lordsutch

So according to the same guy that told us that the EVO 4G LTE was going to get android 4.2.2 and sense 5.0 is saying that it was going to get the update but it looks like they cancelled it the same way they cancelled it for the HTC ONE S. This does not make sense to me because the EVO is technically better in terms of specs than the HTC ONE X and the X got the update in some countries. We got android 4.1.1 in December almost a year ago so if HTC comes out and says that the EVO will not be updated they are going to lose alot of customers including myself. I have been very loyal to HTC in the past, in fact I have only had phones from them and one from Samsung. 

 

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/10/01/htc-evo-4g-lte-users-get-grim-update-news/

Might be that Sprint about to EOL the device, so they don't need the latest OS as a selling point anymore. Shame, because if nothing else CM could probably use whatever radio fixes they were including (although today's maintenance update might have some useful goodies under the hood once somebody extracts it).

Ocala represent! In all seriousness, Sprint does seem to be slowly filling in the coverage (like everywhere else), although the site closest to chez dad behind Winn-Dixie in the Shores still isn't upgraded and probably won't cover his house with LTE anyway until 800 rolls out (he's right on the edge of the nature preserve between the Shores and the forest). Even here in Macon a couple of key areas just are behind for whatever reason although a lot of town is blanketed pretty well.

If I was somewhere like Atlanta though I think Sprint would be an easy sell now.

Nothing out of the ordinary in Macon. They have rolled out a new set of 1X NIDs and BSIDs here, but I doubt that's related.

I wonder if it will affect the NTelos rate structure to customers. I would hate to think the NTelos customers will have to give up the extra money they can use to get access to the Rooftop Pool full of bikini clad models with a live mariachi band playing.

 

(That's an NTelos ad for those who haven't seen it lol)

I'm guessing that means they've finally gotten rid of the redhead teen with braces. Or else this ad campaign is really narrowly aimed at the creepster demographic.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

It looks nearly nationwide. A few markets missing here and there. Like, Memphis and Nashville. It's almost like they're a few market launches behind or something.

Memphis is one of CSpire's few non-Mississippi native markets, so I wouldn't be surprised if they have disabled LTE roaming there.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

think I'll be using my upgrade for this

I'd assume the Nexus 5 will be sold direct from the Google Play Store at close-to-cost, like the other Nexus devices. The only way using a Sprint upgrade would make any sort of sense is if Sprint doesn't tack on $200+ to the SRP like T-Mobile did for the Nexus 4.

Tried the Radio Info menu item in SignalCheck? That might be a back way into that screen.

Ultimately even if CSIMs are theoretically usable on the non-c/s iPhone 5 (or any other device that Sprint doesn't want CSIMs to be used on) they could be blocked by Sprint using the device IMEI, or the Sprint provisioning setup for CDMA on those devices may just ignore the SIM entirely.

Any news on the patch for the CM nightlies that will allow PCI and GCI display?  I've tried decks 9/11 and 9/20 builds of CM10.2 and still no joy for PCI or GCI on either.  I'm back with the 8/30 which shows GCI but no PCI.

Unfortunately I think they've given up on using the blobs from the GPE HTC One since they break GPS support on the Evo, at least for the time being. There may be a way to get both GPS and the new blobs to work but it will probably require mixing and matching stuff from the old blobs and the new ones (which is getting into the realm of black magic).

Still no ID showing in Sensorly, but I drove over to Carl Vinson, and signals lead me to believe it may well be that site that's on.

It's showing up on my phone as site 03A468xx. Wasn't on yesterday. Seems reasonably solid until you get into areas that will be covered by other towers.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

EVDO roaming shouldn't be a problem at all, although whether or not Sprint permits it in the PRL is a separate issue.

LTE roaming I think has to be programmed into the SIM. Theoretically Sprint has reciprocal LTE roaming with CSpire and a few others, but I doubt they'll enable it simply because you'd go through your roaming limit in a few seconds.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

Eh, I still largely trust Ars. In this case I think the author simply could not move past the LG skin, which from my perspective is totally understandable. It's his exact complaints which will keep me from getting this phone.

I do agree that the Nexus 5 will be a better phone for the most part, assuming it has largely the same internals, and I'm not crazy either about LG's custom font and skin (but you could levy the same complaints about TouchWiz or Sense or MotoBlur; at least one version of stock on the Evo LTE breaks Roboto Italics, for example).

Hopefully the N5 will bring the good without the bad.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Ars, for better or worse, is largely an Apple fanboi site when it comes to handset and tablet reviews these days. Notice the lack of emphasis on battery life and SOC performance, where the G2 would thoroughly smoke the current iPhone. Gone are the days of the "system guide" for DIY, outside the forums (which are still worthwhile for the most part). So I'd take anything on the front of Ars pertaining to Android (or WP or BB) with a grain of salt.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Looked at that chart again... Sprint's choice to not include their $36 activation fee in the graphic is deceptive if this is supposed to be an honest comparison.

The activation fee is included on the comparison chart under the "walkout price" row, at least in the version AndroidCentral has.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Today, I'm roaming, even outdoors, between Osigian and Smithville Church Rd, JUST west of Houston Lake Rd.

That would probably be Vinson down again (could also be FMMS but I doubt it). You might want to see if there's any trucks there if you get a chance - I didn't see any Tuesday when I was there though.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

Based on Sprint's new coverage map update, looks like west of 247 isn't in the more immediate plans (even bearing in mind the overly optimistic coverage prediction).

The map magically excludes all LTE in Houston and Peach counties; if you look closely you'll see the coverage boundary on the Sprint maps is the Ocmulgee and Echeconnee Creek. That's why a huge chunk of Twiggs County is shown as covered by the sites along 247, but not anything on 247 itself.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Apparently not. All I can tell you is that I am getting GCI and my GPS is working off of decks 8/30 10.2 nightly.

You can get GCI out of the old HTC blobs used in 8/30. PCI requires the 4.3 blobs from the GSM/LTE HTC One Google Play Edition in 9/1 and later, but that breaks hardware GPS on the Evo. Maybe the blobs from the upcoming CDMA/LTE Sprint HTC One 4.3 release will fix it, maybe we'll need a Evo 4.2/4.3 ROM

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

Interestingly, the Sprint website now seems to be offering "upgrade now" pricing. Looks like it's putting me in the $150 tier (I'm 122 days from being eligible on the 20-month cycle).

Not sure if this means anything, but the tower on Carl Vinson in Warner Robins was down this afternoon, to the extent I was roaming on Verizon indoors at Watson & Vinson.  I didn't see a truck there but maybe they were out drive-testing something.

Frankly that's the site that's #1 on my list for an upgrade in terms of its impact on my daily/weekly routines (#2 would be the Macon site off Zebulon Road) so hopefully it goes LTE-live soon. Although even once it's upgraded an infill site really would help somewhere between Kroger and Publix on the Watson corridor.

Does GPS work for you on deck's build? If so, that and the patch above should get you the best of everything.

The latest IRC subject build (I think) doesn't use the new HTC One blobs, so even though GPS works on it and CM nightlies of the same vintage, the current cellinfo patch doesn't work.  The older v3 patch would work (you'd lose the PCI, but you would have GCI and TAC), but you'd need to build from source.

If there's interest I can put my ROMs up on Dropbox or a torrent.

I stopped using the app for a few weeks and in the intervening weeks went from decks CM10.1 nightly which showed serving cell to decks CM10.2 nightly and now I'm not seeing serving cell or GCI. I'm running 4.14b. Anything you're aware of that might have removed this? Thanks for the great app and all of your hard work.

Serving cell/PCI/GCI isn't yet in CM 10.2 builds yet. The current patch is http://review.cyanogenmod.org/#/c/48930/ and it works with the public tree (I've been building private ROMs), but GPS is still b0rked on the nightlies.

New update: I added the ability to show the physical cell ID (PCI) for any additional LTE sites that are detected, along with the RSRP for the sites. Basically this lets you "peek" in the radio and see if there are any other sites your phone may hand off to. If the phone isn't currently on LTE, it may also show why (i.e. weak signals on all the sites it can find).

So far the only devices I know it works on are the Evo 4G LTE and HTC One using a patched Cyanogenmod 10.2 (so, basically, my device). The patches should be going into CM 10.2 proper soon.

This may also work on other devices that support LTE (such as the Google Play Edition S4 and One for GSM), although probably not any other CDMA devices.

If you do try it with a recent CM 10.2 nightly, beware there is a small buglet in the LTE signal strength reporting of the RIL (for reasons that I don't understand, it's reporting dBm*10 rather than dBm in the place that it stuffs the LTE cell information, even though Android specifies dBm); a patch is in the review process to fix this too, but it may need some tweaking to satisfy the reviewers before it can go in.

Linky: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qpa3tbs31zr5dg/SignalDetector.apk

You have LPP_Control_Plane LPP_PROFILE = 1 In the gps.conf. On the m7spr we can't get a gps lock without it on 4g. It's a shot. Sent from my One using Tapatalk 4

Alas, that doesn't seem to solve the problem on my device. I must have a blob missing or something...

Another interesting discovery with the 4.3 HTC RIL: if you dump out all the CellInfoLte records, you'll see the PCI, RSSP, and RSSQ for other sites the phone can also see. The site the phone is connected to will be the one with isRegistered()=true and usually will have the GCI and TAC reported as well. I may see about adding that info to my app mostly for my own amusement, but others might find it interesting too. For example:

D/CdmaSST (  930): [CdmaLteSST] SST.getAllCellInfo(): X size=4 list=[CellInfoLte:{mRegistered=YES mTimeStampType=oem_ril mTimeStamp=6598001508117ns CellIdentityLte:{ mMcc=310 mMnc=120 mCi=61107458 mPci=318 mTac=7466} CellSignalStrengthLte: ss=16 rsrp=-1023 rsrq=-66 rssnr=2147483647 cqi=2147483647 ta=2147483647}, CellInfoLte:{mRegistered=NO mTimeStampType=oem_ril mTimeStamp=6598001508117ns CellIdentityLte:{ mMcc=2147483647 mMnc=2147483647 mCi=2147483647 mPci=487 mTac=2147483647} CellSignalStrengthLte: ss=13 rsrp=-1108 rsrq=-148 rssnr=2147483647 cqi=2147483647 ta=0}, CellInfoLte:{mRegistered=NO mTimeStampType=oem_ril mTimeStamp=6598001508117ns CellIdentityLte:{ mMcc=2147483647 mMnc=2147483647 mCi=2147483647 mPci=460 mTac=2147483647} CellSignalStrengthLte: ss=7 rsrp=-1259 rsrq=-160 rssnr=2147483647 cqi=2147483647 ta=0}, CellInfoLte:{mRegistered=NO mTimeStampType=oem_ril mTimeStamp=6598001508117ns CellIdentityLte:{ mMcc=2147483647 mMnc=2147483647 mCi=2147483647 mPci=39 mTac=2147483647} CellSignalStrengthLte: ss=13 rsrp=-1796 rsrq=-800 rssnr=2147483647 cqi=2147483647 ta=0}]

Here we can see my connected GCI (3A46D02) and its PCI (318) first, followed by 3 other sites my phone is thinking of handing off to: PCIs 487, 460, and 39. 487 is presumably another sector of 3A46D (I think it's 3A46D03) by the Ericsson offset-of-169 rule, while 460 and 39 are PCIs from distinct sites that are clearly further away (-125.9 dBm and -179.6 dBm, respectively) that I haven't definitely identified yet. Someone really clever could probably do LTE geolocation based on having info on the signal strength of 3-4 sites.

You have LPP_Control_Plane LPP_PROFILE = 1 In the gps.conf. On the m7spr we can't get a gps lock without it on 4g. It's a shot. Sent from my One using Tapatalk 4

I'll try that in my next build. Thanks!