New official Blade FroYo update (Sapo A5)

[Guest gwebb]

I've been tinkering with the Android SDK and in particular the TelephonyManager, it has various functions for reading the state of the phone and the network connection.

One thing I've noticed is that when an HSUPA connection is available, and even in use, the actual Network Type is invariably reported as being HSDPA. GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA are all reported correctly but HSUPA isn't. The baseband clearly works, and IIRC some service menus will show things like the 3GPP release supported (5 for HSDPA, 6 for HSUPA), but there seem to be problems with reporting the network type correctly. I don't know if this is deliberate, a bug in the Android code, an omission or bug down to the OEMs, or even some misinterpretation of what exactly constitutes HSUPA (perhaps the basic support isn't enough and supporting a higher category or dual cells is required).

Anyway the point is you can't even rely on asking the OS whether HSUPA is "on", you have to test the speed.

[Guest eucurto]

Ok, testing done...

Maybe we have in Portugal badword up networks because testing with 2 networks the upload test always fail!! (in speedtest.net app) So i tried another app and this were the results:

GEN1 with SS5:

Download - 2761,9 Kbit/s

Upload - 203,9 Kbit/s (Peak, normal was about 10Kbit/s)

GEN2 with SS5:

The results were the same...

This upload tests error are not Blade related as a friend with a SGS1 gets the same error in speedtest.... an error about "connection error"

Thank you...

[Guest eucurto]

As this update turned out in nothing, at least for me, please tell me:

Can i change my partitions layout with this file from your topic: wbaw’s Gen2 v5 / Partition layout: 2MB cache, 160 MB system, 293MB data

Can i then restore a nandroid from the stock partition layout and apply in this new one?

Thank you.

[Guest KACE_231]

What needs to be done is a speedtest on two phones, side-by-side at the same time. One phone is the OSF whilst the other is a phone advertised to have HSUPA from the start. That way they are connected to the same network, ame cell tower at the same time.

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

As this update turned out in nothing, at least for me, please tell me:

Can i change my partitions layout with this file from your topic: wbaw’s Gen2 v5 / Partition layout: 2MB cache, 160 MB system, 293MB data

Can i then restore a nandroid from the stock partition layout and apply in this new one?

Thank you.

Thanks for testing - there doesn't seem to be much HSUPA going on at all... If you can find out (via another phone with your sim card) whether your network supports HSUPA then that will confirm that it doesn't work.

You can install either of wbaw's firmwares from my guide, and you can restore nandroid backups, but only if they fit on the new partition layout. It is up to you to see if the contents of your partitions will fit on the partition layout you flash to.

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

What needs to be done is a speedtest on two phones, side-by-side at the same time. One phone is the OSF whilst the other is a phone advertised to have HSUPA from the start. That way they are connected to the same network, ame cell tower at the same time.

Its much more likely that a different SIM affects the results than a slightly different time. It is more important to test with the same SIM.

[Guest unrandomsam]

Surely if you are expecting HSUPA to enable you would need to use the windows flasher (or hack the nvitems but thats not rom dependant).

[Guest KACE_231]

Its much more likely that a different SIM affects the results than a slightly different time. It is more important to test with the same SIM.

That just determines which network you are running on, as long as the SIM for the same network, this method should definitely determine whether OSF has HSUPA support

[Guest shmizan]

Surely if you are expecting HSUPA to enable you would need to use the windows flasher (or hack the nvitems but thats not rom dependant).

why is that?

I contacted some of the users that said hsUpa was enabled from the survey topic, and asked them how they updated.

almost all of them said using the windows method.

how is the windows method different?

[Guest unrandomsam]

why is that?

I contacted some of the users that said hsUpa was enabled from the survey topic, and asked them how they updated.

almost all of them said using the windows method.

how is the windows method different?

It doesn't just flash the files it changes the nvitems.

You could try to change it with the V880 tool.

(You go into FTM mode backup everything with the tool change something to FF and then reflash it).

I don't have it on the network I am using here so I cannot really test it.

I wouldn't bother messing about unless you know 100% it works on the network you are on. (Another phone that supported it from the start etc).

(If there is there is a few ways to go to proper gen2 and back again and keep it or just edit the binary by hand).

[Guest KACE_231]

Do the phones that come with GEN2 layout as default (i.e. android 2.2) have HSUPA enabled? If so then it probably explains why the windows method works but not the wbaw's TPT method.

[Guest shmizan]

It doesn't just flash the files it changes the nvitems.

You could try to change it with the V880 tool.

(You go into FTM mode backup everything with the tool change something to FF and then reflash it).

I don't have it on the network I am using here so I cannot really test it.

I wouldn't bother messing about unless you know 100% it works on the network you are on. (Another phone that supported it from the start etc).

(If there is there is a few ways to go to proper gen2 and back again and keep it or just edit the binary by hand).

do you mean this tool? http://android.modaco.com/content/zte-blad...-also-the-imei/

I don't really care too much about the hsUpa, but I do care about the 850 MHz band, which, according to some other dude here can be unlocked, changing an NV item.

and I know for a fact that 3G 850 MHz band is available in my operator. my current reception without the 850 MHz band is really poor in some places it used to be fine with other cellphone I still own, so testing can be done within the minute.

if I succeed getting 850 MHz band to work by changing NV items it will mean other users could get hsUpa (they can't just by using the TPT method).

they (ZTE) disabled it by software ("003Z’s GSM 850 band was disabled by software control." <-- from their own FCC declaration) so there must be a way to enable it once again..

I'd love some guidance in how to change these NV items, like I said testing and answers can be made in a minute, and it will give answers to a lot of users here..

Edited June 3, 2011 by shmizan

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

TPT is only able to flash some of the firmware because it runs on the phone. It is not able to flash Partition.mbn for example, which is the lowest level file, and as a consequence, the TPT Gen2 update has to be a mixture of Gen1 and Gen2 firmware. The windows method is able to flash the entire firmware.

Just for reference, the vast majority of people who used the windows method also reported that HSUPA did not work, Including me. The windows method does not necessarily enable HSUPA, only some people report it does.

One of the files the windows flasher flashes (cefs.mbn) contains the default NV memory. The windows flasher backs up a subset of the NV items (which it stores in channel1.nvm), and restores them after flashing (this contains your IMEI, among other things). cefs.mbn is identical in all the official firmware files I've seen (TeliaSonera, Comviq, Hungarian, Portuguese, Hungarian Gen1, Japansese) apart from one of the Chinese ones.

If you want to fiddle with the NV items, download QPST and QxDM. Boot your phone into FTM mode, and use QxDM to edit the NV items. Make a backup of channel1.nvm, and if you run into trouble then reflash your phone from windows and restore channel1.nvm.

I would not be surprised if HSUPA/850Mhz support depended on something in the NV memory, hence my appeal for someone who does get HSUPA to share their NV memory so we can investigate that.

Have a look at this thread aswell

[Guest KACE_231]

I think people have failed to appreciate that the download speeds achievable vary based on hardware. On processors such as the blade with speed measured in Mhz a slightly more powerful processor will have a profound affect on donwload+upload speeds, so powerful HTC phones will always display higher speeds if there is no limitation. It was the same story for desktop processors, but new ultra powerful quad-cores mean that isnt really an issue anymore.

Also does anyone on this forum have proven (with images) of HSUPA support, or the 850Mhz band enabled. If so please post images

Edited June 4, 2011 by KACE_231

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

I think people have failed to appreciate that the download speeds achievable vary based on hardware. On processors such as the blade with speed measured in Mhz a slightly more powerful processor will have a profound affect on donwload+upload speeds, so powerful HTC phones will always display higher speeds if there is no limitation. It was the same story for desktop processors, but new ultra powerful quad-cores mean that isnt really an issue anymore.

Also does anyone on this forum have proven (with images) of HSUPA support, or the 850Mhz band enabled. If so please post images

Don't remember which thread, but I've seen a couple of screenshots of HSUPA. I don't think the ROM can actually tell what band its using.

Whilst the blade's processor may be a limitation, its more than fast enough to take advantage of uploads above 384kb/s. It doesn't have any problem downloading at 3.5mb/s for me, and it generally manages 5mb/s over wifi.

[Guest KACE_231]

Don't remember which thread, but I've seen a couple of screenshots of HSUPA. I don't think the ROM can actually tell what band its using.

Whilst the blade's processor may be a limitation, its more than fast enough to take advantage of uploads above 384kb/s. It doesn't have any problem downloading at 3.5mb/s for me, and it generally manages 5mb/s over wifi.

I get 7Mb/s over wifi, but only 284 KB/s (download) via HSDPA, clearly location and cell tower and signal strength play a massive role in deciding this

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

I get 7Mb/s over wifi, but only 284 KB/s (download) via HSDPA, clearly location and cell tower and signal strength play a massive role in deciding this

You are confusing bits and bytes. 1 byte (B) = 8 bits (B). 284 KB/s = 2272Kb/s.

Of course cell tower/signal strength etc affect speed. From personal experience with other phones though, if you get a decent download speed, the upload speed is almost always good aswell. So if people get >1000kb/s download and their upload is slightly below the theoretical (without HSUPA) limit of 384kb/s, I think that is a very good indication that HSUPA is not working. I think the fact that people without HSUPA so commonly get an upload speed almost at the theoretical limit of 384kb/s suggests that it is the protocol, not the conditions, which are the limiting factor.

Edited June 4, 2011 by hedgepigdaniel

[Guest shmizan]

okay so while it is possible to enable GSM (2G) 850 MHz by changing an NV item (talked to cpg), I don't see how it's possible to enable 3G (UMTS/WCDMA) 850 MHz.

there are no values of that frequency. perhaps the Chinese Blades have different NV items or their update adds them to enable 3G 850 ?

Edited June 4, 2011 by shmizan

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

okay so while it is possible to enable GSM (2G) 850 MHz by changing an NV item (talked to cgb), I don't see how it's possible to enable 3G (UMTS/WCDMA) 850 MHz.

there are no values of that frequency. perhaps the Chinese Blades have different NV items or their update adds them to enable 3G 850 ?

Care to share which NV item and what it needs to be set to?

Do the Chinese phones work with 850Mhz 3g? (the Chinese phones are physically different aswell, keep that in mind). You could easily compare NV items between them - jsut flash the chinese files and have a look

[Guest shmizan]

a PM from cpg:

The setting for this seems to be in the NV items, all frequencies are controlled by NV item 1877 (0x755 if you prefer hex). A 64-bit number is stored here, which defaults to 0x00020000 02600380. Both 2G and 3G bands are in there, but some more settings are required for 3G and changing too much caused my amss to stop during initialisation (android works, but can't find the radio layer).

If you are able to edit NV directly, it should be easy to check. 0x00020000 02680380 should enable 2G 850, at least in software. I found 0x00020000 02e80380 works too, where the extra bit enables 3G 1900, in case you are able to test that as well. (Keep in mind, items are stored in little endian order, so 80 03 e8 02 00 00 02 00).

These numbers are overwritten every time you flash a different amss.mbn (there's an internal version check which writes a list of default values if it doesn't match), so it's also possible to change amss.mbn to test this, in case you prefer that.

regarding the Chinese stuff:

from his post: http://android.modaco.com/index.php?s=&amp...t&p=1709957

The current amss.mbn's don't enable 850 for either 2G or 3G. From code, it seems only the Chinese amss.mbn unlocks both 2G and 3G 850, but i haven't been able to get that one to work.

Enabling 2G 850 seems fairly easy (my phone is running with it, but i have no way to test it atm!)

I do not know if the Chinese Blades support 850 MHz for either 2G or 3G, but cpg seems to think they do.

how are the Chinese phones physically different? if you go to ZTE's website you'll see "ZTE-U V880" which is our ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco.

so nevertheless, what ARE the differences (physical, chipsets) between the Chinese "ZTE-U V880" and the European ZTE Blade?

Edited June 4, 2011 by shmizan

[Guest KACE_231]

You are confusing bits and bytes. 1 byte (:D = 8 bits (:D. 284 KB/s = 2272Kb/s.

Of course cell tower/signal strength etc affect speed. From personal experience with other phones though, if you get a decent download speed, the upload speed is almost always good aswell. So if people get >1000kb/s download and their upload is slightly below the theoretical (without HSUPA) limit of 384kb/s, I think that is a very good indication that HSUPA is not working. I think the fact that people without HSUPA so commonly get an upload speed almost at the theoretical limit of 384kb/s suggests that it is the protocol, not the conditions, which are the limiting factor.

Sorry thats what I meant, I get ~300 kb/s

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

@kace: fair enough. Speaking for myself, I get consistently good download speeds

@shmizam: thanks, thats all very interesting and I think it might be worth doing some similar experimentation with this portuguese radio firmware. cpg seems to feel quite at home in this area

I don't know what the difference is, but if you have a look at this brick thread where a few people with Chinese blades found out the hard way that European firmware is not compatible. wbaw and I theorised they may actually have 256MB RAM, but again I don't know. I'm not sure about the details of how phone radios work, but I could imagine that even if the modem supports a certain radio band it still might require another chip to support it aswell (eg a signal amplifier or something), so maybe the Chinese phones have a different piece of hardware that allows its radio to work differently? (like I mentioned, the Chinese firmware has a different cefs.mbn to all the European versions, which are identical. I reckon its worth flashing a chinese and european firmware, and making a full backup of NV from QxDM/QPST, and finding out what the differences are.

[Guest Hellek2]

The amplifiers theory could be right. I once looked at an explication of the internal parts of a disassembled G1 and it had a 4-band amplifier for GSM and 2 amplifiers for 3G, one for each frequency band (1700 and 2100). Of course the G1 is old and there could have been progress that allows cheap multiple band amplifiers for 3G too, the only way to find out would be disassembling a bricked Blade and then identify the components (which might or might not be possible), unless someone knows somebody at ZTE who can tell us.

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

The amplifiers theory could be right. I once looked at an explication of the internal parts of a disassembled G1 and it had a 4-band amplifier for GSM and 2 amplifiers for 3G, one for each frequency band (1700 and 2100). Of course the G1 is old and there could have been progress that allows cheap multiple band amplifiers for 3G too, the only way to find out would be disassembling a bricked Blade and then identify the components (which might or might not be possible), unless someone knows somebody at ZTE who can tell us.

we all wish we knew someone from ZTE...

[Guest shmizan]

what will mass email to ZTE support from tens of ZTE Blade users do?

I know the chances are minimal for a solution (or even a hint) by that but haven't we pretty much covered our options?

I mean we tried every single amss files that's out there, the NV items are a guess in the dark...