DIY: Solutions to iPhone4 Antenna Band

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
First post in these forums, very interested in the iPhone and have used one with only moderate signal attenuation when held but it seems like an important issue. I've been doing some research and wonder if someone with a phone would try this for all of us that are similarly interested.



There are many hydrophic and oleophobic coating materials available to the general public ... from nail-polish to RainX, Oakley sunglasses makes a similar product (http://www.oakley.com/pd/2104),

Brass-o polish (http://www.homesolutionsnews.us/brassopolish/),

Car wax,

Metal Lacquers (i.e. http://qasherwin.com/us/eng/products...metal_lacquer/).

Industries even offer such options: http://www.surfaceshield.com/schedule_an_appt.htm ... http://optochemicals.com/products/info_hydrophobic.htm ...



RainX is a polysiloxanes. It is totally inert and non-toxic. It works by simply filling in microscopic ridges in a material, to form a completely smooth, hydrophobic layer.



Anyone willing to try applying several layers of Rain-X, Brass-O, lacquer or something similar and tell us how it goes? I would, but I have no iPhone4. No guarantees that what you use will not tarnish the metal, but it probably won't just read the instructions and warnings first.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JamesSonne View Post


    First post in these forums, very interested in the iPhone and have used one with only moderate signal attenuation when held but it seems like an important issue. I've been doing some research and wonder if someone with a phone would try this for all of us that are similarly interested.



    There are many hydrophic and oleophobic coating materials available to the general public ... from nail-polish to RainX, Oakley sunglasses makes a similar product (http://www.oakley.com/pd/2104),

    Brass-o polish (http://www.homesolutionsnews.us/brassopolish/),

    Car wax,

    Metal Lacquers (i.e. http://qasherwin.com/us/eng/products...metal_lacquer/).

    Industries even offer such options: http://www.surfaceshield.com/schedule_an_appt.htm ... http://optochemicals.com/products/info_hydrophobic.htm ...



    RainX is a polysiloxanes. It is totally inert and non-toxic. It works by simply filling in microscopic ridges in a material, to form a completely smooth, hydrophobic layer.



    Anyone willing to try applying several layers of Rain-X, Brass-O, lacquer or something similar and tell us how it goes? I would, but I have no iPhone4. No guarantees that what you use will not tarnish the metal, but it probably won't just read the instructions and warnings first.





    Brasso would be an extraordinarily bad choice to use on the metal band. It's a polish and therefore abrasive. If anything, it would remove any existing coating and could very well make the problem worse (I've polished plenty of brass in my time...).



    The rest of the chemicals are of extremely questionable value. Any taint from those chemicals would be easy enough for Apple to spot if you did any real damage to your phone and would most likely void the warranty.



    If you're cheap and/or don't want to buy a bumper, get one of those rubber "LiveStrong" bracelets and wrap it around the phone's perimeter. You can even add cut-outs for the sepakers/headphone jack/dock etc...
  • Reply 2 of 2
    Most polishes contain polymers to prevent further tarnishing, although I do not know about Brass-o specifically. There are also alternatives to Brass-o that are not as abrasive, and their abrasiveness is dependent upon the amount of old-fashioned "elbow grease" applied.



    Why would anyone willingly add a bumper or gimmicky rubber band around such an aesthetically designed device?



    RainX, again, is totally inert.



    Any tarnishing that the other chemicals might produce, although very unlikely, can be removed with acetone or other solvent.



    Anyone tried any of these things?
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