Where are Reliable Reviews on Handsets RF performance?

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AVWMurray

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#73343 12-Dec-2010 12:18

Does anybody know where we can find reliable reviews on handsets?

Reviews that deal with the actual voice communication and RF ability, the way the phone is able to communicate with low c/n, fades reflections or high BER.

I am sick of reviews that focus on the flim flam bits of the phone and ignore its ability to actually make phone calls.

Am I alone in the frustration of trying to actually finish a phone call with "Goodbye" rather than "Hallo - Hallo - can you still hear me, are you still there? hallo?"

Damager

2125 posts

Uber Geek

#416112 12-Dec-2010 12:31

Welcome to GZ AVWMurray!

Obviously RF performance is pivotal in the performance of any handset. The network performance still plays a major role though. Is it going to be a major difference when calling someone in a limited coverage area? What if the receiver's handset is totally rubbish? IMO most phones are pretty good, however the external variables are often the more important factor. Prior to my current Samsung, I've only had HTC phones. Never had any problems with RF performance. I can't even remember the last time I went "Hallo.. Hallo.. Can you hear me". This is here in NZ, Australia, Hawaii, Samoa and the USA with the same handsets.

Hope you find one that you like! The general consensus seems to be that Nokia has excellent call/RF performance. Someone please correct me if this isnt so, but that's what I seem to hear and read everywhere.

Please take time to intro yourself in the Introductions forum!

Cheers

Steve

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AVWMurray

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#416119 12-Dec-2010 12:51

On the Auckland to Taupo Drive (via SH2 to tirau then SH1) my wife and I compare coverage:
Her iphone reports no coverage (no bars) on 2g or 3g most of the time we are out towns / cities, my Singapore purchased Samsung GT-B7320 smart(?) phone gives me usable coverage most of the journey.

And you are right with your comments about the telco's coverage or the other parties enviroment / handset performance.

Yes - There are alot of variables, but it would be nice to start somewhere, we would not buy any other sort of radio communication device without reading the tech spec sheet and assessing its performance.

And for those out there who are not radio engineers why can't they have some one (independant) report on handsets performance. This way the market pressures would limit poor handsets getting to market and the Telco's would no longer brush off their (frequently) poor network performance by blaming the handset

richms

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#416120 12-Dec-2010 12:53

The only phone I have owned that I have been certain had inferior RF performance was a piece of china domestic market dual sim junk.

Everything else has been about the same. Well, the R100 I borrowed had massive issues in several places, but see the comment above about china domestic market junk ;)

What you are asking for is really hard for reviewers to measure. look at all the crap with the iPhone 4 and people using the number of bars on a phone to rate performance and all the misinformation about signal strength that came about from that. Also most people never leave the confines of good signal, or if they do its because of building constriction etc so the difference between working is very severe and the chances of one phone working and one not working in a given location is so small.

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#416123 12-Dec-2010 13:01

One issue is that RF performance can become a moot point due to the different frequences used by networks.

How do you accuratly measue the performance of a phone when the characteristics of the network vary so much? 2100MHz performs poorly due to it's inability to even penetrate tissue paper. A 850MHz or 900MHz 3G signal will perform vastly better.

AVWMurray

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#416124 12-Dec-2010 13:02

True comments about "bars" not a good indication of anything, a typical case in point is the inability to communicate when the phone is involved in the "Vodafone Hand over shuffle" plenty of RF level but it cant decide which sector to use and fails completely.
Examples:
Ormiston Road Hill - Whitford - Auckland
HighBrook Drive - just west of the Shell service station - Auckland

I should add that when I compare my wife's iphone coverage I always qualify this with a test call to a PSTN line to avoid any argument over the "bars"

AVWMurray

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#416128 12-Dec-2010 13:07

sbiddle,
The c/n for a given field strength will evaluate a receiver regardless of operating frequency. Ditto the EIRP on the TX side.

richms

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#416129 12-Dec-2010 13:09

Yeah, well thats not really the handsets fault.

Being able to disable 2g is an important thing that I wish would get a bit more notes on reviews. Doing that also seems to solve most of the missing calls problems when out driving, but because of the uselessness of 2100MHz means you lose signal when virtually walking into most non central buildings that are made of anything more substantial than cardboard and sticks.

Shame that the iPhone has no 2g off selector, that would have allowed VF to keep lots of customers who moved away after it falling back one time too many when trying to use it for something that needs data... like everything...

Richard rich.ms

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sbiddle

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#416139 12-Dec-2010 13:32

AVWMurray: sbiddle,
The c/n for a given field strength will evaluate a receiver regardless of operating frequency. Ditto the EIRP on the TX side.

I realise that - but a handset that has fantastic RF performance won't necessarily perform any better in the real world than a handset with terrible RF performance with the limitations of 2100MHz signals.