I got the phone today and noticed some things, and like 2 concerns.
1. The flash on the phone isn't very good. By that I mean that it doesn't extend very far, like that flash doesn't light things up that are a bit far away, only really close.
2. There's a slight green tint to photos taken at night using flash.
3. The screen is very fat. Like it's deep. It's not the same as the Sensation, I had that phone earlier.
4. Very snappy phone.
5. The data is not very good. I get 2 bars inside my house, and no 4G. However, If I go outside I get all bars on 3G and all bars on 4G. I can't get good signal inside of any structure. Is that a Sprint problem or an EVO problem?
Sorry if this is a repeated thread, I was just sharing my thoughts and wanted to see if there was any part that I went wrong or could fix.
iCaptivate said:
I got the phone today and noticed some things, and like 2 concerns.
1. The flash on the phone isn't very good. By that I mean that it doesn't extend very far, like that flash doesn't light things up that are a bit far away, only really close.
2. There's a slight green tint to photos taken at night using flash.
3. The screen is very fat. Like it's deep. It's not the same as the Sensation, I had that phone earlier.
4. Very snappy phone.
5. The data is not very good. I get 2 bars inside my house, and no 4G. However, If I go outside I get all bars on 3G and all bars on 4G. I can't get good signal inside of any structure. Is that a Sprint problem or an EVO problem?
Sorry if this is a repeated thread, I was just sharing my thoughts and wanted to see if there was any part that I went wrong or could fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. This is a known problem.
2. This is a known problem, too.
3. Not sure what this means.
4. It is. Imagine how it will be without Sense.
5. Evo3D gets 0-1 bars, Evo4G gets 2-3 bars in the same place.
ive also noticed that if im in a place with no bars, ive still been able to send and receive data with the 3G arrows logo, vs the old 4g when i had no bars, cant get any data at all.
ffolkes said:
5. Evo3D gets 0-1 bars, Evo4G gets 2-3 bars in the same place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might just be a bad batch. My phone doesn't have this problem.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
ffolkes said:
1. This is a known problem.
2. This is a known problem, too.
3. Not sure what this means.
4. It is. Imagine how it will be without Sense.
5. Evo3D gets 0-1 bars, Evo4G gets 2-3 bars in the same place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you recommend taking the phone back to Sprint so that I can get a new one?
Like is the problem present in all phones or just a bad batch?
I'm referring to problems 1,2, and 5.
If reception is a problem, complain to Sprint. I mentioned it to them and they gave me a free of charge air rave.
ffolkes said:
1. This is a known problem.
2. This is a known problem, too.
3. Not sure what this means.
4. It is. Imagine how it will be without Sense.
5. Evo3D gets 0-1 bars, Evo4G gets 2-3 bars in the same place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean your evo3d gets 0-1 bars. Mine gets 3to4 all the time
Locked & Loaded
dcfella said:
If reception is a problem, complain to Sprint. I mentioned it to them and they gave me a free of charge air rave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I called today and they said it had to be approved.
It better be ****ing approved. Also, what exactly does an AirRave do?
iCaptivate said:
I called today and they said it had to be approved.
It better be ****ing approved. Also, what exactly does an AirRave do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you call enough, they'll give it to you. I actually just mentioned my spotty reception in passing while I was trying to get the early upgrade back, and the rep was nice enough to give it to me. The air rave hooks up to your high speed internet connection to boost your cell phone signal and route calls.
dcfella said:
If you call enough, they'll give it to you. I actually just mentioned my spotty reception in passing while I was trying to get the early upgrade back, and the rep was nice enough to give it to me. The air rave hooks up to your high speed internet connection to boost your cell phone signal and route calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I get declined then I sure as hell will keep calling back. I'm not paying $90 a month for ****ty reception.
Refering to the bad batches, do all EVO 3D's have the same build number? If not could that be a way of separating batches??
Sent in 3D fashion
Ruki_Uki said:
Refering to the bad batches, do all EVO 3D's have the same build number? If not could that be a way of separating batches??
Sent in 3D fashion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My serial number starts with HT16.
On the Sensation what was a good batch as to where HT15 was bad.
Related
So what's the truth behind the signal. Is it as bad as the reviews?
Evo
0 problems with my signal .. i compared my 4g to 3d and they both had the same reception here @ work.
I think It's fine....and I get bad signal in my house.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
3 bars at home, 3g/4g seems a little funky.
I'm interested in the Evo 4G/3D comparison too as I have an Evo 4G now and am thinking about the 3D. I live in a fringe area with 0-1 bars though (but I can still hold a call). Need to know how the 3D compares for cell call and also 3G signal retention compared to the old Evo. So please keep the replies coming!
Mike
Zero issues, signal is actually better than my Epic here.
mikeyxda said:
I'm interested in the Evo 4G/3D comparison too as I have an Evo 4G now and am thinking about the 3D. I live in a fringe area with 0-1 bars though (but I can still hold a call). Need to know how the 3D compares for cell call and also 3G signal retention compared to the old Evo. So please keep the replies coming!
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I talked to a sprint rep yesterday and because my signal at my house is bad they are sending me what's called a airave. They say its like having a cell tower in your house . It's suppose to boost your signal . It's complety free for two years , and if you don't like it you can send it back , no contract .
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Live where I get no signal and its doing great at least as well as its older bro
parmend said:
I talked to a sprint rep yesterday and because my signal at my house is bad they are sending me what's called a airave. They say its like having a cell tower in your house . It's suppose to boost your signal . It's complety free for two years , and if you don't like it you can send it back , no contract .
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may contact sprint about that.. my reception has always been poor here. Then again if you ain't Verizon your f*** around here
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
signal for me seems the same as all phones I have had, two bars and in the right spot three. I would say call quality is fine as well, I dont know what the reviewers thought was going to happen, a 3D phone call? lol
cordell12 said:
signal for me seems the same as all phones I have had, two bars and in the right spot three. I would say call quality is fine as well, I dont know what the reviewers thought was going to happen, a 3D phone call? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah.. when i made my first call..everything i read about it came to mind and when i heard my gf spoke.. i was like wtf really? you call that bad? in my personal experience, I call that an improvement.
snarebum said:
yeah.. when i made my first call..everything i read about it came to mind and when i heard my gf spoke.. i was like wtf really? you call that bad? in my personal experience, I call that an improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed, a friend of mine has the iphone from verizon, not sure what it is but he sounds like **** over the phone! its hard to explain, i guess he sounds over-modulated. anyway i called him this morning to see if he had a drv receiver (work for directv), to my surprise his voice sounded so much better than on the 4G. i was stunned for a second, only thing i could say is "what", not because i didnt hear him. but because i was shocked
The call signal is the same side by side with my Evo4g but the wifi signal seems to be stronger. On the top floor of my home I get 4-5 bars and the evo only got about 2. No issues here so far.
I have close to perfect signal at my house and I literally just watched my 3G shut off and now my EVO 3D says i have no voice signal either...wtf...tried updating the profile but doesnt seem to help. If I continue to have problems I guess I will have to swap for a new one.
I'm in Sprint's home state, and although they don't list my town as having 4G coverage they are testing it here and sure enough 4G found a signal to connect with. 0 bars, but the web browser worked fine and so did my email client. 3G is a much stronger signal but didn't seem to be any better of a connection than I had when 4G was active and 3G was off. Phone signal wavers from 3 to 4 bars, and so far I haven't dropped a call.
I could be wrong, I don't know a ton about the data packet construction for cdma, but the way I understand it is... For cdma the number of bars is somewhat irrelevant when compared to the way a gsm network works. For cdma, its either connected or its not. For gsm, as signal strength drops calls get fuzzy and choppy, for cdma it will likely remain clear up until it is gone completely. So far the signal on my 3vo has been perfect. No complaints. If yours is dropping or having problems it may be a product defect.
Again, I may be wrong on my understanding if the technology, but for my experience it has held true.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
parmend said:
I talked to a sprint rep yesterday and because my signal at my house is bad they are sending me what's called a airave. They say its like having a cell tower in your house . It's suppose to boost your signal . It's complety free for two years , and if you don't like it you can send it back , no contract .
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your getting screwed. i have had it for 4 yrs. old model then new. never paid a penny for it. it is free service. even shows as 0 on my sprint.com account.
Mine's better than my 4G ...no doubt, mainly via faster ping time. 4g'd get hung up there. 3d quick there.
gruppe3942 said:
So what's the truth behind the signal. Is it as bad as the reviews?
Evo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me the EVO 3d has been great "CLEARLY" better signal reception than my old EVO 4G, I think alot of those so-so negative were smoking wanky weed....I'm glad that I ignored them the EVO 3d rocks
gruppe3942 said:
So what's the truth behind the signal. Is it as bad as the reviews?
Evo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having buyers remorse with this phone, I used to be able to talk on my EVO 4G in my house with no issues at all, but with this Evo 3D I can not hold a conversation in the house without dropping the call, even outside my house I'm having problems. I love the idea of dual cores and 3D but I also need to be able to use it at home, hopefully a radio update will fix this soon.
I have seen in reviews about reception on the 3d. Can anyone with one reply with how the reception really is in day to day use
Thanks
Epic-ly wanting a new phone
grimduk said:
I have seen in reviews about reception on the 3d. Can anyone with one reply with how the reception really is in day to day use
Thanks
Epic-ly wanting a new phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My data speeds are better and Call quality is good.
DDiaz007 said:
My data speeds are better and Call quality is good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 same experience
On my EVO 4G in my condo it always showed 5-6 bars With the 3d its currently showing 3-4 bars. Haven't noticed any difference in call quality though, and I talked to a few folks the other night that said it sounded clearer then my old phone.
howie411 said:
On my EVO 4G in my condo it always showed 5-6 bars With the 3d its currently showing 3-4 bars. Haven't noticed any difference in call quality though, and I talked to a few folks the other night that said it sounded clearer then my old phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm noticing less bars as well
Well, I live in Alaska and there isn't a single Sprint store in the state... Even though they have coverage here, you can't even order a device here (normally, but I'm awesome and I can lol).
My EVO usually got 1-2 bars, around my house/work areas, more if I went into a downtown area with more Verizon coverage. My 3D gets 3-4 bars now in my house, and my bandwith test is increased by about 20% from the tests I've done so far.
TL;DR version:
I get much better signal, and better up/down speeds where I live.
This guy tested his e3d vs his e4g side by side. Seems like the e3d had a slight edge.
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/360306-signal-strength-analysis-evo-3d-evo-4g.html
ballr4lyf said:
This guy tested his e3d vs his e4g side by side. Seems like the e3d had a slight edge.
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/360306-signal-strength-analysis-evo-3d-evo-4g.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't dispute hard facts... thanks for the link. I think it was engadget that said signal was weak, but I am too lazy to search it out.
shortbus182 said:
Can't dispute hard facts... thanks for the link. I think it was engadget that said signal was weak, but I am too lazy to search it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Engadget also assumed that with the two phones being made by HTC and on Sprint that the bars corresponded to the actual same strength.
donatom3 said:
Engadget also assumed that with the two phones being made by HTC and on Sprint that the bars corresponded to the actual same strength.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly.
Sent From My HTC Evo 4G Using Tapatalk On The Now Network From Sprint.
Its a world better than the NS4G
3g is horrible even after applying the fix listed in another thread.
Phone signal strength consistently is 1/2 that of my EVO....now, I haven't lost any calls BUT I am also not able to make calls in areas which had less than stellar signals where my wifes EVO will still make the call with no issue and show 2 bars while the 3D shows absolutely none.
jfenton57 said:
3g is horrible even after applying the fix listed in another thread.
Phone signal strength consistently is 1/2 that of my EVO....now, I haven't lost any calls BUT I am also not able to make calls in areas which had less than stellar signals where my wifes EVO will still make the call with no issue and show 2 bars while the 3D shows absolutely none.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't gotten the 3d yet, but I have seen this problem with my Evo 4g. Try to update your PRL, then update your Profile (In that order). See if that helps.
I'm getting almost the same bars as in my 4G or maybe 1 bar less, but I definitely think that call quality and data speeds (at least for me) are way better than my 4G. And also another thing I noticed is that I get better WiFi reception, now I get full bars in my house in places that my 4G use to get 1 to no bars!
Yeah yeah, its a shooter,we call it 3VO and I'm not afraid to use it...
I live in a fringe area where I always got either zero or 1 bar with the Evo 4G, but even with zero bars I could always hold a call, probably because these phones freely roam on Verizon towers too. Now with the 3D, I have to be honest: I think my Evo 4G was slightly better with reception just because I notice the 3D switching back and forth between Sprint and Verizon towers more often (roaming notification goes off more). If I had to quantify it, I'd say my old Evo 4G got maybe 10% to 15% better signal. But I expect that to improve via updates so I'm not too worried about it, especially since, well... it still works.
For the few who report "horrible" reception: do you keep your roaming enabled? You should: roaming within the U.S. only means you'll roam on Verizon towers which means we get the best of both worlds. The only place we can "roam" in the U.S. is Verizon towers and we roam them for free (both voice and 3G data). So leave roaming on!
Mike
Is it better in this area than the Sensation, I haven't heard any reports of death grip for it?
Have been having issues here in NE MA with horrible 3g, GPS dropping too often and a bad phone signal to the point of not being able to make or receive calls in areas that are marginal...but areas where my EVO always showed 2 bars and worked fine.
In what I would call "strong" signal areas, still had GPS and 3G issues no matter what. What I found with the phone signal is that in these areas, mit works fine, although it fluctuates every few seconds from a full set of bars, to 2 or 0 and then jumps back up again....constantly.
In the "marginal signal" areas where my EVO 4G worked fine and always showed 2 bars, the 3D shows none and won't make or receive a call. What is most perplexing is that even though it is set to "automatic" on the networks, it is not roaming to Verizon...and my buddy taking the ride with me had a full boat signal on his Verizon phone.
I was totally unable to get on the internet in these areas, although I could still send a text.
I don't get it???
Sprint re-provisioned the phone twice, and today a service center wiped and reloaded everything and also claims to have installed a "fifth update" which my phone never got.
My tests were done post upgrade and it did NOTHING to fix these issues.
With your fifth update did you check to see if you had S-OFF? lol
I just sent a reply back to HTC regarding Bluetooth and Roaming data issues and GPS issues... I await their response... However, I may be returning it and going to some other device.
I've found my old Evo3D, and the exchanged one to show 0 bars in places the Evo4G showed 2-3 bars. For the first time in my life, thanks to the Evo3D, I've had a dropped call, and it was in a place the Evo4G gets 2 bars and perfect voice.
Yeah, today at work I missed 3 calls and couldn't read XDA in the bathroom. That was the final straw. I reactivated my 4G, did some tests...and...well...the 3D has gone back home. Perhaps just for now. The 3G radio on that thing sucks. Maybe a radio update will fix it, but I'm not so sure.
Since I'm impatient and have kinda decided to go the Nexus rout from now on I stopped by the sprint store afterwards and did some signal tests with the NexusS4G--which has known 3G reception issues. Well, it had identical bars...that was a good sign, so I dug in a little deeper and it had nearly identical reception as my E4G.
The .3" of screen size will be missed, and it'll be hard to get used to the light weight...but I think tomorrow I'm gunna buy it. Sure, no SD slot, but, 16gb should be pretty damned good...I never did replace my 8gb card, though I did bump the limit a lot. I'm also sure the camera is way better...
...or I'll just wait for the SGS2. I'm not so antsy to get a new phone now after anticipating one so hard and being mostly disappointed. It's funny, the one thing I was the most critical of beforehand ended up being the only thing I'll really miss...the 3D. Lol to that.
Unfortunately I did a stupid thing and traded my EVO 4G in when I "upgraded" to the 3D.
I tried to get Sprint to do a swap....take back the 3D, take away the $150 trade in credit and give me a new or used EVO 4G for the time being and they absolutely refuse to do it without using up my upgrade to get back what I traded in.
Looks like will deal with this phone and return it on day 29, activate my BB Tour (YUCK) and live with that till something reliable comes out hopefully at the end of July or more likely in August.
This sucks.
I am having nearly similar issues. I am dropping calls in area's that have 4-5 bars. I look and when it reconnects it will be down to 0 signal and then back up 4-6 bars. Really odd.
Sad thing is I am coming from ATT and I only have till early next week to decide to stay with sprint or not.
Ohh decisions... not fun and not a good sprint evaluation.
Yeah, I really hope this is something that they can tweak with a radio update. My old Hero got a lot better reception than my Evo 3D.
w9sig said:
I am having nearly similar issues. I am dropping calls in area's that have 4-5 bars. I look and when it reconnects it will be down to 0 signal and then back up 4-6 bars. Really odd.
Sad thing is I am coming from ATT and I only have till early next week to decide to stay with sprint or not.
Ohh decisions... not fun and not a good sprint evaluation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can assure you it is not Sprint...it's the phone. I had the same/similar with my 3D...but never with the 4G.
Download Open Signal Maps. It will show you what tower you're connected to. I noticed something similar with my phone (the signal bars fluctuating). I checked Open Signal and lo-and-behold, my phone was tower jumping between 5 different towers in my area... I didn't even know I had 5 different towers in my area.
Ideally, your phone should lock on to the strongest signal in your area and not jump from strong signal to weak signal to slightly-less-weak signal, to strong again... Also, check out this thread:
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/361044-official-solution-3g-issues-3d.html
This problem doesn't affect everybody. For instance, my brother got a 3d the same day I did, and he's consistently getting 500-700 kbs d/l in the same places I'm getting 11 kbs d/l.
ballr4lyf said:
Download Open Signal Maps. It will show you what tower you're connected to. I noticed something similar with my phone (the signal bars fluctuating). I checked Open Signal and lo-and-behold, my phone was tower jumping between 5 different towers in my area... I didn't even know I had 5 different towers in my area.
Ideally, your phone should lock on to the strongest signal in your area and not jump from strong signal to weak signal to slightly-less-weak signal, to strong again... Also, check out this thread:
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/361044-official-solution-3g-issues-3d.html
This problem doesn't affect everybody. For instance, my brother got a 3d the same day I did, and he's consistently getting 500-700 kbs d/l in the same places I'm getting 11 kbs d/l.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do ##786# (or 768, not sure). Then click menu key and due a reset. This will also factory reset your device unfortunately. But I was having eh same problems, getting horrid 3gs speeds of around 50 kps. Once I did this my evo3d is constantly getting better 3g speeds than the 4 other evos in my family.
For some reason a lot of the evo 3d did not get the data set up right on one end or another. This seems to fix it.
Looking at that link now. Yes I've had open signal maps installed and I too have noticed that I am jumping between towers "a lot" say every 10-15 seconds or so. And that can be just sitting still in a parking lot and dropping calls :-( Will take a look and glad to hear that it is more with the phone than the actual network. I may have to downgrade to the 4G or NS4G.
BlueGoldAce said:
Do ##786# (or 768, not sure). Then click menu key and due a reset. This will also factory reset your device unfortunately. But I was having eh same problems, getting horrid 3gs speeds of around 50 kps. Once I did this my evo3d is constantly getting better 3g speeds than the 4 other evos in my family.
For some reason a lot of the evo 3d did not get the data set up right on one end or another. This seems to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anybody confirm that this works? My girlfriend's 3D gets a lot worse signal than mine. I'd definitely try this but only if it might actually work. She really doesn't like the factory resets because she has to redo all of her preferences.
Her's is so much more worse than mine that we've been thinking about getting it replaced.
BlueGoldAce said:
Do ##786# (or 768, not sure). Then click menu key and due a reset. This will also factory reset your device unfortunately. But I was having eh same problems, getting horrid 3gs speeds of around 50 kps. Once I did this my evo3d is constantly getting better 3g speeds than the 4 other evos in my family.
For some reason a lot of the evo 3d did not get the data set up right on one end or another. This seems to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
##786# will do a factory reset on your phone. ##72786# will do a "Data Only" reset (i.e. you don't lose any installed apps). I would try that before ##786#. You will need your MSL for both. I have done both. Unfortunately, in my case, the 3g improved for only a couple of hours and then it went back to tower jumping both times. I now have an appointment with the sprint store to replace my 3d later this evening.
do this guys... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1153371&referrerid=1002610
xanadu1979 said:
Anybody confirm that this works? My girlfriend's 3D gets a lot worse signal than mine. I'd definitely try this but only if it might actually work. She really doesn't like the factory resets because she has to redo all of her preferences.
Her's is so much more worse than mine that we've been thinking about getting it replaced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#786## worked to fix my 3G speeds. I was consistently getting under 100 Kbps up and down before walking through this procedure with Sprint a week ago. Since then, latency has gone down and speeds have improved significantly.
It did not fix persistent problems with GPS not locking and having poor signal reception compared to the 4G. Between these issues, overheating and the locked bootloader, I am pretty close to returning this phone (although I like most other aspects of it).
Looks as though the Photon 4G cleared the FCC today.
I think I will live with the 3d a bit longer just in case they come out with some miraculous software fix, otherwise return it, activate the BB until the Photon comes out.
Hopefully, for where I live and work at least it will have much better reception.
That's strange that a few of you guys have had every issue that was reported in some of those awful reviews. I've actually found my 3D has the exact same signal as the 4G sitting right next to it. It also recognizes changes in signal faster than the 4G. I must have been lucky to get one with no issues.
My EVO 3d is straight out of a snoop dog song, my calls are droppin like their hot!
My 4G never did this crap!
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
I'm sorry to hear that from you guys.. My experience is the opposite, I'm getting 6 bars in my basement which I used to get 2-3 and I can always stay connected to 4g in the upper parts of my house when my 4g could not..
Irishman42 said:
That's strange that a few of you guys have had every issue that was reported in some of those awful reviews. I've actually found my 3D has the exact same signal as the 4G sitting right next to it. It also recognizes changes in signal faster than the 4G. I must have been lucky to get one with no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe that there is anything wrong with the phone itself, however I do believe that there was a bad batch of radios installed on some of the 3vo's. Like I said, my brother's 3vo is working just fine while mine seems to be a lemon.
I am coming from an Evo 4G. My apartment has always had sub par reception on sprint but now with the Evo 3D it is becoming irritating. In the same places I had 3G, I now am roaming. In a place where I had 2-3 4G bars, I have barely 1. I have tried updating my prl, my profile. One thing that I will note is that 4G on the 1 reported bar is about as good as the 3 bars on the old Evo. However 3G reception is definitely not very good overall.
My question - as I approach the one month I have had this phone, I wonder if I should:
A. Exchange the phone for another 3D. Has anyone heard of reception issues related to hardware? How has this device compared for everyone to the old Evo as far as reception? Do I have a dud?
B. Return it and get an original Evo.
C. Something else - call sprint ask for airwave or something like that.
I appreciate any advice anyone has. Thanks in advance.
My radio bars do show a tad lower, but I havent really noticed any issues.
I am willing to be some future PRL updates will help this.
My OG Evo was the same around launch time too
Had the same issue vs my old Eris on Verizon. Sprint reset the network which helped some, but I wound up manually changing the PRL to a USCellular one. Gained 4 bars.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
so PRL updates meaning non-sprint developer created? so 2 votes in favor of waiting it out?
berardi said:
I am coming from an Evo 4G. My apartment has always had sub par reception on sprint but now with the Evo 3D it is becoming irritating. In the same places I had 3G, I now am roaming. In a place where I had 2-3 4G bars, I have barely 1. I have tried updating my prl, my profile. One thing that I will note is that 4G on the 1 reported bar is about as good as the 3 bars on the old Evo. However 3G reception is definitely not very good overall.
My question - as I approach the one month I have had this phone, I wonder if I should:
A. Exchange the phone for another 3D. Has anyone heard of reception issues related to hardware? How has this device compared for everyone to the old Evo as far as reception? Do I have a dud?
B. Return it and get an original Evo.
C. Something else - call sprint ask for airwave or something like that.
I appreciate any advice anyone has. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
C.airwave
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
ultra78721 said:
C.airwave
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
crap I just noticed it requires Broadband ISP already - I don't have internet at my place - does that mean i can't do anything?
berardi said:
crap I just noticed it requires Broadband ISP already - I don't have internet at my place - does that mean i can't do anything?
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Have some friends with different carriers test your area, see which is stronger and use their PRL. That's what I did, told that to the Sprint rep while getting my MSL and he liked the idea (I did hint I would leave if I couldn't get a better signal).
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
berardi said:
I am coming from an Evo 4G. My apartment has always had sub par reception on sprint but now with the Evo 3D it is becoming irritating. In the same places I had 3G, I now am roaming. In a place where I had 2-3 4G bars, I have barely 1. I have tried updating my prl, my profile. One thing that I will note is that 4G on the 1 reported bar is about as good as the 3 bars on the old Evo. However 3G reception is definitely not very good overall.
My question - as I approach the one month I have had this phone, I wonder if I should:
A. Exchange the phone for another 3D. Has anyone heard of reception issues related to hardware? How has this device compared for everyone to the old Evo as far as reception? Do I have a dud?
B. Return it and get an original Evo.
C. Something else - call sprint ask for airwave or something like that.
I appreciate any advice anyone has. Thanks in advance.
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Had the exact same issue and well I returned mine this last Sunday and got a new 3d and well it's better so far. Last week Sprint updated prl over the air and it worked for a minute and then it was back to roaming, dropping calls, battery draining like crazy, sensitive power button. I know it's only Monday but I have not dropped one call or went into roaming yet.
MattC74 said:
Had the exact same issue and well I returned mine this last Sunday and got a new 3d and well it's better so far. Last week Sprint updated prl over the air and it worked for a minute and then it was back to roaming, dropping calls, battery draining like crazy, sensitive power button. I know it's only Monday but I have not dropped one call or went into roaming yet.
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That's great. Wow
What did u say to get it switched without the run around ? They gave u new not refurbished right? Did you take it to the store you bought it at or call in?
ianoob said:
Have some friends with different carriers test your area, see which is stronger and use their PRL. That's what I did, told that to the Sprint rep while getting my MSL and he liked the idea (I did hint I would leave if I couldn't get a better signal).
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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Verizon is strongest but if I take that PRL then I wont have Sprint 4G will I?
Also how would you load the other PRL?
Thank you!
I had the power button sensitivity issue - where the button presses momentarily caused the power menu to come up instead of going into sleep mode. So I took that phone into Sprint yesterday and they gave me a new phone, within 30 days. Any replacement should be a new phone and not a refurbished one within the initial 30 days of purchase.
Point being is that they new phone to me doesn't pick up a signal as well as the other Evo 3D that I had. We have an Airave at work and the old phone would have max bars and crystal clear, today first day with the new phone was at about 2 or so bars and the one phone call was very well lets just say not so crystal clear.
Recommend you take the phone back and ask them to test it. They can test the phone for you, and worst case swamp it out for you. Don't recommend PRL hacks since those tend to get people kicked out of Sprint due to excessive roaming.
berardi said:
Verizon is strongest but if I take that PRL then I wont have Sprint 4G will I?
Also how would you load the other PRL?
Thank you!
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Sprint 4G is on a different radio than data/voice, WiMax vs CDMA/1Rxx.
If you search for say "carrier name" PRL July 2011, you should be able to find a current file. Download the file, open QPST Service Programming, click the tab "Roam" and put the file location in "Preferred Roaming". A full tutorial at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15158246&postcount=1
weidnerj said:
Recommend you take the phone back and ask them to test it. They can test the phone for you, and worst case swamp it out for you. Don't recommend PRL hacks since those tend to get people kicked out of Sprint due to excessive roaming.
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Great idea - I think I will do this
berardi said:
That's great. Wow
What did u say to get it switched without the run around ? They gave u new not refurbished right? Did you take it to the store you bought it at or call in?
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Told them it was dropping calls like crazy which it was and the rep said well lets get you a new one. Yeah got a new one from the same store.
berardi said:
I am coming from an Evo 4G. My apartment has always had sub par reception on sprint but now with the Evo 3D it is becoming irritating. In the same places I had 3G, I now am roaming. In a place where I had 2-3 4G bars, I have barely 1. I have tried updating my prl, my profile. One thing that I will note is that 4G on the 1 reported bar is about as good as the 3 bars on the old Evo. However 3G reception is definitely not very good overall.
My question - as I approach the one month I have had this phone, I wonder if I should:
A. Exchange the phone for another 3D. Has anyone heard of reception issues related to hardware? How has this device compared for everyone to the old Evo as far as reception? Do I have a dud?
B. Return it and get an original Evo.
C. Something else - call sprint ask for airwave or something like that.
I appreciate any advice anyone has. Thanks in advance.
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I don't think you have a dud. Rather than bars, what are your actual speeds using something like Speed Test from the Market. I've had well....more than 3 of these E3D's, lol, and only 1 got half-ass decent speeds out of the box. With some re-provisioning and data reset methods in the General section I got all of them to set up correctly on the network.
I read a lot of people were claiming much better data reception with the Photon over their old phone, so I thought I'd put it to the test. My old phone was an Evo4G and I still have one in the house in use (completely stock running Android 2.3), so I did a side-by-side comparison test to the Photon and this is what I got using SpeedTest.net:
Tests on 3G network
Evo4G: 279kbps/157kbps/1026ms (download/upload/ping)
Photon4G: 401kbps/211kbps/ 793ms (download/upload/ping)
Results: Photon was 44% faster on download, 34% faster on upload and 23% faster ping
Tests on 4G network
Evo4G: 3203kbps/188kbps/357ms (download/upload/ping)
Photon4G: 6454kbps/563kbps/274ms (download/upload/ping)
Results: Photon was 101% faster on download, 199% faster on upload and 23% faster ping
It is also important to note that the Evo had a lot of trouble running the test in 3G because the signal was so weak. For each good test it took about 10 tries while the Photon had no problems and I never had to retry a test in 3G on the Photon. Results shown are the average of the fastest 8 runs out of 10. This is except for the Evo 3G runs which were the average of only 6 runs because of the difficulty I had getting it to run at all on 3G. Thus, the 3G runs are biased towards the Evo since I removed more than two very slow runs and the differences on 3G may be understated (Evo may be slower than I am reporting on 3G).
Conclusion: Data Reception Rocks on the Photon4G!
This is what I've seen in numerous reviews and although I can't get a hold of one myself yet to do my own testing against my aging Epic, customers have been complaining of reception issues. Any word on others who might be experiencing this issue around you? It might just be a bad batch received.
cannibalslug said:
This is what I've seen in numerous reviews and although I can't get a hold of one myself yet to do my own testing against my aging Epic, customers have been complaining of reception issues. Any word on others who might be experiencing this issue around you? It might just be a bad batch received.
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What he was saying is, reception is great on the photon. And i agree. This is the best reception I've had on a sprint phone.
Loving this Mopho!
cannibalslug said:
This is what I've seen in numerous reviews and although I can't get a hold of one myself yet to do my own testing against my aging Epic, customers have been complaining of reception issues. Any word on others who might be experiencing this issue around you? It might just be a bad batch received.
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You misread the data. The Photon is much faster than the Evo4G. The higher the uploading and downloading numbers, the faster the data transfer. The smaller the ping number, the faster the data transfer. The Photon was faster in all measurements.
I will confirm AGAIN that the Motorola Photon absolutely has much better signal strength and faster, more stable data connection on 3G and 4G. This is the main reason I choose to keep it and put my EVO 3D back in the box and in my bottom drawer.
Wow that's impressive! How can anybody argue with that, being you have tested with all those different phones? Good to know. Thanks.
PS: Shhhh.... keep it on the DL!!! Let's hope Sprint doesn't get wind of this awesome reception or they will probably pull a Verizon and cripple the hell out of it so it barely works. Then we're all back to craptastic again.
I have to disagree with you about the Photon's reception 'cause mine SUCKS. I tried updating my profile and it didn't help. I tried updating my PRL several times and each time I got an error. I even tried going to a different part of the hous to update my PRL and it still failed with an error.
I can't even get this phone to connect to the market! Everytime I try I either get a timed out message or a no connection message.
And to add insult to injury it won't let me do a factory reset ( so I can return this piece f junk) until the battery is at 25%. The stupid thing has been on the charger for at least 45 minutes and it won't go past 20%.
On the positive side the voice connection seeems to work just fine. But I didn't get this to be a voice only phone I got it because every review I read said that it had fantastic data reception.
bullinthechinashop said:
I have to disagree with you about the Photon's reception 'cause mine SUCKS. I tried updating my profile and it didn't help. I tried updating my PRL several times and each time I got an error. I even tried going to a different part of the hous to update my PRL and it still failed with an error.
I can't even get this phone to connect to the market! Everytime I try I either get a timed out message or a no connection message.
And to add insult to injury it won't let me do a factory reset ( so I can return this piece f junk) until the battery is at 25%. The stupid thing has been on the charger for at least 45 minutes and it won't go past 20%.
On the positive side the voice connection seeems to work just fine. But I didn't get this to be a voice only phone I got it because every review I read said that it had fantastic data reception.
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Sounds like you have an issue with something. Check my thread about faster data speeds see if that helps. Click my name to view my topics.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Kcarpenter said:
Sounds like you have an issue with something. Check my thread about faster data speeds see if that helps. Click my name to view my topics.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
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Thanks but I already returned it.
I really think I'm gonna just have to bite the bulle & pay Sprint's ETF so I can try T-Mobile. I'm having even worse reception problems on my Epic 4G.
Why did u return it...it was software or hardware related.....photons kill on signal
U should of tried a full wipe and restore if that didn't fix it then warranty the phone
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
bullinthechinashop said:
Thanks but I already returned it.
I really think I'm gonna just have to bite the bulle & pay Sprint's ETF so I can try T-Mobile. I'm having even worse reception problems on my Epic 4G.
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Even worse on Epic = Photon Reception is *****in
But before you pay the ETF maybe you should just go grab a t-mo phone on contract for a day or two, see if the signal works for you, if it does then drop sprint and have your number ported to Tmo. This could save you the ETF if TMo isn't any better.
Depending on your area, TMos network signal will probably be stronger since they are GSM - takes less antenna to cover area with GSM than CDMA.
lucidvtec said:
Why did u return it...it was software or hardware related.....photons kill on signal
U should of tried a full wipe and restore if that didn't fix it then warranty the phone
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
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I did two factory resets & it didn't make any difference.
I might try another Photon. I called Sprint about my EVO 4g's reception problems & they were able to get it working again.
I don't know why I didn't think to try that with the Photon. That was a very nice phone
Or maybe I'll crawl back to Verizon. Verizon just installed a new tower by me in august and they have 4G in my area.