Database Users

[Q] Radio

I'm on the 3 network in Australia and I find my reception is quite poor.
I understand 3's network coverage isn't as amazing as Telstra or Optus, but it is meant to be strong around the CBD, which mine isnt. Other friends on the network using non-htc handsets have perfect reception in places I don't. This leads me to believe it might be my radio. Even when roaming reception will drop out occasionally.
I have Radio-3.22.20.17. Are there any other Australian 3 users here? What radio are you using? How is your reception? Would a 6.35 radio be better? I've searched XDA, Google, etc and couldn't find decent radio information for the Magic, only found some for the Hero.
Thanks,

Anyone able to help?

i don't know much about the radio side of things, but is there anything else that could be affecting your reception?
do you have a cover on your phone?
does reception improve if it's removed?
have you contacted 3 to see if there might be a fault with your phone?

I have a cover, but reception isn't affected with it on or off. I've also had the phone checked and its fine.
I want to test a new radio/rom to see if it improves but I don't want to go back to Android 1.5 and there are no 100% working 2.1 roms, so I'll have to wait.

Are there any threads similar to this one? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=563757

Hi there,
I'm from Australia as well. I used to use the new radio to be able to flash the cursorsense rom and it works great. Inside my office, most of the time I didnt get any reception at all but with the new radio, it did.
i switched back to the old radio to use another rom though. (at that time, rom for the new radio is not that much). at the moment, my mobile phone is roaming
you might want to try the new radio (I believe this takes more space than the old radio as my internal space just disappeared). however be careful with that, i think it's the error in flashing of radio n spl that can cause you to brick your phone.

lagu805 said:
Hi there,
I'm from Australia as well. I used to use the new radio to be able to flash the cursorsense rom and it works great. Inside my office, most of the time I didnt get any reception at all but with the new radio, it did.
i switched back to the old radio to use another rom though. (at that time, rom for the new radio is not that much). at the moment, my mobile phone is roaming
you might want to try the new radio (I believe this takes more space than the old radio as my internal space just disappeared). however be careful with that, i think it's the error in flashing of radio n spl that can cause you to brick your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up trying CursorSense. I hate Sense UI so I removed it, but I didn't notice any signal difference. I also ran Before and After speedtests numerous times and averaged them and the new radio was slower for me

so sorry to hear that...
well, at least i finally found someone from australia using magic and a member of xda as well..

I've not used my Magic on 3, but I can relate to your signal issues on their network. The only contract phone I ever had was with them and I regretted it, call drops and poor signal no matter where I was, I used to work in the stock exchange building, you'd think a phone would have awesome signal there but I'd be stuck on 1-2 bars Sorry to say it, but I think you can blame 3, not your phone.

Old Radio (3.22) vs New Radio (6.35)

Does anyone know what advantages (if any) the new radio has over the old radio? An official/leaked/speculative changelog from HTC or some other expert? Anything?
For example, are there some known issues with the old radio that the new radio fixes? What are they? Does the new radio improve the performance if the device in some way (battery usage, CPU/memory usage, etc)? Is it simply the end-of-life for the original Sapphire radio and they want us to be using the Hero one from a future support perspective?
The basic question I am asking is: why is there a new radio version and what makes it so special?
I've done some reading today and I realise that certain custom ROMs require the radio to either be old or new, so obviously you have to have a radio that matches what your ROM is expecting. I'm not asking about that.

I have the same question. Im not sure if downgrading my radio will cause me to lose some reception or anything.

The new radio/spl combo mostly change how the phone's internal storage is allocated to different partitions - system vs. userdata vs. cache. Without it it's hard to fit the system files of a sense rom on the system partition.
I do seem to get better gsm/3g reception on the new radio though, too - but YMMV.

Do you think it is worth it to downgrade? The only reason I am thinking to downgrade is because it looks like there are better roms for the old radio, specifically the CM5 ports, like the one by alan.
Any more input?

i downgraded to run cm5.07-stable (not alan's "version" though, i just installed cm+gapps+bcrook+o/c710). my gf's phone is still running new radio so i put the NR version of 5.07-stable on it and tbh i can't tell the difference without really poking around in there.
also, i notice that now i'm running old radio again i seem to have more issues with the phone not picking up 3g in areas i know there's 3g until i cycle aeroplane mode. i assume this is radio related and that it's a real phenomenon and that i'm not just imagining it...
but yeah, i think if you're already on NR and aren't sure, i'd try the NR CM5.07 version which i'm sure will soon be replaced by 5.08-t1 at some point. that said, using the radio changer tool is so freaking easy that it makes bricking virtually impossible so i guess you can't lose either way...

drbobb said:
The new radio/spl combo mostly change how the phone's internal storage is allocated to different partitions - system vs. userdata vs. cache. Without it it's hard to fit the system files of a sense rom on the system partition.
I do seem to get better gsm/3g reception on the new radio though, too - but YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay i have some issue here. after upgrade rom it seem i cant send mms.
is it because of the radio version?
As what i know radio can be specified whether to use GSM or CDMA reception.
not all country use GSM or CDMA as their default reception.
so is that because i use wrong radio version?
how can i know or found the right radio version, for example for GSM?
anyone here have clue...?

The radio version doesn't affect the phone's ability to send MMS. The Magic only works on GSM/UMTS - flashing a CDMA radio would probably brick your phone.
You probably messed up your settings. Call your provider.

i've been trying to find this answer - but does old radio with Froyo have a working camera? I know new radio doesn't. When I look at Froyo roms with 3.22 radio they don't mention if camera works or not.
Does anyone know? Thanks.

stolenphot0 said:
i've been trying to find this answer - but does old radio with Froyo have a working camera? I know new radio doesn't. When I look at Froyo roms with 3.22 radio they don't mention if camera works or not.
Does anyone know? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes they do, the froyo roms for the 3.22 radio do, but it's really not because of the radio, its the kernel that their using for that radio for froyo. The kernel has some good advantages if im correct but it also has its cons.. Correct me if im wrong.

TheForgotten said:
Yes they do, the froyo roms for the 3.22 radio do, but it's really not because of the radio, its the kernel that their using for that radio for froyo. The kernel has some good advantages if im correct but it also has its cons.. Correct me if im wrong.
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thanks! looks like I'm going to downgrade tonight

keinengel said:
The radio version doesn't affect the phone's ability to send MMS. The Magic only works on GSM/UMTS - flashing a CDMA radio would probably brick your phone.
You probably messed up your settings. Call your provider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks kein for your answer.
but then when i try dialing *#*#4636#*#* and find phone info, and go to the "set preffered network type" it is always pick "WCDMA preffered" as default. i know that magic only use GSM, then i choose GSM only, but when i try to set up 3G on my APN list, the phone goes back to WCDMA as default.
so my guess is if i want to use 2G network, then choose GSM.
otherwise, WCDMA as default for 3G.
but im not sure by sending/receiving MMS use which network (GSM/WCDMA).
any clue?

It should be WCDMA (same thing as 3G or UMTS) if you provider has 3G. It doesn't matter if you use GSM or 3G when you're sending an MMS, as long as you the right APN settings.

[Q] Update Radio for Rogers' Magic?

Hey guys,
Is there a way I could seamlessly update my radio to one that was made for the Magic? I'm currently using one that was done for Dream and I have lots of problems with it like radio will get into a state where I could not call/sms and the only fix to that is a reboot or airplane on/off.
I've heard other people complaining about this on the forums but don't know what is the conclusion. I know the latest Radio that Rogers' Magic got (famous post 911) has some "protection" in it that blocks rooting so that is why we have to use the Dream one...RADIO-3.22.26.17
Was just wondering if someone had a solution to that!
Thanks.

There is a radio switcher tool in the development section.
Worth noting though, is that switching radio will kill your ability to use the CM6 version that is fully functional.

So how is that going to help? Do you know of a better radio that I could try with my setup?

alex_canada said:
So how is that going to help? Do you know of a better radio that I could try with my setup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't want to lose your data sign the waiver flash the "old" radio included with the radio switcher app and you still be ale to rock a fully functional CM6.
Make sure you're actually having problems with SMS and calls and it's not jsut a reception issue.
I'm running my HTC Magic with the Dream Radio and everything seems great to me.

But is the "old radio" included with the radio switcher app better than the one I have right now?
I'm tempted to sign that waiver and install the newest written exactly for my phone if it's possible (the one that I had before rooting my phone was OK but that would not work with a rooted phone I guess...the so called "post-911").
What I did last nigh was to re-flash just my radio again, maybe something went wrong last tine and I'll if I still get those states when my phone is saying it's connected to the GSM/3G carrier but no calling/sms would work - get's fixed with reboot or airplane mode on/off.

[Q] No more 3g connection after 2.1 update

Hi all,
I just upgraded my Telus Hero to 2.1, unrooted phone by the way.
The update worked and I am now running 2.1, but I no longer have a 3g connection. Mobile network is ON, but no 3g icon in the top bar, nothing.
Why is this?

did u flash a new radio? after loading new roms, its worth loading new radios too.
try a few different radios to find the best one for you, there isnt exactly one ultimate radio, but usually the newer/latest ones work well. not necessarily
(as far as i know, they are not country specific, nor network specific - so just hit and miss ...)
(ps i would recommend to read a few pages or forums related to radios to give u the best and accurate information - i dont want to accidently give you the wrong info!)
also...does wifi and gps work?? thats usually affected by radios

Checked your APNs in SETTINGS?
Sent from my HTC Hero using XDA App

Ya I had to look up the APN settings online. Thanks ddotpatel!

Radio Rom versions?

Hi i was wondering since i have the latest radio rom 2.15 i seen this link that has different versions and it said to try different ones to see which one suits my needs. Since I have 2.15 can i go backwards to see if the other ones will work better or will it mess up my phone. Only reason i wanted to try different ones is because i lose data connectivity once in awhile and have to reset it. Thanks.
Tone Loc.

tdepaz said:
Hi i was wondering since i have the latest radio rom 2.15 i seen this link that has different versions and it said to try different ones to see which one suits my needs. Since I have 2.15 can i go backwards to see if the other ones will work better or will it mess up my phone. Only reason i wanted to try different ones is because i lose data connectivity once in awhile and have to reset it. Thanks.
Tone Loc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can use an older radio version. But if gou have a T-Mobile HD2 then make sure the radio has a 50 in the third set of numbers like this 2.15.50.14. The radios with the 50 in the third set of numbers is a radio that is compatible with the T-Mobile HD2. Flashing a non compatible radio to a T-Mobile HD2 will brick the phone. Also it is two exceptioms to this rule, do not flash radio that looks has these numbers in it 2.04.50.xda or 2.05.50.xx cause they were the radios used in the test devices for the T-Mobile HD2 but they were still used on regular HD2's so they will brick a T-Mobile HD2 as well.

Thanks will try it then. I hate have to go to airplane mode then taking it off to get my data connection back. I hear that the 2.12 is pretty good so i wanted to try that and see if i get a better reception. Yes I know not to use anything with a .51 at the end. Thanks for the reply.