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Help Exchanging my launch day Gnex

red66charger

red66charger

Android Expert
Well, I decided to exchange my launch day Gnex for a new one. I am in a great LTE area (Clearwater, Florida) and get awful reception at work and home. But so many people say they don't have reception issues so I guess I need to find out for sure. I hate letting this one go out of fear of getting a worse device. Plus there's the sentimental launch day thing as well.

I'm doubtful a new device will be better, but a lengthy test I ran at the VZW store last night convinced me to try. I compared my Gnex with the two on display in the store. Signal strength varied between the three devices off an on. Occasionally they were very close. However, I ran more than a dozen speed tests on all three and every time, with no exception, the two in-store devices smoked my Gnex. Is there an explainable reason for this? The only difference I could see is those devices were not on battery power.

My new device arrives Friday. Question: can I use NFC to copy my videos and photos from my old device to the new one? I haven't used NFC yet. What else do I need to be prepared for in making the switch? I am not rooted or unlocked.

Fingers crossed the new Gnex will perform better. I did request a new device, not a refurb. I love the phone. It's just no good if data reception doesn't work indoors.
 
How do you define awful reception? Do you drop calls? Does your phone not load websites because it loses 4G? Do downloads go intolerably slow?

When the new phone arrives, I would ignore these tests and even the signal strength readings and go off of real-world use. I don't know what my signal strength usually reads because I could not care less. I've used my phone for 100s of minutes of calls and never dropped a single one. Also never heard the slightest bit of static.

Today at my gym in a basement my phone showed no reception (which is the norm for any phone), yet I was loading webpages extremely fast on 4G.

I'll take those "tests" any day over signal strength readings and speed tests.
 
Mainly I'm getting forced into 3G mode which causes me to lose data completely. I have to go with WiFi at work and that's not desirable as it is monitored by my employer for security reasons.

The phone is still able to handle calls. But isn't the phone radio separate from the data radio? I thought CDMA phones were independent of the 4G radios. That's why we can browse and talk at the same time unlike VZW iPhones. Am I wrong about that?

I am at ground zero in a strong LTE area. Should I assume 4G will only work outdoors? If so, forget it. My Thunderbolt didn't have this 4G issue at work or home.

One more thing about my phone. It's been getting very hot lately and when it does the battery life goes quick. It wasn't always like this. But dropping 4G has been a problem from the start. I only started looking at signal and speed test comparisons after the "user experience" issues became problematic.
 
That is fair enough. Sounds like your phone has issues. I get excelkent 4G indoors, even in basements I used to not get 3G on my Incredible. And I mentioned the real world use simply because many people seem to see a number on some test and proclaim their phone a dud, even if it is not.
 
NFC won't do any kind of sustained data transfer. Better off to use Wifi or a good ol' USB cable.
 
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