considered the Garmin fenix 3 - and the recent addition of on-device HRM is interesting - but I'm mostly a swimmer so I'm going to be using a chest-worn device if I go that route. But *if* I did that it would be another $600-800 plus the cost of their data-recording HRM strap. As it stands now - I'm done with dropping multiple C-notes onto one-off projects and half baked tech from "the big companies". I'm going to nickel-and-dime my way through and figure out a way to make it work with multiple devices (with a LOT of help from my friends at XDA). I have the Bragi Dash coming in (sometime in February at last count) which I'm hoping will give me accurate HRM/oximetry data while swimming - and I'll be working to merge that data with the stroke/SWOLF data I gather from the wrist-worn device.
Side note: One of the advantages of the dual-device theory just occurred to me - in that I *can* carry a portable battery-pack charger and have one on charge when the other is on my wrist. So there's some element of continuity/back-up, should something go sideways with one device or another. When my TrueSmart would go dead I felt pretty naked, when it worked and was relatively performant from a battery perspective.
Anyway, I think this class of device will take some time to sort out as the companies figure out what the market(s) will bear in terms of durability and cost.
Hi everyone,
I own a Priv and can't do without a keyboard. Seeing that (as of today) no new portrait slider has been announced, and modding the motherboard itself is unrealisitic, I've decided to find a motherboard and screen off a newer phone and sort-of slap them on a spare chassis I've got lying around.
Feel free to add suggestions and comments below, I need all the expertise I can get. Hit the like button if you're interested, so i can get a head-count. If you guys and gals are interested, I'll post pics as I go along.
Keyboard & Interface:
In an ideal world, I'd be using the priv's existing (and exquisite) PKB which also has touch capabilities for scrolling and moving the cursor. Unfortunately I've not yet found the pinouts for that (and is more complex to interface). I have however found a website where a good soul published info and diagrams for a Q10's Keyboard and then connected those to an IC using a board with a Hirose connector (which he then connected to a raspberry pi project). My plan is similar. Since I don't know at which point in the motherboard I can make an input for a keyboard, the best strategy is to wire the keyboard's interface chip into the USB connections, as Android natively supports USB keyboards and mice. I can then use a microswitch (mechanical or magnetic) to disconnect the keyboard's signal when the slider closes.
If someone does know the pinouts of the Priv's connector, do let me know, it would be great to be able to use it!
Motherboard & Screen:
First thing that springs to mind, is that since the screen will be sliding a couple of inches, the phone off which I'll take the screen and motherboard needs to have a long flex-ribbon, usually found when a motherboard is on the top, and the screen connects on the bottom (such as the oneplus 5). This also means the charging port would also be nice to be a separate unit. I'm not too worried about cooling as there's a nice big metal slider frame to which all this will stick on, but failing that, i could also make a metal back with shallow fins to dissipate heat. The less features there are directly on the screen, the less things are likely to fail.
Requirements:
So the basic point of all this is to have the keyboard hooked up to the motherboard of a rootable system which can be easily modified. Phones like Xiaomi, Oneplus ... fit this bill well. First thing that springs to mind is a Snapdragon 8xx as performance is of course, vital. The camera also needs to work although the resolution is not critical. NFC, Fingerprint sensor, SD card slot, GPS with Galileo, Wireless charging and other niceities are highly desireable, but I might give some of them up to accomodate other things depending on how critical they are. Unfortunately not many flagships have 5.4" screens or less, so the metal slider will be modified to accomodate this.
I'll choose a nice, big battery and place it in the bottom, right below the keyboard as the CoG needs to be really low to make the phone comfy to type on without letting it tip over.
Finally, a plastic or metal cover can be modelled to fit all this, and will probably be cheap to make. If the screen is bigger than the frame, i'll also have to make a second cover around the border, secured to the main slider frame.
The Q10's keyboard has arrived. The connector seen in the middle with a black ribbon has 24 contacts (plus 4 contacts in the extremities which are not counted, probably used for grounding). By comparison, the Priv connectors (male on top, female on motherboard) has 20 contacts despite the priv's trackpad function.
For those of you curious about the BB Passport, I've had a quick look inside and the connector is identical to the Q10's keyboard, although it works like the Priv. Rather confusing.
I'll be mapping the pinouts once the PCB and connectors arrive, unfortunately that's gonna be a long wait as they have to come to Germany from the U.S.
I finally have enough parts to start putting the encoder together. It is an SK5126 keyboard encoder from Sprintek. At just 7 x 7mm with 0.5mm pitch, it was not easy to solder on, but definitely doable with a bit of practice and common sense. The chip itself is not expensive (15usd a pop) but being in Germany, I had to pay through the nose for shipping and shameless customs. Sprintek's sales dept. have been very helpful though. Once I wired the PCB to an old USB cable (and a couple of resistors & capacitors), it was very much plug & play. I'm pleased.
Now it's time to wait again for the next bit of PCB and female connectors for the keyboards... It's at times like these that I regret the EU not having a trade agreement with the US.
The adapter PCB and Hirose female connector for the keyboard finally arrived today, but that's where the good news ends. Unfortunately the seller did not solder them together so I had to do it myself. That's when an obvious fact hit me in the face: the connector's melting point is lower than the solder paste's melting point. The first connector simply folded in a mess of molten plastic under the hot air. I tried the reballing method on the second (and last) connector, which simply pulled the individual legs of the connector apart.
Upon putting the PCB of the Encoder and the connector next to each other, it's clear that part of the success i had with soldering the encoder chip lied in having a footprint with nice long exposed contacts which allowed the surface tension of the solder to pull everything in place. That could not work on the much shorter footprint of the connector PCV. I've ordered some more connectors, it's gonna be a long wait, though I've yet to think of a proper way to solder without melting the connector.
So I've finally had a breakthrough. Some new PCBs arrived from Hong Kong and after a few molten connectors, I've managed to perfect the technique enough to not get any shorts. From there on, it was pretty straightforward. I mapped the keyboard's pinouts (red pcb) to the correct Row/Coloumn inputs of the encoder (green pcb) using the thin wires. It looks a bit messy until i figure out in which position the PCBs will sit inside the chassis.
I'm tempted to also try mapping the Priv's original keyboard, unfortunately, that's tricky, as there's no info about it online. It has a 20-pin connector (as opposed to 24 on the Q10) which also transmits touch input via a Synaptics microchip. I'll try going through it with a multimeter, if i can at least map out the button-matrix, then finding out the synaptics output will be a tad easier.
In the meantime, another issue is on my mind. I've been looking at teardowns of various snapdragon 7xx and 8xx phones and it's clear that some components (mostly the prox sensors) on most, if not all models, are soldered directly on the motherboard, which makes it difficult if I plan on putting the screen on the sliding portion of the chassis and the motherboard on the fixed portion of the chassis. I'm going to have to rethink the whole idea. If i put a lot of components on the sliding part of the chassis, then i risk making the phone top-heavy and thick. Unfortunately I do not have the technology to change this.
There is probably going to be a compromise somewhere, and I need to decide where to draw that line before I order more expensive parts.
very (!) interesting idea(-s) !!
I am incredibly curious to see the outcome, afraid I cannot really provide any help.
it is a real shame that blackberry didnt even provide some use-at-your-own-risk stuff to boot unsigned code...
maybe you want to try shopping for parts in china directly, I almost never pay customs (value below ~€20) for stuff.
cheers!
elchmartin said:
very (!) interesting idea(-s) !!
I am incredibly curious to see the outcome, afraid I cannot really provide any help.
it is a real shame that blackberry didnt even provide some use-at-your-own-risk stuff to boot unsigned code...
maybe you want to try shopping for parts in china directly, I almost never pay customs (value below ~€20) for stuff.
cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate.
I already buy a lot of parts from China, however 1 thing I couldn't find online from there was an easy-to-use, low power encoder. I had to get it from Sprintek in California. Their products are really good and the price is also good. Unfortunately i had to pay a lot of money for customs (which of course is not Sprintek's fault). The encoder chips themselves cost me around $15 each, the programming software is free and the chip responds right away as soon as you plug it into the pc. They also have a good after-sale assistance.
Kyle M. said:
Thanks mate.
I already buy a lot of parts from China, however 1 thing I couldn't find online from there was an easy-to-use, low power encoder. I had to get it from Sprintek in California. Their products are really good and the price is also good. Unfortunately i had to pay a lot of money for customs (which of course is not Sprintek's fault). The encoder chips themselves cost me around $15 each, the programming software is free and the chip responds right away as soon as you plug it into the pc. They also have a good after-sale assistance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are living in Hamburg, Germany?
Maybe try looking for parts at pollin.de
They served rather rare items for me some times...
Project continued on https://hackaday.io/project/168387-physical-keyboard-for-any-android-phone
I can finally update with some good news. After ironing out all the issues (most of which concern the pesky Hirose connector which connects the keyboard to the PCB), I took the 2 boards off the metal frame and made myself a little box from PVC sheets which I then glued to an old Xiaomi phone cover. The reason I am testing it this way rather than just building the slider I wanted to build is to prevent having to mod the Xiaomi phone while testing (I've grown quite attached to this phone despite having bought it cheap).
I have also put a small switch on the side which directly cuts off the power to the chip (this way it saves power and seems to work pretty fine).