[Other SmartWatches] poktor:
A couple of months ago i bought the No.1 Sun S2, only to discover that bluetooth on that watch just about sucks. Every 30 seconds or so it disconnects, then reconnects, then disconnects, and so on. Like many people, i disabled bluetooth and udes the watch like a normal one. Perfect. But i coudn't just let this go. I recently read the teardown-article of the No.1 Sun S2, and noticed that the bluetooth-antenna is a foil-type, glued to the back cover. This offered some possibilities.

[IMG="backplate with bluetooth antenna"]http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w364/bazingaphotospublic/20150929%20No1%20Sun%20S2%20watch%20teardwon/pic4_basecover_zpsfdtyarjx.jpg[/IMG]

I already knew that extending a bluetooth-antenna can offer a really dramatic reception improvement, so i switched off my watch, opened it up and soldered a thin, flexible, 31 mm long wire to the end of the foil antenna. To be able to do that, i carefully pulled the foil from the backplate with a pair of tweezers. Carefully, because the foil easily tears. I the scratched the black paint from the tip at the end of the foil and soldered the wire to it. Then i put the foil with the antenna back into the backplate and used a small piece of tape to hold the wire in place at the outer rim of the backplate:

[IMG="backplate with modded bluetooth antenna"]http://www.bluelake.nl/files/suns2backplate.jpg[/IMG]

Then i closed up the watch again and switched it on. I paired the watch with my smartphone and tested the connection: i had my watch around my wrist like normal and put my phone on a table. Then i started walking. after 10 or so metres, i still had a perfect connection! Before i made the antenna extension mod, the watch already disconnected when i had the watch around my wrist and my phone in my pocket.

I didn't want to hold this great result for myself and therefore here it is.

Oh yes, one other thing. If your phone has bad bluetooth connection, then open up the back and glue 2 pieces of 5 cm long and 1 cm wide strips of alu foil in the plastic backplate you just removed: 1 vertically at the left, one vertically at the right. One of these may also be L-shaped, as long as you keep a minimal gap between the 2 strips of 1 cm. This will improve bluetooth reception dramatically, as i found out when i bought a bluetooth audio receiver and had frequent disconnects with my galaxy S3. I wondered why newer phones didn't have this problem, until i looked closer at the inside of the backplates of these phones: they all have conductive foil glued at the inside, the exact same thing as i now advise in this article! This works with capacitive extension of the built-in bluetooth antenna in your phone, giving you a better bluetooth connection. Together with the watch modification, you should be fine and no longer have these disconnects. I will start prolonged field testing the watch mod starting tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

cheers and have fun!

Richard

EDIT: A small update, as promised.

The extended antenna works exactly as i said! This should also work on other watches and devices, because bluetooth is generic and not limited to this type of watch. Without walls, i get a range of 8 - 10 metres. With a wall between the watch and myself, the range drops to 3 - 5 metres, but this is no surprise. All in all a very decent performance. I'm happy with this result and hope other people are too.