yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] heygrl:
You're asking questions that we can't answer. Do we work at Samsung? No. Would stock Android fix this? Maybe.

It seems worse than the G1 because based on your comments the bars are having an affect on what you deem to be "worse". I've had tons of T-Mobile phones including the G1 and the Vibrant is not considerably worse than any. INFACT it will hold on to a 3G signal for longer than most. My CLIQ displayed 3 bars as -105dBm. Accurate? NO.

Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having any disconcernable change you're not doing it right

If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equid0x:
I know that nobody here is working for Samsung but there are plenty of people here who have developed for Android, and the question I am posing is if this is something that can be addressed in a custom rom.

I think my original post makes it clear that there is obviously a software issue with bar display, but I am wondering if this software issue is also causing the Android OS to force a switch to 2G in an instance where the G1 with a properly functioning display would keep 3G. ie, the phone is switching to 2G early because it thinks it only has -111dbm when it in fact still has -103dbm. I am not clear on whether this functionality is performed within the OS itself or purely within the radio firmware.

My hands are rather large, so holding the G1 basically covers the entire rear of the phone. The antenna is near the top of the phone whereas the antenna on the Vibrant seems to be on the bottom. Though holding both phones in various positions seems to have little effect on the received signal strength so far as I can tell.

The time spent without signal in cell standby I believe to be erroneous. I think it is tallying up that time any time there are zero bars, even if the phone still has a signal. This makes it very difficult to objectively compare the 2 phones. If the OS is in fact driving the switch from 3G to 2G this may explain my poor access in fringe areas as the phone will be constantly flapping between the two. If the functions that drive this behavior are within the AOSP source this could easily be something we can fix in a custom rom even without Samsung's help, even if a radio update would be ideal.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] elkavayo:
I can wrap my hand around the phone (Vibrant), either top, center or bottom and I do not see any change in either reception, call quality, network throughput or number of bars.

It is perfectly understandable that if he has good reception with a G1, an older phone, he expects at least a similar level or reception with a newer, higher end phone. WiFi would be considered a workaround.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] allen099:
I just received my Vibrant on Monday and it's sadly replacing my amazing Nexus One. I've noticed that the Vibrant antenna is AWFUL. Where I received 4-5 bars on the N1, I'm getting 1-3 bars now and it even goes down to Edge once every few hours.

Like the OP, I've been monitoring the db levels and they're frequently around -95 through -107. While my calls don't actually drop, the quality does get worse. I'm also getting many 3G connection errors when trying to browser or download apps from the Market. It's quite disappointing. The phone is made of plastic as well, so I'd imagine that the antenna reception should be better.

Being that there are only 2 pages on this particular thread, does this mean it's a fluke and others' phones are ok?
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] heygrl:
4-5 bars on a phone with a 4 bar scale?

Stop looking at -dBm on the Vibrant, it's not accurate.

If you don't want the phone to switch to EDGE lock it on 3G.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] javacody:
How do you lock it on 3G?
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shootr:
This worked for me (copy/paste and remove spaces in http):

h t t p://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=7438987&postcount=7
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] javacody:
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=7438987&postcount=7

Thanks. 3G is spotty at best in the Des Moines Area, so I'll leave well enough alone.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equid0x:
So, in follow up to this, I had downloaded and installed RF signal tracker from the market and went driving around until I found a tower. It seems that via Android OS the best signal strength received was -81dbm and that was sitting right next to the tower. The phone stayed locked at -81dbm for a few miles down the road so I suspect this is peak signal on this phone which should really be something like -65dbm. I think this pretty much confirms that there is indeed a software issue with the signal display.

I also took some time looking at Android code and found that the bars are driven on GSM/UMTS by asu as follows:

if (asu <= 2 || asu == 99) iconLevel = 0;

else if (asu >= 12) iconLevel = 4;

else if (asu >= 8) iconLevel = 3;

else if (asu >= 5) iconLevel = 2;

else iconLevel = 1;

So figuring up the dbm values from these, I went ahead and created a new asu scale which is adjusted -8dbm from "normal" since this seems to be the worst case of the mismatch between the phone firmware and what Android is reporting and applied that within the market app Real Signal to try and get an apples to apples comparison of signal bars between this phone and the old G1. Unfortunately, the degree if miscalibration means we can't set a negative ASU so we don't get any meaningful display on Real Signal until we hit the 3rd bar. In doing this if I go to a moderate overage area I am seeing the bars I would expect.

After my little drive with RF Signal Tracker its actually pretty clear that discrepancy is really more like -15dbm, which adjusting the figures should mean that this phone in reality gets slightly better reception than the old G1.

It seems we should be able to workaround this in a custom ROM by doing one of the following:

1. Modify getGsmSignalStrength() to add the -15dbm to the returned signal strength value(hackish).

2. Modify the vendor RIL to compensate for the -15dbm offset when on UMTS. (Probably the proper solution).

I'm not clear on whether the vendor RIL code gets posted to AOSP...
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rjscott2005:
I haven't done any detailed tests but I can state that in real world use, I am not happy with my Vibrant's reception. My G1 was very noticeably better at getting and holding 3G and Edge connections in the same locations where my new Vibrant won't.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] heygrl:
Next to a tower on GSM(GSM/GPRS/EDGE) you should see -51dBm at the most with Android. W-CDMA is different because they really don't use -dBm to determine signal quality. They use power/noise.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] allen099:
Alright, so I've come to a realization after playing around with the phone today. The reason my signal is fluctuating so much is because the phone seems to ping the tower much more frequently than the Nexus. As a result, it's giving a more "true" readout. I no longer think this is a problem, but sometimes the truth hurts :-D (like 1 bar when you think you should have 3).
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equid0x:
I went ahead and flashed Eugene's vibrant6 with the updated rild and it seems to have improved the situation a bit. At a minimum the bars appear normal and the phone seems to be sticking to 3g most of the time. So it looks like my hypothesis may have been correct that the registered signal strength may have been causing android to flap or stay on 2g in areas where 3g worked before.

I noticed since the update that the signal display almost always says 0db 0asu now but the bars do not reflect the same way and the behavior of the phone is different. My battery usage for cell standby has also dropped to 8%. I didn't see Eugene elaborate on his changes to rild but I am curious to know what he did. He also indicated in the vibrant6 thread that rild could be pushed to other roms so anyone who is rooted may be able to try this.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shootr:
Good to hear. My home is in a fringe reception area and my phone constantly switches between edge, umts, and hspa. Locking it on 3g helps alot, but occasionally I lose my data connection for a few minutes. I've been thinking about trying the vibrant6. This may push me over the edge (awful pun, sorry).

It would certainly be nice if this is rolled up in the froyo update with a bunch of other fixes..
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] SamsungGalaxySVibrant:
Everyone is saying how close or far they live to towers. How do you guys know how close or far you live to a tower. I mean I see towers around, but you never know if that tower is verizon or tmobile for example. There litterly is a cell phone tower near me, litterly walking distance, but it must not be t-mobile because t-mobile coverage map says my area has poor t-mobile coverage.

so again, how the heck do you guys know you live a quarter mile away from a t-mobile tower? or a mile away, or whatever. did t-mobile specifically tell you the tower you see has their anntenna on it?
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Whoflungpoo?:
well crap, I was going to post a link, but I can't since I'm a n00b.

suffice it to say, the URL includes "cellreception" in between some common internet jargon ... if you catch my drift.

me personally, I know since the microwave shots I maintain are co-located with some T-mo stuff locally.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shootr:
A marketplace app named Antennas will try to tell you what cell tower you're connected to.

The app mentioned in this thread, RF Signal Tracker, will also tell you what tower you're connected to and give you the distance.

I think both of these apps rely on Google Maps location of the towers, which seems to be a bit off in my area, so take it with a grain of salt.

You can post URLs, just put a couple of spaces in the h t tp or something, and we can copy/paste/remove the spaces. The site sounds interesting.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equid0x:
I live in a major metropolitan region where nearly all suburban cell sites are leased... It is pretty typical here to see all major carriers colo'd on the same tower... So you will see verizon, sprint,att, t-mobile, and nextel all on the same tower. All I need to do is count the antennas... In the case I referenced, the antennas are colo'd on top of a water tower, and I saw signal peak when near the tower.... The data from the apps corroborates this as well.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MV10:
Similar experiences here.

At home my G1 had no problem holding 3G -- and the signal was strong.

My Vibrant constantly flip-flops between 3G and Edge and the signal strength is quite a bit lower.

Also, even though I have it set up for WiFi (which is strong throughout my house) it seems to switch back to 2G/3G most of the time when it goes to standby.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rjscott2005:
Going to 2G/3G after standby is the default setting. It can be changed, I think...
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MV10:
Interesting. I haven't seen any settings like that. Tried doing a few searches with no luck. If you come across more info, I'd appreciate the link.
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Something I've noticed: if I place a large jpeg (like 1000x1000) inside of my mp3s, the album art will show up at a lower resolution in places like the lock screen. I think this is because of something called MediaStore that keeps a databse of thumbnails of all the album art on the phone, among many other things.

Applications use this instead of reading directly from the files for convenience. The whole point of this thread is to find out how to change the resolution of the pictures stored in this database (I'd recommend 480x480 or 800x800) so that they will look crisp even if blown up to fill the whole screen.

Anyone know if this is something that can be modified outside of the source code for android? If so, how? I think I know how! Read the second post to see!
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Okay... so I did some digging, and I need your help, xda community. If you have a dev enviornment set up for AOSP froyo development I was wondering if:

On line 2685 (or so, the function called makeThumbInternal) in MediaProvider.java could someone change this:

// request a reasonably sized output image
// TODO: don't hardcode the size
while (opts.outHeight > 320 || opts.outWidth > 320) {
opts.outHeight /= 2;
opts.outWidth /= 2;
opts.inSampleSize *= 2;
}

to something like this:

// request a reasonably sized output image for people with phones made after 2008
// TODO: don't hardcode the size
while (opts.outHeight > 1000|| opts.outWidth > 1000) {
opts.outHeight /= 2;
opts.outWidth /= 2;
opts.inSampleSize *= 2;
}

and then post the modified binary.

I have no clue if the modified aosp binary will work on HTC-built roms, but I can't imagine testing it will do much harm! Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

EDIT: Also, does anyone know how to force a manual rebuild of the album art database?
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Perhaps another way would be to force the rebuilding of the database manually via an app that will have the size hard-coded to... 600x600 maybe?

Anyone wanna chime in?
[Droid Incredible Android Development] ihtfp69:
What about this: android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.StoreThumbnail()

There is a static method called insertImage() in MediaStore that seems to use the method above. It also is hard coding a size.

.line 639
.local v1, miniThumb:Landroid/graphics/Bitmap;
const/high16 v4, 0x4248

const/high16 v5, 0x4248

const/4 v6, 0x3

move-object v0, p0

invoke-static/range {v0 .. v6}, Landroid/provider/MediaStore$Images$Media;
->StoreThumbnail(Landroid/content/ContentResolver;Landroid/graphics/Bitmap;
JFFI)Landroid/graphics/Bitmap;
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Where'd you find the binary? And how'd you decompile it?

...and can you change that value to something higher to see if my theory's true?
[Droid Incredible Android Development] jermaine151:
Dude, you amaze me!
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Now you too can be amazed from the comfort of your own home!

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=640592

EDIT: Anyway... so have you tried it yet?
[Droid Incredible Android Development] ihtfp69:
I was already in there the other day merging koush's media scanner with HTC's.

I haven't tried changing the thumbnails yet. I'm not sure I would have any way to test the results. You would probably be in a better position to test since you noticed the degrade. I'm more interested in increasing the resolution of contact pictures with an incoming/ongoing phone call. Someone else had fixed this before so I know it's possible.
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
The best way to test it is to import a bunch of new albums into the phone it's never seen before after patching mediascanner, so it generates new thumbnails.

As for the contact thumbnail generator, maybe you should grep the entire source for android and search for something like "generatethumbnail" or something? I remember seeing a google help topic about this very problem of yours and a google employee showed up and said, "we'll take care of it". I'm sure you can find it if you look around.

If you have a patched binary, could you upload it?
[Droid Incredible Android Development] ihtfp69:
OK, I made some changes to a few files. I either doubled or tripled the values. Let me know the results. Oh, and I'm not responsible for this borking your phone. :D

For a true test, you may want to do a full wipe, push this to your phone and then reboot.

Download test framework -- > framework.jar

:)
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Seems to fail that pesky signature check... it just bootloops... good thing I did a nandroid! :)

EDIT: I may have spoken too soon... It seems to be rebuilding the dalvik cache like it would on first boot... I'll give it another shot and report back. This is what the adb is reporting:

D/dalvikvm( 205): DexOpt: load 10ms, verify 75ms, opt 2ms
D/installd( 107): DexInv: --- END '/system/app/HtcPhotoWidget.apk' (success) ---
I/dalvikvm( 140): DexOpt: mismatch dep signature for '/data/dalvik-cache/system@framework@framework.jar@classes.dex'
D/installd( 107): DexInv: --- BEGIN '/system/app/com.htc.WeatherWidget.apk' ---
D/dalvikvm( 206): creating instr width table
D/dalvikvm( 206): DexOpt: load 19ms, verify 111ms, opt 3ms
D/installd( 107): DexInv: --- END '/system/app/com.htc.WeatherWidget.apk' (success) ---
I/dalvikvm( 140): DexOpt: mismatch dep signature for '/data/dalvik-cache/system@framework@framework.jar@classes.dex'
D/installd( 107): DexInv: --- BEGIN '/system/app/DownloadProvider.apk' ---
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Okay... so after wiping /data/ and the cache, the thumbnails seem to be exactly the same. No change... :(

Do you know where on the phone the thumbs are stored?
[Droid Incredible Android Development] ihtfp69:
/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases
[Droid Incredible Android Development] whiplash000:
Deleted the whole folder and still as low-res as always. This is on a fresh wipe BTW. I found some other "Android" directories on both my SD card AND internal storage and I deleted them too, which seemed to actually make the database rebuild. Still, low-res garbage :(
[Droid Incredible Android Development] Contempt4You:
They have been barking on the google development page about the low res contact pics for a very long time.

If you guys find a fix, maybe you could post it there so Google can add it to the next build. They either don't care or can't figure it out.

This should be a top priority in my opinion as Android phones are marketed as multimedia devices.
[Hero, G2 Touch Themes and Apps] sassnowwolf:
Hi all, i'm currently using FusionROM! And i'm looking for the transparent widgets, such as the news and weather, facebook, calendar and twitter etc. I've been lookign for ages and cannot for the life of me find anything for the Hero, please respond asap :) thanks in advance!!
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] relic:
Can you let us know the details:

1- Which android version you used

2- Which zImage version you used

3- What is you startup.txt like

4- Did you manage to solve it? and how?

This is a survey after finding out alot of people are having this problem and so far it is hard to pinpoint what the exact problem is.

If we can share our info together I am sure we can get to the bottom of it.

Thanks
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] relic:
1- I've tried Froyostone (sense and clean) latest builds from 7 Aug 2010

2- zImage from 14 Aug 2010

3- Startup as follows:

set mtype 2524

set ramaddr 0x18000000

set ramsize 0x0fc00000

set initrd_offset 0x00a00000

set KERNEL zImage

set initrd initrd.gz

set cmdline ""

boot

also tried

set mtype 2524

set ramaddr 0x11800000

set ramsize 0x1E400000

set initrd_offset 0x00a00000

set KERNEL zImage

set initrd initrd.gz

set cmdline ""

boot

also tried to replace cmdline by adding "rel_path=Android" and changing boot to bootlinux

Formatting SD always before re-trying

4- Still no solution, after Jumping to Kernel i get black screen or just freeze and nothing happens. Have to remove battery to reboot.
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] siumonmon:
the details:

1- All latest built version with fullram zImage

2- kernel: darkstone 2.6.32.9 #35 (freeze)

Kernel: huanyu 2.6.32.9 #4 (sometime can work on first time after format SD)

Kernel: manusfreedom 2.6.32.9 #74 (shown rebooting in 5 second)

Kernel: ElBartoME 2.6.32.9#11 (freeze)

3- I am sure all version has correct startup.txt and add "rel_path=Android" in cmdline such as below:

set mtype 2524

set ramaddr 0x11800000

set ramsize 0x1e400000

set initrd_offset 0x00a00000

set KERNEL zImage

set initrd initrd.gz

set cmdline "rel_path=Android"

boot

4- I have tried difference radio / rom but still no solution for me, but I only can use back old build version with Kernel: Cotulla 2.6.32.9 #103 (mattc Leo 1.4 / shubCRAFT 1.1)

I can only run these perfectly

PB81100 HX-BC

Radio 2.12.50.02

Laterest EnergyROM 23129

Hope someone can help me

Thanks
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cw-data:
I only have this problem, when a .51 (European Radio) is installed (Non-TMO-US Version). With a .50 (U.S. Radio), booting the Kernel just works fine.
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Silas007:
Solved

The rom update solved my issues too. Just used the latesd one and no more problems starting!

Thanx for your help!
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] relic:
Yep seems the ROM update to .50 solves this issue that most of the people are having!

Here you find all info on how to change your ROM version: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=609477
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] norpan111:
i have .50 but i still get jumping to kernel. but just with the new coredroid build...
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] arifin_wijaya:
Jumping to Kernel

Dear All,

Still No Solution about this problem.

Trying all solution nothing success.

Any suggestion ?

Thanks.

Regards,

Arifin
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] koolgtz:
what works for me

Always delete cache and data folder not the data file when switching Kernel, Rom or anything else. Android should run after this.
[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] zxhian:
this made the fix for me. updated radio to .50
[EVO 4G Themes and Apps] tonyh703:
who has it in them to make a dope mary jane theme? There are some decent ones for different launchers, but f that I just want to flash and roll... Im tryin to see some nice nug icons, a nice integration of lime green and orange colors here and there, all with sense. donations available :D :D
[EVO 4G Themes and Apps] Team Kuma Style:
How much are you willing to pay?
[EVO 4G Themes and Apps] VSack:
lrn2trylesshardr.
[EVO 4G Themes and Apps] hibby50:
Word... somebody plz make one
[Vibrant General] rodrigos122:
I accidently deleted my gallery3d apk could someone please post the apk thanks.
[Vibrant General] speoples20:
Heres the system dump it should be in there.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=725903&highlight=dump
[Vibrant General] rodrigos122:
Thanks got it working again.
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] WACOMalt:
sorry for the bad metal gear reference...

Anyways, I am looking for a version of swype that works on eris? All the links I can find are trial expired, or just don't work :/
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cynikalJ:
It's free now. Go to beta.swype.com and set up an account and you can download it.
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] SplicedX:
Search for this file:

Swype_1.60.36.8214_HVGA.apk

its the newest version, possible taken from the droid 2. as long as it says HVGA it will work with the eris. If you are using froyo, you may run into issues... I'm using it on xtrROM 4.0.4 and it is pretty close to perfect aside from an occasional fc that never affects use. Again, it must say HVGA to work with the eris.
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pkopalek:
I find 1.60 to crash like crazy.

Went back to 1.56.
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] johnnyboy1549:
1.60 is working prefectly fine for me. Never had a FC or any other problem. And I love how its spaced a little more.
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ahjee:
Themes and apps?
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pkopalek:
I'm convinced xtr sense hates swype. I've even wiped and started again. Once a day swype locks up so bad I have to battery pull (I've watched it on ddms). Lame.
[Droid Eris Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Funnyface19:
you should try ShapeWriter i find it so much easier than swype and more accurate tho its not on the market right now you can search for the apk id search and post but i might have to give credit and stuff and i dont feel like it