Nexus One 3G problems persist after update -- is it a design problem?
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 11th 2010 12:45PM
posted February 11th 2010 12:45PM
[Thanks, Geathan]
posted February 11th 2010 12:45PM
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The best part about engadget, they have a daily nexus one bug report, but rarely talk about how the imac 27 inch is basically in recall status, and they had to shut down production for a few months.
They are even going to give the imac 27inch an award??
@stabbytheicepic That is totally two different kinds of products so what is your point exaclty?
I think, ultimately, it is a "where the heck do you live" problem. Even if you had a 3G phone before and it worked fine. Google is not going to take blame for this. Let the finger pointing begin!
They should have beta tested this more. I am sure those who did just pissed along and did not report any issues because they were so excited to get one. Its the PEOPLES fault! :) Now fix it man!
3G signals are more prone to dropping power when crossing walls and water can absorb part of this radiation (microwave use near 3G frequencies and I'm sure they can cook your hand ;)
With this test, it means the antenna is located in the bottom of the phone, so it must be less intrusive to your brain.
Now I'll be much more relieved when talking for several hours on my Nexus One ;)
@(Unverified)
SAR Raiting for the Nexus one
1.39 Body and .823 Head. Your head will be fine, just the rest of you will melt :-) The high SAR on the body is the only thing keeping me from getting it :-/
I can also reproduce this problem. We are all beta testers.
So basically you can't hold the phone at the bottom, or the 3G goes away.
@Eli superflush No, that is BS.
@stabbytheicepic no its not bs its frekin true im going to make a you tube video on it after work!
The most obvious thing is that the phone antenna is in the bottom of it.
Suuuurely this NexO 3G issue must be Apple's/Job's fault...along with the Earthquake in Haiti, Iranian nuclear enrichment, the snowstorm in D.C., etc. etc.
I thought there were only around 100K or so Nexus ones sold till date. So can't be a network congestion thing....it's not like the tens of millions of iphones on ATT.
Looks like of the 100K or so users of the Nexus One, 80K are usually on tech forums - perhaps it's all the posting and Apple bashing that killing the network. LOL.
@jaffreywali
Definitely not a network issue as many others tested this side by side their mytouch3g. This is a radio issue or hardware antenna
Page 12 of the Manual;
"Contact with the antenna area may impair call quality ..." - seems like commonsense really.
All phones see reduced signal when you hold your hand over the antennae. My Pre did it all the time. This is nothing of consequence.
And after the update, I'm seeing better coverage. I wouldn't say perfect, but slightly improved.
@Siraris So how am I supposed to used the phone when the only place to hold it correctly is at the bottom which blocks my 3G ?
@(Unverified)
That's what I'm thinking. I mean, the cause makes sense, but why in the hell is the antenna right where most people would grab it?
MMMMM....this is sure worth the $579...like huh said earlier, doesn't seem that HTC's quality is held to high standards anymore.
Why doesn't mine work when I wrap it in tin foil to protect it from the aliens?
thats why they should put up wifi signal at every telephone poles and light poles.. problem solved.
Never had problems with my N1's reception. I daresay it was even better with the old radio.
When I do get 3G though, it's usually more responsive with faster speeds than with the old radio.
Hello Folks!
If you've been engineers in the radio field (not that i am one) you've known the fact that a frequency this high >1GHz can't pass trough 2cm of skin,bones and meat very well.
The hand is absorbing most of the phone's emitting power (which is not much @ 400mW ).
Plus it reflects it back to the phone's antena (yes , radio wave's in this freq tent to do that .. look at light and lasers..)
So the DSP in the phone senses a high reflection on the antena .. that's a bad thing..it may actually fry out the power transmiter of the phone .. so the Baseband shut's off the 3G because it's inefficient and possibly in trouble . )
Most HAM radio's have the same princinple , only a better part of adjusting the antena tot the frequency via an antena tunner!
So ultimately the hand is behaving as a wave reflector and modifies the antena resonance freq .
This maybe called an hardware issue , but the fact is that this hardware is very sensible is also good ( it's actually making constant adjustment's of the emiters power ..so the better the battery life will be).
In comparison to the Nexus One , i've read the Iphone's 3GS FCC test.. the iphone's radio 3GS is a bit more complex .. using an advanced type of antena.making it less prone to the " human interference ".
So by any means feel free to try this with other phone .. block their antena with your own hands and see what happens.(i know you don't have hands made out of lead , but..something will be happening! ) :)
@mobilus thanks for the educational logical post helps explain most reasons :)
This video is totally unrelated to the 3G problems that were being reported before the OTA update. Yes, he is switching between EDGE and 3G, but that is likely related to the reception in the area he's located in. Half of the comments on this story are about how the reception drops or rises depending on which hand the phone is held in... which, as has been stated many times, is something that happens with all phones and has to do with the location of the antenna.
If you want me to believe that the old 3G problems (the ones that were legitimately exclusive to the Nexus) are persisting, then show me an N1 with the firmware update, running EDGE on T-Mobile next to another Android phone running 3G on T-Mobile.
Another Epic Fail from Google. Wave. Buzz. Android. Straight from my Facebook wall:
"ok busy is good. did you see that i wrote on your wall ( i think i did) explaining about my phone??? apparently it's not me. The Droid drops calls sometimes ::::::::::::sticking tongue out:::::::::::::::::::::: :- It's way worse than your iPhone. I'm so pissed!"
It must be an isolated problem. I got a N1 this week and it has been workin' flawlessly. I even get better upload speed than my previous G1. But to be fair, I rooted my cell as soon as I got it and applied the update. I live in LA, CA and get 1M up and down most of the time. Even when I enter a building and loose a 3g signal, my phone has no problem switching back.
im always on 3g and H now since the update.
@lightforce
H? your phone is rooted.
Uh oh Google, that's a nasty video. Looks like a hardware fault (damn you HTC). I hope not, I'd love to see your first home brand phone a success.
wow I tested in on my N1 and it Does the same thing... this crazy.. I already replaced one because it rattled near the camera
i tested his theory of covering the bottom. Rock solid H signal here.
That screen really is pretty, though. I mean, it's so sharp I could cut myself on it.
This totally reminds me of the iPhone 3Gs's initial release. Everyone was complaining about signals on the iPhone being much worse than other 3G phones, and it turns out that it was never the phone, just the crappy network. Now, there may be something wrong with the N1's software or hardware (which I doubt), but this is EXACTLY what people were posting on YouTube about the iPhone 3G.
You'd have a decent signal and then put your hand over the bottom and go right to 3G.
The thing that gets me is that T-Mobile's 2G network is 1900mhz, while their 3G network is 1700mhz, right? I would think that it would default to 3G for better signal? Oh well...
@(Unverified)
nope!
I'm in the London, UK and I did the same test with the same results.
have the same problem. SMH, so the update was to trick us then
never had the 3G problem.... with G1 or Nexus.
One of the reasons I returned my Nexus One is that it refused to maintain a connection as well as my iPhone on T-Mobile or AT&T.
Yet most people arn't realizing it's clearly a hardware antenna issue because they just shoved a cheap one in that's slim so it can be slimmer but are cause worse problems. I don't care how slim a phone is it needs to have a reliable working 3g antenna in it
That's not a design fault of the phone, many phones have their antenna built at the bottom half of the body, such as Nokia N82. Covering up the antenna will surely block EM signals (especially 3G signal) and forcing the phone to fall back to 2G.
Also I would like to share my Nexus One experience, I am currently living in HK and Hong Kong has the best 3G network compared to quite a lot other cities, and I have no problem using the phone in "WCDMA only" setting, my nexus one never drops call even when i'm riding on the bus. I guess the problem itself is caused by spotty coverage in the states. :/
Who cares about the 3G issues when the god damn touch screen sucks donkey balls.
@Foley it does not what are you talking about i love the touch screen on my nexus one i find it very usable. if your going to talk about a phone with a crappy touch screen go get a droid....
The iPhone has the same issue.
The G1 had antennas on the top.
The AT&T Tilt and Tilt 2 have antennas on the top, both made by HTC will great 3G reception both.
If you drive past these coordinates on Lakeshore Dr in Chicago your 3G radio on a Nexus One will crash :) It will then not join 3G again until you reset the modem (Airplane Mode) or restart the phone.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=41.900991,+-87.619250&sll=41.900991,-87.61925&sspn=0.005805,0.009345&ie=UTF8&z=15&iwloc=A
41.900991, -87.619250
+41° 54' 3.57", -87° 37' 9.30"
Maintaining signal sensitivity is not trivial and most of these new wave phone makers treat it as a given while they pile on the features. I bet these problems are far less likely with hardware from companies that know signal integrity, like Motorola and Nokia.
When will geeks learn NEVER to buy a first-release of anything? Microsoft and Apple never get it right first release, neither does Google. Honestly, what do you people expect? Wait for the patches! At least I live in Australia, so by the time they officially launch Nexus One here in July it will actually be without a lot of these major bugs.