Does anyone think the Ruby is a Sensation with a new antenna?

I love my Sensation, however my phone's signal (lack of) is beginning to frustrate me. I literally jump from 4g to g, to 2g, back to 4g, so on and so on.

A friend actually told me she was having the same exact issue and so that got me to think a bit... The Ruby (so far) looks a lot like the Sensation, same processor as the Sensation (clocked a tad higher, same chipset though) and it really got me to wonder if HTC and T MoUSA is re releasing the Sensation as "new" phone when in actuality they just added a different lens, a few more MB's to add a full Gig of RAM and sped up the processor.

What do you all think?

Yes the ruby is similar and they should have the same antenna. But the ruby is the Amaze 4G. Its the same antenna but one supports 14.4 and the other 42.

This is not the reason for your reception woes tho. In alot of areas including mine the same happens regardless of brand of device or model. 3G/4G's signal is weaker than 2G's signal so it will jump off 4G and back on because it is a greater network. You can stop this at any time by hitting *#*#4636#*#* in your dialer and goto phone info and you'll be able to put it in GSM or WCDMA only. So the procedure is usually when the 4G signal gets too weak it will jump to G = 2G to get to 2G = E. This is the procedure.

Thanks for the input. I understand the information you provided, I just feel that there is a design flaw with our Sensations and with the recent rumors of the Ruby, because they are both so similar, I would hate for this to be the Sensation Plus, I hope I make sense.

The Pyramid and Ruby remind me of T Mobile's first Galaxy offering where they released a slightly updated version not long after.

Well most of them have the same antenna. There are other phones that should feature the same antenna from HTC thats on T-Mobile to retrieve signal.

I do agree with you, a lot of phones are just refreshes of older models without distinctive features of their own. Not improving upon the predecessor but merely mixing things up. But they are very profitable to OEM's, don't expect this milking of the product cycle to go away anytime soon.

On the Android side, next stand out phone will be the Prime. I don't think the Ruby is really an upgrade over the Sensation and depending on how crippled the T-Mobile version of the SGS2 is, it may remain the top T-Mobile phone til the Prime is ready.

Yes the ruby is similar and they should have the same antenna. But the ruby is the Amaze 4G. Its the same antenna but one supports 14.4 and the other 42.

This is not the reason for your reception woes tho. In alot of areas including mine the same happens regardless of brand of device or model. 3G/4G's signal is weaker than 2G's signal so it will jump off 4G and back on because it is a greater network. You can stop this at any time by hitting *#*#4636#*#* in your dialer and goto phone info and you'll be able to put it in GSM or WCDMA only. So the procedure is usually when the 4G signal gets too weak it will jump to G = 2G to get to 2G = E. This is the procedure.

On some of the newer phones it's a lot simpler.  On the Sensation 4G you can just go to Settings-->Wireless & Network---->Mobile Networks

From there you can change it to WCDMA only to enable a 4G lock.  I think because T-Mobile's 2G edge signal is so much stronger than the 4G one it's a glitch in android where it will want to connect to edge even when 4G is available.  I've noticed the new 4G blackberry doesn't have this problem. If there's no 4G you'll get no reception, so when that happens go back in the same menu and switch it back to auto.

Well theres no way of telling if your on 3G or 4G really. So they changed the 3G indicator to 4G.

Gents, thanks again for the replys and insight.

I think my post was misunderstood.  I issue is not with the fact that the Ruby will have an upgraded antenna with faster access to our network, nor the fact that manufacturers come out with similar products-all part of the tech biz. M

y issue was with the possibility of the Ruby being a slightly rebranded Pyramid with an antenna design fix. Although we can switch which bands we want our phone to access at will, the fact is there is a flaw in the antenna design evident when the phone is held in a landscape view. I hate to think to think that way, however it did cross my mind.

With that being said, the Ruby is shapping up to be a different phone all together with the same camera module as the recent MT4g Slide and slightly beefier specs so...

Thanks again guys!

Well as u know that the antenna is on the bottom. Holding the phone by the bottom will decrease signal. As they used to be on top. The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth is on top.

Correct.

And that is my point with the flaw in design. Several phones are made the exact way, in fact I've never had this issue with my Touch Diamond, TP2, HD2, Desire HD, etc.

IMO, the Sensation's sudden loss of reception is not normal, despite the antenna's being placed where they are (at least through my past experiences).

I guess we won’t know for sure unless we got a Sensation XE and try to send a text in landscape mode, lol...

Correct.

And that is my point with the flaw in design. Several phones are made the exact way, in fact I've never had this issue with my Touch Diamond, TP2, HD2, Desire HD
IMO, the Sensation's sudden loss of reception is not normal, despite the antenna's being placed where they are (at least through my past experiences).

I guess we won’t know for sure unless we got a Sensation XE and try to send a text in landscape mode, lol...

Touch Diamond shouldn't had an antenna on the bottom due to its build year. Touch Pro didn't have a bottom antenna. The Touch Pro 2 did tho.

I wan't cell radios back on the top!  =(

I just want to be able to use my phone without having to think twice regarding loosing signal based on how I am holding it.  I would understand if I were holding it in an akward way (if there were such a thing with a cell) but issue I am having is while holding the phone sideways as many users would to take full advantage of the larger keyboard...

At this point, it is what it is.  Great phone, bad antenna design, phone has been sold and I am currently rocking my HD2 with Gingerbread patiently waiting for the Amaze to come out...