Samsung Galaxy A32 5G thread

[comintel]

6 hours ago, comintel said:

 

 

Actually do not worry about it as it is going to just be simolw516tq like everything else new.  Thanks.

[dkyeager]

19 hours ago, comintel said:

But probably not to the Magic Box which is what I want.  At least that is what I found with a Sprint S20.   Do you think it would be different with this phone?

Interesting question. You might be able to reach it if you turn off all other LTE bands and then go to an area in your house that sees no other b41.

I might be able to test this later today else another day soon. Once your phone sees it, the likely hood of seeing it again should increase, perhaps without eliminating the other bands.

[comintel]

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

Interesting question. You might be able to reach it if you turn off all other LTE bands and then go to an area in your house that sees no other b41.

I might be able to test this later today else another day soon. Once your phone sees it, the likely hood of seeing it again should increase, perhaps without eliminating the other 

I tried that probably a hundred times on my S20, including blocking other bands.  It worked perfectly with a Sprint sim, and not at all with a T-Mobile sim.  It just went to no signal.     However that was a pre-merger Sprint  branded S20. 

[dkyeager]

Is the AT&T and Unlocked flavors of the Samsung A32 5G the same hardware with the bands determined by the sim inserted?  I have not seen the specific 5G bands supported, but for LTE the AT&T flavor omits band 13, 25 & 26 and adds bands 14, 29, & 30.  They both have the main model number of SM-A326U.  No where I have seen all the bands listed correctly.  (Band 77 is supposed to be added soon).  Boost and US Cellular also offer it.  Does not seem to be that good of a fit for Boost based on their NR frequencies.

[dkyeager]

23 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Is the AT&T and Unlocked flavors of the Samsung A32 5G the same hardware with the bands determined by the sim inserted?  I have not seen the specific 5G bands supported, but for LTE the AT&T flavor omits band 13, 25 & 30 and adds bands 14, 29, & 30.  They both have the main model number of SM-A326U.  No where I have seen all the bands listed correctly.  (Band 77 is supposed to be added soon).  Boost and US Cellular also offer it.  Does not seem to be that good of a fit for Boost based on their NR frequencies.

Looked at the FCC reports. NR bands are 2, 5, 25, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77. 

AT&T is on NR 2, 5(DSS), and soon for 77.

Dish is working on n66, n71.  Also in trial for Dish is n70 at @2.1GHz, but this phone does not have that listed.

[dkyeager]

On 11/25/2021 at 8:40 PM, dkyeager said:

Looked at the FCC reports. NR bands are 2, 5, 25, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77. 

AT&T is on NR 2, 5(DSS), and soon for 77.

Dish is working on n66, n71.  Also in trial for Dish is n70 at @2.1GHz, but this phone does not have that listed.

Ordered a factory unlocked.  Will report back on how it works on the various national networks (thru various MVNOs).  I figure it is a very good hunting phone.  Can use the band selector app, so root not typically needed.  Of course no mmWave, but that is $$$$$ for a s21 or $$$$ for a Pixel 6. If it does not work as intended, I can return it by January 8.

[comintel]

My A32 came and I really like it.  It is the T-Mobile model but I got it under an offer where I will be able to unlock it after 45 days.  (Whether that unlock of a carrier model also provides BYOD to other carriers firmware I do not know yet.)

Like you, I got it especially for the band lock ability.

That came in essential right away for two different scenarios.

(1) Locking to band 71 (NR works) is necessary here to provide a continuous signal.  Otherwise it  continuously jumps around bands and drops signal.

(2) i will use it to lock to band 41 once the Sprint sim comes that I have ordered so that I can connect to my Magic Box.  

 I have tested and on the TNX sim it will connect to Sprint towers (an improvement over my Sprint S20) except Magic boxes.

 

 

 

.  

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by comintel

[dkyeager]

On 11/27/2021 at 7:11 AM, comintel said:

My A32 came and I really like it.  It is the T-Mobile model but I got it under an offer where I will be able to unlock it after 45 days.  (Whether that unlock of a carrier model also provides BYOD to other carriers firmware I do not know yet.)

Like you, I got it especially for the band lock ability.

That came in essential right away for two different scenarios.

(1) Locking to band 71 (NR works) is necessary here to provide a continuous signal.  Otherwise it  continuously jumps around bands and drops signal.

(2) i will use it to lock to band 41 once the Sprint sim comes that I have ordered so that I can connect to my Magic Box.  

 I have tested and on the TNX sim it will connect to Sprint towers (an improvement over my Sprint S20) except Magic boxes.

 

 

 

.  

 

 

 

I tested my A32 5g with TNX sim and T-Mobile. firmware and had no issues connecting to my original Magic Box. 82/7 iirc.

[comintel]

8 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

I tested my A32 5g with TNX sim and T-Mobile. firmware and had no issues connecting to my original Magic Box. 82/7 iirc.

Thanks.  It may vary by area.

[dkyeager]

49 minutes ago, comintel said:

Thanks.  It may vary by area.

Or even by Magic Box.  Some versions of the Magic Box are more suited than others. 

The location of this Magic Box is about perfect.  Provides internal coverage to an area that previously did not have coverage (now gets some low band).  Across the street it gives coverage into a shopping center that has almost no coverage as well.  Reaches almost to the back of a small grocery story.  Covers into the front area of a bar/restaurant as well as a number of places in between.  Plus in a nimby surburb.

[comintel]

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

I tested my A32 5g with TNX sim and T-Mobile. firmware and had no issues connecting to my original Magic Box. 82/7 iirc.

Thanks.  It may vary by area.

 

55 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Or even by Magic Box.  Some versions of the Magic Box are more suited than others. 

The location of this Magic Box is about perfect.  Provides internal coverage to an area that previously did not have coverage (now gets some low band).  Across the street it gives coverage into a shopping center that has almost no coverage as well.  Reaches almost to the back of a small grocery story.  Covers into the front area of a bar/restaurant as well as a number of places in between.  Plus in a nimby surburb.

Ah I see.

Mine still gets 50 Mbit/sec and falls back to other towers when it needs to, including band 25.  

[dkyeager]

On 11/27/2021 at 1:16 AM, dkyeager said:

Ordered a factory unlocked.  Will report back on how it works on the various national networks (thru various MVNOs).  I figure it is a very good hunting phone.  Can use the band selector app, so root not typically needed.  Of course no mmWave, but that is $$$$$ for a s21 or $$$$ for a Pixel 6. If it does not work as intended, I can return it by January 8.

Actually, the factory unlocked version with the latest software update, shows additional NR for 66 and 77 with AT&T MVNO Sim. On some other Samsung phones, it has been reported that once you unlock the T-Mobile phone and insert a different sim, you don't get all the same bands as the factory unlocked.  I expect this phone to behave the same way.

When I put in a T-Mobile MVNO sim into the factory unlocked I got the following bands: 13, 25 & 26 as expected and adds bands 14, 29, 30, & 71.

On The NR side with this sim I got 2, 5, 25, 41, 66, 71, 77, 78.  So from a Boost Mobile standpoint it would miss NR70, but has NR 66 and 71 that are in trial.

The Android security patch level is Sept 1 rather than Nov 1 on the T-Mobile firmware (Samsung unlocked is typically older for all models).  

 

Note: n78 is a sunset of n77.

[comintel]

19 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Actually, the unlocked version with the latest software update, shows additional NR for 66 and 77 with AT&T MVNO Sim. On some other Samsung phones, it has been reported that once you unlock the T-Mobile phone and insert a different sim, you don't get all the same bands as the factory unlocked.  I expect this phone to behave the same way.

When I put in a T-Mobile MVNO sim into the factory unlocked I got the following bands: 13, 25 & 26 as expected and adds bands 14, 29, 30, & 71.

On The NR side with this sim I got 2, 5, 25, 41, 66, 71, 77, 78.  So from a Boost Mobile standpoint it would miss NR70, but has NR 66 and 71 that are in trial.

The Android security patch level is Sept 1 rather than Nov 1 on the T-Mobile firmware (Samsung unlocked is typically older  for all models).  

 

Note: n78 is a sunset of n77.

Very interesting.  I will report on what my T-Mobile branded A32 supports once the phone can be unlocked in 45 days.

Edited November 29, 2021 by comintel

[dkyeager]

This phone's chipset supports VoNR, which I previously thought was limited to the s21 series with its 888 chipset.  This will greatly increase this phone's functionality with T-Mobile soon and certainly extend its useful life.  https://corp.mediatek.com/news-events/press-releases/mediatek-announces-dimensity-720-its-newest-5g-chip-for-premium-5g-experiences-on-mid-tier-smartphones  I did not notice this before (others may have).

[dkyeager]

My factory unlocked A32 5g has been updated to Dec 1. My T-Mobile A32 5g remains on Nov 1. Unusual that factory unlocked was updated first.

[comintel]

3 hours ago, dkyeager said:

My factory unlocked A32 5g has been updated to Dec 1. My T-Mobile A32 5g remains on Nov 1. Unusual that factory unlocked was updated first.

I suspect T-Mobile is inserting urgent merger-related fixes into the schedule  that are preempting the test time needed to deploy more routine ones in some cases.  These changes may be still in the future (or the past) but still change the schedule, which can only prudently handle a limited number of pending changes simultaneously.  

[dkyeager]

Still waiting impatiently for my T-Mobile security update.

 

[dkyeager]

On Jan 15 in France Samsung started the Android 12 update process with One UI 4.0.

Source: reddit.com/r/samsunggalaxy

[dkyeager]

On 1/19/2022 at 11:44 AM, dkyeager said:

On Jan 15 in France Samsung started the Android 12 update process with One UI 4.0.

Source: reddit.com/r/samsunggalaxy

esim ability for this phone is NOT included.  Likely not supported by hardware.  You would need to consider a sim sized device like https://esim.me  I have one, but waiting for MVNO support.

[dkyeager]

Updated my T-Mobile locked phone but not my unlocked phone. Still on Android 11.

Build Number : A326USQU7AVB1

Android version : R(Android 11)

Release Date : 2022-03-01

Security patch level : 2022-02-01

• The security of your device has been improved.

[IrwinshereAgain]

Android 12 up and running.  TMobile phone.

[dkyeager]

Galaxy A32 5G (SM-A326U)

---

Build Number : A326USQU7BVE5

Android version : S(Android 12)

Release Date : 2022-05-31

Security patch level : 2022-04-01

· The security of your device has been improved.

[dkyeager]

18 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Galaxy A32 5G (SM-A326U)

---

Build Number : A326USQU7BVE5

Android version : S(Android 12)

Release Date : 2022-05-31

Security patch level : 2022-04-01

· The security of your device has been improved.

This does not fix the n7 showing instead of n41 issue. During the update, T-Mobile appears several times. Updates may be becoming more carrier specific.

My factory unlocked A32 5G remains on Android 11 with January 1 security fixes.

 

[dkyeager]

Finally got the One UI 4.1 update (Android 12) for the A32 5G factory unlocked.  It has April 1 2022 security patches. 

Not a fan of getting another update given the destruction of the Samsung band selector app abilities. 🙄

[Trip]

What band selector options does it have for NR, if I might ask?  Been considering picking one up and then disabling all future updates on it the way I did with my new S21FE.

- Trip