Extensive testing on my own showed that the signal bar up top is mostly meaningless. A single bar when gripping the phone resulted in no measurable loss in 3G speeds nor phone call quality, after repeating the test several times, compared to 5 bars. I was also able to make calls (and drop them) in the same areas as before, thus no perceived loss in range.
this thread is funny. seeing as how this is a developers site, and every is acting like users
i kid i kid.
but no, seriously... why is everyone looking at bars? forget the bars... stop being lazy and gave me your dbms!
for example, if you are at -45, and you 'apple-hold' it, and it goes to -120dbm, then we have issues. If it goes to -59dbm, then stop complaining, as many users have noted, bars mean nothing, not even in in-call quality terms. Those bars, to us... only indicate 1x signal. Remember we are using the HD Voice stuff now... which, unless I am wrong, operate on the 800mhz spectrum or something like that. not quite sure about that last part so don't quote me; im a little 'foggy atm' to be light. but certainly, bars mean nothing...
Slight update, using ##DEBUG#, in the 1x section, the signal goes from ~85dbm to ~113dm... so i guess that's bad, except for #1, it was already bad to begin with #2, big whoop its only 1X... anyway, ##INFO# isnt working so im looking for a dbm monitor as we speak. ill report back
Update:
Ok, the app is called Network Signal Info, by Kabits Software. It is really good, and free, and in the Play store. There is indeed a drop in my EHRPD connectoin (3g). It goes from ~83dbm to ~103dbm. Which is a drop of ~20dmbs. A little less drastic than the 1X drop of ~30dbm... But still
may (keyword) be noticeable in
certain situations,
if you hold it a
certain way. So, yea... It certainly happens, but I don't see it as an emergency problem, though it should be addressed by HTC at some point. This was done in my room, where reception is not the purdiest. Ill go outside.
