Samsung's highly-anticipated Nexus S 4G became a member of the WiMAX family this month, pairing Google's popular Nexus phone with Sprint's 4G network. However with the honeymoon over, clients have observed the Gingerbread device is not living as much as Sprint's former flagship mates, like the Epic 4G, with last year's model besting the brand new guy on speed and network reception tests. Clients also observed difficulties with battery existence, though to date we have found it in line with other WiMAX mobile phones. We required both out for any stroll around New You are able to City, as well as on a fast weekend getaway to Miami Beach, and we are sorry to report that we have confirmed your fears about performance. Sprint and Google have confirmed that they are considering the performance issues, and that we hope they are able to patch some misconception with a few over-the-air update therapy, but meanwhile, jump beyond the break to determine what we should found.
Poor Reception
Many people do not have multiple WiMAX products hanging out for speed test evaluations, therefore it is no real surprise the greatest complaint we have seen pertains to poor signal reception, instead of data speed particularly. Forum posters (both on Sprint Community and also the Google Mobile Help Forum) reported excellent reception in your own home but poor or no reception at the office, even if co-workers along with other Sprint products could make and receive calls within the same office. In New You are able to City, we did not have issues making and receiving telephone calls, or being able to access data in a in our test locations, but we did notice signal strength discrepancies between your Nexus S 4G and Epic 4G. Through the window within our office, for instance, the Nexus S 4G registered an indication strength of -86 decibel milliwatts (dBm), and 2 signal bars (from four), as the Epic 4G registered -65 dBm, and six signal bars (from six), so there's certainly a discrepancy. We even attempted getting rid of the Nexus back plate, just just in case the built-in NFC antenna was disturbing reception, but signal strength continued to be at -86 dBm.
We also attempted testing in Miami, but were not able for connecting to 4G from your hotel in Miami Beach, and were not able to get a regular signal in downtown Miami, where coverage maps indicate a proper blanket of WiMAX. Because both phones experienced from poor reception, we can not isolate this unique connectivity problem towards the Nexus S 4G.
Speed Comparison
We carried out 20 consecutive speed tests with both mobile phones in all of five different locations -- four 4G tests in New You are able to City, and something 3rd generation test in Miami, as 4G wasn't consistently available. Whenever we averaged the outcomes, the Epic 4G outperformed the Nexus S 4G on every data transfer speed test, even doubling transfer speeds in some instances. Upload speeds between your two products were generally identical, except for the exam from the middle of our New york city office. Only at that location, the Epic 4G offered a 72 percent boost on upload speeds. We examined another Nexus S 4G phone in Bay Area, evaluating results having a WiMAX MiFi, since we did not have another WiMAX phone available. Both products produced comparable results for the reason that city, that can bring us to summarize either that only a few Nexus products are defective, or that are defective, but function normally with choose WiMAX transmitters.
New york city Window Speed Test
We observed the finest difference in download speeds when testing near a window about the 4th floor in our New york city office. When alternating between products for 25 consecutive tests, the Nexus S averaged 2,719kbps, as the Epic 4G's average data transfer speed was 120 percent faster, clocking in at 5,994kbps. Upload speeds were consistent between your two products, using the Nexus S calculating 990kbps and also the Epic 4G delivering 1,001kbps.
New york city Office Speed Test
Moving to some desk in the heart of work, about 100 ft in the nearest window, the Nexus S averaged 3,049kbps lower, in comparison to 4,699kbps using the Epic -- a 54 percent boost. Upload speeds were considerably lower here compared to your window, using the Nexus S calculating just 266kbps, in comparison to 459kbps about the Epic 4G -- a positive change of 72 percent.
New york city Park Speed Test
Naturally, both phones offered the very best performance outdoors, using the Nexus S calculating 4,248kbps lower in Union Square Park, in comparison to six,178kbps using the Epic 4G -- a positive change of 45 percent. Upload speeds were nearly identical, because they were close to the window: the Nexus S averaged 979kbps, as the Epic averaged 993kbps.
New york city Roof Speed Test
We also examined both phones from the residential roof two blocks in the World Trade Center, where we generally experience excellent signal reception. Again, the Epic bested the Nexus by 43 percent, calculating 4,496kbps towards the Nexus's 3,146kbps. Upload speeds were consistent -- 976kbps about the Epic and 917 about the Nexus.
Miami 3rd generation Speed Test
It's not necessary to travel not even close to New You are able to to locate another WiMAX city, but Miami's coverage map looked just like promising because the weather forecast, so both phones arrived for any weekend visit to the sun's rays Condition. I was disappointed to locate that Sprint's coverage map does not match WiMAX availability, however, and left without taking just one functional 4G speed test result. 3rd generation access seemed to be tricky to find in areas of Miami Beach, but we did not have trouble securing onto an indication in downtown Miami. Even on 3rd generation, the Epic 4G offered epically superior performance, calculating 1,121kbps lower -- a 92 percent boost within the Nexus's 584kbps average data transfer speed. The Epic carried out marginally much better than the Nexus about the upload test, scoring 428kbps and 388kbps, correspondingly.
Wrap-Up
Using the Epic 4G besting the Nexus S 4G on all five in our speed tests, it's not hard to conclude the more recent device is affected with some significant network performance issues. We arrived at to Sprint whenever we first investigated the issue early a week ago, and also the company and Google have both confirmed that they are looking into the issue. A Sprint representative added:
Nevertheless, the Nexus S 4G's speeds continue to be good for any WiMAX device, falling inside the carrier's selection of marketed performance (3 to 6Mbps). But when getting the very best-carrying out smartphone is really a priority, then you will clearly wish to give Sprint and Samsung some room to sort out the kinks before securing yourself right into a two-year contract using the Nexus S 4G."Nexus S 4G is just one of good selling products. Many of these clients are extremely pleased with their knowledge about the unit. We understand the connectivity reviews being introduced forward by a small amount of Nexus 4G clients. Google, Sprint and Samsung are analyzing these reviews despite the fact that we haven't yet had the opportunity to recognize any sort of causes, we're trying to determine precisely what our clients are going through."
Myriam Joire led for this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment