Unexplained 4G data usage? - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989

I have a relatively new SG2 on T-Mo and just had a scary incident last week related to my data usage.
Firstly, understand that I've been an Android user for two years on Sprint and know from that experience that my data usage has always averaged 300-500MB/mo, i.e., I am not a heavy user. I've also been completely satisfied with my new SG2 (battery etc) as well as the T-Mo network.
Last Friday, however, my phone unexpectedly died in the late afternoon. I plugged it in and powered-up, then got a warning that I was about to exceed my 2GB data-plan. I was only 3 days into the current billing-cycle! I called T-Mo and they said, "We can see your data-usage running as we speak." I said that was ridiculous, there was nothing running on the phone and I had just restarted it. There was no visible sign of any app or activity on the phone. Eventually, though, I realized what was happening:
Earlier that same day I had tried to email myself a large attachment. (I'm only running my work email-account which is on Exchange.) The email never came through and I realized I had probably exceeded the maximum size allowed by my email server. Apparently the phone did not gracefully give-up the outbox message! Instead it went berserk and tried/failed repeatedly to send the email, killing both my battery and my 2GB data-allotment in just a few hours.
T-Mo tech support had the good suggestion to remove (then re-add) my work email account, and that fixed the problem.
Conclusion: there's a bug in the Samsung Mail app where it does not recognize/accept an 'undeliverable' response from email servers, at least not the 'too big' response from Exchange servers.
___________
New issue:
So now I was paranoid and installed a data-usage widget to monitor my connection. In the next week my phone averaged ~45MB/day?! This was still insane, since I knew from experience I typically used 10MB/day. I called T-Mo to complain that one of their apps must be wasting my data-plan and they played dumb. They also said they had 'no control' over the crapware they'd force-installed on the phone. I not-so-politely told the rep that was a load of crap and asked that she record a note on my account that I was concerned my data-plan was being 'wasted' by their apps, in case I called-back later to dispute my charges.
Now, from reviewing this forum, I see lots of complaints about the T-Mo 'My Account' app. Is that known to waste data-usage?
P.S. I'm currently running an experiment wherein I uninstalled the Google+ app. This was the one new app I'm running (relative to the previous 2 years' experience). So far the problem seems to be fixed? I'm surprised, though, that Google+ would use that much data as I'm only linked to a handful of people (immediate family) and none of us are posting anything.

no...the my account app does not waste my data...i have had this phone for a week and a half and also used the app on my samsung vibrant...have never had any weird data usage cycles...my billing cycle just ended on the 14th...my data counting widget shows 27.5MB used...its 5:30 eastern...so over a day and a half and only at 27.5mb...nothing even remotely close to your 50MB/day

Related

HTC battery experiment

HTC orange reports on this forum show variable performance at best. however, most of the people have not been using push exchange mail for work at a heavy rate. The phone has been marketed as a smartphone, ie one you can use for business use. I use push mail linked to my MS exchange server and yesterday my battery did this:
100% at 7.50am
14% at 8pm
I must have had about 20mins talk time and about 10 texts. this is the worst performance i've ever had from any phone i've owned. (if it wasn't such an amazing phone i would have returned it by now). anyway, i drained the battery last night, so lets see what i get out of it today.
any orange ms exchange pushers experienced anything similar.
(ps- whats the point in having a black background on such an amazing screen, thats a bad solution)
And why exactly did you have to create another Thread for this?
tuntang said:
HTC orange reports on this forum show variable performance at best. however, most of the people have not been using push exchange mail for work at a heavy rate. The phone has been marketed as a smartphone, ie one you can use for business use. I use push mail linked to my MS exchange server and yesterday my battery did this:
100% at 7.50am
14% at 8pm
I must have had about 20mins talk time and about 10 texts. this is the worst performance i've ever had from any phone i've owned. (if it wasn't such an amazing phone i would have returned it by now). anyway, i drained the battery last night, so lets see what i get out of it today.
any orange ms exchange pushers experienced anything similar.
(ps- whats the point in having a black background on such an amazing screen, thats a bad solution)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alot of reports are saying that its the calender app that seems to drain the battery the most.
Download a app called spare parts and go into battery history and finaly to partial usage and see for yourself.
I too push email quite a lot on my gmail account as i get like 20-30 emails a day from notifications of new posts that i am subscribed to across various forums like this one and yea my battery is similar to yours.
i am trying to kill the connectivityService running under calender to see if that makes a difference.
why new thread?
Eggcake said:
And why exactly did you have to create another Thread for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because i couldnt see anyone in that thread using the phone with hte same variables and needs as me. eg I dont want to kill the calender, i'm not intersted in wake up or sleep time. i am someone that uses the phone as my main work phone during the day and for leisire in the evenings.
my point is that if i can barely get through the day with PUSH syching, its not really working very effectivley as a business phone. i probably should have put this in the battery thread. and will do in just a sec!
Is your phone new?? My phone's battery got alot better after 6 or 7 full charges, i have push enabled for my gmail, hotmail every 15 mins, weather every 6 hours, contacts sync and calendar sync and though i'm not a heavy user (3 or 4 calls a day, 30 mins wifi/internet 3/4 messages 5/6 emails an a little playing around) i'm got 3 days out of my last charge (on the 3rd day it reached the night at about 3%!!!! but i can easily get 2 days with heavy use)
Give it some time and try and find out what's using your battery!!!

Word of Warning

So recently i went to Japan for a 3 week holiday. It was good blah blah blah
I decided to take my desire as it would be useful to use when wifi was availabe
However, on many occasions, mostly when drunk....I decided ''**** it, i'll turn off airplane mode and check my e-mails'' I did it more than a few times, but not enough to worry about my bill
So today, i got my phone disconnected by t-mobile. This promted me to immediately call them and ask what's up. They said my account was disconnected by the fraud department as my account seemed different from usua. I told them that i'd been in Japan so maybe it was just because i was now back in uk, the bells started ringing and that nothing was wrong and they should reconnect my line.
I asked how much my bill was
£580!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg!!! apparently i racked up £400 just through data usage!!!! and the rest in calls
I knew it was £7.50 for 1mb but i didn't realise that checking my e-mails now and then would rack up such an amount
so word of warning....next time you visit somewhere outside your home country....either leave your phone at home, or don't use data or even answer the phone
The worst part was i had to pay them there and now just to get my line reconnected.
second word of warning, always have a spare bit of cash in your bank for a rainy day/extremely expensive phone bills
it makes you wonder what the Desire does when it connects.
ps
I still don't believe anyone that says they got more than 12 hours of battery with normal usage. I seriously need to keep everything to a basic minimum to get a day out of it. but if i use it just normally...then yeah...12 hours is optimistic
ouuuuch!! thats my input to this thread.
You sure you didn't go on porn while you were drunk also?
Uuuuuu!!!! That really sucks!!! Something similar happened to me once when i went to Cuba but it wasn't as terrible as yours, the again, my phone didn't have data back then!!!
ps; i can get 3 days of batt on normal use (includes gmail on push, ocasional word on g-talk, couple of messages a day, couple of calls a day and 10 mins of browsing a day and the ocasional game) and if i happen to push the phone a bit more i still get 2 days easily so there must be something sucking your battery dry!!!!
Just as an example, i havn't used the phone much these days and i'm on my fouth day and i'm pretty sure it'll reach tonights charge no problem.
Barff1984 said:
£580!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg!!! apparently i racked up £400 just through data usage!!!! and the rest in calls
I knew it was £7.50 for 1mb but i didn't realise that checking my e-mails now and then would rack up such an amount
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only works out at 17mb data per week ( £400 / £7.5 / 3 ) which is actually a pretty small amount of data. I'd expect my phone to burn through that in less than a day for my email usage.
If you really want to know how much data your Desire chews through, install a net counter, but of course in your particular case it's rather closing the stable door after the horse has bolted!
Regards,
Dave
I think T-Mobile has ripped you off. When I was also in japan, I was using data including gps but my bill was nowhere near yours. I am on Vodafone.
I would never wanna check my email that much! Ha ha
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Barff1984 said:
I still don't believe anyone that says they got more than 12 hours of battery with normal usage. I seriously need to keep everything to a basic minimum to get a day out of it. but if i use it just normally...then yeah...12 hours is optimistic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch, that bill hurt.But s**t happens. You should not have to go into airplane mode by the way: There is a checkbox that enables data connections while roaming, just keep it unchecked.
Anyway, about your battery: you should check your partial wake usage. I had trouble with the battery on my desire, until a recent OTA update to 1.20.207.3. Everything seems to be fine ever since then.
You can check your partial wake usage by:
- dialing »*#*#4636#*#*«,
- then going to »Battery history«,
- with dropdowns at »Other usage«
- and »since last unplugged«.
Look at »Running«. This shows useful data, especially if you have been on battery for some time – like 30min – with your phone in stand-by. Some application/service may be blocking the sleep state of the device. Then you will notice »running« at 100% or at least very high – even though the phone was supposed to be in sleep state.
Also search the forums for »potential cause for excessive battery usage«. Since I am a noob here, I cannot post the link, so please use search...
dzire187 said:
Ouch, that bill hurt.But s**t happens. You should not have to go into airplane mode by the way: There is a checkbox that enables data connections while roaming, just keep it unchecked.
Anyway, about your battery: you should check your partial wake usage. I had trouble with the battery on my desire, until a recent OTA update to 1.20.207.3. Everything seems to be fine ever since then.
You can check your partial wake usage by:
- dialing »*#*#4636#*#*«,
- then going to »Battery history«,
- with dropdowns at »Other usage«
- and »since last unplugged«.
Look at »Running«. This shows useful data, especially if you have been on battery for some time – like 30min – with your phone in stand-by. Some application/service may be blocking the sleep state of the device. Then you will notice »running« at 100% or at least very high – even though the phone was supposed to be in sleep state.
Also search the forums for »potential cause for excessive battery usage«. Since I am a noob here, I cannot post the link, so please use search...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, every time you come out of Airplane mode (to make a call or whatever) your phone will try and sync because it knows it's been "out of the loop".
Just keep data roaming off or delete the APNs.
coochan8 said:
I think T-Mobile has ripped you off. When I was also in japan, I was using data including gps but my bill was nowhere near yours. I am on Vodafone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahem! Vodafone used to have a "reasonably sensible" (and I use that term loosely) data roaming package - you should see Vodafones new data roaming tariffs that come into effect in June!
Regards,
Dave
P.S. GPS in and of itself doesn't use any data, though certain apps that use GPS may consume data themselves. For example. Google Navigation will use data to pull down maps, whereas Copilot uses maps on SD card and thus consumes no data.
yea it does suck especially since i'm planning on going back to japan for 5 weeks in July. Lol, wont be checking my e-mail half as much.
How do i know if there's an update to my rom? I use the phone to check if there are updates but it always says it's fine. Should i actually check online instead? I know with Winmob it never said there was an update even when there was. I'm kind of hoping android is a bit better for that.
I'll check which rom etc i'm using and see if there's an update.
Ive got a netcounter. However i use task killer a lot because i'm convinced it saves the battery a little. So if i use that, obivously it kills the net counter too.
I'm sure someone is about to say ''you're using android, you don't need a task killer'' however, when i see so many apps running in the background, regardless if people say ''but they're not using memory'', they do. If i kill them all, my phone goes quicker again. So yea it does work.
Barff1984 said:
Ive got a netcounter. However i use task killer a lot because i'm convinced it saves the battery a little. So if i use that, obivously it kills the net counter too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most task killers have an option to exclude certain apps, so if you must insist on using one ( ), set it to ignore your net counter.
Regards,
Dave
Barff1984 said:
How do i know if there's an update to my rom? I use the phone to check if there are updates but it always says it's fine. Should i actually check online instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That just means your operator is not offering an update. You may wish to check out the battery history, it may give you some information about what is draining your battery.
Barff1984 said:
I'm sure someone is about to say ''you're using android, you don't need a task killer'' however, when i see so many apps running in the background, regardless if people say ''but they're not using memory'', they do. If i kill them all, my phone goes quicker again. So yea it does work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Android is designed to use all the RAM available, which is a good thing - speaking of software design. There is no reason to keep RAM free on a well designed operating system, because once RAM is required, an unused app is ditched in favour of the new one. As this takes virtually no time there is no need to use time and resources to clean up. In fact, task killers use system resources, resulting in battery usage.
Anyway, what you are seeing is bad design in applications, and that is real: Some apps are active, even though they should not be. Either because you do not want them to, or because they do not properly communicate that they will be running in the background, doing stuff all the time. Android adresses the issue by exposing details about battery usage to the user, thus forcing bad developers to choose the defaults for their apps more carefully.
Again, check out *#*#4636#*#* to identify software that is running all the time. Maybe it's something you do not need that is causing your phone to lag and drain the battery...
Can't you tell t-mobile to disable internet usage on your account when your in another country?
JAmes.
No offense but this isn't anything new data roaming bill have been in the news allot. You really should of known better.... also you should of picked up a pay as you go sum or rolling contract sum for the duration of your trip...
I also hear many counts airports have special visitor sum packages.... you real should of looked into this
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Sim damn auto correction.... oh and country
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3 ftw ... pay them 15£ and all ur inclusive allowances work abroad
i know what you mean but...
I went on honeymoon to Italy for 10 days with my wife and my desire.
I am with Vodafone and was charged 5 pounds a day for data. They allow 25mbps for a fiver which I think is reasonable. However my.bill breakdown of data usage was shot to sh*t ...some days showed 24mb others 100+, all I was doing was this website, the BBC, and a beekeeper one. I complained, they checked the bill and gave me 35 quid back. Also another 30 off next months bill too.
Overall my 10 days cost me 50 quid.
Sam
This is why when abroad always always get a local sim card if you need calls to come in divert your number its soooo much cheaper.
lumpaywk said:
This is why when abroad always always get a local sim card if you need calls to come in divert your number its soooo much cheaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sage words.
sounds like the OP has the desires full suite of syncing going on.
With my old HD I got lost in europe and fired up google maps, it was set to satellite mode and it cost me 5 quid just to find out where I was and that was about 30 seconds usage.
There is a 'data off' app out there. It just kills all data connections until further notice.

GOOD READ - Text Message From The FUTURE problem

The problem is when I receive text messages from any network, the time stamp is messed up and shows up two minutes in the future (see picture below). I have done a complete hard reset about five times, tried all different software updates, went completely back to stock (unrooted), tried AOSP roms, tried Gingerbread roms, tried Sense roms with AOSP mms.apk, and whatever I try I cannot get rid of this bug. It causes all my text messages to be scrambled and not in order. I use this phone 90% of the time for texting. It's how I handle most of my business. I called Sprint and ended up getting up to their advanced tech support where they simply did a provisioning reset (completely unactivated and activated again) and after that they said there is nothing they can do. So I took it into the remedial Sprint tech in my local Sprint store (don't have enough time to travel 2 hours to get to a corporate store), and they did another master hard reset where they completely reloaded the software (I guess). Still not fixed. I am outside of my 30 days so i cannot do a swap. I cannot send my phone in to HTC because I simply cannot live without a phone for 2 weeks, and I don't have a backup. I've done all types of searching on google and the only thing I could find was about 6 months ago people were having this problem but the times were delayed by an hour or two. The texts are not delayed they show up on time, they just have the wrong time stamp. It has to be something with the network and not the software. My immediate suspicion is that is has something to do with my MMS provisioning to the network but I really don't know how to look into this.
This is probably one of the weirdest problems you will ever see. The picture at the bottom shows the right time in the corner but look at the time on my last incoming text. Off by two minutes in the future. Can anybody offer my some advice I am up for anything. I can also post or send anybody anything. I need this fixed but I just can't deal with Sprint anymore. I realized they are a business but if they support a faulty product, they should fix it without taking anything away from their customers. I always feel like Sprint is trying to take something away from their customers. Oh also one of the Sprint techs said the EVo would not get an official gingerbread update because Sprint wants to push other phones.........most likely a fib but who knows....sounds like Sprint and HTC. Anyways
Just a thought, what if those texts really are coming from the future? I mean for all you know you are caught in some sort of weird time vortex thing that distorts your perception of time, making it seem like you are in the present when actually you are two minutes behind everybody else. That would make any text coming in to you be from 2 minutes in the future. I know this sounds far fetched but I wouldn't discount it as a possibility.
This is a bug in android. Search the market for sms time fix and see if that helps.
Usually it's off by hours and not minutes though. There is also a setting somewhere that will let you use the local time instead of network time but I don't remember where it is at. You could also try disabling roaming, I keep mine locked to Sprint's network and never lose a signal.
Never heard of this fix, but I got the same bug. I just installed chomp sms, works perfect now.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Try CM7. Perhaps the bug was fixed in Gingerbread (2.3.1)
I tired gingerbread....and the funny thing is this only happens to some phones because my roomate has an evo right now and it does not do any of this....so it is not a problem with android......it has to be the Sprint servers or something. I'm on fully stock right now (no root). I tired gingerbread (CM7) and it didn't help anything. I'm taking my phone back into Sprint today but this time I'm going to give them hell. I payed 350 dollars for this phone I will not settle for "Oh, well we can't do anything about it." You shouldn't have to install anything extra on your phone. I tried that SMS fix but the funny thing is, it messes everything up because my Sprint texts are fine but my verizon and att are all futuristic. And no I am not in some weird wormhole or time continuum the phone is just messed up. It happens with electronics but there is usually this thing called a warranty that allows for direct replacement and for some reason cell phone companies have avoided this whole customer based process. I'll get back in about an hour.
Alright went to my local Sprint Repair Center and they could do absolutely nothing. However I did have the manager push through a priority claim ticket to the network engineers and hopefully, and I do mean hopefully, they call me back. Apparently the last few times I've called they told me they started a ticket, and actually didn't. I think they think I was telling them a lie or something. The manager there was actually extremely helpful and told me he would make sure I get a new phone if this doesn't work. If anybody has any other suggestions please let me know.
I'm curious if this would fix it...
Go to your time options. Settings-Date/Time If automatic is ticked, untick it. If its not, tick it. I would think the bug is caused when a text is sent with a timestamp via the network, at lets say 6:00 but your phone is registered as 5:58. Your timestamp would get all different kinds of backwards in your text app. I'm not sure if time on a phone would be on a BIOS chip like a computer, but it would make sense that your phone is just simply registering the time wrong. If you check/uncheck that and it still does it, simply hard-set the time two minutes ahead.
Recently I've started having the same exact problem, except I have the Samsung Epic. Called customer support once and they "reset messaging" which didn't help at all. Installing any third-party messaging apps haven't helped, and neither has switching between local and network-provided time. Also, its random, so most incoming messages are messed up, but some are actually correct.
I'll try manually setting the time ahead two minutes and bugging some people to text me.
Edit: No luck, with the time set ahead two minutes, incoming timestamps are two minutes ahead of the new setting as well.
av91 said:
Recently I've started having the same exact problem, except I have the Samsung Epic. Called customer support once and they "reset messaging" which didn't help at all. Installing any third-party messaging apps haven't helped, and neither has switching between local and network-provided time. Also, its random, so most incoming messages are messed up, but some are actually correct.
I'll try manually setting the time ahead two minutes and bugging some people to text me.
Edit: No luck, with the time set ahead two minutes, incoming timestamps are two minutes ahead of the new setting as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please call technical support and get everything into the Sprint system. Ask them to push it to a network engineer. I have to wait until one of them get a hold of me but they may end up just replacing the phone. I'm glad to hear that other people are having the problem also. Also an update, it is text messages from all networks that do this, including Sprint. I will keep this thread updated because I need to get this problem solved. At this point, I don't think there is anything left for me to do from the user end. I just have to wait for Sprint to get it all figured out. I do have insurance and they said they might just put in a request for a new one at no cost to me......also sounds like bs because I thought you had to pay a 100$ deductible no matter what. The Sprint tech said you don't have to pay for the deductible if its a software or network issue and there is no screen crack or water damage. My EVO is in perfect condition but the software doesn't work. Hopefully they will give me a reconditioned one that actually works.
This is a Sprint network problem. Various sprint phones (not just Androids) are notorious for this type of behavior (wrong time stamps, messages out of order, delay in receiving and sending messages, etc etc). It's very frustrating indeed.
For the time being, try using one of the SMS apps on the market like Handcent or ChompSMS. You may still get incorrect time stamps from time to time, but your messages will arrive/send in order.
twoslo said:
This is a Sprint network problem. Various sprint phones (not just Androids) are notorious for this type of behavior (wrong time stamps, messages out of order, delay in receiving and sending messages, etc etc). It's very frustrating indeed.
For the time being, try using one of the SMS apps on the market like Handcent or ChompSMS. You may still get incorrect time stamps from time to time, but your messages will arrive/send in order.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the response but I really don't like using aftermarket apps that don't go along with the theme of the phone. I'm real OCD like that. I don't even like apps that have free next to their name. If you pay 350$ for a piece of electronics, everything should work on it, including software and hardware. The sprint engineers need to get this figured out. This is unacceptable. The amount of money they are getting from their customers is ridiculous so why can't everything work. I realize their stock has taken a murdering but you have to keep your customers happy, that's number one. Anyways, I'm waiting too hear from Sprint but they said 72 hours not including the weekend so If I don't hear from them by next Tuesday, they will be getting a nasty call.
Exact same problem!
It has been driving me crazy. I will receive a text at 9:05, respond to it, and it will say it's 1-2 minutes earlier.
Another thing: we have four Sprint phones in the house. If we're all looking at them at the same time, they don't all say the same time. So, I tend to think that the time that shows when I receive a text is actually the time the sender's phone says. (Is that confusing enough for you?) Could that be the difference?
It only started recently, probably when I updated my phone last month.
This happens randomly on my Evo. Certain people I'm texting with, the time stamps will be out of whack, ranging from 2 minutes off, to over an hour off. My time stamp is always accurate, it's just the other person's that is inaccurate. I can be texting with a different person, at the same time, and the other thread will be perfectly normal. It's annoying. My phone also thought it was somewhere in Amsterdam (i wish i was there with it too) for a few hours, and nothing I tried would get it to show my actual location. I attribute all of this to google issues, and not actual problems with the phone.
k2buckley said:
This happens randomly on my Evo. Certain people I'm texting with, the time stamps will be out of whack, ranging from 2 minutes off, to over an hour off. My time stamp is always accurate, it's just the other person's that is inaccurate. I can be texting with a different person, at the same time, and the other thread will be perfectly normal. It's annoying. My phone also thought it was somewhere in Amsterdam (i wish i was there with it too) for a few hours, and nothing I tried would get it to show my actual location. I attribute all of this to google issues, and not actual problems with the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright still not fixed as of Monday....I have one more day until I can call Sprint and give them hell which I love...not....but anyways I've been doing some testing on when actually the time stamp is off. The time stamp is off from any network including Sprint only when the phone is asleep (or the screen is off). Then the time stamp comes in 2-3 minutes in the future. When my phone is on everything comes in fine and one time and all the time stamps are good. It seems like when the phone is asleep its grabbing things from the network 2 min ahead for some reason.
Alrigth just an update on the situation.....called Sprint back they said they had no recollection of my callings the last couple of days....completely unacceptable. Anyways I got real nasty with them and got sent up to retentions (I told them the iphone for verizon looks really good right now.) Walked all over the retentions people and they said just go to a store and get a warranty swap (since I pay the 7 dollars a month or whatever.) I went to the local store (Lafayette, IN 47909) and they said that I was the first one with this problem but not the last. Apparently right after I left the store the first time I went, about 10 to 15 people came in right after that with the same problem. The manager at the store finally got a technician ticket in and apparently the problem has reached a ton of people all the way down to Indianapolis. Even some of the workers at the store are having problems with their EVOs and Epics. The explanation I got was it has to do with android and the text messaging server within the Sprint Network. If anyone else is having this problem...PLEASE CALL SPRINT AND ***** TO THEM. They need to fix this as soon as possible but they won't recognize it as THEIR problem unless a bunch of people call in about it. It should be getting fixed but I will check back on Friday.
I noticed this same problem on mine. Looks like I'll be calling Sprint tonight and stopping by my local store. Maybe I'll just go to Sprint World HQ here in KC and talk to them about it.
pscalett said:
I noticed this same problem on mine. Looks like I'll be calling Sprint tonight and stopping by my local store. Maybe I'll just go to Sprint World HQ here in KC and talk to them about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please do....I'm wondering if there is a bug in the sms server that is causing this and it is slowly spreading nationwide. I call dibs on pointing this out if this is the case. This was from the mouth of a Sprint Employee. "Sprint will not do anything on an individual level but if the problem spreads to more than enough people, they will jump on it immediately." Now how much people is the real questions? I think the Sprint people thought I was crazy and now they are gonna be like....damn we should have listened to him. It's been going on for about 2 weeks now and I'm hoping it gets fixed before the end of the billing cycle.
Hey OP...as you may have figured by now your not the only one. I get it too. I kind of just let it go since it was minor. Mine also, when someone sends me a pic it goes to the very top of the conversation as opposed to in line with the rest of the texts...again i kind of let it go, but i do understand that we all paid our money, we should have perfection or at least 99.9. Thing is i dont want to swing by sprint and them see warm 2.2!!!! Then i'm really screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just do a backup and flash a stock RUU.....sprint needs to know about this..It has nothing to do with our phones but everything to do with their servers and they wont do anything until enough people complain. Anybody in the midwest that is getting text message problems, please call Sprint and complain. Explain to them exactly what is happening and tell them to give you a ticket number and tell them you expect a call within 72 hours. Get you case in so this can be fixed for everybody.

LTE Gnex Radio Problems? Try This

Background
This is by no means definitive, so don't everyone go get your panties in a wad and pitch fits like 12 year olds.
So several days ago I noticed that my GNex was starting to have issues with dropping calls and data connections. Basically, I was dropping data and voice despite having a connection to the network about every 2-5 hours, requiring a reboot. This happened over a 3 day period in a stationary position, in radically different places (like 80-150 miles apart). It was happening on 3G and on 4G so I was pretty confident that it wasn't just a localized outage or the local tower acting up. I'm no expert and certainly no /dev, but I've been around some Android devices a time or two.
I'm a big proponent that 95% of problems with an Android device are user error. That doesn't mean you're holding it wrong or that you're stupid, merely that something the user has installed or set is affecting something else, that affected something else. As an example, shortly after getting my GNex I installed TweetDeck. I had used Navigation several times to test GPS (first thing I did being a SGS owner) so I knew it worked and worked well. Anyway, immediately after installing and setting up TweetDeck, my GPS crapped. It would see satellites but not connect... even after 30 minutes....even after rebooting, clearing AGPS data, blah blah. Being objective, I decided to freeze TweetDeck with TB. As soon as I did, GPS returned. As soon as I unfroze it, GPS failed. I uninstalled TweetDeck and reinstalled from the Market, and had no more issues.
Solution (For me at least)
With that event in mind, and a crapped out radio, I went looking through my app drawer for apps that access the radio. I picked out Network Info II 0.6.0, Real Signal 3.5 and Network Signal Info 1.51. I rebooted and waited. Here it is three days later, and I have yet to have a single voice or data drop. If I've had one on the data side, I haven't noticed and it certainly wasn't for long.
I don't know how or why. All I know is that I've never had any form of radio trouble and those apps were recently installed, and that without them, the radio issues are gone. Take it for what it's worth, which probably isn't much. But if you're on 4.0.4, with 4.0.4 radios and you're suffering from radio problems, flip through your app drawer and remove or freeze applications that have the sole purpose of polling data from your radios. Who knows, maybe having 3 was 1 or 2 to many.
Thanks for the write up. And I really think the issue with certain apps interfering with OS-level stuff is a big issue, and one that nobody seems to want to notice.
There are a ton of posts, not only on this forum but on others, where people are saying they have so many issues with the Nexus and this and that. What a lot of people don't realize is that, yes, certain apps that are either poorly coded in general or not coded for ICS can potentially interfere with the normal operations of your phone.
A lot of people tend to use/stick with apps that they are used to, right? I came from the G1, the very first Android phone, so I've been using Android for awhile, and I bet that other people are too. Some apps are a staple of people's usage, meaning as soon as they get a new device, those same apps are the first to be downloaded and installed. However a lot of times those apps are abandoned by their developers, never to be touched again.
So of course an app that was coded on Froyo or even Eclair that calls the GPS or the radio or bluetooth stack or something else hardware related can potentially cause issues, especially with ICS being such a radical change from Gingerbread.
Question for OP. When you lost your data after 5 hours or so, was your 4G or 3G signal still showing as well as the data bars still moving like they are active but technically your data is not connected at all?
Was it apps you added that you froze or system stype apps? How did you see what accesed the radio?
[email protected] said:
Question for OP. When you lost your data after 5 hours or so, was your 4G or 3G signal still showing as well as the data bars still moving like they are active but technically your data is not connected at all?
Was it apps you added that you froze or system stype apps? How did you see what accesed the radio?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. It was doing the typical thing you read about where people will have gray bars, 4G/3G showing, "Verizon Wireless" on the lock screen but no connection to anything at all.
The applications I froze are all 3rd party market apps. Check out the permissions for Network Info II as an example. My not so scientific hypothesis wonders if too many apps that can read "Network State" and "Phone State" going at once is too many. Again, not really based on anything at all, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that multiple apps or a poorly coded app constantly requesting Network/Phone State could throw radios into a tailspin and cause those radio crashes that we see from logcats.
And as a disclaimer, I'm not knocking those applications or saying that there's anything wrong with them. I make this post primarily to encourage people with the issue to think logically about the apps they have installed and experiment with removing some out of the equation. Going back to what I said eariler, 99% of people that install TweetDeck on their GNex probably don't have GPS issues because of it, ever. I did until uninstalling and reinstalling and haven't had issues since.
I see this as possibly being no different, at least in regards to a 4.0.4 Bootloader, OS and Radio Package.
Food for thought: Apps have not been updated to work 100% with ICS?
KWKSLVR said:
Yes. It was doing the typical thing you read about where people will have gray bars, 4G/3G showing, "Verizon Wireless" on the lock screen but no connection to anything at all.
The applications I froze are all 3rd party market apps. Check out the permissions for Network Info II as an example. My not so scientific hypothesis wonders if too many apps that can read "Network State" and "Phone State" going at once is too many. Again, not really based on anything at all, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that multiple apps or a poorly coded app constantly requesting Network/Phone State could throw radios into a tailspin and cause those radio crashes that we see from logcats.
And as a disclaimer, I'm not knocking those applications or saying that there's anything wrong with them. I make this post primarily to encourage people with the issue to think logically about the apps they have installed and experiment with removing some out of the equation. Going back to what I said eariler, 99% of people that install TweetDeck on their GNex probably don't have GPS issues because of it, ever. I did until uninstalling and reinstalling and haven't had issues since.
I see this as possibly being no different, at least in regards to a 4.0.4 Bootloader, OS and Radio Package.
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Click to collapse
Alright, so will that app tell me what is accessing that feature or do I need to go through every app to find out and what exactly shoould t say in the access?
Help me out here please because this is starting to annoy me!
The fastest way to see what apps have what permissions is Menu > Settings > Apps then go through each app and scroll down to permissions. Or you could back up your apps with TB, do a Nandroid then completely wipe the phone and live with it totally untouched (minus your gmail account of course) long enough to see if the problem goes away.
Don't get me wrong, I've never seen an LTE phone that didn't occasionally disconnect for a few seconds. People that say, "OMG my Rezound never did" are either full of it or didn't pay attention. There are plenty of cases of Rezounds, Maxx's and Thunderbolts having brief and random disconnects. But there's a huge difference between that, and losing signal as often as I was and as often as many people here say they do. There's nothing you can do about the former, but hopefully this is something that can be done about the latter. I'm crossing my fingers that it may help and that it's a relatively simple fix because frankly, until I saw it for myself I thought a lot of people were being drama queens. I'm not a whiner, I'm a doer, so I encourage everyone to go do.
bk201doesntexist said:
Food for thought: Apps have not been updated to work 100% with ICS?
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Click to collapse
There are a TON of apps that haven't been updated. I have a paid app that hasn't been updated that is abandoned and still on the market. Works fantastic except on ICS.
I've thankfully been free of radio issues thus far on my GNex, but I want to thank you for this thread.
KWKSLVR said:
I'm a big proponent that 95% of problems with an Android device are user error. That doesn't mean you're holding it wrong or that you're stupid, merely that something the user has installed or set is affecting something else, that affected something else.
...
Being objective, I decided to freeze TweetDeck with TB. As soon as I did, GPS returned. As soon as I unfroze it, GPS failed. I uninstalled TweetDeck and reinstalled from the Market, and had no more issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KWKSLVR said:
I make this post primarily to encourage people with the issue to think logically about the apps they have installed and experiment with removing some out of the equation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to jump up on too high of a soapbox, but I couldn't agree with you more.
It's very satisfying to read about people methodically, empirically testing. It's something that seems rare these days.
So thank you!
KWKSLVR said:
The fastest way to see what apps have what permissions is Menu > Settings > Apps then go through each app and scroll down to permissions. Or you could back up your apps with TB, do a Nandroid then completely wipe the phone and live with it totally untouched (minus your gmail account of course) long enough to see if the problem goes away.
Don't get me wrong, I've never seen an LTE phone that didn't occasionally disconnect for a few seconds. People that say, "OMG my Rezound never did" are either full of it or didn't pay attention. There are plenty of cases of Rezounds, Maxx's and Thunderbolts having brief and random disconnects. But there's a huge difference between that, and losing signal as often as I was and as often as many people here say they do. There's nothing you can do about the former, but hopefully this is something that can be done about the latter. I'm crossing my fingers that it may help and that it's a relatively simple fix because frankly, until I saw it for myself I thought a lot of people were being drama queens. I'm not a whiner, I'm a doer, so I encourage everyone to go do.
There are a TON of apps that haven't been updated. I have a paid app that hasn't been updated that is abandoned and still on the market. Works fantastic except on ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My signal does not go in and out but randomly after hours it might lose data. By looking at it you would never know because everything looks fine but behind the scenes data is not working.
So what we are looking for in permissions is what you listed in the 1st post and that is what will be listed?
I thought it might have been me running in tablet mode so I just switched back to phone mode. Would like to see if it is actually caused by what you say.
[email protected] said:
My signal does not go in and out but randomly after hours it might lose data. By looking at it you would never know because everything looks fine but behind the scenes data is not working.
So what we are looking for in permissions is what you listed in the 1st post and that is what will be listed?
I thought it might have been me running in tablet mode so I just switched back to phone mode. Would like to see if it is actually caused by what you say.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I froze those apps, I picked them because I knew they had access to:
Network communication > view network state > Allows an application to view the state of all networks. The part in bold is the description of what the permission "View Network State" means. That permission is under the "Network Communication" Category. Some apps will have more than that single permission under Network communication, some with have none at all. "Real Signal" has the fewest permissions out of the three I froze, and maybe all three don't HAVE to be frozen, but I haven't tested that yet.
Another random thought. During that time period, I also had a BUNCH of random reboots.
Maybe on other devices 95% user error might be closer.
But, not on my Gnex! What if you bought a completely new phone and have not installed any apps. The first time you open up the stock browser and use it for 5 mins or so on 4G LTE next to the cell tower -75 db stationary and still lose connection of both data and voice with "the triangle of death" on 2 separate GNex with 2 new SIM cards? Is this a bad batch? To me, "bad batch" is when we say 1/100 is a faulty device but this is almost reversed with GNex. We should exchange devices until we find a "good batch"
All I am saying is we all should be a little more compassionate for people like me. A lot of problems are made by users, sure. But it sure isn't 95%....It's more like samsung/google/vzw 60% in this case..
I hope I shed a little light on all the users that did not create user errors yet still have radio problems and VZW keep telling us to wait because issues are going to be addressed with the supposed firmware update that should have come in Feb, now March. Now...I don't know when.
Thank you for your post though, you rock
With anything, even product reviews, the people that have issues always make up the vocal majority. No one talks about how things work the way they should.
If my phone truly dropped 4G as often as it did when I had this application conflict, I'd be in the Verizon store every day until I either had a replacement or got banished from the store. If Verizon told me that it was "normal" and to live with it, I'd pay a visit to management at a different Verizon store and pay an online visit to the BBB. If that didn't do any good and I was really REALLY bored and had nothing better to do, I'd probably draw up a letter to Verizon's legal department about the liability Verizon could have when a consumer can't call 911 in the middle of the night because the radio crashed.
I still think it's an incompatibility hiccup with ICS more than necessarily an issue with Verizon's LTE network. I see GSM owners complaining too. And, as I said in the OP, I can only speak for a "stock" 4.0.4 bootloader/modem/radio experience. I've seen posts from people talking about how their problems have disappeared since making the move from 4.0.2 to 4.0.4. All I can speak of from my own experiences is that I've never had a problem from any version of ICS other than what I experience.
Come to think of it, I think I'll defrost all three of those apps and see what happens, especially since the phone in my hotel seems to be in working order.
OK, in the couple of hours since I've defrosted my cocktail of apps I've:
Opened the Facebook app, watched it poll for GPS and lock, then closed the Facebook app only to have GPS stuck on. Once I went into Settings > Apps > Location Services and tried to uncheck "GPS satellites" it rebooted. After rebooting, the phone showed 4G and a connection to Google's servers but I couldn't browse or use any app that is web based (like speed test, gmail, etc). After about 30 minutes of trying, I rebooted again and everything was fine. I have a feeling it's related to Real Signal looking at the plethora of stuff it monitors and that it's starting up on boot.
That's all I personally care to see. Needless to say, they're all frozen again.
I don't think there is a problem with real signal, I only installed it after having these problems to start with.
Since I got my nexus it works randomly drop voice and data. People would call me and get a fast busy signal. I tried many different radios and they all behaved the same. I switch my network to CDMA only and haven't dropped data or voice in two days.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
On 4.0.4?
I don't think it's necessarily just Real Signal. I think it's multiple apps polling data from your radios. After a few more days, I'll go through them one by one. So far in my experiences on my setup, there is something up with the combination of those apps.
Again, there's a solid chance that a combination of other apps could give other people similar issues.
I will say this, even if I had problems before installing those apps, this particular cocktail would only make them worse.
It's not ICM
Hi all - First post here, but have been having nightmares with my wifes Nexus - mine is fine and drops NOTHING - EVER.
Hers on the other hand - we are on our 2nd one and I was informed by Verizon today, that it's been 14 days since they replaced it and I"m stuck with it. I rooted her phone and installed 4.04, which fixed the random reboots she was having, and her signal LOOKED stronger, but she is dropping calls like mad and getting kicked off the network randomly.
Anyway, it does not appear to be a ICM thing - I was reading a review on IT World (I'm not allowed to post links till I've posted 8 times? ) - They are describing THE EXACT SAME THING the Galaxy Nexus is having. So there is a switching problem WITH VERIZON. The Maxx isn't ICM and the phone is a totally different manufacturer (Motorola)
I'm smelling class action lawsuit.
Woodk1 said:
Hi all - First post here, but have been having nightmares with my wifes Nexus - mine is fine and drops NOTHING - EVER.
Hers on the other hand - we are on our 2nd one and I was informed by Verizon today, that it's been 14 days since they replaced it and I"m stuck with it. I rooted her phone and installed 4.04, which fixed the random reboots she was having, and her signal LOOKED stronger, but she is dropping calls like mad and getting kicked off the network randomly.
Anyway, it does not appear to be a ICM thing - I was reading a review on IT World (I'm not allowed to post links till I've posted 8 times? ) - They are describing THE EXACT SAME THING the Galaxy Nexus is having. So there is a switching problem WITH VERIZON. The Maxx isn't ICM and the phone is a totally different manufacturer (Motorola)
I'm smelling class action lawsuit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, indeed.
I am very surprised to not see one yet!
It means all of us with this issue is actually being very patient at the moment.
Again, for anyone who does not have this issue at all, and curious to find out what issue we all are actually describing here by LTE Connection Drop + Voice Drop is:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24345
Man, why does everyone always pull the "class action lawsuit" line?
Firstly, you're not going to do diddly squat legally about it, so stop kidding yourselves (and us) when you say that you are.
Secondly, no service you pay for is "guaranteed" to have 100 percent uptime. My Comcast internet connection goes out every 3 months or so anywhere from 5 hours to one day. Do you think I have legal grounds to sue them? Nope. When a thunderstorm rolls in and you lose power for 12 hours, can you sue your electric company? Nope. In fact, I'm pretty sure in most ToS contracts or forms that you sign, it states that they do not guarantee you anything.
LTE is a relatively new technology, and Verizon is the first one to offer it. There's going to be hiccups and growing pains. It's been a year and it's A LOT better now than it was back when it started. 4 years ago we were all happy to get something faster than EDGE speeds, and now we get connections capable of 40/50 Mbps down at times and people are still unhappy.
I understand people's frustrations with the network/switching issues that are occurring between CDMA and LTE. But we live in an age where everyone feels entitled and important enough to immediately sue another company at the drop of a hat.
Here's an idea: If you are faced with severe LTE switching issues and it's a continuing problem, call up customer support. Tell them what is going on and let them help you. Yes, you are past your 14 day return policy, but you have one year of a device warranty, they will ship you out a replacement device. Since your Nexus works fine and your wife's does not, it leads me to believe that it's not a network issue in your area, and either: A. Your wife got two dud Nexus' in a row, which sucks but is not unheard of. or B. Your wife is using some sort of app or service that interferes with the radios. If you still have the issue after the 3rd replacement, call them up again and explain, and they just might be able to give her a different device altogether if the Nexus isn't working out for her.
Dear MMcCraryNJ,
hear my long plea if you have the time. If you don't that is okay.
Firstly, I am so glad you seem to be not affected by this issue on your GNex.
Every single day, I wish I was in your shoes.
On the brighter side though, with LTE Data/voice drop & severe vertical banded screen & one-way-microphone outbound issues, I have come to join in XDA forum. I've also gotten to know countless VZW / Samsung customer service representatives at all levels as well as local store customer service agents.
Secondly, I, and I am sure most of all the other GNex users with above issues, know that no product & service is guaranteed to work perfectly with 100% uptime. Personally, it takes a significant defect of any product for me to call customer service at all. I am one of those, who actually try to live with products that have minor flaws everyday. If GNex did drop my LTE 3-4 times daily, I'll live with out much complaint let alone 3 months that you've mentioned. 3 months of uptime would be heavenly, but I'll actually be perfectly fine with 3 hours uptime. Sadly, my uptime has been 5-10 minutes with LTE. If my one-way-outbound microphone cut off issue happened 1 out of 10 calls, I'll live happily. Sadly, nearly every other call makes my voice into a robot and I have to call back again.
I am personally coming from Droid Eris long long time ago when Android first came out with newest 3G technology back then. Eris wasn't issue free but my satisfaction with what I got was pretty much 95%. You see, as long as a product performs what it claimed to perform 60-80% of the time, I am happy. Claim and advertisement that Verizon made with CDMA Galaxy Nexus in the US as "The latest 4G LTE Pure Google ICS Smartphone meeting the most reliable 4G LTE network in the world" caught my attention, as many others, to actually decide to choose this new phone with my 2 year contract over countless androids that came out in the past 3 years.
Again, our frustration that is described on these post is described in detail here (http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24345) it is not a LTE / 3G switch issue only. Switching issue is very small part of this problem. I will not go into any detail of one-way-microphone cut off issue at all, due to its unrelated nature on this particular post.
Just as you've suggested naively, your suggestions in order that you wrote them in were exactly the steps I thought and took from very first day I purchased GNex back 4 months ago from a local verizon store. I have stopped in at the verizon store to get exchanges of the actual device, SIM card. None of these replacements solved the data/voice drop issue. I am all talking about stock 4.0.2 without any apps installed on any of these GNex. It can't possibly be the bad batch as I received batches that were produced in completely different months. I loved whatever was promised with GNex so much that I was determined to find the one for me as no other devices Verizon offer at the time appeal to me at all. As 14 days has passed, the local verizon literally told me to 1) wait for the update 2) root your device to all different kind of ROMs and Radios 3) call VZW customer service. Which all of the advice I followed, I am still waiting, none of the ROMs and radios solved the issue.
Ever since then, I've been calling VZW and Samsung (when VZW transferred me), and talked to numerous customer service representatives at all different levels. (Level 2 & 3 and at some points I've been transferred and escalated twice to a person really higher up) With my efforts, I was actually able to tag all my calls, and send them screenshots (via e-mail), and follow through to actually make above mentioned issues officially put on VZW technical bulletin. It is a huge improvement, because when I first called about these issues, they told me "They've never heard of these issues.". Now, after all of our efforts, they admit there's over "120 technical bulletin reportings on these issues."
You do think that it is so easy to get a refurbished factory replacement phones with all my history right?
The answer is sadly No. They've been literally telling me to wait a little longer no matter how much I requested them to get me a replacement device. They are indeed very hesitant to keep replacing devices for all of us especially now days where the supposed update is going to resolve these issues. And on my end, I want to see first if the software fixes it, because I am literally burned out to get another screen protector install everything again, etc. Now the official answer is wait....for the update. If they don't keep their last promise of March update to resolve this issue, that is when my patience will run out and I'll jump to a different device. Although, I love this phone....
This is the longest online posting of any sort in my life ever. I hope this somewhat gives you a new perspective on what unlucky GNex user like myself had to go through in the past 4 months due to getting "bad batches"
Trust me, I hate to live in a society where anybody can talk about law suits against anybody. But, this was one of my first moments that I literally felt like I was hopeless & got betrayed by VZW / Samsung / Google. I started to fantasy about way to make them responsible for this poor product and service. All I wanted was at least 60 percent working "4G LTE Smartphone". (4G LTE is turned off due to connection drop, Phone is unusable as business purposes due to frequent one-way-cut off). After $299 and 2 year contract with $75 monthly service bill of 4 months with all the time I spent to help VZW/Samsung with this issue as a customer, my wildest dreams of thinking of participating in a class law suit, which will never happen, actually make me feel a little bit less helpless towards these major corporations as a customer.
Thank you for hearing my plea. I sincerely apologize for the length of this post.
Hope more of us can enjoy this great GNex in the near future.
After all, I love this device, I love this XDA forum and GNex community. I wouldn't want to switch to a different device just yet

Poor battery life, maybe resolved?

Hello all!
Have had a Galaxy S8 for 9 months, then got a cracking deal on a refurbished S9 last week so have been using it for a week now. It is in Grade A condition!
First couple of days, battery life fantastic, now I have set up all my apps. SAME AS MY S8! I am a great believe in charging my phone correctly (I work in the Repair industry), so I charge my phone in the evening and then take it off before I go to bed at 2am. By 4pm the following day (I sleep until 9am) the phone is on approx 10% and at most it might have been used for a maximum screen on time of 2 hours approx. Very disappointing. I have recently paid for accubattery to try and keep an eye on what is happening, and tonight I decided to try something. I went into developer mode and turned off mobile data whilst on WiFi and my “current battery use” reported by accubattery when doing nothing has gone from -1000ma down to around -50ma... much more respectable! Maybe this setting will help more people!
I've tried that but I know some people that seem to only send group texts and of course group messages only come via mms. I actually know one person with an IPhone and all his txts by default go by mms instead of sms and I've given up trying to get him to fix it. The best thing I've ever found was a SMS app that would enable data for MMS and then disable it afterwards. I believe the only way you could do that now is by being rooted.
I only ever use WhatsApp and other social media apps and very rarely send text messages so for me this isn’t particularly a major issue.
I am going to monitor tomorrow as to how much this effects my battery life. Maybe now is the time to invite your mates to WhatsApp ...modernise a little
I don't sit around wifi all day and it would be pretty damn stupid ditching the odd mms for Whatsapp all day long. Modernize all you like but they both take data, besides no one I know has any use for Whatsapp, been there done that.
MMS isn't included in your contract allowance in the UK, at least none of the contracts I've ever had, they cost 30-50p each so apps like WhatsApp are a necessary evil
I detest anything facebook related but its the best messaging app available and no-one else uses any others, so if I want to share media with people that's the only choice
will try this on my device. thanks

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