How to Increase Reception on Sony Xperia X1

I was skeptical this would work, but so far it seems to have worked.  For anyone who is having problems with low bars or dropped calls with their Sony Xperia X1, X1a or X1i, this mod might work for you.  I have included step by step instructions for taking apart your phone to do this mod. 
 

What causes poor Cell Phone Reception?

Poor Cell phone reception can be caused by many things.  Not being close to a tower is one, but the most common reason is interference, or objects blocking the signal.  Metal and solid objects like concrete and steel beams found in buildings can cause interference.  There isn't much you can do about those but there is one other thing that is possibly killing your reception.  This is the materials that are used to construct you phone.  Its been proven that the first Generation Iphones had reception issues due to thee metal housings.  This one of the reasons the Iphone 3G was made out of plastic instead.
 

The weakness in the Sony Xperia X1 's construction

The Sony X1 is a work of art.  Aluminum battery cover, and solid construction, make it a very sought after hand set.  Even though the hardware and OS ( Windows Mobile 6.1 ) do have performance issues, the construction is the real evil.  The battery cover in my experiments negatively affects the signal.  Try taking off the battery cover for a few seconds and watch as you get an extra bar or two.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a plastic battery cover for the Xperia X1.  Such a find would be priceless to the Xperia community.  But when I took apart the phone I did find another issue with the antenna.  The antenna which is made of a think slice of copper that wraps a small module installed on the bottom of the phone, is covered by a rubberized plastic coating.  In fact the only part that is exposed is by the antenna connectors.  When you take apart your phone you will find the antenna on this block


Also I would like to note that in case you butcher your module doing this mod you can always buy a spare one from ebay ( see link on photo ).  The above picture is what your module will look like. If you look closely you can see the thin antenna under the rubberized skin.  If there is one thing I have learned its that rubber will insulate electronics from interference.  Even though the rubber covering the antenna is thin, it still makes a difference.  If you need help in how to take apart your phone use the Video below to assist you.  I found a guitar pick seems to work pretty well, although the video makes taking apart certain pieces look easier than it really is.


So what we want to do is use a razor to scrap off the rubberized skin.  When you get done you should have something like this


Even though the copper is pretty durable, be careful to only scrap off the rubberized coating.

Here is the technique I used for removing the coating.


Then once its done,  reinstall it back into your phone


Enjoy Better Signal Quality on your Sony Xperia X1


The only thing that would help this even more is if there was a plastic battery cover to replace the metal one.  But mod took me from getting low bars on edge, to getting near full bars with HSDPA.  I can't promise this will work for everyone, as your location and surrounding interference can still make a difference, but if it worked for me, it might work for you too.

Categories associated with How to Increase Reception on Sony Xperia X1

• Gadgets
• Cell Phones
• Sony Xperia X1i

Discussion