Develop Bugs

Incredible 2 antenna weak?

Hi all,
Got an Incredible 2 a few days ago. So far so good *except* the antenna seems weak compared to my original Moto Droid1. With my original droid i almost always had 4 bars at home, in office, etc. With this phone im lucky to get 3 bars, often only 1 or 2. Anyone else have this issue? Its got me pretty worried and consideringreturning ...
Sent from my ADR6350 using XDA App

i agree.. when compared to my previous phones, i feel like i am getting much worse reception.

Will this lower reception also affect data speed?
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the reception might be the same and how it calculates the bars may be different. do you have any other reason to suggest your getting less signal other then the bar display?
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Ooh that's interesting. I'm only judging by the bar display. I sort of hope that you are right.

You could have a point there OneStepAhead. I Google'd "Droid incredible signal strength" and found many people commenting that the bars seem to have next to nothing to do with actual performance, eg making calls and sending data with virtually no bars worked fine. That's been my experience so far as well so I am going to ignore the bars for a while and just see if it hangs in there. Given this very common issue with the first version of this phone and the excellent reputation it had despite it, it'll probably be OK.
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Even though the bars seem to jump around more and seem to not be as strong as my previous phone, I'm actually getting faster data speeds on it when I do a speed test.

Don't look at the bars in the status bar go into the setting menu and goto about phone and look at signal strength there that is accurate not the bars at the top for example my dinc 2 is one bar right now at -80db and my coworkers Droid x is four bars at -83db so technically I am getting better signal
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Thanks for the comments. It's true, the bars jump around like crazy but don't have much to do with the signal strength readings in the system. In fact, sometimes the bars go up and signal strength goes down. Seems I'm pretty much always between -70 & -80. Your input makes me feel a lot better about this phone because it was the only thing making me nervous.
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the less negative the better the reception, correct?

The Elixir app has a little widget that shows the "percent" of cell signal you're getting. So it's not a db measurement, but perhaps something they calculate from that measurement. That'd be an easy way to see the number of bars and a percentage measurement at the same time. Sounds like of like what Apple said back during Apple's antennagate, where the bar algorithm was supposedly off.

Astromech said:
The Elixir app has a little widget that shows the "percent" of cell signal you're getting. So it's not a db measurement, but perhaps something they calculate from that measurement. That'd be an easy way to see the number of bars and a percentage measurement at the same time. Sounds like of like what Apple said back during Apple's antennagate, where the bar algorithm was supposedly off.
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right, that is why I suggested the theory of the bar algorithm being off as its apparently happened before. Let's hope that's the case!
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bik2101 said:
the less negative the better the reception, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im not positive on that, i assume there is a sweet spot somewhere. Im guessing once the number gets low enough the signal strength is no longer good. Im just basing that on cable modem technology which should be between -15 and +10 if i remember correctly. too far on one side is not good. Surely some XDA member can shed some light on this?
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I have a Dinc2 as personal phone and OG Droid as the work phone, just sat it next to each other they are both at -70dbm and speedtest gave approx same speeds

hmm so from my observastions, i'm getting at abotu -90 to -100 pretty much wherever i am. this is not a good thing right?

I was at a friend's house last night. My phone had almost no signal (and therefore barely worked) but neither did a friend's blackberry on at&t and another bb on tmobile. I was at about -97 or so. Typically I'm between -70&-80 pretty much independent of number of bars showing. Last night I guess we were all basically in a dead spot.
That aside, just tried wifi on this phone last night and was blown away by the speed. It doesn't even come close to comparing to my ogDroid which took forever to ping. I never used wifi on that phone cuz it was actually slower than using 3g!
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Apples antennagate actually effected call quality I owned an original incredible and the reception and call quality seem to be a bit better on the incredible 2
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OneStepAhead said:
right, that is why I suggested the theory of the bar algorithm being off as its apparently happened before. Let's hope that's the case!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what I'm saying is that if the Elixir measurement or that of another app says you have, say 60% signal, but you only have 1 bar, at the least you'd be able to ignore your bars as irrelevant and rely on your percentage figure until such time as they release a fix for the superficial bar issue. Annoying, but a workaround.

Good tip on Elixir. Its %s seem to coincide for the most part with the bars. I made a call from Costco today with zero bars and it sounded fine. So I think i'll ignore all the bar stuff and just make sure it keeps working fine. My guess at this point is it will be perfectly OK.
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I recently upgraded to a Dinc 2 with misgivings due to reports of weak signal. Last week I drove from Salem (Oregon) through the coast range to Tillamook, down US101 to Lincoln City and then back through the coast range to Salem. Carried and compared a Blackberry Bold 9650 and Dinc 2 (Verizon).
Whenever I stopped and compared the dBm on the two handsets, the readings were within 2-4 dBm, despite the Dinc 2 signal bar showing half or less bars than the BB.
It makes me agree with abqslim's post that the signal bars on the Dinc 2 have little to do with signal strength.

Did the official Verizon 4.04 update help your cell signal?

I realize the release is brand new and has already been pulled but I'm curious to find out what people will think after using it a few days. Have you encountered any improvement or degredation in call quality, data quality, battery life? Sorry about the number of choices but some people think polls are skewed for a result and always say I should have had this or that as an option so I tried to think of as many options as possible since I can not add more choices after the fact.

Battery life hasn't improved for me but could be the rom I'm on (patient Zero )
I don't lose data as much now but still to early to tell. Appears better.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Subjectively, seems worse to me, but better handoff to 3g.

Same reception as FA02/FA02. Quicker handoff though. Favors 3G over 4G.

Battery life hasn't really improved nor dbm's. One thing I did notice was 3G to 4G handoff was quicker.

akademix said:
Battery life hasn't really improved nor dbm's. One thing I did notice was 3G to 4G handoff was quicker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
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wyattyoss said:
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
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Click to collapse
er...what?

wyattyoss said:
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lolololol
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

I notice that the screen on mine is much more sensitive to touch. That was my biggest issue before so now I'm happy!
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patalo said:
I notice that the screen on mine is much more sensitive to touch. That was my biggest issue before so now I'm happy!
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Click to collapse
Ditto on that as well. Very sensitive. My 4G is the same as my Razr Maxx and D4. Cross Fingers!

I noticed I had 4G in an area I couldn't before, other than that nothing really changed for me. One of the guys I talk to on G+ says that he never got 4G in his house before and his wifes Rezound always did, but since updating the radios last night he gets 4G inside his home.

I'm still getting random drops from 4G, but the passing off onto 3G seems to be a lot faster. Also I noticed that I get more bars in area where I had less (ex. 2 bars of 4G is now 4 bars of 4G), but still had the same dbms.

Subjectively I feel it helped tremendously. Haven't had a single data drop all day when before I would get several drops a day. I also have better reception.
Why did it get pulled?
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I've been on 4.0.4 for months now but I did flash the radios from the official update and my signal is better.
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No noticable difference for me. Although my house is right across the street from an LTE tower in a park.
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So far I am disappoint.
While the hand offs are faster I'm connected to LTE a lot less now...and previously it seemed that signal in my area was improving ><
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wyattyoss said:
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dBm is how strong of a signal your phone is getting. (if you want a higher dBm hold it higher/different ) That should be more dependent on hardware than software though, what's sometimes more important is the Signal to Noise Ratio and the Carrier Interference & Noise Ratio (SNR & CINR). Which is basically how easy your phone can hear the tower.
It's like trying to yell across a room that is full of drunk people, whoever you're talking to may be able to hear you yelling but they have no idea what you're saying. Same way for cell phones if you're in a very crowded area.

Something you guys may want to look at. So I was going to test the radios today. I sat here on lean kernel and AOKP and was getting between 86-89dbm of 4G with the new radios which was better but I figured what the hell and flashed the IMM76K build and now I get 71-74dbm with lean kernel. I don't know if everyone is going to see results like this but it is definitely worth a shot if you are seeing low dbm with the new radio.
Speedtest is now giving me 20mb down when the highest I could get before was 12. I know this sounds to good to be true, so don't believe me if you think so but I am just reporting what I am seeing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

I'm not surprised the results are mixed but I was hoping for better.

Radios
For some reason my signal starts off really bad then goes back to normal. I have noticed it favored 3g more so than 4g. Normally on my drive home from work, as soon as i hit the highway it hits 4g, i was a good 10 miles down the road, still showed 3g, so toggled lte off then on and boom back to 4g, albeit weak for a minute then back to normal. Speed tests show slightly faster, but that's negligible for me. Could just be network congestion at the time the other tests were run.
On a side rant i did notice something slightly strange. Installed bamf 1.25 simultaneously on my nexus (had since launch date) and a certified pre-owned replacement for a friend, which of course was freshly rooted by me si the "sd card" was empty other than the roms, and the fresh phone blazed through the installed about 30 seconds quicker than mine and also rebooted faster. I clicked both phones at the same time, both using 5.8.0.0 touch recovery. Nothing to do with the radio, but felt like sharing. Guess i might completely wipe my phone and see if it speeds her up!

Signal killing my battery

I can barely get 12 hours on mostly standby. I looked at what was up with my battery in the settings. In the signal bar it shows a ton of yellow and red not alot of green. I think this is what is killing my battery. I tried different radios and kernels with no luck. Any ideas
Thanks
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Aside from being closer to a tower, there isn't much you can do if you've already investigated different radios. I live in a fringe area and have had this issue with every phone i've had, both Verizon and At&t. Few things seem to drain a battery faster than the phone increasing transmit power to compensate for a weak signal.

Try using forcing 2G so it doesn't use so much energy trying to find 3G/4G.
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theking_13 said:
Try using forcing 2G so it doesn't use so much energy trying to find 3G/4G.
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Thanks will give it a try. I came from the att g note and never had issues with signal killing my battery. But it's a small price to party for such a fun phone
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The phone looking for 3G/4G signal in a place where its hard to find is what kills it. Kinda like when you get no signal, dont put it in airplane mode, and you can literally see your battery life go down.
Sent from my amazing LG G2x

[Q] 3G Battery Drain

I have noticed that when I am on 3G, my battery drains very rapidly. Usually like 3% a minute. Is there anyway to fix this, if this is abnormal?

ra9b said:
I have noticed that when I am on 3G, my battery drains very rapidly. Usually like 3% a minute. Is there anyway to fix this, if this is abnormal?
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There's no fix to signal related drain. There are only two things that can be fixed really:
1. drain related to apps including unwanted prevention of deep sleep - wakelocks are normal
2. drain related to screen - lower brightness
3g drain is related to signal strength which there is no fix and 3g drains faster than wifi. Also, the older the battery, the less of a charge it can handle. If you're in an exceptionally poor signal area sometimes Verizon can get a signal extender. I haven't dealt with that but I've heard that sometimes happens if signal is bad.

ra9b said:
I have noticed that when I am on 3G, my battery drains very rapidly. Usually like 3% a minute. Is there anyway to fix this, if this is abnormal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More than likley means that the phone isnt getting a good signal, and is using more battery trying to stay connected. You can try updating to the latest radio, and prl. Has it always done this, or did it just start recently?

Though 3% a minute is really fast. I usually am closer to 1% every minute of two of screen on time depending on signal. Keep in mind battery drain is not linear meaning it may seem to drop off faster at different percentages. I don't know the details of this but this may help:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

Thanks tiny and cmlusco. And no cmlusco, it has always done this. I did update my radio to yours (I don't remember which one exactly) and that helped. I'll search how to update prl. And thanks tiny. I'll look into that link.
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And yeah, I have weak signal where I live (-92 dB usually) but I experience this multiple places.
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ra9b said:
Thanks tiny and cmlusco. And no cmlusco, it has always done this. I did update my radio to yours (I don't remember which one exactly) and that helped. I'll search how to update prl. And thanks tiny. I'll look into that link.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To update the prl just dial *228 and select option 2.

I feel your pain. I work in an area of Tampa that has zero service and I mean ZERO. My phone tries desperately to cling to a signal and the battery drain is mind blowing. I usually have my phone in airplane mode and switch it off now and then to check for missed calls and what not. One of the roms I was using completely lost 3G and this was while I was at work. I had to change to a different rom after messing around with **778* I couldn't get it back.
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MagnaCore said:
I feel your pain. I work in an area of Tampa that has zero service and I mean ZERO. My phone tries desperately to cling to a signal and the battery drain is mind blowing. I usually have my phone in airplane mode and switch it off now and then to check for missed calls and what not. One of the roms I was using completely lost 3G and this was while I was at work. I had to change to a different rom after messing around with **778* I couldn't get it back.
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That sucks. You need to switch carriers.
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tiny4579 said:
That sucks. You need to switch carriers.
9
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It certainly sucks. But i dont really think its Verizons fault. I work on an AirForce Base. Cell phone service is scarce within the whole base. It does seem to be worse for Verizon and Sprint users from the people i had asked about it
Alot of the times my weather app will show totally different locations then where i am, I will pickup the weather forecast for Apollo Beach or Gibsonton(i dont even know where this is)

might be my imagination but i noticed this battery drain using 3G more when i switched to CM10.1(4.21) versus CM10(4.12).
but when on Wifi, my battery usage seems adequate to very good

It is your imagination. ROM has no bearing on 3g drain.
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WCDMA huge battery drain

Hi,
I have stock 4.1.1, so build 3.14.708.28.
I've found that since the last firmware update I have a major battery issue. It takes the form of:
- When WCDMA radio is enabled the battery drain is phenomenal, even with no use. I can drop 30% in 30 minutes at times.
- The battery levels do not appear to be accurate. It will be on 40%, then I reboot and the battery shows at 8%, for example. Only apparent at lower battery levels. This not just a widget thing - you can see it in the Power settings.
Have tried 2 hardware resets, rebooting the bootloader multiple times, uninstalling all software except for stock, monitoring the battery usage stats, using Carat to check for errors over a three week period, etc. No software related issues have been found.
Any ideas on what to do? At the moment I'm just using 2g most of the time, which yields much better results.
thanks,
Andrew

If it helps at all, the data connection is normally hsdpa

And I'm always in power saver mode..... And fast boot is off... What else I need to say to get an answer?
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3G always drains a lot of battery.
Try using WiFi.
You may want to do a battery calibration.
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Thanks, will try calibration. I think it's probably fundamental hardware though, as I'm also getting random reboots. Aim for a new phone every 18 months, but looks like the one x won't last more than 10.
Maybe I should get a battery replacement
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Hi there guys,
my hox does the same. fully charged, turned on at 9:30 and down to 1% at 16:00. Was Vodafone branded, but today flashed generic ROM (3.20.401) so will see... right now charging then will wipe battery stats and see...
Also noticed, that with Tesco SIM getting much better battery life.
Have power saver turned ON as well...

WCDMA preferred mode drains a lot lot of battery as it is always searching for a stronger 3G signal.
I recommend keeping the mode to GSM Auto PRL.
Do this by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and into Phone Info.
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athulele said:
WCDMA preferred mode drains a lot lot of battery as it is always searching for a stronger 3G signal.
I recommend keeping the mode to GSM Auto PRL.
Do this by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and into Phone Info.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats the point turning Off 3G??? Then is no point to have top end smartphone...
It is good advice when you're on place with weak or no signal, but almost everywhere, especially in towns there's full 3G/HSDPA signal anyway
GSM or 2G networks will be shut down soon anyway and speed on GPRS is not acceptable novadays...

Rexton270 said:
Whats the point turning Off 3G??? Then is no point to have top end smartphone...
It is good advice when you're on place with weak or no signal, but almost everywhere, especially in towns there's full 3G/HSDPA signal anyway
GSM or 2G networks will be shut down soon anyway and speed on GPRS is not acceptable novadays...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not saying that turn off 3G completely. GSM auto prl just holds on to the network which is stronger, 2G or 3G.
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Aright, I didn't know that...
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Good tip, thanks. Will try hsdpa only and see how that goes.
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Well... Battery issue on my HOX is still present- battery don't last long...
Yesterday flashed latest generic ROM (3.20.401.1), fully charged, cleared battery stats but still same results... Right now down to 32% since morning 8AM, with mild usage...

Well I think it worked for me. I've gone from 4.5 hours of battery life to about 11. Also, my random restarts have stopped.
I guess I can't conclude absolutely that changing to wcdma only was the cause of the improvement, but nothing else has changed at all.
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