yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
I'm running a couple of these here in Aus. I modded one myself & had the other mod done by cornholio. I've built them out of second hand/damaged phones.

Only issue I have had was with a screen ribbon cable, and the battery tab tracks cracking, so I bought another Q for the part. I have 2 complete, & 2 without working screens. I now fix the batteries to the back chassis with clear cellotape to prevent the ribbon splitting from movement. They are stuck down from factory, but you need to un-stick them to do the mod.

Have dropped em quite a few times - have a leather pouch that I carry mine around in, but it usually waits until I've pulled it out of the pouch before throwing itself at the ground.

Never broken a screen yet, and both sim-mods have never given me any issues. Oh - I've also had to clean out & swap the contacts under the keyboard sticker when my 'a' button stopped responding, but I hammer the keyboard on these. Why else would you have one?

Recently upgraded to PAC-MAN Rom & all good.

If you just have to have a keyboard, I can't think of a better option at this time.

---------- Post added at 09:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 AM ----------

This is easy - depending on your skills. You will need an even smaller torx driver to disassemble the screen, then the ribbon cable can be replaced.

Mine was playing up as well, but having a spare Q allowed me to fault find.

You may pick up a complete screen for a decent price, or a whole Q.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] lightning3:
Thanks CornholioGSM :)

Thank CornholioGSM for great mod! :) (despite my unfair friends who not helped me and my two trips to Prague)

Phone works great on Polish PLAY network! (they are using local roaming outside of Main cities - works great! )

Everyone, (from Poland, Czech, Slovak and any other Nations close to prague) do not trust other copiers.

Pay CornholioGSM and be sure that phone will work! :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] audychu:
TF SLOT

hi, thanks so much for this mod. I've added a sim slot and at the same time I've removed the original TF slot and try to replace with a "cover back" TF slot.

However, I don't know how to connect other points except the 8 ones.

Would you pls help to advise how to connect?

Many thanks and best regards.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] alexamber91:
If help is needed

If anybody needs help feel free to contact via pm.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] dufflover:
Anyone wanting to quote me on routing one through to me in Aus?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] arrrghhh:
PM [MENTION=243251]CornholioGSM[/MENTION].
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] kecksk0enig:
Hi!

This is a little bit off topic but related to Photon Q Hardware.

Today at some point the display of my photon q stoped working. It was never dropped or otherway damaged. Strange thing a friend of mines notebook display stopped working on same day and same location (university).

It looks like only the backlight of the display stopped working (both on the phone and on the notbookdisplay) also the keypad is no longer illuminated.

The question for me is now: can it be repaired by replacing the LCD/Digitizer assembley or is there any kind of inverter on motherboard defekt?

How could I test that before purchasing an assembley from oversea?

Thank you all in advance!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Loader009:
I had the same issue this morning, the second time.

Issue happens since I flashed M11 snapshot. It has to be build related.

No hardware issue for me, after a force reset and a shutdown (boot directly into the bootloader and then turn off), the phone worked correctly again.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] kecksk0enig:
That would be great news!

I am currently on a nightly after M11 (I think it is the one from 10/12/14).

What do you mean by force reset and how do i achieve this?

I tried to use adb but it requiers an authentication which I cannnot see on the PQs display ;)

Would you be so kind to walk me through this. Thank you in advance!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Loader009:
It's simple:

Press and hold 2 buttons for about 10 seconds -> POWER + VOL_DOWN

The phone then reboots. When you noticed that the screen is having it's backlight on, simply press and hold BOTH VOL-buttons.

After that you get a bootmenu and you go down (with VOL_DOWN) to fastboot and enter it (with VOL_UP). (Note: VOL_DOWN is to choose and VOL_UP is like enter)

If you are in fastboot, you simply shut off your phone by pushing the POWER-button.

I always shut off and don't simply reboot.

It happened that my mobile part wasn't responding anymore (no SIM-card detected AND flight mode didn't change anything).

With a cold boot (power off before boot, not a reboot) this issue doesn't happen.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] kecksk0enig:
So your backlight works on bootmenu and is only off while booted in ROM? I did severel reboots and mine stays dark even on Motorla Bootlogo, so it is hard to navigate throug menu options when i dont see them.

I also did try to reflash the latests stock JellyBean update via RSDLite but unfortunately it dose not detect the phone (nither if it is booted nor on boot).

I can hear if the phone is booted and also can see the clock widget on my lockscreen. Also I am able to input my security code and scroll through my home screens., but it is very hard to "see" anything without display backlight.

So I cannot verify if the phone is in fastboot mode or not.

UPDATE:

I managed to hangle through fastboot blindly.

I than used RSDLite to flash Stock on the phone. After a reboot still no backlight on nither HWKeyboard nor Display, so I must assume a hardware issue.

So still the question is up: will a new Screen replacement kit solve the issue or is there any hardware like an inverter or something on the motherboard which may be broken?

I do not want to waste 50€ for this replacementkit if the motherboard is damaged, too.

Is there any way to test this?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] dufflover:
PM'd but I think too busy :). There's another eBay source from Belarus but quite a bit more expensive, too much to be worth it.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] monek:
Just give Cornholio a little bit time.

He'll answer and his work is worth the money...

Here you have a lot of peps who know his work and know that you'll get your phone back (like me) :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] dufflover:
haha no I didn't mean it in any impatient way like that.

If anything when people are that busy I'd usually rather not bother them :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...i need approx 48 hours per day :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] enigma9o7:
You and me both! Although if I could give up sleeping, I'd be good. Although I have a good excuse, twin 6 month old girls, what's yours? ;)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
oooh baby...and double baby...sh*t !

i am my work day by day util approx 3am :(
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Connaught:
the baby thing...

man, congrats on the twins. One was enough for me so far at one time. Cant emagine two though. Pressing thumbs for health!!

[MENTION=413202]CornHolio[/MENTION]: do you still offer your modding?

Curious, best regards

Con
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
yess, PM me :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Connaught:
Answer

Hey Cornholio,

can you answer my PM?

Cheers

Connaught
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] dufflover:
lol what did people just tell you :D
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Connaught:
Nothing, man. But what do you want to tell me?

Cheers

Con
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Fr4gg0r:
A friend of mine who works at the DFKI did the soldering for me. Unfortunately the Sim card holder I bought turned out to be too fragile (one pin broke off). He also soldered a capacitor between Gnd and vcc.

Can someone post a link to a suitable Sim card holder? Preferably for delivery to Germany.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
I used this one: Ebay 231058957567, but it's not available anymore. 271509574056 should be the same.

This slot will not work with the size of your wires, also it looks very fragile but it did not break for me.

I did the mod yesterday and want to emphasize the importance of the size of the nozzle when desoldering the EMV shield.

I tried to desolder it using a 4mm nozzle for 7 minutes and failed, while it took only one minute using a 9mm nozzle.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] pc-coholic:
My Flex-PCB with SIM-card-holder is finished - and actually stocked in Germany... ;)

If you are interested, send me a PM - it's about 30 to 35 Euros for the PCB and the slot... (yes, flexible pcbs are expensive...)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] xdaramcee:
NICE WORK

Big Thanks [MENTION=413202]CornHolio[/MENTION] for my perfectly modded Photon!!! :):good:

Looks great and works better! :cool:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] B-44:
to photonQaccount and pc-coholic:

some pics might be pretty useful
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] pc-coholic:
I already posted some time ago a prototype: http://i.imgur.com/EJ9q0aw.jpg

The finished product looks quite similar: http://i.imgur.com/4QEmHSY.jpg
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] B-44:
Thanx a lot.

I'm working through this whole thread, but as i've only reached Page70 i haven't met your former post.

Really looks great, good work!

(Will only post further questions after having read your posts ;) )

edit: comparing your pic to the one of CornholioGSM in #1264 i see you've shifted the simholder a bit more towards middle axis- for some special reason?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] pc-coholic:
Not really - and as far as I am concerned, I would also encourage to take advantage of the space you have and place it more the sides (you can't really see it in the picture, but the flex-pcb has still some space left for movement of the sim-slot to the side). The position I placed it in the picture is like to absolute extreme regarding the middle axis: A little bit more central and would not only need to cut away plastic from the housing but also a small piece of the antenna...

So basically: yes: more to the side, the pcb has enough space to do it.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Jovzin:
Hello guys.

I want to ask you if this phone is good for this SIM mod ? Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE from Sprint , I found it on the ebay.

I need to buy a new phone and I know I want to have qwerty keyboard. My xperia mini pro is nearly dead :( I have to charge it every day, it is reseting after each call, and last week I dropped it on the floor and now half of the screen has some black lines :( So I really need a new phone.

So this phone I posted above on ebay is good one to do the SIM mod on it ? Thanks
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] arrrghhh:
Yes that's fine - just be aware that modding the phone for a SIM slot is not something that is simple. Many people have broken resistors etc trying to do this mod on their own...

Good luck.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] B-44:
As this is the thread about SimMod for Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE, it can be well presumed the device you've found is the right one for this mod.

But arrrghhh is right- it isn't this easy as it seems. Obviously you didn't spend much time in reading, but if you take your time and read & look at the various pics posted in this thread, you'll soon realise dimensions to deal with are much smaller than it seems watching those pics.

So you can either buy a MPQ and do the mod by yourselves- there's severel really useful addition information to be found in this thread.

If you fail consider to send your MPQ to CornholioGSM (Ahoi!) to rescue it.

Or right from the start buy an already modded MPQ for ~170-210 Euro.

Another possibility: take a look at Droid 4 which is also a neat device, sim unlocked and simcardslot installed right from the start ;)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Jovzin:
Hello guys,

Well I am from CZ so I am going to contact Cornholio directly and ask him to do it. Hope he will help me.

Just I want to ask you what I need to buy to have the sim card in phone and not out of phone connected with some wires or something.

Thank you for your help :)

PS: well I hope that they will release Droid 5. I saw some pics but have bad feeling that it was only a rumour :(
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
I attached the ebay picture for your convenience.

I found it more difficult to attach the wires to the slot than desoldering the shield/chip and soldering the wires there.

I've put the slot between back cover and battery, but it seems to be too fat and its visible when the back cover is attached. Any hints on this?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...i use these alps slots but is needed little modification :)

BTW FOR ALL:

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT MOD, REPAIR ETC YOU CAN CONTACT ME ON MY PHOTON SUPPORT EMAIL (gtalk/hangouts too) - phqmod@gmail.com

For me is little hard fast response for all PM's on all android forums :(
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
What exactly are you modifying?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] fritzum:
Hi,

I have a few questions regarding my second (selfmade) mod:

1. My first modded Photon Q has some issues (SD slot itchy, camera button not functional) because I didn't shield the surrounding elements well enough.

What would you suggest for shielding? Kapton tape?

2. My first Photon Q has a hardwired Sim, but i would like to install a slot in the new one. Which slot would you suggest? I know this question has been asked pretty often, but I'm looking for the slot that has proven to be the best - and is available in small quantities... Someone mentioned this one: http://goo.gl/2nDj8i Legit?

3. I found a Photon Q with a hardwired 16GB SD card instead of the standard internal memory on eBay in Germany: http://goo.gl/gFxBvS

Did anyone already realize this mod or know how it's done?

4. If anyone is looking to stock up on Photon Qs at the moment, i found quite a good offer on eBay including reasonable shipping to Europe: http://goo.gl/RhszpK
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] tobby88:
Hmm this is somehow confusing. But in my understanding he just installed a normal 16GB microSD-card to the slot and set the SD-card to primary storage. Maybe with this mod: http://xdaforums.com/photon-q-4g-lte/development/mod-classic-sdcard-mount-t2804085

So no hardware mod nobody knows ^^
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] fritzum:
Seems logical. It would be great to hardwire a 32 or 64GB SD card, replace the SD reader with a SIM slot and be able to use the SD opening for changing the SIM without having to remove the cover... hmm.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
Kapton is good shield for camera switch, vibration motor etc....but not good for long heating.

For micro sd slot is not goot. I use small metal shield.

Mod with broken sd slot and soldered sd was not maded by me.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] fritzum:
[/COLOR]

No no, the broken SD slot was entirely my fault. :D Was the first time I used a hot air soldering station. .. :angel:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
I used aluminum foil for shielding.

Make sure it does not touch any heat sensitive components.

In my opinion it's more important to use a big enough nozzle to be able to heat up the shield and chip fast enough.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...this is my shield...approx 200 photons was maded with this shield :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] flintston314:
[MENTION=243251]CornholioGSM[/MENTION] your inbox is full. Any update on the Photons that are at your place currently - did you already receive the SIM slots? :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Loader009:
CornholioGSM should probably add it to the first post.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] SeanBrothers:
Got our (my wife's and mine) modified phones back from the fabulous Cornholio last night! Super-stoked to be moving on from our very tired Desire Zs.

Thanks again!

Now to get my CM on!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
Is anyone experiencing problems with sound like here?

forum.cyanogenmod.org/topic/102164-no-sound-on-alarm/page__gopid__493151
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] arrrghhh:
That has nothing to do with the SIM card mod. Others have reported similar issues in the CM11 thread, it seems to be related to either wired headset/phone usage or BT headset/phone usage.

I think nadablak was never able to reproduce the behavior himself however.

Edit - here is a post that details the behavior pretty thoroughly.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Schattenspieler:
I have a problem with my PQ: It dropped several times at work and since every now and then (several times a day) it says, that the SIM is not inserted. After a restart everything is ok for a while. I first thought it had something to do with a newer nightly of Carbon ROM, but still happens with older builds.

So I opened up the PQ to check, if something has loosened. Seems allright. But the wires from the SIM-slot are not isolated, so maybe it's just a short? Any ideas how to fix this? Because it's really annoying plus calls get dropped for no apparent (other) reason.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
Are you sure your wires are not isolated? Maybe they're coated in transparent laque?

There might be bad solder joints, so you could try resoldering everything.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Schattenspieler:
Right, that makes sense.

For now I put a strip of tape over the SIM holder and the inserted card, to prevent any outward movement if not ejected properly.

If that does not work, I may have to resolder - though my skills at that are limited, thus why I shipped it to cornholio in the first place. I'll keep you posted …
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...you are on s3 (i9300) slot? maybe is inside broken....classic problem on this slots :( better is use alps slots
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Schattenspieler:
I don't know, which slot you built in and I didn't check when I opened the PQ. But the mechanism itself is intakt: If you push the SIM in, it clicks and the SIM is pushed forward a bit, so you can remove it properly. That seems ok. But the SIM can nonetheless be removed manually (when still "locked") by streaking over the part of the SIM that is visible on the front of the SIM holder (if the back of the PQ is removed of course).

It seems that the SIM has a minimum of space to move back and forth, but enough to make the mobile believe it has been removed. A shame there is no way (that I would have come across) to have the mobile re-check SIM status without rebooting. Or is there?

btw.: I looks as if the strip of tape does the job of fixating the SIM. For now. If that really is the problem/solution, I'm ok with that. Or maybe a little piece foam placed in front of the SIM slot exit on the back frame of the PQ).

Edit: What exactly is the "alps slot" and where to get it?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Fr4gg0r:
Just put it all together again... and sim card is not being recognised (cannot switch into gsm mode). -_-

I attached my wiring diagram, is there anything wrong with it?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
What is the correct setting for network preferences?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...why is capacitor between VCC and GROUND ?!? ...it is not needed.

contact me on my email - phqmod@gmail.com ....i will help you :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Fr4gg0r:
Users suggested that a capacitor would be appropiate.

I attached a picture of what my pcb looks like.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] photonqaccount:
The first wire from the left looks like it's connected to two pins.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...bad connected...

remove capacitor and then check this:

X X X I I X I X___I I

X = not connected

I = connected

Here is picture how it must looks (By me is removed 8pin from left and sim detecting mechanism) :

Then check if all sim pins are good connected to mim card bacause you have placed sim slot on wrong side to mainboard
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Fr4gg0r:
I moved the last connection one pin to the right and now the sim is being recognised. :)

I actually intended to wire it up this way all along, but according to my multimeter my other configuration checked out too..

Reception seems to be very weak indoor (without back covers), is that black tape the antenna? I accidentally cut it. xD

Edit: Yeah seems better with the internal back cover on.

I will try to place something between cover and sim holder so it presses down on the pins.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...battery cover is needed...it isolating hands and antena's

...but...yes - all black tapes on middle frame are antena's :)

maybe if you can wait i can find you on holidays one used frame
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] kabaldan:
CornholioGSM, see here the original post about the SIM VCC filtering - it can help to solve the random disconnections of some troublesome SIMs: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=54047152&postcount=1271
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Armadill0:
No, md5 hashs contain 32 signs. These contain 40 signs, so it should be sha-1 hashs. ;)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] dpwhitty11:
Ah, thanks for the clarification. I didn't actually count them, so I just assumed.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...to Maxpowersxp:

Hi,

member IKV has unlocked bootloader + rooted + sim mod from me and updated phone....data works!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Maxpowersxp:
well i built an original sim card reset the phone and put in the full apn again for my work sim and bam it WORKED with ROGERS, put in my own sim and it worked with BELL. So im not sure how any why it worked as all the settings were the same as before the only thing i added was the word "internet" in the apn type. again this is all very odd that somehow it didnt work before and now it does.

thx all for the help:victory:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...so super :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] SithDagger:
Can't seem to find anywhere in this thread, but has this been confirmed as working with tmobile or at&t in the united states?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Maxpowersxp:
im not sure about tmobile as tmobile supports aws which is 1700mhz this phone does only 850 / 1900 / 2100. it might be roaming on att.

with at&t the phone will work 99% for sure as it works with rogers here (just tried it a few hours ago). Rogers and Att are use identical antenna equip and freq bands. 850/1900
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] SithDagger:
Yes, but oftentimes things are software locked, thus why I want a confirmation. The droid 3 was software locked so that it had no access to US carriers, however after flashing a chinese radio and modifying the build.prop it can work. And while this may just be sim locked and need the mod, I would like to be sure that it would work.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Arch@ngel:
Hello everybody, I'm come form Hong Kong. I found your thread on google and registered today. Can I...

1) Buy a Customed Photon Q form you in Hong Kong? How much?

- I Gave you $$, you buy a New Photon Q & Install Micro or Nano SIM Reader, Then send it to Hong Kong

2) enable USB OTG on Photon Q?

3) enable LTE 1800 & 2600 on Photon Q?

My English is not well, Thank you for your answer;)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
Hard to say ... but maybe yes - it must be tested
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Maxpowersxp:
i found a pic of an iphone 4 reader with a ruler next to it and i dont think its gonna fit. but i got an s3 in my hands and measuring it the sim reader would be perfect to mod it into the phone.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] flintston314:
Thats weird, in this case the micro sim reader for the iphone would be wider than a standard sim reader.....I highly doubt that.

Mini SIM: 25 mm × 15 mm (and almost any read I found is 16mm wide)

Micro SIM: 15 x 12 mm

Nano SIM: 12,30 x 8,8m

I do not think that a Micro SIM reader is 7mm wider than the SIM itself?!?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Maxpowersxp:
not sure as i dont have iphone in my hands nor a sim reader from an iphone4 but it would not surprise me that it is 7mm wider then the sim as it has to have the tray inside and there is the eject mech which may be a part of the reader.

the s3 has an eject mec as well which is a spring loaded but no tray.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] flintston314:
Thats a good point. Well, lets wait and see when it arrives, maybe it can be stripped of some parts. The S3 connector (as most Android SIM Connectors) is a combination of SIM and SD Card reader and I think these can not be seperated as they are on the same PCB, but it probably works as you could solder it directly to the PCB