bring back external aerials on mobile phones.

• bring back external aerials on mobile phones.
  Posted by Simon on 06 Aug, 2012 19:35
• on buying my htc smartphone I came to the sad realization that with all the wonderful things it can do it is lacking in it's main function as a mobile communication device. The signal reception is appalling. I'm away on a course for work right now in the country and it'sa bugger to get a signal. I say bring back good old fashioned aerials. What is the point of a tiny trace of copper your hand covers when you need it most ?
• #1 Reply
  Posted by SeanB on 06 Aug, 2012 19:49
• You mean there is a phone in there as well!!!!!!!!!!
  
  I used to use a Nokia 1610, with the nice 5W power output, and it would work perfectly when the newer phones would not even log on to the network, or even make an emergency call. Still have it, though the battery is dead ( would initially last 2 days, eventually 2 hours).
• #2 Reply
  Posted by HardBoot on 06 Aug, 2012 20:29
• Some phones can be modded, rip out the crap stock antenna and add an external connector, can make a decent difference if done well.
• #3 Reply
  Posted by billclay on 06 Aug, 2012 20:30
• At least make it an option for those of us that have poor cell reception!  At my house, most mobile calls need to be carried out outside.  If I had a better antenna on the phone, I'm sure I could make them inside.
• #4 Reply
  Posted by G7PSK on 06 Aug, 2012 20:40
• It used to be possible to get aerials that clipped onto your phone to improve the signal, no idea if they worked as I have never tried one often thought about it though as where I live there are lots of black holes with no reception sometimes on the coast when the weather is right you can get Dutch cells and not British ones.
• #5 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 06 Aug, 2012 20:57
• Quote from: G7PSK on 06 Aug, 2012 20:40

  It used to be possible to get aerials that clipped onto your phone to improve the signal, no idea if they worked as I have never tried one often thought about it though as where I live there are lots of black holes with no reception sometimes on the coast when the weather is right you can get Dutch cells and not British ones.
  

  
  Back in the days when coverage was officially patchy. I guess they stoped doing the socket to save money
• #6 Reply
  Posted by ftransform on 06 Aug, 2012 21:00
• I wonder how difficult it would be to modify a android smartphone to have an external antenna. I figure fairly hard/impossible because those boards are designed very dense.
• #7 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 07 Aug, 2012 05:36
• Yep, technology moves backwards due to human arrogance.
• #8 Reply
  Posted by Things on 07 Aug, 2012 05:48
• Have you checked in the back cover for an external antenna connector? I know my Galaxy S2 has one beside the uSD slot.
  
  Dan
• #9 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 07 Aug, 2012 06:07
• nope hasn't got one. not seen an external aerial socket in years
• #10 Reply
  Posted by jackbob on 07 Aug, 2012 06:09
• Older phones were much more powerful. Thats part of the reason the batteries were so big! Sure battery technology wasn't as good and the phones weren't as efficient, but they had to power some beefy transmitters. They had to be powerful to reach the cell tower which there were not as many of, so they had to go much further. Today there are cell towers everywhere you go, almost right next door to you! So signals don't need to go as far. But when you get to a more remote place where you are not surrounded by cell towers everywhere... well the weaker transmissions become a problem.
• #11 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 07 Aug, 2012 06:21
• so all the more reason to have better aerials. reducing power is great, but to then also make the aerial inneficient is stupid. you can't have your cake and eat it as they say.
• #12 Reply
  Posted by G7PSK on 07 Aug, 2012 07:41
• The areials that I was thinking of did not require a socket they were inductively coupled. They just clipped over the phone.
• #13 Reply
  Posted by T4P on 07 Aug, 2012 08:58
• i see many antenna hooks on my sensation, similar to the ones dave found on the ASUS google tablet
• #14 Reply
  Posted by Ed.Kloonk on 07 Aug, 2012 09:13
• Whilst I feel your pain, brother, I don't think it's the phone's fault. I blame my telo company who I am happy to name: Vodaphone Australia.
  
  They are the reason why I must go outside and stand on my roof, holding an arm skyward just to be able to dial out.
  
  
• #15 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 07 Aug, 2012 16:13
• The problem is that as they need to place more and more stations just to cope with capacity and the frequencies go up while they stop bothering to make base stations too tall any more means that when your in a hilly area or around lots of stonework there is no signal.
• #16 Reply
  Posted by olsenn on 07 Aug, 2012 16:53
• Industry has gone to shit with trends. The reason they don't equip cellphones with an external antenna is because they (phone makers) consider the phone's looks (sleek-ness) to be more important than reception; bright OLED QHD autostereoscopic 3D touch screen more important than battery life; built-in camera(s), 3-axis accelerometer, and GPS more important than lowering cost or improving build quality; etc.
  
  I think the popularization of Li-Ion batteries is what really changed things. back in the day, portable (aka battery powered) devices used to have ONE function and they were designed to be best at that one function. They lasted dozens, if not hundreds, of hours on two AA's; were built rugged at the expense of cost and size, because portable devices are likely to be dropped or taken out in the rain etc; and were kept as simple as possible. Today, designers SAY they take battery life seriously, but when their designers say the device will last two - three hours on a fresh charge, the business leads say: okay, good enough; they can just charge them when they get home anyways, who cares.
  
  I guess nobody has the balls to produce a phone that has just an old style monochrome display, because it's good enough and is easier on batteries. They fear that they won't compete with Apple and Samsung and Google etc and so they just follow the trend and produce yet another product that has nothing different about it from all the other products out there.
  
  
• #17 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 07 Aug, 2012 17:04
• I like my phone, and I'd accept the so called non nicety of it having a pull out antenna, that woukd increase battery life. Yes my phone can do so much, but if I do all that the battery lasts a few hours only, I'm seriously considering making a portable solar charger with a few 2W cells
• #18 Reply
  Posted by T4P on 07 Aug, 2012 18:09
• Quote from: olsenn on 07 Aug, 2012 16:53

  I guess nobody has the balls to produce a phone that has just an old style monochrome display, because it's good enough and is easier on batteries. They fear that they won't compete with Apple and Samsung and Google etc and so they just follow the trend and produce yet another product that has nothing different about it from all the other products out there.
  

  
  Well you know ... who doesn't want to make extra profit, to them they will only make a phone that people will buy as features, not the minority market as such
  (PS: Google isn't a MFR. The first google phone was by HTC and the next few google phones up to the google nexus 7 is by samsung)
  
• #19 Reply
  Posted by SeanB on 07 Aug, 2012 18:32
• Sagem makes ruggedised phones, ones you can drop, rain on and still use for a day of talking.
• #20 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 07 Aug, 2012 18:59
• yes "old fashioned" phones still exist and will always have their place. workmen will always want a decently ruged phone and if businesses like maybe security need people with usable mobile phones on them they won't be handing out HTC's trust me.
• #21 Reply
  Posted by tom66 on 08 Aug, 2012 06:55
• Nokia still makes cheap alternatives with basic call/text functionality - for example the Nokia 6010.
• #22 Reply
  Posted by amyk on 08 Aug, 2012 09:52
• If they had an external aerial most people would consider it "old fashioned" and it'd decrease sales, so the decision is pretty clear. Attempts at showing that it's not a good idea to hide one inside the phone are met with derision (see Apple's "you're holding it wrong" mess).  But I agree with those in this thread, if I buy a phone, smart or not, then I'm going to expect that functioning as one is its primary strength. And "old fashioned" or not, those little rods help greatly with that function, so I'd definitely want one.
  
  "It's a great multimedia device, all it needs is a good phone..."
• #23 Reply
  Posted by david77 on 08 Aug, 2012 11:59
• I've been on a course recently, somewhere out in the sticks. No real population centres for about 100km so mobile phone reception was very poor. Virtually everyone else had one of those new fangled phone thingies and they all cursed the bad reception. No internet access possible and making a phone call was only possible in certain locations at certain times.
  I had my Nokia 5110 with me and everybody laughed about it. But I had no problems at all making or receiving phone calls or text messages. Funny, isn't it?
  I didn't even bother to take my charger with me as a full charge lasts for at least a week in standby.
  
• #24 Reply
  Posted by Simon on 08 Aug, 2012 16:36
• Well I left the b&b this morning at 8:30 on a virtually full battery (taken off charge at 8:00), My phone spent the morning on my desk at the course on silent with mobile internet enabled and a tall base station tower on site just a few hundred metres away. by 12:30 my phone was down to 6% with no real use and a new so called 2400 mAh battery (that I doubt meets the capacity stated).
  
  That is pityful. I don't know what sort of power management is in use but HTC should provide better power management that controls the transceiver regardless of app settings, I have a few apps and the only way to stop them working is by going into advanced settings and shutting them down one by one as they run in the background!
  
  I'd happily have a fold out aerial recessed into the back, or a pull out aerial or even a plug in aerial and better still one on a wire with a base like some wifi adapters with external aerials.
  
  The alternative is that I still have to keep my phone on a wire but one connected to power all the time and that is more inconvenient than a tethered aerial, I'm going to try and make a powerful folding solar charger so that I have a last resort if in the middle of nowhere and have some sun.