Develop Bugs

VZW signal issues and root.

rhinolow said:
So I went back to 4.0.1 and was getting a steady three bars on my phone
Went to 4.0.2 and am getting a steady 2 bars on 4g
Unlocked, and rooted on 4.0.2, and was getting really sporadic signal behavior, including signal loss
All these readings are from the same location in my home.
Then I went back to 4.0.1 and tested all three conditions and got the same results.
I'm no programmer so I can't say why unlocking/rooting would make a difference, but I believe it's making enough of a difference at this point that I'm going to stay stock and locked at 4.0.2 for now.
You guys that are having a lot of problems, are you unlocked or rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that it's been a few days..... I want others to chime in on this report (no one answered this question in the original thread).
I was having a ton of issues, thought that VZW did something to make it slightly better (which I still believe they did), but stilll... I have issues, although not as bad as the second 12 hours of ownership.
I had made the call to tech support and was then going to return the phone.... when I got home I brought the device back to stock carrier 4.0.1 ROM floating around). Problems were almost completely gone!?! An hour later, the update came and I was worried about the upgrade screwing the radio that was acting better (not that it was perfect by any means!!). So..... after a little thought, I figured I could always go back to 4.0.1 and/or return it. I let the update do it's thing.
There seems to be zero difference between 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, when it comes to the radio.
I was still scared to do much..... I didn't install any apps while I watched the phone for a few hours. Then only Google's apps... the next day the rest of my apps (w/small exceptions, detailed below). Everything ran smoothly.... including the radio. Now it isn't nearly as good as the DX radio in my last phone, BUT..... at least I wasn't constantly with -120dbm and was able to use the phone, as a phone!
So.... I figured after another day that VZW must have fixed something.
Cool, right? Not sure..... I am stock, unlocked, and unrooted. I am afraid to root the phone..... I can't fathom how root could cause a radio issue, but am wondering how many others might have issue with and without root.
Now.... I am still seeing issues, but not nearly as bad. I'll root the phone tonight to see what happens, but would like others input.

Stock Verizon Nexus here and where I normally get full 4g I get maybe 2-3 3g bars. Most of the time I get zero signal where I at least get 3g.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5254/investigating-the-galaxy-nexus-lte-signal-issue

droid2andyou said:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5254/investigating-the-galaxy-nexus-lte-signal-issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great article. Sure as heck opened my eyes up. Thanks.

Root doesn't touch the radio. All it does it give you admin right over the phone.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer

player911 said:
Root doesn't touch the radio. All it does it give you admin right over the phone.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly right it must have just been the cell towers by the ops area
I'm currently having issues now before and after root

droid2andyou said:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5254/investigating-the-galaxy-nexus-lte-signal-issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just read that earlier today. Lots of great info inside.

The story continues
So, just to follow up. I did return my device for a new GNEX and have not had the same issues. I have been reluctant to root my new phone, but I still don't see any reason why the two would be related. I think I had a bad device. I think there are a substantial number of people that are getting DOA devices, but it doesn't appear to a majority. I'll report back if/when I decide to root and flash anything to my new device.
abendx said:
Now that it's been a few days..... I want others to chime in on this report (no one answered this question in the original thread).
I was having a ton of issues, thought that VZW did something to make it slightly better (which I still believe they did), but stilll... I have issues, although not as bad as the second 12 hours of ownership.
I had made the call to tech support and was then going to return the phone.... when I got home I brought the device back to stock carrier 4.0.1 ROM floating around). Problems were almost completely gone!?! An hour later, the update came and I was worried about the upgrade screwing the radio that was acting better (not that it was perfect by any means!!). So..... after a little thought, I figured I could always go back to 4.0.1 and/or return it. I let the update do it's thing.
There seems to be zero difference between 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, when it comes to the radio.
I was still scared to do much..... I didn't install any apps while I watched the phone for a few hours. Then only Google's apps... the next day the rest of my apps (w/small exceptions, detailed below). Everything ran smoothly.... including the radio. Now it isn't nearly as good as the DX radio in my last phone, BUT..... at least I wasn't constantly with -120dbm and was able to use the phone, as a phone!
So.... I figured after another day that VZW must have fixed something.
Cool, right? Not sure..... I am stock, unlocked, and unrooted. I am afraid to root the phone..... I can't fathom how root could cause a radio issue, but am wondering how many others might have issue with and without root.
Now.... I am still seeing issues, but not nearly as bad. I'll root the phone tonight to see what happens, but would like others input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Tired of guessing, requesting help

I have been reading everyday since the day it came out... the same day I bought it.
Hope you all don't mind but I have quite a few questions/frustrations
1st, Battery life is killing me... cannot make it through a day, I have put my screen on auto which seems a lot dimmer than set to 40 or 60%. All I do is play some solitaire, check mail a lot, a little bit of net, maybe 30 minutes of calls (tops) a few txt msgs, with maybe 2 hours or slightly more of screen time.
External speaker is embarrassing... tried showing a video to a friend with an iphone and felt like flushing the damn phone after he did the same.
Data connectivity is still hit and miss... one minute I have 4 bars of 4G and the next I have none.
I am on (details in sig) 4.0.4 (Craig Gomez version) with the newest radios. The device is a serious work tool for me so I really don't have the time to try different ROMS or kernels all the time... I need it always ready for calls, emails and occasional RDP or Logmein sessions .
For those of you have actually tried many/experienced in the world of various ROMs & kernels... do you have a suggestion of what to do with my setup?
Between the battery and data connectivity I feel the phone is close to crap... my friends with Razors have none of these problems and I feel like I am ready to snap.
BTW... if you could be even more kind... if you have a suggestion on what to run, could you suggest a brief set of instructions... i.e. nandriod, full wipe, install this first that second...
Thanks for any and all help... I sure would like to come up with or remember a reason why I have this and not a razor max.

Do you have the latest radios? That will make a difference. I do know the speaker is weak. There's not much to do but for a volume hack, some roms have it enabled.
Id ask for a replacement phone if battery is that bad and you can't get a decent signal anywhere but other phones can. Sounds like a defective phone.

I've been using Android Revolution for about 2 weeks, and as for today, I don't think there's anything as good as it. It's just like stock, just a little bit faster. I have great battery life, 5 to 6 Hours of screen on time, AutoBrightness, sync on, wifi always on, etc, it's pretty good, you should give it a try.
I've also used AOKP (with FrancoKernel and with stock kernel), and even tho I liked all extra features, in my experience, with screen off, it drains battery a looot faster that stock/ARHD.
I used an app called equalizer to fix the speaker

veloslave said:
I have been reading everyday since the day it came out... the same day I bought it.
Hope you all don't mind but I have quite a few questions/frustrations
1st, Battery life is killing me... cannot make it through a day, I have put my screen on auto which seems a lot dimmer than set to 40 or 60%. All I do is play some solitaire, check mail a lot, a little bit of net, maybe 30 minutes of calls (tops) a few txt msgs, with maybe 2 hours or slightly more of screen time.
External speaker is embarrassing... tried showing a video to a friend with an iphone and felt like flushing the damn phone after he did the same.
Data connectivity is still hit and miss... one minute I have 4 bars of 4G and the next I have none.
I am on (details in sig) 4.0.4 (Craig Gomez version) with the newest radios. The device is a serious work tool for me so I really don't have the time to try different ROMS or kernels all the time... I need it always ready for calls, emails and occasional RDP or Logmein sessions .
For those of you have actually tried many/experienced in the world of various ROMs & kernels... do you have a suggestion of what to do with my setup?
Between the battery and data connectivity I feel the phone is close to crap... my friends with Razors have none of these problems and I feel like I am ready to snap.
BTW... if you could be even more kind... if you have a suggestion on what to run, could you suggest a brief set of instructions... i.e. nandriod, full wipe, install this first that second...
Thanks for any and all help... I sure would like to come up with or remember a reason why I have this and not a razor max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Autobrightness will kill your battery more than a static 40 or 60%.
2 hours of screen on time seems normal for the Verizon Nexus.
Try the volume + app for your speaker problems.
There are some kernels that have sound boosts built in.
Signal drops means you should exchange the phone. Use the insurance.
Honestly if you hate the phone as much as it sounds, just get a different phone.

joshnichols189 said:
Autobrightness will kill your battery more than a static 40 or 60%.
2 hours of screen on time seems normal for the Verizon Nexus.
Try the volume + app for your speaker problems.
There are some kernels that have sound boosts built in.
Signal drops means you should exchange the phone. Use the insurance.
Honestly if you hate the phone as much as it sounds, just get a different phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect response.

Don't get me wrong... I in no way "hate" phone, if I did I would have gotten rid of it.
I'm frustrated not stupid.
I am amazed that Verizon hasn't done something about it... most of the buyers of this phone are not IT savvy rooters... my phone works a lot better than stock, I cannot imagine how frustrated someone on 4.0.2 would be.
Anyway... I am going to take it back to stock and return it... guess I will try it (the new one) out stock but I know I will want it rooted. Guess I'll try some of the suggested software\ROMS.
I wonder what a stock one is coming with these days?

veloslave said:
Don't get me wrong... I in no way "hate" phone, if I did I would have gotten rid of it.
I'm frustrated not stupid.
I am amazed that Verizon hasn't done something about it... most of the buyers of this phone are not IT savvy rooters... my phone works a lot better than stock, I cannot imagine how frustrated someone on 4.0.2 would be.
Anyway... I am going to take it back to stock and return it... guess I will try it (the new one) out stock but I know I will want it rooted. Guess I'll try some of the suggested software\ROMS.
I wonder what a stock one is coming with these days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never called you stupid.
Stock phones will 99% come with 4.0.2 but like I said, they don't all have the problems you have.. except low speaker volume.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

joshnichols189 said:
I never called you stupid.
Stock phones will 99% come with 4.0.2 but like I said, they don't all have the problems you have.. except low speaker volume.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone that would keep a phone they hate would have to be stupid
Well... things just changed again.
Just talked with Verizon and he asked if I installed the update pushed out on the 25th? I told him I will give it a shot and get back to them.
Anyone got instructions for reverting back to stock?

veloslave said:
Anyone that would keep a phone they hate would have to be stupid
Well... things just changed again.
Just talked with Verizon and he asked if I installed the update pushed out on the 25th? I told him I will give it a shot and get back to them.
Anyone got instructions for reverting back to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the stickies in the dev forum
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

[Q] GN2 Battery Performance Degradation after Update

Hello
I have a AT&T Note2 that I got late November. Battery Performance was fabulous. I just recently got the update to 4.1.2 OTA and there was some sort of upgrade or maintenance just prior to the 4.1.2 update.
I immediately noticed a difference in battery performance. It was substantially less than what I had on 4.1.1. I cant get any straight answers from Samsung or AT&T, there is no comprehensive log for the update so its hard to figure out whats going on.
Same software load as on 4.1.1. I did notice that after the update to 4.1.2 there were substantially more items in manage apps> running than what was in 4.1.1.
Samsung claims the root cause is the update to the OS and a change to the wifi radio and software.
Does anyone know what really is going on. At&T is a lost cause and no help whatsoever.
Thank you

I will be interested what you find out as I am experienceing the same issue. I went from 95% to 65% overnight doing nothing (WiFi on). Earlier today I was losing about 2-3% battery every 15 minutes doing nothing and did some research. All I could find out was to turn off all location services and since I don't get Wifi at work, turn off WiFi while here. This helped some, but still would like to find out what is going on. My iphone was a battery hog in the end of its life and my new GN2 lasts barely as long as my 2 year old iphone did. Not a happy camper right now.

skon1212 said:
I will be interested what you find out as I am experienceing the same issue. I went from 95% to 65% overnight doing nothing (WiFi on). Earlier today I was losing about 2-3% battery every 15 minutes doing nothing and did some research. All I could find out was to turn off all location services and since I don't get Wifi at work, turn off WiFi while here. This helped some, but still would like to find out what is going on. My iphone was a battery hog in the end of its life and my new GN2 lasts barely as long as my 2 year old iphone did. Not a happy camper right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I'm hopeful one of the Senior Members or Mod's will run down a answer as well as a comprehensive change add-delete and enhancement log regarding the 4.1.2 update. All I can say is I have not added anything my daily use is the same..no games. I disabled all the att bloat wae other than hot spots. I sort of paid attention to my running apps in 4.1.1, and now in 4.1.2 there are many more things theree that wernt prior to this update. I didnt have to disable anything prior to this update.
The answer is not in disabling bloat apps. The answer is in the log that shows what was done with the update.
I hope someone can get that because it holds the key to the answers we are looking for.
Who knows maybe one of the developers will read this thread and be able to help.

try a battery pull and obviously reboot. Download the Gsam battery monitor from the market. I think it is free. It dumbs down a lot of stuff and pretty much tells you what is taking up your battery. It does a much better job than the stock battery checker. After an hour or so, the longer the better, it will show you some apps or processes that are the culprit.
Battery stats app is a paid app in the market but I think it is free on this xda site somewhere for members. That appears to be a very comprehensive battery monitoring apps with wakelocks and it gets very complicated for a novice such as myself.

can you provide additional details on your situation, for example:
what's your baseline comparison, e.g., before: 18 hrs use with 4 hours screen time, after 13 hours use 4 hours screen time
are you rooted (i suspect not)?
have you gone into Settings->Battery to see which apps, etc., are using your battery?
do you have a lot of music, pictures, etc on your phone?
not an answer to your question, but... have you considered performing a hard reset on your device and then testing battery life with at clean slate?
looking at your battery stats is a better indicator of what could be causing poor battery life. i'm on the same release as you and my battery life has been the same if not better. also download better battery stats to see if you have wake-lock issues. i'm averaging 16-20 hours per charge with 6-9 hours screen time, about 150 emails daily and 35-90 minutes in phone calls.

So yesterday at 19 hours of use (maybe 2 hours total of emails, web surfing, and using a couple apps, music for an hour at the gym) I still had 32% left. Not bad. However, my wifi was off all day, even at home, and I kept my location services turned off. So tomorrow I am going to test it with Wifi on at home and my location services and see what happens. The Gsam battery app i used yesterday was pretty cool although at first I wasn't sure because it said that the app was using 15%. But as the day progressed it never went over 4%. Still new to the android platform, but learning.

skon1212 said:
So yesterday at 19 hours of use (maybe 2 hours total of emails, web surfing, and using a couple apps, music for an hour at the gym) I still had 32% left. Not bad. However, my wifi was off all day, even at home, and I kept my location services turned off. So tomorrow I am going to test it with Wifi on at home and my location services and see what happens. The Gsam battery app i used yesterday was pretty cool although at first I wasn't sure because it said that the app was using 15%. But as the day progressed it never went over 4%. Still new to the android platform, but learning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I APPRECIATE the response however I would like to know what was done with the 4.1.2 upgrade, what changed, enhanced or whatever as well as the AT&T maint just prior to the 4.1.2 upgrade. Nothing was disabled, I was runn8ng the same exact software load, same apps, no games, and wifi wS constantly on. While disabling bloatware, shutting down this and that, turning off wifi at this point is helpful, its not a acceptable answer as to what happened.
This forum has some of the most respected developers and computer genius's around. Whenever you ask for something and everyone else comes up empty, the first thing you hear is go to XDA.
My Galaxy Note2 had the most incredible battery time of any device I've ever owned prior to the updates. Im also pissed because I didnt even know that the red and grey arrows and the connecting to dnr server was AT&T doing a update. There was no forewarning.
The Note2 is still fabulous to me, I just want to understand what has happened and why. I am not asking for a say in what they did, certainly this is my phone, I believe that I should be entitled at least to know what transpired.
There should be no problem producing a comprehensive change log with a lay person level explanation.

I was getting 2 days off charger with 8 hours of screen time and suddenly the battery doesn't seem to charge past 50% and I didn't do a single thing to it but tonight I am cleaning everything out and starting fresh because something odd is going on
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2

JohnCorleone said:
I was getting 2 days off charger with 8 hours of screen time and suddenly the battery doesn't seem to charge past 50% and I didn't do a single thing to it but tonight I am cleaning everything out and starting fresh because something odd is going on
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JOHN
I think the key to many answers is 2 items.....a log and explanation of what occurred in simple terms regarding the 2 updates. There was a no warning automatic att update done just prior to and then the actual 4.1.2 update itself. My gut opinion is something was changed with wifi and how its handled along with some other software changes.
I feel like. Dog chasing my own tail...disable this, disable that...bull...nothing was disabled and wifi was always on prior the updates.

[Q] Worth upgrading to NF4? What's new?

I currently have NB4.
What's new in NF4? I know it has the VoLTE but that's not in my area so nothing for me(yet).
Are there any improvements?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is. What are the pros and con's of upgrading from NB4 to NF4?
I also run w03 slimkat. Is it compatible? It shows its compatible with 4.4 BL. Just not sure if that's updated to include NF4 BL.
thanks and sorry for being a noob.

re: nf4 update
Rick7C2 said:
I currently have NB4.
What's new in NF4? I know it has the VoLTE but that's not in my area so nothing for me(yet).
Are there any improvements?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is. What are the pros and con's of upgrading from NB4 to NF4?
I also run w03 slimkat. Is it compatible? It shows its compatible with 4.4 BL. Just not sure if that's updated to include NF4 BL.
thanks and sorry for being a noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea as to what exactly is "new" in NF4 but take it from me,
if there wasn't any improvements then why would Samsung waste their
time, money and effort with the NF4 or any other future updates?
There are no "cons" to upgrading NF4 or any future official updates.

Misterjunky said:
I have no idea as to what exactly is "new" in NF4 but take it from me,
if there wasn't any improvements then why would Samsung waste their
time, money and effort with the NF4 or any other future updates?
There are no "cons" to upgrading NF4 or any future official updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course there can be cons. Thats a laughable statement. Until it's reported the update is fine, you can have broken root, locked down bootloader (not as likely on T-Mobile) a bad build that causes bad battery drain. You must be new to the phone rooting and roming world to say "There are no "cons" to upgrading NF4 or any future official updates"

I don't want any fights started. Please keep it casual.
With that being said. Yes there can be some pros and con's.
Like I said before I know that it includes VoLTE. That's the main feature. However That is not available in my area.
What I would like to know. Is there better internet connectivity? How's battery life. My biggest problem with T-Mobile in my area is it keeps dropping from H+ to 3G. 3G and below are like being in airplane mode. I end up having to disconnect and reconnect to get H+ back. Does NF4 fix this? If not Is there any tricks/mods to help with this issue. Or is it just ****ty network in my area?
and again I will continue to use W03 SlimKat. currently running V23 waiting on V25.
I'm looking for people who have personally updated there phone to NF4 and can give me details on how well its running.
Thanks

Rick7C2 said:
I don't want any fights started. Please keep it casual.
With that being said. Yes there can be some pros and con's.
Like I said before I know that it includes VoLTE. That's the main feature. However That is not available in my area.
What I would like to know. Is there better internet connectivity? How's battery life. My biggest problem with T-Mobile in my area is it keeps dropping from H+ to 3G. 3G and below are like being in airplane mode. I end up having to disconnect and reconnect to get H+ back. Does NF4 fix this? If not Is there any tricks/mods to help with this issue. Or is it just ****ty network in my area?
and again I will continue to use W03 SlimKat. currently running V23 waiting on V25.
I'm looking for people who have personally updated there phone to NF4 and can give me details on how well its running.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, battery performance increased noticeably and it seems like connectivity is better. At my house it used to always switch from 4glte to 4g and since the update it holds the lte connection better. Sunday morning there was a quake in the bay area and since then data has been weird. ..but up to that things where just buzzing along. I came from NB4 and like i said i noticed worthy improvements.
***BTW i did a full wipe in recovery, powered down, pulled battery, booted into download mode and odin'd the full firmware file, everything except External SD.

louforgiveno said:
For me, battery performance increased noticeably and it seems like connectivity is better. At my house it used to always switch from 4glte to 4g and since the update it holds the lte connection better. Sunday morning there was a quake in the bay area and since then data has been weird. ..but up to that things where just buzzing along. I came from NB4 and like i said i noticed worthy improvements.
***BTW i did a full wipe in recovery, powered down, pulled battery, booted into download mode and odin'd the full firmware file, everything except External SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, Based on this information I have decided to go ahead and update to NF4. Running W03 SlimKat V24 sofar so good. Once Google gets done restoring my apps I will turn off WiFi and update this thread with my findings.

I know many people claim better battery life after updating to 4.4, but I don't see it. I just updated about a week ago from 4.3 (MI7) to 4.4 (NF4) and battery life is similar at best, but mostly worse.Not only that, but charging also takes much longer. Normally my battery would fully charge in about 2.5 hours, but couple nights ago it took 5 hours to go from 10% to 82%. I went back to sleep and finally was fully charged after additional 3 hours, but then as soon as I turn it on, went down to 97%. I never seen that before. I run 0228 code and discharged to 0 and then back to 100%, so hopefully that will calibrate battery better, but still just last night phone was at 100% before sleep and in the morning down to 80%. Normally on 4.3 I would loose 3% to 4% overnight. I just hope it's temporary and will improve after settling down, otherwise i will need to run some serious diagnostics and fix it. Antutu also seem slower, last time I run it on 4.3 I got 37083, under 4.4 I barely got 35000.

pete4k said:
I know many people claim better battery life after updating to 4.4, but I don't see it. I just updated about a week ago from 4.3 (MI7) to 4.4 (NF4) and battery life is similar at best, but mostly worse.Not only that, but charging also takes much longer. Normally my battery would fully charge in about 2.5 hours, but couple nights ago it took 5 hours to go from 10% to 82%. I went back to sleep and finally was fully charged after additional 3 hours, but then as soon as I turn it on, went down to 97%. I never seen that before. I run 0228 code and discharged to 0 and then back to 100%, so hopefully that will calibrate battery better, but still just last night phone was at 100% before sleep and in the morning down to 80%. Normally on 4.3 I would loose 3% to 4% overnight. I just hope it's temporary and will improve after settling down, otherwise i will need to run some serious diagnostics and fix it. Antutu also seem slower, last time I run it on 4.3 I got 37083, under 4.4 I barely got 35000.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not my experience at all. Battery drops maybe 2-3% overnight. Stays at 100% longer than it had and charges plenty fast from 1% to 100% way under 5 hrs, but i never really timed it yet i can say it was under 3 hrs and i remember being surprised at how quickly it got to 80' something percent. Every month or so I run my phone down to 1% just to help the battery cause I'm usually on a charger and rarely get below 50%. Maybe a good wiping might tune things up for you.

louforgiveno said:
Not my experience at all. Battery drops maybe 2-3% overnight. Stays at 100% longer than it had and charges plenty fast from 1% to 100% way under 5 hrs, but i never really timed it yet i can say it was under 3 hrs and i remember being surprised at how quickly it got to 80' something percent. Every month or so I run my phone down to 1% just to help the battery cause I'm usually on a charger and rarely get below 50%. Maybe a good wiping might tune things up for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heres some pics....stock kernel fyi

I believe you, you're not the first person claiming better battery. I don't want to wipe, too much headache to restore and settings and games in progress, also my kids are on my account, so either no automatic reinstall (BTW how do I stop it), or a lot of deleting kiddie games, already went with this process once before, not fun. Probably something simple, since I'm stock rooted and always been on my Note3.

pete4k said:
I believe you, you're not the first person claiming better battery. I don't want to wipe, too much headache to restore and settings and games in progress, also my kids are on my account, so either no automatic reinstall (BTW how do I stop it), or a lot of deleting kiddie games, already went with this process once before, not fun. Probably something simple, since I'm stock rooted and always been on my Note3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, its a coin toss.....once I saw the stability that comes with full wiping I can't not do it, stopped me from being a flashaholic. Titanium Backup can backup/restore your apps but settings/shortcuts/widgets etc have to all be set back up....I take screen shots of all my home screens to aid the process of getting back to normalcy....gotta weigh the pros and cons

Hello,
I'm still using jellybean 4.3 worth the upgrade to Kit Kat?

MasterKaiser said:
Hello,
I'm still using jellybean 4.3 worth the upgrade to Kit Kat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is extremely debatable, there are plenty of people who feel either way, i suggest reading what different people have to say to help base your opinion.

pete4k said:
I run 0228 code
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What code is this? I don't see it among the list of "secret" codes entered for Samsung devices.

Anonymously_Unknown said:
What code is this? I don't see it among the list of "secret" codes entered for Samsung devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it shows battery info, also there is a button on bottom, if pressed it changes battery charge level, so it was speculated it does some quick recalibration, but as with all other codes no one knows for sure. Sure this is in some secret code lists, but i don't think there is a list that have them all, otherwise they wouldn't be secret anymore. LOL
There were few threads about this code in past, but i don't remember where now.

Well sofar everything is great. Network still gets stuck in 3G and I have to airplane mode to get H+ again. However it seems like its not doing this as often.
Better life is the same which is good because battery life was awesome before the update.
I will update if anything changes.

Eric214 said:
Of course there can be cons. Thats a laughable statement. Until it's reported the update is fine, you can have broken root, locked down bootloader (not as likely on T-Mobile) a bad build that causes bad battery drain. You must be new to the phone rooting and roming world to say "There are no "cons" to upgrading NF4 or any future official updates"
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That is exactly why I froze my updater and stayed on jb4.3.
Now that KK has been out for a while and should have bugs fixed, what are the pros for updating from jb to kk?

I didn't update for long time mostly because of SD card issues, which could be fixed, but needed root, but again, root would trip knox. Now that we can root without breaking knox, I finally updated. Personally didn't see much: people claimed better battery, for me is little worse, many claimed faster snappier response, I don't see that either, on the other hand, so far haven't seen any SD card issues neither, so didn't even need the fix yet. One advantage, I already made my first VOLTE, so it works and it's on in my area and you need KitKat for that.
Add to this probably few security fixes and some tweaks under the hood and probably that's it. IMO, the update did not fix any issues for me, except wifi calling that broke recently, but I didn't have any other issues as well, but at the same time the update didn't break anything major either, so it's pretty much wash, unless you need VOLTE.
Note 4 comes out in few weeks, so that was my backup plan in case update was messed up, but as it is Note4 needs to win my heart on it's own merits.

Should I update?

Should I update from where im at? I haven't updated my phone since I took it out of the box. All I did was root to install wanam expose, xposed installer and region lock away. What do you guys recommend? What's the easier way to update without installing a custom recovery.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

Yes and use my guide here... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54787998

soulja4187 said:
Should I update from where im at? I haven't updated my phone since I took it out of the box. All I did was root to install wanam expose, xposed installer and region lock away. What do you guys recommend? What's the easier way to update without installing a custom recovery.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
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No i wouldnt stay on jellybean too many problems with kitkat.

The only "problem" i can come up right away is apps using extSDcard issue... which is already solved if root. What other problems are there?

effortless said:
Yes and use my guide here... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54787998
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Thanks i updated to NF9 using your method, i then rerooted my phone. Lot faster than before. Thank you very much
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

Sure there are other problems, in my case I can't get the battery usage under control. I'm rooted and freeze whole bunch of stuff, more so than under Jelly Bean and it's still not what it used to be. I even did full factory reset, which is a huge pain all by itself (car BT pairing took 3 days alone, it wouldn't auto connect, lost few games progress despite restoring from backup, needed to restore AC3 again etc.) and still battery usage is much higher now than before. I really see no improvement whatsoever, oh wait I see that new volte message sometimes popping up, big deal, I can make phone calls just the same as before . Did I mention I lost region unlock? Not sure about SIM lock, I know it got unlocked with region, but now, after update probably locked again. To be fair Effortless method worked great, but for me it was all downhill afterwords and I'm not sure I would upgrade knowing what I know now. Maybe my experience is isolated and due to something particular I did or not do, but the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rings in my ear over and over again.

pete4k said:
Sure there are other problems, in my case I can't get the battery usage under control. I'm rooted and freeze whole bunch of stuff, more so than under Jelly Bean and it's still not what it used to be. I even did full factory reset, which is a huge pain all by itself (car BT pairing took 3 days alone, it wouldn't auto connect, lost few games progress despite restoring from backup, needed to restore AC3 again etc.) and still battery usage is much higher now than before. I really see no improvement whatsoever, oh wait I see that new volte message sometimes popping up, big deal, I can make phone calls just the same as before . Did I mention I lost region unlock? Not sure about SIM lock, I know it got unlocked with region, but now, after update probably locked again. To be fair Effortless method worked great, but for me it was all downhill afterwords and I'm not sure I would upgrade knowing what I know now. Maybe my experience is isolated and due to something particular I did or not do, but the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rings in my ear over and over again.
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If your having issues you might want to try reflash. I didn't loose any apps or games, my car bt connected the same, remember that now your phone uses volte which could be a cause for more battery drain so why don't you try turn it off after reflashing. My only complaint is that while your on a voltle call you can conference as many calls you want but don't have the option to drop a specific line so only option is to end all call. I just went to volte settings and changed it to do not use volte and now i got back my conference call button back when on multiple calls.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

soulja4187 said:
If your having issues you might want to try reflash. I didn't loose any apps or games, my car bt connected the same, remember that now your phone uses volte which could be a cause for more battery drain so why don't you try turn it off after reflashing. My only complaint is that while your on a voltle call you can conference as many calls you want but don't have the option to drop a specific line so only option is to end all call. I just went to volte settings and changed it to do not use volte and now i got back my conference call button back when on multiple calls.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
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Thanks for ideas, but It's not volte, when home i"m always on wifi and for example just last night lost 20% charge overnight, wakelock shows nothing, the only time I had anything like that on JB was when I switched off wifi power save in secret menu long time ago when troubleshooting wifi calling. BT first wouldn't connect at all, then connected, but wouldn't reconnect again next day, finally on third day it held. I think I read somebody was claiming SD card fix breaks BT, or something like that, but now finally seems to be working. I'll probably freeze/disable everything at some point and then start enabling few apps at the time, to see when it starts blowing battery again, but this will take forever.. Update itself went fine, I even verified firmware's checksums, like first time ever and I have no reboots, no crashes, no freezing. Actually let me check that stupid wifi save mode, maybe it turned itself off.

pete4k said:
Sure there are other problems, in my case I can't get the battery usage under control. I'm rooted and freeze whole bunch of stuff, more so than under Jelly Bean and it's still not what it used to be. I even did full factory reset, which is a huge pain all by itself (car BT pairing took 3 days alone, it wouldn't auto connect, lost few games progress despite restoring from backup, needed to restore AC3 again etc.) and still battery usage is much higher now than before. I really see no improvement whatsoever, oh wait I see that new volte message sometimes popping up, big deal, I can make phone calls just the same as before . Did I mention I lost region unlock? Not sure about SIM lock, I know it got unlocked with region, but now, after update probably locked again. To be fair Effortless method worked great, but for me it was all downhill afterwords and I'm not sure I would upgrade knowing what I know now. Maybe my experience is isolated and due to something particular I did or not do, but the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rings in my ear over and over again.
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Ok first of all the reason why I'm responding is purely to try and help, and I know some people can be sensitive to criticism so I just wanted to clarify that my intentions are not to flame you. With that being said I know that I don't "know" so I'm only basing this from your post, but you seem to be extremely negative about the entire process in general. I also understand that it may be overwhelming for people who aren't technically "in to" rooting or even customizing their phones, which is why I often consider rooting to be a double edged sword for a lot of people.
This is why basically imo it's a complete waste for someone to "pay" someone else to root or customize their phone for them (I'm definitely not implying that's what you did or anything just to clarify), because it's not in the least bit a one time thing where once it's done it'll just be smooth sailing from there on out. It takes a huge amount of upkeep and dedication to get and enjoy the most out of what rooting and customizing has to offer, and for some people the trade off just isn't worth the overall amount of work which involved with it. It always just depends on the person, how they use and how much they use their phones, the amount of work they are willing to put into it, and what exactly they expect to get out of it, to determine if it's even worth the process to begin with.
As far as what you were talking about with wiping the phone, having to set everything up again, and losing some of your game data, it kinda sounds like that was along the lines of a traumatic experience for you especially when compared to others who might actually go through that same process 10 or more times a day and really enjoy it.
Also as far as your battery life goes there's so many different variables that can determine whether you'll have killer battery life or struggle to make it through the day kinda battery life, but the beauty of root and the ability to customize is that you never have to just settle for one or the other. One thing I'd strongly suggest is to look into different Kernels depending on which rom you're on, because it's amazing how much difference the right kernel for your device alone can make with battery. Every single device is different in it's own tolerances and even if you pull 2 of the same phones that are back to back off of the assembly line, one might work better with a specific kernel/rom combination than another, one could have better stock battery life than the other, and so on. So I always try to take others experiences with certain Kernels or Roms kind of lightly, because that doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to have the same results with my specific device.
Another to keep in mind is that whenever you flash a new rom, kernel, or even flash a new ota, it'll always take at least 3 or 4 days before the kernel will fully settle in and start to show the "true" battery life and performance that you can expect. So if you flash a new rom or kernel and then decide after just one day that the battery life sucks or that the performance isn't what you were expecting and then flash something else, you literally have no idea how that rom or kernel would've truly performed because it didn't even have enough time to settle in. For example I flashed a kernel one time and for the first 3 days the battery life was 10 times worse than what I was getting, and then half way through the 3rd day I started to notice it getting better and better until it wound up literally being the best battery life I had ever had at that point. So if I would've said screw it and automatically decided it was going to be terrible based on what it did at first, I would've screwed myself out of the best battery life I'd ever had up until then. It just takes a lot of patients and I'm not saying this is what you did at all, but I think a lot of people simply don't wait long enough to actually see the "true results" before deciding something is good or bad.
Anyway I waited awhile before doing the update as well because my phone was running almost exactly how I liked it, and when I finally did do the update I wasn't getting the same results at first which can always be discouraging. I'm glad now that I did do the update though because it took some tinkering with but now it's running even better than it was before. Good luck with your phone though and I guess my point is that you don't have to settle for anything if you don't want to, that's the beauty of being able to do all of this on the first place!
Sent from a modified ColecoVision

Thanks for the advice, but to clarify things: there are many posts on this forums and T-mobile forum complaining about poor battery life after updating to KK, so I'm not alone. It's been close to 2 months since I updated and I still can't get my phone to run as efficiently as it was, so I'm frustrated since nothing shows up in wakelock or any other program I tried. One time I can loose 20% overnight, other time 2%, never had anything like that before. I have no idea what are you talking about people paying for rooting their phone, so I just leave it at that. I have few games that have many levels, where you can't go to next level before finishing the lower one, I backed up all programs and data with Titanium and some games didn't restore properly, even with multiple tries leaving me at level one, no big deal since I'm not hardcore gamer, but things like that do happen. As far as updates in general go, I had a lot of bad experiences, once I even lost my desktop computer after updating manufacturer released faulty BIOS and had to buy video card to fix it, even recent Apple's ios 8.01 update was faulty and they had to release update to update, next day, so things not always go as planned. I do not see any visible benefits in KK, all I see is broken SD card access, gone per apps permission settings, patched up root exploit (thank you towelroot for new one, which is already patched in the latest release BTW) and in my case poor battery life, so I'm not impressed and not quiet sure it was worth for me to update. I felt OP should have been warned, that there are some people having some issues after the update. Maybe because I like my Note3 a lot and want it to be perfect, this battery issue annoys me more than it should, but it seems the harder I try, the worst it gets.