Nokia N97 GPS Fix

I recently acquired a N97 from one of my work colleagues.  It is exactly the right type of phone for my usage profile, but the N97 is notorious for dodgy GPS connection times.  The one I purchased had this problem.

The reason for the issues is the "sticker antennae" Nokia use for the aerials. The way the contact pad slots into the gold pin for each antenna seems to be the main problem.
 
One hacky way of getting around this is to use a thin thread of copper wire and push it into the gap between the gold aerial connector and the antenna sticker.  This effectively increases the metal surface area of the antenna and gives better GPS locking times.  If you search for this technique in Google, you will find many different ways of trying this method.

Success using this method is variable, and you have the disadvantage of having a long piece of wire you have to worry about when taking off the back cover to do battery resets.

The other method is to send your phone off to Nokia Care and pay an absolute fortune to get the backplate replaced.  Expect at least $150 or more.  In Brisbane, Nokia Care wanted to charge $35 just to *quote* for the repair.  No.

If you can undo screws, follow instructions, and have a certain level of confidence in your ability not to brick hardware, you can do what I did: get the backplate from a chinese spare parts reseller and fix the phone yourself.

You would think that you should simply be able to purchase the sticker antennae for about $5, peel off the old one, and stick on the new one.  Unfortunately no one resells the antennae stickers separately.  You have to replace the whole backplate assembly. 

To order the backplate, you can try Cellular Nationwide Network who have a lot of spare parts for the N97, and many other phone models.  For a couple of dollars, you can even order the tools you will need to undo the torx screws.  My order included 5 torx screwdrivers, a case opening tool, and the white backplate.   Including shipping it came to about AUD $80.

Shipping was extremely cheap at $5, and the items came enclosed in a box with excellent protective packaging.

I then followed this excellent YouTube tutorial which shows in detail how to safely remove the backplate and internal phone guts to remove the mainboard.  Just remember: slowly and gently remove the connectors inside the phone and you will be fine.

Before I changed the backplate, I had to wait about 2 minutes to get a GPS lock.  Assisted GPS mode made this time about 30 seconds.

With the new backplate fitted, I started up Ovi Maps and was frankly amazed to discover that I got a Satellite GPS lock in less than 15 seconds (with Assisted GPS).  I turned off Assisted GPS mode and restarted Ovi Maps.  The time it took to establish a Satellite connection was four seconds!  While I know that GPS will establish a connection very quickly if you are in the same place, that process would have taken at least 2 minutes before replacing the backplate.  Astounding!

So for those N97 owners who are frustrated with their GPS, I would definitely recommend replacing the backplate yourself.  Yes, there are warranty issues if you replace the backplate yourself.  But if your phone is out of warranty, I would just go for it.

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