irev210

Makes me wonder if we'll ever see NEC in the US to keep the competition up.

So i havent dug into this real well, but i cant seem to figure out how to get rid of Flipboard. I dont even see the app listed. Its set up to open with swipe left from the homescreen, something i used to do with google now.

just switch to the google now launcher.  million times better!

For battery life, I actually sit in battery saver mode often - seems to really improve battery life without reducing performance that much.

Not to be pedantic on the Salton Sea..it was just one of my predictions: the Salton Sea was created accidentily

by engineers trying to control the flow of water; they made hydrological mistakes that allowed the Colorado River

to flow there unabated for two years;the compact covenants that irev210 mentioned will be cast aside IMHO to

sustain the most people in the American Southwest over the course of the next decade or so; people tend to fight

over sex, money and power... but they go to WAR over WATER...and old western saying...I'm sorry the die is cast 

on this one...most of what I stated is simply going to happen one way or another..

http://poseidonwater.com/our_projects/all_projects/carlsbad_project

Water will just become more expensive, that's all.  And not catastrophically so.

So, right now, in California water can be as much as $1200/acrefoot or so (325,851 gallons), so about a third of a penny per gallon.

Desalination costs between $2,000-$2,200/AF.  So even if water costs double to 2/3rds of a cent per gallon, I don't personally view that as a significant burden on income.

Let's look at San Francisco - now they have their own water supply that is very drought resilient but let's assume they had no water supply and decided to desal all of their water needs.

The average per capita usage of water in San Francisco is among the lowest in the Country at 44 gallons per capita.  Let's assume the average family of four uses 44 gallons each, so 176 gallons a day.  That comes out to $1.144 in usage per day or $34.32/month in water costs.

Assume some other overhead costs (O&M, customer service, etc) and we are at about $60-70/month.  As a percentage of median household income in California, that's pretty inexpensive in my opinion.

Blend that against $1,000/acrefoot water (say 50% of supply) and you are at even less.

Again, bottom line - California isn't running out of water.  It's just becoming more expensive.  It seems likely that people will be less willing to foot the bill for nice grass lawns when that costs hundreds of dollars a month.

I thought the Salton Sea was created by the Colorado River flooding and overflowing its banks. And running to a low spot below sea level and settling. That's what I was taught in California Geography as a kid.

 

It probably is sustained by overflow of agriculture irrigation, though.

 

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

Well, it created a giant hole in the earth that was an empty pocket (kinda like many desert low elevations).

The Salton Sea was created between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River broke through diversion canals in the irrigation system in Imperial County. 

It would have dried up but agricultural runoff kept it fed.

www.water.ca.gov/pubs/conservation/salton_sea_history/history.pdf

I've been hearing a lot of news lately about the drought in California being past the critical stage and the likelihood of a large chunk of the population being forced to relocate when the ground water is exhausted next year. It occurred to me that this would throw a major wrench in network planning and the allocation of resources. So, any speculation or insight on the how that will be handled?

I suggest you visit the California Department of Water Resources CDEC website.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action

Things are bad, particularly for those communities that do live on ground water but for most of California, they are connected to the California State Water Project or the Colorado River.

I'm 66 years old and in my remaining life time I fully expect to see:

 

1)Salton Sea to go back to desert as it was prior to the Colo River flood that 

    created it in the early 1900's; divereted Color River to SS will stop

2)Lake Powell will be fully or mostly drained to stop losses to evaporation and

   to keep Lake Mead from dropping further

3)Colorado River water trickling into the Mexican desert will cease

4) Agriculture in the SoCal regions of Yuma and elsewhere will cease as no

    more Colorado River water will be diverted to that region..it will go back to being

    desert as it once was

5)California agriculture in total will have to cut back water usage by 50% at least

   to prevent further eradication of the acquafers and the devastating consequences

   of their elimination

6)Food prices likely to do a double over the next 10 years for all of us..

 

Gov Brown ordered a 25% cutback of 12-15% of the water use in the state exempting

agriculture which acounts for 80% of state water usage; failure to do the painful math now only

means a lot more pain down the

road for all of us....so yes , I'm worried about being able to use a cell phone going forward since

available funds most likely will be used for food & water

 

Have a good day!!

I think people tend to read the news and develop very interesting ideas.  Thank you for sharing.

Thanks again! It looks quite different than on Shannon 333 based S6: http://i.imgur.com/SvEALjN.png

 

This looks like it could be a perfect device for discovering sites with Carrier Aggregation enabled. Especially for Chicago users!

 

But the weirdest part is that according to your screenshot Sprint is shipping these devices with CA disabled. Not sure what's the reason behind this, but that could typically be enabled once the user has root access.

Yup - I can't wait to see Carrier Aggregation go live.

At first, Carrier Aggregation didn't seem to make much sense to me but traveling around and seeing this new S6 REALLY prefer B41 over B25/26, it's starting to make sense.

For example, on my way home on the train now, the S6 now holds B41 all the way home once I come up from underground (underground subway lives on B26).  My signal sticks around -110 or so and varies between -105 to -120 or so.  At -110 to -120 on the S6, speeds can be pretty slow... around 1-5mbit.  It seems that Carrier Aggregation will give customers with weaker signals MUCH more usable signal.

While everyone always talks about peak speaks under perfect coverage scenarios, in reality, B41 coverage just isn't that strong.  Carrier Aggregation will just bring a better Sprint experience to more customers.  For a few, sure, there will be 100mbits of throughput... but for the vast majority, it seems like they'll be going from low single digits to maybe 10mbit, which is practical service to provide based on competition. 

I noticed that the HTC One M8 works the same way.

Switching from the Nexus 5/6 to the Samsung S6 it was odd going to 1 bar.  It's definitely messed up.  In addition, the S6's preference for B41 which keeps my signal lower also helps show 1 bar more often.

Bottom line, it's pretty broken.  -100 to -120 dBm is not all 1 bar in my book.  When comparing networks, the lay person would certainly assume that sprint's coverage is weaksauce.

Holy cow, that ATT COW is literally the size of multiple cows...

I know.  Verizon looks pretty weak sauce in comparison.

I like big cows and I cannot lie!

It's a good opportunity for Sprint to really demonstrate B41 CA. 

This is a pretty interesting idea, especially for older folks that dont have the ability to visit the store or are not as technically inclined as some of us. 

 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/13/8383967/sprint-direct-2-you-home-setup

WSJ followed up with an article as well.  

Personally, I feel like this is something Verizon would be attempting to do, not Sprint.

I think Sprint should be focusing this money into their network instead.  Fundamentally, everything that Verizon/AT&T are marketing is coverage/data.  While Sprint has made some nice gains here, they have a lot of work to go.

If Sprint wants to invest in customer service, I still think they should work on a new billing system and new website.

Glad to see them trying though, it's at least innovative.

For those that follow the Boston Marathon - Verizon/AT&T set up some COWs.

The AT&T COW looks pretty legit.

Unfortunately, no Sprint COWs to be seen.

Thanks! Mind posting a screenshot when you get a chance?

Sure

Do you mind checking which ServiceMode dial codes work on a Sprint variant?

 

*#0011#

*#2263#

*#27663368378#

*#197328640#

 

Thanks a lot!

Just 0011

Is the S6 unlocked by default?

No, I checked. It's locked.

From the FCC OET docs and my article, that is just about what we expected.  Neither Galaxy S6 is going to be a strong performer with weak band 41 signal.  That is just a physical impossibility because their band 41 uplink output is so meager.  You can see in your example above that the handset was already slamming up against its 23 dBm conducted power limiter.

 

AJ

I look forward to messing around with it more.  It definitely doesn't act like the qualcomm chipset found on the Nexus 5/6, that's for sure.

I still can't figure out the poor B41 LTE speeds even with a perfect signal.  As Sprint builds out B41, I feel this phone will be a solid choice for B41 lovers.

So a follow up on radio performance:

It seems to LOVE band 41, very odd.  I am magically getting band 41 in my office which has NEVER happened on my Nexus 6 or Nexus 5.

Unfortunately, the signal is extremely week (serving cell: 101 Band:41 RSRP:-121dbm RSRQ: -12dB, Tx Pwr: 23 dBm)

The other interesting aspect is the speeds.  There is a band41 site that I can usually get 50-70mbit but I can't get over 20mbit on the S6.  Seems very odd.

Also, it's kinda cool seeing the band priority offering 7 different bands.  Also, LTE roaming was an option... I turned it no, not sure what that will do for me...

Setup my S6 yesterday.

Quick thoughts:

Pros:

• Good build quality (basically a copy of iphone 4/iphone 6 smashed together)
• Good fingerprint reader
• Fast
• Excellent Display
• Excellent Camera
• Excellent sound quality through my headphones

Cons:

• Not stock android
• Battery life isn't all that hawt

I wish Samsung would allow customers the option of going pure nexus.

I've installed the google now launcher and the google exchange services to allow exchange support within GMAIL instead of using Samsung's crappy mail app.  Overall, it's close to stock android but just wish it was 100% stock.

Radio performance seems pretty decent.  No complaints so far.  I've had no issues connecting to B25/26/41, etc.

Which one did you order again?

Black 32GB standard and white 32gb standard (can't check wife's white 32gb because I don't have her account #)

Anyone got their tracking numbers yet?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Got my tracking # - label was created last night so I'm guessing I'll get it tomorrow.

For anyone who wants to get their tracking number and hasn't received a sprint email, you can do the old "UPS reference number" which is your sprint account number to pull up the tracking info.

Just as another note, UPS tracking says 2nd day air but it's really overnight.

Anyone got their tracking numbers yet?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Still waiting.  Based on previous preorders, I am guessing that they'll update tracking info well after they've been shipped.

Without doubt, T-Mobile. The fact that you can easily run unlocked phones makes it a no brainer.

Sprint tweeted that the S6 will start shipping out on Monday. Hope the S6 Edge is included as well.

Sent from my SPH-L720

Woohoo!!! Thanks for the heads up!

How are TMobile customers getting theirs already? I thought these weren't available until the 10th?

Yeah, kinda odd.  Not sure what's up with that.

I am hoping that Sprint will start shipping, following T-Mobile's lead.

Well I took the plunge, I just pre-ordered the gold platinum in 64gb.

Me too.  Black 32GB for me, White 32GB for the wife.  First Samsung phone I've purchased since the Samsung Nexus S.

For me, the big downside of GV is no HD Voice.

Usually I find myself having a hangouts voice call if it isn't a landline, so it ends up being HD-ish (definitely as good as Sprint's HD).  When calling landlines, I find the google voice to be superior to sprint non-HD voice.

I can't wait for VoLTE to take over.