owensri2

Did some playing around with the SystemUI.apk file and changed the color scheme to the usual blue. I like it better I think. What do you all think about it?

Hi all,

 

I've been using a 3G BlackBerry for the past few months, and it's pretty boring. Sure BlackBerries are great phones (I love the keyboard and email/messaging capabilities the most), but the main reason I stick with it is the reception/antenna on the Galaxy Nexus made the phone nearly unusable, coupled with poor battery life. With the BlackBerry, although I get excellent reception, I do not feel as though I am getting my money's worth out of Sprint's plans.

 

My apartment is in a marginal Sprint coverage zone, so I need a phone with a strong antenna to be usable. BlackBerries are famous for this; the Nexus failed.

 

Airave is a non-starter because it has to be by a window (ugly) and my neighbor has an Airave already; I believe this is the reason I had problems before with my Airave. My phone would try to handshake between two Airaves and drop the call. I am unsure if there is a way to tell your phone to only connect to one Airave or not; I returned the device.

 

I'm seriously considering buying a Note II soon; so my question is: to those that have used this phone for a while, what is the reception like in comparison to other phones you've used? My apartment gets 1-2 bars of 3G (sometimes dropping down to 1X) with my BlackBerry; with the Galaxy Nexus unless I was directly in front of a window the call would drop and calls would go directly to Voicemail.

 

Thanks for any insight!

The Note II has a pretty good radio in it. I do, however recommend Motorola if you want really good reception. They seem to have the best radios. I had the Photon Q for 4 months before I got my Note II. I tested the signal quality of each phone on my way home from work multiple times. I'd talk for about an hour on each device from my work to home, and I can say that the Photon Q dropped far fewer calls than the Note II has. Not sure if it is because of work going on in the Myrtle Beach market, or if it's the phone radio, but the Motorola had the better signal. Otherwise, the Note II is a solid device. I would suggest trying it out. Of course, you have the 2 week window to return the device and get a different one if you find the Note II isn't cutting it.

I been cycling airplane mode for a while in Detroit Hamtramck dearborn Wyandotte and a lot of cities around Detroit metro and nothing! I hope they launch something soon, I'm getting tired of checking everyday and end up disappointed lol

My brother lives in Wyandotte, and he recently went from there to the Auto Show in Detroit. He picked up LTE for a short time somewere between those two places. Doesn't know where, but it shows 214 kb of 4G data on our Sprint plan. So somewhere in the Detroit Metro area, there is live LTE. He's got an iPhone, so no Sensorly mapping.

Up around Broad River. Spend a fair amount of time in downtown too and never got service that was anything close to comparable to the service in Florida :/

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Hmm, I've never really had coverage issues here in Columbia. Only awful speeds, pretty much unusable. But since the band-aid fixes, it's at least usable for now. It's gotten better in the last 3 months or so.

That's really a shame because Columbia needed the coverage increase badly. I was always roaming there.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Where at in Columbia do you stay?

Doing the name changes shouldn't affect the size of the file at all. You may have accidentally modified something. Now if you place new images in there then the file size should increase. If it decreases, that means you deleted something. Hopefully, you saved he original so you can replace it.

So did I, but apparently as long as they are capable of broadcasting the right frequencies, no new panels are needed. They just won't see the signal improvements that other sites with new equipment will, or 800 support until the end of NV.

Ah, gotcha. I'm not too worried about 800 support b/c my device doesn't support it anyway. Will be moving to Charlotte by summer, so it's ok with me whatever they do here in Columbia, haha.

Right now, it means that these sites won't be getting 800 CDMA coverage at this time. As long as the legacy panels support it, and adequate backhaul is installed, they will be upgraded to LTE when possible. At the end of Network Vision, they should receive full NV upgrades, which means new panels and 800 CDMA support.

So they can broadcast LTE with the legacy panels? I thought they'd need new panels to do so.

It looks like there are some GMO sites In Progress. That's about it so far.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

What are GMO sites?

Any updates from this market? I'll be visiting in a few weeks and would love to see some improvements lol. Coming from Florida I've been spoiled with an otherwise great network and find the network in SC to be nothing short of abysmal.

 

You guys could use the 800mhz coverage more than anyone else.

 

Anyone know how much spectrum has on the market on the off chance?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

I can tell you that 3G speeds have definitely increased across the SC area. I rarely ever get below .20 Mbps anymore on download speeds. More like .6-1.5 Mpbs in most locations now. The band aid fixes have definitely helped, and should let us limp along until NV gets started here, which should be ongoing now.

What is this SOAK team you speak of? is it connected to the Sprint official forums or?

It's Motorola Mobility's testing team. I got an email asking if I wanted to participate in the test, and I accepted. Has nothing to do with Sprint.

the most recent software update going around now (which i installed this morning) may have fixed this conneciton dropping issue.

I've had the software update for about a month now. Seems to have fixed all isses, including the 3G drops and the 3G icon is fixed to where it doesn't dissapear when you initiate a call.

Did mine the other day. I'm gonna use the Verizon one for now, but may change to the LTE only one later. Basically, you pull the SystemUI.apk file off of your phone. You can find it in system/app/SystemUI.apk. You'll want to email it to yourself and get it on your computer. I used 7z to unzip the file. Once in the SystemUI.apk file, you'll click res>drawable-xhdpi and find the stat_sys_data_connected_4g.png file. Basically, you'll edit the name of the icon you want to change the standard 4G icon to. In my case, I renamed the stat_sys_data_connected_4g_lte.png to stat_sys_data_connected_4g.png. Changed the basic 4g.png to 4g_lte.png. I used Root Explorer to pull the file off and transfer it back onto my device. Once you're finished, you'll just simply copy the SystemUI.apk file back to the place you pulled it from, which would be system/app. Once you overwrite the SystemUI.apk file already on your device, it'll force close continuously until you restart your phone. After restart, you're good to go!

Hope that wasn't too confusing. Now if I could have someone help me fix the 3G/1x issue, I'll be all set!

You'd have to decompile it via apk tool or apk manager, go to res>values>boolean.XML and edit the false value to true. Then recompile.

Is this the SystemUI.apk file we are talking about? I don't see that in the res folder.

I think I successfully modified the 4G icon in the SystemUI.apk file, and then reapplied it to my phone. No telling until I go into a 4G area. I just don't know how to edit the 1x/3G boolean to show 1x when needed. If I could send the necessary file to you, would you edit it and send it back to me Ascertion? Just let me know what to do. Thanks in advance!

Like this?

 

Easy mod in Systemui as the icon was already there.

 

 

 

Sent from my little Note2

How is this done? I like the idea!

Just got back from Columbiana Centre Mall in Columbia, SC and saw an Acatel Lucent van in the parking lot. Don't know if it has anything do do with Sprint NV, but it's the first one i've seen in the area. Had license plates from Florida.

I always use servers hosted by cable companies. I usually have the best results with them. In fact, Nashville, TN hosted by Comcast is the one I use all the time, regardless of where I am.

I am flying through Charlotte's airport next week, does anyone know if there is any coverage near at the airport yet?

None as of Friday, the 28th. Was flying back from Detroit that day.

Did some more LTE mapping on Sensorly on Rea Rd. and Colony Rd. between Sharon Rd. and Pineville-Matthews Rd. Coverage is definitely getting better in Charlotte!

Now I dont know if its just me but the past two days I've had my service drop in areas I normally have service or I keep voice and lose just 3g. It could be the servers are just overloaded because of the holiday or there is something going on. I have noticed this with both my gs3 and my work phone which is a motorola admiral. Lets its good news instead of bad.

I don't know about now, but when I was shopping at Southland Mall in Taylor a few days before Christmas, Sprint service was totally useless. Couldn't make calls, and there wasn't any data. It even roamed where I had 4 bars of service because the tower that serves the area was severly overloaded. Thankfully, it roamed over to Verizon and I was able to use 3G, but slowly due to all the crazy shoppers.

Hopefully by next Christmas, LTE/NV will blanket the area so this won't happen again.

Funny this shows up today on here! I just flew from Detroit, MI to Charlotte, NC and used Gogo. Did a Speedtest and the ping was 5 ms! Download speed was typical of 3G, 0.85 Mbps, and upload was 0.43 Mbps. Kinda slow, but given that they are upgrading to EvDo Rev.B, should be better. I don't see why they just don't go to LTE...

Over Christmas, I was visiting family in Wyandotte, MI (East Michigan Market), and took some pictures of the tower serving the area where they live. Doesn't look like much has been done here yet. Hopefully in the next 4 months or so.

Anyone know why on the Wi-Fi connection, you don't get the data send and receive arrows below the Wi-Fi icon? That's the only gripe i have about the Note II.

I recommend if you want to test Sprint 4G LTE out, come to Kansas City. It's totally awesome! Coverage is excellent, and still, I have yet to drop back to 3G at all, even while inside buildings and out in rurual areas as well. You don't get the random 4G drops like you do with Verizon. So all of you out there in active deployment areas, don't get disappointed with coverage early on. Wait until your market is just about finished. It'll get better, I promise!

Here's a Speedtest from the other night just outside my hotel in Independence, MO: