ericdabbs

No idea. We just have to wait and see. If Samsung comes out with a 4.4 update for the gs4 first, we should be able to tell since they also use a customized Samsung messaging app. I am just basing my info on what the stock android 4.4 ROM brings to the table. If 4.4 removes the stock messaging app, LG won't be the only ones affected. Samsung and HTC will have the same problem. Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

From my testing of B41, the EARFCN is 40978 which translates to 2628.8 MHz. Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

Definitely. But to be fair, all the other triband LTE phones like the LG G2, GS4 mini, Galaxy Mega, etc also have have B25 LTE testing for all the different LTE bandwidth sizes like I mentioned above. I see Sprint doing B25 LTE FCC testing on all bandwidths for their LTE phones going forward even though the reality is that they won't use 20x20 MHz LTE on B25 in the lifetime of this phone.

I think 10x10 can be a reality on B25 in some markets on Sprint but definitely not 15 or 20 MHz. But yes you are right, I don't think for the most part we will see 10x10 deployed much on B25. Its ok though because as long as Sprint deploys another 5x5 LTE carrier on B25 to relieve capacity that is all that should matter.

If you flash stock Android 4.4 ROM, the Messaging app apk is not there. So to answer your question, no you don't have the option to use one or the other. Since Hangouts now supports SMS, Google wants everyone to be using Hangouts app for Google Talk and SMS/MMS Messaging. You will have to download a Messaging app from the Play Store like Handcent and when you first open up Handcent, it will open a pop up window asking you which app do you want to set by default for messaging and then you would select Handcent. Even on the LG G2, it didn't come stock with the Google Talk app even though it is only Android 4.2.2 which still supports Google Talk.

I looked at the FCC docs and yes the N5 supports 10x10 LTE carriers on B25. In fact the N5 supports 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz LTE carriers on B25.

ROFL...you are such a noob. Hangouts is Google Talk and Hangouts replaced the Google Talk app entirely in Android 4.3. In Android 4.4, Hangouts also replaced the Messaging app.

You can also update that the HTC one max was released on 11/15. Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

I hate the new Spark LTE icon. I really hope when the Sprint Spark OTA update comes for the LG G2 that it won't be too difficult to replace the Spark icon with the current 4G LTE icon in the LGSystemUI.apk.

Did anyone pick up the HTC One Max and what are their impressions of the phone?

The LG G Flex has self healing and is pretty durable withstanding a 32 kg weight as well as a human elbow and sitting on it. Interesting video to watch. Personally I think the LG G Flex is more interesting than the Samsung Galaxy Round since it seems to bring more to the table. http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/11/13/lg-g-flex-video-highlights-self-healing-scratch-resistant-design/ Another interesting thing is that the LG G Flex looks to have the same multiwindow feature as Samsung which LG calls Dual Window. I hope LG doesn't get sued for it and can use it because that is the one feature that I liked about Samsung phones and hoping it gets brought to the LG without issues. I really liked the Samsung multiwindow feature and I hope to see this feature brought to the LG G Flex and hopefully the LG G2 in the Android 4.4 KitKat update. Watch from the 0:50 - 1:20 mark. What is also great is that the LG G Flex will be the first LG smartphone that will contain a microUSB 3.0 port.

You do know that the reason why Sprint is not deploying 800 MHz CDMA or LTE is because Seattle is in the Canadian IBEZ area. It is NOT because Sprint hates Seattle. If anything blame Canada and the US for having to use the same 800 MHz spectrum for public safety and iDEN. It is going to take some time for the US and Canada to work out the interference issues before Sprint can go back and deploy 800 MHz CDMA and LTE. Also if you have a triband LTE device it is having trouble connecting to LTE due to the eCSFB issue where Samsung has to go and upgrade to NV 3G on all the purple 4G only towers. Once that is complete the triband LTE devices can get LTE in the purple areas which is most of metro Seattle.

Anyone interested in learning more about 1x and CSFB should read the pdf brochure by Qualcomm below that explains the benefits of single radio 4G with CSFB to 1x such as battery life and design device savings. After reading this I realized that eventually Sprint had to move to single radio 4G with CSFB to 1x/3G if it wants to move to VoLTE. I am glad Sprint is making the necessary steps now to be ahead of the game than Verizon. Verizon will eventually have to move to LTE devices with single radio 4G with CSFB to 1x if it wants to use VoLTE as shown in page 3, Figure 2. It clearly shows the road map for dual radio LTE phones (ex: HTC One, GS4, Note 3, etc) and single radio LTE phones (ex: LG G2, Nexus 5, HTC One Max, etc) that single radio LTE phones are on the only path to go for VoLTE. I also learned about CSFB and eCSFB. The 3GPP first released CSFB in LTE Release 8 which employed the "redirection" method. However due to concerns by mobile operators about call delay in the "redirection" method, the 3GPP released eCSFB in LTE Release 9 and beyond which employs the "handover" method which is going to be the preferred way to handle the 1x to LTE transitions for all mobile operators. It states that according to the latest standard, the "handover" method can used for FDD-LTE but the "redirection" method can only be used for TDD-LTE. It is a very interesting read and I encourage everyone to read this to better educate themselves on the situation. Maybe this will help people understand why Sprint had to move away from adding SVLTE onto their triband LTE devices and not place blame on Sprint for this reason. http://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/qualcomm-technologies-circuit-switched-fallback-to-1x-voice-network-architecture-options-and-performance.pdf

Nope. I like the feel of the Nexus 5. I personally am not a fan of glass backs given that one of the top reasons is that it can break easily if dropped but I like that smooth matte finish on phones.

The HTC One Max is a big phone but the feel of it wasn't as bad as I thought in terms of the grip. IMO its still too big for me but it is not as ridiculous as the Galaxy Mega. No doubt it is bigger than the Note 3. The display looks nice and in terms of software, it doesn't really feel that much difference at all from Sense 5 on the HTC One. I was sad about the ##3282# dialer code under LTE since it didn't have an option to enable B25, B26 and B41 LTE bands unlike the Samsung and LG phones. Instead the silver lining is that they do have an option called "LTE Scan Frequency" with a value of "300" under the "LTE Record" menu. I take this 300 to be in seconds which means the LTE scan frequency by default is every 5 minutes. With your MSL, you should be able to change that value to 120 seconds or 2 minutes so that LTE will be picked up more often. I purposely hogged the demo unit so that I could download the Sprint Spark update but no one was interested in it and after the Spark update, I didn't see anything different except that the 3G/4G icon and the introduction Sprint splash screen that says Sprint Spark. No Sprint Spark bloatware was loaded. I did the same Sprint Spark update on the Galaxy Mega and I can confirm that after the Spark update, the LTE bands for B25, B26, B41 in the ##DATA# menu were all set to enabled.

In some ways I wish I still have my Wimax phone since I don't get LTE at home or at my office.

Depends on which triband phone you have. The HTC One Max, GS4 mini and Galaxy Mega got the Sprint Spark OTA update that already has the B26 and B41 LTE bands enabled by default. The issue with B26 and B41 LTE bands not enabled by default only affects the G2 and Nexus 5 currently since the Sprint Spark OTA is not coming until early 2014.

Probably a GS4 triband phone refresh. I am not sure if Sprint is in the process of clearing out their single band LTE GS4 inventory to make wave for the GS4 triband phone.

I am sorry but I think your experience with the G2 has been jaded since you got a lemon phone. I am not surprised at all that you have had signal issues and so forth. I think the lesson learned is never buy a phone without its back despite how attractive the price is. There is always that saying that "if its too good to be true, it usually is". Now I know you said it came with a case but shame on your for not inspecting the phone out of the case and doing due diligence before giving money to this scammer. Either way good luck with the your Note 2. I hope you don't plan to sell the G2 phone because it sounds like lemon written all over it.

I played with the HTC One Max at a different Sprint store and when I type in ##DATA#, it doesn't have the LTE menu that allows you to enable the B25, B26 and B41 LTE bands. I wonder if there is a dialer code on the HTC One Max that allows you to do to change the B41 LTE settings.

Anyone that preordered the LG G2 via Sprint, have you guys gotten your Quickwindow cases yet? I called Sprint earlier this week and they said they were starting to ship them out on Nov 11th. I figured it should be coming to our doorsteps any day between now and end of next week.

For number 2, you don't need your MSL to view the default LTE priorities. You only need your MSL to edit the values if you want to change the LTE priorities. All you have to do is type ##DATA#, click on LTE ->View->Band Priority, all 3 LTE bands should be listed with a number 1, 2, or 3.

Does the Spark update include anything besides flipping the switches in the ##DATA# menu? What are the default LTE band priorities set to ##DATA#? Also is there any added bloatware app on your phone that says Sprint Spark? Is the B41 LTE stable now? Sorry for the 21 questions. Thanks in advance.

Does the white plastic seem susceptible to getting dirty and/or discoloration? It has only been a week and so far I haven't seen signs of any discoloration or dirt. I think it is too early for me to tell. Does the plastic grip in your hand nicely? The plastic feels very nice to me. The top black layer feels very smooth and nice and covers the phone pretty well. Some people may say the plastic part in the back makes it feel slippery which is partly true but I feel that the overall case feels sturdy to me without the huge added thickness unlike the Otterbox Defender.

Most likely just B41 LTE. Keep in mind that 40% of these ~15,000 sites are colocated towers with Sprint so if they are colocated with Sprint then Sprint will want to push all the Clearwire gear into the Network Vision cabinets are just use Sprint backhaul to power the 800/1900/2500 MHz LTE. That way they can eliminate the Clearwire cabinets. In Clearwire non-colocated Sprint sites, Clearwire will most likely just deploy B41 LTE on it at this point. I am sure if it ever came down to the point where Sprint needed to use Clearwire towers to expand even more LTE 800/1900 for voice and data, they could probably submit requests for tower work to be done on Clearwire sites since they have the tower leases but my guess is that is not in the cards right now.