Saturday 16 July 2016

Using my G4 Plus on Verizon -- observations -- comments on HD Voice



This is my first time back in the world of Android use (as a daily driver) since 2013. I used to be a custom ROM-aholic, but now I just appreciate Android for what it is a mature OS that offers more flexibility than IOS. I wanted to buy a phone outright. And although they have more minuses than other carriers, I wanted to stay with Verizon.

I don't play games on my phone. The only time I ever found it to be choppy was when I used an app, albeit one that is actively updated, that did not play well with my phone. Headset Button Controller either doesn't seem to work with 6.0 or has issues with Moto phones. . It always did a nice job of playing non-google audio apps when then screen was locked. My all-time indespensible Android app is Dogg Catcher (yes, I am podcast nerd). I started having weird freezes on my G4 Plus when using the Headset BC app, especially when unlocking. Once I removed the app, the problems seemed to go away. Setting Dogg Catcher to stay alive seems to fix my problem.

One issue I have is with the VoLTE or what Verizon calls Advanced calling (a subset of a feature Verizon calls HD voice). Apparently, the phone supports VoLTE out of the box. I looked into the chipset specs. However, it seems that Verizon uses a non-standard implementation of HD Voice. Is that correct? I do not see Advanced Calling in my settings menu. I decided to try an ATT sim for kicks. I was able to get LTE (I live in an area with a strong ATT LTE signal). However when I went to make calls -- my phone dropped down to "H" -- 3G -- allowing calls and data. Yes, I know that ATT offers 3G calling / data simultaneously and verizon doesn't.

I talked to two senior level verizon technical service reps this week. Both essentially told me that every carrier implements HD Voice a little differently. The XT1644 phone registers in Verizon's database however, they are not showing that it supports HD Voice. I tried to explain to them that unlocked phones like the Moto X Pure, Nexus 5, and this one -- will not support the fullness of HD Voice, but can set to allow advanced calling. They told me that this wasn't available on their system yet for this model.

For some of you non-US G4 / G4 Plus users -- have you gotten VoLTE working yet? Will it really take a collaboration between Moto and major carriers as I was told?



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