yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[XPERIA X1 General] Dadaism:
How do you switch from HSDPA to GPRS? I didnt find any menu to do that. (When hsdpa is available)

I have normally 2 bars of H and when I'm making a call full G bars (G icon = GPRS, am I right?).

So i cannot really complain about reception. But i still havent managed to get a G when I'm not making a call.

But I find the WLAN reception is sometimes not as good as the one of my laptop :P. Maybe it's because the X1 has a smaller antenna. :P
[XPERIA X1 General] kiwiandy:
I live in a marginal coverage area, and have done for the last 10 years. This phone has the worst signal reception/signal capture capabilty of any phone I have owned in thsoe 10 years. But otherwise I love the phone!
[XPERIA X1 General] xperian:
1. WlAN: totally useless, always only one bar on campus, signal is often lost on connection. All my iPhone mates have full speed WLAN.

2. Internet HSUPA: Very good and fast, internet always works even with only one bar. I'm actually now on a TGV train (160 kmh, very fast) and it's no problem at all.

3. Actually CALLING SOMEONE: Even on full bar calling and talking to someone is next to impossible. The connection is just lost and half of the words get dropped. I'm testing now if turning on the screen would maybe help with this...

- About my carrier, etc: When my X1 broke (headphone jack), I got a replacement- a cheap Nokia - which worked perfectly even in the basement... And I live in Switzerland, one of the richest countries in the world, so the network is good.
[XPERIA X1 General] elee888:
I hope SE has an update soon to fix this. I remember when the iPhone 3G came out and everyone around me were mostly getting 1 bar and since all the updates, its been full 3G pretty much.
[XPERIA X1 General] arnisv:
g3 is wery bad

GSM Is god
[XPERIA X1 General] a5ian300zx:
my reception was crap at first but had to disable all the 3g and data bit to get a better signal now its o.k nothing special.
[XPERIA X1 General] odobo:
here is my experience with this phone:

1) AT&T - San Francisco Bay Area, US.... HSDPA/3G, full signal

2) AT&T - Boston, US .... signal is pretty bad and I only get 3G signal in Boston downtown... otherwise it was always on edge (no full bar)

3) AT&T - Champaign/Urbana, IL US.... edge only but always full bar

4) AT&T - Houston, TX, US.... HSDPA/3G, full signal

5) AT&T - Albuquerque, NM, US... HSDPA/3G, full signal

6) 3 HK - 3G, full signal

7) China Mobile - Beijing, China..... GPRS, full signal

8) Starhub - Singapore.... 3G, full signal

9) Singtel - Singapore.... full signal (no data because its a prepaid card)

overall its pretty good... I have no complain about my x1
[XPERIA X1 General] arnisv:
I just comperad with my wifes samsung. she had 3g signal, byt my x1 no 3g signal at all
[XPERIA X1 General] axjiii:
well in work my Xperia reach HSDPA whit full signal,

while my friend Touch pro reach to EDGE.

No complain about my x1.
[XPERIA X1 General] George Knighton:
I'm still a little nervous about this poll.

The Xperia doesn't have that many bars in the interface for you to be able to adequately judge your signal strength. The real measure has to be whether or not you can make calls, and I hope the people voting that they have bad RF signal capture are voting that way because they have difficulty making calls, not because they don't like how many bars are showing.

Yesterday, I noticed my Xperia was floating between one bar and two bars, so I asked Voice Command what the signal strength was. The reply was that I was at 60%. I don't think that would normally be a logical thing to infer from antenna bars that were fluctuating between one and two.

So out of curiosity I did some dslreports.com/mspeed tests while I was in this location. Entirely normal on the slow side, usually a little over 400K.

Another thing I wonder is how many people are saying the Xperia is "bad" because they are using a phone that's not perfect for their providers, as in T Mobile users who cannot get any 3G because the phone doesn't pick up the T Mobile 3G bands, or users who have an X1i on the AT&T system and cannot get the 850 MHz UMTS in the build out areas where AT&T didn't own any 1900 bandwidth to use.

Considering all these variables, maybe it's a miracle that the poll is currently showing about 64% people saying it's "fine" or better.
[XPERIA X1 General] gtrab:
So, up to date:

EXCELENT signal reception: 16.88%

OK signal reception: 46.10%

Regular signal reception: 24.68%

Bad signal reception: 12.34%

hmmm... not that bad at all
[XPERIA X1 General] Hkt:
I believe that X1 Radio can be improved much more... via hardware or software.. this phone has potential!!

I think it is time to Mod!! :cool:

Who's first?? :p
[XPERIA X1 General] gtrab:
Mod the radio ?? :confused:
[XPERIA X1 General] musichelle:
for me, compared to my other phones, its a bit bad. when i am in a call in the subway, my calls get dropped with my xperia. with my other phones, it doesn't.
[XPERIA X1 General] jacksonite:
im in los angeles california and even though sometimes it shows only 1 bar i still make calls as i do with 5 bars. but after i dropped my phone once it sometimes doesnt have signal in the mountain areas. but other then that its great. but my 3g doesnt work at all its always the peice of **** edge which i cant get rid of.
[XPERIA X1 General] gtrab:
This poll is still not closed but there's a clear tendence:

2/3 reports good (average) to excellent reception

1/3 reports bad or terrible reception
[XPERIA X1 General] blakkheartt12:
I just got my X1a and at my job it is constantly on roam(and my HTC Fuze Roams constantly)!! My X7501 always had 3G/HSPDA. I'm not sure if I want to keep the phone. I use the internet a lot and not being ale to use it at work well suxs!! Also on my campus my X7501 and ATT Fuze always had 3G/HSDPA. X1a stays on E or no signal at all. So I think the X1a just has a crappy antenna or radio.
[XPERIA X1 General] Aleemz:
I'm going to be going to some semi-remote parts of the world in a couple of weeks for 4 weeks. In the past I've got by with being able to make the odd call with a very weak signal, but I don't think the X1 will cope.

I'll be taking my trusty Polaris/Touch Cruise as well as the X1.
[XPERIA X1 General] jas0607:
Despite the poll results indicating most are happy, there seems to be a lot of users saying that in direct comparison to other phones, the X1 has a bar or two less for the signal. This is exactly what I have found. I have had 8 phones (7 SEs) in the last 10 years or so, and not one of these phones has ever gone below 4 signal bars in my house, I have always had excellent reception.

However, with the X1i, I have never reached 4 bars, usually getting 2, or 3 if I am upstairs and by a window. So I am not overly impressed with the signal quality. I was thinking about it, and I remembered when I had an SE Z600 I bought new clip-on covers for it from eBay. They were a thicker product than the normal covers that came with the phone, and they had a mirror effect and were quite 'metallic' (I'm struggling to find the words to describe them!). Anyway, they looked cool as hell, and I put them on right away. As soon as I did so, my signal dropped from 5 bars, to 0-1, the phone was unusable. So I'm wondering if that hints at anything with the X1i, that perhaps the physical make-up of the phone dampens the signal, and that any radio software modifications will make a minimal difference, if any...

Jas
[XPERIA X1 General] artesea:
Not sure how many times we can say this but

SIGNAL BARS DO NOT REPRESENT COMPARABLE SIGNAL QUALITY!

If you want to compare phones, actually make calls with them in the same location and see if they calls drop.
[XPERIA X1 General] sonicm:
My old N95 on three was great 4 or 5 out of 5 at home and at work, the X1 from home gets no reception downstairs and 1 or 2 upstairs, at work get 2 bars. And it's a lot more temperamental as well with reception dropping out quite a bit.
[XPERIA X1 General] mkent_barbados:
bars have nothing to do with it...

...but calls drop in my office all the bloody time now (if it rings at all), and never did with my HTC Tilt. Same SIM and same network (well if its the same SIM has to be same network so never mind that last bit...)
[XPERIA X1 General] jas0607:
Yeah I'm aware that signal bars do not represent call quality. Despite that, it would seem strange that SE/WinMo would have suddenly found a more accurate way/measurement of showing signal quality than seemingly many other previous phones.

Secondly, I can no longer make calls in certain places where I used to happily make calls (the old phones would show 1 or 2 signal bars, but I know that's not comparable...). Most noticeable place I have found is my work toilet - I know I know... :)
[XPERIA X1 General] xperian:
Okay I upgrade to the new ROM version. Reception is much better now!

@EDGE/HSUPA: The X1 only connects to HSUPA when it needs to, because it uses so much battery...
[XPERIA X1 General] trice1921:
Can anyone else confirm reception is better with the new rom? I sent my X1 back a few weeks ago because reception was a little flakey, but if it's slightly betty i think i'll order another.
[XPERIA X1 General] Sleazey:
Changed my Diamond to a Xperia cause of the bad reception of the diamond. It´s slightly better on the Xperia.

3 Sthlm Sweden.
[XPERIA X1 General] flext:
it depends on your network not your phone???????
[XPERIA X1 General] xperian:
I think it also has to do with the fact that I live in Switzerland but my X1 had an Austria ROM when I bought it. (imported from Austria, obviously)

The new ROM I flashed was Switzerland, so maybe that helped a bit.

I suggest you try flashing the new ROM and try it out. I wouldn't order a second device if you don't know the reception will be better for sure!
[XPERIA X1 General] Aleemz:
My mate was at my house the other night with his HTC HD. I was complaining to him how the reception on the X1 was poor in low signal areas as compared to my HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise. So, we decided to compare our phones - in the room of my house where we were sat. On the Polaris I got HSDPA signal and was able to make calls and use HSDPA internet no problem, moving all around the room.

On the X1 I was able only to get GPRS in all areas of the room, and occassionally Edge.

With the HD, well....it was exactly the same as the X1!

All the 'tests' were done using the same SIM card.
[XPERIA X1 General] ZenithUK:
Personal SIM: O2

Work SIM: Orange

The X1 is on contract with O2 Online.

I have a dual-SIM adapter that allows me to switch from O2 to Orange and back by turning on Flight Mode and then turning Flight Mode off. It takes maybe 10 seconds to switch.

I know that O2 and Orange are different networks using different base stations and different frequencies so it is like comparing apples with oranges. The bottom line is that the network provider has a LARGE part to play in your signal/reception. I drive 150-200 miles a day with work so I get to see a large variation in signals. My van

doesn't

have front windscreen demisters (fine wires in the glass).

O2 is on 900Mhz and at home I get 2-3 bars. If I get in the van and drive towards the main trunk road, the signal will drop off completely to say "No service". It then STAYS THERE until I either restart the X1 or switch to Orange. It is almost as if the phone gives up on retrying to connect to O2 altogether. This seems to happen whenever I'm moving from one base cell to another, almost like the handover isn't working.

On Orange (1800Mhz), I contantly have service. The bar might drop as far as 1 bar, but it is rare for the service to disappear altogether. My problem is that Orange reception at home is non-existent so I have to forward work calls to my O2 number when I'm at home. If I'm on O2 while driving and the service disappears, I don't get to hear from work (which has already caused my manager to have a word!).

I have contacted O2 about getting a new SIM to see if that improves my signal issues, but if it doesn't then I've got problems when I'm on the road. I wondered if the metal back to the phone is restricting the signal to the internal aerial so I tried it without the back on for a while. No difference.
[XPERIA X1 General] ZenithUK:
Oh My God! :)

I got my replacement SIM from O2 today, activated it, put it in the phone and BAM! Full strength G signal.

I drove to my next call and the phone didn't lose the signal ONCE in over an hour of driving (nearly 60 miles) In fact it picked up a H signal AND STAYED ON! It had never done that before. It always dropped the signal a few seconds after picking up H.

So in my particular case, maybe my dual-SIM adapter is part of the problem. Getting the new SIM has effectively unlocked the full speed capabilities of my phone. I'd recommend asking your network operator for a new SIM if you have a SIM that is more than a couple of years old. It's solved my problems! :D
[XPERIA X1 General] kostas ntinos:
for me signal reception is bad! Where my htc p3600 used to have 1 bar, the X1 shows none... I dont believe its my SIMs fault.
[XPERIA X1 General] kostas ntinos:
if i use a radio ROM from the HD for example, will the signal become stronger?
[XPERIA X1 General] ZenithUK:
If you upgrade to the R2A generic ROM for your country, that updates the Radio ROM as well. In the couple of days since I posted, I've been testing the signal all over my region and it has held the signal all the time. I would be lucky if I got off "No signal" with my old SIM.

Maybe combining a new ROM with a new SIM made the difference for me.
[XPERIA X1 General] Nimche:
I own the Black Xperia UK Model and then I went to R2 for USA where I am in California, San Diego.

Reception except in our office which I get only two bars is fine. I get full bar in the house and everywhere else. Its always on "H" for internet and I am not sure if I am suppose to get any 3G like sign at all because no one every have confirmed it with me. But all together, I love the phone and I don't get dropped calls.
[XPERIA X1 General] 0bJeKTioN:
So what i've gathered from all of this is that the phones reception doesn't work so swell in remote type locations?

I live in the state of Washington on an island about 2.5 hours away from Seattle and im worried about reception...
[XPERIA X1 General] Der_Immitanz_konverter:
On my xperia the reception is varying from hardreset to hardreset. On the same place... Now after 4 HR´s i have full signal on a place i had only half after last HR´s.
[XPERIA X1 General] titel:
noting wrong with handsets , vodafone network is **** have tried same handset on o2 perfect. Only thing with vodafone i guess is using hsdpa they get low on signal, because network is not ready yet for that much transfer and probably too many users... I`m getting on o2 only 3g...will see
[XPERIA X1 General] Antoniobilly:
Poor

My Signal is so bad..All Sony Ericsson can say when i called them is to swtich to normal GSM Mode. But that too seems to suckss....

What can we Do?...any suggestions..
[XPERIA X1 General] altae:
I can't complain about my Xperias reception. I would not go as far as saying that it has got the best reception I have ever experienced but it definitely is decent. The locations where I don't have signal are generally known as badly covered and everywhere else I'm able to get a connection. Like you can see in my profile I live in Switzerland.

P.S. I don't give that much on the signal indicator. My experience so far has been that very often it lags behind the actual situation or it shows full reception only to drop to zero or one bar as soon as you try to connect. In my opinion the only thing that really counts is the number of successfully established connections (data or voice).
[XPERIA X1 General] hungry81:
My signal is fine. nothing special, nothing to complain about. It works as I need it to.
[XPERIA X1 General] altae:
Maybe switch to another operator? If the signal is generally bad in an area there is nothing your phone can do.
[XPERIA X1 General] xmarkom:
this is "SE classic problem" with all SE devices, never solved...

Every mobile phone manufacturer has some bug that drags or dragged for years...

HTC and speakerphone

Nokia and bad plastic covers

SE and bad reception!!!

Anyway, SE's reception of one bar is like other mobile phone reception of two or three bars. It's not that bad... but it is annoying when you see that signal varies non stop...
[XPERIA X1 General] altae:
People, please stop talking about "bars". They have absolutely no relevance. What apart from counting 1 + 1 and guessing makes you believe that 2 bars on a Xperia corresponds with 2 bars on a Blackberry, Iphone, Nokia or whatever? Do you really think they use the same scale to measure the signal quality. Do you think an improvement of maybe 5 % is equally indicated on any phone? People who keep talking about "bars" remind me of Steve Jobs and the Iphone4. Instead of confessing that there is a problem with the phone he kept talking about "bars" :-)

There are real indicators:

- signal/ no signal

- 3G/2G signal

- succesful calls/ dropped calls

- data transfer rate

- quality of a call

...

But the amount of "bars" is definitely nonsense.

P.S. No offence meant but it annoys me if people discuss something technical and lack the slightest touch of scientific thinking. It's like burning witches.
[XPERIA X1 General] xmarkom:
i just said that, too...
[XPERIA X1 General] altae:
My comment wasn't meant to a specific person. I just had read the entire thread and this is what came up in my mind.
[XPERIA X1 General] jkoljo:
Serious signal problems

Hello all,

just thought to write something about my own experiences.

First of all, the signal really really sucks here in Finland with my X1. I had K810i before and had no problems with it, medium signal and no dropped calls, ever. Now with X1 I drop 50% of ALL calls, I do not have signal half of the time and I have to reboot my phone to get the signal back. I have tried 1.14, 1.16 and 1.17 radios to no avail.

This mess started about a year ago, at first my xperia worked bad, but not this bad. At least it had signal most of the time. This problem has become more and more worse over time, I think it is time to RMA.. Again. :(
[XPERIA X1 General] DjDexter5GHz:
In my hand it worked great. I was in mountins(really remote place), and it had signal untill i was very far away. In city its quite good.

PS: i am comparing it to my previous phone SE K800i which had very ****ty signal reception :D
[XPERIA X1 General] armadam:
Holding the X1 is a key

Over the years I have noticed that if my X1 is held with full Hand Hold with Palm touching the Metallic cover where the antenna is placed , The signal drops and the call drops .

If I hold my X1 with fingers and with a clear Gap between the Palm and the phone then the signal if perfect and NO Call Drops either .
[XPERIA X1 General] przemke:
altae -> Very good point with "bars" perception.

Anyway I noticed X1 sometimes drops the signal when there's a situation that 3g signal is very weak, but GSM is strong. So it looks like the phone trying to roam to 3g, drops the network totally
[XPERIA X1 General] caliban2:
man, that's the iphone4 you're talking about. :D

x1-antenna is located at the lower end: at the back, the plastic part with the green se-logo - there it is, it's a module beneath that cover. no connection to any outside metal-parts.

try different radios (1.14, 1.16, 1.17), they act differently in that situation.
[XPERIA X1 General] chinese Kung Fu:
The phone of SE is fashion and good quality
[XPERIA X1 General] George Knighton:
Unfortunately, I didn't read a warning thread about *not* using the Sony Update Service until after I'd started the service for my X1a.

I've been hooked up to the USB with coloured bars for about five minutes, with no progress being noted and nothing changing on the Update Service screen.

Am I in trouble here, or does it just take a while?
[XPERIA X1 General] George Knighton:
12 minutes and no changes.
[XPERIA X1 General] emwdava:
I guess this is the absolutely first time you connected the usbcable while the phone is in bootloader?

Did an automatic driver install occur when you connected the cable?
[XPERIA X1 General] George Knighton:
It's the first time I've done it with an X1, or any Sony. I've flashed many Synergy and WinMo Motorolas.

I think it must've used the drivers already installed. I heard the connection and detection routines.

7:29 PM to 8:13 PM...that's a long time.

Antivirus and firewall is turned off.
[XPERIA X1 General] emwdava:
If you didn't see any change at all since you connected the phone I think it's safe to disconnect it and reboot the phone.

This has happened to me, the first time I tried the service.

But If it stopped midway in flashing It's not good..

I'm no pro but as long as the bootloader is intact you should be able to reflash the phone even if the first flash didn't go well and the phone wont boot.

Maybe someone more experienced can shed some light on this...

and while you wait you can search the ROM area for answers.

Xperia ROM Development
[XPERIA X1 General] George Knighton:
Re-started it and everything went well.

Visibly snappier, compared to the way it was behaving before.

Thanks for the commiseration. :-)
[XPERIA X1 General] emwdava:
No problem, I'm just glad I could show some support in this obvious dark hour...

:)
[XPERIA X1 General] mrbkkt1:
lol, mine is stuck on the forever detecting phone as well. I might just give up, and use my home computer, which is the one I use to flash phones anyway.

my work computer is vista.
[XPERIA X1 General] maarten1410:
Mine is stuck 'identifying' :confused: For 15 minutes now... Someone with the same problem?
[XPERIA X1 General] leobox1:
vista seems to have probs always..... xp works ok ..
[XPERIA X1 General] zenkinz:
I observed the same experience as well. first attempt will always appear hang at the bootloader, w/o any activities (which is a blessing in disguise, imagine stuck halfway into flashing). Disconnecting & connecting again do the trick. I'm on Vista...
[XPERIA X1 General] maedox:
I realize that SEUS is "safer" in terms of support, but why don't you just download the image file you need and flash from the memory card?
[Touch Pro CDMA] nvaia:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=469606
[Touch Pro CDMA] louderjw:
That appears to be a GSM ROM. GC has a good ROM that is located at http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=471821

Scrosler and |||bored||| have one over at PPCgeeks.com
[Touch Pro CDMA] nvaia:
Haven't seen lllllboredlllll's rom yet. I know that scroslers rom is pretty damn ugly. It runs well but isn't to pleasing to the eye.
[Touch Pro CDMA] louderjw:
scrosler has a few different ROMs out. I am sure there is probably one there to your liking! He has a "Naked" version that does not include TouchFlo, a "Choice" version that is stripped but has TouchFlo, a "Mid" that is 99.99% stock but quite a bit quicker and a "Loaded" that has everything in his kitchen available on it. All are significantly faster than stock IMHO. He also has a kitchen that is pretty easy to understand and he is releasing an updated version today! Hopefully!

If you didn't like scroslers ROM then you probably won't like lllboredlll's! He describes it as a stripped down version. There is almost nothing in it! No TouchFlo, etc. Very fast, lots of RAM, etc.

GC also has a pretty good ROM and kitchen available. He was going to release an update on that the last time I was reading his thread. Not sure if he did or not. I haven't used his in a couple weeks but know that it was a pretty good product also, just not what I was looking for.
[Touch Pro CDMA] nvaia:
Im running Juggalo's v.06 rom right now, I like it but looking for something that looks amazing. Kind of like the rom in the 1st post.
[Touch Pro CDMA] RonMac:
Scott's ROM is actually the best ROM for the VZW 6850. It maintains most of the stock look and feel of the original ROM but has removed most of the lag and freed up some of the RAM.

I agree that the stock VZW theme is ugly but I changes it using the TLR_MANILA cab and the empex_diamond theme.