Novo 7 and Poor Wi-fi signal

As the Novo 7 was released several of the tablets had poor wi-fi signal strength.   The first release of the micro antenna provided by Ainol in their Ice Cream 7″ tablets provided very poor reception.   With this said, Neil Spector, a CIT student and I set out to provide his tablet with a mod that would increase the wireless reception.

Neil Spector (foreground) and Steve Mallard (background) prepare to solder the modified antenna to the Novo 7″.

Signal before

The antenna is located to the left of the ribbon cables in the corner of the Novo.   The small silver solder point in the corner of the Novo (after the upgrade) – shown to scale with a dime.

Taking the Novo 7 apart requires extreme patience.   There are four square tiny covers on the sides of the tablets that need to be removed to expose the case screws.   The case also has small plastic retainer tabs.  It is important to take your time removing the tabs and working your way around the tablet.   Keep an eye out for the camera which may fall out of its socket.

                              

The modification we decided on would place an old Lucent technologies antenna on the back side of the touch screen.   This modification can be done with a 16 gauge wire approximately 12″ long.

Lucent Antenna                                Placement of the Antenna against the rear of
the touch screen (insulated and retained – see below)

          

Electrical tape was placed as an insulator on the back side of the screen.  Once you lay down electrical tape on the back side of the screen, lay the antenna down and secure it with more tape.

The wire should be routed down the side of the tablet and under the ribbon cables.  Measure this before soldering the antenna in place. The wire was tinned and held in place with a small screw driver while it was spot soldered.   The green arrow shows the wire ran under the ribbon cable.  The orange circle shows the small solder joint made by Neil during the upgrade.

Carefully reassemble the tablet making sure not to pinch the wire or break the screen.   Have help when holding the two sides together and reassembling.

After – The Novo 7’s signal increased 300% after the modification providing a 90% signal.

Here’s another model of the Novo tablet (in Chinese) …you can see where to solder the wires.   Apparently all of the wi-fi chips are near the bottom corner.

(Pictures by Ty Nash and Jon Patton)

See Novo 7 tablet Review