Lumia 520 Modded To Include Huge Wi-Fi Antenna, CPU Fan

Smartphones are often called "computers in our pocket", mostly because of how capable they are today compared to yesteryear's hulking boxes. But if so, should we be even surprised if someone took pains to mod one like a PC? Well, we definitely should be in this case. While most mods involve changing a smartphone's appearance or just software, a certain Mark, a.k.a. Core Down, went the extra mile to mod the hardware too. To the point that he adds a ridiculously big Wi-Fi antenna and a contrastingly small CPU fan on a Lumia 520.

Considering how cheap the Lumia 520 Windows Phone is, it's no surprise really that it would be made into such a plaything. Especially when you consider that the smartphone has actually been considered one of the most loved Windows Phone model, precisely because of its bang for buck proposition. Of course it's not perfect, which is why Mark went out of his way to fix that. Somewhat.

Most people complain about their smartphone's specs, like CPU, RAM, and internal storage and would love to have those replaced. Sadly, unlike PCs, you're stuck with those. And Mark didn't dare touch them either. What he did instead was to install a Wi-Fi antenna, like the ones you see on routers, and used that to replace the motherboard's built-in WLAN module.

And while at it, he also installed a tiny CPU fan for the Lumia 520's entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon S4. To combat heat-induced throttling of course. Not that it would have made a world of difference in terms of performance, but at least it's there when needed. Now if only a certain recent Android smartphone from Sony could be modded likewise. That definitely needed a ton of cooling.

It's definitely an insane mod and some might question the practicality of it. But hey, if you have the knowledge, time, and maybe a box of Lumia 520 phones ready to be sacrificed to science, then why not?

VIA: WMPowerUser