Quick Radio and Baseband Question for N7 LTE

[diesteldorf]

When I bought this originally, it was running stock 4.4 KRT16S. I knew I would most likely run a custom rom, but, before I did any flashing, I made a nandroid backup of my stock rom, so I could easily switch back to stock.

I flashed SlimKat 4.4 and have been happy, but I decided to update to 4.4.2. I made a current Nandroid backup of SlimKat 4.4 and flashed the updated 4.4.2 ROM. Everything works great. However, in the process, I accidentally deleted my original stock ROM

The main reason I wanted to keep it was so I could go back to stock if needed and easily get any Factory OTA that may come out, particularly if new Baseband or Radio Images were ever released.

It is my understanding that flashing custom roms do not typically alter the radio or baseband images.

Now, I know I can easily update the newest stock factory image from Google and flash through ADB. I am thinking about doing this, so I can have another stock Nandroid backup, like the one I deleted. However, my question is:

Are there any differences between the Radio and Baseband images for 4.4 KRT16S and 4.4.2 KOT49H?

If they are identical, I can save some time, since I really have no need or desire to run stock at this time. I'd only flash stock to get the updated radio and baseband images.

 

[Paul627g]

Yes your correct that a Nandroid doesn't back up the Radio/modem and they don't come packed normally with any ROM. They are usually flashed separately if available by devs in ZIP format so they can be flashed in CWM/TWRP recovery or you have the radio.img file pulled from the Google Factory Images.

From my experience I have never really noticed much difference with any updated radio firmware updates. Sure you always see in the forums " oh man my radio is better or my radio is now horrible " after a new one is released... I think its just the old placebo effect to be honest. Not saying that they don't make tweaks and improvements to the new radio firmwares but I think its on such a minor scale that the average user won't really tell the difference.

So to answer your question.. Just find the newest radio for the Nexus 7 (2013) model and flash it either via FASTBOOT or thru CWM'/TWRP and be done with it...

Paul
Moderator Team Leader @ Android Central.