Androidaholic

I still have mine and it is over 2 years old and running strong on Kit Kat. I use it for podcast and one handed operation at work and my Note 3 for web browsing videos and everything else. Does anyone have an opinion on what tri-band phone has the best RF performance besides the Nexus 5 that is good for one handed use ?

Thanks for the tip! Looks much better now.

Since you are in Houston also how is your G3 doing on the tri-band Spark network here ?

Yeah after I got my replacement M8 he said to use GPS so the towers know how far you are from them, after we fixed the wrong SIM card number in the phone to the right on it worked fine. So far so good, don't know if I just had a defective radio in my old M8 or it was the wrong SIM number, either way it works now.

 

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

That is great news I am strongly considering this phone because it has 32gigs internal storage and looks awesome ! Did not know they used the GPS like that.

Well it won't stay connected to either lte or 3g even voice drops constantly, I'm leaning towards I have a defective phone. Anything Hunan made can break even if assisted by robots, not every product has a 0% fail rate going down the line. I'm getting it tomorrow I'll keep y'all posted on what happens.

 

Sent from my HTC One M8

I was amazed that the Sprint rep told you that the GPS had something to do with your data signal.

My replacement phone should be here by then end of this week I hope. Done everything I knew how to do and even got a new SIM card. Took it off the network then back on still don't want to connect so there sending me a new phone. They keep saying it was because its a spark device and I didn't have my gps on to get the best signal lol but I'm hoping for the best I love this phone.

 

Sent from my HTC One M8

Say what ? 

Was reading a post that a guy put on the M8 Sprint forums blaming the signal and connection issues to the Sprint system no being able to provision the phone right now. Could that be true or just some hot air junk? Mine's been activated since last Thursday and it's still having the connection issues, hoping the replacement phone fixes it.

 

Sent from my HTC One M8

I believe this is true because I have read about new S5 users having to get there phones re provisioned before they could get LTE to work also.  I think Sprint is having some issues getting there new network set up.  They are probably having to do new and different things now that some of the employees are not used to yet. 

I ended up returning it. As I sit here in bed my signal is -90dBm on the S4T, the S5 had a -101dBm. The phone was awesome, but for me at least signal is the number one important feature.

 

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That sucks because Samsung has always had about the same signal on there phones. I wonder if it is because they used a different antenna technology. I read before somewhere that in order to do the water and dust resistant deal they had to use one that gave worse reception. If that is the case I can do with out the the water/dust BS since I am not a fish and I do not ride around on camels all day long in the desert. I want the best damn antenna I can get with out the washed out screen on the Nexus 5 !

Sad thing about this is all of the phones that people take back because they are not working correctly will get recycled back in to the system to some other poor unsuspecting soul. I once went through 3 Original Epic 4g phones

before I got one work a good radio. I had to get a replacement because I dropped it and broke the

screen. Then finally I got a great one that eventually went to my wife until I have her my Note 2. I still have the Epic 4g slider.  That phone has a great radio and some great silicon. It could easily run stable at 1.4 ghz and still works great till this day.

Wow HTC must have some serious quality control issues ! I wonder what is the cause of so many M8's having antenna/radio issues while others are fine. I am thinking it must be some kind of hardware defect like the way the antenna is connected to the radio. Reminds me of the Transformer Prime and pogo pins. Has anyone seen a teardown of the M8 yet ? 

After reading this thread I am disappointed and astonished to hear people talking about the same kind of issues that I had with my HTC Evo 4g LTE and the way it acts with LTE and switching between LTE and 3g. I just can not believe that HTC would not have fixed these issues by now. I really would like to have another HTC phone but I am not sure I would be to happy with the Camera and Radio issues. It is no wonder they are losing money every quarter. It all started after the Original Evo when they went for the Evo 3d gimmick and started having radio issues. I remember people complaining about the 3d radio even. I think the last phone that had good reliable RF was the At&t HTC One x and One x+. I really wish they would just make the best Normal camera possible and get there radio's straight I am seeing a lot of inconsistencies and people returning there M8's looking for proper radio functionality.

I went with their excuse the first time only because I hadn't gotten around to configuring my phone yet and I live 10 minutes away from Best Buy. So...I went this morning and swapped out my M8 with a new one. Here's the rub...it actually is working better now. I have the phone in LTE/CDMA mode. I'm at home with no wifi on and I'm pulling a LTE signal with the Spark icon spinning periodically. The signal meter is showing 1 or zero bars (weird because i have an Airwave), but incoming and outgoing calls are working. However, I rebooted my phone for the hell of it as I was typing this and afterwards, an incoming call test failed. Once I dialed out the same number successfully, I called my M8 again and that time, it worked.

 

I'm pretty sure now it's a CSBF failback issue...even with the new results. I plan on contacting the tech I was working with earlier to give her the updated info and to ask her specifically about CSBF on the towers closest to my home.

 

Before I forget, what are the best apps to download to check signal strength, type, etc? Thanks...

Get Signal check pro for your signal. Then if touch the address of the tower at the top you can map your tower and get tower info. Go in to preferences in signal check preferences check the display reset button and set up your alert preferences and status bar. Then You can also get Open signal and or sensorly. Also, airwaves only work for voice and 3g and since your on LTE it would not help with that but you may know that. Android shows the signal strength of the technology you are connected to now like LTE. It used to show your voice signal strength and you would just have your other icon next to it like 3g or 4g. There switching technology is new and with all new technology issues have to be fixed with them before they become closer to perfection.

How did you get the gold variant? Through best buy? I'm slowly becoming more tempted to pull the trigger but best buy has it for 799.00 which is ridiculous

Why just get them to do a price match ?

I am one of the unfortunate souls who has the problem with not being able to receive calls while on LTE with the new M8.  I just picked up the phone yesterday (Chicagoland Area), and realized that I had the problem once I got home.  I was told by Sprint tech support that they know about the problem, that it's not affecting all M8 users, and that they are in the middle of gathering information to forward to HTC.

 

Troubleshooting efforts included reboots, factory resets, profile/PRL updates, removing my number from Google Voice, and reactivating my phone.  Today, I'm gonna swap out my phone at Best Buy for a new one in hopes that it is simply hardware specific issue.  However, my inner tech geek already knows that probably won't work.

 

Take this away and the phone is wonderful.  I'm pulling LTE in my house and that has never happened.  The Gunmetal Grey is stunning.  The UFocus effects are really cool.  Funny...I always by my phones based on every feature except the most basic one...making and receiving calls.  This experience is reminding me that all of that stuff (specs, features, build quality, benchmarks, camera, etc.) doesn't even matter if I can't make a damn call.  Go figure...

 

   

Whoa wait a minute here ! I would ask Sprint if they have CSBF installed on the towers you are connected to do not let them try to blame it on HTC. It is my understanding that this is due to a lack of the CSBF fallback switch technology being installed on all towers. I do not think it is your phone but more like Sprint trying to get there new network ironed out and working properly. However I also thought that in Chicago that most of the towers should already have it implemented. I have never heard of this issue being caused by the device it self so this would be new to me if it is the HTC One ! Anyone heard any different ?

I went to Best Buy and tested out the gold version thoroughly and also took a look at the gun metal Grey one. That gun metal grey one is so nice I almost bought it in the spot. I used signal check and compared it to my Note 3 and S3. It seemed to get about the same signal strength on LTE add both of my phones. The issue that moeSizlack is talking about with LTE hand off is very disappointing since my Evo LTE was the same way and it is still not fixed. Boom sound is awesome the camera is alright takes clear pictures but not add good in low light as I thought it would be but the pictures are sharp with good color saturation. Very tempted by this phone but I guess I will wait and take a look at the S5 first.

Found this review on Best Buy. I know what everyone else has been saying about the M8 on Sg4ru so I am not really sure how this account of RF performance stacks up to reality but I did find it interesting and wish it was true for everyone that had one. If this was the norm I think I would have to yield to my temptation of purchasing the M8. I really miss my HTC phones !

So after searching and see a search result with the Note 3 Neo that had some or all of the major U.S. carriers listed below it in the link and also an article saying it was being released worldwide I thought that must have been what they were talking about but apparently it is not coming to the U.S. Therefore at this point I have no idea why they told me a new Note 3 was coming next month and may never know.

I noticed you started a thread on XDA in the Sprint Note 3 General section claiming a triband Note 3 was coming to Sprint without verifying the facts first.  

I was just reporting what i was told at the store and had no knowledge of the Note 3 Neo until today. I am not a professional journalist a reporter or even a blogger so why do I have to be 100% accurate when reporting information that was intended for further investigation in the first place. I do not know about you but I do this stuff for fun. Even so I would never intentionally mislead people and if i made a mistake it is sure a lot easier to live with than some of the other ones I have made. So I think we will all be alright even if we do have to wait for the Note 4 to get the Note we want. 

Okay I think I have figured this out ! I believe that the Note 3 that they were referring to at the Sprint store was the Note 3 Neo. It is due for release next month and I have read that Sprint and other carriers are supposed to get it. So they may be right but failed to tell me the specifics like the fact that it was the NEO a cheaper version of the Note 3 with a 720p screen of 5.5" and 16g of storage. However it is supposed to have the Samsung hexa core processor for the LTE version. It would be hard to get a 720p screen at this point in time for me so even so it would be disappointing to me since I want everything to be the same but with tri band LTE and not go backwards in time speck wise. 

Note 4 will have 4gigs of ram at least a 2k screen and a 64bit processor in my opinion along with tri band LTE.

Understood, I just did not understand why they would lie when it would kill the sale of a new device. Of course I may be giving them more credit than I should. Maybe I over estimated there intelligence. I am very good at reading people though due to my life experiences. Anyway, thanks Robert and time will tell the outcome of this tale. I am now finished with this discussion and see no reason to talk about it any longer. Thanks again

That is simply an amazing amount of B.S. and I do not doubt a word of it.

I understand why she told me but I see no reason for her or the manager to give out false information about it. As soon as she told me that I knew right then that I wanted to wait for that phone to come out. Therefore no sale was made because of it. They all know that the Note 3 is the best specked and most expensive phone in the store so why would they intentionally lose a sale by making something up. That would be bad business principals.

Just so you know, we have lots of Sprint corporate store employees, and Sprint corporate store managers who are S4GRU members.  as well as many fine and not so fine third party Sprint retailers.  

 

Robert

Maybe someone else could call that store and ask about it and see what they say. I believe that it is true why would they tell me that? I was looking at phones to buy one when the girl volunteered the information to me after I told her that I liked the Note 3 but did not want a phone with out Sprint Spark.

Also to anyone interested this was the Deerbrook Mall store in Humble, Tx. Which is basically Houston it is on the North side of Houston. They also said they have started pushing out updates to activate Spark on all capable phones now. I know that the G2 was one of the first ones and She told me they were doing it in waves. She also said something about the HTC One Max and was making of all of the Spark capable phones that would be getting it. I just told her She did not have to tell me what all of the phones are because I already new which ones they were. This could be an area thing I suppose since Houston just got Spark turned on recently.

I really believe it is true from talking to them they acted like it was something that was a known fact to them. Plus why would they not do it when they are doing it with the S4. I know if it comes out I am getting one that is for sure.