Google Nexus 5 by LG Users Thread!

[kamiller42]

This might start a "Few of my favorite things thread"...

 

My favorite feature of the Nexus 5 is how smooth the interface is. It feels like the smoothest Android I've used. There might be faster phones, but speed does not equal smoothness.

 

My second favorite feature is also one of my least favorite features. I like the integration of Google services. Google Search has grown into the impressive Google Now. The dialer has caller ID lookup and an improved interface. It's my least favorite because parts of Android are becoming closed source.

Edited June 9, 2014 by kamiller42

[EvanA]

This might start a "Few of my favorite things thread"...

 

My favorite feature of the Nexus 5 is how smooth the interface is. It feels like the smoothest Android I've used. There might be faster phones, but speed does not equal smoothness.

 

My second favorite feature is also one of my least favorite features. I like the integration of Google services. Google Search has grown into the impressive Google Now. The dialer has caller ID lookup and an improved interface. It's my least favorite because parts of Android are becoming closed source.

At least we still get the user interface changes in AOSP dialer.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[mikejeep]

After keeping a close eye on the .13 radio behavior over the past few days, I think I know why I am getting tossed back to 3G so often.. and it makes sense.

 

This radio causes my N5 to connect to B26 far more often than any of the previous ones. But I have yet to connect to a B26 site that appears to have been optimized. B26 signals have been averaging ~8-12 dB worse than B25 from the same site. My N5 appears to switch over to B26 whenever it sees it, but since the coverage is currently worse, it can't hang onto it everywhere. Instead of falling "back" to B25 when it loses B26, it drops to 3G. This is probably intentional, since eventually the B26 signal will be the strongest LTE connection available.

 

I should also note that adjusting the band priorities on my device has no impact on this. And I have yet to see any B41 in my area.

 

YMMV, this has just been my experience northwest of Boston.

 

-Mike

[EvanA]

After keeping a close eye on the .13 radio behavior over the past few days, I think I know why I am getting tossed back to 3G so often.. and it makes sense.

 

This radio causes my N5 to connect to B26 far more often than any of the previous ones. But I have yet to connect to a B26 site that appears to have been optimized. B26 signals have been averaging ~8-12 dB worse than B25 from the same site. My N5 appears to switch over to B26 whenever it sees it, but since the coverage is currently worse, it can't hang onto it everywhere. Instead of falling "back" to B25 when it loses B26, it drops to 3G. This is probably intentional, since eventually the B26 signal will be the strongest LTE connection available.

 

I should also note that adjusting the band priorities on my device has no impact on this. And I have yet to see any B41 in my area.

 

YMMV, this has just been my experience northwest of Boston.

 

-Mike

Although the correct behavior would be to check the other bands first before going to 3G. That's what they're hopefully fixing on the network side right now. Another more common case with band 26 is it not having eCSFB and falling back to 3G because of that.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[khammondnm]

After keeping a close eye on the .13 radio behavior over the past few days, I think I know why I am getting tossed back to 3G so often.. and it makes sense.

 

This radio causes my N5 to connect to B26 far more often than any of the previous ones. But I have yet to connect to a B26 site that appears to have been optimized. B26 signals have been averaging ~8-12 dB worse than B25 from the same site. My N5 appears to switch over to B26 whenever it sees it, but since the coverage is currently worse, it can't hang onto it everywhere. Instead of falling "back" to B25 when it loses B26, it drops to 3G. This is probably intentional, since eventually the B26 signal will be the strongest LTE connection available.

 

I should also note that adjusting the band priorities on my device has no impact on this. And I have yet to see any B41 in my area.

 

YMMV, this has just been my experience northwest of Boston.

 

-Mike

Your observations seem valid, but I don't think that explains my phone getting thrown onto 3g constantly in an area that doesn't have any B26 deployed even though we have B25.

[rgcrockett]

Something clearly changed for me over the weekend. I have not gone to 3g once all day.

 

In this condition, I prefer the .13 radio. The handoffs are seamless, and I am not missing any calls or texts.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[EvanA]

Your observations seem valid, but I don't think that explains my phone getting thrown onto 3g constantly in an area that doesn't have any B26 deployed even though we have B25.

That could just be due to eCSFB. Also could be due to the network pushing you to 3G because of overloaded B25.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Dkoellerwx]

Your observations seem valid, but I don't think that explains my phone getting thrown onto 3g constantly in an area that doesn't have any B26 deployed even though we have B25.

 

Are you certain there's no B26? Ericsson has been very aggressive rolling it out lately. I've found that they have enabled B26 on a couple of sites near me, but left them in "donut" mode, forcing me to 3G in places I used to have good B25 coverage. That's on any radio.

 

Edit: Disabling B26 fixes the problem in my area. Forgot to include that.

 

That could just be due to eCSFB. Also could be due to the network pushing you to 3G because of overloaded B25.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

The network actually doesn't force you to 3G. The network wants to keep you on LTE as much as possible. Unless something has changed, it doesn't have a way of pushing you to 3G from LTE. Aside from sites set up improperly of course.

[lordsutch]

One odd thing I spotted yesterday after spending several hours in the boonies of south Georgia along US 341 roaming on the .13 radio is that my Nexus 5 refused to go back onto LTE until I switched the radio off and back on in the dialer settings (cycling Airplane Mode might have worked but I was streaming audio on Bluetooth at the time too). Cycling through the various radio modes had no effect; it would scan the LTE frequencies but always give up and go back to EVDO, which is usually more symptomatic of eCSFB issues.

[metayoshi]

So I'm back from my weekend in LA. I had a great experience with my Nexus 5 now that we finally have 4.4.3 and the .13 radio. I went through Downtown LA, Alhambra, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, and Burbank, and aside from my cousin's wedding reception in the mountains in Burbank where no one has reception, I was pretty much seamlessly jumping from B41 to B25 to 3G as appropriate. While on the 605 N going to Alhambra, I noticed my phone was loading websites very fast. I found out I was on B41, and I decided to do a speed test while my friend's car was moving, and I was getting 17 Mbps down, but I lost the B41 connection in between download and upload, so my phone switched to B25 and my upload was ~1 Mbps. When we exited on Garfield from the 10 freeway, I noticed I was on B41 again. I didn't have to do any fancy PRL/Profile update/airplane mode tricks. It just did it on its own.

 

I am definitely happy to see my Nexus working as it should. Now if only Sprint could put up more LTE in Orange County and somehow speed up B26 deployment here in SoCal, that will be the day.

[prodeq12]

So what you all simply saying is that this .13 radio is knocking the phone down to 3G when is sensing eCSFB issues on ANY of the 3 LTE bands?

[Destroyallcubes]

So what you all simply saying is that this .13 radio is knocking the phone down to 3G when is sensing eCSFB issues on ANY of the 3 LTE bands?

Yes, Most issues are on b26, when CSFB is not present. Instead of scanning another,possibly one  with CSFB installed, it kicks you to EVDO.

[khammondnm]

Are you certain there's no B26? Ericsson has been very aggressive rolling it out lately. I've found that they have enabled B26 on a couple of sites near me, but left them in "donut" mode, forcing me to 3G in places I used to have good B25 coverage. That's on any radio.

 

Edit: Disabling B26 fixes the problem in my area. Forgot to include that.

 

 

The network actually doesn't force you to 3G. The network wants to keep you on LTE as much as possible. Unless something has changed, it doesn't have a way of pushing you to 3G from LTE. Aside from sites set up improperly of course.

I can't say with 100% certainty that there is no B26 in Albuquerque yet, but since we are still only maybe a third of the way rolled out for B25 and I have yet to capture any B26, I don't think it's around.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Destroyallcubes]

I can't say with 100% certainty that there is no B26 in Albuquerque yet, but since we are still only maybe a third of the way rolled out for B25 and I have yet to capture any B26, I don't think it's around.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Our City was Turned on all at once, and most of the area too I believe. IF there is any more isntalls, they will prolly install the extra carrier card for b26, So It may be once they get more b25, or could be turning on b25, and b26 at onetime, takes less time away from the integration tech.

[mikejeep]

Although the correct behavior would be to check the other bands first before going to 3G. That's what they're hopefully fixing on the network side right now. Another more common case with band 26 is it not having eCSFB and falling back to 3G because of that.

I agree that it should check the other bands first, but that doesn't seem to be how the network is configured at the moment. It seems to be operating under the assumption that B26 is the last frontier before 3G.. if it can't find B26, there's no way B25 or B41 is present. When NV is done, that will be a safe move, but right now it's not.

 

I should have mentioned that there do not appear to be significant CSFB issues in my area. LTE-only mode doesn't change things much, and even on .15 I never see the "No telephone calls" indicator.

 

-Mike

[Dkoellerwx]

So what you all simply saying is that this .13 radio is knocking the phone down to 3G when is sensing eCSFB issues on ANY of the 3 LTE bands?

 

Yep. In some areas the culprit is Band 26, in others it seems to be Band 41 causing the problems. 

[Dkoellerwx]

I can't say with 100% certainty that there is no B26 in Albuquerque yet, but since we are still only maybe a third of the way rolled out for B25 and I have yet to capture any B26, I don't think it's around.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

We only have 4 out of 23 towers completed, but they've managed to put Band 26 on those 4 towers. Also managed to leave 2 of them in "donut" mode 

[bongohawk]

I agree that it should check the other bands first, but that doesn't seem to be how the network is configured at the moment. It seems to be operating under the assumption that B26 is the last frontier before 3G.. if it can't find B26, there's no way B25 or B41 is present. When NV is done, that will be a safe move, but right now it's not.

 

I should have mentioned that there do not appear to be significant CSFB issues in my area. LTE-only mode doesn't change things much, and even on .15 I never see the "No telephone calls" indicator.

 

-Mike

I think at least in my area of DFW, that it is an eCSFB issue with B26.  I put the .13 radio back on and then disabled only B26 to see how my phone would handle it.  Well after a quick drive to an area that would drop me down to 3G, my phone did drop me down to 3G but after driving to another area with a different tower it eventually connected me back to LTE within a few minutes.  Where before it dropped me down to 3G I would stay parked there for over an hour or more, unless of course if I did a data reset.  I also drove to an area with very very spotty or non-existent LTE and was dropped down to 3G and then it did connect me to this one B41 tower.  

 

So it does appear that the issue, at least in my area, is an eCSFB issue with B26.  It sucks because I loved connecting to B26 but I can leave it disabled for now and periodically enable it to see if Sprint fixed the eCSFB issue with B26.

[JonnygATL]

Still waiting for the OTA here as well. I thought the rollout was to be completed by today. In that case I guess I just might be last on the list. Story of my life!

I actually got the update maybe 30 minutes after posting that lol. It's been very successful at holding LTE for me except in 2 random cases where I was quite unnecessarily kicked down to 3g when a very strong LTE connection was readily available. But..toggling airplane mode fixes it in most cases.

[bkcoke]

Has anyone still not gotten the 4.4.3 update? I keep checking for the update, but I haven't received it. According to sprint it was going to roll out in batches until 6/9. That's come and gone and I'm still on 4.4.2.

 

I got my phone less than a month ago. Hopefully I get it soon!

[Mooeydj]

Has anyone still not gotten the 4.4.3 update? I keep checking for the update, but I haven't received it. According to sprint it was going to roll out in batches until 6/9. That's come and gone and I'm still on 4.4.2.

 

I got my phone less than a month ago. Hopefully I get it soon!

 

I haven't yet.

 

Got it at about 2:30 today finally.

[newboyx]

People wait for OTAs on a Nexus? ????

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Vince]

People wait for OTAs on a Nexus? ????

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

If you're not unlocked/rooted, then yes. It's the easiest, cleanest way to upgrade.

[zippychance]

Its finally happening! Which means I can't go back up to my room until its done downloading. For those curious, the planet Hollywood pool deck has very serviceable B25.

[newboyx]

If you're not unlocked/rooted, then yes. It's the easiest, cleanest way to upgrade.

You don't need to be rooted/unlocked to do the OTA yourself. Easy is relative.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk