I have had my new Desire for 2 days now. It is the telstra version (australia) (which also has the non working GPS).
I am using my postpaid telstra sim in it which was previously in my blackberry 9700 which is NEXTG capable.
I have found the reception to be noticeably poorer. My BB would show full 5 bars and would never drop a call or have any issues with calls breaking up and being unable to hear the other person. The actual 'bars' was about 2 out of 4 for the android. it is 5/5 for the BB. The android signal strength meter shows anywhere from -90 dBm to -105 dBm in the same spot. My BB9700 shows -70 dBm !!! in the same spot with the same sim!!! -70 is as good as it gets.
for example today, i had trouble maintaining a conversation for more than a few minutes without it breaking up and having to repeat myself a few times. This happened at least on 2 separate phone calls with the desire. Granted, it never cut the connection completely.
i got sick of it because i was on call and had to be able to be contactable 100% so I swapped the sim in to the BB and continued on my conversation – 30 minute conversation without a hint of an issue.
I have always found the BB to be the ultimate in the phone department – but i was seduced by the pretty screen and graphics of the Desire and also the integration with google apps – which i use a lot of.
I also note that people have been complainng about the nexus one over in the US of A regarding the reception quality too. I bet it is the same thing.
The call quality is quite good though. The speakerphone is crap though.
The other bits of the phone are great – screen, speed, apps, and everything else everyone said was good... though i havent heard anyone complaining about the reception
Just want to know if anyone else is having similar experiences and if it is just me. Can ppl with phones that can show signal strength objectively (i.e. dBm measurements) look into a comparison? and also state what network you are on?
Im now thinking it is too unreliable to use as my primary phone... which is too bad. I hope it is a matter of a software update or somesuch to fix this. The price one pays to be an early adopter.
I suspect this applies to your Desire?
bloody hell... same thing happened when i tried what that dude did... pick up the damn thing and the signal goes to hell
devastating.... this is sad.
It's because the antenna is at the bottom, and you're most likely covering it with your hand when you pick it up.
It's quite worrying this sort of hardware design flaw wasn't spotted by HTC. I too can confirm it happens on mind has well....at least I know how to hold it now!
This thing really is a nexus one+sense huh? It even copies the 3g coverage issue.
I just tried that and found the same problem...that is really a big problem.
hi, even if that shown in the video partially occurs to me as well I can't say I'm noticing any difference with my old handset (touch hd)
I have currently got an O2 simcard in my desire with GPRS reception only.
I do not have that issue, will try with my orange 3g sim as well.
Has anyone a work around or advice for this?
Held tight in the palm I lose bars, held to the head I don't - enough of a different grip when actually using for a call. Cupped in the fingers rather than the palm, no loss.
I have the sim free desire bought from UK, and I'm using the optus prepaid sim. There is no problem for me at all.
Maybe update the radio would fix the issue, but it seems no radio update atm.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
HTC Desire Bad reception Solved!!
Hi All,
I recently bought a second hand HTC Desire and had the same thing: Bad Reception.
I tried EVERYTHING, Rom's, Radio's, Task-killers, etc. but I found the reason was something completely different!
Now my Desire has FULL 4 bars reception: What did I do?
Remove the battery cover, take out the battery, unscrew the two small Torx screws at the bottom left and right.
These two screws hold the antenna cover which is actually the antenna itself!!
You will find two spring-loaded contacts at the left of the phone on the circuitboard: these are the antenna contacts. Pry them up al little bit and clean them with some alcohol.
Now clean the two grey contact surfaces in the antenne. Do not use any scratching tool, but use a small pencil eraser!! The surface will stay a bit grey, but this is normal.
Now you are done!
Put the antenna back in place (bottom first) and put the 2 screws back.
Boot your phone and you will have good (4 bar) reception like before.
If you want to check?
Before you do anything "dial" *#*#4636#*#* , choose "Phone Information" and look at the signal strength.
The lower the number of dBm the better the signal.
Same as: the higher the ASU the better the signal.
Do the same after cleaning and you will see the result.
Succes to you all!
Extra: The antenna is at the bottom of the phone, poor design choice, we all know.
However:before -when holding the phone- the Signal Strength went from -103 dBm tot -119 dBm and then to 0, meaning losing the connection completely.
Now, the reception at the same location when holding the phone goes from -79 dBm to -85 dBm still holding 4 bars and having good reception.
My guess is that with all the Desire's these contacts corrode over time, so cleaning does help to get the phone back in it's original condition..
Satbeginner said:
Hi All,
I recently bought a second hand HTC Desire and had the same thing: Bad Reception.
I tried EVERYTHING, Rom's, Radio's, Task-killers, etc. but I found the reason was something completely different!
Now my Desire has FULL 4 bars reception: What did I do?
Remove the battery cover, take out the battery, unscrew the two small Torx screws at the bottom left and right.
These two screws hold the antenna cover which is actually the antenna itself!!
You will find two spring-loaded contacts at the left of the phone on the circuitboard: these are the antenna contacts. Pry them up al little bit and clean them with some alcohol.
Now clean the two grey contact surfaces in the antenne. Do not use any scratching tool, but use a small pencil eraser!! The surface will stay a bit grey, but this is normal.
Now you are done!
Put the antenna back in place (bottom first) and put the 2 screws back.
Boot your phone and you will have good (4 bar) reception like before.
If you want to check?
Before you do anything "dial" *#*#4636#*#* , choose "Phone Information" and look at the signal strength.
The lower the number of dBm the better the signal.
Same as: the higher the ASU the better the signal.
Do the same after cleaning and you will see the result.
Succes to you all!
Extra: The antenna is at the bottom of the phone, poor design choice, we all know.
However:before -when holding the phone- the Signal Strength went from -103 dBm tot -119 dBm and then to 0, meaning losing the connection completely.
Now, the reception at the same location when holding the phone goes from -79 dBm to -85 dBm still holding 4 bars and having good reception.
My guess is that with all the Desire's these contacts corrode over time, so cleaning does help to get the phone back in it's original condition..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing when I was struggling with poor GPS - opened the phone and bent all contacts a little bit. Confirm that my (or my wife's more accurately) Desire now has outstanding GPS, 2G and 3G signal. This screenshot shows the two contacts mentioned by Satbeginner.
It is worth mentioning though - if your phone is still under warranty and has never been opened this procedure will void your warranty - you have to break a seal on one of the two screws to remove the antenna.
with older phones, there would be this rubber tab you could pop off to reveal a connection intended to hookup an external antenna. on this nexus, there doesn't appear to be one. with the battery door removed though, i see various points that could potentially be such a connection(G, L1 C2, C1, L2). the marker labelled "C1" looks like it could be a possible connection point. has anyone tried using a make-shift antenna(insulated wire, paper clip, etc)?
Reception is fine in most places on the gnex. Its a 600-800 dollar fone why would I ductape a paper clip to this gorgeous fone for reception.
But no I have not tried
Android - making grown men pee sitting down since 2.0
Paper clip? I macgyvered a hat with an old tv antenna.
My grandma beat me down and took my nexus. Sent from a jitterbug with beats by dre.
I've had great reception so far, so haven't tried.
If you try that out, let us know how it goes--never know when I'll be stuck in some building blocking signal and need to create a long antenna to poke out a window!
I had a Rezound briefly and found that I had much better signal strength + transfer speeds with that phone then I do now on my Nexus. Most likely due to how the Rezound's antenna is integrated into the back door. I frequent a local library and while I'm there the signal on the Nexus will show 1 bar 4G and lot's of times it will switch to 3G & even temporarily drop signal completely. With the Rezound though it always had 2 - 3 bars + speeds were also considerably faster. Anyway, so far I've tested out the paper clip... and upon making contact it instantly went from 1 bar to 2 bars. No matter how I adjusted it though it would not go any higher... but, upon removing the paper clip it would go back to 1 bar. I'll have to do further testing... although of course, I only do plan to do this for such situations. If I'm somewhere with a good signal I'll leave the phone be.
[EDIT] p.s. this is also my 2nd Nexus. the 1st one also had reception issues.
I noticed the long antenna to the right of the battery directly above the sd card is torn above the screw all the way threw the tape and antenna. I tried searching to find out witch antenna that is but cannot find anything. The damage pretty much makes the antenna worthless I would imagine. Its only connected from where it is attached to the board to in between the screw and the little rectangle shaped hole above it, so not much use. Im kinda thinking its my WiFi antenna because its been really wonky lately, but could just be my router getting old.
Can I get a replacement, or will Sprint still fix it (I am still paying for the total equipment protection) even though the EVOs are EOL? Since its a hardware issue should I unroot my phone back to stock or will they not mind?
Hi y'all,
I have been battling to fix my HOX 3G signal for months, I have taken it open, bent all the pins I could find upwards but it was still [email protected]
Where my iphone, defy had 3G or HSDPA signal, I only had Edge, where they had Edge, the HOX only had G.
I even changed the back cover but it was still the same
So one day I managed to break the antennae cable (after reopening and closing so much) and I realized the antennae connects the little L board which then connects to the antennae on the back cover. (not sure if it was posted before but where ever I search no one mentioned any 3G or GSM antennae location or diagram)
Long story short, after replacing the L board, my phone is finally seeing HSDPA signal along with every other well built devices I have/had.
Those with antenna problems can check the following:
Try flashing different radios
Check that the contact on the L board is connected with the back cover (the back cover plates which makes contacts to the L-board should be slightly dent)
Check that the antennae cable is secure on both points (L board and motherboard)
A loose connection on the antennae could cause signal drops or no signals at all.
Hope this helps the others, now I can finally enjoy the HOX as a phone...
ps I brought the L board in China @ $7.5, also replaced the antennae cable @ $2, not sure how much it will be in your area. I attached the pics of the L-board for those who dont know what I'm on about.
Cheers!
Dear folks,
One night I reached out my hand while sleeping, touched a glass of water (which fell over) and my Galaxy Nexus GSM got wet. In the morning I dried it (*no* hair dryer, just a vacuum cleaner and a radiator), and it still works like a charm. With few exections: Almost no signal anymore. Most often no signal, sometimes weak signal, rarely full H+ speed.
In my flat I have no radio at all (-110db if that matters). No speech, no data.
Outside I may have luck, I may not. Sometimes I get almost full HSDPA+ as stated, but most of the times with "standard" covering just no signal or a really really weak one, where my old HTC Hero (T-Mobile H2 Touch) and my work phone (Nokia 31xx) have full(!) radio signal. Embarassing.
Speaker was damaged, too. So was the USB port (not charging when switched on, no sound, wrong headset recognition).
I decided to repair it myself. I did this before many times with my old Nokia 3310, and ifixit.com suggested, it's not that hard. So I went to eBay and bought a new speaker part (that more bulky part at the bottom of the disassembled phone).
Well, this fixed the speaker/headset and the USB issue. Hooray! But my radiosignal was still bad.
So today, I replaced the antenna mainboard (L-Shaped). Well, this fixed… nothing at all. I still got bad radio (at least it's not broken down completely). Now I wonder: What could I do next? Flasing radio firmware has no effect either (I think, I tried three or so). Is it really because it got wet? Sth else to replace?
I'm looking forward to any suggestions on what to do next. If you need any information, just ask.
Thanks in advance.
I'm sorry I can't provide pictures atm, but I only wrote 5 posts or so.