Jun 14, 2009

Improve Cell Phone Reception

I have a Samsung GSM mobile phone SG R220. It has been working fine for last 6 years. Last 3-4 days I was unable to get any signal on the phone. I checked that the SIM card is working by using it on another phone and also verified that there is proper reception in my area. So I rightly suspected that the problem was with the phone itself. I visited the Samsung service center only to be told that they will change the battery (which is also the back cover) which will "probably" improve the performance. I grew suspicious because there was nothing wrong with the battery, it has been working fine for last 6 years. The battery worked without any issues even after being inactive and without charge for over a year! So I decided to hack my cell phone.

I had the required screw-driver (special ones) to pry open the phone. But before starting I wanted to clean the contacts of the antenna. So I took the connecting pin of my multimeter connector (even a regular safety-pin will do fine) and started scratching the base of the antenna. In Calcutta nowadays it is very hot and humid, so I suspected that it could be damp related problem. Immediately the signal strength increased by 3-4 bars and went near its maximum from zero previously. So I went for more scratching. And surprisingly enough my cell-phone now has better reception than ever before. All it needed was some scratching behind the ears .. err in the hole where the antenna is lodged. While I am not sure if the same trick will work with every cell phone, especially the ones with hidden antennas, I think it is worth the effort to clean the antenna and its base as far as it is accessible for better reception.

Jun 10, 2009

Nokia 3315 Secret Codes / Unlock Codes

Nokia 3315 Secret Codes
Pressing *#0000# will take you to a special display which shows...
1. Software Version
2. Some Date (Most probably the date of software release)
3. ??
The x# Trick
By pressing x# (where x is any number upto 100) will show the telephone number stored in location x. For example, pressing 5# in idle mode will show the 5th number you stored when you entered the numbers in your phone-book
Nokia 3315 Secret Codes
Pressing *#92702689# will take you to a new menu with 6 options :
1. Serial Number Of Your Phone.
2. Month And Year Of Manufacture (In format MMYY).
3. Purchasing date. You can only set this once.
4. Enables phone for data transfer if you have all the necessary equipment.
5. Life Timer - ??
To exit the menu, switch off the phone and then back on.

Special Character Trick

While composing an SMS, you would often require to key in some special characters. The entire list of available characters is made available by pressing and holding the * key. Further, you can go down directly instead of going horizontally by pressing #.



Nokia 3315 Secret Codes
To See IMEI Number : Press *#06# in Idle mode.