Sprint Palm Pixi gets WiFi via radio board swap 49
Yesterday we celebrated hackers who have taken webOS software to new levels, so this morning it's only appropriate that we call out some incredible hardware hacking. PreCentral forum member gitit20 grabbed the radio board off a Verizon Palm Pixi Plus and transplanted it into a standard Sprint Palm Pixi. The result: A Sprint Pixi with a feature that we believe it should have had all along: WiFi.
Gitit20 reports that the two versions of the Pixi are virtually identical (excepting that WiFi chip) on the inside, all the way down to the Sprint Pixi not needing an extra GPS antenna to get its transplanted board a location fix. No serial numbers or coding needed, apparently - just swap the boards and apply the Sprint webOS doctor. Unfortunately, Sprint Nav disappears and is replaced with Verizon Nav, which doesn't.
And we all were thinking it would be Palm that would bring new hardware to Sprint. Video after the break!
Source: PreCentral Forums, more information in this forum thread; thanks to everybody who sent this in!
49 Comments
great work, Gitit. That's impressive.
Thanks :)
That's completely insane...
Wow. Pretty sweet.
Lol! I was just wondering about this yesterday... Glad to see it works!!! Thanks!
I really want to try this with a verizon pre+ and a sprint pre. Not to gain wifi, of course, but to get the extra ram. Maybe someday...
Why not just buy the memory chip for a couple bucks rather than getting a rather more expensive donor phone? The series of memory chips used in the pre go up to at least 32GB (the same 8GB chip is used in the Kindle 2 BTW). The guy over at kindicted posted a somewhat theoretical walkthrough of what would be needed tools/steps to accomplish a memory transplant. As far as I know he didn't actually do it though.
http://www.kindicted.com/2010/02/increasing-kindle2-memory.html
Ummm, I'm talking RAM, not storage. On the OMAP package, the RAM is soldered directly to the top of the ARM chip. The level of soldering sophistication for replacing that chip is lightyears beyond what I have in my garage. It would be a very expensive mistake if I fry my Sprint activated phone in the process of modding it.
My hope, at some point, is to pick up a damaged Verizon Pre plus and swap out the radio boards. Hopefully I will get a 512MB Pre that will run on Sprint. Yes, I know there are some other technical hoops to jump through after the mod, but I could switch everything back if needed.
Your probably lucky the Verizon Navigator doesn't work - that is why you can get a GPS fix!
Great job Gitit20!!!
That's a great video and it certainly fixes the biggest gripe I have about my wife's pixie, but where does one find a spare radio laying around?
Exactly. I got my wife the Pixi to replace her Centro. I have an Airave since we live in a weak signal area. But my wife complains about the web being so slow. Upsets me so much that Sprint decided the Pixi did not need WiFi.
what ever happened with the open handset alliance. I thought we'd be activating across networks (i.e. Vz and sprint) by now
Wow the pixi screen is so short
I have been planning this for a few weeks to try with a pre and pre plus to gain memory/ram!
I have already ordered an extra pre for parts, and am still trying to get a pre plus.
This just gives me confidence in my experiment.
Pass any words of wisdom along
Not to burst your bubble or anything, but how do you think you're going to pull that off? You will probably need a microscope and a soldering iron with a very tiny tip. Then you could remove the ROM and RAM chips from a Pre Plus and solder them onto a Pre. Extremely risky, but possible I guess.
Actually you take the Sprint radio board and put it into the Plus. Then you Dr the + with the Sprint Dr. The ESN is attached to the radio board, effectively making the Plus look like a Sprint Pre to Sprint's network. This has already been done, check the forums.
No sorry the ESN is tied to the main board and NOT the radio board see my video and forum no need to change numbers or anything :) How ever after the swap the pre or pixi will have a Verizon rom you can leave it as is and not have sprint nav or doctor it and have sprint nav but risk loosing the wifi only difference with the Verizon rom and sprint rom is the navigator and mobil hotspot apps
Then maybe I am missing something in the thread you have been posting in....
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/255864-what-esn-tied-radio-main-bo...
Keeps choping off my links, search for "What is the ESN tied to? Radio? Main Board? Can a Sprint Pre be turned into a Plus?" in the forums.
Where a bad ESN plus was activated on Sprint by just switching com boards (and some settings in the software). Not claiming to be an expert, but I didn't see anywhere where he had to change anything with Sprint or had to do anything with the bad ESN (like I said maybe I missed something or am not fully understanding the process he went through).
Also, if the ESN has no relation to the com board, why does changing the com board allow for activation of the plus without contacting Sprint?
This guy was talking about doubling his RAM and flash, not switching networks...
I'm not talking about switching networks. What I was saying is you don't have to solder anything, you take the phone that already has the better specs (the Plus), put the Sprint com board in it so it will work on Sprint and you now have the extra RAM without switching networks, see the link I posted above for an example of this being done.
You cant do it with a soldering iron at all, the Samsung memory chip line in question is a Ball Grid Array (BGA) type with a grid of contacts under the chip, you have to use hot air reflow equipment to accomplish something like this.
Why not just get the appropriate chips rather than a donor phone?
The 2GB version of the same memory chip family is used in the Kindle 2. You might want to read this for some thoughts: http://www.kindicted.com/2010/02/increasing-kindle2-memory.html
That article is old enough that some of his external links are dead including the article on BGA reflow soldering.
Good luck
Is it possible to flash the OS onto another device? iPhone, HTC, or whatever? I've seen it on a PC, just wondering how hard it is to get it onto another device.
cant we just get a verizon pre plus phone and use it on sprint network there both CDMA.. unless sprint wont use verizon eid....
This has been discussed in the forums. Gitit actually got a plus on Sprint, but in general ESNs are attached to the networks. So you can't reliably get a Sprint ESN activated on VZW or a VZW ESN activated on Sprint (unless you get someone good in level 2 support such as how Gitit got his plus activated).
Yes you can i have done it you just have to get the ESN added to the sprint network not to hard to do but you have to talk to level 2 tech to do it
sweet _so does any one know if the camera from the evo can fit on the pre?
That is quite simply awesome. I might have missed something, but can you buy the VZW Pixi Plus system boards separately, or do you have both a Sprint Pixi & a VZW Pixi Plus?
I got mine from a local cell repair shop from a damaged pixi plus they will give them out cheap at least for now till they all learn of this hack
Well your not going to be able to get them from Palm or the wireless providers your best bet is a cell repair shop that's were i got mine. Or maybe online as a note stay away from liquid damaged units odds are everything is cooked in them.
damn this is cool. wish we could take the ram out of the Pre Plus and move it to a Sprint Pre... but maybe this is uncessary since Unixpsycho is doing all of us a favor by increasing our CPU speed!
now where did I leave that pixi plus lying around...
"just swap the boards and apply the Sprint webOS doctor"
I guess you meant apply the Verizon webOS doctor.
For now i have left mine with the Verizon ROM i am not sure if the Sprint ROM will have the WiFi controls like the Verizon ROM does I posted a thread over in WebOS Internals to see about a Patch or IPK to add this if it is not n the Sprint Rom i am waiting on a response from them before doctoring my phone with the sprint OS
Wow...Now that is impressive. an old-fashioned parts-swap work-bench type o' solution. anyone in south FL who can do the reverse: swap wifi OUT of my Verizon Pre Plus...we need to talk......!!! I need webOS on Verizon without wifi! Yes yes I know everyone says that was Sprint's Pixi's critical flaw. Don't want to leave webOS...nor Verizon.
If you want that you would have to use a Sprint pixi radio board but why would you want to remove wifi?
Because verizon usage filters (they work quite well, methinks) + no wifi (subverts any server- or service-based filters) = a reasonably good shot at controlling content without having to let go of webOS (switching to Sprint mid-contract...too much $$$) :)
gitit20......... could the wifi chip be (carefully) removed from a Pre Plus without breaking things? how to do it? or would it just...wreak havoc Many THANKS
Thanks every one for all the good comments makes me feel like i have done something and contributed to this forum :)
hey I'd love to hear them talk about your pre plus on the Sprint network on the next podcast. If I can get my hands on a reasonably priced Verizon Pre Plus, I want to get it on Sprint too.
I have a Verizon Pre Plus for parts. My daughter had it 3 days and dropped it. She had a plastic case on it but it popped the slider mechanism offline. It's literally in 2 pieces and it worked perfectly up to that point. The internals may still be good. I can tell you that the back still charges on the touchstone. Other than that I can't guarantee anything else but it's no good to me. If someone wants it for something like this email me.
and that's some nice work gitit!!
how about a video or more detail on how to get a pre plus on Sprint?
There is no detail you just call sprint till you get some one to activate it... level 2 tech is the KEY
Whenever I get a replacement Pre from repair, I just go onto sprint.com and swap the ESN myself...could you not do that?
Have you tried using your modded Pixi as a hotspot? Can you easily get the VZW hotspot app or should you use something else?
Fantastic. We have a couple of Sprint Pixis in the house. I am going to try to lay hands on a broken Verizon Pixi Plus and see how this handles a Sprint ROM.
Would it be easier to just put the wifi chip into the pixi if thats even possible?
so all i got to do is swap the radio board and that it nothing else, the phone will work normally???? please help, i'm about to do this tomorrow
can u switch it with a Pre's? i have 2 pre's with cracked screens.