I disassembled my iPhone 2G the other day and noted with the black antenna covered removed the iPhone's audio is far Far FAr FAR louder... by a significant portion. Also, because it's louder the ringtones are obviously FAR louder as well, and much easier to hear even in a loud environment if I have vibration disabled (I don't but, I'm just saying...).
Music playback is also quite loud now as well so I don't
always have to plug in the headphones so often. I don't use the iPhone with a dock or hooked up to a home audio system, no need for that stuff.
But, as for the holes, what I noted is that Apple put a
far too thick piece of felt across the bottom inside of the black antenna cover. It's so thick - like 5 pieces of notebook paper thick, seriously - that it effectively cuts a huge chunk of the audio power right outta the output.
I peeled that piece off, cut a tiny piece of regular single-ply bathroom tissue to about 1/4" high by 3/4" wide and placed that over the grill holes, then re-assembled the antenna cover till it was securely back in place. Upon firing up the music player, I was pleasantly surprised at the now quite audible iPhone compared to what it was before, and with dust protection in place that'll function just as well.
The speaker inside the iPhone is mounted inside a tiny "structure" about the size of a lithium CMOS battery but about 3x as high/thick. It's actually a ported speaker so it gives out far more bass than you might expect.
"Poking a hole in the speaker" is effectively impossible so doing this "mod" is basically harmless. Just be careful and go slow if you do it, and don't insert the paper clip or stickpin any more than 1/8" - that's one-eight of an inch, not deep at all, but enough to poke a hole in that thick piece of felt and let more sound out.
Great little mod/hack, and highly recommended. Now when the ringtone goes off on mine (the Crank ringtone from the movie of the same name), people all around me turn and stare because everybody within 50 feet of me do hear it.
And for those thinking it just means "poking holes in the back of the iPhone," it doesn't. This has nothing to do with
damage either on a cosmetic or formal scale, it's not visible at all when done correctly, and there really is no side effect that's negative as the speaker is sealed inside that enclosure and ported like a subwoofer in your home audio system.
Do you folks put dust covers on the holes in your subwoofers? Didn't think so...
