• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Still on the fence....radio?

F

fbm111

Well-Known Member
Still on the fence but with the 100 dollar sale going on right now.....


Does anyone think the radio 4g/3g in this phone is great? I have read a lot of problems with it just wondering if anyone thinks it is great?


Thanks!
 
I honestly don't have any complaints with this phone so I don't think you could go wrong. The 4G is super fast and if you want to save battery then you can always turn LTE off and stick with 3G so you really are set in that department. The only problems I've heard are if it's not available in some people's area, so maybe check on that before you invest =)
 
When i first got my Gnexus the signal bars were low really low and
slow data pull using 3g unless your close to a tower suxed bad
i found a radio tweak and it has helped a lot with the signal bars and
data pull. I believe more updates will be made i do not know if its a
samsung issue with radio or just the ICS, I say find the update for the radio
tweak its CDMA vrz so heads up if your GSM. i like this phone though i would
like a Motorola unlockable bootloader more i think :)
 
I say it depends on what phone you are coming from and what your usage is like.

Compared to the Motorola devices I have owned, I think the radios in the Nexus are weak (regardless of whether they measure signal differently from other phones or not). However, since I get MUCH better battery life by always leaving wifi enabled and connecting to trusted wifi signals throughout the day, (lack of) signal strength has not been an issue for me. Regardless of number of bars, I have not yet had a problem with placing and keeping a call due to weak signal.
 
There are definitely some issues w/ the radios. I think it all depends on where you live. I have 4g in my area. I get 2 bars in my house, and the speed is great. But I will be in areas a couple miles from my house and I will get 4 bars outside a store, then I go inside the store and it will drop to 3 g.

Voice is spotty for me too. I had a HTC Eris for 2 years and never had anyone complain about the call quality. But now people on the other end of my calls are asking me whats wrong w/ your phone. They say it sometimes sounds robotic or it just cuts out.

So I dont think the radios are great. I think it may depend exactly where you live , but I do live in a 4g area. I also didnt have so many issues w/my previous phone. Im just hoping the OTA update will fix the issues.
 
dirtyriffs said:
But now people on the other end of my calls are asking me whats wrong w/ your phone. They say it sometimes sounds robotic or it just cuts out.
Click to expand...
This may not be a radio issue. It sounds a lot like the problem several of us are having regardless of reception. You may want to check out this link and see if it matches your experience.
 
The radios aren't great, but are no worse than any other samsung phone. Signal strength improved for me when I flashed the stock 4.0.4 leak, so you could do that if you so desired, or I imagine it will be released soon if you wanted to wait for the official OTA.
 
Not great but not terrible either, I think it's been a little overstated by some. The newest radios improved things for me. In a perfect world, I'd like to see a bit more improvement but I'm satisfied.
 
If you live in an area that has solid 4G coverage then you won't have any complaints. If you live in an area with poor 4G then you may. The nice thing is that the radio hardware is fine, but the software needs improvement. Once a new radio update rolls out I have a feeling the complaints about the radio on this phone will disappear. On my last Samsung an update cause a 20 point jump in signal quality and if that happens with the Nexus then I think you will see a lot of people singing their praises to the Nexus.
 
The radio on this phone is fine. It's no worse than the other 4G phones excepting the Rezound. Remember that some portion of people that post here about their radio compared to other phones aren't necessarily comparing the phones equally, taking into account the differences in signal reporting between phones. Not saying some people don't have issues--I'm sure they do. Just saying, some people *think* they have an issue and they may not.

Try the phone for yourself. If it doesn't work for you, return it. That simple.
 
I thought one of the areas I frequent need to be upgraded because it was only showing 1-2 bars while my friend's Rezound shows 4. I did a speedtest on both phones, the Rezound has much fast speeds, ~10mbit/s compared to just barely 5Mbit. The upload was only .1 Mbit/s. :eek:
 
Wait..the nexus is only $100 right now? Or $100 off? Shit I just got this phone a week ago and paid well more than that.
 
Phone is 300. On the 29th Verizon was having leap year sale 100 off all 4g phones. Best buy matched that for me. The I had 50 upgrade gift card from a best buy promotion. So I got it for 149. But went through two gnexs and both junk. So I am back on thunderbolt.
 
I live in an area with great 4g. In my home my phones never dropped it. Anywhere between 15-20m download on speed test

This is my fifth nexus, and 95% of the time it can't even connect to 4g in my home. When it does it loses it in under 30 seconds. Not a good radio by any means
 
shawn218 said:
I live in an area with great 4g. In my home my phones never dropped it. Anywhere between 15-20m download on speed test

This is my fifth nexus, and 95% of the time it can't even connect to 4g in my home. When it does it loses it in under 30 seconds. Not a good radio by any means
Click to expand...

Is it good? Yes, I in my opinion it is - or at least fair. Is it the "best radio evar"? No. I call it like it is.

Look, if you are unsatisfied with the radio, take your phone back. Get a different phone, please. But hopefully people with some common sense will ignore your generalizations/rants and come to their own conclusion based on their own experience. The OP should try the phone out, and if it doesn't work for him/her, then by all means return it and get a refund. Wait a few days and they can then try a different phone and retain their return period. Or, if there is a costco nearby, just purchase there where they have a 90 day return/exchange policy (which transcends phones - you can swap to a difference device just as easily as a replacement).

As to my experience - I'm in a fringe (border-line "extended 4G" area) and I have 1-2 bars outside, 1 bar inside. The only time my phone drops from 4G to 3G is in the bathroom on my first floor, surrounded by the garage firewall on one side (facing the tower) and ceramic shower + water heater + hot water ducts on the other side (also facing the tower). 4G in 99% of my house in a location that's about 100m from "no man's zone" is pretty darned good IMHO.

Same story at work. 2-3 bars of 4G until I get into the shadow of my office building (in which the tower happens to be in the direction on the opposite side of the building), then drops to 1-2 bars. 1 (solid) bar at my desk with speeds that are plenty faster than 3G. If I delve into the heart of the building, it occasionally drops to 3G, but it does so seamlessly (with the 4.0.4 radios). Can't complain at all.
 
ANewDay said:
I thought one of the areas I frequent need to be upgraded because it was only showing 1-2 bars while my friend's Rezound shows 4. I did a speedtest on both phones, the Rezound has much fast speeds, ~10mbit/s compared to just barely 5Mbit. The upload was only .1 Mbit/s. :eek:
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I'm talking about--people not comparing phones that report signal in the same way and then drawing conclusions about a phone's performance with the incorrect observations.

The speed test is legit, assuming of course both phones were going through the same server. Even still, it has been shown by various review sites that speed tests can vary wildly from one test to the next, even back to back. Even still, it is a legit comparison.

The bar comparison is not. The bars on the Rezound are based on the 3G signal reading, not the LTE reading. The Galaxy Nexus bar reading is based on whatever data network the phone is connected to, so if the phone is connected to the LTE network, it is reporting bars based on the LTE signal strength. Even though the Rezound showed 4 bars, it wasn't 4 bars of LTE, it was 4 bars of 3G even though it was connected to the LTE network.

Furthermore, bars mean nothing. How one phone interprets a signal level and correlates that to a bar reading may differ from the next phone.
 
shawn218 said:
This is my fifth nexus, and 95% of the time it can't even connect to 4g in my home. When it does it loses it in under 30 seconds. Not a good radio by any means
Click to expand...

This is my first Nexus that I've had since launch weekend and the only place it doesn't hold 4G comparable to some other phones I've compared it to including the Razr, Charge, Thunderbolt, Rezound, and Bionic is at my workplace. At work, it fails to match the Rezound, bests the Charge and Thunderbolt, and performs similarly to the Razr.

At my work place, all of those phones drop to 3G except for the Rezound, which stays in 4G and pulls data speeds consistently of 5-8 MB. It obtains faster 3G speeds over the Charge and Thunderbolt, although the difference is negligible. The signal readings are close to, but inferior to the Razr and Bionic and the data speeds have proven similar. This is consistent with multiple tests, as I went a bit nuts when I first got the Nexus and was comparing it to every Verizon phone I could get my hands on.

Every phone I have owned, except for the Rezound, has had issues in this building, which makes sense since the facility is heavily shielded from outside interference. FM radio stations have issues in certain parts of this building.

Hmmph, since we are using one experience to qualify the whole, I'd say this radio must be average...
 
Samsung are not known for good radios. If it were me, to be honest, I would pass on this device. (Unless you need a phone right now like I do). If not, I would wait till Q4 when LTE radios will be updated with new tech which should allow for better 3-4G handoffs and hopefully better battery life.

Right now, I would say get a Razr or Razr MAXX. HTC Rezound is ok, but suffers from 1X syndrome a lot. Which should be fixed by getting a new sim card.

Hope this helps.
 
jkc120 said:
Stuff.
Click to expand...

But it took you how many swaps to get a good one? Sorry but this should just not be. If you want to make excuses for an inferior radio and defend this build fine, that is your choice. But the overall experience of this phone by myself and people that are more in the know and advanced android users all come to the same conclusion, it sucks.

So I don't think its fair that you are going after him after we all had to read of your complaints about all the other nexi (or whatever the plural is) with your own personal experiences. Ice Cream Sandwich is ok and stuff, but its not mind blowing. For me, I need a phone to just work. With excellent call quality and reception. To me, Sammy, Google, and VZW did not do such a hot job from this aspect.

I still think a lot of the prob is VZW new network going through growing pains. But to diminish his opinion of the device after he has had multiple swaps has to tell you something. Look in the mirror at your own experience. No need to defend a so so product imho.
 
Lol jkc buzz off. I'm telling the guy my experience, hopefully you can use whatever 'common sense' you have to figure out the op is looking for peoples experiences with the phone. Mine happens to be that five of then cant get 4g in a great 4g area. I'm sorry that it offends you so much that the radio in my phone isn't perfect. But get a grip dude and get off my case. I would love nothing more then to have a great radio. But samsung has never been known for it. And my 6th one should be here in a few hours. I'll update later. One more phone and I'll have the same amount of nexus returns as you!!
 
lte is awesome haven't dropped signal except for walmart and corporate places like that.

I have zero dropped calls but one bad connection that required a recall.

phone is absolutely amazing and everyone

should be thoroughly jealous of lte.

battery is amazing with light use or idling but using phone heavily with lte and the battery will drain in just a couple hours.

edit
by heavily I mean playing very graphic intensive games and constantly streaming HD YouTube content.

lte web browsing is not heavy
 
But it took you how many swaps to get a good one? Sorry but this should just not be.
Click to expand...
Where have I said it's acceptable that one must go through > 1 device to get a 'good' one? I never said that. Quite the opposite.

If you want to make excuses for an inferior radio and defend this build fine, that is your choice.
Click to expand...
Inferior to what? To the rezound? Yes, agreed (though the drop-to-1x thing is just as annoying). The razr? Not when I've tested them side-by-side. But the razr isn't something I would ever consider. Encrypted bootloader? No thanks. Crappy blur skin? No thanks. To each his/her own. I'd rather own a Nexus with some faults (no phone is perfect) but the flexibility of ROM'ing/AOSP/etc than a locked down phone with a skin I dislike. *shrug* The radio has been completely fine for me. The two units I had with the voice+data dropping is an entirely different thing to people's experience with how well the radio holds a signal. It was defective hardware, plain and simple. Should I have had to swap it to get one without a bad radio? No...but it happens.

But the overall experience of this phone by myself and people that are more in the know and advanced android users all come to the same conclusion, it sucks.
Click to expand...
Ok, so now you're "in the know" and I'm not, eh? :rolleyes: Based on what?

So I don't think its fair that you are going after him after we all had to read of your complaints about all the other nexi (or whatever the plural is) with your own personal experiences.
Click to expand...
Geez, you two really like to put words in people's mouths, huh? I didn't "go after" him. I simply countered his experience with MY experience. How is that "going after" him? The OP asked for opinions, I gave mine. Last I checked, I am within my forum rights to do so.

Ice Cream Sandwich is ok and stuff, but its not mind blowing.
Click to expand...
That's your opinion, not a fact. Irrelevant, as you don't know how strongly the OP feels about ICS or how important having ICS/AOSP is to him/her. This is not something they need you to decide for them.

For me, I need a phone to just work. With excellent call quality and reception. To me, Sammy, Google, and VZW did not do such a hot job from this aspect.
Click to expand...
I completely understand. I use my phone more for personal convenience and leisure, so I'm more willing to put up with some things. Dropping voice+data 15 times a day wasn't something I was willing to put up with, but that was a hardware issue. If it was "normal" then I'd be right here with you calling the radio "crap". I've experienced no problems with the radio that would be an issue if I used the phone as a mission critical business device. The outbound muting thing, however, would absolutely be a deal breaker for me if I was relying on this for a business reason. As I don't and rarely make calls, it's not a big deal to me.

I still think a lot of the prob is VZW new network going through growing pains. But to diminish his opinion of the device after he has had multiple swaps has to tell you something. Look in the mirror at your own experience. No need to defend a so so product imho.
Click to expand...
I'm not defending it. Why do you assume that because I have had a positive experience with it and I am relaying said experience to the OP (who asked for it), that I'm somehow on some holy war to defend the phone at all costs? :eek: I'm stating my experience with it relative to other phones I have had or used or compared to. Nothing more. :cool:

Furthermore, the reasons for my swaps are not so cut and dry as you make them out to be. You act like I swapped it 6 times for the same reason. I will be the first one to admit the quality control at Samsung seems to be piss poor. But there were different reasons for returning the Nexuses. The video issues aside, it was really only 2 unique issues. The video thing I realized was normal for the screen tech, and I made my peace with it and still wanted the device. So the only 2 real reasons for my swapping were:

- bad tinting and banding on the screen
- radio that drops voice and data

It took me a few tries to get one that did not have both those problems. I knew there was no other phone I wanted and that I wanted AOSP and a Nexus device. I also knew there were people with phones that did NOT have either of the above issues. So I swapped until I got one that worked. If their quality control didn't suck so badly, I wouldn't have had to go through that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom