I've been reading this thread for the past few days because I have been considering the purchase of a new iphone and have some comments here, but first I would like to say that I am amazed at the patience most of you who have stuck with your phones and continued to test them and display your results here. What's even more amazing is that situations such as these with Apple in this day and age are left to go on and on and on, when effectively what should be done is a total recall of the product.
That said, I have owned several iphones in the past, the last being the 5c...wonderful phone. Last October, I decided to purchase a new phone and for various reasons, decided to go with a Samsung S9 as my wife has and is very happy with a Note 9 (too big for me).
Both her phone and my S9 essentially got full bars of reception in most places we traveled around and near our home. Great reception (she first with AT&T but changed to Tmobile which I am on, for the family plan).
Well a few weeks ago, I switched to the Galaxy S10 and the fun began. What I saw was that in pretty much any and every area I went to where I used to see 5 bars with the S9, I now was seeing only 2 or 3 with the S10. Since I also did not take a liking to the in screen fingerprint sensor, I returned the phone and went with a Pixel 3. Same reception results, 2 or 3 bars where my wife was still getting 5 and my old S9 was still showing 5. I also found out that the Pixel 3 had major audio problems so this time I returned it and went with the Galaxy S10e which I am now using. Still 2 or 3 bars when the old phone and my wife's show more and seem to retain connections better than the S10e.
Next step..last week I tried an iphone XR. Not bad, but still no better bars than the S10, Pixel 3 or S10e. I also didn't really like the size of the iphone XR...sooooo I took it back and am now still with the S10e.
When I had the XR, I saw that low signal areas would bring data speeds to a crawl, maybe 1mbps or near that.
Bottom line:
1 - How many of you who have been fit to be tied with the iphones have relied on actual signal strength in DB rather than relying on the bars on the phone? I hadn't mentioned one important thing which is that when measuring actual DB on my wife's phone, my S9, my Pixel 3, My S10e and the iphone XR that I had for a couple of days, DB readings were essentially the SAME or very close on all the phones. One thing that I have learned is that carrier phones will show different bars on their phones than unlocked factory phones (which my S10e, Pixel 3, S10 and iphone XR all were -- my S9 and wife's Note 9 being carrier phones). Since there is no real standard on how many bars mean how much signal, even the phone manufacturers differ from one to the next. So essentially bars on the phone truthfully mean NOTHING. Zilch!
2 - Last night I spent some time doing and redoing speed tests on my S10e..guess it was a boring night
and found that each and every time I ran a test I got completely different results, anywhere from about 15-20 all the way up to about 70mbps. No two were alike, there was no consistency and I concluded that there were just too many outside variables contributing to the results. So, I ask, how many of you are relying on the data speeds to decide that your phone is not working correctly?
3 - Dropped calls or no service on the phone when other phones do not drop them or maintain service, ARE an indication of a problem. But out of all of these, data speeds and bars... are not really. I know it's not as convenient on an iphone to see the actual DB measurements but these ARE accurate, not the bars.
All this said, my purpose is just to point out that this may be why there are so many different results from one owner to another. Maybe one person thinks he is getting poor reception based on the number of bars. Maybe another is actually looking at the DB results. Even KNOWING better, my S9 shows 5 bars and gives me a warmer feeling than seeing only 2 on the S10e...even though the DB may actually be identical. Or maybe one person thinks his data speeds suck because he is doing his testing when the tower is overloaded, or when conditions just aren't right. I have no doubt that some of you are doing the testing very accurately and effectively but it almost seems that the biggest issue in this thread is the differences that everyone is reporting. Maybe not everyone is doing the testing effectively.
At any rate, after 6 months of this, I'd think it's getting old for most of you. The Xs and Max are pretty much half way through their life cycles at this point and I am beginning to think that no real fix is on the horizon. I hope I am wrong but I won't be holding my breath.
Oh and just one more thing...don't think for one minute I am keeping the S10e because it's a great phone, I actually can't stand it for many reasons. I just cannot seem to find anything else that is current that is worth investing in and for some strange reason, most all the late 2018 phones seem to have major issues!
