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iPhone Luminescent Kit from kogadget -_-

K

kmvguy83

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 25, 2010
47
0
OK,
First of all, I'm not writing this to promote any sales of this kit.
So please don't bash me for advertising or anything, this is actually more of a "stay away" than "hurry up and grab it" kind of review.
I have not searched this forum to see if anybody made similar thread regarding this product or not, but anyways I'm just writing for whoever that's interested.
Also not a newb, I have past experience in completely disassembling iPhone 4.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1039511/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1256629/


Where do I start?

OK, I ordered the kit for second batch and I received it yesterday.
This is what i got
IMG_2581.jpg

Pretty nice packaging

First impression?
kit looks great!

Open up the box and here are the contents
IMG_2592.jpg

OMG, i immediately go into PANIC.

IMG_2582.jpg

WTF is that light panel??????????
Here i realize this is NOT an bolt on kit, sigh........

IMG_2593.jpg

this is all you get as far as instructions

you can watch video for how to install, this is NOT for everybody.
Seller does not warn you how difficult the installation procedure is.
Their original video on the website is removed, pretty sure because on that original video this kit looked like a 5 min bolt on kit.

If you watch the video you will notice you have to tap positive wire (amber color) to power source on the mainboard.
This is done with DOUBLE SIDED TAPE!! (OMFG you serious???)
Double sided tape also works as a insulation (super multi purpose tape!)
and wire is held on by keeping pressure on the EMI shield (you gotta be joking)
You already know where I'm going, this is NOT a well designed kit, also NOT install friendly.
It took me about an hour of adjustments to get the position the wire and apply correct pressure to the wire to make contact.
This will also be problem when there is a big impact, since "LUCK" and pressure is the only thing holding the wire, if there is impact on the phone, wire might loose contact any day.
Hopefully I will never drop this phone. yeah, right.....
This is very frustrating and NOT fun.
After some patients and "LUCK", panel is working fine with the shield close.

**side note: I also short out the back light twice, luckily, nothing burned or blew up. After removing the battery and putting it back on, back light came back on... phew!! :p **

So I'm all excited and started to mount panel and install the rear panel.
Here is first look
IMG_2583.jpg

NICE!!!

Only took 2 seconds to be disappointed once again.
IMG_2586.jpg

IMG_2584.jpg

IMG_2585.jpg

SURPRISE~ SURPRISE!!! panel does NOT fit flush!!
Not only that, it has serious light bleeding to camera lens and flash

At the moment I saw this I was extremely frustrated... -_-
Sigh, quality of knockoff kit. OEM quality -_-

additional flaw
Comparing 4S, camera lens opening do not line up... as expected
IMG_2588.jpg

modded
IMG_2589.jpg

original


I can't just stop here and give up right?
So, I started to try out different, I actually came across a fix.
IMG_2590.jpg

As you can see, I applied double sided tape on the rear panel, where the gap was. I also applied foam tape that comes with the kit around the camera and flash. This solves the bleeding and lifting issues.
Pic of the fix
IMG_2591.jpg

FIXED!!!!!



Final Verdict
Do not try if you are short tempered, and a newbie in modding.
This is NOT for everybody, and NOT a bolt on kit.

I'll probably will use it til i drop the phone hard and light kit looses contact with power source, if that happens, I'm pulling this **** out.

Peace!
 
Last edited:
boshii said:
If you watched any of the install videos or read any of the threads, you would know this is not a bolt-on.
Click to expand...

I only came across the vid when i received the product.
One at their sales page looked as if it was bolt on.

----------
scirica said:
Looks cool! Keep us posted on the impact to battery life, ok?
Click to expand...

Hehe, i dont use the phone yet, I can't live wo JB, still waitin
 
The video was on their site when they first put on for sale. Plus I'm just buying a bumper if mine has the light leaks.
 
TSX said:
The video was on their site when they first put on for sale. Plus I'm just buying a bumper if mine has the light leaks.
Click to expand...

when i bought it they only had like short 1 min vid... :/
also i posted up a fix up there for bleeding and fitment
 
boshii said:
If you watched the video you would know they told you to put the tape around the light panel to prevent light bleed.

I don't have my kit yet and I knew this.
Click to expand...

dont get so offended, i wasnt trying to offend you in any way.
by the way, if you watched the video , they put tape around to keep panel in place, not to stop bleeding.
i put it specifically around cam so it helps with bleeding
 
kmvguy83 said:
dont get so offended, i wasnt trying to offend you in any way.
by the way, if you watched the video , they put tape around to keep panel in place, not to stop bleeding.
i put it specifically around cam so it helps with bleeding
Click to expand...

I'm not offended at all. I just dislike when someone doesn't follow directions and complains their product doesn't work right.

BTW: -The surrounding tapes will help to position the light panel and to prevent light bleed.

http://kogadget.com/402/iphone-light-mod-installation-step-by-step-part-2/
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I got mine the other day and I tried to install. I was under the assumption as well that it was something I had to plug in and not tape wires to places. I got the phone opened and the wires in place, but could not for the life of me get it to work. So I got frustrated, removed everything and put the phone back to stock. I'm not a noob with this kind of stuff but it was pretty difficult putting tape accurately on parts that small
 
It looks like your camera hole (in the panel) isn't centered with the camera? Is it just the angle?
 
TSX said:
It looks like your camera hole (in the panel) isn't centered with the camera? Is it just the angle?
Click to expand...

That's how the kit fits, doesnt line up.
1st pic is modded and 2nd one is the original 4s

----------
Cortezbanks said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I got mine the other day and I tried to install. I was under the assumption as well that it was something I had to plug in and not tape wires to places. I got the phone opened and the wires in place, but could not for the life of me get it to work. So I got frustrated, removed everything and put the phone back to stock. I'm not a noob with this kind of stuff but it was pretty difficult putting tape accurately on parts that small
Click to expand...

my thoughts exactly.... i got it working somehow at the end...
it really takes patients and luck
 
It's "patience".. :p Sorry for correcting your spelling there, it just bugged me..

Thank you for your post! It actually helped me, since there is only a link to the video in the box, none to the step-by-step instructions you linked to.. Those were much better, as they applied to the iPhone 4 I was modding, not the 4S.. The internals do vary too much for just one video to fit both..

My set actually fits flush, no bleeding and nothing! But it was a pain to get everything working the way it's supposed to.. And now that I'm done.. I don't like the plastic panel.. And the white of the Apple logo when it's not lit up.. I don't know.. Maybe I just have to get used to it.. But it just looks fake and not all that nice.. I'll leave it in for now.. In a couple of weeks I'll revisit that decision and see if I don't want to put it back to factory default.. :p

It was fun fiddling around with everything though.. ;)
 
Great advice on how to stop the light bleeding. I spent an hour trying to figure it out myself before I found your post so thanks for that. While I still have a slight gap, it's way better than before and I can at least "live with it" .... for now.

Other than the light bleeding, I'm also not liking how the Apple logo doesn't light up uniformly. I tried placing the light panel in all manner of positions but ultimately settled for the one that looked the least worst. :)

Not sure if this is just a side effect, but I found the light DOESN'T shut off when I'm charging the phone. I don't see other comments about it so maybe I did something wrong, though everything seems to work normally (i.e. it lights up when emails/messages/phone call comes in or when I use the phone).

I agree that the instructions weren't that great and that it's a little annoying it's not a plug-in kit. However, I think the benefit of a shoddy install is how easy it is to remove should you feel the urge. Imagine if they had asked you to solder the red wire instead of just kludging contact with some padded tape?!?! :eek:
 
shinydonut said:
Not sure if this is just a side effect, but I found the light DOESN'T shut off when I'm charging the phone. I don't see other comments about it so maybe I did something wrong, though everything seems to work normally (i.e. it lights up when emails/messages/phone call comes in or when I use the phone).
Click to expand...

Just read this from the kit sold by lightmyiphone.com which is likely identical to kogadget's:

Improved light kit
- Enhanced light kit is able to light up independent of the front screen!
- Lights up whenever front screen turns on, but stays on for 15 seconds after front screen is turned off!
- Lights up while you are holding the phone up to your face and are having a phone conversation, even when front screen is turned off.
- Lights up when there is an incoming call, an SMS is received or the phone alarm is ringing
- Lights up if any background applications are detected to be sending or receiving data during the iPhone's standby mode
- No noticeable impact on battery life
- Stays on indefinitely while charging
- Evenly distributed, Pure White logo illumination (just like on a MacBook!)
- No affect on camera functions
Click to expand...
 
bought a white kit from them but not sure if i want to install it now lol might just throw it on ebay
 
This kit almost makes me wish I still had my iPhone 4, as it was Black and out of warranty, don't wanna attempt this on my 4S, and its white and the white logo bleeds from what I've seen
 
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