vB Easy Archive - Blackjack Network Selection!!!

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Blackjack Network Selection!!!
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Posted by: pbogle

I've figured out how to put the blackjack into Edge mode by default. Simple really. It's the same procedure for the samsung ZX20 (which was my previous phone).

1. Enter *#1546792*#
2. Select Option 3 Netowrk & Call Settings
3. Select option 5 Network Mode
4. Select GSM

Let's see how that affects battery performance.

Posted by: xbox360gamer

sweet. I'm gonna try this on my Blackjack in a few minutes.

by the way, would I need to go through the same process every time when I want to switch from UMTS to GSM/EDGE or does it stay as long as I dont change it?

Posted by: fowen

Woohoo! Good work!

Anyway to make this a shortcut so I don't have to memorize the number?

Posted by: pbogle

Quote:

Originally Posted by xbox360gamer

sweet. I'm gonna try this on my Blackjack in a few minutes.

by the way, would I need to go through the same process every time when I want to switch from UMTS to GSM/EDGE or does it stay as long as I dont change it?

It'll stay on the same setting until you change it.

Posted by: mobilehavoc

Quote:

Originally Posted by fowen

Woohoo! Good work!

Anyway to make this a shortcut so I don't have to memorize the number?

Save it as a contact?

Posted by: spartanrob

That's what I've been waiting for. THANK YOU!

Posted by: jhruth

If you decide you want 3G how do you go back ? Same thing just pick 3G ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbogle

I've figured out how to put the blackjack into Edge mode by default. Simple really. It's the same procedure for the samsung ZX20 (which was my previous phone).

1. Enter *#1546792*#
2. Select Option 3 Netowrk & Call Settings
3. Select option 5 Network Mode
4. Select GSM

Let's see how that affects battery performance.

Posted by: wtxn

Anyone know the password for the other menus?

Posted by: spartanrob

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobilehavoc

Save it as a contact?

Doesn't workk if you save it as a contact as you don't actuall make a call. Any other suggestions other then manually entering it?

Posted by: creighton1

This is exactly what I need. Thanks so much.

Posted by: juiceppc

You rock! This is a very great option to have.

Posted by: bostonirishguy

Nice work!!

Now, if someone could just come up with an easier way to get the battery cover off...

Posted by: juiceppc

Quote:

Originally Posted by bostonirishguy

Nice work!!

Now, if someone could just come up with an easier way to get the battery cover off...

Haha. Prob not until we get extended batteies with different covers... Are there any yet?

Posted by: creighton1

Quote:

Originally Posted by juiceppc

Haha. Prob not until we get extended batteies with different covers... Are there any yet?

I found a battery cover designed for an extended battery, but no extended battery to go with it.

http://www.tessco.com/products/disp...876&eventPage=1

Posted by: abcomputin

What about this:

http://www.tessco.com/products/disp...176&eventPage=1

Posted by: bdc10

You da man!

Posted by: iJITSU

You just saved my blackjack from going back, Jack. Seriously, thanks for that code. I was getting marginal battery life due to 3G and wanted the option to choose 3G only when I'm surfing. This is great to have.

Posted by: mobilehavoc

So reading these posts are people saying that JUST USING 3G is killing battery life? I thought what was hurting battery life was switching between EDGE and UMTS/HSPDA not merely just using 3G.

If just using 3G kills your battery - I'm happily stuck in 2.5G world

Posted by: juiceppc

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobilehavoc

So reading these posts are people saying that JUST USING 3G is killing battery life? I thought what was hurting battery life was switching between EDGE and UMTS/HSPDA not merely just using 3G.

If just using 3G kills your battery - I'm happily stuck in 2.5G world

There are 3 modes. Auto~GSM~WCDMA. I locked mine at GSM and it seemed to be getting better batt life but I didn't test long enough. I'm going to try locking it at wcdma...

I

HSDPA

Posted by: wtxn

any CDMA-based technology like WCDMA will use more power than TDMA-based GSM.

Posted by: creighton1

Quote:

Originally Posted by abcomputin

What about this:

http://www.tessco.com/products/disp...176&eventPage=1

I'm not sure about these. If you follow this link: http://www.tessco.com/products/bmd/...bgroupId=270_10

Then look at the table labeled "Cingular Packaged Batteries", it lists one battery and says it is for phone model SGH-I607. If you look at the picture of teh battery however, it is a Treo battery, and clearly not compatible with the Blackjack. I wonder about about those other batteries on the site listed as for use with the I607.

Posted by: FullStrength

This is one of the problems i dont understand, UMTS is a battery hog, GSM isnt. So why cant a phone idle in GSM mode, until it needs to make a call, or send data ? The gsm network isnt going anywhere so, if they increase the control channels. We get the best of both worlds.

Posted by: creighton1

If I lock to GSM, take the battery out, put it back in and turn the phone on, the battery meter in Task Manager reads about 80% full. If I then lock to WCDMA, take the battery out, put it back in and turn the phone on, the battery meters reads about 50%. If I then lock again to GSM and repeat the procedure the battery meters returns to about 80%. What is going on? I get the feeling the battery meter is not very accurate. Earlier today I was downloading three e-mail attachments (about 600-700KB each). I checked the battery meter before downloading and it read nearly 100% (there was just the slightest bit of white visible). About two minutes later, after the attachments had downloaded, I looked at the meter again and it was at 50%. I don't understand why these huge jumps are happening.

On a separate note, is it possible to save e-mail attachments to the phone's memory? For example, if I have a .cab attachment to an e-mail, I can't open it from messaging - I get a warning that the file type is unsafe and cannot be opened. Can I save it memory and run from there? I didn't see such an option under the menu.

Posted by: awesome_sauce

sounds like to me the phone just has a crazy battery meter

Posted by: creighton1

Quote:

Originally Posted by awesome_sauce

sounds like to me the phone just has a crazy battery meter

Surely mine is not the only one. I've had two and both meters acted similarly.

BTW, I've had it locked to GSM for the majority of the day and done the following: Direct Push set for "as mail arrives" and received approximately 60 e-mails, sent approx 10 e-mails, made about 15-20 minutes of phone calls, downloaded about 1.5 MB of e-mail attachments (I switched to 3G for this), and about 10 minutes of web browsing. The batter had a full charge at 7:00 this morning, or about 10 hours ago. I still have 75-80% of a charge left according to the meter and still have 3 of 4 bars left. If I'd have left it set to auto select I would be getting the low battery warning by now, or maybe earlier. I'd really like to be able to leave it set on auto network selection but until a much higher capacity battery is available to works well.

Posted by: john1027

I don't think it is very accurate either. While I have not seen the wild swings in the meter that you experienced, I have seen it hanging up where I was reading one level and then a short time later it dropped much more that I would have expected based on activity. I forget which one, but one of the HTC devices had this problem and it took a rom update to fix it. I guess we'll see if this is a wide-range complaint.

Posted by: outz

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbogle

Thanks very much! This will come in handy when Cingular goes 3g here.

Posted by: I have a phone

shouldn't the title be mode selection and not network selection? You're still on the same network

Posted by: mmm123456

This made a HUGE difference in the battery life for me. I have been running it all day with 3G off and the battery meter has only moved one bar. With 3G on, doing the same things I have been running through an entire battery in the same amount of time.

Posted by: Flooty333

Can someone try just locking it to 3G? Then we can know for sure if the battery drainage was due to 3G itself, or the device switching back and forth.

Thanks.

Posted by: lexxsf

Has anyone found a way to make a shortcut out of this? Or is the only way to access it is by punching all the numbers?

This also saved my Blackjack from potentially going back to the store. Thanks!

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flooty333

Can someone try just locking it to 3G? Then we can know for sure if the battery drainage was due to 3G itself, or the device switching back and forth.

Thanks.

newsflash guys: UMTS draws more on the battery. I thought this was a known point? I guess all the 3G newbs are just finding it out?

Posted by: mimaz

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbogle

Thanks for the great info. Another question...........

Once you enter the #s in step 1, you get to the Admin Settings menu. Choice 2 is Preconfiguration, Choice 4 is Internal......both require a password....what password? Also, Choice 1 is version, PDA version vs S/W version. What's the difference?

Posted by: fowen

Quote:

Originally Posted by lexxsf

Has anyone found a way to make a shortcut out of this? Or is the only way to access it is by punching all the numbers?

This also saved my Blackjack from potentially going back to the store. Thanks!

Since i don't think this is going to be a easy task I set up a "Fund" to hopefully entice a programmer to jump on this.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=8260358

Posted by: LifeinAudi

weird i tried it a few times and it keeps telling me that it failed, any ideas why?

Posted by: fresnostatevb13

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbogle

This has dramatically improved my battery life. Went all day yesterday with a TON of web browsing and battery went down only one bar. For now, EDGE is my friend.

Thanks again!

Posted by: LifeinAudi

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeinAudi

weird i tried it a few times and it keeps telling me that it failed, any ideas why?

never mind my own fault i was missing the #

all is good now, thank you

Posted by: joxes

Thanks again for this great key code...

I'm pretty sure Cingular was aware of this issue and decide to hide the band selection function with their branded OS. I really don't know who are the people in charge of testing the devices.

This key code changed my life using the blackjack and I decided to keep it.

Posted by: encece

Thanks for replying 4 times.

Posted by: pbogle

Quote:

Originally Posted by fresnostatevb13

This has dramatically improved my battery life. Went all day yesterday with a TON of web browsing and battery went down only one bar. For now, EDGE is my friend.

Thanks again!

Wow! All day and only a decrease in one bar! I've still yet to really give this a solid test, since my office is in the pits of hell and a signal is hard to come by, 3G or no.

I'll see how mine performs over the long weekend.

Posted by: jetfxr

Got my BJ today. Charged battery out of box for four hours. Pooped it in. Did a ton of surfing and downloading. Cell tower is in backyard , so I was'nt switching. Phone calls about 30 min. Streaming radio and a lil video. Tons of 1mb dslreports.com speed tests. Battery lasted about 10 hours. While showing off the Music id got the message. Battery Low. Just popped in my Fresh off 8 10 hours of charge batt. Selected GSM , edge is in the window, we'll see how it goes.

Posted by: pbogle

Quote:

Originally Posted by encece

Thanks for replying 4 times.

This entire accolade is unwarranted! The real credit goes to tsdevine, who posted the code in August of 2006 in the regular cingy phones forum, referencing the Sammy ZX20:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthr...&highlight=zx20

Posted by: stevenw

I guess I'm the only one who has no complaints with battery life? Or do you guys play on the thing all day long? I'm 3G all day long, average use with calls and surfing. 3 bars left at the end of the day. It's much better than my mpx 220 ever was.

Posted by: wtxn

the people that don't have complaints don't complain (or say anything else)

Posted by: maevro

It would be nice if they had pictures.

Question. I understand that you are saving it to EDGE because of battery life, but what happens if you are not in a 3G area? Wouldnt your battery life last anyway and you dont have to set it for EDGE only?

Posted by: jgomez

what screen am I supposed to be on when I type in the code?

Posted by: jhruth

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgomez

what screen am I supposed to be on when I type in the code?

From the home screen just start entering the code

Once you start typing the dial pad will start and then keep entering the code and then a menu will pop up and you can make the changes....

Posted by: encece

the original tip works great! Thanks!

Posted by: jetfxr

WOAH , selected Edge and battery was extremely worse!
Actually did less battery intensive stuff and battery lasted less than half as long.
Back to 3G for me!
Radio streaming 30 minutes
Push on "as received"
30 min. of web browsing
couple short phone calls

Posted by: Philmatic

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbogle

Let's see how that affects battery performance.

Thank you so much! This is great since I'm in the 3G-Less LA Metro area.

Posted by: sergedy2k

I' like to enable EFR on the Blackjack. I beleive this is possible through the same menu, however it wants a password. Any suggestion?

Posted by: wtxn

not sure why you'd need to enable EFR if you're on a 3G network because AMR-FR will be used instead.

Posted by: sergedy2k

First I use phones overseas in the countries where only congested GSM is available. I prefer EFR on those occasions. I also activated EFR on my LG CU500 (mostly used on 3G) and found a noticeable difference. What else to say? Has anybody get to know BJ Admin Password yet? I take it has 10 digits.

Posted by: dstrauss

There must ba a lot more to this battery drain situation than meets the eye. I just spent Thanksgiving in Houston (First 3G experience by the way - what a rush). It was spotty at my brother-in-laws house (could get 3G outdoors, not inside) so it switched in and out of 3G a lot; then closer to town it ran 3G the entire time. Very little difference in battery drain. Either way one-two bars left by 10:00 pm (a 12-14 hour day). Here back at home, EDGE only, would usually have two-three bars left in that span of time.

Posted by: sgiles1

I was browsing the windows directory with Total Commander and found a file called AdminSettings. I executed it and it had the network options menu. This could easily be made into shortcut.

Posted by: childers2

I dont have 3g yet but how bad is it on your battrery?

Posted by: iJITSU

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiles1

I was browsing the windows directory with Total Commander and found a file called AdminSettings. I executed it and it had the network options menu. This could easily be made into shortcut.

Yep. This was posted elsewhere. Also, you can skip the AdminSettings file and choose the BandSelect file which will take you directly to a menu to choose WCDMA, GSM 850, GSM 1900, or Auto. Quicker with less menus.

Posted by: TWDuke

Well switching to GSM does help the battery issue, however the only benefits I see in the phone (vs my old E61) are 1) 3G 2) its small. On the other hand, the E61 offers a better screen resolution, a more stable OS. Yes its bigger and does not have a camera but web surfing is fantastic on it.

So if I use the phone in GSM only mode not really sure what the purpose is. Perhaps if I could swithc back and forth with one button it would be better. So when i want to watch my SlingPlayer I can toggle back to 3G. Tried sling in GSM but lots of stops and starts.

Posted by: Otep

Quote:

Originally Posted by mimaz

I'd also curious to know... If by any chance someone knows what the right password is, please spread the knowledge.

Thanks,
Otep

Posted by: awyeah

Does anyone know the final answer to what is draining the battery? Do we think that the battery life might get better as the HSDPA network becomes more filled out and robust, or is it always going to be like this?

Personally, I don't mind using this as a temporary solution, but I don't want to have to deal with this for the rest of the time I have this device...

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by awyeah

Do we think that the battery life might get better as the HSDPA network becomes more filled out and robust, or is it always going to be like this?

battery consumption is not due to network robustness.

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

battery consumption is not due to network robustness.

Are you sure? My battery performance improved remarkably when I locked my phone to UMTS. I concluded that the constant UMTS/GSM handoffs were detrimental to battery life.

Posted by: bartolo5

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

battery consumption is not due to network robustness.

Not true. Better network and better coverage means your phone needs to pump out less signal to reach the towers, and therefore needs to consume less power with benefits in terms of battery life.

Posted by: bartolo5

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

Are you sure? My battery performance improved remarkably when I locked my phone to UMTS. I concluded that the constant UMTS/GSM handoffs were detrimental to battery life.

Doesn't the phone have to have two radios to be able to do handoffs between UMTS and GSM? Maybe locking it to UMTS it can completely shutoff the GSM radio.

Posted by: BbcRiv

I had a question..

When I look in the network settings it only gives me the following options..

-Auto

-GSM

-WCDMA

I know there isnt 3G in my area yet but should I see an option for it ?

Thanks alot !

Posted by: thinlyveiled

WCDMA == 3g

Posted by: BbcRiv

duh.. lol

Thanks for answering my stupid question..

Posted by: awyeah

I locked the phone to 3G only... and it appears that the battery is lasting significantly longer now.

Posted by: techfury90

Quote:

Originally Posted by wtxn

Anyone know the password for the other menus?

*#81230*#. I found this one out by using the process viewer that comes with Visual Studio to see what process was opened when you entered in the 1st code... then I opened up the file (AdminSettings.exe) in Notepad and looked around for any kind of code, and it was right there.

Posted by: maevro

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

Are you sure? My battery performance improved remarkably when I locked my phone to UMTS. I concluded that the constant UMTS/GSM handoffs were detrimental to battery life.

I Have A Phone is correct. In one of our work offices we are in 3G and in the other it is only EDGE and the battery lasts the same.

Obviously usage effects battery life, but so does playing around with the phone (like messing with settings).

I was pleasantly surprised that when I was streaming music, it really didnt effect my battery life all that much.

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by maevro

I Have A Phone is correct. In one of our work offices we are in 3G and in the other it is only EDGE and the battery lasts the same.

Unless I'm misinterpreting you, it seems your findings do not support his conclusion. If the battery life is the same when the phone is locked to 3G as when it is locked to EDGE, that supports my conclusion instead (that the handoffs are causing the problem).

Posted by: wtxn

Quote:

Originally Posted by techfury90

very nice.

The "Preconfiguration" menu doesn't have anything exciting (country selection), but the "Internal" menu has a ton of network test, gain control, etc. settings available.

Posted by: keltraine

Yeah, 3G just went on in LA on the 15th, and for whatever reason, since then I will say that anecdotally (not having done any controlled tests) I've had coverage just about everywhere I've gone in LA/OC and with that being the case, my battery seems to be lasting longer than when it wasn't on!

As cool as it is to be able to turn off 3G, why buy a 3G device in the first place then?! And the battery still really only lasts a day, but I just plug the phone in every night and have a charger in my car; not a big deal when I can get 800 kbps to my phone anywhere I go!

Posted by: marshal

Quote:

Originally Posted by techfury90

I tried entering this code as the password to get into the other menus and it did not work. i held down the * and # buttons to enter them into the password. Am I doing something wrong?

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by bartolo5

Not true. Better network and better coverage means your phone needs to pump out less signal to reach the towers, and therefore needs to consume less power with benefits in terms of battery life.

uh no. The mobile doesn't pump out signal to reach the towers.

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

If the battery life is the same when the phone is locked to 3G as when it is locked to EDGE, that supports my conclusion instead (that the handoffs are causing the problem).

where did I say it was the same when solely used on each technology?

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

where did I say it was the same when solely used on each technology?

"In one of our work offices we are in 3G and in the other it is only EDGE and the battery lasts the same."

Perhaps a clarification would be useful.

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

uh no. The mobile doesn't pump out signal to reach the towers.

Of course it does - after all, your caller has to hear you just as well. However, I doubt the phone dynamically adjusts its power output so that it's just enough to reach the connected cell site.

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

"In one of our work offices we are in 3G and in the other it is only EDGE and the battery lasts the same."

Perhaps a clarification would be useful.

sure, if I made that statement. But I didn't

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

Of course it does - after all, your caller has to hear you just as well. However, I doubt the phone dynamically adjusts its power output so that it's just enough to reach the connected cell site.

your assumption on how power from the mobile to the base station works is incorrect

check out Google for 3G info

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

your assumption on how power from the mobile to the base station works is incorrect

check out Google for 3G info

Alternatively, you could be helpful and proffer an authoritative source.

Posted by: techfury90

Wirelessly posted (iPaq rx3115: SAMSUNG-SGH-I607/I607FG1 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; Smartphone; 320x240) UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Quote:

Originally Posted by marshal

Quote:

Originally Posted by techfury90

I tried entering this code as the password to get into the other menus and it did not work. i held down the * and # buttons to enter them into the password. Am I doing something wrong?

you have to hold down fn. also there's not a . at the end

Posted by: keltraine

Remember that you have to hit Num Lock to input the numbers--I confess I had a little trouble with the codes until I remembered that! :P

Hard to tell what you're doing when you can't see what's being typed...

Posted by: wtxn

I have a phone is an authoratiatve information source.

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by wtxn

I have a phone is an authoratiatve information source.

I wouldn't exactly call someone who claims that a phone "does not pump out signal to the towers" - a claim that defies the laws of physics - an authoritative source.

Posted by: wtxn

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

I wouldn't exactly call someone who claims that a phone "does not pump out signal to the towers" - a claim that defies the laws of physics - an authoritative source.

"pump out a signal" isn't exactly a scientific term

Posted by: thinlyveiled

As it happens, "i have a phone" is correct - see U.S. Patent No. 5,056,109 (Method and apparatus for controlling transmission power in a CDMA cellular mobile telephone system).

My point, however, is that (s)he could have gave me a link instead of just telling me to Google it. A bald, unsupported statement from someone - even an educated and well known person - is not, without more, a persuasive one.

Posted by: techfury90

Just a heads up, the secret code does allow access to some options that allow BitPim access to the phone's filesystem....

Posted by: presario63

Found the extended battery at:
http://www.wirelessgalaxy.com/samsu...accessories.asp

Posted by: bdwelle

Quote:

Originally Posted by iJITSU

It took a little searching, but I was able to find this... I used ActiveSync to open the Windows directory, found Bandsel.exe, made a shortcut in the Start Menu, and then assigned a speed dial. Works great.

Now to see if locking to GSM solves my call dropping problem! ;/

Posted by: KenDude

Unfortunately Cingular has a 3G outing in my area today and I get "NO SERVICE" on my phone. Tried to dial the number listed in the first message in this topic to switch to Edge in case it was a 3G only problem since my wife's Razr dials just fine sitting the same room, but without service it fails trying to dial that number.

Next up was trying to find this bandsel.exe in the windows directory. Couldn't find it browsing the device but did find it via ActiveSynch looking at the Windows dir on the BJ. Made a shortcut and copied to the start menu.

There are 4 selections
Auto
GSM850
GSM1900
WCDMA

Tried all of them, none of them would let me dial. ugh... Wonder why my wife's phone works? (PS my SIM card in her phone works too...)

Posted by: Foxbat121

I kept my phone on 3G only mode for a night. My phone usually uses half the battery over-night (without any usage) because my home is in a weak signal area. However, when I put it on 3G only mode, the battery meter barely moves at all over-night. So, it seems to me 3G itself does not consumer more power. It's the auto mode that constantly check GSM vs 3G consumes more power.

Posted by: jmacdonald801

Quote:

Originally Posted by fowen

Since i don't think this is going to be a easy task I set up a "Fund" to hopefully entice a programmer to jump on this.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=8260358

No need to start a fund.

There is a hidden file in the \Windows directory called AdminSettings.exe.

With Resco I had to change it's options to show hidden files.

You can create a link to AdminSettings.exe into your start menu with Resco or make a link to it some other way.

Just to be clear, this program brings up that nifty settings menu you all are talking about.

I didn't read all 5 billions pages of this thread so I apologize if someone beat me to this information.

-James

Posted by: lelety

Wow very handy !

Posted by: LunaC

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmacdonald801

That is exactly what I've been doing also. Makes the change over alot faster. Now if I can figure out how to hook into IE and Email to force 3gmode when on and edge when off

Posted by: sharksfan

Is there a setting that will disable AMR-HR? If so, I just may ditch my Blue plan...

Posted by: VanillaGorilla

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foxbat121

It's the auto mode that constantly check GSM vs 3G consumes more power.

I would tend to agree with this, and it seems that was what was happening with me. Not to mention that I seemed to be getting occasional dropouts as the phone tried to connect to 3G here, and locking to Edge looks to have cleared that up...but time will tell.

MtA

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharksfan

Is there a setting that will disable AMR-HR? If so, I just may ditch my Blue plan...

Voice quality on UMTS is far superior to that on GSM, but, I am not sure which codec is used. It's one of the reasons I keep my phone locked to 3G.

Posted by: bartolo5

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

Of course it does - after all, your caller has to hear you just as well. However, I doubt the phone dynamically adjusts its power output so that it's just enough to reach the connected cell site.

You would be surprised to know all the things a cellphone gets to do to communicate with the cellphone towers. GSM and UMTS/WCDMA are pretty involved when it comes to all this chatting.

In particular, output power control from the mobile handset is an inherent feature of a CDMA system, and power control is a requirement by design. Check for example this page that talks about UMTS/CDMA:

http://www.umtsworld.com/technology/cdmabasics.htm

Basically in UMTS/WCDMA all users are transmitting in the same radio frequencies, although every user has a unique code that the cell receiver knows and that it allows it to discern from different user signals. If however one of the users is transmitting with more power than needed it could interfere in the good reception of everybody else, therfore output power control is essential for WCDMA to work properly.

Posted by: bartolo5

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

Voice quality on UMTS is far superior to that on GSM, but, I am not sure which codec is used. It's one of the reasons I keep my phone locked to 3G.

Same thing here. I keep my Blackjack locked to 3G because call quality is excellent. People around here says its AMR full rate, and I think the debug screen also shows this.

Posted by: didefresh2006

Edge is pretty fast on my blackjack.

Posted by: LunaC

After reading that, I'm gonna try locking to 3g rather than edge to see if the auto is the culprit. Anyone else tested it yet?

Posted by: mdntblu

Here is a shortcut to turn off 3g

http://www.i607.org/wiki/doku.php?i...off_3g_shortcut

Posted by: sharksfan

Is there a way to enable EFR on this phone?

Posted by: kingcha

sweet thanks for all this!

Posted by: filber

OK - I fully admit to being a newbie with both the Blackjack and this forum so please be kind. Like many others I have confounded by the small battery life although the phone is very cool - having come from the Treo land.

My problem is when I try entering the code as suggested I get nothing - I go to the home screen enter *#1546792*# and nothing happens? I then press the green button to dial and simply get an error.

Note that I am using Good for access to company email - not sure if that makes a difference.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Posted by: iJITSU

forget the code. connect your phone to your pc. go into ActiveSync/tools/explore smartphone. Go into my device/windows and find either Adminsettings.exe or Bandselect.exe. Right click and create a shortcut. Then cut and paste the shortcut you created into windows/start menu. You will then see the shorcut on your start screen and can change the band at will. Note that if you choose Adminsettings you will have to go into Network Mode each time to pick GSM or WCDMA or Auto. If you choose BandSelect you will straight to those options.

Posted by: T600 CA User

Quote:

Originally Posted by bostonirishguy

Nice work!!

Now, if someone could just come up with an easier way to get the battery cover off...

Try putting an egrips on the battery door. I could not get the cover off for the life of me before this.

Posted by: didefresh2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by T600 CA User

Try putting an egrips on the battery door. I could not get the cover off for the life of me before this.

i have no problems with the battery door.

Posted by: DrRazorback

Im another newbie here and just got my bj a week ago...

What is the difference betwee Edge and 3G? I live in a NON 3g area...What difference would setting it to "Edge" make? And when I DO set it to edge, how to I get it back should it mess my phone up?

Thanks!

Posted by: cecco

does anybody have a solution for the BJ II? tried the code below, but does not seem to work for the new version.. thx

Posted by: SHoTTa35

If you live in a non-3G area then turn off 3G and just run some EDGE. You'll save power and your phone will run longer as a result. When you get 3G in your area you can turn it back on

it works just the same on the new phone. I just use the "adminsettings.exe" file in the Windows folder tho. Create a shortcut to it and put it on your startmenu and you can run it all the time without remembering the code.

Posted by: cecco

done it, but seems strange.. if you select GSM and then go back into the selection menu it still stays on AUTO.. it does not switch ...

Posted by: iJITSU

Someone else reported it not working correctly on their blackjack II. Works fine on mine though, so not sure what the issue is. If you haven't already, application unlock your phone using SDAUnlock (can find for free on web). Not sure if that will help but won't hurt to try.

Posted by: bgates22

I switched my Blackjack 2 to Edge and my battery life has been great so far. I've been pushing email for the past 28 hours and still have full batter per the home screen (it's decreased about 15% according to the power meter in the settings menu). I only surf the web on mobile friendly web sites and edge has been great for those web pages. Surfing full web pages is terrible even on 3G. Full web pages weren't made for devices as small as a BJ2. The only perceivable downfall to running it on Edge, in my opinion, is that you don't get the especially stellar voice quality that 3G offers.

Posted by: cecco

Now i have it stuck on GSM and can not go back to anything else .. does anybody know if there is a special sequence to follow? selecting the band and pressing the "call-end" button stays there, but it is not selected for sure .. pressing "done" brings it back to GSM..thx

Posted by: Firemedic17

For this to work you need to have NO DATA connection. it appears that the BJII will not let you change this while a 'media net' connection is active. If your selection is not 'sticking' go to wireless manager and hiot menu then 'disconnect cellulat data'. hit home. go to your shortcut and change the band. it will stick then. If your phone initializes a connection ( purple LED flash) before you change band it aint gonna work,

Posted by: Joe Camel(Toe)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbogle

I did this and it worked great until I went back the home screen and saw the 3G icon. So I did it again and saw that "Auto" was still ticked off whereas I left it on "GSM"

Any reason it reverts back?

Thanks.

Posted by: Firemedic17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Camel(Toe)

Did you read the post regarding the data connection ?????

Power button >> Wireless Manager >>>{menu} DisconnecT Cellular Data

Then do you band selection before the phone initializes a data connection.

Posted by: jk5598224

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firemedic17

For this to work you need to have NO DATA connection. it appears that the BJII will not let you change this while a 'media net' connection is active. If your selection is not 'sticking' go to wireless manager and hiot menu then 'disconnect cellulat data'. hit home. go to your shortcut and change the band. it will stick then. If your phone initializes a connection ( purple LED flash) before you change band it aint gonna work,

THANKS A LOT, JUST SOLVED MY PROBLEM.

Posted by: dvsone79

Regarding the batter drain issue, I doubt there is THAT much difference on how fast EDGE signal (GSM) will drain, vs. 3G (WCDMA). However, your physical location in relation to those different towers (I'm under the impression that there are different towers for GSM and WCDMA), WILL effect your battery life. I.E. if you are equidistant from a GSM tower and a WCDMA tower, your batter consumption would be similar using either network. However, if you are <1 mile from a GSM tower, and 5 miles from a WCDMA tower, then the juice required from the battery to send the signal 4 miles further would be significant enough to cause a noticeable difference in consumption.

If my logic is off, or if you happen to know that GSM and WCDMA use the same towers, then please let me know. I am by no means an expert on the matter, just using some common sense, going off the info that a CSR from AT&T gave me (which is under no circumstances empirical!) about the different towers for GSM and WCDMA (EDGE and 3G, in her words).