[Q] Which radio? (FAQ) - Desire Android Development

I do understand that every (base) ROM comes with its very own radio firmware.
And none, AFAIK, is modding it as it's tightly tied to the GSM/CDMA/3G stuff.
But which one is good for a v2.2.1 based ROM working in Europe?
Or, even better, why not adding some lean documentation to each RADIO?

There isn't really a best 'one size fits all' you have to try them all and see which one is best for you.
I've been flipping from .44 to .48 over the past few weeks, other people say .47 is the best, it really depends on your phone, ROM, service provider and their coverage etc.
It only takes a couple of minutes to flash a different radio so go flashing...!

beanbean50 said:
There isn't really a best 'one size fits all' you have to try them all and see which one is best for you.
I've been flipping from .44 to .48 over the past few weeks, other people say .47 is the best, it really depends on your phone, ROM, service provider and their coverage etc.
It only takes a couple of minutes to flash a different radio so go flashing...!
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Click to collapse
I don't think you are right.
I know that some radios come from other markets/areas and have never been pushed in Europe. And vice versa.
Moreover, testing that way takes much more time than the couple of minutes needed to flash them. You need to test handover among BTSs, roaming, Sim Toolkit stuff, incoming and outgoing SMSs and MMSs and so on. And in the meanwhile maybe you also need your phone.
For example, at the moment my radio (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) is giving me troubles with my ROM (Froyo 2.2.1 - DeFrost 6.0a) in 3G, while works just fine in 2G.
Is there anyone with some good feedback for Europe/Italy with the various radios?

Uqbar said:
I don't think you are right.
I know that some radios come from other markets/areas and have never been pushed in Europe. And vice versa.
Moreover, testing that way takes much more time than the couple of minutes needed to flash them. You need to test handover among BTSs, roaming, Sim Toolkit stuff, incoming and outgoing SMSs and MMSs and so on. And in the meanwhile maybe you also need your phone.
For example, at the moment my radio (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) is giving me troubles with my ROM (Froyo 2.2.1 - DeFrost 6.0a) in 3G, while works just fine in 2G.
Is there anyone with some good feedback for Europe/Italy with the various radios?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look, what beanbean50 said about radios is true - there really isn't a 'one-size-fits-all' radio. Some people, depending on their location (and network provider, signal strength and which wireless radios they use frequently), experience better battery life with different radios.
For example, I flashed the new 5.11.05.27 radio the yesterday, and my battery life dropped like a stone, but signal strength was amongst the best I have seen with different radios. To some people, signal strength is more important than battery life. To me, battery life is more important - so this new radio wouldn't do.
The radio you are using (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) is the radio of choice for some, but if you are experiencing issues with it, i would recommend you try the 5.11.05.14, which is also recommended by many (including me) for its all round performance.
You were correct in suggesting that it takes longer than a couple of minutes to test a radio, but not everybody uses features such as SIM-Tooklit (me, for example). If SIM-Toolkit didn't work properly in a new radio, but everything else worked fine, it wouldn't matter to me - its all about preference.
The only way to find out the best radio for you is to try some different ones. What's the worst that could happen (assuming you follow the correct flashing procedures and minimize your chances of bricking)?
Josh.

Related

Can i please have some assistance with a radio please?

Hi everyone. Excellent place here. VERY helpful, and the information flows like wine!
I bought a at&t tilt, i have sim unlocked it, and installed about 4 different roms. I have ended up going back to 1.56.405.5 (radio 1.27.12.11) standar HTC rom version. I like it the best.
However, i am having a hard time figuring out info about the radio. The battery life doesnt seem to be the greatest. And my wifi signal strength is shockingly bad, or so it seems anyway.
Am i able to use a better radio with this rom? Can someone recommend something that will will work without any problems, but will be an actual improvement radio?
I've read the wiki, and have tried searching, but like a lot of other people, it almost overload of info. I would really appreciate it, im going out of town, and having this thing run at bettter performance would really make me happy.
I appreciate any recommendations!
ive been using the niki radio in my signature (downloadable in the wiki) in eastern us and have had no problems. letting everyone know where you are would help in recommending a radio
There are a whole bunch of radios, and there is no clear cut winner. As long as your radio is compatible with your rom, then you gotta test out of all the radios compatible with your rom, which one works the best.
aphexacid said:
Hi everyone. Excellent place here. VERY helpful, and the information flows like wine!
I bought a at&t tilt, i have sim unlocked it, and installed about 4 different roms. I have ended up going back to 1.56.405.5 (radio 1.27.12.11) standar HTC rom version. I like it the best.
However, i am having a hard time figuring out info about the radio. The battery life doesnt seem to be the greatest. And my wifi signal strength is shockingly bad, or so it seems anyway.
Am i able to use a better radio with this rom? Can someone recommend something that will will work without any problems, but will be an actual improvement radio?
I've read the wiki, and have tried searching, but like a lot of other people, it almost overload of info. I would really appreciate it, im going out of town, and having this thing run at bettter performance would really make me happy.
I appreciate any recommendations!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea! lol.......im in Chicago IL USA
Am i able to load the radio since im using 6.0?
aphexacid said:
...Am i able to use a better radio with this rom? Can someone recommend something that will will work without any problems, but will be an actual improvement radio?
to be honest dude radio performances vary by region; something that works great for me here in mclean, va USA probably might not work great for you. It really is just a lot of experimenting with different radios until you find one that gives you good reception and battery life. I believe that the stock htc rom is wm 6 so any wm6 radio will be compatible with the rom; just need to try, try, and try again to see what works best for you.
If you live around metro dc try the radio in my sig... but wait thats a windows mobile 6.1 radio so don't
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My cellular reception is actually really nice! my main issue, is this: i live in a condo, and last night, i went out on my balcony. i was about 15 feet diagonally away from my linksys wrt54GL router, and i wasnt getting ANY wifi. the only thing seperating my phone and router was the wall.
gps signal seems great, with Garmin. Google maps however, i cant get to find a satellite to save my life!
So what everyone is saying is that noone really knows. Im in Miami using T-Mobile and i just installed HardSPL and it worked like a charm. Now i want to install a new rom and theres a bit too much info for me to untagle at this point. So far i gather that some rom's come with different and changable radio versions built in while others work with only 1 version. Now im curious.... how does one install and change these radio settings?
can i just download one and install it?
is there any thread or some sort of complied radio proformances by region? how do these radio versions differ by regional location? i have so many questions....
cyberage29 said:
So what everyone is saying is that noone really knows. Im in Miami using T-Mobile and i just installed HardSPL and it worked like a charm. Now i want to install a new rom and theres a bit too much info for me to untagle at this point. So far i gather that some rom's come with different and changable radio versions built in while others work with only 1 version. Now im curious.... how does one install and change these radio settings?
can i just download one and install it?
is there any thread or some sort of complied radio proformances by region? how do these radio versions differ by regional location? i have so many questions....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
seems like everyone has got a radio question today but here is my answer to help u:
u need to flash a radio like u flash a rom. when u download a radio it has the customruu.exe w/ it. key is to remember one thing: wm6 roms work w/ wm6 radios and wm6.1 roms work w/ wm6.1 radio only. most roms will work with different radios unless the chef specifically has it matched to one radio only.
for more info plz read kaiser wiki.
p.s. while flashing radio ur phone has to be sync w/ pc
>> I have ended up going back to 1.56.405.5 (radio 1.27.12.11) standar HTC rom version. I like it the best
radios 1.27.xx.xx are the only that will be compatible with WM6.0 ROM. Newer 1.5x.xx.xx and 1.6x.xx.xx radios will cause the following issue:
You are going to lose multimedia sound completely: no ringtones, etc, etc.
In call sound will be likely still functional, but I don't belive that this is something you are looking forward to anyway.
I cannot recommend you the best radio for you ROM, but some would say that : 1.27.12.32 is the one.
I hope it helps.
I'm using dutty's rom WM6.1 WWE Rom. I havent changed the Radio yet. I've been using the ROM for about 2 months now and everything was working fine. But recently my phone won't ring. I can still make and receive calls though. Could the problem be because I haven't changed the Radio?

Using Fido - Which radio would be best?

I've thought about switching to a new radio to see if I could improve performance, but I have no idea which one I should go with. I tried Radio KB3 as I read some people saying it was best... it gave me the exact same performance as the default one, so I just went back to that, though.
Should I just try a bunch of different ones, or is there generally one that works best for people on Rogers/Fido?
No radio flash will transform your phone into something vastly superior than what you are currently using.
Me? I'm on KB3 on AT&T in the Western US and it works great. Much better than the stock radio.
Not sure what that means, but it's uncapped on upload and makes me happy. No other radio will launch my phone into 5g speeds or anything. Minute tweaks and I'm pleased with KB3.
yeah, try not to mess up too much with the radio, else you can really kill the phone.
if you purchased the correct phone for the correct network, you don't need to change radio, unless the phone is 2nd hand, and it had major problem to begin with
don't fix what it's not broken
if you are on the 4g try the ke1 that's what i'm running and it's nice.

Outdated Radios / Auto-updating?

When I've previously ROM'd my phones in the past, one issue I always came across was the radios getting out dated. I found myself scheduling a "once a month check" calendar alert to remind me to go out and find the latest radios to update.
Ugh, tedious... I hear the stock ROMs from carriers auto-update the radios? If not, is that what the PTL updates do?
Now that I am back to Android after a limited WP7 hiatus, I'm about to ROM again. But this time, I want to have these radios auto-updating with a custom ROM.
Is that possible? Or is that part of the big-brother stuff from the carrier's software that does that?
Using custom roms or stock roms will indeed update your radio.
However, if you've got a ****ty network operator, he might not update as often as needed. I was stuck with radio problems with some customs roms too...
Be careful, newest is far from always better with radio versions ! They mix a lot of parameters, sometimes you get a better signa, at the expense of a lot of battery life.
VikoAlucard said:
Using custom roms or stock roms will indeed update your radio.
However, if you've got a ****ty network operator, he might not update as often as needed. I was stuck with radio problems with some customs roms too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Could you explain what a "network operator" is? Is that someone managing the ROM's radios remotely? Like, the person to donate to?
Who is updating the radios "for me"? I didn't think that was automatic with ROMs?
VikoAlucard said:
Be careful, newest is far from always better with radio versions ! They mix a lot of parameters, sometimes you get a better signa, at the expense of a lot of battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been there, done that! lol I use have 3 or 4 radio packages on my phones, ready to install depending on where I flew to. "Damn, got a bad signal here. Let me try a different radio. Ah yes, there we go."

[Q] What's the best radio for an AOKP ROM?

Is there any good radio out there? Cause I always get data drop on my ucle2...
There is no "best radio" for any ROM or person. Because every ROM and persons experience is differnet. It all depends on your service area and signal abilities. The real radio fix for anyone it to flash every advailable radio for a day and see which one works best over all. Thats what I did. I noticed some radios worked good in some spots and not others. Where one wouldnt work well, another would. For someone that has excellent signal at all times, almost any radio will work, but for others like me, where signal sux, you have to use trial and error to determine best radio. No one on the forum can tell you what the best radio is for you to use. They can only tell you what works best for them. But granted, usually the latest radio works best. Hope I put it into word that help you understand.

[Q] Non-Open Source RIL/CSC for CM11?

MY QUESTIONS:
1) Is it possible to use the old Samsung RIL blob (not Replicant) with CM11? How would one go about doing that? The radios no longer include the RIL/CSC. Is there a version that does, that works with CM11?
2) Are there any ROM's that use the old/original RIL (not Replicant) while still keeping up with the latest Android versions ala CM? (Ie. KitKat)
Backstory:
Before I go barking up the wrong tree, hopefully someone with a little more knowledge can help me understand if what I would like is possible.
After upgrading to CM10.1, and ever since, I have had very poor reception (voice and data). Since moving to a new location, which should have had better reception, it has gotten bad enough that I started investigating things more deeply. The issue is that I will show 4 bars(-75-81db) then inevitably within a few minutes it would shoot down to -115, and then no service. Eventually it would come back. It was always really evident when trying to dial out too, either going into to no service from 4 bars while trying to dial, or within the first 30 seconds of a call.
It seems that with CM10.1 a new open source RIL was adopted (Replicant?). After hours of research, and trying new modems (UCMC1 & UXUMA7), old modems (and at one point thought I had lost my efs lol) that didn't work at all with 10.1+, I have found, as a few others have, that downgrading to CM10.0 dramatically improves reception (in service, instead of NO SERVICE) for those with marginal reception to begin with.
This is at home, usually with WiFi connected, so it is really about just having a working phone at home. I understand that it is possible that the WiFi might interfere with the cell service in some cases on this particular phone, but the dramatic difference (cell reception working vs not working) between CM10.0 and CM10.1+ with the same radio (UCMC1) for me leads me to believe that it CAN work with WiFi, at least.
slaingod said:
MY QUESTIONS:
1) Is it possible to use the old Samsung RIL blob (not Replicant) with CM11? How would one go about doing that? The radios no longer include the RIL/CSC. Is there a version that does, that works with CM11?
2) Are there any ROM's that use the old/original RIL (not Replicant) while still keeping up with the latest Android versions ala CM? (Ie. KitKat)
Backstory:
Before I go barking up the wrong tree, hopefully someone with a little more knowledge can help me understand if what I would like is possible.
After upgrading to CM10.1, and ever since, I have had very poor reception (voice and data). Since moving to a new location, which should have had better reception, it has gotten bad enough that I started investigating things more deeply. The issue is that I will show 4 bars(-75-81db) then inevitably within a few minutes it would shoot down to -115, and then no service. Eventually it would come back. It was always really evident when trying to dial out too, either going into to no service from 4 bars while trying to dial, or within the first 30 seconds of a call.
It seems that with CM10.1 a new open source RIL was adopted (Replicant?). After hours of research, and trying new modems (UCMC1 & UXUMA7), old modems (and at one point thought I had lost my efs lol) that didn't work at all with 10.1+, I have found, as a few others have, that downgrading to CM10.0 dramatically improves reception (in service, instead of NO SERVICE) for those with marginal reception to begin with.
This is at home, usually with WiFi connected, so it is really about just having a working phone at home. I understand that it is possible that the WiFi might interfere with the cell service in some cases on this particular phone, but the dramatic difference (cell reception working vs not working) between CM10.0 and CM10.1+ with the same radio (UCMC1) for me leads me to believe that it CAN work with WiFi, at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
honestly my first thought would be to ask about what carrier you have? does the issue happen on stock ROM? also I've never heard of a RIL helping aid with improving reception lol maybe you know something I don't.
The only time I've had your issue is when I'm in an LTE area with low LTE reception. My signal would jump from low LTE signal to 4 bars of H+ constantly trying to keep the weak LTE signal for some reason lol.
If that helps hit the like button!! :laugh:
Current ROM, kernel, radio, and recovery, what are you using.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
TheCybertronian said:
Current ROM, kernel, radio, and recovery, what are you using.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Not sure what other info you would need. Currently CM10.0 works best (not perfect but usable), so I am using that. I've tried a number of different radios(UCMC1 is currently installed, but tried many others) and settings under network preferences (currently wcdma preferred is my setting). I used twrp 2.6ish up until I tried CM11, and had to revert to CWM to get that to install properly. So the latest CWM. CM kernel obviously(?).

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