Hi all,
Does anyone know if T-Mobile has debilitated their version of the HTC Touch Diamond, called the MDA Compact IV by removing Wi-Fi, similar to what they did with MDA Compact III and others before that?
Here’s a video of the T-Mobile variant of the HTC Touch Diamond I was talking about above along with the customised (branded) TouchFlo 3D interface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhrnATHTlkQ
It really worries me that they might have removed WiFi from their phone, with their unlimited Web & Walk tariffs now, what possible advantage would they have to do this?
If you look closely at the video above when the person goes into the settings menu, you are able to see under the condensed communications menu it does say WiFi.
But this is a pre-production model so it might not be accurate. Also, I noticed on the home screen there was no WiFi active icon on the title bar, but this might be because it wasn’t turned on.
Finally, if you look at the four buttons, they are reversed when compared with the HTC Diamond, the call and answer are at the top on the MDA Compact IV, whereas they are on the bottom on the HTC Touch Diamond.
Now if T-Mobile, have gone as far as switching the position of the buttons, then they might of also requested that WiFi is disabled. Then again, as it was a pre-production model, the buttons on the production version might be in the same place as the HTC version.
So many questions, and no answers!
Hey guys,
i was wondering off to the Tmobile website(dutch version) and the site says that the compact 4 is coming soon!!
gr. bram
link: Dutch T-mo Compact 4
Thanks bram_smulders,
I noticed that they don’t mention WiFi anywhere, just Web & Walk. Also notice how the buttons are still the other way round when compared to HTC’s OEM version. I hope someone can give me a definitive answer, but at the moment the signs don’t look good!
why no WIFI
imranbashir_uk said:
Thanks bram_smulders,
I noticed that they don’t mention WiFi anywhere, just Web & Walk. Also notice how the buttons are still the other way round when compared to HTC’s OEM version. I hope someone can give me a definitive answer, but at the moment the signs don’t look good!
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With the MDA compac III in NL there was GPS and WIFI on it, so why shouldn't it be on this one.
the uk and probably other places compact 3 has no wifi, wheras the exact same device on o2 in terms of the insides [the orbit 1] has wifi...
imranbashir_uk said:
It really worries me that they might have removed WiFi from their phone, with their unlimited Web & Walk tariffs now, what possible advantage would they have to do this?
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Click to collapse
That looks like the whole point to me. If their Web & Walk tariffs are unlimited, and the Touch Diamond has HSDPA, who needs wifi?
Your comment is really quite ignorant.
Wi-Fi has many advantages over 3G and HSDPA in terms of speed, and reliability to name just a few.
Businesses that have WiFi LAN’s and WAN’s setup for sharing their intranet, storage servers, exchange servers, are behind a firewall and cannot be accessed over the internet even using VPN use it with their laptops and mobile devices.
If your device has WiFi and HSDPA then using appropriate software you would be able to make your phone into a mobile WiFi router, and connect a laptop to the internet in an emergency.
At home, WiFi can be used to stream video, audio, share NAS drives, and printers, the list goes on and on.
Additionally, you might live in an area that has no 3G coverage, then you’re stuck with GPRS or nothing, but if you had a wireless router at home, then that’s not a problem.
Finally, if you’re on a legacy tariff or cannot justify the additional £7 per month for Web & Walk as it’s only for occasional use, then WiFi is a free option, assuming you have access to a WiFi network.
Do you want more reasons?
The people at T-Tobile obviously are ignorant.
But your reasons assume and ignore a lot too:
1. Wifi itself may be fast, but broadband internet connections are not necesarily faster than 3G. Ireland is a good example. Where Rory (daredking) lives is also a good example (and that's in London!).
2. If you work for a business that has such high sceurity, that's your problem. Don't get a T-Mobile phone.
3. You can connect a laptop to the internet via your phone with bluetooth too. Personally, I've never seen it done with wifi - bluetooth and USB connections for that are much more common.
4. At home, again, bluetooth and USB can be used for at least most of those things. If your house is too big, why are you getting a T-Mobile phone?
5. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you're more likely to have a bad broadband connection than lack of 3G (at least in the British Isles).
6. Wifi may be free, but it has very limited coverage. Most people don't spend their lives within a few tens of metres of a wireless router.
Dark Fire said:
The people at T-Tobile obviously are ignorant.
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I’m glad we agree that T-Mobile is wrong to disable WiFi, or at least I think that’s what you mean. To answer the rest of your points:
Dark Fire said:
1. Wifi itself may be fast, but broadband internet connections are not necesarily faster than 3G. Ireland is a good example. Where Rory (daredking) lives is also a good example (and that's in London!).
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I never said broadband is always faster than 3G I said WiFi is faster that 3G and HSDPA. Never the less in most cases broadband is still faster than 3G, but possibly not HSDPA depending on who your ISP is and what your local exchange supports.
Dark Fire said:
2. If you work for a business that has such high sceurity, that's your problem. Don't get a T-Mobile phone.
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That’s my point exactly I shouldn’t have to be forced away from T-Mobile or forced to by an unsubsidised phone.
Dark Fire said:
3. You can connect a laptop to the internet via your phone with bluetooth too. Personally, I've never seen it done with wifi - bluetooth and USB connections for that are much more common.
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Why on earth would you want to connect your laptop over Bluetooth thereby limiting your connection speed to 2Mbps or 1Mbps with 1.0, and limit your range to a few meters. Even that assumes you have Bluetooth on your laptop which may not be the case. To use USB, you got to have your cable with you take out your phone, and have a desk handy to put everything. More info on WiFi to HSDPA router here, once you do it you will never look back at Bluetooth, give it a go! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=341398
Dark Fire said:
4. At home, again, bluetooth and USB can be used for at least most of those things. If your house is too big, why are you getting a T-Mobile phone?
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LOL I’m not even going to both responding to the comment that if my house is to big I shouldn’t be getting a T-mobile phone! I didn’t know T-mobile was only marketing their phones to people with small houses! All my equipment runs and streams over WiFi, this give me better range, and more bandwidth there is no point or advantage in doing it over Bluetooth.
Dark Fire said:
5. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you're more likely to have a bad broadband connection than lack of 3G (at least in the British Isles).
6. Wifi may be free, but it has very limited coverage. Most people don't spend their lives within a few tens of metres of a wireless router.
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[/QUOTE]
What’s that got to do with anything? The point I was trying to make is that when available it’s better to use WiFi over 3G. i.e. at home and work I connect over WiFi, anywhere else I use GPRS or 3G.
At the end of the day, it comes down to choice, T-Mobile have chosen to disable WiFi. I and many others who do use WiFi are forced to choose between a subsidised handset from T-Mobile, or moving to a different service provider, or buying an unbranded phone. If T-Mobile didn’t disable the WiFi like O2 and Orange, well then this thread would not exist!
imranbashir_uk said:
I’m glad we agree that T-Mobile is wrong to disable WiFi, or at least I think that’s what you mean.
At the end of the day, it comes down to choice, T-Mobile have chosen to disable WiFi. I and many others who do use WiFi are forced to choose between a subsidised handset from T-Mobile, or moving to a different service provider, or buying an unbranded phone. If T-Mobile didn’t disable the WiFi like O2 and Orange, well then this thread would not exist!
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I actually agree with you totally. Having known Mark (Dark Fire) for 7 years, i argue with him every day, but youve got him beat in my view here. im sure hes going to stab me or something now, but anyways, i think youre right.
On a side note, I dont think they have actually disabled it. If anyone can point me somewhere it says they have done, then please do, but i thought this was a thread firstly asking if they would, then slowly moving on to why tmobile are stupid if they disable it, then onto why it doesnt matter if its disabled.
Anyway, like I said, if somebody can show me somewhere it says it is disabled on the diamond, please do
Rory
This could obviously go on for ages. I am not supporting T-Mobile at all - I just said that their flawed reasoning was obvious.
"I’m glad we agree that T-Mobile is wrong to disable WiFi, or at least I think that’s what you mean." - Clearly that's what I mean.
"I never said broadband is always faster than 3G I said WiFi is faster that 3G and HSDPA." - How else is a wireless router going to connect to the internet?
"That’s my point exactly I shouldn’t have to be forced away from T-Mobile or forced to by an unsubsidised phone." - O2 forced me away through their lack of mobile internet. These things happen all of the time. Get used to it.
"Why on earth would you want to connect your laptop over Bluetooth thereby limiting your connection speed to 2Mbps or 1Mbps with 1.0, and limit your range to a few meters." - If you're on your laptop, connecting to the internet via your phone, your phone is obviously going to be within that range. Most servers have such slow connections or are used by so many people that a connection faster than 2Mbps doesn't make a difference (my broadband connection is 13Mbps, and I really don't notice the difference over 2Mbps). BTW, I only have a Touch, so doing wifi stuff with it is a bit pointless.
"I’m not even going to both responding to the comment that if my house is to big I shouldn’t be getting a T-mobile phone!" - You're completely misinterpreting that point, as I knew you would. My point is that most people don't have houses that are so large that the majority of the house is going to be outside bluetooth range - the distances over which I've achieved bluetooth connections have been surprising, and they can also undoubtedly be improved using several techniques.
"The point I was trying to make is that when available it’s better to use WiFi over 3G. i.e. at home and work I connect over WiFi, anywhere else I use GPRS or 3G." - No, you've missed my point again. My point is that, at least in the British Isles (I really don't know about other places), 3G is going to perform better due to lack of good broadband speeds at exchanges and distance from exchanges. As I said before, wifi may be fast, but it's the broadband speed that matters (unless you're accessing the local network, which you will not be most of the time).
Oh, and Rory, you always think I'm beaten, but you know that I kill people on details.
So on these phones that had wifi disabled, was it a hardware modification or just disabled in software?
I know the usual way to disable Wifi through software is to delete calibration and setup data in the WiFi chip. This can be reinstated if you have a path to direct connect to the wifi chip - either through OS or via baseband.
Was any effort made at all to try to enable wifi in those phones?
I don't really know, but from the way people have such strong feelings about it, I'd guess that it's a hardware modification. That does seem a bit extreme, but T-Mobile will have their reasons. Personally, I'd say that wifi disabled through software modification is a good feature - it would certainly provide many more hours of fun than having working wifi to begin with.
it was hardware, much like the disabled gps in the hermes.
disabled wifi by soft would be solved by a rom update
and yes, they tried to fix it [come on, its xda-developers, not xda-users lol]
Rory
Thats interesting, so they probably completly removed the WiFi chip itself.
I guess you could solder a new one in place, but thats alot of work
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35879&d=1174679272
that pic is of a mda compact III, and shows why theres no wifi, its because the antenna is missing...
Hmm, but you would still be able to enable it (after flashing the right rom/bootloader), but would probably get a really weak signal.
But i guess from that its not just the antenna, but the main chip too. It wouldnt be dificult (costly) in production to run a set of boards without that one chip.
exactly, but i think tmob prob lost a lot of custom to o2,seeing as msot palces have all the phone shops [at least here in the uk] so its easy enough to walk down the road to an o2 shop and get the exact same phone but with wifi...
so im saying its not gona have crippled wifi...
ill look around for proof
having looked for proof, i havet found any, but the tmobile netherlands site doesnt say wifi in specs, btu does say hsdpa, bluetooth 3mp cam and 4gb flash memory.
but....... when paul from modaco "stumbled upon the compact 4 specs at the mobile world congress" it had wifi in the specs
so still inconclusive
Rory
Hello,
I am relatively new to android phones in general so I apologize in advance if this is a common question (though a quick search didn't find anything). My question is this: Many times when I try to download something using the stock android browser (I have also tried dolphin browser with similar effect) the download fails, especially if it is a particularly large file (even more so when I try to do something else while its downloading). Is there any way to fix this or am I doing something wrong when it comes to downloading files? On top of that I have also noticed that sometimes when I try to download a file (lets say a .apk) it will say it downloaded the file but will have really only downloaded 10kbs of data or so, Obviously I get errors when trying to open them. In regard to the small file sizes, I know that the problem doesn't lie with the sites im trying to download from, because I have downloaded the exact same files with my computer with no issue.
Also one other quick question about how the Captivate (and android in general?) handles wifi and 3g. I've noticed that whenever I turn WiFi on and connect to a network the captivate refuses to send data through it's 3g connection. Normally this would be a good thing but there are certain apps that require a 3g connection. It also becomes a problem when I want my Captivate connected to my home network since the network isn't connected to the internet (stupid cisco NAC agent, if any of you have any Ideas on how to get that working through my router i'm all ears.). Simply put, I want my Captivate to be able to connect to the network to view files but to still be able to use the internet through it's 3g connection, is that possible?
Thank you in Advance,
Felipe Breyer Jesus
I dont have issues downloading files. But i dont leave the download screen until its done. Could be your issue. As far as wifi goes it shuts off 3g. Have you tried starting wifi. Once connected turn on airplane mode. Then shut off airplane mode? Might start 3g again?
Um.. some websites will not allow you to download using your phone due to some kind of crazy restriction that the web server has. I remember Design Gears had to tweak a web setting to allow people to download ROMs directly to their phones.
And.. I'm not an expert but.. by turning on wifi - 3g service will get stopped. You would probably have to do some serious hacking to get both to run at the same time... and that is IF you can even run both services at once.
You were saying you were having router issues as well... but do you have internet connectivity with your computer? If so you can always just download the files from your computer...?
Just so ya know, yeah Transfer Content is not my preferred way of migrating phone info, but wanted to try it.
So I launched the app on the One (yeah installed app on other phone) and it is Trying to start up a portable hotspot. Well I don't have Sprints hotspot option (I mean who does), but wondering why its trying to do that. Kinda silly especially since the instructions do not state that.
What is also interesting on both the One and my other phone, it kills the WiFi connection and drops to cellular. Seems like a flawed app.
Well probably just going to follow the instructions to get root and do a Titanium restore, but wanted to see if anybody has any opinions ,comments, suggestions etc..
Thanks.
Kevin
It starts the hotspot to set up an ad-hoc network that your old phone connects to. The hotspot is not used for internet, no need to subscribe.
That makes sense, except it fails to start. So not sure what is up.
That said it's interesting under lte. HTC is only provider listed.
The app kills wifi because it interferes with it, and because theres no point in creating a hotspot when you can connect to the wifi directly.
Newbie here with the Gear, sorry if this has been asked before but I googled for a while.
I have a rooted Gear with Null ROM and rooted phone. Bluetooth tethering is awfully slow though when I'm indoors since my phone gets crappy 3G/4G reception, but I have solid Wi-Fi -- the phone's apps all work great through Wi-Fi, but the bluetooth tether insists on trying to use cellular data even though Wi-Fi is there.
Is there any way to allow the bluetooth tethering to use both the 3G/4G as well as the Wi-Fi connection, whatever the phone has available?
Thanks!
It's limited to whatever your phone rom allows. E.g. international stock rom allows tethering via Wi-Fi where as most carrier rounds will only work with cellular data (if it is even an option)
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Brendo said:
It's limited to whatever your phone rom allows. E.g. international stock rom allows tethering via Wi-Fi where as most carrier rounds will only work with cellular data (if it is even an option)
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Thanks! But why should it be limited by the carrier? I want to tether the actual Wi-Fi connection over bluetooth, not the cellular connection (because the Gear doesn't have Wi-Fi, but my phone does, and 95% of the time I'm indoors where I have much better Wi-Fi than cellular reception).
If it makes a difference, I bought my Nexus 4 directly from Google so it's stock ROM and rooted. If I have to change to some other ROM (e.g. Cyanogenmod) I'm willing to do that
wuxiekeji said:
Thanks! But why should it be limited by the carrier? I want to tether the actual Wi-Fi connection over bluetooth, not the cellular connection (because the Gear doesn't have Wi-Fi, but my phone does, and 95% of the time I'm indoors where I have much better Wi-Fi than cellular reception).
If it makes a difference, I bought my Nexus 4 directly from Google so it's stock ROM and rooted. If I have to change to some other ROM (e.g. Cyanogenmod) I'm willing to do that
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Click to collapse
maybe just a few words from my side - why do you need a faster internet connection?
i mostly use it just to sync new data like calendar, or to do list. even slow internet is enough to do that, as it's not a lot of information to be exchanged. if you are planning on streaming videos or so, prepare that your gear will die quickly..
hurdlejade said:
maybe just a few words from my side - why do you need a faster internet connection?
i mostly use it just to sync new data like calendar, or to do list. even slow internet is enough to do that, as it's not a lot of information to be exchanged. if you are planning on streaming videos or so, prepare that your gear will die quickly..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For light use, faster internet means the device wastes less CPU cycles waiting for responses. It's going over bluetooth either way, so better the device get the data in a fraction of a second than say 20-30 seconds (literally; I get only GPRS and occasionally EDGE in my office, never 3G or 4G, but I have flawless Wi-Fi). In those 20-30 seconds I could have pulled the phone out of my pocket to check what came through.
Although in all honesty I bought the Gear to hack with, and there are lots of crazy ideas I want to do with it that want a fast internet connection. Yes, the battery will die quickly, but that's the price of early adoption; I just want to hack for now and hope that when battery technology becomes better I can continue to be living with my futuristic apps. For now I can live with a charging cable down my sleeve and an external battery in my pocket, but I don't want to use USB tethering since I want it to still be able to go while disconnected.
wuxiekeji said:
Thanks! But why should it be limited by the carrier? I want to tether the actual Wi-Fi connection over bluetooth, not the cellular connection (because the Gear doesn't have Wi-Fi, but my phone does, and 95% of the time I'm indoors where I have much better Wi-Fi than cellular reception).
If it makes a difference, I bought my Nexus 4 directly from Google so it's stock ROM and rooted. If I have to change to some other ROM (e.g. Cyanogenmod) I'm willing to do that
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Click to collapse
I meant carrier branded rom. But in theory, stock international roms should use wifi if connected, otherwise use data. Some roms don't allow wifi to be used for tethering (cellular data only)
Brendo said:
I meant carrier branded rom. But in theory, stock international roms should use wifi if connected, otherwise use data. Some roms don't allow wifi to be used for tethering (cellular data only)
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Brendo is right. Stock roms often have wifi tethering via bluetooth enabled and can switch back and forth as need. I have not experienced laser fast result with either but as you states "for your needs", look for a phone with native bluetooth tethering. One that works well and is cheap is the Galaxy Grand II. I have one and it worked well. I use a Note 2 now with native bluetooth tethering via Verizon and it works with 4G but not wifi. Maybe someone will chime in with an international rom that has this capability.
ronfurro said:
Brendo is right. Stock roms often have wifi tethering via bluetooth enabled and can switch back and forth as need. I have not experienced laser fast result with either but as you states "for your needs", look for a phone with native bluetooth tethering. One that works well and is cheap is the Galaxy Grand II. I have one and it worked well. I use a Note 2 now with native bluetooth tethering via Verizon and it works with 4G but not wifi. Maybe someone will chime in with an international rom that has this capability.
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Interesting. I have a Nexus 4 (directly from Google), and I'm surprised that if this feature exists that the Nexus 4 doesn't offer it. You'd think it'd be in Google's best interest given Glass and all.
wuxiekeji said:
Interesting. I have a Nexus 4 (directly from Google), and I'm surprised that if this feature exists that the Nexus 4 doesn't offer it. You'd think it'd be in Google's best interest given Glass and all.
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This is very true as unfortunatly in the US, native BT tethering is often blocked via Carriers who want to charge for it. In theory, this shouldnt be an issue with the Nexus line, curious if the Nexus 5 can... I can confirm, first hand that the technology does exist for wifi bluetooth tethering but it may be that no US phone has this feature enabled, to date. It should be noted that my Galaxy Grand was an international model, specifically the Latin model, not the India model. I could acutually use the phone without a sim card to serve up bluetooth PAN via home wifi to my old Motoactiv Smartwatch while I was screwing around in the house.
Faster Tethering?
wuxiekeji said:
Newbie here with the Gear, sorry if this has been asked before but I googled for a while.
I have a rooted Gear with Null ROM and rooted phone. Bluetooth tethering is awfully slow though when I'm indoors since my phone gets crappy 3G/4G reception, but I have solid Wi-Fi -- the phone's apps all work great through Wi-Fi, but the bluetooth tether insists on trying to use cellular data even though Wi-Fi is there.
Is there any way to allow the bluetooth tethering to use both the 3G/4G as well as the Wi-Fi connection, whatever the phone has available?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should include som info about the make and model of your phone if you wish people to help you....
Anyway, both my GalaxyS3 and my iPhone4S can easily be used to share WiFi with my Gear over Bluetooth. But it doesn't increase the speed much as this is limited by the BT bandwith between the phone and the Gear. Typically max 3Mb/s
I've got an N9005 rooted (X-Note 13) bluetooth tethering my null 23 gear, and on 4G I actually get speeds up to 5MB/sec, yet the gear rarely goes above 50kb/sec, which, for me, is too low even for a vague browsing . I highly doubt anything carrier specific, I just think bluetooth is slow...
Hi All, I have an Exynos Note 8 SM-N950F. I have finally updated the software to android 9.0, and now whenever I turn on the hotspot, it disables WiFi.
Can anyone point me to a rom or fix to enable both WiFi and hotspot, so I can share my WiFi connection with the hotspot? If not, I assume I have to install the stock 8.0 rom for the SM-N950F?
I'm not sure that's possible. By enabling hotspot, your phone becomes the local wifi for the devices you want to share it with using your data. If you are receiving wifi from somewhere, why cant the other devices you want to use just use that wifi as well? If wifi is available to your phone, I'm not understanding why you have to activate hotspot to provide wifi to other devices when they could just obtain wifi from the same place your phone is getting it from already.
mikeyk101 said:
I'm not sure that's possible. By enabling hotspot, your phone becomes the local wifi for the devices you want to share it with using your data. If you are receiving wifi from somewhere, why cant the other devices you want to use just use that wifi as well? If wifi is available to your phone, I'm not understanding why you have to activate hotspot to provide wifi to other devices when they could just obtain wifi from the same place your phone is getting it from already.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply! I didn't believe so as well, but at least the Exynos Note 8 had this ability. I could hypothetically be on a plane, join the paid WiFi, and share the connection to my laptop. I used it to join a VPN on my phone, and share with my laptop. I also used it as a network extender while traveling; I'd place my phone in the area that got the best WiFi signal, and use it as a repeater for my laptop. IDK if this is a general android 9.0 disabling, or specific to Samsung, but I need this feature on my phone. The note 8 was close to perfect, except for these software limitations, including the slow charging bug. I specifically imported the Exynos version when I bought it so I could roll back the software if I had to.
Ah , ok that makes sense..