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Still on the fence....radio?

I don't think we can say Nexus radio sucks flat out just because some of us had to exchange it multiple times to get properly working one. A lot of us including me are still on the first one without any major signal issue, but are rather quiet than troubled folks. Also if nexus radio is that bad across the board, it should reflect on major user reviews on sites like amazon, bestbuy, verizon, samsung which are much larger samples than here. Looking over them recently, more than 80% of nexus owners seem happy.
 
Sandroidfan said:
I don't think we can say Nexus radio sucks flat out just because some of us had to exchange it multiple times to get properly working one. A lot of us including me are still on the first one without any major signal issue, but are rather quiet than troubled folks. Also if nexus radio is that bad across the board, it should reflect on major user reviews on sites like amazon, bestbuy, verizon, samsung which are much larger samples than here. Looking over them recently, more than 80% of nexus owners seem happy.
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Yeah, good point. It's a fallacy to conclude anything about the majority of nexus owners based on sites like this. Probably 90% or more of the Nexus owners out there have no idea and either assume the problem is normal or don't know about/use online forums as resources.
 
fbm111 said:
Glad you got a great one. Loved ics, builds quality sucked as much as my signal.
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So if your question was already answered by your own purchase (and return :)) of it, the topic has run its course I'd say, no? It seems to have turned into an "us vs. them" situation. :)
 
Sixth nexus is here. Same ****. I'm convinced that even jkcs almighty nexus and whoever else is claiming theirs is perfect would a) not work at all in my house b) haven't had a different 4g phone to see what 4g should look like

Its really frustrating. I love this phone and love ics. I can't go back to gb. But 6 phones,plus my girl and my friends who can't get any 4g around my block either... when my fathers tbolt just pulled 16 speed test. 8 nexus with no 4g. I firmly believe the radio has problems in certain areas, and not just low signal or fringe areas
 
shawn218 said:
Sixth nexus is here. Same ****. I'm convinced that even jkcs almighty nexus and whoever else is claiming theirs is perfect would a) not work at all in my house b) haven't had a different 4g phone to see what 4g should look like
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Where did I claim it was perfect? Please point that out. All I said was I haven't had any issues with holding 4G in my home or office or in the places I frequent, except for a few very specific places that are deep within a structure which I understand and isn't a big deal to me. Beyond that, no I can't complain about the 4G signal. It all boils down to a person's location both geographically and architecturally. At my in-laws' house back east, I had no 4G and the Rezound did that was also a different phone so I can't say with certainty that my phone I have now wouldn't hold 4G. I doubt it, but I'm also not delusional enough to believe I can extrapolate results with the other specific nexus I had to this one, especially given the QC (or lack thereof) with this phone.
 
Friendly request to all stay cool, okay? :)

I'm in the camp that my phone has been trouble-free, but I'm one to baby my phone (stays in a leather case, never in a my pocket).

Is the radio as good as my Droid X? Nope--already posted that around here already (did a signal strength comparison, too).

Good enough for me? Yep.

Good enough for everyone? Probably not, but no phone will ever be.

Anyway, let's make sure to not get off-track here.

Thanks!
 
I pull same as your tbolt of 16 on my 4g, Shawn. sorry to hear how unlucky you're getting
 
Is it luck though? Jamor is there places your bolt holds 4g where your nexus isn't at all?
Edit: misread that jamor, my bad
 
I'd like to tell of my experience with the rezound and nexus. I live in a 3G only area and have to travel 45-60 miles (or take a ferry 20 miles) to get a 4G signal. I had the rezound for about 3 weeks before exchanging it for a Nexus. Let me state that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the rezound. I just wanted to see how the nexus was/is. I may still go back to the rezound but I would definitely miss the form factor and the screen. But I digress! I drove to same Seattle area (Redmond) with both phones and both phones grabbed 4G just fine but I had to turn the nexus off and back on (two different times) when I lost the 4G signal in order to get 3G back. The nexus also used the battery so much that the car adapter couldn't keep up. The battery went from 80% to 30% in 30 minutes going from a very strong 4G area to a weaker one. I do have a higher rated charger (can't remember the amperage right now) The rezound didn't have the same issue. (I was using navigation both times) Now in no way, do I consider this scientific, it's just my experience during limited 4G time with both phones.
 
New member here.
The reason I joined is because I have had the Nexus since day one and have all the problems (lost calls at 3g to 4g hand-off, not able to answer the phone -followed by a reboot, terrible signal strength, 6 hrs max battery life with light usage on 4g, 8 hrs max on 3G, dropped signal for up to 10 minutes while my daughter laughs at me from behind her iPhone..grr...lol, LED not working, low volume, notifications not working...). I hope to dig deeper in the forum and figure out what it takes to solve the issues, one by one.
I keep thinking "its a Nexus and the solution is only an update away".
I would have to say, if I had to depend on this phone - it would have been gone a long time ago.
But I know, that once its right, it will be incredible.
I'm glad some of you have had success with your phone, but, for the people like me, the only way we can get the thing to work at all is to get answers when people post questions.
Maybe I'm a sadist, but in reality, this phone sucks worse than any other phone I have ever owned (and that goes all the way back to the original Motorola flip phone!) ...but I LIKE it and want to see it be what it can be.
Not trying to troll, just wishing I could get answers without wading through the noise.
So much for the newbie intro...

Keith
 
Welcome to the AndroidForums, Keith!

I did forget to post earlier that the leaked 4.0.4 radios didn't improve signal strength for me, but they certainly did improve 3G / 4G hand-offs and switching (several have reported this).

I must admit to being surprised that there's not been a recent OTA with these new radios yet (or I've totally missed it, LOL, since I'm rooted and wasn't aware of a recently released OTA), but they don't be too far off.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback and we're glad you signed-up with us here at AF.

Cheers!
 
shawn218 said:
Jkc, what do you think about my problem?
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Does your hold 4G when you exit your home? I.e. is your drop of 4G usually associated with entering a building or an enclosed space? I don't think that's a hardware problem (in the sense that it's unique to your phone), especially if your GF's does the same thing. :(

If you have a friend with a rezound and/or a razr you can do some speedtest.net testing (although if the nexus doesn't have 4G at all, there's not much point) - just make sure you always manually pick the same server on the phones and test them back-to-back but not at the same time.

Are you in a fringe 4G area? You might want to call VZW (611) and ask them about it. If you're in a fringe or extended 4G area, it could just be LTE is too far away to get a reliable signal that will penetrate the buildings you're in. :/
 
I don't know if will help in the long run, but I hope that it might:

I've proctored a number of phone releases on our forums and I have often seen these issues resolve as a) phone firmware or configuration situations solved by updates and/or members here comparing notes, b) local tower issues and that's for the carrier to fix, or c) the occasional lemony hardware that meets spec but doesn
 
i don't know if this helps anyone or not but i ordered a droid razr maxx a few weeks ago via vzw.com it took a few weeks to get here bc it was backordered but it finally came and i was really impressed with how awesome the battery life really was and i was impressed of the overall build quality and design its very slim and sleek. the only problem i had with the device is that both the rear speaker and the ear speaker volume was very very low. after i realized how low it was compared to other phones i used volume + and all that and it didn't help, the speakers were just underpowered and they sounded like they had sand in them..

so after a few days of playing around with the maxx i had to call vzw and use my worry free to get the galaxy nexus and it came overnight. i will tell you that the signal strength does in fact seem to be much lower than the maxx and the only thing that worried me ab the nexus is when i am in my basement it constantly goes in and out of 3G to 1 bar of 4G and sometimes i call my self to check it and it goes right to voicemail but lately it has been ringing fine even with no bars...i mean signal strength may be better on the maxx but the sound quality was so much better on the nexus even with 1 bar. the screen on the nexus is amazing and def leaps and bounds better than the maxx. i ordered two extended batteries for it to compensate for the lack in battery and i guess what i am getting at is yeah the signal strength is def lower on the nexus but i still feel overall the gnex is a much better phone over the maxx and others. and i know this is not a maxx vs gnex thread but i guess i am trying to say i was worried about the radios too but i don't think its hardware i feel its software this phone is a beast and give it a few more weeks and google and vzw will figure out how to unleash it...i just figured id share incase it would help someone.
 
FZJ80 said:
New member here.
The reason I joined is because I have had the Nexus since day one and have all the problems (lost calls at 3g to 4g hand-off, not able to answer the phone -followed by a reboot, terrible signal strength, 6 hrs max battery life with light usage on 4g, 8 hrs max on 3G, dropped signal for up to 10 minutes while my daughter laughs at me from behind her iPhone..grr...lol, LED not working, low volume, notifications not working...). I hope to dig deeper in the forum and figure out what it takes to solve the issues, one by one.
I keep thinking "its a Nexus and the solution is only an update away".
I would have to say, if I had to depend on this phone - it would have been gone a long time ago.
But I know, that once its right, it will be incredible.
I'm glad some of you have had success with your phone, but, for the people like me, the only way we can get the thing to work at all is to get answers when people post questions.
Maybe I'm a sadist, but in reality, this phone sucks worse than any other phone I have ever owned (and that goes all the way back to the original Motorola flip phone!) ...but I LIKE it and want to see it be what it can be.
Not trying to troll, just wishing I could get answers without wading through the noise.
So much for the newbie intro...

Keith
Click to expand...
Have you tried swapping the phone out yet? If you haven't, why not? I'm still at a loss for why people go through stuff like you are describing and don't try a replacement and then there are people who have been through 5 replacements because the phone won't get 4G in their house.

Your battery life sounds like it is due to your signal. My phone drains faster than nobody's business at work where my signal is pretty crappy. It has been this way with all of my phones--the crappy signal part--but this phone seems to burn the most battery in crappy signal areas compared to others I've owned. For that reason, if I'm not charging my phone at work, I turn off the data since I'm not on my phone anyway and don't need data. With all my other phones I've always just charged them, but for whatever reason, I tend to not charge this one and just turn the data off. I'm not suggesting turning off data as a fix to your problem. More like I'm suggesting turning off data to see if that helps with your battery drain for diagnosing the problem (that wouldn't be a fix LOL). If it helps immensely, your bad battery life is probably because your signal is bad, at which point you have to figure out is your signal bad because the phone is busted or is it bad because you are just in a bad area. Like I said, I know my signal is bad at my work place, but this phone seems to burn through more battery than previous ones when the signal is bad.

You should post some shots of your battery graphs including screen on time, cell standby, and the history details (the screen you get when you tap on the graph). You also want to look and see if by chance you have any apps going nuts. Probably best to make your own thread about it though.
 
As a former owner of the G Nex, current owner of a Rezound and RAZR....

Wont add too much to whats already been said. IMO the antennas could be better. I do see posts that exchanges are making things better now. So maybe newer batches are fixing things. Also, when I installed the 4.0.3 radios...my 3G reception got better. But not 4G. So there is still hope for a software fix. My experience ended at 4.0.3.

I will say my RAZR is least annoying for overall reception, phone and data vs the other 2 after updates. I always try to say least annoying when I mention my RAZR cuz all 3 have/had data issues. Until LTE matures...I think thats gonna be the reality: they can all have data issues. Next gen LTE tech and a more mature LTE network might have us looking back on these days wondering WTH were we thinking...lol. My Rezound and G Nex I had probably just needed exchanges. I honestly feel better testing, quality control needs to be done for all these phones.

And agree 100% that depending on what phone you came from or tried...the antennas will either be fine or so so. Even then....the other pros of the G nex might be enough to outweigh whatever cons you run into.

I await the day when we can have the perfect phone....when that day comes...a better phone will be coming out in 2-3 months...
 
I just got rid of mine for signal / coverage issues. 3g or 4g in the ATL, where the map shows excellent coverage, 0-2 bars max and a dbm in the 110 - 117 range. I don' think it the phone though, I just think I'm in a Verizon gap. I can go one mile up the road and have 4 bars of LTE.
 
Posted the following in the main Nexus forum inadvertently; but it might be relevant to anyone still on the fence:

I've been fairly vocal with my own experiences and ultimate disappointment with the Nexus; having gone through two of them in Dec. and Jan. after it launched. Both exhibited the well-documented and maddeningly frustrating LOS issues, and I eventually gave up and got a Rezound.

While I like the Rezound and it has worked flawlessly for me, it just doesn't have the draw that the Nexus has for me. When I got the Rezound, I told myself I'd wait it out a bit, see if any further updates would be released for the Nexus and then go back to the Nexus with some confidence that the issues were resolved.

Lack of patience got the better of me and yesterday I activated my third Nexus purchased via Amazon Wireless. Of note (or not) is that this phone was shipped with the 4.0.2 update already on board; not sure at what point that started happening, but both previous phones were at 4.0.1 out of the box and took the OTA shortly thereafter.

Anyway, in a day of testing, this one is working much, much better than my previous two tries. It's unfortunate that any of us have to keep trying to "get a good one" but I do now believe it is possible to get one that works; despite what others sans issues have been posting for some time. If you've got one that doesn't work, it's little consolation hearing that someone else doesn't have a problem..you have to come to that realization yourself.

This one is seeing 4G in my house just like my Rezound can, where the other two Nexuses never could. Down in my basement office, it switches over to 3G, but so did the Rezound, so nothing out of the ordinary there. I still think it's a little slow to switch from 3G back to 4G, but nothing like my previous experiences.

Of course, by posting this, I'll probably jinx the early positive vibes, but it feels great to have a Nexus that can actually hold a connection. Phone works great, too...no dropped calls thus far.

So who knows. Maybe I got one that benefited from some small change in the manufacturing process, maybe it's just luck of the draw. Maybe Verizon's network around me has improved to the point where the issues aren't obvious anymore.

I still hope we see another update soon to remedy connectivity for anyone with those issues, IMO those are the biggest. Would be nice to see some other fixes as well, but mostly I'm pleased for the moment.

Update: As of this morning, all is still well; seems to be working great. Still have to use the Light Flow app for the notification LED to actually do something, but other than that, it's behaving properly.
 
Did anybody here have a Droid Eris and are the reception as bad as the Eris had. Just talking about 3g since that was all the Eris was.
 
bcltoys said:
Did anybody here have a Droid Eris and are the reception as bad as the Eris had. Just talking about 3g since that was all the Eris was.
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Well, I still have my Eris, but haven't used its cell radio in quite some time.

I didn't really have any issues with the Eris' signal strength nor with the Galaxy Nexus, but neither of those guys were as good signal strength wise as my Droid X.

I just booted my Eris up and set it next to my Galaxy Nexus and the Eris is reading -92dBm and the GNex is reading -93dBm.
 
So would you say that if my Eris works at home that the nexus should. That is really the only place I worry about. I'm not in a 4g area so it's a no brainer that 4g is not going to work.My Eris really never had any reception problems either.
 
bcltoys said:
So would you say that if my Eris works at home that the nexus should. That is really the only place I worry about. I'm not in a 4g area so it's a no brainer that 4g is not going to work.My Eris really never had any reception problems either.
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I think so... My cell reception is mostly good at home and work and I usually keep 4G turned off unless I want to download something big and fast.

I've never had a dropped call on either my Eris or DX or GNex...they've all been very good for me.

I'm thinking that the folks with radio issues are in marginal signal areas that would benefit from phones with better radios like what Moto makes. But for me, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung have all been good devices--no complaints here :).
 
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