does samsung phones get a good Signal like motorola?

[russ2387]

was wondering about samsungs phones abilities to get data signal. i have a htc THUNDERBOLT, my work mate has a Motorola Droid x. at our current hob site he ALWAYS gets a 3g signal. whereas i get one only about 40% of the time. its Very aggravating. im really hoping that the nexus will be much improved. anyone know? thanks in advance.

 

[jdbower]

Motorola invented portable radios and (prior to being split up) designed satellites. Samsung builds pretty screens. Good reception, yes. As good as Motorola's antenna designs? As the Gmail user said to the Exchange user, Outlook Not So Good.

 

[NeoLogic]

Based off real world results, I might be a good candidate to answer your question.

In the time where I've worked I've owned a few vzw android devices. Its also interesting that outside the building of where I work we get great coverage. Step inside of our concrete building with limited windows and things get interesting.

How I personally compared the reception of phones is simply by streaming Pandora and comparing how many times it drops streaming in an hour.

Here's the list of phones I've owned in order of worst to best in signal reception and a number from 1 to 10:
Charge on 4g - 2
OG Droid - 3
Droid x - 5
Continuum - 6
Charge on 3g - 8
Bionic - 10

I also owned a Xperia for what its worth but its not a moto or Sammy device so I left it out. If curious its a 3
So anyway, I sold the bionic and reactivated my OG Droid last week for a week, and the girl friends old continuum this week. So those numbers are fresh, and would reflect additional cell towers in the area. Given performance no changes from when I first started working there till now have happened.

On an interesting note, with 4g, the charge sucked. It couldn't maintain connection for more than two MIN at a time. With the Bionic however I could stream Netflix or youtube all day inside the building. NO phone could do that, mine or any one's on any carrier. Everyone was jealous. Most phones had trouble just streaming any music service... Rdio, Pandora, Slacker, or iheartradio.

Hope this helps.

 

[philly]

I own a Galaxy S 1.. (fascinate). And I'd say they get plenty good 3g signal.
I live in an area with a pretty strong 3g presence though.. not sure how they fare in low signal areas.

 

[qnet]

When I had the Bionic it was very strong at work. They have 3G VZW repeaters so, that helped. The bionic's signal was the best as far as 3G. When I had a Nexus S, it was only on edge and the signal was pretty good. T-mobile on edge is almost just as fast as Verizon's 3G.

 

[revickulous2001]

Samsung typically uses decent radios in their phones. They aren't typically top-quality radios such as Motorola uses in some of their devices. But they get the job done. If you live in an area with limited Verizon tower presence, you probably should look for another option besides a Samsung phone, however.

 

[Blitzdroid]

Nice info here. I also have to say that sony ericsson xperia play and htc thunder bolt signal sucks in my building as well.

My colleague's droid bionic gets great 4g signal inside the building.

 

[Jdm4292]

Samsung typically uses decent radios in their phones. They aren't typically top-quality radios such as Motorola uses in some of their devices. But they get the job done. If you live in an area with limited Verizon tower presence, you probably should look for another option besides a Samsung phone, however.

What about say the thunderbolt vs Samsung radios? If its greater or equal to HTC great if lesser Idk...

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[BigDFSU]

How are the radios in BlackBerry phones in comparison? Haven't had any issues with signal strength even when out in the middle of nowhere. Hope to get mostly the same from Samsung.

 

[Bobaroo]

How are the radios in BlackBerry phones in comparison? Haven't had any issues with signal strength even when out in the middle of nowhere. Hope to get mostly the same from Samsung.

I am curious about this as well. I've usually have had great service and reception with my blackberry until recently. I get horrible service in my apartment (can't sms or make a call) while my roommates iphone is fine.

 

[Adrynalyne]

All LTE phone radios are flaky.

The Nexus can only go up from there so I am not worried about it.

 

[radgatt]

All LTE phone radios are flaky.

The Nexus can only go up from there so I am not worried about it.

I wouldn't say that much...not flaky. This bionic im typing on has all its bars.

 

[Adrynalyne]

I will say that, and continue to say that. I tested it for a day. It was as bad as my Bolt.


I also have others who own the Bionic who will vouch that it can be flaky.


Also, straight from the Verizon known bug list:


Issue: 4G/3G Service – Data Connectivity
Marginal 4G to 3G transition: Loss of data connectivity – The device may display 3G service indication but no data connections are possible.
Action: The user will need to power cycle the device or enable/disable Airplane Mode.
Resolution: A fix for this issue is under review and will be included in the first post launch maintenance release software for this device. The tentative release date is early November 2011.

 

[milan03]

I wouldn't say that much...not flaky. This bionic im typing on has all its bars.

Ok. "Good Signal" can mean quality signal levels and SINR but to most is just "the amount of bars"...
The bars mean nothing and you should consider reading the actual RSSI value in dBm.
Also the OEMs representation of signal level using "bars" can be misleading and deceiving as some manufacturers use rather "liberal" way of displaying the actual signal.
Example you could have 5 bars, full signal, but when you actually read the value in your phone settings, your signal level is -90dBm. Not good.

Also you may have full bars but your data connection crawls and you're dropping calls like flies. (courtesy of AT&T).

So to make a healthy judgement, you should test two different phones under the same exact conditions in order to be sure and make statements.