Does the GNII have the same radios as the GSIII?

[jbarrymck]

I originally had a T-Bolt, but after 9 refurbs VZW gave me a refurb an original Galaxy Nexus. The reception has been deplorable. I live on the outskirts of town and half of the calls wee going directly to voicemail. I never had a problem with my T-Bolt. I have been going back and forth between the DNA and the GNII. Want the GNII, but it is at least $100 more,(DNA is $149 at Sam's and GNII is $279). but I am concerned about the Samsung reception. If the HTC had a removable battery, I would choose the DNA. I figured I would just wait to see what deals come out
I went in to Sam's Club yesterday to see if they had any GNII's so I could put it in my pocket and make sure it fit, the sales guy didn't have any GNII's, and wasn't sure when they would be getting them. He did say that they had 2 GS3's left which were on sale for 96 cents still. I have four lines, 3 are up-gradable, one is my unlimited, which I will not upgrade, until I have to. But, I thought what the heck, you can't beat 96 cents, and I can use it for a couple of months, wait for the prices to come down, use another upgrade, and give the GS3 to one of the kids.
Now the problem; Overall, I like the GS3 (I don't get though why there needs to be a physical home button, I liked the capacitive home button on the Nexus soooo much better), had at least one call go straight to voice mail, and took my T-Bolt out with me and tested signal strength with GS3, and T-Bolt was 10-20dbm better.
So the question is; are the radio's the same in the GNII as in the GS3, because if they are, that will probably be a deal breaker for me?????
Thanks for the help.

 

[Jdroids]

The radio in GN2 is similar but not exactly the same as in GS3. I read it's using new qualcomm MDM9615 multi-mode modem that works for every cell radio (CDMA, GSM, LTE, etc) on single chip. DNA appears to be using this radio chip too. On the other hand, phone like GS3, One X with dual core S4 processor has all radio modems integrated in the single S4 chip that includes processor.

Basically this new generation of radio chips are made in 28nm semi-conductor process, which means better power efficiency with LTE and smooth hand over between 3G, LTE. Older LTE phones (Tbolt, Charge, Bionic, Razr, Gnex, Rezound) had separate 3G, LTE modem chips from 45nm process. So they had poor battery life, sluggish radio switching. So GS3, GN2 have much better, more efficient radio than Tbolt.

And that 10~20dbm difference you see between Tbolt and GS3 is probably due to difference in OS because I believe Tbolt is still on GB. ICS/JB is known to read signal strength differently (RSRP vs RSSI). That's long story, but bottom line is ICS/JB is reading the same signal level 15~20dbm lower than GB would read.

 

[jbarrymck]

So, bottom line is: DNA and GN2 should have same reception which should be better than GS3?

 

[Jdroids]

So, bottom line is: DNA and GN2 should have same reception which should be better than GS3?

I guess so. At least it won't be worse than GS3. We will know better once it's out on vzw soon.

 

[burwil]

I was able to compare my Verizon Rezound against the one AT&T Note 2 in our office....in a bad reception area. The Rezound crushed it by about 15 to 20 dBms side by side....his phone was near or above -100 dBms. Still the Note 2 able to pull up web pages pretty quickly though my Rezound was snappier still. I know this is a little bit of apples and oranges....two different carriers and 4G systems. He said battery life and reception are good and voice quality particularly clear. I had a bad experience with the Gnex which I ditched after only a few days since it ate my battery for lunch and couldn't pick up jack squat. Since I'm paying retail my tolerance of poor radio performance will be quite low. BTW, there is more to reception than the radio. The Rezound has an elaborate antenna strewn within it's back case. You can easily see it. Hopefully, with the Note's size, they'll take advantage of the space to improve the antenna quality. And as has been pointed out....relatively no one is complaining about the radio which is a good sign. The Gnex on the other hand had pages and pages of complaints.