VZW S4's signal/battery quality? Better than GNex? - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4

So my contracts almost up and I'm looking at the S4. My GNex has awful battery life, the 4g signal is spotty at best for some reason despite living in a heavily built up 4g area. How you liking the call/signal/battery quality of the S4?
And should I just swap to another carrier, I know some people are going to yell yes, but honestly I don't know what to do. I don't have their unlimited data, but I've never really had issues until the GNex with 3g/4g signals for some reason and all. There's not really any other carriers that have the network that VZW has in my area and areas I travel a lot either so that's another thing, but I've been wanting to swap carriers to see if the other side really is better so to speak.

I owned the Galaxy Nexus and I don't think I've ever had worse battery life and signal on a phone.
The battery life and radios on the S IV are significantly better.

I came from a GNex myself and I ran all varieties of Roms and used AOKP as my daily driver.
I can easily say without a shadow of a doubt after 3 days of use my battery life is night and day better as is my 4g connection. Dont hesitate... just upgrade.
Lil
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app

Have a to agree....gnex had horrible battery and my radio sucked bigtime. Both so far are complete opposite on this fine s4. I have ran into bad battery drain though when doing big up/downloads on LTE if my coverage is bad. Wish they could just throttle transmit power intelligently. I hate hot phones.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

Related

Switching to at&t in a few days

Is the battery life good?
How is the 3g? Does it go in and out or stay connected
Don't do it. Unless you REAAAAAAAALLY want an Atrix for some reason.
OK so I'm guessing its bad?
I'm on da fence with this and the nexus s
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
who are you switching from? does it have to be at&t ? My atrix battery isnt bad, but i despise at&t
I sometimes go from H+ --> E --> no signal at odd times here in Raleigh, NC...
It depends on your location !!! some area's are good for AT$T and some are really BAD !
I'd pick up a Galaxy S II personally, I am fairly sure it's coming to T-mobile, Verizon, and AT&T so if you have T-mo or Verizon I'd recommend that.
It really out classes the Atrix from top to bottom, the only thing it lacks are docks (worthless anyway), qHD (But the sAMOLED screen more than makes up for it) and Tegra 2..although Tegra 2 is actually quite limited compared to the Galaxy II's chipset.
Why so many AT&T haters? I've been with them since it was Cingular years ago and I don't see any issues that people don't have with other providers. I think we are all looking for perfect world scenarios and we just aren't quite there yet. As for the Atrix, love mine!
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I was with t-mobile till February 2011 and was sick of them because of the ****ty reception in San Diego in the area I live in. It was supposed to be "4G" but I was constantly on EDGE. I had friends on AT&T and they had great reception and on 3G faster or similar speeds as me on T-mobile with "4G". I switched and I am happy so far.
Try to find out if you have good reception in the area that you need it in (ask friends on AT&T etc.). T-mobile and AT&T can be quite spotty in coverage and reception.
wesglbrt said:
Why so many AT&T haters? I've been with them since it was Cingular years ago and I don't see any issues that people don't have with other providers. I think we are all looking for perfect world scenarios and we just aren't quite there yet. As for the Atrix, love mine!
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon = Faster network (Only carrier with substantial LTE rollout already), larger coverage map, and unlimited data plans.
AT&T = Slower network, no LTE for at least another year, 2 years for smaller markets, capped data plans.
The choice is simple.
dco717 said:
Is the battery life good?
How is the 3g? Does it go in and out or stay connected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery life is amazing. But as always, it will also depend on your personal usage of the phone. If you are running speedtests all day then the battery life will be crap, for example.
the 3G will entirely depend on AT&T's network in your area. Look it up online and you should have a better gauge on how their network works in your area. Entirely subjective. In my area, it is amazing and I have no complains. It has been stable for me and the few times it "goes out" is when I am in the mountains or somewhere with weak cell signal anyways.
I just switched from Verizon to ATT about 3 weeks ago. The only thing that I miss is the amazing data speeds on my thunderbolt. I have had no issues with ATT and the service is not that much different in my area. If they are alright in your area I don't see a reason not to go for it.
The Atrix is a great phone, compared to my thunderbolt there is no comparison. The battery on the atrix lasts around 4 times longer then the thunderbolt and is built a lot better. Its a lot faster as well.
I have Verizon now but it cost 178 for two phones and if I switch to at&t it will be 131.98 or T-Mobile it would be 139
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

HTC Rezound Signal Strength

Currently have a Galaxy Nexus, and the radio in this phone is not good. I often find myself in areas with perfect 4G and yet my phone can still be stuck on 3G... I have bad signal in general out where I live, and yet my brother's RAZR Maxx is able to text with no problems where as I need to hold my phone in the air and pray to the phone gods every other text... It's just plain annoying, so I am looking into switching phones. I really like HTC's phones, as my last phone was the Thunderbolt so I was wondering if the Rezound actually has a decent radio unlike my Nexus.
I have both phones. My nexus drops 4g or all signals all the time, even with the 4.0.4 radios. My rezound always has a great signal, even in areas where the 4g signal isn't great to begin with. And I've never had the issue of dropped calls on my rez.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2
Yeah really good ones actually, just some people have problems with the latest leak including myself
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
That is one of the Rezound's key advantages everybody can agree on: great radio strength. Unless the area has really poor signal strength from the tower itself, the Rezound is one of the best Verizon smartphones for signal strength.
My rezound in a metal box has better reception than the Nexus
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
That's good to hear, I'm seriously interested in trading my Nexus for a Rezound at this point lol. I love the community and abundance of roms for my phone but it doesn't even matter if I can't get any signal when I need it.
Jaredsk74 said:
That's good to hear, I'm seriously interested in trading my Nexus for a Rezound at this point lol. I love the community and abundance of roms for my phone but it doesn't even matter if I can't get any signal when I need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try swappa or Craigslist...
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Rezound has had the best signal of any phone I've used, there's literally only one place I have bad signal which is work, which is a dead zone for all carriers.
The only place I get bad reception is the super sticks north of Ashland, OH...and thats just the data. Otherwise, perfect.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
Have not seen my signal drop below 3 bars with the newest leak. But it has had a strong signal
since I bought it last November, and the only problems I have had with the signal was when VZW
had all those 4G outages and we were stuck on 1X.
I left my GNex for the Rezound. I actually had it before i took it back to the store to return it and get the nexus on day 1. I started having severe signal issues with it almost from the first day o got it. The radios suck in the GNex. Next to my wife's Thunderbolt, she constantly showed 4G, I had either no signal, 1x or 3G (rarely). After 4 replacement GNex from VZW, I found a guy who gave me a hella deal. Rezound, new in box, extended battery and back cover, original battery and cover, a case and all cables including the beats headphones. I only gave him a 2 month old GNex and a charger lol. Bottom line, Rezound has better build quality AND radios. I'm happy with my situation.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
I get a strong 4g signal with my battery cover off (antenna housing).

Anyone else see the Droid Life review?

Droid Life came out with a full review today. The battery life is quite good according to them (average life of 21 hours), but surprisingly he reported some 4G drop issues and said the camera wasn't that great. I'm hoping the signal was just a fluke, but it seems to be since other big reviewers have said it's top notch.
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/11/19/htc-droid-dna-review/
I saw it, and though meh on the 4G drop. It could have easily been in his area. Of all the reviews I've seen he was the only one to have that issue. I also thought the photo samples he had were really not as bad as he described them to be either.
As much as I want to jump on this phone, the only issue I seem to have now is storage space. It's this or the GN2. I still don't know?
8192 on Quads! Thanks sick!
Damn it when will Wednesday get here??!??!!!?!?!!
I actually experience the 3g/4g drop often on my galaxy nexus and I live in the bay area. Definitely sucks my battery to oblivion. Since HTC is said to make better radios I hope the drops would be less frequent.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
foolie said:
I actually experience the 3g/4g drop often on my galaxy nexus and I live in the bay area. Definitely sucks my battery to oblivion. Since HTC is said to make better radios I hope the drops would be less frequent.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't worry about it, when I got the GNex I my thunderbolt up and running for a couple days and the radios are noticeably stronger and more stable on the Thunderbolt. Side by side I'd get solid 4g on the bolt where the GNex was spotty at best. My house isn't the in the strongest 4g area, but the Tbolt wouldn't drop off the signal no matter where in my home I was. The GNex I get 4g outside or by windows and that's it, with 3g speeds. The tbolt would pull a solid 12-15up 3-5down sitting right next to it.
Not to mention the GNex isn't exactly known for its radios.
flaring afro said:
Droid Life came out with a full review today. The battery life is quite good according to them (average life of 21 hours), but surprisingly he reported some 4G drop issues and said the camera wasn't that great. I'm hoping the signal was just a fluke, but it seems to be since other big reviewers have said it's top notch.
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/11/19/htc-droid-dna-review/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The review doesn't talk about any drops in the traditional sense, but rather that the phone was "dropping back" to 3G in weak 4G areas:
I constantly found the device dropping back to 3G, even when other devices were maintaining a 4G connection, albeit a poor one at that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something that is done on purpose in order to maintain a more reliable connection without as many actual drops when switching between 3G and 4G. With my Rezound, Galaxy Nexus, and RAZR MAXX, when I would be out on the edge of a 4G area, the phone would jump back and forth between 3G and 4G, resulting in actual drops in service and a drain on the battery. My S3 does what the DNA does - opts to stick with 3G in weak 4G areas. The result is a far more stable connection with less drops in service and much less battery drain.
bsweetness said:
The review doesn't talk about any drops in the traditional sense, but rather that the phone was "dropping back" to 3G in weak 4G areas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's what I meant. Only dropping down from 4G. He said that you can't disable 4G though, but I'm guessing there will be a non-stock way of doing it.
WilliamStern said:
I also thought the photo samples he had were really not as bad as he described them to be either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the pictures looked great, but I'm also comparing them to my 2.5 year old Incredible so pretty much any high end phone, besides maybe Motorolas, will look great to me lol
flaring afro said:
Yeah, that's what I meant. Only dropping down from 4G. He said that you can't disable 4G though, but I'm guessing there will be a non-stock way of doing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
man i really hope there will be a way you can disable 4G whenever you want. that'd be so useful if i needed to conserve battery and i'm in a spotty 4G area
flaring afro said:
Yeah, that's what I meant. Only dropping down from 4G. He said that you can't disable 4G though, but I'm guessing there will be a non-stock way of doing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much every LTE phone released on Verizon over the past several months hasn't had the option to disable LTE in the stock settings. Even some phones that used to have the option have had it removed in updates (such as the RAZR and RAZR MAXX). But with all of these phones, there have been ways of putting the phone into 3G only mode without root via an app or through settings that can be accessed through the phone's dialer.

[Q] Question : Rezound reception vs Incredible 2 (aka S) ?

I've got a Inc2 on PagePlus. I love the phone but it gets TERRIBLE reception. I live in a rural area, and am sick of dropping calls... so I'm thinking of stepping up to a Rezound. But being I have to buy my phone outright (used) I wanted to know if anyone had owned both and could let me know if the Rez is better or same as Inc2.
Thanks!!
I think it is the same or slightly worse. Of course there have been a few radio updates for the rezound that may have improved it since i used the incredible 2. Remember there are some areas that have poor cdma reception but solid lte, in which case you'd be better of with the rezound foot data.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium HD
Thanks, Bacon. To use the Rez on PagePlus, I have to flash it. So that means 1RTT max data, so no LTE.
The rezound has better signal reception than the thunderbolt. Many has said the incredible 2 is basically a smaller version of the bolt minus 4g and a few other things. I don't think you could go wrong with the rezound. Just a comparison my bolt I was lucky to get 2 bars where I live compared to the rezound I get 4. Good luck on your choices.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Rumblur said:
I've got a Inc2 on PagePlus. I love the phone but it gets TERRIBLE reception. I live in a rural area, and am sick of dropping calls... so I'm thinking of stepping up to a Rezound. But being I have to buy my phone outright (used) I wanted to know if anyone had owned both and could let me know if the Rez is better or same as Inc2.
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rumblur I don't know about Inc2 but i had to return Samsung Galaxy Nexus because it drop calls and got Rez and all's well. Maybe the antenna in the case back better location.
captcarl
Thanks all. I'm waivering.... I can get an Inc1 for $50 or a Rezound for $150, around here (used). I figure my Inc2 will pull $100 so it's not a huge issue financially... but what I really need is someone much smarter than I, to figure out how to get it on PagePlus with 3g! Then I'd be one happy camper
I know I know... I live in a dream world where Verizon doesn't cripple every phone in some way or another
The Rezound gets great reception vs other comparable smartphones.
i am on rezoundand my mom uses inc2. have to say rezound's display is brilliant and cpu is clearly faster than inc2. but... inc2 outweigh much more as for battery life.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Luke1213 said:
i am on rezoundand my mom uses inc2. have to say rezound's display is brilliant and cpu is clearly faster than inc2. but... inc2 outweigh much more as for battery life.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope it would on battery life as that phone only has 3g
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
The trick for me is, the Rezound would be great... but I'm on Page Plus, and they can't do 4G/LTE phones yet. So I'd have to get it flashed so it could be activated. The trouble with THAT is according to everything I've read, is the data is limited to 1RTT, no 3G. Sooooo.... what to do? My Dinc2 is a great phone, but the reception is killing me. I'm sick of having to be a contortionist or walk around in hopes of getting a good signal.

coming from gnexus how is the signal?

I have an upgrade starting today, have original gnexus that came out almost 2 years ago. I love the phone but the signal is horrendous 3g/4g doesn't matter.
This phone looks great, to be honest not sure what phone to get, I don't care about rooting or upgrading rom's just don't have time for that need a phone that works.
Between the ones I have.. Ive got a 515.09 and .10 and both on LTE here average around -86-90 dbm , 3-4 bars all day
Sitting at -89 on my Note 3 right now, in my area I don't really notice a difference in signal
NeoMagus said:
Between the ones I have.. Ive got a 515.09 and .10 and both on LTE here average around -86-90 dbm , 3-4 bars all day
Sitting at -89 on my Note 3 right now, in my area I don't really notice a difference in signal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so not major differences? Maybe i just got a bad gnexus, but I did exchange a few times right now sitting at -93 to -103 in 3g with 2 bars
with 4G I have one bar with -111
I just know compared to my daughters iphone she has much better signal then my gnexus, so I know something is up with this phone.
How is the camera on the note3 compared to gnexus? Is it better at least? I know it a cell phone, but gnexus camera was hit and miss.
I've never had an issue with the signal on either of mine .. might be a fringe area as well .. chances are though if its bad with the 515 it'll be bad with the Note.
Camera wise, jmo but I dont really like the Note 3's camera. Shots dont turn out well on mine often I liked how fast the GNex instantly snapped shots and I do prefer AOSP over TW
NeoMagus said:
I've never had an issue with the signal on either of mine .. might be a fringe area as well .. chances are though if its bad with the 515 it'll be bad with the Note.
Camera wise, jmo but I dont really like the Note 3's camera. Shots dont turn out well on mine often I liked how fast the GNex instantly snapped shots and I do prefer AOSP over TW
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks really torn, would have liked to just go to nexus 5 but I am stuck with verizon.
Choices really s4, note3, LG G2, or htc one or i guess that new htc max
Out of those any idea which has the best signals? I know this might be wrong forum to ask about other phones but not sure where to ask
Motorola phones are generally regarded as having good radios, but I personally haven't used one since the Bionic
The note 3 is the greatest phone on the market.
Signals are amazing.
Camera is amazing.
Battery is amazing.
Screen is amazing.
Speed is amazing.
It's only flaw is the lack of AOSP.
And if you ask most of us here, you will find that many of us agree AOSP on this device is a Downgrade.
You lose out on so many features.
With that being said.
You'd be a fool to buy any other current phone for Verizon.
(Maybe the exception for the LG G2)
I just got the note 3 and had come from the thunderbolt. Signal was better on the bolt unfortunately but when the signal is good man does the note fly.
Edit: 3g is always strong but when you get stuck on 1 to 2 bars on 4g the phone will just sit there sometimes.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
barrackOBAMA said:
The note 3 is the greatest phone on the market.
Signals are amazing.
Camera is amazing.
Battery is amazing.
Screen is amazing.
Speed is amazing.
It's only flaw is the lack of AOSP.
And if you ask most of us here, you will find that many of us agree AOSP on this device is a Downgrade.
You lose out on so many features.
With that being said.
You'd be a fool to buy any other current phone for Verizon.
(Maybe the exception for the LG G2)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After several devices, and trying CM variants since I dunno.... CM8 or CM9, I am worm out on AOSP. The signal specifically is always worse on AOSP than stock Touch wiz.
OP, I've been through the Fascinate, Charge, GS3 and now the Note 3. It seems to me (at least in terms of Samsung radios) that they finally got it right. I get better signal with the N3 than the GS3 which wasn't very old really. Both wifi and 4G. In places where I used to barely get any signal or the sporadic 1xRtt data I get a marginal 3G signal. That's good for the place I test it weekly which is like a Faraday cage. Most people in class with me have zero signal. For reference on AOSP on my GS3 I would have nothing there, zero, even texts fail there.
Last night I did a test with the wifi radio. I walked outside my place nearly 100 ft and was STILL getting usable signal using the 5ghz band of my router (Netgear WNDR3700) which to be fair has a lot to do with that test. I could have switched to the 2.4ghz band for improved range but in between these two apartment buildings I am probably picking up on 30 routers at once so 5ghz gives me much better SNR. It's noticeably improved over the GS3 as far as wifi.
All in all I am very happy with reception considering it's a Samsung. I put it nearly on par with coworkers Motorola Razr Maxx and similar handsets. Keep in mind I am in a very well established heavily covered LTE market metro area. You I think you still have a 14 day trial period with Verizon, why not give it a try.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
I was in a similar situation - loved the GNexus, other than poor signal as well as battery life. Stock ROM, also no time/interest in flashing ROM's, or even rooting.
The GN3 is a breath of fresh air. The battery life is incredible. I've only had it a month, and haven't done significant traveling, but the signal has just never been a problem. When I've tested it, it's been as good as my wife's Galaxy S4, which was clearly better than my GNexus.
The browsing experience with Chrome is also incredible - it seems as fast as my desktop loading pages and responsiveness (the GNexus wasn't bad, but this is dramatically faster). The display is gorgeous, and I love the size.
By a stroke of good fortune, it seems to work better with my BlueAnt S4 (visor-mounted bluetooth speaker device). It also works quite well with S-Voice, for truly hands-free operation when driving (I use Car Home Ultra with it).
So yes, for me at least, it simply works without me having to do much other than customizing appearance and apps. I have no regrets at all in going to the GN3 from the GNexus.
Probably best for the sticky here ...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2466108

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