Radio Test Results on HTC TyTN a.k.a. Hermes

I have been using a Windows Mobile 6 based HTC TyTN (Originally AT&T 8525) for a while. I came across a forum post having title How power hungry is your radio version? on xda-developers forum. I was using original 1.03 Radio from AT&T (and of course, not satisfied). I came to know for the first time that changing Radio can actually affect Power Consumption. So, I upgraded my Radio to version 1.47.30.10. It didn't gave me expected results (As it was least power hungry Radio according to mrvanx's test results). I also came to know that there are different Radio versions for different area. (For ex. x.x.07.00 were US specific Radios). I didn't found anything related to Radio versions being used in India (Yeah, I am from India). So, I decided to run tests on different radios on my own.

I also came across people here in India who had WM based phone but, didn't know anything about advantages of owning one. So, I added one section of introduction of Windows Mobile based Phones in general for those who don't know what a ROM or a Radio is. For those who know all these stuff and just interested in test results, can skip Section 1.


Section - 1: Introduction of Windows Mobile

There are mainly two types of Windows Mobile phones.

1. Windows Mobile Smartphone (More of a phone than PDA, without TouchScreen)
   
2. Windows Mobile Pocket PC (More of a PDA than Phone, with TouchScreen)
   

I don't know much about WM Smartphones. But, as far as I know, they are less flexible than PPCs. Now, about my device - it is WM PPC. There is one thing about HTC devices - Typically, they have more than one name. Most importantly, they have cool (at least I think they are cool) codenames. As for the case of HTC TyTN, it is codename Hermes. You can read more about hermes Here.

Now, let's talk about software counterpart of PPC. A PPC is more or less comparable to Personal Computers in terms of Software. They boot into OS like PCs. I am going to explain different components briefly.

Bootloader - Combination of IPL (Initial Program Load) and SPL (Secondary Program Load). In short, it "boots" the device into OS.

ROM - In general terms, it means Read Only Memory. It is the memory where software counterpart of PPC device is stored. Flashing or Upgrading ROM means replacing one or more components of ROM with another one (I am not using newer here). There components include OS, ExtROM, Radio etc.

OS - You can directly compare the OS to your PC os like Windows XP.

ExtROM - It stores the customized application/configuration data which is to be installed on each Hard Reset (Hard Reset is like Reinstalling the OS on PC. Here, all Data to be installed is already available in ExtROM. So, no need of "Windows Mobile Disc")

Radio - Don't confuse it with FM Radio. It is GSM Radio Software which controls GSM hardware on PPC device.

So, Now we know that OS is "upgradable" in PPCs along with other things like Radio. When we talk about upgrading ROM, generally it is related to OS and ExtROM only. Although, Official ROMs released by HTC contain other components like radio, IPL/SPL, too.

Upgrading ROM is a little risky. You can damage your device while upgrade if something goes wrong during upgrade. You can upgrade to respective official ROMs at your own risk without restriction.

There are many custom made ROMs, put together by (genius) people on xda-developers. (Most appropriate word is "cook" the ROM). You can also flash these "custom made" ROMs (of course at your own risk). But, before flashing other ROMs into your device, you need to CID (Carrier ID) Unlock the device first. Keep in mind, it will void your manufacturer (or any) warranty. Once it is done, it can't be undone. So, consider before taking this step.

Looking at the bright side of CID-Unlocking the device, a large world of custom ROMs awaits you. Now, I have an AT&T 8525 which came with WM5 + all AT&T crap, which was apparantly useless for me in India. So, Flashed my device with Schap's 4.30 ROM for Hermes. And I got to tell you, it was much faster than previous ROM from AT&T. Since then, I flashed about 10-12 different ROMs on my device, looking for optimum performance/stability/storage combination.

I am holding onto my TyTN just for simple and plain one thing. You get a lot of options when it comes to your phone OS. You can choose whatever you want. And of course, you can also cook your own ROM. But, let's not get into that.


Section - 2: Radio Test Results

Now, let's come to the point. I tested 4 different radios on my Herm100 device. I tested the whole thing on Airtel, which is by the way an EDGE enabled provider. I tested with PDACorner Pro v13 ROM. I tested data speed and average power usage when idle (with backlight 50% on all the time. i.e. for 5 minutes). Data speeds are tested on Opera Mobile 9.50 using Iphone Speed and Latency Test Here with full (not literally full. Just 4/4 bars) network strength.

Radio: 1.47.30.10
Data Download Speed: 48 Kbps
Average Idle Power Usage: 102 mA
Comment: Data connection was continuous and latency was like 1500ms average. It is darn slow for EDGE.

Radio: 1.54.00.10
Data Download Speed: 38 Kbps
Average Idle Power Usage: 92 mA
Comment: Connection was not continuous. Sometimes, I got latencies of 12000ms which is not at all acceptable. But, it also topped in power saving compitition.

Radio: 1.54.07.00
Data Download Speed: 44 Kbps
Average Idle Power Usage: 98 mA
Comment: Connection was not continuous. But, it was doable with average of 2000ms latency.

Radio: 1.54.30.10
Data Download Speed: 92 Kbps
Average Idle Power Usage: 108 mA
Comment: I was overhelmed by its data connection. It was continuous and it beautifully topped data speed charts. Though, it was the most power hungry Radio among the tested. It was worth it with data speed.

There was no neck-to-neck compitition in all the tests (I was surprised, actually). For me, 1.54.30.10 was the best radio, mostly because of data speed. These tests don't display one radio better from another. It might even perform differently on your device. These results are just for reference

If you have any comment or suggestions, you are most welcome.