Develop Bugs

[Q] Boot loop problem

Hi, I have a few questions I hope you can help me with?
My wife has a galaxy nexus, stock and unrooted. It is only around 6 weeks old and last week it started crashing, turning off then getting stuck in a boot loop just displaying the starting colours. I understand this is a known problem, she has software version 4.0.2 and it says her phone is up to date.
I "fixed" her phone once with a factory reset however this time she is away with work till Friday and now has no use of her phone or contractual minuets or data ect.
To make things worst she was planning on using the sat nav and wireless tethering to her laptop. It is the second time this has happened and she has lost all faith in her phone. She can maybe upgrade the software by downloading the 4.0.4 software but she/I don't see why she should have too. She just wants a phones that does what it says on the tin without needing to mod or mess around with it.
My questions are...
Is this problem enough for her to exchange the phone for another phone all together, she fancies a One X. Has anyone here managed to exchange the phone for this reason?
If not will updating the software to 4.0.4 fix the issue for sure? She really needs a reliable phone. Maybe it will be best to send it back under the warranty but we are afraid she will get another GNex with the same issue.
Any advice will be much appreciated
Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading,
Oliver

I would just try updating it and then wipe it. If that doesn't fix the issue it's most likely a hardware issue and I would warranty the phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Hey there,
Well first I would suggest calming down and not reverting to hardware issues just yet, Bootloops are pretty common, especially when using phones which were meant for the (a bit) more advanced user, it's advantage is also it's flaw, being a modding monster that it is..
And this is by no means a flame - but I wouldn't want my wife to have a GN for that exact same reason, yes - she knows about flashing roms and stuff, but she needs a reliable phone, that will work and do what she needs it to do and nothing more, as opposed to me, I like to mess around a bit with my phones (also not that much, I plan to stay stock with my GN).
To your question, I don't have any experience with RMA's but it maybe worth a try.
You also mentioned she fancies the one-x.. that means she wasn't really keen on buying the GN in the first place (I believe).. and also - and don't take this the wrong way - I think she\you don't really know what the GN is all about, this isn't a phone for everybody, I mean - it is, but it's a shame to see it fall into hands that do not appreciate it for what it is, think of it as a nice new Ferrari, sure - it'll get your wife to work But she is not going to the Nurborgring to time her laps with it.. she'll complain that once in a while the clutch is too sensitive and that she cannot count on the car to take her to work every day, and that she really fancies the new Volkswagen beetle... you get my drift
Also - I believe that flashing to the 4.0.4 will sort the bootloops, which usually has everything to do with the kenrel.
Best of luck!
p.s. All of the above is said in a humoristic way!

omricn said:
Hey there,
Well first I would suggest calming down and not reverting to hardware issues just yet, Bootloops are pretty common, especially when using phones which were meant for the (a bit) more advanced user, it's advantage is also it's flaw, being a modding monster that it is..
And this is by no means a flame - but I wouldn't want my wife to have a GN for that exact same reason, yes - she knows about flashing roms and stuff, but she needs a reliable phone, that will work and do what she needs it to do and nothing more, as opposed to me, I like to mess around a bit with my phones (also not that much, I plan to stay stock with my GN).
To your question, I don't have any experience with RMA's but it maybe worth a try.
You also mentioned she fancies the one-x.. that means she wasn't really keen on buying the GN in the first place (I believe).. and also - and don't take this the wrong way - I think she\you don't really know what the GN is all about, this isn't a phone for everybody, I mean - it is, but it's a shame to see it fall into hands that do not appreciate it for what it is, think of it as a nice new Ferrari, sure - it'll get your wife to work But she is not going to the Nurborgring to time her laps with it.. she'll complain that once in a while the clutch is too sensitive and that she cannot count on the car to take her to work every day, and that she really fancies the new Volkswagen beetle... you get my drift
Also - I believe that flashing to the 4.0.4 will sort the bootloops, which usually has everything to do with the kenrel.
Best of luck!
p.s. All of the above is said in a humoristic way!
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your post.
My wife wanted to upgrade her htc desire to a faster phone with bigger screen, she loves android and Google products and the Google nexus seemed like the best choice at the time (b4 the one X was released) she loved the phone till now.
The phone has twice randomly gone into a boot loop and twice we managed to get it working again both times within the week. This has caused her to lose faith in the phone. I guess the update should fix the issue but it doesn't seem to be available on her phone just yet.
A basic phone would not be enough 4 my wife, as I said in my first post she uses it to connect her laptop to the Internet and as a satnav. Also she watches youtube videos (720p screen is handy here) and for facebook.
We never had any such issues with our desires. When my wife returns home we will update her phone via pc if it doesn't void warranty (I'm sure it won't ) and hopefully the issue will be fixed for good.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Sounds like our wives can get along my wify loves her htc desire hd! and to be honest, in my opinion in many ways it's much better than the sensation I had (stock).
And by what you described, if I was your wife (lol ) I'd also go for the GN.. I trust you know how to upgrade to 4.0.4, if you need any help just say so and I'll be more than happy to help
Also - from what I know upgrading will not void you warranty, you can simply lock the bootloader once you're done upgrading if you wish.
I really wish the bootloops will stop and that you wife will continue to enjoy her GN!

Hi again
I unlocked, rooted and installed Android Revelution HD 3.0.0 (based on 4.0.4) by mike1986 on her phone.
She is happy with her phone again.
Now it's rooted she likes the extra apps she can now install like AdFree.
I have a quick noob question though..
After installing the new rom her phone it said their is an update available. I understand that she should NOT accept over the air updates now she has a custom rom, and is that right?
Cheers, Oliver
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Hey Oliver, sorry.. seems I didn't get subscription notifications on your reply...
anyway, she "can" download the update, but it will not install, it will simply give an error upon installation, the reason is the original files that the update needs to update are not there anymore, or they are but have changed, so it will just give an installation error.. that's the only downside to having a custom rom. me personally - I like mine stock at the moment

Just a quick update, I rooted, s- offed and install Arhd rom on my wife's gnex.
She says her phone is running faster/smoother than ever and has not restarted since. It's running great and she is happy again
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

[Q] To Unlock/S-Off/Root or not

Just as a preface, wasn't sure if this should go in this section or the general section, but figured since this was Q&A I'd pick here. Anyways, I just got my HTC One today and am coming from Samsung Galaxy S3 (droid 3 and OG before that) and had them all rooted with custom roms, but have been reading about the process to unlock/root/s-off this device. I downloaded rumrunner and tried to run the program once already and got a "........f******" error and it closed without working, but that's not what I'm making the thread for. I'm really terrified of messing up the phone because I'm broke and can't afford to pay the insurance deductible if I break it and have to claim it was stolen. All of this back story to ask the question of: Is this one of those phones that NEEDS to be rooted to be worth using or can I expect acceptable battery life, speed, & use by simply disabling as much bloatware as possible and keeping the phone stock? Thank you for your advice, I appreciate it!

Coste5a9 said:
Just as a preface, wasn't sure if this should go in this section or the general section, but figured since this was Q&A I'd pick here. Anyways, I just got my HTC One today and am coming from Samsung Galaxy S3 (droid 3 and OG before that) and had them all rooted with custom roms, but have been reading about the process to unlock/root/s-off this device. I downloaded rumrunner and tried to run the program once already and got a "........f******" error and it closed without working, but that's not what I'm making the thread for. I'm really terrified of messing up the phone because I'm broke and can't afford to pay the insurance deductible if I break it and have to claim it was stolen. All of this back story to ask the question of: Is this one of those phones that NEEDS to be rooted to be worth using or can I expect acceptable battery life, speed, & use by simply disabling as much bloatware as possible and keeping the phone stock? Thank you for your advice, I appreciate it!
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Click to collapse
Honestly, based on what you wrote I'd say just disable the apps you don't want showing up and call it good. The Sense based ROMs are actually quite nice and HTC has been good about timely updates. Turning things off like Facebook notifications, weather updates, location service, and Google Now if you don't need it will all help. Enjoy your new phone.

I agree with mmuzy. I got my One right after they blocked HTCDev on this phone and the phone it worked perfect with out root. Speed was good, battery life was ok considering the size of the battery. My only reason for being hell bent on rooting this phone was ads on YouTube lol Pretty sure you already know this but disabling the animations in the developer settings speeds up the phone just a tad as well.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Coste5a9 said:
Just as a preface, wasn't sure if this should go in this section or the general section, but figured since this was Q&A I'd pick here. Anyways, I just got my HTC One today and am coming from Samsung Galaxy S3 (droid 3 and OG before that) and had them all rooted with custom roms, but have been reading about the process to unlock/root/s-off this device. I downloaded rumrunner and tried to run the program once already and got a "........f******" error and it closed without working, but that's not what I'm making the thread for. I'm really terrified of messing up the phone because I'm broke and can't afford to pay the insurance deductible if I break it and have to claim it was stolen. All of this back story to ask the question of: Is this one of those phones that NEEDS to be rooted to be worth using or can I expect acceptable battery life, speed, & use by simply disabling as much bloatware as possible and keeping the phone stock? Thank you for your advice, I appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First things first, with the latest 4.3 update rumrunner doesn't work so even if you wanted to root and s-off it wouldn't be possible yet. Second, unlike Samsung devices, this thing is buttery smooth with or without the bloat so honestly your experience will still be excellent either way. I had an S4 before this phone that was rooted, all bloat removed, ad blocking, greenify, etc and I can tell you right now that right out of the box the HTC One was STILL way smoother than the S4 with NOTHING done to it. I'm running BoneStock at the moment which is basically just a stock rom, so I think HTC did an excellent job with Sense 5 on this phone.

I'm not going to try to sway you one way or another, just sharing my story. I've had the VZW HTC One since launch (Aug 22nd) and never saw a need to root or unlock it out the box. Everything was running great, the phone was smooth.
Suddenly, the 4.3 update arrived and my previously (close to) perfect phone has been plagued by issues. Multiple FCs from core and basic apps, piss poor data connectivity, and worst of all, terrible battery. Since accepting the update, my phone radio has been sucking roughly 45-60% battery at all time. Now I'm growing desperate for a way to unlock my device and control it. I went from around 14-16 hours of medium to heavy usage to barely getting 8 hours from light use. Once again, this is only my story, but, I know that having more control over my device will give me the ability to change my radio and fix my issues. So I vote yay to unlock/root.

LightAeterna said:
I'm not going to try to sway you one way or another, just sharing my story. I've had the VZW HTC One since launch (Aug 22nd) and never saw a need to root or unlock it out the box. Everything was running great, the phone was smooth.
Suddenly, the 4.3 update arrived and my previously (close to) perfect phone has been plagued by issues. Multiple FCs from core and basic apps, piss poor data connectivity, and worst of all, terrible battery. Since accepting the update, my phone radio has been sucking roughly 45-60% battery at all time. Now I'm growing desperate for a way to unlock my device and control it. I went from around 14-16 hours of medium to heavy usage to barely getting 8 hours from light use. Once again, this is only my story, but, I know that having more control over my device will give me the ability to change my radio and fix my issues. So I vote yay to unlock/root.
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Click to collapse
Try a factory reset. I was running the 4.3 OTA rom for a few days and I didn't experience any of the issues you just mentioned. I'm now on 4.3 BoneStock with zero issues as well.

Crawshayi said:
Try a factory reset. I was running the 4.3 OTA rom for a few days and I didn't experience any of the issues you just mentioned. I'm now on 4.3 BoneStock with zero issues as well.
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Click to collapse
I agree with this. OTAs are nice in that we don't lose all our apps and settings but they're kind of like dirty flashing a custom ROM. If you have a gremlin infestation with the OTA then I'd start with a factory reset and see if things run better when you clean install your apps.

Well, after a few days of time to test after the full wipe and manual restore I'm still experiencing terrible battery life. As I stated before, it was mainly phone radio taking the brunt of the battery, and that still seems to be the case. On the positive side of things, I do have twice the free space available now.

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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.

Looking to go to M9 from s5

I am looking at buying an m9 but had a few questions. Are the m9s able to get s off and rooted with unlocked boot loader ?
I looked around and found varying answers. Are only certain android versions root able and s off?
I was going to buy a note 4 but I feel Samsung's phone can be laggy due to their software.
Thanks

thrgk said:
I am looking at buying an m9 but had a few questions. Are the m9s able to get s off and rooted with unlocked boot loader ?
I looked around and found varying answers. Are only certain android versions root able and s off?
I was going to buy a note 4 but I feel Samsung's phone can be laggy due to their software.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-one-m9/general/m9-java-card-t3063247

Yes, you need to send it to someone to S-Off it. I did, rooted/unlocked running Viper.
But with that said...I hate this phone. First time the HTC One has disappointed me. Guess they assume everybody on the planet is right handed...the power button is located in the dumbest location. Everytime I pick up the phone, I'm either turning the flashlight on, hitting the power button etc..with my fingers...just no way around it..stupid design.
Unless HTC pulls some serious improvements, likely the shortest time I will ever own an HTC...and I love the Sense interface..but can't take this M9, and even worse, being on VZW since there is such limited support.
Might just change phones altogether.
But, have fun, it is a pain to get the phone S-Off, even knowing somebody with javacard, sending it off, then the ROMs available for limited etc...sad to say the least.
Good luck.

techlogik said:
Yes, you need to send it to someone to S-Off it. I did, rooted/unlocked running Viper.
But with that said...I hate this phone. First time the HTC One has disappointed me. Guess they assume everybody on the planet is right handed...the power button is located in the dumbest location. Everytime I pick up the phone, I'm either turning the flashlight on, hitting the power button etc..with my fingers...just no way around it..stupid design.
Unless HTC pulls some serious improvements, likely the shortest time I will ever own an HTC...and I love the Sense interface..but can't take this M9, and even worse, being on VZW since there is such limited support.
Might just change phones altogether.
But, have fun, it is a pain to get the phone S-Off, even knowing somebody with javacard, sending it off, then the ROMs available for limited etc...sad to say the least.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To each their own. I love this phone. I have had a test handset since January, mostly stock, only sometimes rooted and I like pretty much everything about it. The camera is great; the screen is better than the M8; the speakers are phenomenal (and I use Boomsound a lot). I eventually sold my M8 and bought a second-hand M9 for when I have to turn this one back in to HTC. The overheating problems have largely been resolved, at least on the latest ROM I'm running, which should go public before too long at this point.
And it was no problem to hook-up with @dottat and get my non-UT handset S-OFF and rooted. It's ready to roll as soon as I send my UT device back to HTC.

Camera is an embarrassment still compared to iPhone...my wife's 6 plus and daughter's regular 6 still take much more accurate and better pictures by miles compared to the M9, I'm running Viper, have been for years on their Roms. Tried other things.
It is just the annoyance of the design/button layout that bothers me the most, and complete lack of support almost of the VZW users. There are better improvements I like with Sense, and as I said, I love Sense. Only reason I still have the Android phone...regular Android is still pretty pathetic..particularly the applications compared to WinMo and Apple. Like HTC/Sense, they make their mail and other apps built into the phone very slick/polished and nice. The regular android mail/calendar apps look like some 10yr old Linux mail app running under xwindows. Kind of sad that in 2015, regular Android apps are so sucky compared to HTC/Apple/MS apps in general that come on the stock android platform. If it weren't for HTC and Sense, not sure, probably have a stupid iPhone or WinMo.
Still hate apple iPhone though and Windows latest is kind of a mess as well.
Just wish somebody would make some really nice clean looking apps/interfaces with Android with good features similar to Sense, that isn't HTC...the M9 is their best effort so far with the camera, but the button layout is just a step backwards.
So, HTC still is the leader when in comes to much things Android from my perspective...
As you said, to each their own...but become left handed, then come back and tell me how many times a day you turn the flashlight on accidentally, hit the up/down volume buttons etc...their location are a mess compared to the M8, which besides the camera, never had really a complaint with that phone.
Maybe should have stuck with the M8..haha...
But have no fear the all new M9 will solve everything!!!!
See ya around guys. Or maybe over on the new Google Nexus forum or something...rofl.
Sorry...off topic I know.

techlogik said:
but the button layout is just a step backwards.
.
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When I first picked up the M9 the first thing I noticed was how much I liked the button layout

Should I Buy This Phone?

I'm getting ready to upgrade from my beloved Galaxy S4. I'm considering the One M9 and would love to hear opinions from current owners.
I saw another thread titled similarly, but that person didn't mention some of my chief concerns.
My biggest concern is I MUST have a rooted phone. The S4 was a bit of a pain because it was locked down so much, but the amazing people here on XDA always came through and eventually worked up root methods that idiots like me can follow. Other than the root issue, I have loved the S4.
My phone before the S4 was an HTC Incredible, which was awesome. And with a Verizon recently locking up the S6 with updates to block rooting, I thought HTC might be my ticket once again. Then when I came here to do some research, it seems Verizon has similarly locked down the One M9.
So how difficult is it to root the M9?
I saw something about sending the phone off to a gentleman who could unlock the bootloader. That would be an option for me since I don't have to have the phone immediately. If I do that, does that solve the root difficulty permanently?
On top of all that, how is the One M9 as a phone? Is Sense still similar to previous versions, etc.?
I'd love to read your thoughts!

Buckhunter206 said:
I'm getting ready to upgrade from my beloved Galaxy S4. I'm considering the One M9 and would love to hear opinions from current owners.
I saw another thread titled similarly, but that person didn't mention some of my chief concerns.
My biggest concern is I MUST have a rooted phone. The S4 was a bit of a pain because it was locked down so much, but the amazing people here on XDA always came through and eventually worked up root methods that idiots like me can follow. Other than the root issue, I have loved the S4.
My phone before the S4 was an HTC Incredible, which was awesome. And with a Verizon recently locking up the S6 with updates to block rooting, I thought HTC might be my ticket once again. Then when I came here to do some research, it seems Verizon has similarly locked down the One M9.
So how difficult is it to root the M9?
I saw something about sending the phone off to a gentleman who could unlock the bootloader. That would be an option for me since I don't have to have the phone immediately. If I do that, does that solve the root difficulty permanently?
On top of all that, how is the One M9 as a phone? Is Sense still similar to previous versions, etc.?
I'd love to read your thoughts!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, first of all, this question has been asked several times here and there are a handful of responsive threads that answer some of your questions.
1. It's very easy to root the M9, if you have access to one of the individuals in the java card thread. I drove a few miles west on the PA turnpike to hook-up with @dottat after acquiring my M9 and had a rooted, bootloader-unlocked handset within minutes of our meet-up. I had someone else waiting in the wings for me to mail it to him, but this was more convenient. If you aren't near anyone on that thread's map, you'll have to send the handset out. Yes, that's harder than the "gool ol' days" with many of the exploits available on xda and elsewhere, but that's life now.
2. As a phone it's great. If you happen to get another call from someone else with advance calling it is to telephone audio what FM is to AM.
3. The camera is very good. No OIS, but with 21 megapixels, it's pretty darn good. The front facing camera, an ultrapixel camera, is excellent for selfies, if you're into that sort of thing (I'm most assuredly not).
4. The processing speed is very quick with the multi-core processor.
5. Sense 7 is much more unobtrusive than prior Sense versions. I like it very much. I had even flashed a Sense 7 ROM on my M8 because I preferred it to Sense 6.
6. The device can get hot, especially in a sunlit care when dashboard mounted with BT audio and GPS in use. Very hot. The solution is run it naked and on a charger, otherwise your battery will die before you arrive anywhere. Overheating is less prevalent out of sunlight.
Hope that helps.

Just How Hot?
Thanks for the great feedback! I didn't know about the heat issue.
Here's another question: I use my phone at LOT for tethering. I keep it plugged in because the battery drain is so intense while doing so, but if the screen is on for any amount of time even the S4 gets HOT to the point of shutting down.
I'm not saying that's a flaw in the phone ... that's a lot of computing/work for such a small device, but ... do you think the M9 would be unworkable for my intense tethering?

Buckhunter206 said:
Thanks for the great feedback! I didn't know about the heat issue.
Here's another question: I use my phone at LOT for tethering. I keep it plugged in because the battery drain is so intense while doing so, but if the screen is on for any amount of time even the S4 gets HOT to the point of shutting down.
I'm not saying that's a flaw in the phone ... that's a lot of computing/work for such a small device, but ... do you think the M9 would be unworkable for my intense tethering?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think tethering alone would do. Direct sunshine and GPS seem to be the main drivers
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

The heat is a luck of the draw thing too. My phone is caseless mounted to the dash and charging any time I'm driving. At a minimum it is playing music and has the GPS active. A lot of times it is running waze/google maps or Ingress. While it will get hot to the touch, I have never seen the actual overheat warning. I think the highest I've seen is ~118°F battery temp. I don't usually check the CPU temp.

Took the Plunge
Thanks again for the feedback, guys. I went ahead and ordered an M9 last night.
Will be sending it off to get bootloader unlocked as soon as it arrives.
Don't know what I'd do without XDA!