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mikejeep

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Everything posted by mikejeep

  1. mikejeep
    A new version was just pushed out to the beta crew; the force closes should be resolved--digiblur wins the prize for correct diagnosis! There were also numerous other issues that I discovered along the way when I activated a few different phones on my Sprint account today for testing, so this should be more stable. Those with HTC phones should see a much cleaner LTE display now as well, without multiple GCI's showing up if you are running Android 4.2+. HTC users will see the LTE UL/DL channels if it's available, and the proper band 25, 26, and 41 frequencies should display. Other LTE bands will not show the frequencies yet; each band is calculated differently, so I have a lot to do for that. Shout out to AJ for helping me out with that earlier today. Thanks for your patience everyone.. and at the moment I'm all set with more beta testers, but I'm humbled by the enthusiasm my last post triggered! As soon as I'm confident the beta is stable, you will all get it.. just a few more days.. -Mike
  2. mikejeep
    I have some faith that a Dan@Sprint rep reaching out to you with a specific date is more reliable than "coming soon", and a software update on a Monday makes some sense. Fingers crossed! -Mike
  3. mikejeep
    I've gotten all of your messages regarding the new beta crashing upon connecting to LTE.. my hunch is that digiblur is right, although I thought I had that covered. I'm looking into it and will let you guys know. -Mike
  4. mikejeep
    I looked into this further, and realized there were more issues than I initially remembered. It's not "many devices", it's "all devices" that experience these problems. Android does not initialize the SD card early enough in the boot process in order for the auto-start trigger to work. Also, if the card becomes unavailable while the app is running (either physically removed or unmounted, like when making a USB connection to a computer), the widget will disappear until next reboot, the service will be killed off and won't restart, and database corruption could result. It's too many potential headaches for me to allow.. sorry! On a much more positive note for everyone, I think I finally put the finishing touches on the latest version, 3 months in the making! I just pushed it out to the beta crew, and as long as no issues pop up, this will be the version released to everyone soon. It's (a lot) later than I planned on going to bed, but you guys are worth it.. hopefully my wife lets me sleep in, we both have the day off. -Mike
  5. mikejeep
    Getting close.. I'm actually working on some coding right now for the first time all week. Just been ridiculously busy. Exactly how close I get to finishing depends on how late I can stay awake tonight and tomorrow night.. I'm trying to hustle! I am very pleased with how it's turning out, I have a high level of confidence that this will improve the app's functionality and stability for everyone. This is disabled because moving SignalCheck to the SD card was causing problems on many devices. The two major issues are the app will fail to auto-start on boot or cause the widget to generate errors or disappear altogether. These devices apparently do not initialize the SD card early enough in the boot process, leading the system to think the app is missing or corrupt. I will make a note to investigate adding an option in a future version for users to override the restriction though. -Mike
  6. mikejeep
    It would be very difficult to have more than one option available, because each method requires a different database structure. Perhaps down the road I could reconsider it, but for now it's going to be only one method -- which will be site-level based on the feedback I have received. For now, it would have to manually entered via the app, or you could do some database manipulation on your own (the logs are standard sqlite databases that can be viewed/modified with any third-party sqlite DB app on your phone or desktop). I will add import capabilities eventually, but it won't be in the initial release. I have to learn how to do it first -Mike
  7. mikejeep
    That happens all the time.. Android controls the exact order of notification icons. Each icon is assigned a priority, but the system takes various other factors into account when displaying icons. I have not found a way for force any specific order, just the generic low/medium/high priority setting available in the Preferences screen. -Mike
  8. mikejeep
    It's not the exact same permission name (one is LG-specific, the other is Samsung-specific), but it has the same effect. This is the same reason that the standard Reset feature does not work in Android 4.2+. SignalCheck includes the required permissions, but when you install the app, the system sees them and strips them out. It's at the system level so I don't think there is anything that can be done, even if you are rooted. It's purposely beyond reach. -Mike
  9. mikejeep
    Looking at the logs you sent me, I can see what happened -- LG added a new security permission that prevents that screen from being launched any third-party app. SignalCheck already includes that permission, but it is almost always stripped out by the system when the app is installed. This is generally why the system shortcuts don't work on some devices.. I know how to trigger the screen, but the system blocks it at a level beyond my reach. Unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do.. there is no way around Android security permissions (and as I have stated before, that isn't a bad thing). -Mike
  10. mikejeep
    Because your device won't re-scan for other CDMA 1X bands until it loses the one it is connected to. There is no concern with remaining on 800 (SMR) vs. 1900 (PCS), or never connecting to one or the other. 800 MHz provides better signal propagation, but that doesn't mean that you need to camp on it 24/7 when your phone has determined that PCS is strong enough at your location. If it wasn't for engineering screens or apps like SignalCheck, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. -Mike
  11. mikejeep
    I think you are referring to the different forums on XDA, which is a different website..? -Mike
  12. mikejeep
    A "stock" ROM is whatever comes installed on a device when it is purchased brand new. AOSP stands for Android Open Source Project, and an AOSP ROM refers to one that just runs Android without any custom launchers or skins like HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz on top of it. The Nexus 5, like all Nexus devices, comes with AOSP. So the stock ROM is just regular Android.. which has come a long way from its early days, and has many of the same features the custom launchers have. -Mike
  13. mikejeep
    Ahhhh that is not cool! If you have a chance, please click the shortcut in the app, then go into About > Send Diagnostics.. that should capture the error details for me. Please make a note on the diagnostics screen that the debug screen was failing, I get a lot of reports so it's impossible to keep track in my head. Thanks, -Mike
  14. mikejeep
    Had my first HD Voice experience tonight.. wife called my N5 from her iPhone 5s, we both immediately noticed the incredible clarity. It was by far the clearest telephone call I have ever heard, landline or mobile. She put it on speakerphone while driving and it didn't sound any different. Very impressed. The fact that she noticed means anyone will notice.. she pays virtually no attention to stuff like this! FWIW, we were both physically in the Boston market (no, not the chicken place unfortunately).. I have a MA number and she has a MI number. -Mike
  15. mikejeep
    It's very basic for now.. the note will be displayed on-screen with the rest of the signal information. Clicking anywhere on a section (title, signal meter, or signal information) will open the pop-up to edit that site, whether a note already exists or not. Down the road I plan to add import/export functions somehow. -Mike
  16. mikejeep
    COMPLETELY understandable. I am not happy with myself for how long this has taken. Kind of surprised it took this long for someone to make a post like that, because I have been expecting it. Honestly, it's been very frustrating to me; I take a lot of pride in the positive reputation the app has developed. I didn't want to hurt that by pushing out an update that claimed to fix stuff that didn't actually fix it, but I didn't expect it to take 3 months. There have been several points where I thought a beta version was ready to push out to the masses, but then I found another significant issue. Fix one leak, and it causes another one to spring up further down the pipe. If I only had to worry about one wireless provider or one phone manufacturer, it would be much easier.. but that's not how it is. The delay has been mostly due to my lack of free time to tie up these loose ends. Life has been getting in the way lately.. nothing bad, just busy. The logging and site notes features evolved along the way as an easier method to help myself debug some problems I was seeing in the app. It's not the reason an update isn't out yet. You'd probably be surprised at the amount of negative feedback I get every time there is an update. It's a delicate balance on my end. I certainly know that I'll never please everyone though. I'm not going to publicly give a deadline for an update, because I know how that goes--come on Sprint, where is that N5 update you promised--but that doesn't mean it's not coming soon. The sooner I get this pushed out, the sooner I'm not stressing myself out about it! -Mike
  17. mikejeep
    Oh don't worry, that's a totally separate feature that I am working on. My design question is specifically about implementing notes on a site-level or sector-level basis. The more testing I do, the more I am strongly in favor of site-level, since I only care about adding some detail about the site I'm on, not specifics about the sector it is. Again, I will probably have the sector appended anyway if I go that route. -Mike
  18. mikejeep
    I've been working on it for awhile, I want it too! It's done well in my own testing over the past 2 days. The problem with using the PCI is that it not unique across the network.. the range is only 0-503. I promise, with ~39,000 Sprint LTE sites (and many thousand sites for AT&T, Verizon, Tmo, and other providers), they reused a few of them. PLMN+GCI is the only way the app can uniquely identify a site. It's just a matter of choosing whether or not to have one note for all sectors on site 111222xx, or have separate notes for each sector (11122201, 11122202, 11122203, etc). -Mike
  19. mikejeep
    This feature is entirely independent of anything else in the app. It just lets you literally display a brief note about the site you are connected to. My rationale for ignoring the sector bits is that I see little value in having separate notes for each sector, beyond the actual sector ID (02, 0F, 1B, etc) itself. I suppose someone might want to note the direction of a sector, but they would have to manually determine that on their own, and if they know where the site is, I see limited value in that compared to the extra effort required to make separate notes for all 3 (or 6, for Sprint B26 sites) sectors. I don't think an unnoted site is worthy of an alert.. especially if you want separate notes for each sector. That would be a lot of alerts triggering. I was going to hide the note field completely if a site doesn't have one, but I think showing something like "none" would help users realize the feature exists. I could make that optional though. -Mike
  20. mikejeep
    If I went this route, I might put in an option to append the suffix to the display (i.e. note is "High School" but appears as "High School [02]"). It is a little redundant because the GCI would be right there, but not everyone realizes what that represents. That's another reason I'm leaning toward ignoring the sector bits. Users will see useful information with 1/3 (or better) the effort. -Mike
  21. mikejeep
    Wow, I am humbled, thank you. But I think you deserve to be #1 on that list Robert.. no matter what the rest of us do, S4GRU is what it is because of everything you put into it. So.. do the standings get updated over time? i.e. do I see a potential competition brewing? -Mike
  22. mikejeep
    I am finally wrapping up the last part of the next update with a new feature I've been trying to get working.. I call them "site notes". Basically you can enter whatever you want (site location, S4GRU map ID, etc) and it will appear whenever you are connected to that site. It will be based on SID+NID+BID for 1X, PLMN+GCI for LTE, and PLMN+LAC+CID for GSM. I am not implementing this (or logging) it for EV-DO/eHRPD because most devices can't get any information that identifies the site. Also, devices that can't get the GCI will not be able to save LTE notes. Now, before I start finalizing things, I would like some input from you guys.. should LTE notes be tied to the exact GCI? Or would it be better to only match the first 6 characters, ignoring the sector bits? I have it working now to match the entire GCI, but find myself just marking every site as "High School 1", "High School 2", "High School 3" etc. Does anyone find value in separate notes for each LTE sector? It needs to be one way or the other; this is not something I want to make configurable, at least not right now. Any and all opinions appreciated! Thanks, -Mike
  23. mikejeep
    My N5 has suddenly been jumping on 1X 800 quite a bit over the past week or so when I am at home. Since I got it in November, that has never happened, and my area has had solid 1X 800 coverage since well before that. I also have a very strong PCS signal at home. Wondering (hoping) if it is something on the network side similar to how LTE network loads can be balanced across bands. -Mike
  24. mikejeep
    Hmm I think that's a bug I have since resolved but not released yet. It's always listening for any changes to any of the mobile signal values or site information, but there were some issues with quick-changing values (fast handoffs, bouncing between bands quickly, etc) that was freezing things up. Stay tuned.. -Mike
  25. mikejeep
    Sorry for the delay, I'm wrapping up a busy couple of weeks.. working full-time while taking 2 graduate classes and trying to have a social life is no fun at the end of a semester. I will have more time for SignalCheck again now! Of course, Opening Day for the Red Sox is tomorrow, so there's another distraction.. As far as beta testers go, I don't need any more right now, but feel free to check in with me down the road. I appreciate your interest and enthusiasm, and I apologize that it's been so long since there has been a public update (it's coming!). Being a Premier Sponsor isn't a requirement, but it does factor in. Robert and the S4GRU community have been very good to me, so I do try to do what I can for those who are the most supportive members of the site. I prefer keeping my beta crew (I am going to keep using that term, I like it haha) at a manageable number because it makes things easier on my end. If I had 100 beta testers, my e-mail would be exploding and I wouldn't know where to begin. -Mike
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