Ollie
Droid Does
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2012
- Messages
- 3,424
- Reaction score
- 2,068
- Location
- South Coast
- Current Phone Model
- Note Edge - iPhone 6 Plus
How do you like the screen of the G3 compared to the Turbo?
Well the Turbo is going back
- Thread starter Garemlin
- Start date
- Thread Starter
- #17
- Thread Starter
- #18
OP
Garemlin
Developer Relations
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2009
- Messages
- 2,478
- Reaction score
- 375
- Location
- Delaware
- Current Phone Model
- LG G3 (VZW), Nexus 7 v2
Ok my initial thoughts.
-Data and wifi reception are much better than the Turbo. Especially upload speed. I am getting much better data reception at home. And I am in a fringe area
-Screen is very comparable
-Speaker sound is a little softer than the Turbo. That is one place where Moto phones have always excelled
-Might not be as snappy as the Turbo but it is plenty fast and smooth enough for me
-Camera??? Well that goes without saying.
I love some of the skin and included features of the LG phones. The quick controls at the top of the notification bar are always a plus for me. I could never get a 3rd party app to replicate exactly how I want it. Dual screen is a pretty cool feature that I may use once in a while. Love the ability to customize system fonts just like the G2. Even though it it a little bigger than the Turbo it feels great in the hand. Picked up an Otterbox Symmetry case for now and it is easy to use and maneuver. Even with my small hands.
My only real beef with this and the G2 are the light colored menu screens. Wish there was a dark mode option.
And I will admit I do miss the active display. I was really growing accustom to waving my hand over the top of the screen.
That is it for now. I'm pretty happy with my decision to switch. No regrets at all.
-Data and wifi reception are much better than the Turbo. Especially upload speed. I am getting much better data reception at home. And I am in a fringe area
-Screen is very comparable
-Speaker sound is a little softer than the Turbo. That is one place where Moto phones have always excelled
-Might not be as snappy as the Turbo but it is plenty fast and smooth enough for me
-Camera??? Well that goes without saying.
I love some of the skin and included features of the LG phones. The quick controls at the top of the notification bar are always a plus for me. I could never get a 3rd party app to replicate exactly how I want it. Dual screen is a pretty cool feature that I may use once in a while. Love the ability to customize system fonts just like the G2. Even though it it a little bigger than the Turbo it feels great in the hand. Picked up an Otterbox Symmetry case for now and it is easy to use and maneuver. Even with my small hands.
My only real beef with this and the G2 are the light colored menu screens. Wish there was a dark mode option.
And I will admit I do miss the active display. I was really growing accustom to waving my hand over the top of the screen.
That is it for now. I'm pretty happy with my decision to switch. No regrets at all.
24c
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2013
- Messages
- 133
- Reaction score
- 61
- Current Phone Model
- DROID TURBO
A great place to be after any decision...
BlueLions81
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2013
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 0
I'm curious if one of those Moto devices you are talking about is a Droid Maxx. I currently have a Droid Maxx and was debating getting the Turbo, but heard the reception wasn't as good on the Turbo.
- Thread Starter
- #21
OP
Garemlin
Developer Relations
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2009
- Messages
- 2,478
- Reaction score
- 375
- Location
- Delaware
- Current Phone Model
- LG G3 (VZW), Nexus 7 v2
I have had almost every Motorola Droid device. Droid, X, Bionic, Razr, Razr Maxx and Ultra. Reception on them all was top notch. I'm not saying the Turbo is bad by any means. Just not what I am used to. And reception is always the top selling point for me with Motorola devices.
Tap'd from my LG G3
jackiescivic
Diamond Member
I noticed a big difference last year with the Droid Maxx in reception in my house. My S5 is giving me the same signal the Maxx did
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2010
- Messages
- 14,651
- Reaction score
- 4,703
- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Current Phone Model
- Droid Turbo 2 & Galaxy S7
As I've described in the past, signal level in respect to the bars is only a relative level indicator and should not to be used for comparison of different phones, even if from the same manufacturer but a different model/year. It's about as accurate as the gas gauge on your car and should be utilized in a similar fashion. For example, a half tank indication on one car may be completely different than a half tank on another car. There are many reasons why and within each reason are even more variations that add to the complexity...
Signal level bars represent a combination of two types of signals , 1X which is cellular voice and 3/4G which is cellular data. Your phone is receiving both a the same time and uses both for individual and combined purposes. Also the quality of the signal has an impact on performance so even the same signal level at different times and differing atmospheric or nearby interference conditions can result in significantly different performance.
Since it's a combination of two different signal levels, one signal (1X) could rise while the other (4G) drops and you wouldn't necessarily see a change in the number of bars displayed, yet you might see your data transmission speed reduce accordingly. Therefore the bars should only be used as a relative indicator of YOUR levels on THAT device at any given time. If you were to take two different phones and place them side by side, you may see identical bars but the actual performance of those two phones may be very different. In contrast, there is the possibility that the phones will show different signal level bars and yet may perform similarly, and it's even possible that the one with less bars may perform better.
We need to touch on dBm for a second so this will make sense...
The common method of determining actual signal strength is dBm (sometimes dBmW or Decibel-milliwatts), which is an abbreviation for the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt (mW) as it comes off the antenna(s).
A power level of 0 dBm corresponds to a power of 1 milliwatt. A 3 dB increase in level is approximately equivalent to doubling the power, which means that a level of 3 dBm corresponds roughly to a power of 2 mW. For each 3 dB decrease in level, the power is reduced by about one half, making −3 dBm correspond to a power of about 0.5 mW. So in the case of the numbers you'll see on your phone (unless you're standing next to a tower), they will be indicated in a negative number that will typically fall in the ranges of about -60dBm or .000001mW (five zeros), representing 5 bars to about -110dBm or .00000000001mW (10 zeros), representing 0 bars (*lower numbers are better).
So on my phone right now at -94dBm in 1X the antenna(s) is/are receiving about .00000000039 milliwatts of power and at-105dBm in 4G, about .000000000031 milliwatts of power, together representing 3 bars. For further reference, if I shield my phone by covering to reduce the received signal levels the lowest dBm I've seen on my phone in 4G is 124dBm and 1X of 100dBm, and at that number the signal level bar was 1, then the 4G dropped off completely and the 1X went to 98dBm, but at that very moment the signal level bar jumped to 3. So in that case, the system was telling me that although I didn't have an 4G (or 3G), I had a moderate level of 1X so it used the signal bars to indicate ONLY the 1X signal level which is why it jumped to 3 from 1. It also appears from my tests that the weighting is greater towards the 3/4G signal level than the 1X, meaning when the 1X remains the same but 3/4G changes the number of bars will change more frequently than if the 1X changes while the 3/4G remain stable. This further explains why when 4G went away for me, the number of bars jumped so considerably yet the 1X signal level hadn't moved but slightly.
Second, the dBm used by each manufacturer to indicate the best possible level (typically 5 bars), and also the dBm used to indicate no usable signal level (0 bars), are respective to the specific radios installed and at what levels in dBm they will perform as specified by the radio manufacturer(s) and also as per the expected performance of the antenna(s) and cabling. A higher quality radio will perform better at a given dBm than a lower quality radio, and may even be able to perform at a signal level which is so low that another manufacturer's radio would fail. So to compare bars on a Samsung phone with that of an LG is not a fair comparison since they use different radios, since different manufacturers may use a different "ranges" and "incremental differences" of signal strength to indicate the 1 through 4 or 5 bars of signal level.
For instance, right now, my phone is showing 3 bars, but in the network type and strength shows -86dBm in 1X and -105dBm in 4G (*lower numbers are better). Yet if I watch it, I've seen it go down to -92 and -107, and the three bars continued to display. Then in a few moments, the signal levels went back up to -87 and -105, yet I saw the number of bars drop to 2. This means if one level went down (higher negative number), such as the 4G and the other went up (lower negative number), it may still show 3 bars and yet you may get less reliable 4G. At -95 and -120 I have only 1 bar.
So why all the technical mumbo jumbo? Well basically to debunk the idea that less bars on a newer phone means worse reception. It may or may not, depending on all of the factors mentioned above and many others.
Signal level bars represent a combination of two types of signals , 1X which is cellular voice and 3/4G which is cellular data. Your phone is receiving both a the same time and uses both for individual and combined purposes. Also the quality of the signal has an impact on performance so even the same signal level at different times and differing atmospheric or nearby interference conditions can result in significantly different performance.
Since it's a combination of two different signal levels, one signal (1X) could rise while the other (4G) drops and you wouldn't necessarily see a change in the number of bars displayed, yet you might see your data transmission speed reduce accordingly. Therefore the bars should only be used as a relative indicator of YOUR levels on THAT device at any given time. If you were to take two different phones and place them side by side, you may see identical bars but the actual performance of those two phones may be very different. In contrast, there is the possibility that the phones will show different signal level bars and yet may perform similarly, and it's even possible that the one with less bars may perform better.
We need to touch on dBm for a second so this will make sense...
The common method of determining actual signal strength is dBm (sometimes dBmW or Decibel-milliwatts), which is an abbreviation for the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt (mW) as it comes off the antenna(s).
A power level of 0 dBm corresponds to a power of 1 milliwatt. A 3 dB increase in level is approximately equivalent to doubling the power, which means that a level of 3 dBm corresponds roughly to a power of 2 mW. For each 3 dB decrease in level, the power is reduced by about one half, making −3 dBm correspond to a power of about 0.5 mW. So in the case of the numbers you'll see on your phone (unless you're standing next to a tower), they will be indicated in a negative number that will typically fall in the ranges of about -60dBm or .000001mW (five zeros), representing 5 bars to about -110dBm or .00000000001mW (10 zeros), representing 0 bars (*lower numbers are better).
So on my phone right now at -94dBm in 1X the antenna(s) is/are receiving about .00000000039 milliwatts of power and at-105dBm in 4G, about .000000000031 milliwatts of power, together representing 3 bars. For further reference, if I shield my phone by covering to reduce the received signal levels the lowest dBm I've seen on my phone in 4G is 124dBm and 1X of 100dBm, and at that number the signal level bar was 1, then the 4G dropped off completely and the 1X went to 98dBm, but at that very moment the signal level bar jumped to 3. So in that case, the system was telling me that although I didn't have an 4G (or 3G), I had a moderate level of 1X so it used the signal bars to indicate ONLY the 1X signal level which is why it jumped to 3 from 1. It also appears from my tests that the weighting is greater towards the 3/4G signal level than the 1X, meaning when the 1X remains the same but 3/4G changes the number of bars will change more frequently than if the 1X changes while the 3/4G remain stable. This further explains why when 4G went away for me, the number of bars jumped so considerably yet the 1X signal level hadn't moved but slightly.
Second, the dBm used by each manufacturer to indicate the best possible level (typically 5 bars), and also the dBm used to indicate no usable signal level (0 bars), are respective to the specific radios installed and at what levels in dBm they will perform as specified by the radio manufacturer(s) and also as per the expected performance of the antenna(s) and cabling. A higher quality radio will perform better at a given dBm than a lower quality radio, and may even be able to perform at a signal level which is so low that another manufacturer's radio would fail. So to compare bars on a Samsung phone with that of an LG is not a fair comparison since they use different radios, since different manufacturers may use a different "ranges" and "incremental differences" of signal strength to indicate the 1 through 4 or 5 bars of signal level.
For instance, right now, my phone is showing 3 bars, but in the network type and strength shows -86dBm in 1X and -105dBm in 4G (*lower numbers are better). Yet if I watch it, I've seen it go down to -92 and -107, and the three bars continued to display. Then in a few moments, the signal levels went back up to -87 and -105, yet I saw the number of bars drop to 2. This means if one level went down (higher negative number), such as the 4G and the other went up (lower negative number), it may still show 3 bars and yet you may get less reliable 4G. At -95 and -120 I have only 1 bar.
So why all the technical mumbo jumbo? Well basically to debunk the idea that less bars on a newer phone means worse reception. It may or may not, depending on all of the factors mentioned above and many others.
Last edited:
- Thread Starter
- #24
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
- 7,633
- Reaction score
- 4,123
The number of bars in a location is only factually important to alcoholics and GSM customers .
grunt0300
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2014
- Messages
- 339
- Reaction score
- 167
- Location
- Nokomis, Florida
- Current Phone Model
- Google Pixel 2 XL, Nexus 6
Thought about the Turbo myself, but just couldn't get past that CDMA network. Stayed with AT&T, but got a Nexus 5 from Google. Good luck with the G3.
Ollie
Droid Does
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2012
- Messages
- 3,424
- Reaction score
- 2,068
- Location
- South Coast
- Current Phone Model
- Note Edge - iPhone 6 Plus
Totally agree. The GUI for the signal bars is represented differently by each OEM (and sometimes manipulated) . I have gotten great data speeds and crystal clear call qualities on "1" bar of signal strength.
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2010
- Messages
- 14,651
- Reaction score
- 4,703
- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Current Phone Model
- Droid Turbo 2 & Galaxy S7
And I wasn't implying that either of you, @jackiescivic or @Garemlin did. That post was for the benefit of the general membership and not aimed at either of you.
However even the dBm levels can be misleading as I mentioned, Different radios can perform better or worse with the same dBm of signal. The truest test of signal is the Speed Test as @Garemlin indicated. That and call quality in the case of voice transmission.
Another point, even at good dBm on a tower, keep in mind that if the tower you're connected to is heavily congested the service won't be all that great. This is where even the Speed Test can provide misleading results. The Speed Test can't change how congested the tower you're connected to is, and even though it may look for the best server, throughput is only as fast as the tightest bottleneck in the entire communication loop. Checking the phone's throughput at different times of day, and even at different cell site locations will give the best possible indication of the phone's actual performance level.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2012
- Messages
- 17,041
- Reaction score
- 3,997
- Location
- SE TX
- Current Phone Model
- Droid Turbo 2
In verizons network.. I'm told that the bars only represent the voice or 1x signal?? And 30 mins later I was told that it's an approximation of signals... After that conversation..my brain was smoldering.. It made zero sense...
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2010
- Messages
- 14,651
- Reaction score
- 4,703
- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Current Phone Model
- Droid Turbo 2 & Galaxy S7
Whoever informed you of that informed you incorrectly. Since the bars on my phone will go up and down with the 4G signal levels in dBm, it is proof that 4G signal level is represented in the bars, at least in part.