The Verizon Galaxy Nexus is one of the most popular handsets on this website, and for good reason, it is the first Nexus device on Verizon and one of the first devices in the world to get the heavily anticipated Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and one of the few that will run it in “stock” form, free of carrier and OEM customization. The device itself is powerful beast, with a glorious screen. For these and other reasons this device should, at least on paper, be one of if not THE best Android phone on the market.
But the Verizon Galaxy Nexus has a pretty significant flaw, a flaw that is often completely ignored or when not ignored sidelined in favor of emphasizing the benefits of the device. That flaw is signal strength and the ability to stay on 4G. People acknowledge it but the truth of the matter is that I don’t think that people realize just how bad the problem is, including the people who run this site.
With that in mind I have been doing a little experiment over the last two weeks. I am in the rare position to own 6 of Verizon’s 4G LTE devices and have all of them on service. I chose a room at home that gets mediocre cellular reception and have been keeping track of the dBm of each device at 4 different times throughout the day. These times were different each day but in general were late night (after midnight, before I went to bed), early to mid morning (whenever I got up), afternoon, and evening. For those that do not know dBm is the true measure of cellular signal ranging from -120 (no signal whatsoever) to -60 (perfect or nearly so). The data was taken from the Status screen in the settings menu, not an app or widget to minimize the possibility of error. Each measurement was taken right after the other.
The raw data is presented below in the following graphic but here is a summary:
All devices are running STOCK firmware and NOT rooted.
As you can see the Galaxy Nexus has by far the worst signal of the bunch. The two week average had a difference of 19 dBm between the worst (Galaxy Nexus), and the best (Droid Bionic). For a device that was so maligned I was quite surprised to see how much stronger the Bionic was than anything else in the stable. In some tests I found the difference to be nearly 30 dBm between it and the Nexus.
Now I can see some of the responses now “he must have a defective device” but I can assure you my device gets within a 2-3 dBm difference of every other Galaxy Nexus I have had the chance to compare it to, so it’s highly unlikely.
Now before some of you decide to string me up, I want to make it clear that the purpose of this post is NOT to bash the Nexus. Remember that I do actually own one, and if I hated it that bad I would have returned it during the post holiday return period. The purpose of this is to educate people and to bring attention to a serious problem that must be fixed ASAP.
I’m a huge believer in people should buy what makes them happy and ignore the haters and device evangelists, but given the fact that I do change phones so often I am also in a position where I am not as emotionally invested in my purchases and can look at things a little more objectively than most. There are some really nice things about the Galaxy Nexus and ICS, and some things that are not so nice, and a few things that really suck ... signal strength is one of those things that really sucks. I must say that when I began this experiment I knew that there was a significant difference but had no idea that it was as pronounced as it is.
I sincerely hope that this is merely a software issue and Samsung, Verizon, and Google are able to get it straightened out in short order, because as of right now I can’t recommend anyone get the Nexus as their primary device, because a phone that doesn’t get reception when you need it is worthless.
Raw data below:
EDIT: I said the following in a post later in the thread but I think it bares mentioning here as well:
But the Verizon Galaxy Nexus has a pretty significant flaw, a flaw that is often completely ignored or when not ignored sidelined in favor of emphasizing the benefits of the device. That flaw is signal strength and the ability to stay on 4G. People acknowledge it but the truth of the matter is that I don’t think that people realize just how bad the problem is, including the people who run this site.
With that in mind I have been doing a little experiment over the last two weeks. I am in the rare position to own 6 of Verizon’s 4G LTE devices and have all of them on service. I chose a room at home that gets mediocre cellular reception and have been keeping track of the dBm of each device at 4 different times throughout the day. These times were different each day but in general were late night (after midnight, before I went to bed), early to mid morning (whenever I got up), afternoon, and evening. For those that do not know dBm is the true measure of cellular signal ranging from -120 (no signal whatsoever) to -60 (perfect or nearly so). The data was taken from the Status screen in the settings menu, not an app or widget to minimize the possibility of error. Each measurement was taken right after the other.
The raw data is presented below in the following graphic but here is a summary:
Code:
Week 1 Average Week 2 Average Average Weeks 1&2
VZW Galaxy Nexus -101.8 -101.9 -104.3
HTC Thunderbolt -90 -90 -90.5
HTC Rezound -93.2 -93.2 -92.8
Droid RAZR -92.9 -92.9 -92.8
Droid 4 -92 -92 -93
Droid Bionic -85.3 -85.3 -85.8
All devices are running STOCK firmware and NOT rooted.
As you can see the Galaxy Nexus has by far the worst signal of the bunch. The two week average had a difference of 19 dBm between the worst (Galaxy Nexus), and the best (Droid Bionic). For a device that was so maligned I was quite surprised to see how much stronger the Bionic was than anything else in the stable. In some tests I found the difference to be nearly 30 dBm between it and the Nexus.
Now I can see some of the responses now “he must have a defective device” but I can assure you my device gets within a 2-3 dBm difference of every other Galaxy Nexus I have had the chance to compare it to, so it’s highly unlikely.
Now before some of you decide to string me up, I want to make it clear that the purpose of this post is NOT to bash the Nexus. Remember that I do actually own one, and if I hated it that bad I would have returned it during the post holiday return period. The purpose of this is to educate people and to bring attention to a serious problem that must be fixed ASAP.
I’m a huge believer in people should buy what makes them happy and ignore the haters and device evangelists, but given the fact that I do change phones so often I am also in a position where I am not as emotionally invested in my purchases and can look at things a little more objectively than most. There are some really nice things about the Galaxy Nexus and ICS, and some things that are not so nice, and a few things that really suck ... signal strength is one of those things that really sucks. I must say that when I began this experiment I knew that there was a significant difference but had no idea that it was as pronounced as it is.
I sincerely hope that this is merely a software issue and Samsung, Verizon, and Google are able to get it straightened out in short order, because as of right now I can’t recommend anyone get the Nexus as their primary device, because a phone that doesn’t get reception when you need it is worthless.
Raw data below:
EDIT: I said the following in a post later in the thread but I think it bares mentioning here as well:
The point of this thread is to educate the members of this site who are considering getting this device and are on the fence. I've been following a number of threads comparing this to the RAZR and REZOUND and while this issue always comes up it tends to get overlooked because of all of the gushing over ICS and the screen and what have you. It's easy to overlook when you have a whole flight of apologists who chime in and respond with something to the effect of "mine works fine" or "I dont have that problem" or "it must be where you are" etc or the ever popular "you must have a bad device"
After reading this some people will buy it anyway and that's fine, but at least now they can't say they haven't been warned and THAT is why it is listed as a Public Service Announcement.
Wow this thread sure has spurred on a lot of good discussion which was the intent. I’m going to address some of your points but not as direct quotes since there has been so much discussion and some people are saying the same things.
* First of all I challenge someone to find the word scientific in the original post. You won’t because I didn’t. I too have had research training (in my case social science but the principles are the same) so I am well aware that this is not 100% scientific. But I take issue with those who say it has no validity whatsoever.
* In an ideal world I would have had more than one device, measured in more than one place, by someone else (double blind study), in a lab where conditions could be controlled, but that’s not practical in the real world. I used as many scientific controls as I could given the circumstances.
* Don’t like my numbers present your own but you need to use similar or better controls. But if you don’t have one or more of the same devices that I do all running stock firmware (meaning not rooted, no updated radios, custom roms, etc.) then it is an invalid comparison to mine. Other than an unlocked bootloader my device is 100% stock.
* As for my own bias, honestly I was completely blown away by how much of a difference there was consistently. I had done some measurements before, but in the back of my head I told myself they must be isolated incidents and that the data would even out to something closer to the others (it was obvious that it was poor but it couldn’t be THAT bad) and was surprised that it didn’t. This whole thing started with a discussion I had with a Verizon employee, who was also having issues with his device. He and I were both looking forward to this phone coming out and buying it as soon as it was available. He was convinced that the problem was hardware and would not be fixed with software updates. I on the other hand was more optimistic of an improvement given what I remember of the Droid Charge last year.
* I am well aware that EM radiation from the body can effect dBm so any time I present these kinds of readings or do speed tests the device is un-cased and lying on the table (or in some cases in a charger dock). I NEVER hold the device when taking the readings.
* The data is presented in this order but the readings were not taken in any particular order, in fact numerous times the Nexus was the first one measured.
* As for the 3G vs 4G dBm measurement if you noticed in one of the posts in the first page Droid800 brought this up and I changed the setting on my Nexus forcing 3G and the dBm was 5 points better, so even if you accept a 5 point margin for error the difference is still compelling. I’m not 100% sure he is completely right there about the other devices since I have seen stark differences with the Bionic when swapping between the two when doing some testing at work when we were trying to find out why the LTE wasn’t working in our building (Verizon later adjusted the towers in the area to make it work most of the time). My Verizon rep certainly believed that changing the setting in the phone changed the dBm reading. But for the sake or argument I am willing to concede that he is probably right.
* I’m actually still collecting data (Nexus forced to 3G) and will release a chart showing another weeks data at the end of the week (Sometime Sunday when I get around to it) but honestly I don’t expect that much of a difference based upon the last two days.
* To those of you who flat out “don’t believe” my data that is your right I guess, but I would challenge you to look at your own biases. I’m not naive enough to believe that “numbers don’t lie” but I also know that generally refers to skewed statistics which is why my raw data is presented in the graphic at the bottom of the original post for anyone to read who wants to.
* Those who argue that the numbers must be wrong because you get better signal: Good for you that means you are in a better coverage area. I never said I was in a great coverage area. I could get better numbers too if I went to another room or outside, but that’s not the point. As long as my readings are tall taken in the same place the comparison between them and other devices is still valid.
Let’s keep the discussion going. A couple of you have reacted shocked that the thread has gone on this long and been liked as many times as it has. NEWSFLASH this device has issues, people know it and the discussion isn’t going away any time soon. It is my expectation to keep this tread going until Samsung, Google, and Verizon fix the problem. Everyone is welcome to post opposing views if you want as long as you are respectful about it.
[...]I never said that the Nexus had a flaw that could not be fixed I said that the STOCK nexus has a flaw and it does, poor reception.
Like I said earlier, I would like nothing better than to see an OTA come out that fixes this issue so we can end this thread with
Problem Solved: Install the newest OTA and enjoy your (like) new phone.
But right now the phone as it is is a questionable buy because of the reception issue. People considering buying it should know that and thus the PSA.
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