Database Users

where are the water damage indicators?

A friend of mine is interested in getting a Nexus 4 as well but is thinking of getting a used one. Anyone know where the water damage indicators are so he can check for, well, water damage?

There might be one in the SIM card reader area, but I'm not sure. Couldn't see anything in the headphone/usb port, but that's just me.

red12355 said:
There might be one in the SIM card reader area, but I'm not sure. Couldn't see anything in the headphone/usb port, but that's just me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is yours the red cross hatch design? It's hard to tell on mine. In the SIM card slot, theres a small strip of white about 1mm wide before it disappears below the sim card holder's metal frame box. It doesn't seem to be very well aligned either. Seems like an odd way to do it, hiding almost the whole thing. I guess there must be some additional ones inside the phone.

Place to store a spare MicroSD card

So on the non lte version of the tablet there is a slot that would normally hold the microsim card on the lte version. For us, that slot is filled by a plastic blanking plate. Anyone have any idea how to get it out? I've tried prising it but no joy. MicroSD cards cost more the larger they are and I'd like to experiment with keeping a spare in that slot if I can just open it up and snapping them over when needed!

SANGER_A2 said:
So on the non lte version of the tablet there is a slot that would normally hold the microsim card on the lte version. For us, that slot is filled by a plastic blanking plate. Anyone have any idea how to get it out? I've tried prising it but no joy. MicroSD cards cost more the larger they are and I'd like to experiment with keeping a spare in that slot if I can just open it up and snapping them over when needed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I would place a guess, that if you remove the back cover, you would probably have better access to the module (which generally are removable in most tabs).
However, even it you were to remove the "Plug", so to speak, my guess is that your SD card would probably slide inside the tab, thus rattling around and more than likely short out something on the main board

Moscow Desire said:
Honestly, I would place a guess, that if you remove the back cover, you would probably have better access to the module (which generally are removable in most tabs).
However, even it you were to remove the "Plug", so to speak, my guess is that your SD card would probably slide inside the tab, thus rattling around and more than likely short out something on the main board
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure that if we get the back of the tablet off, then it would be easy to enclose the microsim slot with hot glue or something so the SD can't come out and it could be cushioned with electrician's tape or something to reduce rattling. However, I don't want to spoil my lovely expensive tablet by taking it to bits! This would be much harder without dismantling and may be impossible without getting out the blanking plate anyway. At some point I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy the expensive 64GB MicroSD at some point if I run out of space for videos etc.

SD CARD + 2 SIMs mod

I just wanted to share a mod to use an SD Card with 2 sim cards at the same time. It takes about 10 minutes. Refer to pics.
1. Hold the SIM with a pair of pliers and heat the plastic part under the chip with a tiny flame or an electric burner to remove the white plastic around the chip ( make a note of where the SIM indentation is, you need to glue the chip to the sd card in the correct position)
2. Lightly file the top of the sd card with a nail filer ( only remove the part that is a little thicker) please do so very lightly as if you do it too much it will damage your card.
3. Glue the SIM chip to the sd card and insert it into the phone. It might be a bit tight but it should go in easily without much effort.
The first time I did it my phone didn't recognize the second SIM but I removed it and fix the position a little bit and it works perfectly.

Cool!
Inviato dal mio HUAWEI NXT-L29 utilizzando Tapatalk

yikes, burning off the plastic seems a bit harsh, wouldnt it be possible to just pry off the plastic with a pair of pliers?
Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10 using Tapatalk

jbmc83 said:
yikes, burning off the plastic seems a bit harsh, wouldnt it be possible to just pry off the plastic with a pair of pliers?
Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did try to remove the chip from the plastic with a thin blade and pliers but was not successful. I damaged 2 trying to do so (a friend of mine works at t-mobile so I had several sim cards to practice) for the third one I used fire (picture above) and that worked.
I did it for 3 more phones after that and I found that using an electric burner is better. The plastic comes off easily by rubbing it quickly against the hot metal from the burner.

What perfect works to use a toaster to heat up the card.

lol, u guys are crazy i love it

Pretty ingenious man. I'll have to try this one day when I'm feeling a bit more brave!

I dont get it.. I see the sd part is heated on the back side (pict 1 n 2) but the sim put on the front side (pict 3). What do I missed here xwmxxda..?

gyn said:
I dont get it.. I see the sd part is heated on the back side (pict 1 n 2) but the sim put on the front side (pict 3). What do I missed here xwmxxda..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First I trimmed the sim card and removed the white plastic around it by cutting it as close as possible to the chip (pic 1)
What you see in pic 2 is the back of the sim card after I burned the plastic behind the chip. You can use pliers to hold it and just rub it against a hot metal surface and it will come off without damaging the chip.
After that I glued the chip to the back of the SD card (pic 3) but keep in mind that you need to glue the sim to the SD card in the correct position. Before burning the plastic off make sure you know where the sim indentation is.

I made it few month before. And I can tell - better do not do anything with sd-card, it is very simple to damage it. And only nano sim should be used. It is pretty tough to put it on and out, but possible
Отправлено с моего HUAWEI NXT-L29 через Tapatalk

Hi guys,
Thank you for sharing this mod. I ordered a mate 8 phone with only 32 GB. I'm relay on this mod to expand the storage capacity. I have some questions:
1. Can somebody measure the thickness of the SIM+Card glued together?
2. How big is the risk to damage the phone (the internal contacts for SIM card)?
3. How much pressure should we use to put the card+sim into the phone?
4. did someone tried to use abrasive paper to remove the plastic? I tried on a standard sim and looks fine. This was only for testing, the sim was old.
Anyway, if you can measure the thickness it will be perfect.

sebibv said:
Hi guys,
Thank you for sharing this mod. I ordered a mate 8 phone with only 32 GB. I'm relay on this mod to expand the storage capacity. I have some questions:
1. Can somebody measure the thickness of the SIM+Card glued together?
2. How big is the risk to damage the phone (the internal contacts for SIM card)?
3. How much pressure should we use to put the card+sim into the phone?
4. did someone tried to use abrasive paper to remove the plastic? I tried on a standard sim and looks fine. This was only for testing, the sim was old.
Anyway, if you can measure the thickness it will be perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done this mod on 4 different phones and it works perfectly, I don't have anything to measure the thickness of the SIM+Card together but I can answer the rest of your questions.
2. There is some risk to damage it if you apply too much force to put it in, a previous post states not to do anything to the SD card because you can damage it, but if you don't, you have to put force to get it in and out. Personally I decided to sand a cheap 8GB SD card to practice and see how much it can take, only remove the thick part and very little of the plastic from both sides, if you go too far the SD card will not work. I now have a 128GB working perfectly.
3. If you remove all the plastic from the SIM and sand the SD card a little bit on both sides you shouldn't have a problem getting it in or out, very little pressure.
4. I tried abrasive paper to remove the plastic the first time I did it but couldn't remove all of it, I lost my patience after a few minutes and used fire. The next 3 times I did it I used an electric burner and the plastic came off really quickly, 30 seconds, without damaging the chip.

Thank you for your answer. I will receive the phone today or Monday. I already prepared the sim using abrasive paper. The sim is not working if i put it in a phone because it is too thin. I used a little paper to push it into the slot and now it's fine. I will try to polish also the SD card. I have a 512 mb to practice.
If the mod will succeed, i will post here the thickness.
LE: Ok, so I polished more the SD card, and now, the thickness is around 0.37 mm and I'm sure that I can polish around 0.35 or even more (but if I will do this, I'm sure that I won't be able to use it in my old phone and I need it now), but I found something strange:
I measured an old Nokia card (512 MB) and the thickness is 0.68 mm and a new bigger card and the thickness is 0.77 mm.
Another question: did you remove completely the thick part of the SD?
It seems very very thin the material on the contacts side. On the other side, I think that it can be polished without damage the SD.

I completely removed the thick part of the SD, each card is a little different, I used a SanDisk in all the mods. Most of the sanding was done on the top side, I did very very little and with low pressure on the contacts side.

[emoji3]
Sent from my HUAWEI NXT-L29 using Tapatalk

Ok, so I just received my phone.
I had a nanosim and as I told you I used abrasive paper not heat. I didn't glue the sim to the card but I kept the very very thin plastic around the sim. Of course I could easy remove it but why to do it? With it or without it the thickness is the same because of the chip's thickness. I carefully put the sim into the holder and then the polished SD card.
I push it inside the phone and this is it. Yes, I should press a little bit but not hard...easy to keep everything fine. I removed then the sd and the card, I put inside the second one (because I tried only with the mod) and it's very nice.
Yes, I know that I should put a picture but I don't want to damage the sim (the thin plastic that I kept for positioning the chip without glue).

Hi.
Done this one month ago and I'm currently using it. This is a delicious mod. Only put attention on the thickness of the sim!!!! I brushed the SD to reduce the thickness and i broke it because was yet thin........

Yes, it's very interesting. I can't understand why this topic has only 2 pages. I like the the mod.
Even I told you that I won't take out the sim, I did it.
So, enjoy the pictures.
Sorry for picture quality....it's my wife's phone....and she don't want my old S4.

It's working for me [emoji12]
Thank you all
Sent from my HUAWEI NXT-L29 using XDA-Developers mobile app

I'm glad that it's working for you too.
We should thanks to xwmxxda

Insert 2 Nano Sim & Micro SD Card

Very interesting: HERE.

I'm wondering if there's actually any difference in the circuit board between the normal and dual sim variant. If you jam a 2nd SIM into a normal version and install the dual SIM software would it work?

Joku1981 said:
Very interesting: HERE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking of the possibilities, and someone actually did it! This is brilliant! Will post my fail/Success pics soon!

Here's how mine was done!
Be Patient, Be cautious. It's a Hard one!

i did the same, but don't want to work (( may be i did something wrong)))

JazonX said:
Here's how mine was done!
Be Patient, Be cautious. It's a Hard one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow..!! Which glu have you used ? To stic to sd card ...or used a double sided tape ?
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

zabaknilesh said:
Wow..!! Which glu have you used ? To stic to sd card ...or used a double sided tape ?
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both, Alteco Super Glue in the middle and Double Sided Tape(Thinnest you can find) on the first edge of the SIM.
Note - Using Super Glue will leave a white stain on the Memory Card surface. Don't pour it to the surface, Use the Needle in the pack to dip and put a drop on the Nano Sim chip (lump on the back side).

zabaknilesh said:
Wow..!! Which glu have you used ? To stic to sd card ...or used a double sided tape ?
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did it: I have now the 2 nano sims and 128 gb micro sd card working !
A few tips :
Try to strip the plastic from the simcard first with old simcards you might have in stock to experiment.
I found that holding the card with a pair of small pliers over a kitchen stove in my left hand
and peeling the plastic with a very small screwdriver on my right hand was the easiest way
to do it. Be careful not to overheat. Within 10 s you feel the plastic melting then you peel
it smoothly.
I cut the simcard approximately 1 mm on both ends (no measuring, just guts )
I tried to put double sided tape first to stick the simcard on the micro sd card but it would always slip, so it was not reliable, may be it was the tape ... So I switched to superglue. I put the memory card on the tray, reversed the tray on the table, put a little drop of glue and stuck the sim on the micro sd card while on the tray to be sure it was properly located.
I waited at least 5 minutes so the glue dried and tried to insert the tray: it would not enter the phone because
it was too thick. So I took a smooth grinder and took off some plastic off the sd card so it would be a little thinner.
Be careful if you do that may be use a sand paper very smooth and go VERY lightly. I then retried to insert the tray
and it was almost getting in but I was afraid it would not get out, so I thought of lubricant. I took some olive oil, put
a drop on my finger and touch the non contact side to spread it.
Then I inserted the tray and it worked ! I managed to pull off and on several times the tray afterwards.
Now my phone is olive oil perfumed

Love the olive oil scent closing hahaha, great work mate
LAKEPOWELL said:
I just did it: I have now the 2 nano sims and 128 gb micro sd card working !
A few tips :
Try to strip the plastic from the simcard first with old simcards you might have in stock to experiment.
I found that holding the card with a pair of small pliers over a kitchen stove in my left hand
and peeling the plastic with a very small screwdriver on my right hand was the easiest way
to do it. Be careful not to overheat. Within 10 s you feel the plastic melting then you peel
it smoothly.
I cut the simcard approximately 1 mm on both ends (no measuring, just guts )
I tried to put double sided tape first to stick the simcard on the micro sd card but it would always slip, so it was not reliable, may be it was the tape ... So I switched to superglue. I put the memory card on the tray, reversed the tray on the table, put a little drop of glue and stuck the sim on the micro sd card while on the tray to be sure it was properly located.
I waited at least 5 minutes so the glue dried and tried to insert the tray: it would not enter the phone because
it was too thick. So I took a smooth grinder and took off some plastic off the sd card so it would be a little thinner.
Be careful if you do that may be use a sand paper very smooth and go VERY lightly. I then retried to insert the tray
and it was almost getting in but I was afraid it would not get out, so I thought of lubricant. I took some olive oil, put
a drop on my finger and touch the non contact side to spread it.
Then I inserted the tray and it worked ! I managed to pull off and on several times the tray afterwards.
Now my phone is olive oil perfumed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

LAKEPOWELL said:
I waited at least 5 minutes so the glue dried and tried to insert the tray: it would not enter the phone because
it was too thick. So I took a smooth grinder and took off some plastic off the sd card so it would be a little thinner.
Be careful if you do that may be use a sand paper very smooth and go VERY lightly. I then retried to insert the tray
and it was almost getting in but I was afraid it would not get out, so I thought of lubricant. I took some olive oil, put
a drop on my finger and touch the non contact side to spread it.
Then I inserted the tray and it worked ! I managed to pull off and on several times the tray afterwards.
Now my phone is olive oil perfumed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any Pics of this last part ?
My 128GB got killed just by applying pressure on it!

It works just in presence of the dual sim models, right?

michelerossi said:
It works just in presence of the dual sim models, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only G935FD

Wow. ...Nice experience. ..
Envoyé de mon SM-N920C en utilisant Tapatalk

JazonX said:
Any Pics of this last part ?
My 128GB got killed just by applying pressure on it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See attached 1 picture of the sd card on the slightly grind (and olive oiled) side
The 2nd image is the other side of the sd card with the simcard glued
The third image is the sd card with the sim glued inserted in the tray.
If you have to grind the sd card, TAKE YOUR TIME, grind a very little bit, try to insert,
grind again, try again till it is almost good to insert. Then add lubricant on the
non contact side. Remember that if it is too hard to insert you will have considerable
difficulties removing it ...
It might be interesting to see if some micro sd cards are thicker than others.
After 12 hours inside the phone, the tray with 2 nano sim + sd card is slightly easier to insert/remove.
I don't know if it is because of the olive oil or because the glue got denser. Anyway I am very happy
with it, no false contact on the sd card or on the simcard.

Someone explain to me why the tmobile s7 has pins for 2 sims? https://youtu.be/A_S6pL5pznA?t=2m13s
Verizon has them too https://youtu.be/ETEGRh_p7Ng?t=2m56s
G930F also has pins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-IhjFL8E1o&feature=youtu.be&t=3m30s
Here's a pic from ifixit's teardown, notice the pins for the sdcard and the sim next to it? Hmm...

peachpuff said:
Someone explain to me why the tmobile s7 has pins for 2 sims? https://youtu.be/A_S6pL5pznA?t=2m13s
Verizon has them too https://youtu.be/ETEGRh_p7Ng?t=2m56s
G930F also has pins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-IhjFL8E1o&feature=youtu.be&t=3m30s
Here's a pic from ifixit's teardown, notice the pins for the sdcard and the sim next to it? Hmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now even if pins are there and probably sim tray from dual sim model will fit. But extra sim should also have an imei assigned. Else useless ..lets hope good
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Has 935F pins aldo for a second sim?

michelerossi said:
Has 935F pins aldo for a second sim?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Inviato dal mio 935F

zabaknilesh said:
But extra sim should also have an imei assigned
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, that's probably the only difference between the fd and regular models, they get an extra imei while we don't even though the hardware seems like it might support it.

I DID IT
O Yessss, I did it!!!!

Popped out my SIM card tray to find it broken

I see this is a very common problem with these phones. Except mine had snapped in half, and I was barely able to get the microSD card out. Now my SIM is stuck inside, along with the lower half of the tray. Issue is it's no longer under warranty. I've tried a few things, like holding it upside down and lightly thumping the top of the back/front with my palm. but that ****er just won't pop out. I'm leery of sticking anything inside there for fear of damaging anything, let alone attempting to pull it out with a cut credit card and a sliver of glue. I'm thinking I'll take it to a repair shop, but I heard that once it's taken apart, it loses its waterproof seal. Can anyone confirm this? Or offer some other advice?

GuyInDogSuit said:
I see this is a very common problem with these phones. Except mine had snapped in half, and I was barely able to get the microSD card out. Now my SIM is stuck inside, along with the lower half of the tray. Issue is it's no longer under warranty. I've tried a few things, like holding it upside down and lightly thumping the top of the back/front with my palm. but that ****er just won't pop out. I'm leery of sticking anything inside there for fear of damaging anything, let alone attempting to pull it out with a cut credit card and a sliver of glue. I'm thinking I'll take it to a repair shop, but I heard that once it's taken apart, it loses its waterproof seal. Can anyone confirm this? Or offer some other advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With fricking care I put a drop of super glue on a toothpick and fished mine out is how I did mine 3 times. I've broke 4 trays. I got a feeling it's something to do with sd cards ever since I quit using a SD card I haven't broke not 1. It's a punk ***** and I don't know why Samsung wouldn't use the metal ttys like in the past. I have several posts on this issue myself.
Yes once disassembled you lose the water proofing. I had to send mine in for warranty and needed my sim out of it obviously. And those tards of coarse said of the tray is broke the warranty was voided so I did everything in my power to remove it. But I did 3 times over

TheMadScientist said:
With fricking care I put a drop of super glue on a toothpick and fished mine out is how I did mine 3 times. I've broke 4 trays. I got a feeling it's something to do with sd cards ever since I quit using a SD card I haven't broke not 1. It's a punk ***** and I don't know why Samsung wouldn't use the metal ttys like in the past. I have several posts on this issue myself.
Yes once disassembled you lose the water proofing. I had to send mine in for warranty and needed my sim out of it obviously. And those tards of coarse said of the tray is broke the warranty was voided so I did everything in my power to remove it. But I did 3 times over
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm very leery of using anything to do with glue, to be honest. Though that looks like I will have to do exactly that, unfortunately.

GuyInDogSuit said:
I'm very leery of using anything to do with glue, to be honest. Though that looks like I will have to do exactly that, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean I literally used like a quarter drop on the very top tip. The credit card idea seams even better a bit more surface area. The second time my tray got stuck totally and I bit the bullet and forced it out and it split in the middle between the SD and sim. Left the second half in it. The eject button doesn't work any more when I put my tool in now I have to angle it and pull. I haven't broke it now in like 6 months since I put my SD card in my Ps vita
I have never rough housed mine in the end I have probably removed my trays about 15 times since owning this device.
This is one of the biggest flaws with this device imo and I can't find a compatible aluminum tray anywhere

Could try pinching it out with two sewing needles?
Have done this with an iPhone for someone before. :crying:
Just make sure phone's off to avoid shorting anything...

CoreyOS said:
Could try pinching it out with two sewing needles?
Have done this with an iPhone for someone before. :crying:
Just make sure phone's off to avoid shorting anything...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm gonna get a pair of eyebrow pluckers, or whatever you call those really thin tweezers, and try to pluck it out that way. There is a small part of one side that is close to the top of the slot (as it broke off... diagonally, sort of), so hopefully I can grab ahold of that.

GuyInDogSuit said:
I'm gonna get a pair of eyebrow pluckers, or whatever you call those really thin tweezers, and try to pluck it out that way. There is a small part of one side that is close to the top of the slot (as it broke off... diagonally, sort of), so hopefully I can grab ahold of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fingers crossed!!!

No such luck. It's really hard to see in there and even with a bright light and magnifying glass, I can't seem to find it. Looks like I'll have to take it to a repair shop and lose the waterproof seal, since they'll have to take it apart.

GuyInDogSuit said:
No such luck. It's really hard to see in there and even with a bright light and magnifying glass, I can't seem to find it. Looks like I'll have to take it to a repair shop and lose the waterproof seal, since they'll have to take it apart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I got lucky. Food for thought after the fact. Get a LifeProof case. Their water proof at least give back some of the resistancy. That's what I got on mine... I swapped frames and screens on Mine

get a new glass back with the ip68 tape. cost around $10 and waterproofing stays intact. pull the old one off and just make sure you clean the bonding area well.
I've done this 2x with mine and have no issues with water intrusion.

triumvirant said:
get a new glass back with the ip68 tape. cost around $10 and waterproofing stays intact. pull the old one off and just make sure you clean the bonding area well.
I've done this 2x with mine and have no issues with water intrusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you point me in the direction of a tutorial? For future reference and for anyone else who may have to do this as well? I've already had mine repaired and all's well, but I think this info would come in handy for others (including me if it happens again). The fact that people are having to do stuff like this multiple times with their phones is rather frightening.

GuyInDogSuit said:
Can you point me in the direction of a tutorial? For future reference and for anyone else who may have to do this as well? I've already had mine repaired and all's well, but I think this info would come in handy for others (including me if it happens again). The fact that people are having to do stuff like this multiple times with their phones is rather frightening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure on the rules for posting links, but if you search youtube for "S8 back glass replacement" you can find plenty of videos. I personally used the ifixit teardown guide just to familiarize myself with any cables or things to watch out for.
For the back glass itself, just make sure you get one with the camera lens pre-installed and with ip68 tape. Price for the one i bought is currently $10.02 on ebay.

TheMadScientist said:
I guess I got lucky. Food for thought after the fact. Get a LifeProof case. Their water proof at least give back some of the resistancy. That's what I got on mine... I swapped frames and screens on Mine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I will second this. I do all my own repairs. But in this case I just don't care. I'm not interested in reselling. Or anything. This will be a backup in a few months. Time to move on. ???
It stays in the lifeproof so it's water resistant and I don't have to see it.

Solved!
1) Heat a needle, or a tiny flathead screwdriver, and stick it in.
2) Wait 1 minute.
3) Pull out needle or screwdriver to find sim attached and out!