January 15th- Deadline mass exodus

[max pl]

The Jan. 15th deadline doesnt apply to me as I bought through Amazon, and since the discussion is a bit offtopic I'll post my comments here.

Love the phone. Loved it when I first got it, lost a bit of love after a few battery/signal struggles, and bought an off contract 4S to compare the two for 30 days.

The reason I'm here is related to battery issues with both devices and signal strength on the Nexus.

I'm in a poor signal area here at work and this is where most of my testing of the two phones is taking place. Ive found that I can barely make it past 10 hours on both devices with almost no use while having airplane mode off.
With airplane mode on, the battery life almost triples. And thats with light use of the Nexus on wifi. With the 4S I cant use wifi at all with airplane mode on.

Additionally, Ive realized that with the Nexus I can sit in my building, be shown no signal, make a phone call and then miraculously start getting a bar or two of signal strength.
The 4S, while not much better, gets 2 or 3 bars fairly consistenly in the building.

In regards to wifi, the strength is similarly much weaker on the Nexus. Whether at home or here at work, I get less db's, lesser signal quality, and lower tx rates under my tomato routers settings.

So here's my question: Will these issues likely be resolved? Wifi isnt as much a problem as the issue of battery drain while searching for signal. Didn't mention it before, but i had 96% of no signal time on the 10 hour day.

I still have 3 weeks before my Amazon return period ends, so hopefully the update is out by then. I cannot wait til March for 4.1. Need 4.0.3 now.

Lastly, do these custom rom's that I see many people running fix any of these issues I mention? If so, I may give them a shot.

Thanks

 

[BzB]

Do you people not have access to wifi?

Seriously though, I still have yet to experience any connectivity issues to speak of. Possibly not noticed by me since I'm on wifi most of the time and when I'm not I always seem to have LTE in the metro ATL area. I suppose if I were to be more involved in looking for some issues I would find them, but in everyday use I just don't notice anything worth mentioning. This was the same with my thunderbolt.

As far as improving reception via sw update for the smaller group of people experiencing this issue my concern is that all they would do is up the output of the phone's antenna which in turn would only impact battery life when on LTE. If it is a larger issue, which I haven't seen any evidence to suggest, then I do hope they can resolve it without impacting battery life.

After a few weeks with this phone I am convinced it's the best all around android phone, and I wouldn't consider returning it. Would be nice if this were a poll...

 

[max pl]

Do you people not have access to wifi?

Seriously though, I still have yet to experience any connectivity issues to speak of. Possibly not noticed by me since I'm on wifi most of the time and when I'm not I always seem to have LTE in the metro ATL area. I suppose if I were to be more involved in looking for some issues I would find them, but in everyday use I just don't notice anything worth mentioning. This was the same with my thunderbolt.

As far as improving reception via sw update for the smaller group of people experiencing this issue my concern is that all they would do is up the output of the phone's antenna which in turn would only impact battery life when on LTE. If it is a larger issue, which I haven't seen any evidence to suggest, then I do hope they can resolve it without impacting battery life.

After a few weeks with this phone I am convinced it's the best all around android phone, and I wouldn't consider returning it. Would be nice if this were a poll...

you dont experience it because youre in a major city with a strong signal throughout.
i too have a strong signal in just about every part of town. i'm in one of the December 15th towns that got upgraded to 4G.

Unfortunately this particular location I'm in is basically a dead spot with Verizon. Had 4 bars of 3G here with my 3GS, and now get basically nothing with the Nexus on Verizon.

I have wifi here and at home, but that isnt the issue. As mentioned, periods of no signal result in a massive loss of battery as the radio searches for one. Thats the problem I'm having and would like to get resolved. Furthermore, I have no problems making phone calls even though no bars are shown, but would like the software not to search for a signal as frequently as it does because its killing my battery life.

And the Nexus is no exception. My evidence shows that the same thing is happening with the 4S.

 

[AppsRUs]

If you're inside of your Worry-Free return thing-a-bob and purchased the phone before the holidays were over, if you return it over these issues they SHOULD give you a brand new device versus a refurbished phone. My phone is having the connectivity issues, the battery is overheating too often, and the charger seems borked, so I called, was on the phone for no more than 20 minutes, and my new Nexus is scheduled to be here Monday.

Other than that, I really love the phone! I was contemplating trying the ReZound, but I really can't see myself going to a smaller screen after the experience I've had with the Nexus, and I've been turned off of skinned phones ever since we had to go through the Gingerbread release experience with the Incredible. Who knows when the Razr and ReZound will receive Ice Cream Sandwich. We already have 4.0.2 and are slowly approaching 4.0.3. I can't imagine going through that again with those phones.

 

[jdavis37]

Had a chance to repeat the 2 hr drive westward that I did on December 27th. Few interesting observations...

First as a preface, if there is no 4G available obviously being on 3G cannot be a complaint. yes, 4 G was one of the reasons I bought the phone.. did not buy it to stay at 3G or wi fi speeds. That said, both 3G and or wi fi are fine, so my observations are not abut how many times I lost 4g along the trip.

That says here goes...

I stayed connected throughout much of the trip until we got close to where we were going. At that point, my 3G signal was dropping to -110 db or lower and I was simply losing connection for a couple minutes at a time. I had a Droid Global in the car with me and was running Sensorly on both. My 3G signal ranged from -63 db to -110 db or at times no signal. The Droid Global was never less than -63 dB and mostly was -37 to -43 range.

Checking internet connection via web browser though even with -110 db signals my Gnex seemed to mostly do ok on the net. Could this be a Sensorly issue? hard ot say but there were times with my Gnex that I simply had no signal.

Driving around where I live I see the 4G signal often going away and at times a pause as it shifts to 3G. Probably something a software fix can address. if I believe Sensorly is accurate, the bottom line is the gnex radio, least mine, is simply weak, though in fairness it still seems to do "ok" with the weak signal for the most part.

I believe though I am going to Verizon to see if I like the rezound well enough to make the change. Am tired of the signal issues and the no signal without warning issues I ahve seen. i love the phone itself and ICS and will miss both to a degree. But today my extended battery life was about 4 hours and . it got really hot to the touch as the phone was fighting for a signal Car charger deals with the charge but not the heat.

I am in this phone marriage for 2 years and is always difficult to switch not knowing what I am switching to. But most on the rezound forums speak so highly of the signal part it makes me think it may be my best solution. Just not sure software fixes will make the radio perform better in the sens eof its raw ability to receive the signal. Otherwise for me it is the perfect Droid phone. Time to sleep on it... after all with the low signals it did stay connected better than i would have guessed but the heat generated from searching for a signal (I was mostly in CDMA mode going out) was less than reassuring (heat kills!). Just do not want anyone ot think I am being harsh with the Gnex. I really do like the phone itself, just not the performance issues!

 

[alostpacket]

Ladies and gents, let's stick to debating the issues and steer clear of the personal stuff

We're all entitled to be wrong

 

[zerocool79346]

Had my first tastes of LTE on a trip to Seattle this past week and believe it or not, my phone did better connected to 4G than to 3G in the same areas haha. Never had a signal drop on it and DLs were lightning fast as well. Strangely, my battery life was exactly the same on both (verified using a battery draw monitoring widget) as well.

 

[crankerchick]

My battery doesn't seem to go south much differently on 3G or LTE. There is a difference, but in good signal area, not a whole lot. In poor signal area, it definitely makes a difference. In poor signal area, switch to cdma or feel the wrath of the hot phone and dead battery. WiFi makes an even bigger difference.

That said, those of you stating good battery life, can you give a qualitative measure of your battery life? I see reports of people getting 16-24 hours with "moderate" usage and i just cant believe it, although the term moderate is very subjective. I wish people would note battery life including screen on time and what network they were connected to. My phone will last about 8-9 hours on LTE with 2 hours of screen on time. On 3G that number stretches to 10-11 hours. On WiFi it will easily go 16 hours for 2 hours of screen usage.

On LTE or 3G with almost constant use, my battery lasts about 6 hours. This would include around 3 hours of screen usage.

The reason I'm worried about my battery is because I expected better life on 3G than I'm getting. It seems like the only way I can keep my phone lasting is not to use it, and that is not an option for me so I have 2 extended batteries and a 9900 mAh external battery charger!

As for the signal, I've read and heard that the Charge got much better after the GB update. That gives me hope for the GNex. For my area, my only data complaints are how long it takes to switch between 3G and 4G and how easily the phone will drop 4G in a weak area. But with respect to the other phones I've tested against, my Nexus is on par with the others except for the Rezound, which is why I'm hesitant to exchange it.

 

[chrisexv6]

Battery life will always be subjective. There are a bunch of people showing results in RootZ and XDA forums.......its kinda an extreme thing: you either need to measure based on dead idle, or 100% all out usage. Anything in between will be different for different users (even idle and 100% all out will be different, but should be close enough)

I think your best bet is to mark your battery level and time before going to bed, then let the phone just sit there (not plugged in....data sync is up to you) overnight and mark the %-age and time when you wake up. Then simple math it to figure out idle % per hour.

There are reports from some rooted users using different ROMs of 1% (or sometimes even less!!) per hour of battery drain. I personally have gotten mine down to 1.5%/hr, with full sync on. Also keep in mind the battery calibration will get better with time...the best way to help it along is charge to 100%, use the phone until it literally shuts down because of no power, then charge to 100% with the phone off.

At one point, on my Fascinate (I know, different phone, but you get the idea), I had 4 days (yes, days) of uptime on one full charge. Did I use the phone ALL the time? No (but it was powered on the whole time). But it was amazing to have ANY smartphone up for 4 days on one charge.

I agree with you on the signal switching issues.......I really do think those are s/w related and I think it can be as improved as it was with the Charge.

 

[Ed5275]

I am finding that in places with notoriously bad signal (Tr

 

[chrisexv6]

I am finding that in places with notoriously bad signal (Tr

 

[afmracer6]

Most forums attract the problems and agree that some probably need to do things the old fashioned way and simply return a device that is just "not working" at all.

Today was my first day back to work, and I was not expecting to get a good signal due to all the concrete and metal. I had no 4g signal and had a -120 dB 3G signal, but never lost connection as far as I know the entire day. I did not do any voice calls but did have text messages working quickly and without issue and the same for my personal email. From that perspective, the phone worked as desired today.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to travel with the phone this weekend. Perhaps the connectivity problems I had Dec 27th were network issues or in worst case perhaps was the hand off between 3G and 4G. If it reproduces itself where I struggle to get connectivity or lose it many times, I think I'll return the phone, assuming I look at a Rezound and actually like it, and then hope/pray all the accolades about its radio are true.

I hope my GNex does just fone.. if so I'll keep it and hope they can improve the hand off via software. I really like the phone overall, even the speaker volume is doing ok in general.

By the way battery life at work was fairly bad. With extended battery and very light use I went from full charge to under 30% in about 8 hours. Not a deal breaker but means i'll need a charger at work if I keep it! The rezounds big battery sounds good though at the expense of thickness!

I swapped for the rezound... It's not as pretty but the stock battery is fantastic. I got the big battery but I don't need it. The connectivity is amazing. It does everything I want a phone to do. It's not as "techy" or pretty but it works really well. The screen is really a out the same size because of the on screen buttons of the gnex. The rezound screen is also 720. I'm not a huge fan of sense. But with the new roms available you can get the rez close to stock.
I miss some things about the nexus but I love that the rezound just Works.

 

[jdavis37]

Which is interesting because Google/Samsung/VZW are basically saying the same thing by releasing an update that will edit how the bars are shown.

Ive seen updates like that on other phones, and they were just a placebo....in this case it might actually be an incorrect display, while the phone is working just fine.

I think you will find it is somewhere in between. The bars essentially mean little since that is a function of software and how they display the signal measured,

If you view the actual signal received by the phone it tells a slightly different story. My observations are somewhat "mixed". The signal (dbm) displayed by my GNex has for most part been significantly less than my ither half's Droid Global (using an app called Sensorly to display the 3G signal strength ). For the most part the GNex signal was 2 to 3 times less than her Droid Global in the same place.

That said, my Gnex was often still capable of performing it's intended function. But, I did lose total signal several times whereas the Droid Global never did. But the downside of the weak signal was an extended battery that was depleted in less than 4 hours and a very hot phone, no doubt to it working hard to hold the signal.

If both phones had been displaying -110 db 3G signals I would have suggested it was Verizon. But when the Droid Global has values ranging from -37 db to -63 for the 3g signal and my Genex was anywhere from -90 to -120 db at same time it is apparent the numbe rof bars being displayed is not the only issue.

That said, Sensorly may simply be wrong in what it is displaying though given by the heat generated by my phone and short battery life I am doubtful. I do love the phone, just not the performance it is giving me here.

 

[afmracer6]

And another thought. In is unreasonable to rely on wifi. The reason I pay a 30$ monthly premium for Vzw. Is supposed to be on the best most reliable MOBILE network. I shouldn't need to use wifi.... Ever. Wifi should be used on tmobile or sprint. Not on the "can you hear me now? "network. If I need to be on wifi, I might as well used my tablet.

 

[jdavis37]

And another thought. In is unreasonable to rely on wifi. The reason I pay a 30$ monthly premium for Vzw. Is supposed to be on the best most reliable MOBILE network. I shouldn't need to use wifi.... Ever. Wifi should be used on tmobile or sprint. Not on the "can you hear me now? "network. If I need to be on wifi, I might as well used my tablet.

Unless you aren't grandfathered into the Unlimited data plans

 

[Ken7]

Thanks for posting your test data. You are typing exactly what I've been seeing and saying with my comparison of the Rezound I had at first and the Nexus I have now. The Rezound would keep the LTE signal in weak placeswhere the Nexus toggles to 3G, either due to thresholds, instability, or poor reception. That's how I've been feeling all along. Poor reception by way of interference, poor SNR, or poor antenna design, placement, or orientation would be a hardware problem, but the others can be addressed or mitigated in software.

I said this from day 1 and was chastised at times for saying it. Having the Rezound prior to the Nexus gave me a good benchmark and, unfortunately, the Nexus never lived up the benchmark that the Rezound created.

I still wouldn't trade my Nexus for the Rezound because I like the phone so much more in most other respects. But man, if they could bring up the Nexus radio to levels close to that of the Rezound, that would be a true 'win win'.

 

[Ken7]

I have G Nex now, testing it, comparing it...and jkc120's post describes my experiences to a tee. In my apt...running speeds tests...I'm lucky to get 200...kbps...down...lol. I was able to get 4G by the window with my RAZR twice...have yet to see 4G on my G Nex.

I have a RAZR too...and the wild part is for phone reception the G Nex is doing better than I expected. Its the data reception thats hurting it. I stayed away from Samsung for years just based on phone reception. The G Nex phone reception gives me hope for using their phones again. And hopes that if its software it can be fixed. If its hardware....oh well. But I will at least try their phones again.

I should mention that for some reason when I tried speed tests in very weak reception areas...it gave me servers in PA and MA. I live in the DC. MD, VA area. That has never happened on my RAZR, Droid 1 or Droid X1.

Actually when I had the Razr for a couple of weeks, I found no significant difference in the radios. The Razr did a slightly better job in getting a data signal in really marginal areas, but once both phones had a data signal, the GNex actually did a better job holding on to 4G than the Razr.

I also found the GNex had, on average, better up & down speeds than the Razr.

 

[jdavis37]

I returned my GNex to Verizon for the Rezound. having to work today so won't have much "play" time and can understand why many prefer the gNex. Too early to make any judgements though in general I think my first impression will be accurate. Phone wise i like the gnex better but just grew tired of the weak signals ( not bars displayed but actual db measured) and times where even in 3G it was searching for a connection. 4G was very intermittent though where i live we have fairly good 4G.

Want to thank everyone here who has contributed as Verizon was clueless about the issues I was seeing. Lots of help here and again I hope I do not sound as though I am condemning the phone. In reality many will love it and have no issues. Can only hope now the rezound signal strength is higher and that it holds the connection better else I just screwed myself! I really did like the Gnex phone, screen, etc but had too many issues to want to live with for the next 2 years.

 

[afmracer6]

Unless you aren't grandfathered into the Unlimited data plans

True... But it shouldn't be used to lessen the poor connectivity issue
Why have 4G when it's often useless

 

[esmort]

And another thought. In is unreasonable to rely on wifi. The reason I pay a 30$ monthly premium for Vzw. Is supposed to be on the best most reliable MOBILE network. I shouldn't need to use wifi.... Ever. Wifi should be used on tmobile or sprint. Not on the "can you hear me now? "network. If I need to be on wifi, I might as well used my tablet.

+1 ... This is a big problem I have with the reception issues. I live in a strong 4G area so I do not have any problems most places I go. My problem is when I go to those fringe areas and not only do not have 4G, but also weak or no 3G. The main reason I have stayed with Verizon all these years and paid their high prices is because could use my phone most anywhere and got a signal when friends on other carriers did not.

I have had this phone since release and do not want to give it up; but the phone must be able to perform it's main functions (phone calls/data) in all (or at least most/95%+) the places the other phones on the same network can perform these functions.

We should not need to make excuses for, find alternatives ways to make it work, or "just live with the deficiencies" of a flagship phone at the prices Verizon charges.

 

[afmracer6]

Agreed. While the rezound is not as fun and flashy as the gnex. It works as it should.... Always. If the signal issues truly get fixed, I will go back to the nexus despite the not awesome camera and the quiet speaker. If it doesn't get fixed, I'll be with the rezound with amazing signal until the next best thing comes.

 

[BzB]

And another thought. In is unreasonable to rely on wifi. The reason I pay a 30$ monthly premium for Vzw. Is supposed to be on the best most reliable MOBILE network. I shouldn't need to use wifi.... Ever. Wifi should be used on tmobile or sprint. Not on the "can you hear me now? "network. If I need to be on wifi, I might as well used my tablet.

I disagree that you shouldn't need to use wifi ever. It's very well documented that LTE is a huge battery hog. Disregarding that fact and not utilizing wifi when possible to extend battery life seems counterproductive in my opinion.

In terms of expecting LTE to work when you're in an LTE area...I agree with. Just also acknowledge that LTE is still a 'work in progress' in some cities. Also acknowledge that cutting edge tech (like the nexus) is bound to have some hiccups for some users.

In due time I think all the issues will be worked out for those that are experiencing them. The rest of us will just enjoy our devices and the updates as they come while also trying to assist those that can be helped. Nothing wrong with switching the device if it doesn't work for you. Good luck!

 

[BzB]

On WiFi it will easily go 16 hours for 2 hours of screen usage.

On LTE or 3G with almost constant use, my battery lasts about 6 hours. This would include around 3 hours of screen usage.

This is basically my experience. I'd say this seems normal for most LTE phones, no? This is basically how it was with my rooted thunderbolt using the bigger rezound battery ..and I considered that pretty good considering how it performed stock.

The reason I'm worried about my battery is because I expected better life on 3G than I'm getting.

This might have been the case on other LTE phones when on 3g, but the nexus apparently does things differently in terms of how it handles 3g signal. This is something I haven't been able to test though.

 

[tarponbeach]

And another thought. In is unreasonable to rely on wifi. The reason I pay a 30$ monthly premium for Vzw. Is supposed to be on the best most reliable MOBILE network. I shouldn't need to use wifi.... Ever. Wifi should be used on tmobile or sprint. Not on the "can you hear me now? "network. If I need to be on wifi, I might as well used my tablet.

I'm grandfathered in to unlimited data, but I still use WiFi at the office, and at home. Why? Battery life. WiFi is much more kind on the battery that 4g, and even though my 4g speeds are better than my WiFi from Verizon FIOS, there is not enough difference to be a big deal for me. Just because I have unlimited data is not enough reason not to use WiFi. Now, if battery life was comparable between 4g & WiFi, that would be a different story.

 

[redraptor]

See I'm actually having the opposite stance. I've had a razr for the past 3 or so weeks and honestly I have no MAJOR issues. The biggest problem is that I have to throw the phone in and out of airplane mode 3-6 times a day because I lose connection completely. Its a pain in the ass but its still a very minor issue.

I'm just infatuated with the screen on the nexus and on screen buttons. It feels like a more advanced and less obsolete phone. But with that said I adore the razor's form factor and overall feel...I'm just a wee bit skeptical how long support is going to continue for the device. I'm tempted to return the razor and go back to my Inc 2 for a few months and hold out for something with the build quality of the moto and the camera of a sgsII.

Other than the hardware buttons and camera, the razr is perfect.