I have recently purchased a Note 3 (SM-N9005), currently running it rooted with the Polish NB3, unfortunately knox triggered, but never had a faulty phone before, so I hope that continues!
One thing that has been bugging me in an otherwise great phone, is the wifi signal, quite weak to say the least, my Sony Xperia Z is roughly 2 bars stronger in the same place, in fact, so is my Q10 and various mobiles I have collected over time (Xiaomi Mi2s, Pantech 840s), annoying to say the least, tried all the tweaks and settings mentioned here and elsewhere and while they may help some, for me the signal is still very poor.......
Was watching an excellent tear down video here:
When he mentioned making sure the little contacts for the antennas were sufficiently bent upwards to make a good contact, very interesting!
So I carefully popped off the back after taking out all the twelve little screws, and proceeded to gently bend upwards the two connectors for GPS and wifi, I also ever so slightly roughed the silver connector with a fine needle, all done in theory to aid signal.....
As for the results, well, with the same ROM, and no router reboot etc.... the wifi that used to hover at one signal pip, maybe two, now moves between two and three, it even went full bar briefly, which it had never done before from the spot I used! And there are a few more SSID's in the list too
I am now as you would expect, very happy, the wifi still isn't fantastic, but it's a damn sight better now!! :good:
Please don't try this and then blame me if you mess up your phone, I take no responsibility if you do, posted this just because I was quite surprised with the results!
No one the least interested, thought with all the threads about the poor wifi this find may have been of interest? Unless I'm late to the show and this is already been done and dusted
no one is interested because its a high risk low reward scenario.
Happy you had good results, but most people dont want to risk destroying their beloved note for a potential (minute) signal increase.
nakedtime said:
no one is interested because its a high risk low reward scenario.
Happy you had good results, but most people dont want to risk destroying their beloved note for a potential (minute) signal increase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't say minute, having SSID's that weren't there before and one to two bars better signal is the exact opposite of that!
As for how difficult it is, unscrewing 12 screws and lifting off the back cover is a piece of cake, in fact you don't even need to remove it, just lift one corner away, watch the first few mins of the video, it's petty simple....
My phone didn't have the warranty sticker over one of the screws either, and the phone was brand new and sealed from the provider, weird
I've never had issues with the signal on my Note 3.
The (admittedly many) times I do get a lousy signal, the fault lies with the provider, not my phone. (I know exactly where each tower is and what its range is. And I'm usually outside of it.)
As for WiFi, once I moved the Router out of the reinforced concrete cupboard, I always get a full signal...
to the OP , very useful thread dont be put off because theres been little responce, like the guy said few would dare to unscrew there beloved Note but still useful to know.
Yeah the 3G and 4G signal seems strong, just poor wifi when compared to multiple phones in the same spot, at least that was the case
I guess I trust my hands more than most, bad flashes are more of a concern for me than a few dozen screws lol
Thanks
I gave my phone for repairs once and the wifi reception has been below par since. Had tried what you have posted before but was not quite sure if I had the wifi pin right. Also I had only tinkered with the raised connector on the board and hadn't roughed up the connector on the back panel like you did.
Well your post gave me some courage and with the help of the video that you linked I tried it. Unfortunately, I broke the connector and that obviously made my problem much worse!
But then out of desperation I thought I would get some common copper wire to try and connect the board with the antenna and it actually worked Looks extremely ugly but my note 3 now connects to wifi routers even better than my note 1. I am attaching screenshots of the two phones with the wifi analyzer app. There is also a picture of the copper wire mesh that i put below the wifi antenna connector on the panel before I put it all back together.
Definitely do not recommend that anybody try what I did. It was an extremely foolish thing to do for someone as clumsy as me.
Thanks still OP. My Note 3 is in top form again thanks to you
I did that and it fixed my poor GPS signal and it worked really well. I'll do it again for wifi pin
I did that and it fixed my poor WIFI signal. Thanks man.
I had slight water damage to my old Note 3. Since then my GSM signal has been really poor. I replaced the USB flex cable, as the phone wasn't charging as well - replacing it obviously did the job, but GSM signal issue remained.
Cleaned the GSM connectors and lifted the pins - that didn't help. When using o2 SIM inside the building it connects to o2 network straight away (signal not very good btw). When using other (Virgin in this case) SIM it doesn't connect at all and displays "Emergency calls only" message.
I think it might be the MoBo fault now, isn't it?
O2 OK but no VM reads as no CSC or wrong CSC .
Phone firmware has no knowledge of VM settings .
Related
There are some videos floating on youtube showing Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and Captivate having " death grip " , same as suffered by iphone 4.
you can check the videos on youtube
Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and Captivate has internal antenna apparently located on the back of the phone, towards the very bottom edge. Can any1 here confirm me if Galaxy S is suffering from same issue
Any1 here facing this issue or its just a Apple fanboy gone crazy.
hi
i have used my phone a lot.. and i have never ever experienced this!
-TB-
No matter how many different ways I try holding my phone, I can't get the signal to drop.
it is yet another attempt from jealous iphone4 owner trying to make the SGS i9000 / HTD Desire / Moto Droid X looks bad
LOL
I've seen the videos, but I'm unable to replicate the behaviour..
Tried covering it completely with both hands in various ways, i can never get it to drop more than a single bar.
I did notice this the first day I received the phone: signal level drop from 4 to 1 or even zero bars when touching the entire bottom of the phone....doesn´t happen all the time, sometimes the indicated signal level stays the same....couldn´t figure out a pattern yet.
However, I have not once experienced a dropped call.....worst thing that ever happens is that the signal switches from 3G to GPRS - but then I have 4 bars again....
Can live with that....
I can easily replicate it with both my SGS phones when placing my palm over the back of the phone. This is in 3G mode and I haven't had any dropped calls yet so I'm not sure if it's an issue.
the only place i can replicate this "problem" is when i'm inside a subway station or inside a shopping center with too much metal beams.... say places like walmart and homedepot
by the way we do get cell signal inside subway stations, just weak.
so for reference a normal sony or moto handset non smartphone will be able to make a call perfectly fine, but when i was using the Treos I was never able to get a good signal
however when i upgraded to the HTC Athena i was able to make calls inside the subway station, now with the SGS no problem at all
Yes, I'm able to replicate the signal drop just like what they show for iPhone 4 in poor reception area only. I can also make the call drop out all together if the signal is already bad enough to begin with.
Note that in strong reception area it is also not possible to replicate the signal drop on iPhone 4, as shown by many YouTube videos, even if you do a death grip.
It's law of physics.
This issue does not bother me because I'll always use a case for my SGS.
All smartphones have this problem, didn't you guys listen to Steve Jobs?
lolz
yesterdays event was another publicity stunt by steve jobs
Hey now don't confuse this with the iphone 4 issue The difference here is the sgs doesn't do this by just bridging 2 pieces of metal, i.e. placing a single finger on the phone. You need to block the whole signal by covering it. I really doubt a case would have any effect on this as well. We are talking laws of physics vs a simple design flaw.
Cant really replicate it, but it can be a just signal representation bag.
I notice that sometimes I have like one bar, but if I go into setting and look at signal strenghts it can be exceptionally strong at the same time.
This just in..
Well... I put mine in a ledshielded box, padded it with sealhide (cause in Norway we have that laying around..) and swallowed it whole!
Bluetooth -> Working fine!
Camera -> Working Fine! (impressive really!)
Reception -> Working fine!
Todo:
* Testing swype whilst death-gripping the bugger!
eaglesteve said:
It's law of physics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and some basic common sense
of course it seems like that is only applicable to people who are intellectual enough to understand physic of radio waves and its interaction with the environment.
I think there has been an explosive growth in the level of public awareness concerning the effect of environment and human hand on cell phones after the iPhone 4 issue. I didn't realize my old phones had the same problem until I started testing it both good and bad reception areas. Then I searched in net and found examples after examples of videos demontrating th problem on other phones posted ages ago.
..hmmmm.. interesting.. I tried my best to replicate the issue..
..and yeah.. i can make it lose signal strength.. down to no bars..
..here is where the problem arises.. i can still make a phone call to my GF..
..nope, i didn't use just my left hand to cover the back side of the phone..
..i used my entire 2 finger and palm.. so the answer is, it doesn't have the iphone 4 flaw.
..lefty? righty? no problem, you can hold the SGS both ways and will never drop your call.
..hope this clears out all those who is trying to make a bad press out of the SGS..
Indoors, with my back to the window and my body kinda shielding the phone, I can make it drop from -81 to -97 dbm, by covering the entire bottom back of the phone. I can make it drop down further to -105 dbm by also covering the bottom front. However, both those ways of holding the phone are unnatural and if I turn around and face the window(phone infront, still held between my two hands) it shoots back up to -81 dbm.
So, is there a problem? Not as far as I can tell. As long as I hold it normally it's unaffected.
Regards
dakine; said:
Hey now don't confuse this with the iphone 4 issue The difference here is the sgs doesn't do this by just bridging 2 pieces of metal, i.e. placing a single finger on the phone. You need to block the whole signal by covering it. I really doubt a case would have any effect on this as well. We are talking laws of physics vs a simple design flaw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I think SGS's problem is even more serious than iPhone 4.
I can reduce the SGS signal by 30 dBm consistently at home by merely placing it on my palm without even griping it. With iphone4, I think Anandtech's test reduce it by only 24dBm by death grip or bridging the metal. I have got a crude video showing this if you want to see it, but you should be able to replicate it yourself.
Bad Reception on All Networks Tried Compared to Older Nokia & Sony Ericsson Phones
I just thought I would post my issue here with my Desire HD. I will post updates following warranty. If anyone has similar issues with their handset please feel free to mention it here too. So far I've found a couple of comments googling about bad reception using a Desire HD when compared to an older phone. The girl I spoke to at HTC Australia said she had not heard anything about this before and said she believed it was an isolated issue.
I am experiencing very poor 2G & 3G reception on my Desire HD. I have played with all network settings including turning off Wi-Fi and selecting the network manually. I've also tried multiple radio versions, multiple ROM versions and factory resets and yes the issue was there to begin with and still is happening now after I've restored my ROM and radio back to stock. Compared to a much a older Sony Ericsson W660i and some other Nokia phone of the same age they all get much, much better reception. This is in the same room of the same house. Using sim cards from Telstra, 3, and Vodafone in Australia. The biggest change noticeable is obvious using 3 and Telstra SIM cards in the Desire HD. The old Nokia and Sony Ericsson keep a rock solid full reception bars. The Desire HD struggles around 1 or two bars. Often going to no bars, sometimes getting as high as 3 bars only for a moment and sometimes going to X bars meaning completely no reception. Using the Vodafone SIM card I get equally crappy reception but when I put the Vodafone SIM card in the Nokia or the Sony Ericsson it is not rock solid full bars but usually only just a bit bellow full. HTC have suggested a factory reset and a warranty. I have complied a complete guide to reset my phone back to factory stock ROM, settings, htboot, S-on ect. Which is here if anyone needs it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=920876
Lastly to anyone who didn't know HTC Australia informed me that if warrantied during the first 28days of purchace and they find an issue they just replace the phone. After 28days they only repair the phone. I will taking my phone in today to get the full replacement.
Could be bad SIM cover antenna contact. Without it you'll not get good reception at all.
Also DHD does not support all HSPA bands but you probably knew that. At least on Telstra GSM any DHD model should get full reception.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Yoshi_523 said:
Lastly to anyone who didn't know HTC Australia informed me that if warrantied during the first 28days of purchace and they find an issue they just replace the phone. After 28days they only repair the phone. I will taking my phone in today to get the full replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's nice. In South Africa we got 7 days... I had to send mine in on day 11. Been waiting for almost a month for the phone to come back, but it should be any day now (holding thumbs, touching wood, etc).
Also DHD does not support all HSPA bands but you probably knew that. At least on Telstra GSM any DHD model should get full reception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I did know that. Same as my Sony Ericsson W660i really. The Sony only runs on the 2100Mhz UMTS (3G) band along with the standard quad band GSM (2G). It gets full bars on Telstra & 3 but my DHD doesn't
Could be bad SIM cover antenna contact. Without it you'll not get good reception at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is the antenna exactly? I was guessing the antenna is around the middle of the back roughly coz cupping my hand across there will make the Wi-Fi drop a little. Is it really got a connector in the plastic cover plate that covers access to the MicroSD Card and SIM Card that affects the antenna?
The antenna in inside the botom plastic sim cover.
IT is molded in the cover and has 2 connectors where the cover and the main body of the phone make contact
broncogr said:
The antenna in inside the botom plastic sim cover.
IT is molded in the cover and has 2 connectors where the cover and the main body of the phone make contact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, and when I take the SIM cover off I can barely get reception near a cell tower.
The battery cover also has an antenna in it, however I think it's for Wifi and BT.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
have you tried taking the sim card out and wiping the contacts clean and doing a reset i.e. battery out reset. This was happening to me when I got mine and this fixed my issues.
^^ Yeah no dice. Cleaning the SIM card does nothing. I also used multiple SIM card of different carriers.
I've just posted a new thread with videos as the brand new replacement Desire HD still has reception issues and I've found it has a surprisingly similar "death grip" issue that plagued the iphone 4.
Here's the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10842571#post10842571
All phones have a similar death-grip issue. But have you ever dropped a call on your DHD while holding it? Mine's similar, but I'm yet to drop a call or data session.
^^ I'm sorry I cannot answer that question as ever since got the phone with this SIM card I've been waiting for Vodafone to get back to me to change over my existing phone number so I've put on hold to use this Vodafone SIM card to make any calls or to use data. I can't believe that many years after the Australia wide policy to be able to keep your phone number that Vodafone are making a stink about it being such an issue to swap my number over. So in short I haven't been using the new SIM card and only been using Wi-Fi till because I want to wait till it's transferred to my old number. I would imagine holding the phone vertically as shown that web browsing on zero bars wouldn't be great. I would also guess that once I move to an area with even less reception that it would drop out. Again this is just my educated guess. Others will probably have more experience on this.
Secondly yes I can understand that maybe all phones have a particular death grip hold (depending on where the aerial is) that will cause reception to drop however I do think that this is bad planning with this HTC phone. Being a touch screen phone I unusually hold the phone in my left hand as in the video for general application and web surfing use. The old Nokia and Sony Ericsson I'd really have to try hard to hold my hand strangely to get it to drop reception.
Again please keep in mind I'm not against you guys. I'm only new to this phone. I realise it's one of the best on the Australian market. Hell I love this phone and have bought into a 24month contract. I plan to keep it and I only wanted to show you what I've found and hopefully if others have seen similar maybe they can tell HTC and then they can work on something to help. Maybe it's me being optimistic but I would like to thing that maybe that plastic bottom plate holding the antenna could be re-engineered and replaced with an upgraded one or something similar and problem solved?!?
Here we go again. HTC made the best considering the laws of physics. You can't have metal body without some non-metal part that holds the antenna. The only other possible solution is WiFi and gsm antennas to switch places but that might not be practical from the internal design point of view. If you hold your phone and look at it, you'll see that the only place you never put your hand is the top of the phone but I wouldn't want a cover there especially on a rainy day .
Our "death grip" and iPhone's is completely different. We have attenuation of the signal because when holding the phone your hand is in the near field of the antenna which messes with its properties to some extend (and attenuated the signal too) and Apple experiences signal cuts because some bright boy liked his design too much and did not listen to the engineers. IPhone's antenna is exposed and by touching it you cause much more trouble than being in the near field. And as if that's not bad enough, that same bright boy has put the WiFi antenna too close and if you bridge the two, the signal drops. Actually with the silicon case on, the iPhone and the DHD experience the same. If it doesn't look like it that's because with the software update Apple changed the way signal strength is reported to the user.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
I'm not sure this is actually an issue at all, the OP has stated he has no idea if it drops calls or not, merely that the recorded signal drops, also comparing signal strength with that of older phones, or even phones of different makes is nonsensical as all manufacturers set there own scale as to when the phone displays full reception and when it displays less, and since apple got caught fiddling the scales they appear to be overly cautious at reporting full reception
Ok so yesterday (in Sydney, Australia) I returned my HTC Desire HD after I was facing poor reception when compared to 2 other phones used in the same room of the house. I did carry out the factory reset as suggested by HTC and also wiped the SIM cards clean. For the tests I used a Nokia 6120 and a Sony Ericsson k530i. I also used SIM cards from 3, Telstra and the one that came with the Desire HD from Vodafone. In all the tests the Desire HD had significantly worse reception (at least if the reception icons are anything to judge by).
Yesterday Vodafone replaced my Desire HD on the spot as I was within 28days of purchase. At first I seemed to think the reception was better on the new phone however this was with the phone laying on a box and not touching it. As soon as I picked up the phone reception became lousy again like my previous Desire HD. After reading comments from other users on this site regarding the antenna being in the cover plate at the bottom I tried holding the phone in different positions to see if this bottom cover plate really did affect things. The two videos linked to here show my findings using the brand new replacement phone I picked up yesterday. Also in the second video is shown if a factory reset or a gel case changes this isse.
Now that I've got a better understanding of what is causing this issue I will contact HTC again to see what they say about it. I'll keep you updated. Please post feedback on your phone including what carrier & country you are using and what ROM and radio version is loaded. Thanks
Here are the two videos I made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_ljHtUMOH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr16fGAVzQg
Okay I've contacted HTC in Australia and the person taking my call has looked at the two videos. He's said he has documented the issue and will forward the videos on to the HTC engineers to have a look at. Will let you know if they contact me with any updates. Feel free to contact HTC if you find similar issues with your phone. I would think the more people reporting this to HTC, the more importance they should place on trying to fix this issue.
Mine id exactly the same. I already noticed this since last week when I got it. Just dont hold it at the bortom.
are you part vampire or some thing
turn your lights on
put your phone in a case and your problems will be solved
Framedtrash said:
are you part vampire or some thing
turn your lights on
put your phone in a case and your problems will be solved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AHEM. bit sounds like someone i know.. may be Stevey ..
But yes when reception is low, take your hand of the antenna at the bottom. I own a K530i too, where antennae is at back. I will get poor signal, if i hold it in particular way or if i keep it in cushion or so. but K530i antennae is ergonomic to hold but desire hd is placed right at where my palm holds it. this happens with WIFI too when i hold my fingers covering the side. but again its bearable. lets see how it holds in the long run.
At least the DHD, is ambidextrous. You can hold it with either hand just grip it in the middle. Compared to The iphone 4 which has crap signal when used by right handed girls. Lol lol lol.
Well, never had this problem even when I cover the bottom part the signal just drops 1 bar and that's it, no problems with the signal and whatsoever.
To the OP, just wondered what build no. and baseband is on your phone???
Originally posted by
Framedtrash are you part vampire or some thing
turn your lights on
put your phone in a case and your problems will be solved
Yesterday 07:02 PM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There problem is for an amateur like myself posting youtube videos is that if I don't decrease the exposure then you cannot see clearly the reception bars especially when I look at the backlit screen from the Sony Ericsson. I wanted to be sure most of all you can clearly see the what the phone screens are displaying.
Secondly please look at video 2 in the link it clearly shows how the Desire HD works in my experience in a case. Bascially a gel case solves nothing in my situation or at best maybe only delays by a few seconds the reception loss when holding the bottom.
Originally posted by nm8 To the OP, just wondered what build no. and baseband is on your phone???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please look at video 1. It clearly show the software information page in the video which shows the ROM verison, radio version, kernal version and baseband (or radio version) from the stock Vodafone Australia ROM that came preloaded as of yesterday January 23. I don't believe recent radio or ROMs fix this issue as SWIM loaded 1.72.405.3 with the latest radio his phone to try to solve this issue, that didn't fix it so SWIM then tried around 4 different radio versions including the latest "test" release from UK and still no significant improvement. I'd be happy to hear other's feedback on this and what ROMs and Radio versions they use and if any real improvement. I will make clear though that with my brand new phone, it is stock and unmodified.
I mean no disrespect guys when I say this, I'm happy to take constructive criticism and feedback just please have a look at the two videos first and consider everything explained and put forward before posting a quick response.
As I mention in the video this issue is not as bad with Telstra and 3 SIM cards in my room as they seem to have better reception and don't drop as many bars (but they still do drop bars) holding the phone in the "death grip". The worst is the included Vodafone SIM card which the phone is on a contract with and doesn't get completely full reception before holding the phone as shown. I would imagine that the same scenario would be replicated elsewhere. Find an area where you don't get full reception and see how much it drops when you hold your phone like I have in the video. Again this is going to most affect data while browsing the web ect rather than calls where you are likely to hold the phone differently.
I don't want to start a war or get people upset here. I love the Desire HD and Android. I've paid for a long term 24month contract and I plan on keeping my phone. I'm only just surprised to find out this issue and I hope HTC will take it seriously to try to find a way to help out with solving it. Take care guys. Again if anyone else wants to alert HTC to this issue I think they will be more likely to treat this with more importance. As present HTC Australia seemed to say they'd heard nothing about it and played it down a bit.
Ok, you say the recpetion is worse than your older phone are you actually measuring the recpetion or looking at the bars?. More importantly does it actually result in dropped calls? I believe the issues with the iPhone4 (and if apple are to be believed all phones in the world released before it) where that the bars are only a vague representation of signal strength and that if held wrongly it dropped calls.
I don't pay enough attention to the signal bars, but certainly my ability to make and recieve calls is no worse than my previous HTC Magic and better than my wife's iPhone 3g
Just tested on my phone and here are the results... If i push the bottom of phone to my palm the bars drop from 4 to 2, when holding it in such way that palm covers the bottom bars drop from 4 to 3.... When holding it normally i have full bars, so i dont really see a problem...
Just adding my 2 pence, prior to updating my Radio I would get low or no signal at home. Probably the only draw back of living in rural Wales.
Now after flashing the latest Radio 26.04.03.30_M, I get a solid 3 bars 90% of the time.
No new cell towers have been constructed, the locals would go mental! In essence what I'm trying to say is, try an update your Radio.
Ensure you follow all guides to the letter.
Still no response from OP, as to whether this has a detrimental effect on real world reception i.e dropped calls, so as to whether this is an actual problem at all!
Edit: I assume from the resounding silence, that there's is no actual real world effect?... Nothing to see here move along please!
^^ I'm sorry I cannot answer that question as ever since got the phone with this SIM card I've been waiting for Vodafone to get back to me to change over my existing phone number so I've put on hold to use this Vodafone SIM card to make any calls. I can't believe that many years after the Australia wide (I believe government) policy to be able to keep your phone number that Vodafone are making a stink about it being such an issue to swap my number over. So in short I haven't been using the new SIM card and only been using Wi-Fi because I want to wait till it's transferred to my old number. I would imagine holding the phone vertically as shown that web browsing on zero bars wouldn't be great. If someone could test this googling net speed test with the bottom held and then without the bottom held I would be most grateful. I would also guess that once I move to an area with even less reception that data would drop out completely. Again this is just my educated guess. Others will probably have more experience on this.
ghostofcain said:
Ok, you say the recpetion is worse than your older phone are you actually measuring the recpetion or looking at the bars?. More importantly does it actually result in dropped calls? I believe the issues with the iPhone4 (and if apple are to be believed all phones in the world released before it) where that the bars are only a vague representation of signal strength and that if held wrongly it dropped calls.
I don't pay enough attention to the signal bars, but certainly my ability to make and recieve calls is no worse than my previous HTC Magic and better than my wife's iPhone 3g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bars cannot be trusted and that's why we have a little thing called FieldTest. Dial *#*#7262626#*#* and you can see the actual signal strength in dbm. When completely covered and the palm pressed to the antenna the signal drops 7-10 db which should not be a problem. I normally hold the phone a little higher, covering only a small part of the antenna and the signal drop is even smaller - like 2-3 db. That's for WCDMA, for GSM frequencies it should be even more negligible. Too lazy to test it though .
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
tkolev said:
The bars cannot be trusted and that's why we have a little thing called FieldTest. Dial *#*#7262626#*#* and you can see the actual signal strength in dbm. When completely covered and the palm pressed to the antenna the signal drops 7-10 db which should not be a problem. I normally hold the phone a little higher, covering only a small part of the antenna and the signal drop is even smaller - like 2-3 db. That's for WCDMA, for GSM frequencies it should be even more negligible. Too lazy to test it though .
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's about the same with GSM at least for me, which to be honest isn't a worry, so again I don't see this as being an issue in real world use
ghostofcain said:
It's about the same with GSM at least for me, which to be honest isn't a worry, so again I don't see this as being an issue in real world use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 4
Signal strength with the iPhone is ~5 db worse than the DHD. Both phones laying on the table so no touching whatsoever. When touched (with just one finger) at the "sweet spot" (bridging the WiFi and gsm antennas) the signal on the iPhone drops like 15-20 db. Both phones are in WCDMA mode.
Again I normally hold the phone higher than the cover by the sides of the phone. Unfortunately with the iPhone my ring finger goes exactly where the most trouble is caused, but if you ask a certain someone that's because I'm holding it wrong
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
I read this a few days ago. It may prove useful repeated here.
http://m.gizmodo.com/5740076/giz-explains-why-your-call-dropped
Yoshi_523 said:
Please post feedback on your phone including what carrier & country you are using and what ROM and radio version is loaded. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello,
i am from austria europa and its the same
when i hold the handy with my fingers only on the top i have 4points
when i hold it with my right hand i have 4points sometimes 3
when i hold my handy with the left hand i have 2 points
i thought the last week.. why i have ever a problem when i call out from here ...never i had it with my nokia n80.
right now i know it..... super work from HTC... siro points for her
it was my last HTC handy for sure... also some others as
incoming call display doesn't indicate that a call is forwarded etc.... but thats an other story
tnx
cqf
Same here.
When I hold the phone with my right hand it drops 1 bar (around 6db in FieldTest)
When I hold the phone with my left hand it drops 2-3 bars (around 12db in FieldTest).
When it poor reception areas (around 2 bars signal) holding in the left hand it switches from 3G to 2G.
I think there is definitively a signal problem, especially for left handed people.
It would be nice to gather more impressions.
I am not the originator of this... it was Hogwarts, all credit goes to him. I am simply bringing this back to the forefront as I want to make the signal in my phon stronger and wanted to also bring this to everyones attention so that they have photos to go off of. All thanks go to HogWart.......thank you Hogwarts...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24791423&postcount=52
He got the first photo correct: that's the MAIN FPC ANTENNA that gathers CDMA/GSM signals to make calling/texting/3G browsing possible
He got the second photo wrong: that's the GPS ANTENNA, self-explanatory
He got the third photo partially correct: that's the BLUETOOTH/WLAN ANTENNA, and that's explanatory again..
SOURCE: R800i Full Disassembly.pdf
jgregoryj1 said:
I am not the originator of this... it was Hogwarts, all credit goes to him. I am simply bringing this back to the forefront as I want to make the signal in my phon stronger and wanted to also bring this to everyones attention so that they have photos to go off of. All thanks go to HogWart.......thank you Hogwarts...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24791423&postcount=52
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now to make it stronger for better signal..
narflynn619 said:
He got the first photo correct: that's the MAIN FPC ANTENNA that gathers CDMA/GSM signals to make calling/texting/3G browsing possible
He got the second photo wrong: that's the GPS ANTENNA, self-explanatory
He got the third photo partially correct: that's the BLUETOOTH/WLAN ANTENNA, and that's explanatory again..
SOURCE: R800i Full Disassembly.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HE stated that its possible to use tin foil to increase the strength of the wifi antenna,,, is this true? Even after I reflashed a FTF back to 233 I still occasionally have a hiccup. Would adding tin foil, even a small piece, to that antenna make any difference and or improvement? I am tempted to do it as I want to try to make the most of my wifi experience.... thoughts?
Those are my photos
216Monster said:
Those are my photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes those are yours man..... thank you for that.... really really helps...
skimming through the thread, i didn't see any post of him making a tutorial of doing such.. in another thread maybe? IDK...
but i read in most articles on increasing GSM and WiFi signal, adding a tin foil actually increases reception, though I haven't tried it myself.. most articles i've read involve sticking wires through exposed parts of the antenna, which, i can't find in our play's antennas.. (some even talk about sticking wires on external antenna ports of phones, which is way too obsolete these days ) either way, if someone knows a hack, without doing extensive damage to the Play's electrical integrity, i'd be happy to try it and post results.. until then, i think i love my play too much to be doing hardware hacks at the moment.. after all, i'm getting good signals atm, but i'd still love a little boost..
narflynn619 said:
skimming through the thread, i didn't see any post of him making a tutorial of doing such.. in another thread maybe? IDK...
but i read in most articles on increasing GSM and WiFi signal, adding a tin foil actually increases reception, though I haven't tried it myself.. most articles i've read involve sticking wires through exposed parts of the antenna, which, i can't find in our play's antennas.. (some even talk about sticking wires on external antenna ports of phones, which is way too obsolete these days ) either way, if someone knows a hack, without doing extensive damage to the Play's electrical integrity, i'd be happy to try it and post results.. until then, i think i love my play too much to be doing hardware hacks at the moment.. after all, i'm getting good signals atm, but i'd still love a little boost..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HE stated in the link above that he would make another thread and or add to that thread photos of adding tin foil to his wifi antenna to increase the strength, I do remember reading someone else about it from him too I think, but never found the photos.... I think the reason for that I am guessing is because his phone broke.... come to think of it I think he has moved on after his phone broke.
If anyone should attempt to use tin foil in their PLAYs to hopefully increase the wifi strength can you please post your results here... I am considering doing that myself but probably wont have a chance to do it until this weekend or sometime this month.
So I broke down and took the back off my PLAY. Gently peeled back the wifi antenna sticker from picture #3. and as R800x users do not have a GSM card but the slot is there I wrapped through the GSM slot and underneath the wifi/bluetooth antenna from #3.
I ran some speedtest tests and was getting around 24-25mbps (wish it were that fast in real life) speeds. I have not attempted to see how far I can get..... true test will be when I am at work on Monday (its saturday now) as where my office is I only have about 2 bars of wifi..... It would be cool if the tin foil would boost the antenna's range a little.
Also, I also wrapped over the tin foil with ta precise cut of thick packaging tape, so no tin foil is exposed... complete covered. I will post my results of my signal strength at work on Monday. If its improved I will let you all know, if not or its the same I will also let you all know.
Here is to crossing my fingers for a better range of wifi.. distnace wise
Edit: I am able to get about 30-40 more feet further from my router then previously.
Hey, quick question. Is anyone else's spring terminal in the bottom-right-most corner too low to make contact with the back? Mine is and my gps seems a little inaccurate compared with other phones ive had in the past. Just wondering if this could be it.
There's lot of them. Bend then slightly up with a plastic knife something. Took my galaxy note 4 apart and did same thing to all the contacts. Got improved reception and GPS working again.
Yeah, I probed a little with a little pick tool but they're so small I need something even tinier like a sewing needle. And it looks like ill have better luck if I remove the back shell as there isnt much room to get at it as is. It is so low I wondered if it was intentional. Hence the reason I asked on here. When I look across the edge of the phone I can see the others peek above the plastic but this one shows nothing. Hope that makes sense, it is an awkward visual to describe.
I'm disappointed that I even have to consider opening my brand new expensive phone. But I also
dont want to fork over $20 to Tmobile to swap it. I've owned the G2 and the G5 before this and both of them had faults requiring replacement as well.
Mine is too, leave it
Hmm...strange. I just tested mine without my case or the battery cover, and my GPS locked on faster and better than it ever has since getting this phone. Seeing how recessed that connector is, I'd have to say it was intentional, though I'm not sure why it was made that way since there is a contact pad on the battery cover in that spot. I'm going to have to agree with wing_addict_usa, and say leave it as it is.
My gps sucks with just a simple plastic case on the phone. It goes bonkers. I swear it's the gyro/compass thing in the phone.
Did you calibrate it? And I didn't lay it on the camera lens. Just a flat surface with camera lens hanging off the edge.
Thanks for the replies, glad to know my spring comtact is normal. At least I can look elsewhere for the cause.
I've done the figure 8 calibration while in Google maps with no change. Using the "GPS Test" app it was struggling to stay under 35ft of accuracy.
The problem seems to be a little inconsistent though. After posting I was able to eventually get between 15 and 20 feet of accuracy. I wonder if it is emf noise while data polling or noise while charging that could be interfering with the reception of gps signal.
The poor reception occurred with my phone on a magnetic holder attached to my windshield driving on interstate highway. Other phones of mine normally get pretty good signal in that situation.
Ill keep an eye on it and post any new findings but for now I'm kinda stumped. GPS worked fine up until the day of my posting.
To be honest, I completely forgot about calibrating the GPS. It has been so long since I've had to do it since my last few phones had great GPS radios, and were accurate out of the box. I calibrated mine last night after having to look up how to do it again, and it seemed better this morning. Still not as accurate as the M8 I upgraded from, but now it's not all over the place like it was.
How do you calibrate it?
Just an update to my situation. I seem to be getting better reception now but not as good as my alcatel idol 3 5.5" . I can get down to 15ft of accuracy on the v20 and 10 ft accuracy on Idol 3 in same location.
Btw, The GPS antenna is located in the top plastic piece which has metal tabs that make contact with more of those metal springs. I removed mine and put it back on to see if I could get a better connection. It seemed pretty snug though and not much chance for a weak connection.
I'm not totally convinced that was the issue but I'm happy for now as the navigation seems to be more reliable.
Oh and the calibration is not the gps but the gyros so that the maps orientate correctly to the position your phone is in. Its done by moving the phone in a figure 8 pattern. There is also a leveling calibration in the menu somewhere that has you set the phone on known level surface and then press calibrate to zero the level to the phones position.
The figure 8 is the one I was referring to though and now that I think of it, not much use for GPS reception.