Related
I just tried to make the switch from at&t to t-mobile. I had my sensation for about a week, and just returned it this morning.
Reasons I loved the sensation.
Decent battery life *(not as great as everyone made me expect.
Awesome Camera, especially outside- I really could see myself using this phone as a replacement for a cheap point and shoot.
The hardware was pretty much all around fantastic. Great feel in hand. A ton thinner than the evo 3d, especially around the edges. This phone has such a nice shape that it almost gets lost in my pocket. I actually found myself grabbing my pocket to make sure it hadn't fallen out.
The wifi-calling was a great value add.
The screen was fantastic. My next phone will have to have a qhd or better display (no sgsII for me). Say what you want about contrast ratios, but I rarely use my phone outside. Having the extra pixels however was absolutely awesome for browsing the web. The extra pixels also made living without a hardware keyboard a little bit easier to bare *(when in portrait mode).
The unlock page that came with sense 3.0. Other than that sense just seemed to get in my way.
FM radio. I'm the guy who wants to watch and listen to the tv-s at the gym.
Why I just couldn't risk spending 2 years with it.
I had no reception at my house or work on t-mo. This is really the biggest reason why I had to return my phone.
Because of the above the cell radio was draining the battery attempting to connect to the networks. I really don't want to spend two years having to remember to turn off the cell radio every time I get home.
T-mobile support was an exercise in frustration to deal with.
Will I still even get 3g/4g service in 2 years? This is debatable. AT&T will have to repurpose some of T-mo's spectrum from somewhere.
The built-in picasa upload is broken *(I use this all the time).
No way to jump to the galery app when in camera mode. This seems like a really obvious omission.
The speakephone volume over wifi calling really shouldn't be considered a speakerphone at all. I couldn't test speakerphone over t-mo because I never had reception when I wanted to make a call.
There was no setting to auto disable the cell radio when connected over wi-fi and wi-fi calling was enabled. I admit this is a nit-pick, but it really would have been nice.
I counted at least 3 backup apps all of which were trying to send my contacts to different parts of the world. Why do I need to backup any of my contacts? For me everything is in google, that's why I want an android phone. The killer part about this is that these apps will suck your battery dry.
Currently no way to remove all the crap-ware that t-mo stuffs it's phones with. There is a lot of it. I bet that is why there is so much discussion about the a performance problem between the sensation and the evo 3d screen rotate speed.
No NFC. Not really a deal-breaker, but it is disappointing.
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
npoc said:
Why I just could risk spending 2 years with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you accidentally a conjunction in there
xnifex said:
I think you accidentally a conjunction in there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lulz irony abounds, he missed a conjunction and you omitted a word from your sentence, pointing out his omitted conjunction @[email protected]
npoc said:
I just tried to make the switch from at&t to t-mobile. I had my sensation for about a week, and just returned it this morning.
Reasons I loved the sensation.
Decent battery life *(not as great as everyone made me expect.
Awesome Camera, especially outside- I really could see myself using this phone as a replacement for a cheap point and shoot.
The hardware was pretty much all around fantastic. Great feel in hand. A ton thinner than the evo 3d, especially around the edges. This phone has such a nice shape that it almost gets lost in my pocket. I actually found myself grabbing my pocket to make sure it hadn't fallen out.
The wifi-calling was a great value add.
The screen was fantastic. My next phone will have to have a qhd or better display (no sgsII for me). Say what you want about contrast ratios, but I rarely use my phone outside. Having the extra pixels however was absolutely awesome for browsing the web. The extra pixels also made living without a hardware keyboard a little bit easier to bare *(when in portrait mode).
The unlock page that came with sense 3.0. Other than that sense just seemed to get in my way.
FM radio. I'm the guy who wants to watch and listen to the tv-s at the gym.
Why I just could risk spending 2 years with it.
I had no reception at my house or work on t-mo. This is really the biggest reason why I had to return my phone.
Because of the above the cell radio was draining the battery attempting to connect to the networks. I really don't want to spend two years having to remember to turn off the cell radio every time I get home.
T-mobile support was an exercise in frustration to deal with.
Will I still even get 3g/4g service in 2 years? This is debatable. AT&T will have to repurpose some of T-mo's spectrum from somewhere.
The built-in picasa upload is broken *(I use this all the time).
No way to jump to the galery app when in camera mode. This seems like a really obvious omission.
The speakephone volume over wifi calling really shouldn't be considered a speakerphone at all. I couldn't test speakerphone over t-mo because I never had reception when I wanted to make a call.
There was no setting to auto disable the cell radio when connected over wi-fi and wi-fi calling was enabled. I admit this is a nit-pick, but it really would have been nice.
I counted at least 3 backup apps all of which were trying to send my contacts to different parts of the world. Why do I need to backup any of my contacts? For me everything is in google, that's why I want an android phone. The killer part about this is that these apps will suck your battery dry.
Currently no way to remove all the crap-ware that t-mo stuffs it's phones with. There is a lot of it. I bet that is why there is so much discussion about the a performance problem between the sensation and the evo 3d screen rotate speed.
No NFC. Not really a deal-breaker, but it is disappointing.
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Also to the OP: A bunch of these problems are fixable with root, also there is a way to go to the gallery from the stock camera app... and even if there wasn't why wouldn't you just DL a camera app from market that would allow you to do what you wanted?
- Turn off the other contacts backup services... I did
- Why wouldn't you have 4g in 2 years? 4G will actually be much faster in two years and will be approaching "actual" 4G speeds.
- You couldnt do a one click disable of the cell radio while on wifi and wifi calling was enabled because that happens automatically.
- Speakerphone was too low on wifi calling? Wow, that's probably fixable as well.
- And if you have a smart phone YOU will need to learn how to manage its battery life. The Sensation actually does have preeettty good battery life for a smartphone.
Cheers, good luck on ATT we'll all probably be there next year anyway.
Thats def not a good experience; as you say it sounds mostly coverage related which is the case for most carriers. Tmo has always been good to me where ive lived (4g here where i work and around my home).
Every phone/network won't work for everyone. Although the NFC is something that initially gave me pause, but I really don't see that being something i won't be able to live without in just 2 years; it's barely rolled out; not to mention text transactions and CC soda machines are also on the rise.
I am personally a little annoyed with how sense handles (or doesn't) the picasa gallery (Why can't i make a slide show with my picasa stuff).
Enjoy your G1 even with cyanogen; not sure I could go back THAT far even if I had crappy service
I am missing my MIUI though, still running my N1 with MIUI latest and it's been getting amazingly robust the past few updates (5 way unlock specifically).
I believe the Cell Radios turn off when you activate WiFi calling. And I have a way to get to the gallery from my camera app...
A G1 though?! I'd rather take all the cons you listed than go all the way back to that poor thing, on EDGE no less. G1 was awesome back in the day, but now you're just torturing the poor thing.
npoc said:
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you buy an unlocked manufacturer phone from overseas your stuck with carrier bloatware and hardware/software changes. That or one of the Nexus series. And your only choice for NFC right now is Nexus. So I think we've found your next phone.
B3astofthe3ast said:
I believe the Cell Radios turn off when you activate WiFi calling. And I have a way to get to the gallery from my camera app...
A G1 though?! I'd rather take all the cons you listed than go all the way back to that poor thing, on EDGE no less. G1 was awesome back in the day, but now you're just torturing the poor thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure i had to manually disable the cell radios if I wanted them off when on wi-fi. It did however route my calls over wi-fi automatically. It did not automatically turn off my cell radio when wi-fi calling was enabled. When I was at work or at home, the power graph was pretty ugly with the cell radios on.
BonesRed said:
Lulz irony abounds, he missed a conjunction and you omitted a word from your sentence, pointing out his omitted conjunction @[email protected]
- Also to the OP: A bunch of these problems are fixable with root, also there is a way to go to the gallery from the stock camera app... and even if there wasn't why wouldn't you just DL a camera app from market that would allow you to do what you wanted?
- Turn off the other contacts backup services... I did
- Why wouldn't you have 4g in 2 years? 4G will actually be much faster in two years and will be approaching "actual" 4G speeds.
- You couldnt do a one click disable of the cell radio while on wifi and wifi calling was enabled because that happens automatically.
- Speakerphone was too low on wifi calling? Wow, that's probably fixable as well.
- And if you have a smart phone YOU will need to learn how to manage its battery life. The Sensation actually does have preeettty good battery life for a smartphone.
Cheers, good luck on ATT we'll all probably be there next year anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said the big reason I had to return it was poor reception.
Being a t-mo customer you are not guaranteed anything over the next 2 years. AT&T is trying to acquire t-mo to repurpose some of t-mo's spectrum. What part of their owned spectrum is anyone's guess
I agree that all the firmware issues are fixable, but they are still annoyances that I shouldn't have to deal with. I don't know how long it will take for HTC to unlock the sensation's bootloader or for someone to get root on the phone, but I had 14 days to make a decision on whether I wanted to be stuck with a 2 year contract. The speakerphone is a firmware deal-breaker for me atm, as I do have to use my phone for conference calls.
As for me my current plan is to find a recent boot-loader unlocked AT&T *cough* 4g compatible phone on craigslist, and then sign a contract on ATT or VZ when the right phone comes up.
in settings, there is an option to what you want it to do...cell preferred, wi-fi preferred, or wifi only
woldy2 said:
in settings, there is an option to what you want it to do...cell preferred, wi-fi preferred, or wifi only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You completely missed the point. Wi-fi was preferred, but it leaves the cell radio on which drains battery. Better luck next time.
npoc said:
I'm pretty sure i had to manually disable the cell radios if I wanted them off when on wi-fi. It did however route my calls over wi-fi automatically. It did not automatically turn off my cell radio when wi-fi calling was enabled. When I was at work or at home, the power graph was pretty ugly with the cell radios on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get pretty good service even though I live in a basement (I was barely getting any bars on Sprint and Verizon before that). However, I still use WiFi calling to maximize my battery life (and it's working), and I use a Tasker profile to automate turning on wifi, turning off cell radio when it detect the cell towers by my house and my wifi ssid.
relic419 said:
I get pretty good service even though I live in a basement (I was barely getting any bars on Sprint and Verizon before that). However, I still use WiFi calling to maximize my battery life (and it's working), and I use a Tasker profile to automate turning on wifi, turning off cell radio when it detect the cell towers by my house and my wifi ssid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good suggestion, I will have to use that if I ever go back to T-Mo. Still, T-Mo should have made that a setting in their app.
I am about to return mine after 4 days of use. I love the phone and will be exchanging it for a new one.
Mine has started randomly making calls while sitting on my desk charging, The unlock ring started bouncing around the screen when I unlocked it and I had to turn off phone to get it to stop, it can charge all night long and still only show 75%, and I am dropping calls. Not what I want from a $600 device. I hope my second one is up to par. I have never had to exchange a phone with Tmobile before for these reasons.
A few notes.
If you used WiFi calling you wouldn't have to (nor CAN you) turn off the radio. It doesn't drain the battery in WiFi calling mode, you know nothing about how it works.
I upload to Picasa no problem.
Speakerphone volume is always low, the speakerphone sucks.
AT&T support and/or customer service is horrible. If you are speaking with a regular T-Mobile rep (one that does NOT introduce themselves as Android or PDA support) for phone issues you are speaking to the WRONG representative.
I couldn't ever see my self going back to a G1, may as well get out the bag phone again
I'm coming from Sprint and switched to T-Mobile primarily because of WiFi-Calling, and secondly because of the HTC Sensation. Not a single carrier has signal inside my apartment unit. Sprint gave me an Airave which works well for about a year, but recently started giving me problem where I cannot hear the caller, but the caller can hear me most of the time. With T-Mobile's WiFi-Calling, it works all the time. The sound quality may not be the greatest, but acceptable enough that I can have a conversation using it over an hour. On a full charge, 0 bar signal, using WiFi-Calling for almost half an hour, I did not see a drop on my battery charge, not even 1%, last time I checked.
I'm sad to leave Sprint, but T-Mo's WiFi-Calling is unbeatable, specially when travelling overseas.
Was just wondering if any could give me some feedback on their experiences with this phone vs other carriers or VM phone models. In the little over a week I've owned it, it's horrible compared to my current AT&T phone service.
I wanted to know if it was a quality issue on the phone, or VM's network.
I've notice in Los Angeles area I almost always have 1-2 bars, often have x1 instead of 3G. I also can be stopped at a major intersection in my car and the bar goes from full 3G to no bars and 1x, then spikes back up to full, then says no service. Even when I have a full bar and 3G I get like 150kpbs using speedtest.net sometimes.
Youtube video even in low quality stutters often, in HQ it's pointless.
I've also noticed the GPS lock times are sporadic but yet a utility shows the phone has a lock on 7+ satellites, but reports only about 100ft accuracy.
Sometimes when the screen comes on it flickers for a split second.
I was also told that the phone's radio only uses the 1900Mhz bands, does anyone know if we could get 800Mhz support once we get ROM development for it?
Has anyone noticed similar issues?
Best Buy just got 8 more in stock I'm going to swap it, but wanted to have some reference before the 30 days are up. No stores have a activated VM phone that I can compare service to.
I really want to update my phone and if I can save my money from AT&T. But need something at least somewhat reliable and consistent.
Thanks,
-Lich
Hey man, I'm in southern Indiana, so I can't really say much about your service area, but mine is great. usually 3/4 bars, with 3g speeds faster than my wifi. If your device is wonky like that, where it keeps jumping from no bars to full bars, then maybe its something with the phone itself. as far as 1x data, that's the network. I'm using an optimus v, rooted running cyanogenmod7, and I have excellent battery life and performance, so if you are going to switch to a different VM phone, I recommend that.
I have had absolutely no problems with this phone that aren't software related. There are quite a few Lemons out there and it seems only people on these forums are getting lemons!
I have software version 039 (Not sure that matters)
My signal strength sitting right here in my house is -64dBm with no tower in sight, full bars. I traveled from Upstate NY to Tucson, AZ on multiple flights with multiple layovers last week with this phone and I had absolutely no problems including getting in flight WiFi.
My Triumph is everything I could've hoped for after selling my iPhone 3GS to get the Triumph.
The screen is large and beautiful with absolutely amazing colors. The screen is responsive (after taking the thick 2nd screen protector off) and nearly as good as the iPhone's screen responsiveness. Phone feels good in my hand with a nice coating on the outside. The camera is absolutely amazing. I have taken beginner SLR quality photos with it, and when focusing you can even get quite a bit of bokeh added. The 720p camera is great, though it's jumpy in low light and I really don't like that it doesn't have video focusing. Battery life will take me through an entire day of normal use.
Any problems I have had, are software related and should be able to be easily fixed. GPS Locks beautifully to 3ft accuracy in under 30 seconds with the GPS Test app, but this cannot be said for Google Maps or Navigation. I think Google has a driver problem in their software which should be easily fixed with a new update to the Maps application. The Triumph does become unresponsive for a few seconds at times, but it's no big deal to me, again that should just be a software problem.
One other major problem I have that I KNOW is software related is that the headphone volume is WAY too low. If you make a phone call while listening to music, the volume will jump up to a normal level. Without making a phone call I have to turn my cars radio up to about 8/10 just to be at a normal level, if I make a phone call I can leave it on about 3/10.
For $300 and $25/month, you cannot beat this phone in any way.
On mt phone I can see little horizontal lines.does any one else see them?
My experience:
WiFi takes a while to turn on when I wake the phone. Streaming video is a bit choppy, and downloading the videos only reduces the choppiness by a little bit. I dont have the flickering issue, and to the best of my knowledge, gps works well. Keeps up with games like my bro's Droid X. Snappier than my friends Samsung Galaxy S. Sometimes the soft buttons require a second press to initiate. Overall I'm happy with it, but will be better when CM is installed.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT using Tapatalk
My experience is that gps works just fine the phone is fast, the signal in seattle area is only good downtown anywhere els and it sucks. I searched for towers in my area and sprint has very few towers I get 1 maybe 2 bars max signal at home mostly 0 bars but can still make calls.
wifi works great and when I have a good signal 3g works great but the lack of signal in most places is what sucks my battery down.
Sprint just needs to improve its coverage
bugs i've come across :
widgets resize after holding your phone in landscape mode
wifi can't connect to a router and will keep re-trying, causing the phone to reboot
random reboots
back button will stop working, while other buttons work
light leakage between soft buttons and case
i went from 038 to 039 software and haven't noticed anything yet. i always had a good gps lock on 038 but had horrible reception, 039 doesn't seem to improve that
Faster then my daughters galaxy s , 038,sometimes the back button takes a few times to act like a back button, but over all I'm very happy with it.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT
I came from the Intercept, and so far the Triumph is heads and shoulders above that even though it has a few minor bugs. Most of the stuff works great, my gps is fine, my signal is actually better than my Intercept, and I don't have any screen flickering.
I do have a small amount of light leakage (not a big deal to me) and sometimes my widgets resize, but all in all it's been great for me.
I came from using the Droid X and let me tell you that this phone reminds me of it so much. The only thing that i dobt like is that the battery is a little lacking compared to the X. An im just waiting for a custom rom to come out for this. I was running liberty 2.0.1 on the x and i would love to see something similar.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT using XDA App
Other than the atrocious performance of the battery.......Horrible gps performance which much like my wife works whenever it feels like it. The 3g speeds are an absolute joke also. So far i'm not all that impressed with this phone. I hope that it can be solved via software and that these are not hardware issues. It's my second one....the first one had power issues.
No problems either with _38, had it since 7/14.
Signal is about 5dB weaker v. an OV in the same location, however I have seen several people report making/receiving calls fine w/no bars as well as SMS. The areas that I usually frequent, I have 1-2 "bars"(no a good sig str indicator), 3G no problem.
...and I second the app problem causing thing to f'up. I read an article the other month that the VAST majority of Android phone problems usually end up being some app interfereing with functionality. e.g. I had sudden batt drain problems, so I checked batt useage and found Star Chart(FAOD that day) was using 80% of batt, so I killed it problem solved(in that case).
[EDIT]
3G speeds: VMUSA problem, mine are as craptacular on the MT as they were on the OV, i.e. usually about 56k dialup rates.
[/EDIT]
Well here's an update.
I just got back from BB and exchanged the 1st Triumph with another. It's funny the manufacture date on this one is newer but it has the 38 firmware and my old one had 39 go figure that out. Anyway so far the performance seem just as bad, but the screen doesn't flicker on power on.
Maybe I just have the worst luck and need to try a 3rd one. I really love this phone and want to use it and VM it's so cheap. I'm going to try this one for a few days and cross my fingers my house just has extra crappy reception.
I also bought a Optimus V just to compare the signal network speed as a reference, I haven't swapped to that one. I turned it on non activated and it shows 1 bar signal also. I'll be curious if it goes up once it's offically on the network. I really would like the bigger screen and flash support though from the Triumph.
Maybe I like in the wrong state and should move where you guys live..lol
Thanks for the feedback.
-Lich
Common issues for me now are connectivity, battery drain, and light leaking from the bottom right corner. I'm going to swap mine out before the 30 days are up
mr2011 said:
Common issues for me now are connectivity, battery drain, and light leaking from the bottom right corner. I'm going to swap mine out before the 30 days are up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i think everyone pretty much has all those problems. if you exchange it you will probably get the same problems or worse. hopefully a new batch will have been released by then
I own both the Triumph and the Optimus V. Reception seems a touch better with this one in known trouble spots around town here. Where the Optimus might lose connection, the Triumph retains it, if barely.
I am having issues with a greenish yellow blob in the middle of the camera. It is reducible within some combination of the setting, but in some instances it is still there. Is this a common issue, or are there MTs which do not exhibit this? The reason I ask, is that I am weighing wether to swap my MT out for another.
I also have intermittent lock screen 'flicker', but from what I have read, it seems to be fairly common. I dont see it often within normal use, but if I repeatedly hit the power button, it becomes visible.
Connectivity does however seem to be stable when I have been using it (both wifi and cdma). Even in cases where there are low bars, I seem to have a decent connection for text/voice.
Has anyone else's battery life gotten more and more horrible by the day? It seems like mine is getting worse as each day passes. The first day I got my Triumph I had some heavy use on it getting all my apps installed and configured and it lasted almost a day and a half for some time on a single charge, now 2 weeks later im having to plug it in maybe twice daily for quick charges.
So the flickering screen issue... Major defect? Or can we count on a solution when custom ROMs become available?
I'm on my 4th Triumph now, and at this point, Best Buy is probably going to ban me from making returns if I go back very much more with this crap..
mr2011 said:
Has anyone else's battery life gotten more and more horrible by the day? It seems like mine is getting worse as each day passes. The first day I got my Triumph I had some heavy use on it getting all my apps installed and configured and it lasted almost a day and a half for some time on a single charge, now 2 weeks later im having to plug it in maybe twice daily for quick charges.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try calibrating the battery with charge cycles. Might help. Or maybe it is an app you installed?
Sent from my LG Optimus V running Sense 3.0
I've read reports on the Internet of many users having issues with the Samsung Galaxy S3 such as small cracks appearing in the casing of the phone out of no where. Another thing is the weak signal strength this phone is known for. All the reports I could find were outdated and I really want to like this phone and purchase it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows if these problems have been fixed by Samsung.
Thanks in advance!
Touchpadnoob said:
I've read reports on the Internet of many users having issues with the Samsung Galaxy S3 such as small cracks appearing in the casing of the phone out of no where. Another thing is the weak signal strength this phone is known for. All the reports I could find were outdated and I really want to like this phone and purchase it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows if these problems have been fixed by Samsung.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easily the best phone ive ever owned.
no problems yet
Touchpadnoob said:
I've read reports on the Internet of many users having issues with the Samsung Galaxy S3 such as small cracks appearing in the casing of the phone out of no where. Another thing is the weak signal strength this phone is known for. All the reports I could find were outdated and I really want to like this phone and purchase it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows if these problems have been fixed by Samsung.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signal has been top notch on mine.....Just as good as my wife's Rezound. Much much better then my GNEX!
Below 40% battery the signal becomes progressively weaker, noticably so, but no issues with calls, mostly manifests itself in data.
Otherwise, though, great signal. As I sit here in the middle of a state park far from anything. I travel a lot, neighborhood of a thousand interstate miles a week, and haven't dropped a call yet.
Device rocks, and haven't noticed any physical deterioration. As a smartphone you can't do any better on the market today in terms of quality, performance or features.
Worth getting the 32 gig model and slapping a 64 gig card in it. Nothing like having nearly 100 gigs of immediately available interactive storage.
4g lte is impressively fast.
one thing to remember is somebody will always have something to gripe about no matter what. that being said the s3 is by far the most solid device i have ever owned!
I've had two different Galaxy S3's on Verizon, and both have horrible data issues. Disconnects from data, and not gaining data back until reboot, slow data speeds when I have it, and signal bars constantly going from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 3 to 4 etc....
The second phone has never been rooted or modified, and the first one I tried everything I could think of. So many ROMs, modems, and flashes, and nothing worked. Other Verizon phones nearby work just fine. Just my experience though.
Thread is called issues with this phone
Let's keep other phones out of it
Thanks
Thread cleaned
FNM
kennyglass123 said:
Thread is called issues with this phone
Let's keep other phones out of it
Thanks
Thread cleaned
FNM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are referring to me then I was talking about the Galaxy S3. The OP was talking about the Galaxy S3 too.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I only got 2 bars where I am at, but looking at my family's other phones, they are about the same in reception (razr droid) . Now my dad who lives out of state, is telling me that when he calls me, it goes straight to voice mail (i dont see any indication that he called) , so this is an issue im trying to figure out, but I have a custom rom and kernal. So hard to say what the issue is for me ( I also got a crack on the screen already from slippage the 2nd day I owned the phone, but its very minimal), happened because I didn't have a case at the time.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s720x720/386262_10151093476528557_832449593_n.jpg
The phone otherwise is awesome, Get some good protection for it, it is a must! I carry it in my pocket,but I do feel like if someone bumps up against my thigh that it could break.
I think people are to caught up in the bars. I never look at the bars. If my phone has 4G and I don't drop calls then there is no problems with the radio. I even get 4G in fringe areas where my GNEX did not.
Also, my wife's rezound can say she has 3 bars is a fringe areas but it still takes 10 minutes to
load a webpage.
Bars are a bunch of BS. Usage is what really counts.
Signal strength is what matters. I'm actually considering I might have a bad phone since it constantly loses data or drops to 1x in my apt, where the map shows full 4G coverage and my previous phone (Sprint) never had a single issue. Tested a friends Nexus and it had slow speeds but never lost a connection, and the Nexus is said to have really poor reception.
ECrispy said:
Signal strength is what matters. I'm actually considering I might have a bad phone since it constantly loses data or drops to 1x in my apt, where the map shows full 4G coverage and my previous phone (Sprint) never had a single issue. Tested a friends Nexus and it had slow speeds but never lost a connection, and the Nexus is said to have really poor reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First question are you rooted? if not you should get an update from Verizon with a new modem. If so go to the modem link and down the newest modem and flash it via Odin. I flashed mine and it seems to help with the single problem I was having. Also when you look at the bars I was told that if your data is on the bars you see is for your data when it is off the bars you see is for your voice.
silver1882 said:
First question are you rooted? if not you should get an update from Verizon with a new modem. If so go to the modem link and down the newest modem and flash it via Odin. I flashed mine and it seems to help with the single problem I was having. Also when you look at the bars I was told that if your data is on the bars you see is for your data when it is off the bars you see is for your voice.
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I am a bit confused by this advice going around. I am rooted, and unlocked. I checked for root access a few times before posting this, and I can still do everything I could before. I have manually received the OTA update, and don't notice a difference in my root capabilities. Are you saying something was supposed to break once I updated?
I am curious as to how the phones signal has been for those that own it. I currently have the S3 and have had it since launch but don't like how it gets stuck in 3g or 1x when losing 4g temporarily even though I know i'm back into a good 4g area. Overall signal is good but the transfer between 1x/3g back to 4g is terrible and my next phone i'm hoping to avoid all the frustration.
I have thought of buying the moto x just because its motorola and they're known for good radios. I have some time and am thinking of waiting until the moto x2 or g3 but its one of those things where why wait if it's good.
Thanks in advance.
zim2704 said:
I am curious as to how the phones signal has been for those that own it. I currently have the S3 and have had it since launch but don't like how it gets stuck in 3g or 1x when losing 4g temporarily even though I know i'm back into a good 4g area. Overall signal is good but the transfer between 1x/3g back to 4g is terrible and my next phone i'm hoping to avoid all the frustration.
I have thought of buying the moto x just because its motorola and they're known for good radios. I have some time and am thinking of waiting until the moto x2 or g3 but its one of those things where why wait if it's good.
Thanks in advance.
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To be honest with you. Samsung has the worst radios. I had an s3 and it dropped signal too many times. I then got the HTC DNA and it was so much better. I believe HTC has a way better radio than Samsung.
My All New One
I was kind of concerned about this too before I bought mine. I come from a long list of Moto phones. The only non Moto phone I've had was a Rezound. I had it for all of one day. The darn thing would only ring probably 1 out of 4 calls I received. 1 out of 3 if I was lucky. I took it back the day after I bought it and they looked at it and told me there was nothing wrong with it. Well, I've never had a problem like that in my house with any Moto phone. So, I told them to keep it and went home with a Razr Maxx. You can see why I was concerned.
Anyway, I have to say, this phone has the best radio or at least the best reception of any phone I've owned. I work in an area that is quite iffy as far as a signal goes and my Moto phones would hold a pretty good signal there but depending on where I was at any given time, I would lose the signal and have to walk around a bit to get it back. In the shop there, forget it. I pretty much had nothing. The signal on this phone shows it's slightly weaker at work than my Maxx but it's worked flawlessly for me out there. I can even take it in the shop and it works great. Signal is weak but somehow it seems to hang onto it. Listened to Tune In Radio for 5 hours in there today and never lost the signal once.
I also went to a town today where it's worse than at work. My Moto phones there would work but constantly on and off. I was listening to Tune In there today too and it did have one hiccup for 10 seconds or so but that was it in a half hour's time. But, that doesn't surprise me in that location. What does surprise me is that it only stopped once. No way any of my Moto phones would do that well there. Anyway, maybe I'm just lucky but I'm extremely pleased with mine and don't regret buying it at all.
The old faithful LTE ON/OFF FOR thunderbolt app still works like a charm to control the radio bands on an HTC phone.
Highly recommend to install to force lte or 3g when needed.
The S3 in particular had a wretched radio, I couldn't get signal for the life of me in my house. Verizon ended up replacing it for me with a Note 2 which was better in many regards. The radio so far on the M8 has blown the note 2 out of the water, it doesn't even compare. I get a steady 10-20 asu improvement over what I used to get with the note 2 in most situations.
Liking what I've read so far.
Been so so for me. I've always had ATT and personally only had bad reception in my home. Almost anywhere else I had 4g LTE everywhere. Never saw Edge connection, worst was 3G.
I just switched to Verizon for this device when it came out so first time with Verizon. I get better 4g LTE connection at home but I've noticed in stores I get only 1x (is this Edge type of network compared to AT&T?) Or maybe 1-2 bars of 3G. Only get 4G LTE when outdoors. Even inside huge Target, Wal-Mart, whatever get cfao reception when on AT&T this was never an issue. This might be a carrier thing though, nothing to do with this device but again nothing to compare to, first device and time on Verizon network. Surprising too living in southern California where LTE is literally everywhere here. Actually had much higher hopes for Verizon network, feeling let done here.
This is not meant to be scientific, however I am trying to get a gauge if this is a larger issue that what some have posted. I have a new Galaxy S6 that I activated on launch day. My previous 2 phones are and S4 and S5 most recently. I am fairly savvy in knowing my network strength locally and places I frequent. Since switching to the S6 from my S5 I have been on 3G in know very good 4G areas alot of the time. Not only that but I have seen the dreaded 1X more times in the last few days in areas I have had religiously great 4G coverage on for years. I have dropped 3 calls of which I havent done in probably 4 years as well. I have done tests with an S4 and S5 right next to my new S6 where I can pull 15-20Mbs on either of those two phones where my new S6 gets between 0.5Mbs and 1.5Mbs.
I have checked the signal strength between the two sitting right along side each other S5 (111DBs) - S6 (98DBs) I personally have no idea the order of magnitude between 1-10 DBs if that would make that much of a dramatic difference, but real world testing there is either something wrong with my specific unit or hoping its not extremely widespread. There is a thread in general that we have been posting to but the change has been so dramatic if it was more widespread i would think alot more folks would be posting. So in order to find out if this is specific to myself and a few others in that thread or more widespread hardware/software issue I am throwing up a poll. Please take a few seconds and vote.
i work in my basement in a major city area and all my previous phones would get 3 bars of LTE in my office here. my S6 Edge gets occasional 1 bar of LTE mixed with 1X very often.
i am connected to wifi here and it hasnt affected my using it for work but have noticed this and prefer it worked at least as well as my older devices.
i am generally not a "numbers" watcher on things like this or battery and more of a "as long as it works as i need it" user but i noticed the 1X because i am not use to seeing it.
also i should add that i noticed under battery that #1 for me is always "Cell Standby" and i have to assume they are related?
fletch33 said:
i work in my basement in a major city area and all my previous phones would get 3 bars of LTE in my office here. my S6 Edge gets occasional 1 bar of LTE mixed with 1X very often.
i am connected to wifi here and it hasnt affected my using it for work but have noticed this and prefer it worked at least as well as my older devices.
i am generally not a "numbers" watcher on things like this or battery and more of a "as long as it works as i need it" user but i noticed the 1X because i am not use to seeing it.
also i should add that i noticed under battery that #1 for me is always "Cell Standby" and i have to assume they are related?
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So far every time a Verizon user has had Cell Standby at the top, it's been with wifi on. After your next full charge, leave wifi turned off completely for awhile and see if Cell Standby shows up at the top again.
What makes this a major problem is the fact that Verizon's VoLTE is fully dependent on a decent LTE signal.
jntdroid said:
So far every time a Verizon user has had Cell Standby at the top, it's been with wifi on. After your next full charge, leave wifi turned off completely for awhile and see if Cell Standby shows up at the top again.
What makes this a major problem is the fact that Verizon's VoLTE is fully dependent on a decent LTE signal.
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i have read that as well and i guess i could do that but i really need Wifi on when my office signal is so often on 1X
Yes testing it today, it is very bad. Getting about 1Mbps when not using Wi-Fi.
Sent from my SM-G920V using XDA Premium HD app
Our new S6 is doing this same thing. Jumps from a strong 4G signal to 1X with no signal the second you make a call. :crying:
Is there a fix for this besides returning the phone?
Enable advanced calling on your account and on your phone. Also switch from Global to LTE/CDMA
Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk
bkuhl said:
Enable advanced calling on your account and on your phone. Also switch from Global to LTE/CDMA
Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk
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OK, But than I loose my Caller ID / Name / Number. I need the caller ID.
Then buy the Caller ID feature. Your phone is switching to 1X when making a phone call because the S6 doesn't support voice and data simultaneously unless you have Advanced Calling on and enabled and are in LTE coverage area. The S6 only has a dual band modem.
Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk
HD Voice feature needs to be turned on, but don't!
Hey guys I've talked about this in different forums and sites, I'll copy and paste it here and hopefully it will help you understand why you can't place calls using the 4G LTE without having the Advance calling feature turned on under the Verizon network.
"Verizon is aware of the HD voice/video feature being the culprit of the dropped calls, they are blaming Samsung for not pushing an update to correct the problem. Meanwhile Samsung has said that the feature is a Verizon software. I was told by their tech support that it has been reported that there's a 50% dropped call increase using the galaxy S6 while having the HD voice/video feature on, this was 2 weeks ago. The agent said they have a search tool like Google search, this is internal and that's where he found this information.
You can not make calls and surf the web without the HD voice/video feature on, but turning this feature off will STOP THE DROPPED calls. Verizon's software side for galaxy S6 does not allow you to make calls on the 4G LTE network when the HD voice/video feature off, instead is shows 1x.
I have been in touch with Verizon wireless tech support for the last 3 weeks now, this past week Verizon has been sending me texts to update me on the progress of my ticket. I've had Samsung tech support in conference call with Verizon tech support; during this call that lasted more than 3 hours Verizon admitted that it wasn't a Samsung problem but Verizon's. As soon as the tech from Samsung hanged up the call because we were told that I would have to call their engineering department to further assist us. Before the Samsung tech agent hung up the call we had asked if I could make calls using the 4G LTE and was told to hold up while he researched this question. As soon as the Samsung tech agent left the conference call the Verizon tech answered no, and proceeded to make a complete 360 on answers he gave prior to the Samsung agent leaving the call, saying that the problem was not a Verizon but Samsung problem, even though moments before he said that it wasn't a Samsung problem to me and the Samsung tech support agent but Verizon's. I was also advised by the Verizon tech agent that if I wanted to, I could JAIL BRAKE my Galaxy S6 and download a software to disable the HD voice/video feature without losing the 4G LTE but that it probably still won't work properly. I told this agent that I've never jail broken a device and don't plan on because this is clearly a Verizon feature not working properly.
Not even 5 minutes after ending the call with Verizon's tech support, a supervisor from Verizon called me to tell me again that this is a Samsung issue not Verizon, he said that Samsung needs to push a SW version update to fix the problem with the HD voice calls dropping. He asked what I wanted, I said to get the Galaxy S5 and return this phone, but that I was told by 2 different stores (Rockville Centre NY, and Merrick NY both in Long Island) that if I wanted to return this phone or exchange for a different one I would be charged a 40% restocking fee even though I was within my 14 days. I was told by the tech before the supervisor called that it was at each store's discretion whether they charged you a restocking fee or not. I was told to consider this mater resolved by the supervisor, that they will get in touch with the store so I can return the phone and if in fact there are any fees I would be refunded in some sort of credit; but all I've received all of last week is text messages letting me know they are still working on my ticket."
ok i know this will sound crazy BUT i cracked the screen on my S6 Edge and got sent a new replacement (after deductible) and i swear in the same basement office i was using my original release day S6 my reception is much better.
i cant say if i just needed to do a reset on the original or what may be at play here but i can say with certainty that using the new one all day today i have not seen a single 1X or even gone below 2 bars where my original was often on 1X sitting in the same chair and location. no doubt its better but cant say why for sure except i am using a new device.
sidenote - the screen on my 1st one had much whiter whites and this new one has a slight more of a yellowish tint to it but this is not an area i am over concerned about and just something i noticed right away and then held them side by side before i shipped the cracked original back
fletch33 said:
ok i know this will sound crazy BUT i cracked the screen on my S6 Edge and got sent a new replacement (after deductible) and i swear in the same basement office i was using my original release day S6 my reception is much better.
i cant say if i just needed to do a reset on the original or what may be at play here but i can say with certainty that using the new one all day today i have not seen a single 1X or even gone below 2 bars where my original was often on 1X sitting in the same chair and location. no doubt its better but cant say why for sure except i am using a new device.
sidenote - the screen on my 1st one had much whiter whites and this new one has a slight more of a yellowish tint to it but this is not an area i am over concerned about and just something i noticed right away and then held them side by side before i shipped the cracked original back
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Interesting. Unfortunately I've had three S6's and all behaved similarly with weaker LTE signal and more frequent drops to 3G.
Also, the screen thing is the one thing that bugs me about amoled, and qhd amoled at that. On my third device and all three have had some variation of the pink hue, and while quite subtle, once you see it you can't unsee it.
jntdroid said:
Interesting. Unfortunately I've had three S6's and all behaved similarly with weaker LTE signal and more frequent drops to 3G.
Also, the screen thing is the one thing that bugs me about amoled, and qhd amoled at that. On my third device and all three have had some variation of the pink hue, and while quite subtle, once you see it you can't unsee it.
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Don't know if people are still watching this thread but my signal is awful! I have an international variant here in Alaska SM-G920I... The firmware is from February! Did an update fix your issues with poor signal?
fletch33 said:
i work in my basement in a major city area and all my previous phones would get 3 bars of LTE in my office here. my S6 Edge gets occasional 1 bar of LTE mixed with 1X very often.
i am connected to wifi here and it hasnt affected my using it for work but have noticed this and prefer it worked at least as well as my older devices.
i am generally not a "numbers" watcher on things like this or battery and more of a "as long as it works as i need it" user but i noticed the 1X because i am not use to seeing it.
also i should add that i noticed under battery that #1 for me is always "Cell Standby" and i have to assume they are related?
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Click to collapse
Exact same situation here. Work in the basement at my house in a major area; down here I get 3G or 1X. Upstairs i'm getting 3G or 1bar LTE and it flips a lot. Battery seems to drain like crazy when this is happening, and I'm on WiFi the entire time. I had a total of 2.2 hours SOT yesterday and was at 14% when I plugged it back in. Cell standby was around 35% at that time.
I've noticed lately my S6 keeps locking onto 3G only even though the BRV T1114 running my home internet stays on LTE without issue. I had to ODIN my S6 cuz I messed it up then like a bonehead applied the OF1 update without thinking now I can't root it. If I could, would it be a good idea to lock it to band 13 all the time? That's what the T1114 Router uses and stays connected all the time. Sigh.....
I've noticed that if I leave it sitting on the table/bed for a while, it locks to LTE then when I start using it again after a minute or so it goes back to 3G only. Damn.
I saw 1x quite frequent with an s6 and a black screen that only recovery booting would get me powered on. Before and after rooting. But I unrooted and return and exchanged it and now all is well no more 1x or black screen issue knock on wood
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Free mobile app
My Samsung rep at work said its due to the S6 only having one antenna vs. the S5 having two antennae(s).
DeathAngel66669 said:
My Samsung rep at work said its due to the S6 only having one antenna vs. the S5 having two antennae(s).
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That technically shouldn't matter because one was dedicated to voice only, but who knows at this point... I'm kinda tired of Verizon's inability, 4 years after the fact, to handle the LTE/3G handoff and "hold onto" issues.