Database Users

Reception

As many people here are probably aware of...the Nexus One had some 3G reception problems on T-Mobile. How is the Vibrant working out for those who have it (or get it today)?
EDIT: I'm not here to argue about whether or not the N1 had 3G reception issues. I'm really just interested to hear about the Vibrant's 3G performance in real world use. If you have a vibrant please let me know how it is for you. Thanks!

will let you know in about an hour and 10 minutes. I have had 2 different HD2's in the past 3 months, the first one had a consistent 5 bars of 3G at my house, and my last one would average 2-3, so I'm hoping the Vibrant will be more like my first hd2 in that regards lol

sounds good. will wait to hear about it. this was my biggest gripe with the nexus one, so hopefully it is better in this phone.

N1 does not have reception issue... its tmobiles coverage .. it does the same to my tp2, tmobile dash and I even saw the galaxy doing it in poor signal... in strong area it wont even drop a bar...
And galaxys antenna is at the bottom like the n1...
Check video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LROTHrTR92k&feature=player_embedded#
And here's my tp2 doing it.... its tmobile and of course covering it. Together is the issue.. forgive the language in the video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eo7uFtAKDY

temperbad said:
N1 does not have reception issue... its tmobiles coverage .. it does the same to my tp2, tmobile dash and I even saw the galaxy doing it in poor signal... in strong area it wont even drop a bar...
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I'm not referring to what happens if you're in poor signal area. I'm talking about average signal areas where you have decent 3G and very good EDGE reception. The N1 loses 3G reception when held in a specific way, or often defaults to EDGE while other phones such as the G1 hold onto 3G just fine. I've tested this thoroughly, and am quite certain of this.

^ I have both, an N1 and G1. You are either very unlucky or full of $hit.

s15274n said:
^ I have both, an N1 and G1. You are either very unlucky or full of $hit.
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Wow, seems like you need to grow up a bit.
These are my observations, and the N1's signal simply wasn't good enough for me to keep the phone. I no longer own it. I'm not the only person who has had issues with the N1's signal in comparison to other phones. It is true that you can hold many phones in a specific way to drop signal, but on the N1 holding it in a natural way causes a drop, which is a pretty big issue - at least it was for me.

gsvnet said:
I'm not referring to what happens if you're in poor signal area. I'm talking about average signal areas where you have decent 3G and very good EDGE reception. The N1 loses 3G reception when held in a specific way, or often defaults to EDGE while other phones such as the G1 hold onto 3G just fine. I've tested this thoroughly, and am quite certain of this.
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Watch my vids, most phones do this. Just cause ya got full bars 3g doesn't make it a strong signal.....

temperbad said:
Watch my vids, most phones do this. Just cause ya got full bars 3g doesn't make it a strong signal.....
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I've tested this firsthand and don't need to watch any videos. natural use of other phones results in better 3G reception than natural use of an N1. unless you're actually *trying* to hurt the signal on a G1, it's not going to happen easily. That's my experience, anyways. By the way, I use the actual dbm's to measure the signal, not just bars. To say that "full bars" is not strong signal is actually pretty ignorant anyways. Generally full bars is a minimum of around -90dbm which is definitely a good signal. It differs a bit based on how they are calibrated on a particular phone, but this is an approximate rule.

gsvnet said:
Wow, seems like you need to grow up a bit.
These are my observations, and the N1's signal simply wasn't good enough for me to keep the phone. I no longer own it. I'm not the only person who has had issues with the N1's signal in comparison to other phones. It is true that you can hold many phones in a specific way to drop signal, but on the N1 holding it in a natural way causes a drop, which is a pretty big issue - at least it was for me.
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I've read the issue .. I've owned a n1 for 6 months. The issue is tmobile not the phone... I.e. my videos. They do the same.... Its tmobile.. and partially bad antenna placement but its ultimately the poor signal That causes your hand to deflect signal... and from the video the sgs has the antenna in the same place as then1

gsvnet said:
I've tested this firsthand and don't need to watch any videos. natural use of other phones results in better 3G reception than natural use of an N1. unless you're actually *trying* to hurt the signal on a G1, it's not going to happen easily. That's my experience, anyways. By the way, I use the actual dbm's to measure the signal, not just bars. To say that "full bars" is not strong signal is actually pretty ignorant anyways. Generally full bars is a minimum of around -90dbm which is definitely a good signal. It differs a bit based on how they are calibrated on a particular phone, but this is an approximate rule.
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Ignorance is starting a thread about signal and not watching vids people post to help you out... one of them vids is the galaxy s... your answer is in that video

temperbad said:
I've read the issue .. I've owned a n1 for 6 months. The issue is tmobile not the phone... I.e. my videos. They do the same.... Its tmobile.. and partially bad antenna placement but its ultimately the poor signal That causes your hand to deflect signal... and from the video the sgs has the antenna in the same place as then1
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You can point figures at T-Mobile all you want but I constantly have 3G on a G1 in a lot of places where I didn't on an N1 (tested different radios as well, with similar results). The same goes for my Nokia N900, which I can't deplete the signal by the way I hold it no matter how much I try.
It is true that T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100mhz bands for 3G, while AT&T uses lower bands (850/1900mhz). The lower bands are less susceptible to interference like this, and that's probably why the issue wasn't very noticeable on the AT&T version of the N1. However, a properly designed phone will not have as much of a problem on T-Mobile's network as the N1, especially when you're holding the phone in a natural way, and not an obtrusive way.

gsvnet said:
You can point figures at T-Mobile all you want but I constantly have 3G on a G1 in a lot of places where I didn't on an N1 (tested different radios as well, with similar results). The same goes for my Nokia N900, which I can't deplete the signal by the way I hold it no matter how much I try.
It is true that T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100mhz bands for 3G, while AT&T uses lower bands (850/1900mhz). The lower bands are less susceptible to interference like this, and that's probably why the issue wasn't very noticeable on the AT&T version of the N1. However, a properly designed phone will not have as much of a problem on T-Mobile's network as the N1, especially when you're holding the phone in a natural way, and not an obtrusive way.
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I thinks its both. But safe to say if we had better signal I.e. building penetration we would never see the issue...past this.. back to sgs
Please watch the video. The first one shows the same as how the n1 was. Imo the antenna is in the same spot. So that may help you out on your question

temperbad said:
Ignorance is starting a thread about signal and not watching vids people post to help you out... one of them vids is the galaxy s... your answer is in that video
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That's the Galaxy S, not the Vibrant.
The Galaxy S had issues with GPS signal, so far reports are that the Vibrant does not. Clearly there are some changes to the phone in that case. It could be an updated firmware. Thus I can't go by issues that the Galaxy S has, as the Vibrant could very well be different - especially considering that video seems to be from a completely different network operator/country, with different network characteristics, etc. On the other hand, on the N1, the 3G reception issue was a widespread problem, even recognized by Google to some extent - though they never did 'truly' fix it. I'll be the first to say the N1 is a really nice phone, even today - a good 6 months after its release. But it isn't quite as good as other phones in 3G reception, which I determined after owning the phone for almost three months.

temperbad said:
I thinks its both. But safe to say if we had better signal I.e. building penetration we would never see the issue...past this.. back to sgs
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These are the frequencies that T-Mobile was allocated, and they are not the only carrier using higher bands for 3G. It is the job of the phone manufacturer to develop a device that is optimized for the frequencies the intended network uses. The N900 is an example of a device that does really well in this area, the G1 isn't too bad either. In creating this thread, I was hoping to hear about actual usage of the Vibrant on T-Mobile's network, so how about we leave the thread to just that?
Thanks.

gsvnet said:
These are the frequencies that T-Mobile was allocated, and they are not the only carrier using higher bands for 3G. It is the job of the phone manufacturer to develop a device that is optimized for the frequencies the intended network uses. The N900 is an example of a device that does really well in this area, the G1 isn't too bad either. In creating this thread, I was hoping to hear about actual usage of the Vibrant on T-Mobile's network, so how about we leave the thread to just that?
Thanks.
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Its a fact tmobiles 3g doesn't penetrate buildings as well. I don't care what phone you have...
Anyways. I'm saying the antenna is more than likely at the bottom as well. So you may be getting n1 issues... anyways I'm done. Your pretty set in what you believe ...
Hope its well for you...

temperbad said:
Its a fact tmobiles 3g doesn't penetrate buildings as well. I don't care what phone you have...
Anyways. I'm saying the antenna is more than likely at the bottom as well. So you may be getting n1 issues... anyways I'm done. Your pretty set in what you believe ...
Hope its well for you...
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When did I argue anything about building penetration? Of course it's not as good as some other carriers, due to the higher frequencies in use. However, some phones handle this better than others, and I created this thread to learn about the Vibrant's 3G performance. You came here and began arguing over practically nothing, without any experience of the Vibrant yourself. And as 'heygrl' pointed out, you're clearly going out of your way to deplete the signal on the TP2, holding it an unnatural way. Thus the video is not really relevant.
heygrl said:
The vidzzzzzz you posted are crap.
Anyway I ACUTALLY have a Vibrant in a few hours and I will let the OP know how the reception is instead of posting up a bunch of stupid Youtube videos.
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Thanks. Glad to see somebody who knows what they're talking about.

gsvnet said:
When did I argue anything about building penetration? Of course it's not as good as some other carriers, due to the higher frequencies in use. However, some phones handle this better than others, and I created this thread to learn about the Vibrant's 3G performance. You came here and began arguing over practically nothing, without any experience of the Vibrant yourself. And as 'heygrl' pointed out, you're clearly going out of your way to deplete the signal on the TP2, holding it an unnatural way. Thus the video is not really relevant.
Thanks. Glad to see somebody who knows what they're talking about.
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hows that a unatural way? people hold the top alot, think about holding it in landscape, if your holding it with your left hand, your gonna cover the antenna even more so than I was especially typing.. HOW was that Unatural. LOL Thats how you hold your phone....
Edit: and what consists of Unatural? lol Its a 4 inch device, your hands are gonna cover it no matter how hard you try and avoid it... Once again hows holding it at the top vs bottom unatural?
So basically since im holding it at the top vs bottom Im holding it wrong. lol

temperbad said:
hows that a unatural way? people hold the top alot, think about holding it in landscape, if your holding it with your left hand, your gonna cover the antenna even more so than I was especially typing.. HOW was that Unatural. LOL Thats how you hold your phone....
Edit: and what consists of Unatural? lol Its a 4 inch device, your hands are gonna cover it no matter how hard you try and avoid it... Once again hows holding it at the top vs bottom unatural?
So basically since im holding it at the top vs bottom Im holding it wrong. lol
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Whatever you say - I've used a T-Mobile TP2 (in areas with slightly sketchy 3G) and didn't notice this problem. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but under my usage I didn't see this. I don't see it on a G1 or N900 either.
Anyway, I don't care about the TP2 - I'm concerned with the Vibrant, so let's see what people have to say in terms of real world usage.

temperbad said:
I've read the issue .. I've owned a n1 for 6 months. The issue is tmobile not the phone... I.e. my videos. They do the same.... Its tmobile.. and partially bad antenna placement but its ultimately the poor signal That causes your hand to deflect signal... and from the video the sgs has the antenna in the same place as then1
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Click to collapse
there's a 78 page thread w/about 3300 posts on google's nexus one support forum that refutes your assertion that it's Tmo's signal or coverage - when the AT&T versions came out, they had same issues
convince them http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=0c0fb2a46ad64955&hl=en&start=3040

Is anyone having any Signal strengh issues?

I got the new fascinate today. I love it. Got rid of my bold.....but my bold go so much better bars...I had like 4 to full with my bold in town......with my fascinate I only get 2 and at work I get only one...this is my only gripe with this phone...I can see it sucking the battery bad. How could I turn off 3g while I'm at work? Any ideas? I hope with software my signal will improve...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

dvigue said:
I got the new fascinate today. I love it. Got rid of my bold.....but my bold go so much better bars...I had like 4 to full with my bold in town......with my fascinate I only get 2 and at work I get only one...this is my only gripe with this phone...I can see it sucking the battery bad. How could I turn off 3g while I'm at work? Any ideas? I hope with software my signal will improve...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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Does the signal actually degrade?
What does it read under settings->about phone->status?

Sorry can't say I'm seeing the same with my Fascinate. My wife has a blackberry bold and our signal seems pretty much equal.

humm...i wonder if its a phone issue? i jumps from 1 to 4 bars, and back again, just sitting there...

dvigue said:
I got the new fascinate today. I love it. Got rid of my bold.....but my bold go so much better bars...I had like 4 to full with my bold in town......with my fascinate I only get 2 and at work I get only one...this is my only gripe with this phone...I can see it sucking the battery bad. How could I turn off 3g while I'm at work? Any ideas? I hope with software my signal will improve...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i actually do have a noticeable difference in strength between my droid and this phone, my droid always had a constant 3g connection and almost full bars in my house whereas i am constantly dropping a data connection with this and down to 3 or 2 bars.

i see alot of people talking about it now..Gosh i hope this IS a software issue, and will be fixed...
this ever happen on any other phones in the past?

dvigue said:
i see alot of people talking about it now..Gosh i hope this IS a software issue, and will be fixed...
this ever happen on any other phones in the past?
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I thought this too, but it's not the case. There is only 1 square foot where i work where i get reception. SO i have keep my phone in this area. With the droid 2 , i was getting 2 bars. The signal strength (settings/about phone/status) showed -109 to -114 db. Now we know the lower the better. i have never gotten under 109 at work.
With the fascinate it showed no bars but was getting -109 dbs. I knew that meant the signal was stronger than the droid 2. So even though it had no bars, i tried to make calls and get calls and voila, worked like a charm. I was even able to move it out of the 1 square foot box.
SO long story short, it gets better reception, but looks worse because of the conservative bar programming.

dvigue said:
this ever happen on any other phones in the past?
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Use an HTC Incredible for one day and a tinfoil hat will get better signal. I just had Verizon send me this phone to replace my Incredible. Even poor connections will best the awful strength of my Incredible.

orateam said:
SO long story short, it gets better reception, but looks worse because of the conservative bar programming.
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hey samsung can do an apple and just add a bar or two to the meter

orateam said:
I thought this too, but it's not the case. There is only 1 square foot where i work where i get reception. SO i have keep my phone in this area. With the droid 2 , i was getting 2 bars. The signal strength (settings/about phone/status) showed -109 to -114 db. Now we know the lower the better. i have never gotten under 109 at work.
With the fascinate it showed no bars but was getting -109 dbs. I knew that meant the signal was stronger than the droid 2. So even though it had no bars, i tried to make calls and get calls and voila, worked like a charm. I was even able to move it out of the 1 square foot box.
SO long story short, it gets better reception, but looks worse because of the conservative bar programming.
Click to expand...
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Good point...and i noticed my battery did good today even though it was "Low" on bars..so i think you are correct...

mdram-omnia said:
hey samsung can do an apple and just add a bar or two to the meter
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i was JUST going to say that...too funny

dvigue said:
Good point...and i noticed my battery did good today even though it was "Low" on bars..so i think you are correct...
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Actually i meant to say that the fascinate got -101 to 109 dbs
At 109 dbs it showed no bars, at 101, it showed 1 to 2 bars.
Bars need to be regulated.

I actually read somewhere that the droid series uses a different bar scale than other android phones making it look like they have a better signal or rather making it easier to actually see if you can make a phone call thats not gonna be crappy or not lol

I haven't watched my signal bar too closely, but I have noticed that this phone seems to drop its data connection far too frequently. I keep getting network timeout errors in applications like the Market and stuff. I never even once had that problem with my Droid Eris, even after installing a custom ROM. I sincerely hope it's a software bug, and that they fix this with the Froyo update, or even an OTA update before then. If if turns out to be a hardware issue, then I will definitely be glad that I once again opted for a 1-year contract.

better connection or more bars
1. go to the phone/dialer and type this pins in *#*#4636#*#*
2.then go to phone information
3.scroll down and USE WHATEVER GIVES U MORE BARS
IM NOT RESPONSE ABLE FOR WHATEVER HAPPENS TO UR PHONE

Ask me your mt4g/Vibrant comparison questions!

I have both in hand and am willing to answer questions comparing the two if anyone has any.

What's ur opinion on the new sense ui vs touchwiz?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

casual864 said:
What's ur opinion on the new sense ui vs touchwiz?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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If I had a video camera besides the phone I would do a walkthrough demo'ing it, but omg it is beautiful. The default home launcher that comes with it is as horrible as it gets so I used Launcherpro to remedy that. Other than that though, how the phone dialer is laid out, the contacts screen layout, and even simple things like text messages are unbelievably polished. You will not be dissapointed with the Sense UI on the mt4g.
EDIT: Ehh, what I was gonna show in the video was pretty basic and I thought someone must've done this already so before doing anything I looked up videos and found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNr-ku3-O0g It is exactly the same software I would've shown you except he's running it on the Nexus One and he goes a lot more in depth than I would've

What's the battery life like, with moderate or heavy usage?

presence06 said:
What's the battery life like, with moderate or heavy usage?
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Well when I bought it, it came out of the box with only 30% charge. So I went to a Starbucks before class and it charged pretty well in about 45 mins (don't know the percentage but maybe like 75%). I used that from 5pm til 11pm when I got home. At that point it was giving me low battery warnings, but I'd say that was fair after some pretty heavy usage. I spent the whole day mesing with settings and trying to get a feel for the phone. I downloaded about 20 apps on HSPA+ in NYC and about 4 or 5 full length albums on Thumbplay over wifi in school. I also browsed the web and ran speedtests (got about 4Mbp/s down, 1Mbp/s up). Overall the battery did pretty well and so far is the least of my worries, if I could think of any.. I'd take the mt4g battery > Vibrant battery any day.

How is the overall feel of the device? Weight wise? Does it really look like a device for a 14 y.o. or it is a decent design?
How is the screen? Does it really make a lot of difference b/w SAMOLED on the lowest brightness vs MT4G on auto?
I am sure the OS interactions feel faster on it, but is it really noticeable in the everyday use?

Well, would you trade/sell your vibrant for the mt4g?

lqaddict said:
How is the overall feel of the device? Weight wise? Does it really look like a device for a 14 y.o. or it is a decent design?
How is the screen? Does it really make a lot of difference b/w SAMOLED on the lowest brightness vs MT4G on auto?
I am sure the OS interactions feel faster on it, but is it really noticeable in the everyday use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The actual device is a lot sexier than than dummy displays of it and better looking than photos do it justice. It is a bit heaver than the Vibrant (but what isn't lol), I think it's the perfect weight. It doesn't look like only a teenage device; I think it could appeal to anyone of any age.
Now the screen - a lot of people say the Vibrant's screen is better, which it is and I love it, but I think it was overdone. Why? Because the entire 2 months I used the phone, I used it at the lowest brightness which was still too bright. The mt4G's screen can get REALLY dim, which is nice at night because it doesn't hurt your eyes. I'd say the Vibrant's screen at the LOWEST brightness setting is about the mt4G's display at around 30% brightness. Not a bad thing. The colors are beautiful - they're as good as you need them to be and not overly saturated.
The difference between interactions so far is notable. Everything is so smooth that I don't worry anymore about hitting the buttons too fast and the phone not keeping up.

anthonys2r said:
Well, would you trade/sell your vibrant for the mt4g?
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Lol. I made that decision last night after using the device about 4 hours. I sold my Vibrant and it's in the xda marketplace right now. Definitely keeping the mt4G.
I was thinking about waiting til Nov. 8th or 11th to see what Samsung has in store for us, but I'm very disappointed that their priority seems to be putting out new devices over supporting their current ones so I went with HTC and the mt4G here.

Aspeds2989 said:
...I also browsed the web and ran speedtests (got about 4Mbp/s down, 1Mbp/s up)...
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That's what I get on my Vibrant (well from 3-5Mbs on avg [max was 6Mbps]). Is the NYC HSPA+ coverage not that good?
~SB

ShinyBuddha said:
That's what I get on my Vibrant (well from 3-5Mbs on avg [max was 6Mbps]). Is the NYC HSPA+ coverage not that good?
~SB
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I was thinking that but I also considered that I was in a very heavy populated area in midtown with many people probably hammering those cell towers at the same time. < Whoa, no homo.

Aspeds2989 said:
I was thinking that but I also considered that I was in a very heavy populated area in midtown with many people probably hammering those cell towers at the same time. < Whoa, no homo.
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So essentially "HSPA+ upgraded" phone but same speed? Doesn't sound like a winner for me. Can't wait to see some upgraded HSPA+ networks able to push out that type of throughput to phones which support it. Kinda makes a 4G phone moot at this point if you can't take advantage of it.
Good to hear about the responsive UI, although we can achieve that with any ROM from Sombionix or Eugene. But it's a plus to have that experience out of the box for what...95% of the people who don't know what a ROM is. Anything that can get more people on the T-Mobile bandwagon = more money to T-Mobile = more money for infrastructure = happy people.
~SB

ShinyBuddha said:
That's what I get on my Vibrant (well from 3-5Mbs on avg [max was 6Mbps]). Is the NYC HSPA+ coverage not that good?
~SB
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I wonder about the usefulness of speedtest. Yesterday my brother and I were at dinner and we tested our phones, his Nexus One versus my Vibrant. I was pulling down 3+ mbps and he was getting half that, even though in theory we should be pulling the same speed.

Kubernetes said:
I wonder about the usefulness of speedtest. Yesterday my brother and I were at dinner and we tested our phones, his Nexus One versus my Vibrant. I was pulling down 3+ mbps and he was getting half that, even though in theory we should be pulling the same speed.
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In theory is correct but the antenna assembly and the radios are different, therefore it's not exactly comparable and speedtest most likely has it correct. One thing that I have noticed is that my IP will be assigned to LA, San Fransisco, and even once Pittsburgh randomly. Don't know why this happens, but a reboot puts it back in the correct IP range for my area. That might have affected the test that night.
I've got this site bookmarked on my phone if I need it: http://whatismyipaddress.com/
If I ever do a speed test and find a low throughput the above reason is usually why.
~SB

Ordered mine yesterday, I am disappointed at the level of support the galaxy series has received from Sammy, I believe after this froyo update Sammy will wash their hands of this devise and move on,
I am told that the mt4g has an upgrade waiting right out the box, Now that’s what I call Support. Also rumor is mt4g will be the first to get Gingerbread upgrade.

Did it come with the new tether app? The TMO one?
If not, that might be the OTA that is being rolled out.
I was actually thinking of getting an HTC device, seeing how they got it pretty much under the belt the Android, but the new tactics with the provider that locks the phone down from root, and RW NAND keeps me at bay.
Wish I was a bit bolder when Nexus One came out, and got it, I just didn't like the marketing pitch that it was an iPhone killer, but it did nothing to decrease the popularity of the Apple product , it did increase the popularity of the Android though hopefully Vibrant is going to staying with me for at least 2 years.

lqaddict said:
Did it come with the new tether app? The TMO one?
If not, that might be the OTA that is being rolled out.
I was actually thinking of getting an HTC device, seeing how they got it pretty much under the belt the Android, but the new tactics with the provider that locks the phone down from root, and RW NAND keeps me at bay.
Wish I was a bit bolder when Nexus One came out, and got it, I just didn't like the marketing pitch that it was an iPhone killer, but it did nothing to decrease the popularity of the Apple product , it did increase the popularity of the Android though hopefully Vibrant is going to staying with me for at least 2 years.
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As far as I can see, the app fixed a glitch with the address bar in the browser and that's it. Maybe there's some other bugs it fixed that I hadn't even noticed yet, but that's a good thing. The wifi hotspot and wifi calling apps were on it out of the box already.

how was the rock band?

iynfynity said:
how was the rock band?
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I'm not a fan really, but I tried it and it's not bad at all... Pretty addicting and the graphics are nice. The Monopoly game that comes with the phone btw is sick! The graphics are as good as I've seen in a game and the gameplay is smooth. I was impressed because at first I just looked at it as bloatware to ignore, but it's "keepable." The game is by EA btw.

I had the opportunity to play with 4g, the phone is very nice. Personally I can't see myself with a phone that I can't root or flash, I mean that's why we come to forums like this. If we get root for the 4g I will be the first to get it. But as of right now I love what we can do, and what's coming with the vibrant.

just upgraded!

i just got off the phone with Sprint.. I upgraded to the S from an EVO.. anyone on sprint with one? any issues? etc.. the camera on my evo SUCKED .. never was good..
anywho.. thanks!
ck

ummm... do some reading on here.

besides radio signal issues on some of the handsets (some users don't experience it), i like pretty much everything about the ns over the evo. the camera doesn't shoot 720 like the evo does, but somehow it looks a lot better.
oh yes, welcome!

I came from an EVO as well. Besides the known issues like signal I am loving things phone. EVO feels like a brick after using this.

cool.. well my camera sucks.. so.. anything would be an improvement..

Upgraded from the hero. No signal issues in my area. Its a greaaaat phone IMO

yeah, I too came from an Evo and having no issues... phones faster, better battery, better screen, lighter, less bloatware-y, etc... glad I upgraded

it's a great phone, it will be better once they resolve the signal issues that are plaguing most users.

I switched to the NS4G from the EVO 4G as well and not one regret here. Luckily I am not having the signal strength problem. The people on the EVO forum that think that just because the processor is the same speed as on the EVO that it is not an upgrade. I disagree. The hardware in the NS4G is much better than the EVO and this thing boots in mere seconds. GPU intensive gaming is amazing compared to the EVO, and seriously the only thing I miss about the EVO is the larger screen, but believe me the higher resolution on the NS4G and the super amoled screen make up for the size difference. It is slimmer, lighter, faster, better battery life and just an all around better phone. I hope you like it as much as I do.

housry23 said:
I switched to the NS4G from the EVO 4G as well and not one regret here. Luckily I am not having the signal strength problem. The people on the EVO forum that think that just because the processor is the same speed as on the EVO that it is not an upgrade. I disagree. The hardware in the NS4G is much better than the EVO and this thing boots in mere seconds. GPU intensive gaming is amazing compared to the EVO, and seriously the only thing I miss about the EVO is the larger screen, but believe me the higher resolution on the NS4G and the super amoled screen make up for the size difference. It is slimmer, lighter, faster, better battery life and just an all around better phone. I hope you like it as much as I do.
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Click to collapse
Good points, but fyi, it's the same resolution as the Evo.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

Yeah same resolution. Anyone else notice much better batterylife with 4g on?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

Award Tour said:
Yeah same resolution. Anyone else notice much better batterylife with 4g on?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Yeah I notice it. Its because it has a better sleep policy...I notice that it turns 4g to idle when not in use.

I just upgraded from a Samsung Moment which is one of the worst phones in the history of phones. I'm not used to having a GPS get a lock in under 5min and no data lock-ups randomly. Plus the battery life on the Moment is seriously the worst so even thought this phones doesn't have the best battery life, anything is an upgrade over the Moment. Only thing that sucks is the radios are not strong in the Nexus S and hope they fix it soon.

Award Tour said:
Yeah same resolution. Anyone else notice much better batterylife with 4g on?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah same resolution but is smaller screen so it looks better, and the amoled makes the evo look washed out.
Anyways I came from the evo, and I like it so far GPU is better and for some reason it feels faster then the evo, the hummingbird processor is better then the evo's processor, the camera takes better pics and even in the dark it works better then the evo even tho it doesn't have touch to focus, 720p wasn't a big deal I use my videos to sent by email and 720p were too big, I got a point to shoot the records 720p /60fps for that, no radio problems here, mmm what else? ?? Oh yeah the speaker in the back seems to be less loud then the evo but the speaker up front (the one you use to.make calls) is really good, 4G seems to kill battery faster but that's something that I would expect but it does kill battery slower then the evo (you won't notice unless you have measure time on both, GPS seems to lock 2-5 seconds while the evo lock GPS really quick, overall I'm happy with the NS4G and I can't wait to get Ice cream this fall/winter
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

I also upgraded from the Evo and I am very happy with the Nexus S. The whole phone feels snappier and smoother. I'm getting 65fps on fps2d compared to 50 with the evo. The first few days when I got it it kept irritating me because it couldn't keep a wifi signal very well, but then I remembered that by default wifi turns off when you turn the screen off, so changed to never turn off and now it always stays connected. This is def. an upgrade from the Evo.

fixxxer2008 said:
ummm... do some reading on here.
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Click to collapse
Ok....I for one, am getting sick of your negativity. Chill out. The OP is obviously new and excited about their device.
slackwaresupport said:
i just got off the phone with Sprint.. I upgraded to the S from an EVO.. anyone on sprint with one? any issues? etc.. the camera on my evo SUCKED .. never was good..
anywho.. thanks!
ck
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Click to collapse
Congrats on your Nexy! Hopefully you don't have any problems with reception like a few people had around here. I for one, have no issues with signal and absolutely love the performance of this device.

Award Tour said:
Yeah same resolution. Anyone else notice much better batterylife with 4g on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the best battery life with 4G on while steaming music and running 25 widgets while manually syncing every 10 seconds with GPS locating.

12MaNy said:
I get the best battery life with 4G on while steaming music and running 25 widgets while manually syncing every 10 seconds with GPS locating.
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Click to collapse
..I meant relative to the EVO 4G. I know, I wasnt very clear.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

Award Tour said:
..I meant relative to the EVO 4G. I know, I wasnt very clear.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
compared to the evo you should get a day when actually using the phone. Not the look my phone got a three days when getting three sms and five minute phone call.
The dev support was amazing on the evo. But no one (well for me) could stop my evo from draining battery draining like a sieve

Award Tour said:
..I meant relative to the EVO 4G. I know, I wasnt very clear.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I know what you meant. Just being a smartass.

New Galaxy SII owner on AT&T.

So I bricked my Infuse 4g two days ago to my complete and utter dismay. I really loved that phone, but saw it as an opportunity to pick up the elite Galaxy SII i-9100. I purchased from Amazon and the phone should arrive Tuesday.
I'm VERY excited to receive this amazing device. Is it worth installing custom roms on this beast, or because of the horsepower under the hood would you say it's pretty much flawless out of the box? I really don't want to gamble bricking another phone I paid $500+ for.
Also, I've never used an unlocked device before. On At&T everything functions properly?
Lastly, I don't know much about phone hardware. How is the graphics chip on this phone for playing 3D games? Is it top of the line? Better than Tegra 2?
Thanks guys.

Got mine from Amazon last week. Hated it at first due to short battery life, but after a few cycles, it calms down. With an unlocked phone, you just put your SIM in and go. Everything just works.
I have not totally decided if I will keep it since I have a Nexus S coming this week, but it certainly is impressive.
I'm pretty sure you will love it.
Here is an HD video I took yesterday of a fire by my house. Pretty amazing stuff...watch in 1080p.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex7jF6hincA

The phone is very hard to brick, as long as you don't mess about with pits and put a sgs1 pit in (3 times and counting that's happened)
The phone is good out of the box, custom roms are mostly for theme customisation, and other nice tweaks.
As far as the gpu, it's more powerful than the tegra2 but lacks support for some of the texture and shader types that some games use (aka they use non standard ones), chainfire 3d can work around this, and there are lots of threads on the issue.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

I'm on dumphone Att $50 unlimited everything prepay.
So Internet data speeds are just crap.
Got a $35 Sprint Mifi and ride they're Wimax network.
SGSII flies...probably unlike any upcoming sG2's on the carriers.
Battery's a challenge, no doubt tho.
Need extended one to survive.

veyka said:
The phone is very hard to brick, as long as you don't mess about with pits and put a sgs1 pit in (3 times and counting that's happened)
The phone is good out of the box, custom roms are mostly for theme customisation, and other nice tweaks.
As far as the gpu, it's more powerful than the tegra2 but lacks support for some of the texture and shader types that some games use (aka they use non standard ones), chainfire 3d can work around this, and there are lots of threads on the issue.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right said. it's pretty much flawless out of box and custom ROMs are a go only if you want themes, that is changed looks. GPU is far better than Tegra 2, and if fact, the best on mobiles.

itskapil said:
Right said. it's pretty much flawless out of box and custom ROMs are a go only if you want themes, that is changed looks. GPU is far better than Tegra 2, and if fact, the best on mobiles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup! But depending on what rom the phone comes with you may want to flash a upto date stock rom as the newer ones do improve battery life quite a bit
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

veyka said:
Yup! But depending on what rom the phone comes with you may want to flash a upto date stock rom as the newer ones do improve battery life quite a bit
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I noticed with my Infuse. Flashing one of the better built ROMs for that phone increased battery life a solid 30-40% over stock and it was very noticeable in day to day usage.
I've heard the SII is a MONSTER when it comes to battery consumption. So I guess on that front alone it's worth installing a ROM.
I'm telling you though, I'm admitting my n00bishness and sharing my concern over possibly bricking the device.

SaosinEngaged said:
That is what I noticed with my Infuse. Flashing one of the better built ROMs for that phone increased battery life a solid 30-40% over stock and it was very noticeable in day to day usage.
I've heard the SII is a MONSTER when it comes to battery consumption. So I guess on that front alone it's worth installing a ROM.
I'm telling you though, I'm admitting my n00bishness and sharing my concern over possibly bricking the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SGS2 is virtually unbrickable, just don't put a .pit file in, or flash a SGS1 rom and pit (has been done, 3 times!).
There are really good guides to flashing roms using odin.

That sounds great. I saw Lite'ning ROM on the list and I really like the look. What do you guys think of that one?
Thanks everyone for the responses.

Question.
So I received my Galaxy SII and it's pretty much a work of art. I performed the APN settings fix and notice that my H+ icon is not always on. More often than not, it shows a 3G icon at the top.
My Infuse did not exhibit this behavior, it always displayed an H+ icon.
Does this mean the Infuse did not properly display when it was using a 3G connection and not connecting to the HSPA+ Backhaul network, or does it mean my Galaxy SII isn't properly connecting to H+?
Which is it?
Thanks guys.

Also, how do I know if I have the correct data plan for 4G?
I selected the 4GB data plan when I got my Infuse. 2GB isn't enough for me.

SaosinEngaged said:
Question.
So I received my Galaxy SII and it's pretty much a work of art. I performed the APN settings fix and notice that my H+ icon is not always on. More often than not, it shows a 3G icon at the top.
My Infuse did not exhibit this behavior, it always displayed an H+ icon.
Does this mean the Infuse did not properly display when it was using a 3G connection and not connecting to the HSPA+ Backhaul network, or does it mean my Galaxy SII isn't properly connecting to H+?
Which is it?
Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SGS2 will swap between 3G and H+, dropping down to 3G to save battery life, and up again when needed.
Depending on the modem, it will swap more or less.
Its as intended, its a battery saving feature.
SaosinEngaged said:
Also, how do I know if I have the correct data plan for 4G?
I selected the 4GB data plan when I got my Infuse. 2GB isn't enough for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are getting H+ you have the right plan, AT&T "4G" is H+

Also does anyone have a link to the S2 USB drivers? I'm so far unable to find them.

Download the Kies...
I think it'll install your USB drivers
http://www.samsung.com/ca/support/m...softwaremanual.do?page=MOBILE.SOFTWARE.MANUAL

SaosinEngaged said:
Question.
So I received my Galaxy SII and it's pretty much a work of art. I performed the APN settings fix and notice that my H+ icon is not always on. More often than not, it shows a 3G icon at the top.
My Infuse did not exhibit this behavior, it always displayed an H+ icon.
Does this mean the Infuse did not properly display when it was using a 3G connection and not connecting to the HSPA+ Backhaul network, or does it mean my Galaxy SII isn't properly connecting to H+?
Which is it?
Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Working as intended It drops the HSPA+ connection when you're not using it and defaults back to UMTS (3G). It's meant to save battery, but depending on your usage pattern, it could actually negatively impact battery life with the constant disconnect/reconnects

I also came from the Infuse (selected after I destroyed my Captivate) believe it or not I really enjoyed the Infuse and I didn't realize it until I got the SGSII. I had loaded the Ginger flavor of the Infused ROM and things were great to me even stock with Froyo things ran well - decent speed and smooth (better than my overclocked Captivate) I am in the process of either returning the Infuse before 30 days or selling it after picking up the SGSII.
Now that I have the SGSII I miss the huge 4.5 inch screen but I am impressed with the speed and experience of TW4 as I have never used Touchwiz in the past. I got mine from Newegg (didn't have a seal on the box like others have said they noticed too) Less than an hour I had DG's Cog ROM on it since there were already a few things I didn't like (I'm picky) If I had to pick one to leave stock out of the box to enjoy it would be the SGSII hands down. As posted previously these are hard to brick and become a lot of fun to ROM, customize, and theme which turns into addicting. Enjoy!
*edit- I am also on AT&T - in my area the Infuse did stay on H+ more but I notice the same speeds from the SGSII (about 1 hour south of Atlanta Georgia) also the Infuse was better at retaining signal & seemed to drop in less areas where I normally drop a call. While I have both phones in my hands I do plan on making a video about them - NOT to compare but to point out a few pros and cons & share some experiences as I'm sure someone else will be in this boat too.

SaosinEngaged said:
Also does anyone have a link to the S2 USB drivers? I'm so far unable to find them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There in my 4shared, hit the icon in my sig.
Or you can get them from kies.

The switching from H+ to 3G is normal; it switches to H+ only when the connection is actively transmitting/receiving data. At least that's what I've seen & read here.
What kinds of speeds are you getting? In my neighborhood in suburban Atlanta, I usually get around 4 Mbps, but have gotten as high as 7.

I made a new topic as I accidentally forgot about this one, but my network speeds are pretty poor.
I'm averaging about 1-2 mbps where I averaged 5-7ish on my Infuse. This is with the APN fix and in the same areas in central NJ.

SaosinEngaged said:
I made a new topic as I accidentally forgot about this one, but my network speeds are pretty poor.
I'm averaging about 1-2 mbps where I averaged 5-7ish on my Infuse. This is with the APN fix and in the same areas in central NJ.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What modem are you using? As I have found huge variation depending on modem, from Down/Up 50Kbps/200Kbps (odd) to 400Kbs/215Kbps in the same place at the same time.
Here is all the data I have collected on modems, note this is for the 3UK network in the UK, but it shows what I mean.