I am not a Developer but am a Power User of Android for work and play using for Proposals,
Invoices, and business and casual browsing.
No computer needed.
Let me confirm that this Model Alpha 850M an octacore made for North, South, Central America and the Caribbean Factory Unlocked LTE phone works great on the Metro/Tmobile
Network on LTE and drops to 3G on Voice Calls and a little H+ when signal weak in large buildings.
Excellent voice quality, strong radio transceiver which locks well to even low signal in buildings or near transmitting towers .
Only my second Android and my first Samsung-I have not found the horrible bloatware I have read about but do have the phone customized with many features toggled off etc.
I come from an Audio background and Phones are the only Devices which do not often sound better ( earpiece, microphones, speakerphones) on a $600 Device versus a $150 DeviceTHIS Alpha surprised me- it sounds much fuller and a little louder than 3 or 4 AT&T
Alpha 801 quad cores I auditioned before.
Either a bigger speaker, better cone material, or more power or all three- the AT&T850A is
tinny and thin sounding compared to this 850M- not sure if they are all like this but an excellent speakerphone !
So often even with Experts you can NOT get a DEFINITIVE ANSWER on whether a specific Model performs FULLY on a certain Carrier as well as branded Devices this one does on TMobile also has the 700band which TMo will be using more and more for LTE which penetrates buildings better.
LTE Bands are AWS/ 700/850/1800/1900/2100/2600
To use a highly technical Term even for Developers this little Phone "Kicks Ass".
As I have said before If this phone was about 8.5 millimeters thick with a 3000Mah Battery
a higher res screen, 3 Gigs of RAM, SD Storage and the Camera from the Note 4 and a second speaker it would have been a great hit Worldwide.
This phone has less lag than S5 and excellent as is but SHOULD have been great.
Samsung tried to COPY the Iphone rather than surpass it, underestimating the Tech Savvy of
Android Users who purchase $600 plus phones.
One BIG PROBLEM is I cannot be on Internet and a Call Simultaneously on this phone.
It DROPS TO 3 G on Calls which temporarily kills Data-not sure if this is Alpha or Network BUT I always have Internet on calls with Metro PCS.
So this Alpha may not have this feature ?
If you are on a compatible GSM network (like T-Mobile you listed), it should maintain network connection even on 3G mode unless the phone drops to 2G mode. Until VoLTE is enabled (Alpha does support it but not yet enabled), all LTE phones on AT&T or T-Mobile will have to drop to HSPA mode (H+ or 3G or 2G depending on the availability) for voice calls. But as long as you are not on 2G (E or G), you should still have simultaneous voice and network connection.
However, I did encounter similar problems on my AT&T version but a reboot of the phone solved my problem.
robertkoa said:
One BIG PROBLEM is I cannot be on Internet and a Call Simultaneously on this phone.
It DROPS TO 3 G on Calls which temporarily kills Data-not sure if this is Alpha or Network BUT I always have Internet on calls with Metro PCS.
So this Alpha may not have this feature ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something interesting here: my G850A indicates "4G" during voice calls at the top of the screen, but bringing up the status indicates that it is indeed fluctuating between HSPA+ and UMTS. AT&T being misleading? The G850M fluctuates between saying 3G and H+. (And also, when the G850M is on LTE, the indicator only says "4G," but status check shows it's LTE.)
The other strange thing is that with both phones, I have them set up to make a sound when I press keys. During voice calls, the keys make no sounds. Go figure.
foxbat121 said:
Until VoLTE is enabled (Alpha does support it but not yet enabled), all LTE phones on AT&T or T-Mobile will have to drop to HSPA mode (H+ or 3G or 2G depending on the availability) for voice calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not finding that the Alpha supports VoLTE. I have VoLTE on my T-Mobile Galaxy Avant in my area, but not on the Alpha.
Corvussimo said:
Something interesting here: my G850A indicates "4G" during voice calls at the top of the screen, but bringing up the status indicates that it is indeed fluctuating between HSPA+ and UMTS. AT&T being misleading? The G850M fluctuates between saying 3G and H+. (And also, when the G850M is on LTE, the indicator only says "4G," but status check shows it's LTE.)
The other strange thing is that with both phones, I have them set up to make a sound when I press keys. During voice calls, the keys make no sounds. Go figure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T labels HSPA/HSPA+ as 4G and LTE as 4G LTE. T-Mobile does the similar thing. In other places, HSPA+ is called 3G and LTE is called 4G. Semantics. HSPA+ is based on UMTS.
Corvussimo said:
I'm not finding that the Alpha supports VoLTE. I have VoLTE on my T-Mobile Galaxy Avant in my area, but not on the Alpha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VoLTE has to be enabled in the phone's firmware. When the time comes, AT&T will release a firmware update to enable it as it did with short list of other phones that supports VoLTE.
I see this is on Ebay right now for a good price, I assume this will work 100% on cricket wireless with LTE? Are there various model #s? On Ebay it just unlocked. I wanted to get this to use for work.
Interesting .
I am not a dev but as I recall Metro PCS was
one of the first to have VoLTE and also simultaneous Voice and Data back on 2011 or 2012 so I was used to talking on calls and always seeing 4G LTE on the phone. LG Motion 4G.
So this Alpha is my first Samsung- and my first factory unlocked phone still on Metro Tmo.
Now I see the LTE drop to 3G when I make a call but thanks to better APN Settings I almost always have voice and Internet simultaneously because the phone jumps to H or H+ and gives fast Internet on a call on H+.
I even had Youtube and a Speakerphone call a few times as silly experiment.
I also with inferior APN setting got "unable
to access Internet while on a call message"
previously so APN Settings make a big difference sometimes.
Very few problems, fast phone, good audio and sharp Camera...
Hope that Samsung has a Note 5 with removable battery and does a Compact Note kind of like super Alpha..
Not sure if Lollipop will give VoLTE to a Factory Unlocked Phone but if any Devs can achieve it for me ...good Donation .
CashmereEsquire said:
I see this is on Ebay right now for a good price, I assume this will work 100% on cricket wireless with LTE? Are there various model #s? On Ebay it just unlocked. I wanted to get this to use for work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a G850M and a G850F which both are international unlocked phones but cover different LTE bands. I would recommend that you check your carriers available bands (this is also depended on area), then cross check this with http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_alpha-6573.php
There are a few variants specifically for the asian market, but unless you live there you will have a difficult time in the US to get them.
When your G850M boots up, does it display any carrier branding?
robertkoa said:
I am not a Developer but am a Power User of Android for work and play using for Proposals,
Invoices, and business and casual browsing.
No computer needed.
Let me confirm that this Model Alpha 850M an octacore made for North, South, Central America and the Caribbean Factory Unlocked LTE phone works great on the Metro/Tmobile
Network on LTE and drops to 3G on Voice Calls and a little H+ when signal weak in large buildings.
Excellent voice quality, strong radio transceiver which locks well to even low signal in buildings or near transmitting towers .
Only my second Android and my first Samsung-I have not found the horrible bloatware I have read about but do have the phone customized with many features toggled off etc.
I come from an Audio background and Phones are the only Devices which do not often sound better ( earpiece, microphones, speakerphones) on a $600 Device versus a $150 DeviceTHIS Alpha surprised me- it sounds much fuller and a little louder than 3 or 4 AT&T
Alpha 801 quad cores I auditioned before.
Either a bigger speaker, better cone material, or more power or all three- the AT&T850A is
tinny and thin sounding compared to this 850M- not sure if they are all like this but an excellent speakerphone !
So often even with Experts you can NOT get a DEFINITIVE ANSWER on whether a specific Model performs FULLY on a certain Carrier as well as branded Devices this one does on TMobile also has the 700band which TMo will be using more and more for LTE which penetrates buildings better.
LTE Bands are AWS/ 700/850/1800/1900/2100/2600
To use a highly technical Term even for Developers this little Phone "Kicks Ass".
As I have said before If this phone was about 8.5 millimeters thick with a 3000Mah Battery
a higher res screen, 3 Gigs of RAM, SD Storage and the Camera from the Note 4 and a second speaker it would have been a great hit Worldwide.
This phone has less lag than S5 and excellent as is but SHOULD have been great.
Samsung tried to COPY the Iphone rather than surpass it, underestimating the Tech Savvy of
Android Users who purchase $600 plus phones.
One BIG PROBLEM is I cannot be on Internet and a Call Simultaneously on this phone.
It DROPS TO 3 G on Calls which temporarily kills Data-not sure if this is Alpha or Network BUT I always have Internet on calls with Metro PCS.
So this Alpha may not have this feature ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All sources that i could find on net say that SM-G850M doesn't support the band 4 on WCDMA/UMTS. They may be wrong. Since you own the device you would be the best source whether band 4 is unlocked on the device or not. I mention band 4 because that is the band t-mobile uses in most markets on 3G (fake 4G) and LTE. Go into settings\more networks\mobile networks and change the preferred network connection into 3G (or it may say 4G on your phone, just stay away from LTE), verify that it is now operating on 3G (fake 4G), then go to dialer and dial *#197328640#, choose "BASIC INFORMATION' and report what you see. I own the ATT version and when i force it (using *#*#INFO#*#*) into fake 4G it reports "RRC:IDLE, BAND:5" which is WCDMA BAND 850, that is what ATT uses here (ATT uses BAND 2 here also which is WCDMA 1900) where i live for 3G (fake 4G). When i switch back to LTE and go into this hidden menu, it reports that it is connected on "LTE RRC:IDLE BAND: 17", which is what ATT uses in my area. So you may be in market that t-mobiles uses PCS band for 3G (BAND 2) and that would explain why you do not drop on EDGE. It would be a lot clearer when you report properly on which BAND you are connected. What is concerning is that you say you loose data when making calls, which makes me think that you indeed drop to EDGE while on calls, which is painfully slow and makes you think you lost data. As i said, it would be easier to understand what is going on when you provide the whole picture ...
This is what i know that t-mobile uses on 3G:
-- BAND2 and BAND4
and LTE:
-- BAND4 and BAND17 (they might be using BAND2 too in some markets)
If your phone drops to EDGE, you won't be able to do voice and data simultaneously. You need to be on 3G (UMTS minimum) to have simultaneous voice and data.
Since Alpha only has AT&T version released in US, I'd suspect you can't buy any model of Alpha that fully supports all T-Mobile's bands because of the unique mix of bands used by T-Mobile.
The models sold on ebay varies a lot but the one I purchased says Factory unlocked by also states AT&T compatible. For all intents and purposes, the one I received is actually AT&T version, indeed factory unlocked, running AT&T branded firmware. That fits me just fine because I'm on AT&T. But if you are not on AT&T, YMMV. Cricket wireless, IIRC, is now a subsidiary of AT&T.
bormasina said:
All sources that i could find on net say that SM-G850M doesn't support the band 4 on WCDMA/UMTS. They may be wrong. Since you own the device you would be the best source whether band 4 is unlocked on the device or not. I mention band 4 because that is the band t-mobile uses in most markets on 3G (fake 4G) and LTE. Go into settings\more networks\mobile networks and change the preferred network connection into 3G (or it may say 4G on your phone, just stay away from LTE), verify that it is now operating on 3G (fake 4G), then go to dialer and dial *#197328640#, choose "BASIC INFORMATION' and report what you see. I own the ATT version and when i force it (using *#*#INFO#*#*) into fake 4G it reports "RRC:IDLE, BAND:5" which is WCDMA BAND 850, that is what ATT uses here (ATT uses BAND 2 here also which is WCDMA 1900) where i live for 3G (fake 4G). When i switch back to LTE and go into this hidden menu, it reports that it is connected on "LTE RRC:IDLE BAND: 17", which is what ATT uses in my area. So you may be in market that t-mobiles uses PCS band for 3G (BAND 2) and that would explain why you do not drop on EDGE. It would be a lot clearer when you report properly on which BAND you are connected. What is concerning is that you say you loose data when making calls, which makes me think that you indeed drop to EDGE while on calls, which is painfully slow and makes you think you lost data. As i said, it would be easier to understand what is going on when you provide the whole picture ...
This is what i know that t-mobile uses on 3G:
-- BAND2 and BAND4
and LTE:
-- BAND4 and BAND17 (they might be using BAND2 too in some markets)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I did this: I changed the settings on my G850M to force 3G. The code(s) you said to put in didn't work for me, so I used *#0011# instead. It said two different things, depending on when I did the test. Once it said 1900 Band 2, and once it said 1700 Band 4. Then, I put it back to LTE and it said Band 4. I've attached screenshots of all three. This is T-Mobile in Portland, OR.
Also, I found one reasonably reliable Internet source that indicated the G850M does support 3G Band 4. Here's the link:
Samsung Peru's Specs on the G850M
I was also hesitant to buy the G850M for the same Band 4 reason, until I found the specs on the Samsung Peru Website. The screenshot below shows that the M indeed does have 3G Band 4.
Corvussimo said:
OK, I did this: I changed the settings on my G850M to force 3G. The code(s) you said to put in didn't work for me, so I used *#0011# instead. It said two different things, depending on when I did the test. Once it said 1900 Band 2, and once it said 1700 Band 4. Then, I put it back to LTE and it said Band 4. I've attached screenshots of all three. This is T-Mobile in Portland, OR.
Also, I found one reasonably reliable Internet source that indicated the G850M does support 3G Band 4. Here's the link:
Samsung Peru's Specs on the G850M
I was also hesitant to buy the G850M for the same Band 4 reason, until I found the specs on the Samsung Peru Website. The screenshot below shows that the M indeed does have 3G Band 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for doing this. It is always good when things get confirmed like this. Now I can safely purchase one for wife. Where did you purchase it, if I may ask?
bormasina said:
Thanks for doing this. It is always good when things get confirmed like this. Now I can safely purchase one for wife. Where did you purchase it, if I may ask?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to help. I was a still a little concerned myself until I ran this test.
I bought it on eBay from The Pwrsellers
They currently have black, white, and gold for $450. Mine was a Brand New Open Box black model, so it was another $50 less than that. So far, so good! There is no cell company boot-up screen, and the bloatware is at a refreshing minimum.
AT&T now sells brand new for $319.99 retail.
I was at att last weekend and they wanted like $600 to buy it the 850a.
I got the 850m from target online via Amazon. It does work on t mobile.
jjsaustin said:
I got the 850m from target online via Amazon. It does work on t mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I almost bought one from Target, too, but this less expensive one came up just at the right time. FWIW, the one I bought from The Pwrsellers came drop-shipped from Amazon as well, so that makes me think most (if not all) the companies selling the G850M in the US right now are drop-shipping through Amazon.
Corvussimo said:
Yeah, I almost bought one from Target, too, but this less expensive one came up just at the right time. FWIW, the one I bought from The Pwrsellers came drop-shipped from Amazon as well, so that makes me think most (if not all) the companies selling the G850M in the US right now are drop-shipping through Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought from target for the return policy, especially since I was not sure if it was going to work on tmobile .
I just bought another one to see if the reception is any better and I will return the one with the worse reception.
Thanks for 1700 Band Test on 3G
I have found APN Settings for Metro/Tmo important for best performance on my Factory Unlocked 850M.
MetroPCS frequently uses Tmo APNs even on Metro PCS Phones.
With Factory Unlocked Phones I assume trial and error may be best for an advanced Phone like Alpha.
I tried the Settings used for Note 4 on Tmobile which worked but not as well as what I use now but open for suggestions lol.
Here are current best I have found which are fast Data and allow
Internet while on calls about 90% of the time.
I always have good voice and audio on calls.
Here's current APN Settings :
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I have found that IPv4/IPv6 seems to perform a bit better than IPv4 .
But I have NO IDEA what these do in Tmobile Protocol.
Also I leave BEARER unspecified but have tried LTE also.
The only problem I sometimes have is no data on 3G and Phone does not bounce back to LTE AFTER a call- often turning data off and on with Quick Toggle restores LTE quickly.
Oddly this is an intermittent problem.
Often I have quick Internet while on a call but sometimes no Internet on a Call.
Here are the screenshots from my Alpha 850M which has no Carrier Branding when I forced 3G also some H showed and I got
1900 band in 3G but have not seen 1700 3G but in LTE in second screen.
I am in Miami area which is reframed so Metro/Tmo uses 1900 more here for 3G - Corvussimo - how did you get 1700 to show on 3G - is yours a Factory Unlocked unbranded Alpha ?
Thanks for both your help very interesting stuff.
Hi all,
I'm in the UK and on the EE network using their 4G, and the Speed 7 downloads stuff really fast when I'm out and about. 4G when it works is really amazing... sitting on a train watching read time HD video streaming without caching is definitely miles better than 3G and to me is a strong selling point of this phone.
However, EE in the UK do charge a lot for data so I have been experimenting with other providers. I now have Three, O2, and Vodaphone PAYG SIMs. None of them have any credit on them but that should be enough to check signal... and where I am at the moment, it is not too impressive, I'm not getting 4G reception from any of them except EE - the rest are giving me 3G. I do realise that with this phone, only your chosen data SIM will get 4G, and the one in the other SIM slot will only do GSM, so I did make sure that data was turned on in the right SIM if I was using two and turned on mobile data etc.
In theory, the speed seven should be perfect for the UK, it has Band 20, Band 7 and Band 3 which should cover all of these providers. Although there are radio utilities out there that are good on signal strength, I haven't found one that tells me what Band I am actually using on 4G. (so if you know...)
So, no matter where you are in the world, I'm interested to know what you're connecting to... what 4G provider do you use, and more importantly, what bands are they on? This would be for the 'International' version of this phone which has the B20/B7/B3 radio. My phone actually reports it is enabled for 4G B1, B2, B3, B4, B7, B17 and B20 but I think that may reflect the different radio modules that can be installed, not the real hardware situation.
thanks in advance!!
Hello,
I am waiting my speed 7, it will be deliver in the next days. But if you want to know what frequency you use, try to disable 2 of 3 bands in engineer setting.
I am from France, we have also the 3 bands Band 20, Band 7 and Band 3 used by french operator, with the 2600 mhz.
I hope, I will give you a feedback at the end of the week.
Kind regards.
Salut! The problem is half the providers in the UK sell 4G as a 'premium' service, so it appears unless I activate some of the SIMs (for a pile of money) then I won't be able to validate the specific 4G service they communicate in 3G first and then switch only for selected customers... who have paid.
I recently loaded up the 'Three' SIM with some credit(Hutchinson telecom - maybe it would be under that brand in France) and their 4G service seems to be fine as well. Maybe not as good as EE for coverage or speed, but certainly not too bad. 'Three' use Band 20 and Band 3 and EE use Band 7 as well, so that's not very conclusive... yet! I have also been running the phone in dual SIM mode, using both at once, and it works perfectly. You have to choose which SIM to use for each service, and it will (as any Chinese phone) be unable to run 4G at once on both, so you have to choose one of them for calls, one for data, and one for texts. That does not stop you getting incoming calls,texts etc on both lines etc (just sets the default for outgoing) It is a real novelty having that... and two signal strength meters!
I like your idea of turning off the bands in engineer mode, it is not obvious to me where to do that, so if you can point me in the right direction that would be great... I'm using the engineering mode tool...
PS I hope you like the phone! Now that the software is mostly fixed, I like it a lot, you need the latest OTA update to make it usable, so do run the wireless update wizard! Maybe not top quality hardware, but much cheaper, and has a good screen, good speed, big battery and 3Gb memory ... and of course the dual SIM! (Camera, GPS are a bit suspect)...
This might help:
http://www.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1308&MNC=CING
http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/GB/Great_Britain/O2/lte_23410#|coverage
Thanks... Bit out of date. The thing I am interested in knowing is how much truth is there in what the phone claims to do versus what it actually does
Sent from my ZP952 using XDA Free mobile app
Hello,
just a late feedback, but i have reached with speed test 65mb dl, 25 ul, in 4G , at frequency 2600 mhz , very well indeed.