Related
Maybe I am the only one, but flashing roms and learning how to screw up my captivate, and more importantly learn how to fix it afterwords, has made me not really care about when my phone will get 2.2 or 2.3. The developers here have made roms that I believe are just as good, if not better than the "official" versions. Sure Samsung promised 2.2 a long time ago, but what is the fun in just a boring update? Am I the only one who feels this way, or am I just addicted to flashing?
Here, here!
The only thing an official AT&T update would bring at this point in the game, would be better custom ROMs.
IMVHO of course.
I respect your right not to be upset. Still, I think there are a number of things to be legitimately upset about - none of which are addressed by the ROMS on xda.
The restart issue: this problem has been known for a long time. Neither AT&T nor Samsung have made it easy to get a working phone. They denied the issue for a while. They then recognized it, but never made the exchange process easy. Look at all the random shutdown threads and see the mixed experiences people have had. To make matters worse, broken phones are often replaced with other broken phones. AT&T has been either too lazy or too cheap to pull the affected IMEIs from circulation. People have gone through 2 or 3 phones before getting one that 'works.'
My GPS doesn't work at all. I can stand out in the middle of a field and my phone will see 1 satelite. I get a lock every once in a while, but it NEVER has tracked. I've tried just about every GPS fix out there and none of them work for me (and I shouldn't need to try a bunch of fixes off some internet forum anyhow). Has there been any help from AT&T or Samsung on this issue? - No. They seem to pretend it doesn't exist. To make matters worse, some phones seem to work as expected - BUT some of those have the shutdown issue. People are afraid to turn in their screwed up phone with a working GPS because they might end up with a 'normal' phone with a broken GPS. That's outrageous. Seriously, it shows the truly pathetic quality of the Captivate and the companies that manufacture/distribute it.
There are features that came on my phone that have still not been enabled. Media Hub, for example, was billed all over the place as a great new feature - to be enabled later. It's later...much later. When do I get Media Hub? I don't see it. I can't get it to work via any custom ROMs (unless I'm missing something).
The way that AT&T and Samsung have handled this situation reads as a case study in poor customer service. Is it the end of the world? No. Is it enough to get me to avoid another Samsung phone? Probably. I bet many others would say the same.
Custom ROMs saved me from hating this phone and made it a really great device in every way I can think of, but it doesn't excuse AT&T+Samsung's lack of support on this device.
All I can say is thank goodness for people on this forum who have the interest, know how and drive to do what those companies have not done: make the Captivate a great device.
sarcasmo said:
I respect your right not to be upset. Still, I think there are a number of things to be legitimately upset about - none of which are addressed by the ROMS on xda.
The restart issue: this problem has been known for a long time. Neither AT&T nor Samsung have made it easy to get a working phone. They denied the issue for a while. They then recognized it, but never made the exchange process easy. Look at all the random shutdown threads and see the mixed experiences people have had. To make matters worse, broken phones are often replaced with other broken phones. AT&T has been either too lazy or too cheap to pull the affected IMEIs from circulation. People have gone through 2 or 3 phones before getting one that 'works.'
My GPS doesn't work at all. I can stand out in the middle of a field and my phone will see 1 satelite. I get a lock every once in a while, but it NEVER has tracked. I've tried just about every GPS fix out there and none of them work for me (and I shouldn't need to try a bunch of fixes off some internet forum anyhow). Has there been any help from AT&T or Samsung on this issue? - No. They seem to pretend it doesn't exist. To make matters worse, some phones seem to work as expected - BUT some of those have the shutdown issue. People are afraid to turn in their screwed up phone with a working GPS because they might end up with a 'normal' phone with a broken GPS. That's outrageous. Seriously, it shows the truly pathetic quality of the Captivate and the companies that manufacture/distribute it.
There are features that came on my phone that have still not been enabled. Media Hub, for example, was billed all over the place as a great new feature - to be enabled later. It's later...much later. When do I get Media Hub? I don't see it. I can't get it to work via any custom ROMs (unless I'm missing something).
The way that AT&T and Samsung have handled this situation reads as a case study in poor customer service. Is it the end of the world? No. Is it enough to get me to avoid another Samsung phone? Probably. I bet many others would say the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no issues exchanging my phone with random shutdowns...call att and exchange it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
delugeofspam said:
Here, here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where? Where?
sarcasmo said:
I respect your right not to be upset. Still, I think there are a number of things to be legitimately upset about - none of which are addressed by the ROMS on xda.
The restart issue: this problem has been known for a long time. Neither AT&T nor Samsung have made it easy to get a working phone. They denied the issue for a while. They then recognized it, but never made the exchange process easy. Look at all the random shutdown threads and see the mixed experiences people have had. To make matters worse, broken phones are often replaced with other broken phones. AT&T has been either too lazy or too cheap to pull the affected IMEIs from circulation. People have gone through 2 or 3 phones before getting one that 'works.'
My GPS doesn't work at all. I can stand out in the middle of a field and my phone will see 1 satelite. I get a lock every once in a while, but it NEVER has tracked. I've tried just about every GPS fix out there and none of them work for me (and I shouldn't need to try a bunch of fixes off some internet forum anyhow). Has there been any help from AT&T or Samsung on this issue? - No. They seem to pretend it doesn't exist. To make matters worse, some phones seem to work as expected - BUT some of those have the shutdown issue. People are afraid to turn in their screwed up phone with a working GPS because they might end up with a 'normal' phone with a broken GPS. That's outrageous. Seriously, it shows the truly pathetic quality of the Captivate and the companies that manufacture/distribute it.
There are features that came on my phone that have still not been enabled. Media Hub, for example, was billed all over the place as a great new feature - to be enabled later. It's later...much later. When do I get Media Hub? I don't see it. I can't get it to work via any custom ROMs (unless I'm missing something).
The way that AT&T and Samsung have handled this situation reads as a case study in poor customer service. Is it the end of the world? No. Is it enough to get me to avoid another Samsung phone? Probably. I bet many others would say the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
acctually there is a working media hub .apk in one of the forums and it works great
Wdustin1 said:
acctually there is a working media hub .apk in one of the forums and it works great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where? 10 characters
I agree, I love this phone and I'm thankful for samsung and AT&T not doing their job, because it's made people on these forums come up with some amazing roms/kernels/what-have-you.
The rom leaks developers are working on are part of a conspiracy. Think about it.
rwj5279955 said:
The only thing an official AT&T update would bring at this point in the game, would be better custom ROMs.
IMVHO of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup! My Sentiments exactly.
fldude99 said:
Where? 10 characters
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was on the Epic forums.
I tried this a while ago on one of the early versions of cog and it worked fine, but I don't use it enough to keep it on my phone. But I can confirm that it did work for me.
sarcasmo said:
I respect your right not to be upset. Still, I think there are a number of things to be legitimately upset about - none of which are addressed by the ROMS on xda.
The restart issue: this problem has been known for a long time. Neither AT&T nor Samsung have made it easy to get a working phone. They denied the issue for a while. They then recognized it, but never made the exchange process easy. Look at all the random shutdown threads and see the mixed experiences people have had. To make matters worse, broken phones are often replaced with other broken phones. AT&T has been either too lazy or too cheap to pull the affected IMEIs from circulation. People have gone through 2 or 3 phones before getting one that 'works.'
My GPS doesn't work at all. I can stand out in the middle of a field and my phone will see 1 satelite. I get a lock every once in a while, but it NEVER has tracked. I've tried just about every GPS fix out there and none of them work for me (and I shouldn't need to try a bunch of fixes off some internet forum anyhow). Has there been any help from AT&T or Samsung on this issue? - No. They seem to pretend it doesn't exist. To make matters worse, some phones seem to work as expected - BUT some of those have the shutdown issue. People are afraid to turn in their screwed up phone with a working GPS because they might end up with a 'normal' phone with a broken GPS. That's outrageous. Seriously, it shows the truly pathetic quality of the Captivate and the companies that manufacture/distribute it.
There are features that came on my phone that have still not been enabled. Media Hub, for example, was billed all over the place as a great new feature - to be enabled later. It's later...much later. When do I get Media Hub? I don't see it. I can't get it to work via any custom ROMs (unless I'm missing something).
The way that AT&T and Samsung have handled this situation reads as a case study in poor customer service. Is it the end of the world? No. Is it enough to get me to avoid another Samsung phone? Probably. I bet many others would say the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very well said! Btw, LOVE the screen name, lol.
I don't even own this phone, my gf does and I've done limited research so I could flash Cog2.3b8. The phone is WAAAAY better with Cog, but the gps blatantly disappeared on us halfway to our destination last weekend. I sighed and pulled out my mt4g which caught a lock in about 1/10th of a second and guided us there with absolutely no errors.
This made ME feel pretty stupid considering I gave her the phone as a gift. Thank god I bought it used and can probably sell it for what I paid for it.
From my limited experience with AT&T and Samsung I am furious. This phone had tremendous potential but I will avoid Samsung and AT&T like the plague from now on.
Delaying updates is one thing but the GPS issue is ****ing ridiculous. It's a joke!! There's no other way to describe it. You should all be irate and demand your money back.
Yes, T-mobile has had QC issues with the MT4G but everyone in the thread who has returned their phones has praised T-mobile for the way they handle their customer service, including myself. How many have had that experience with AT&T?
You should still be mad at Samsung.
Instead of making good ROMs great, we're making crappy ROMs good.
vunuts said:
It was on the Epic forums.
I tried this a while ago on one of the early versions of cog and it worked fine, but I don't use it enough to keep it on my phone. But I can confirm that it did work for me.
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Click to collapse
It worked for me as well. I just didnt care for it. I would much rather have netflix. I have a different apk somewhere around here. If his doesnt work for you let me know via pm and I will send it... nm i just posted it
Phateless said:
You should all be irate and demand your money back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah. I don't really need GPS, and last time I tried it outside my work building it got lock in about 2 or 3 seconds. I've tried it a couple of times while driving with mixed results. It seems to depend a lot on the area. As expected (or maybe not), it seemed to worked the best in the "wealthy" part of the city. I live in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Other than that I don't know. I haven't had any single random restart that I know it wasn't caused by me, same with charging death, mainly caused by bad UV settings.
I only used the stock rom for about 2 days before I moved and lagfixed it. I killed it once in a bad kernel flashing attempt. The fact that I can revive it using a home made usb jig makes me love it even more.
Right now, I just wished people could experience that same phone I'm experiencing. I think I'm in love with it.
I'm mad at both. My Captivate is my work phone, provided by my employer - so I am less comfortable flashing it to overcome the shortcomings of the standard AT&T build - yet I did root the phone and install the MobileAP so I can actually work when my client doesn't let me connect to their network.
My beef is on smaller things like - disabling tethering, not having more robust support for Exchange, the inability to sideload, or even load Android Market apps that AT&T doesn't want me to see.
As a work tool, I want my phone to let me work, and these limits, largely self-imposed are galling.
I've learned so much over the last week. I must have flashed my phone at least 20 times and got a few good bricks out of it too. Samsung and At&t can do what they want. These roms works much better than anything they could ever do.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I'm not mad at Samsung or Rogers for the reasons stated above, I'm mad at them for broken promises as they relate to hardware - namely the USB-to-HDMI issue, which was a big reason for me to go with this phone over another. We were promised a software update to enable this and were even shown a cable on the official Sammy site, but nada.
Probably the single most informative thread I've read about this phone ever.
http://www.lgforum.com/forum/boards...-issues-where-is-our-update-in-the-us-for-g2x
Look at the responses from the LG Pro guy and the Moderator. They outright confirm there's an update that fixes the issue - one guy already has it on his phone and it's stable. Then the other guy says Gingerbread build is almost done so they were going to wait to release update and bundle with Gingerbread. All in all, it's a total clusterf*ck BUT...BUT at least they are giving information. Most companies wouldn't have said anything.
Now that I know this, I am more willing to deal with any reboots/issues - let's hope we don't wait long. The post says maybe 2 weeks.
My local T-Mobile reps say the software update is supposed to come out end of summer...
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
I wouldnt fully trust what they say on those forums. If they do roll out a fix soon, it probably wont include gingerbread. Gingerbread will probably be rolled out closer to mid summer according to my sources. I guess that LGs and Tmobiles meaning of soon doesnt mean anything. I just try to keep my mind off of this issue but but its difficult to do that when the phone freezes and reboots. LCD bleed I can handle.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Let's be frank, the T-Mobile reps are unknowledgeable at best and flat out misleading at worst. I want to preface this by saying I've had absolutely no problems with my G2X and it's from early March. This includes no battery-drain issues (battery lasts around 20 hours with moderate use, which is fine with me), no GPS issues, no random freezes or reboots, and only minor light bleeding that doesn't bother me. I love this phone.
That being said, at least half of the people that bought this phone are having issues. If it's really going to be the end of Summer, T-Mobile really screwed the pooch here—and it is T-Mobile's fault, not LG's. Let me state this again, if you're pissed off at the G2X, complain to T-Mobile. The above thread outlines very clearly that LG knows there's an issue, has fixed the issue, and is being held from releasing said fix by T-Mobile trying to strategize a release date.
It's really obnoxious that people complain about LG being to blame for everything, when very likely T-Mobile rushed them into releasing a phone before they could iron all of the software bugs out just so they could claim to be the first carrier with a dual-core phone and is now holding up the release of very critical fixes.
That being said, if you're having issues with your G2X, instead of coming to xda-developers and complaining about it, hop on Twitter and let T-Mobile know you're pissed. Don't just threaten to bring the phone back: link to the LG thread and demand to know why they're preventing LG from releasing the patch. Even if you hate the phone and intend on returning it, there is clearly an issue with T-Mobile delaying the release of updates the phone manufacturers have ready and it's something they need to be told is unacceptable.
I've posted on T-mobile's Twitter about how the fix is available, but T-mobile refuses to release the patch. Lets spread the word and Hammer their twitter page with that information.
zenstrom said:
Let's be frank, the T-Mobile reps are unknowledgeable at best and flat out misleading at worst. I want to preface this by saying I've had absolutely no problems with my G2X and it's from early March. This includes no battery-drain issues (battery lasts around 20 hours with moderate use, which is fine with me), no GPS issues, no random freezes or reboots, and only minor light bleeding that doesn't bother me. I love this phone.
That being said, at least half of the people that bought this phone are having issues. If it's really going to be the end of Summer, T-Mobile really screwed the pooch here—and it is T-Mobile's fault, not LG's. Let me state this again, if you're pissed off at the G2X, complain to T-Mobile. The above thread outlines very clearly that LG knows there's an issue, has fixed the issue, and is being held from releasing said fix by T-Mobile trying to strategize a release date.
It's really obnoxious that people complain about LG being to blame for everything, when very likely T-Mobile rushed them into releasing a phone before they could iron all of the software bugs out just so they could claim to be the first carrier with a dual-core phone and is now holding up the release of very critical fixes.
That being said, if you're having issues with your G2X, instead of coming to xda-developers and complaining about it, hop on Twitter and let T-Mobile know you're pissed. Don't just threaten to bring the phone back: link to the LG thread and demand to know why they're preventing LG from releasing the patch. Even if you hate the phone and intend on returning it, there is clearly an issue with T-Mobile delaying the release of updates the phone manufacturers have ready and it's something they need to be told is unacceptable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-mobile rep here
you have a great point, it was most likely T-Mobile (NOT the reps) that rushed the release of it but does not mean LG isnt completely innocent either. So please if you do want to vent/complain about the phone do so by contacting "T-mobile" directly and not taking it out on the reps. As far as labeling the reps "unknowledgeable at best and flat out misleading at worst" does not go for ALL reps. I know im not the typical rep but i started out with smartphones a few years back with the Cingular 8525, flashing roms for a couple years now, I follow all the tech blogs and majoring in Electronics Engineering, currently in my senior year. In other words, I know my stuff. t-mobile tries their best to train us on most subjects but of course we are not Cellular phone engineers at the end of the day. Last time i checked my tittle was RETAIL SALES associates. so if you need help with buying the phone and some info/differences about the phone, that is why we are here. We dont have a direct communication line with the manufactures, so i dont know why people expect us to have all the answers. not trying to bash anyone just thought the reps should have a small voice in the matter
/rant
Would you believe it.... I turned my Nexus One on to get it ready to sell it...and I just got and installed the ota for Gingerbread 2.3.4 LOL now if only for my G2x.....
I think both Tmobile and LG are at fault for releasing a really buggy phone; hardware and software. Also, the only phones you can count on for getting updated are the Nexus phones. However, im happy with my G2x and coming from the more stable G2, i still enjoy using my G2x more. I have faith that several of the software issues will get fixed eventually. If not, give the cyanogen folks some time and im sure they will cook up a stable rom before the official gingerbread arrives.
You all say blame tmo for pushing lg, but lg released the O2x and it also has the same basic issues right and that was released prior to the G2x.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
If they don't push the update out soon, I'm returning and getting myself a blackberry pearl flip phone. I'm jk. I heard the next google phone is going to be manufactured by LG? Will it be called the Nexus 2x?
Nexus 3 will be amazing. It comes out this December and will have Ice Cream Sandwhich
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
The biggest problem no one has pointed out....
This is basically confirmed to be a hardware/software issue, and it does basically affect all G2X phones one way or another. So how on earth are these issues never brought up in "professional" reviews. So this brings two disturbing facts. Tmo/LG cherry picked working phones for the reviewers and packed the failing phones in boxes for customers, or the reviewers were shills or they were lazy turned on the phone, saw it was basically a super-powered Nexus-ish phone, ran a couple Tegra games and just went by the specs for the review and never actually tested the phone. No matter what the case, it's disturbing. I'm on my 3rd g2x, and miss the stability of my Nexus One (I still have it, but really want the G2X to run at LEAST as well as my Nexus One.
Hell when I got this I was hoping to have a smooth experience with Live Wallpapers, but it was just slightly less "jerky" then on the Nexus One...I was sad...
This is the most stable phone I've had and I've had many...
No reboot issues here, and I've had 3 different ones.. Phone never freezes, slows, reboots, lags etc....
Sorry you all are having bad experiences, but every phone forum has complaints and people claiming the phone is plagued with bugs..
Well, not me and I have had it since release....
I'm calling user error lol j/k but damn if yall just had my 3 different ones you would be in love..
Back to topic.. I hope yall get a update (i dont need it) so people can stop harping on this awesome phone...
smashpunks said:
This is the most stable phone I've had and I've had many...
No reboot issues here, and I've had 3 different ones.. Phone never freezes, slows, reboots, lags etc....
Sorry you all are having bad experiences, but every phone forum has complaints and people claiming the phone is plagued with bugs..
Well, not me and I have had it since release....
I'm calling user error lol j/k but damn if yall just had my 3 different ones you would be in love..
Back to topic.. I hope yall get a update (i dont need it) so people can stop harping on this awesome phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This post is begging for an answer....................................why did you have 3 devices and its so damn great?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
I'm not holding my breath for the update anytime soon but does anyone know if this will fix the screen of death/battery pull issue? Are they related?
On stock 2.2.2 or the leaked gb problem's
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
tackleberry said:
This post is begging for an answer....................................why did you have 3 devices and its so damn great?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol.. Dont cry.... Scratched one, dust in other, new one.great.. all three great in the non freezing and rebooting department...
I didn't have a single lock-up until I went to a 2.3.3 ROM. And now I'm getting them... Sooo, I could just go back to stock and fix it.. but I don't want to to. I'd rather post another post about how my phone locks up.
schmit said:
I didn't have a single lock-up until I went to a 2.3.3 ROM. And now I'm getting them... Sooo, I could just go back to stock and fix it.. but I don't want to to. I'd rather post another post about how my phone locks up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had reboots and was forced to do a factory reset 5 times until I started to flash nightlies. Now I get no reboots at all, though the battery issue is still unresolved...and I can't use wifi.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul, it appears.
I would have to say that my unit has been amazing. I traded my nexus s for this current unit and I have flashed TW B2 rom before then and after no freezing, reboots, and it has light LDC bleed. The LCD thing dose not bother me and I can only expect the best for this device!
I do not live in the USA and English is not my native tongue. Could someone with good English knowledge explain to me the definition of the term "soon" in Tmo announcement regarding the GB update?!?!?
Thanks everybody!
Soon
krekabl said:
I do not live in the USA and English is not my native tongue. Could someone with good English knowledge explain to me the definition of the term "soon" in Tmo announcement regarding the GB update?!?!?
Thanks everybody!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Soon means whenever they get around to it. Which so far has been sometime in May, "Before Summer", this summer and prior to armageddon.
There really is no way of knowing until you wake up one sunny day and find that you have a notification that you have a software update.
Hope that helps
Replies in this thread should be interesting.
Soon in this case means, whenever t-mo decides it is ready to release.
**** in one hand and wish in another, see what fills up first.
What they said...
If you have a G2x, your best bet would be to root and then flash a rom of your choice. Then wait till TMO does release the new software and it's massaged by our outstanding devs.
lindel said:
What they said...
If you have a G2x, your best bet would be to root and then flash a rom of your choice. Then wait till TMO does release the new software and it's massaged by our outstanding devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I live in Europe and I got a G2X from the USA and I pray to God everyday not to have any issue with the phone before this "soon" update arrives to fix all these bugs people complain about. I rooted it and run it on EB 1.05 for me works perfectly!, up to now at least!
I used to be up in arms about the update, but now that CM7 is basically stable, everyone should just run that. Arcee has done an incredible job with it.
gubidi said:
I used to be up in arms about the update, but now that CM7 is basically stable, everyone should just run that. Arcee has done an incredible job with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Does CM7 have any known issues? Does everything work? I heard that the thing with this update is not the GB itself but LG drivers which should fix the issues. And since I live in Europe I have no way in the world to send my G2X back in the States to get another one if this one freaks out.
krekabl said:
Thanks. Does CM7 have any known issues? Does everything work? I heard that the thing with this update is not the GB itself but LG drivers which should fix the issues. And since I live in Europe I have no way in the world to send my G2X back in the States to get another one if this one freaks out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery drivers are fixed with CM7 and the only thing that doesn't work is A2DP, so if you need that, flash EB.
krekabl said:
Thanks. Does CM7 have any known issues? Does everything work? I heard that the thing with this update is not the GB itself but LG drivers which should fix the issues. And since I live in Europe I have no way in the world to send my G2X back in the States to get another one if this one freaks out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm picky about bugs. That said I'm on cm7 and its very very stable. And has so many goodies.
gubidi said:
The battery drivers are fixed with CM7 and the only thing that doesn't work is A2DP, so if you need that, flash EB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since I have NO IDEA what A2DP is, I guess it's OK to flash CM7... I mean if it REALLY is that stable
krekabl said:
Since I have NO IDEA what A2DP is, I guess it's OK to flash CM7... I mean if it REALLY is that stable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL... yea cm7's nice bro ....
krekabl said:
I do not live in the USA and English is not my native tongue. Could someone with good English knowledge explain to me the definition of the term "soon" in Tmo announcement regarding the GB update?!?!?
Thanks everybody!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure everyone else's reply will be far more helpful than mine. In the US, where we tend to legalize almost everything, soon means, we are working on it, but can neither confirm nor deny an actual release date. Soon means, yes, we have a release date, but will not publicize that date, because if something goes wrong and we miss the date, everyone on XDA will sue us. So, soon means, soon, the near future.
To some, soon means tomorrow, or next week. To others, soon will always mean, not soon enough. To me, I received my phone on June 13th. I still have alot of time before soon becomes worrisome to me. Others received their phones in April. Soon has a different meaning for them.
Suffice it to say, LG had a plan when they released this phone. Most likely that called for a summer release of GB. To me, it very much looks like, they are still on track for that release. Whether that meets others expectations of 'soon', hard to say. You can debate the merit of whether speaking plan truth or being vague are the proper courses of action. I will instead remind everyone of some historical events that illustrate what I am saying.
Years ago, Microsoft promised to release their Operating systems, when they are done. Eventually the big joke became, by how much they will miss their release date. Virtually every program they released, missed the estimated release date. The public outcry, was tell us when, then just release it. Microsoft eventually shifted their style of this, and announced a release date and promised to hit that date. And they did. The public outcry was, how can you release something that is not finished?
Though almost everyone agrees there are things wrong with the G2x, by industry events, its probably no worse than many other releases. There are MANY people that claim no issues other than perhaps battery life. If the truth ever was realized, problematic devices most likely range in the less that 5% range. One needs only visit forums of similar devices to realize that whats going on with this device is going on with other devices. This device is no better or worse than others...except for 1 thing...you own this device.
I suspect LG had a 90 day window for the update plans, which puts it around the mid July range. One of the forum members very nicely predicted July 17th, several weeks ago. Most of this is all industry standard.
Is 90 days soon? Is it soon enough? Or is it totally unacceptable? Soon enough, people will read this post and tell me I don't know s**t. But its too soon to tell about that. Soon I hope to be able to eat Breakfast. But no matter what, we'll soon have our answer. But, will it be soon enough?
alodar1 said:
I'm sure everyone else's reply will be far more helpful than mine. In the US, where we tend to legalize almost everything, soon means, we are working on it, but can neither confirm nor deny an actual release date. Soon means, yes, we have a release date, but will not publicize that date, because if something goes wrong and we miss the date, everyone on XDA will sue us. So, soon means, soon, the near future.
To some, soon means tomorrow, or next week. To others, soon will always mean, not soon enough. To me, I received my phone on June 13th. I still have alot of time before soon becomes worrisome to me. Others received their phones in April. Soon has a different meaning for them.
Suffice it to say, LG had a plan when they released this phone. Most likely that called for a summer release of GB. To me, it very much looks like, they are still on track for that release. Whether that meets others expectations of 'soon', hard to say. You can debate the merit of whether speaking plan truth or being vague are the proper courses of action. I will instead remind everyone of some historical events that illustrate what I am saying.
Years ago, Microsoft promised to release their Operating systems, when they are done. Eventually the big joke became, by how much they will miss their release date. Virtually every program they released, missed the estimated release date. The public outcry, was tell us when, then just release it. Microsoft eventually shifted their style of this, and announced a release date and promised to hit that date. And they did. The public outcry was, how can you release something that is not finished?
Though almost everyone agrees there are things wrong with the G2x, by industry events, its probably no worse than many other releases. There are MANY people that claim no issues other than perhaps battery life. If the truth ever was realized, problematic devices most likely range in the less that 5% range. One needs only visit forums of similar devices to realize that whats going on with this device is going on with other devices. This device is no better or worse than others...except for 1 thing...you own this device.
I suspect LG had a 90 day window for the update plans, which puts it around the mid July range. One of the forum members very nicely predicted July 17th, several weeks ago. Most of this is all industry standard.
Is 90 days soon? Is it soon enough? Or is it totally unacceptable? Soon enough, people will read this post and tell me I don't know s**t. But its too soon to tell about that. Soon I hope to be able to eat Breakfast. But no matter what, we'll soon have our answer. But, will it be soon enough?
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Do you think couldn't they have just waited a bit and in stead of Froyo released the phone with GB right away? Is it just the urge to be first dual core on the record at all cost no matter what, or is it normal? Just to say, I am totally satisfied with my G2X and I do not regret getting this phone.
alodar1 said:
Though almost everyone agrees there are things wrong with the G2x, by industry events, its probably no worse than many other releases. There are MANY people that claim no issues other than perhaps battery life. If the truth ever was realized, problematic devices most likely range in the less that 5% range. One needs only visit forums of similar devices to realize that whats going on with this device is going on with other devices.
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Click to collapse
I like you alodar1. I usually agree with most of what you say.
But I call BS on this part of your answer.
There were two different threads that took polls. One ended at about 2 out of 3 bad before IT closed and the 2nd was at around 1 in 2 last I checked. Even accounting for the oft posited fact that most here are power users and that's why they are here complaining, that's a LOT MORE than 5% bad.
I take issue when anyone tries to say that there are not real problems with most of the G2X's.
You may think I'm a whiner or I returned my phones for no good reason (I know better), but there is no changing the fact that I got four bad. Some were way worse than others, but they all had real problems. My last one seems great and my daughter got a great one from the get go. But there are a lot more than 5% of G2Xs that are bad.... a lot more. A lot of other people beside me are on their forth or fifth one. Others like my daughter got good ones from the get go.
I'm a fan. I am not keeping my Sensation. It cannot compare with the G2X. But I believe way more than 5% are bad.
krekabl said:
Do you think couldn't they have just waited a bit and in stead of Froyo released the phone with GB right away? Is it just the urge to be first dual core on the record at all cost no matter what, or is it normal? Just to say, I am totally satisfied with my G2X and I do not regret getting this phone.
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Click to collapse
Smart and business needs are usually 2 different things. Could they have waited? Maybe...but LG is a big company...they probably had this release scheduled for several months. Would it have been wise....maybe...but consider testing resources and planning to get to a release, and look at the other phones in their release lineup....you might realize that there was no room for to wait.
Years and Years ago, my wife argued against me getting a computer....wait she kept saying. One day are argued and ran out and bought a 386. She didn't say a word. But the next year, the 486's came out, cheaper than the 386 I bought the year before.....and she said to me...see, I told you.
Thing is, she's right, it was better and was cheaper. But that kind of arguement never fullfills itself...because there is something new everyday.
We take our phones to heart...they are an investment and we want to believe we make the best choices for us. When it looks like maybe we didn't, we spend time justifying why we did something. Thats where expectation gets in the way. We pulled the trigger and got what we got. After the remorse period, it was ours...most people, for 2 yrs..while the contract runs out.
But we can only expect companies to what is right and best...we know that their interests and ours are different. Should they have waited?? Why? They just released the Revolution...and the Thrill is coming out next month. waiting for the G2x would have only delayed those releases.
Remember, the bottom line is not quality and satisfaction, but rather, $$$.
alodar1 said:
Smart and business needs are usually 2 different things. Could they have waited? Maybe...but LG is a big company...they probably had this release scheduled for several months. Would it have been wise....maybe...but consider testing resources and planning to get to a release, and look at the other phones in their release lineup....you might realize that there was no room for to wait.
Years and Years ago, my wife argued against me getting a computer....wait she kept saying. One day are argued and ran out and bought a 386. She didn't say a word. But the next year, the 486's came out, cheaper than the 386 I bought the year before.....and she said to me...see, I told you.
Thing is, she's right, it was better and was cheaper. But that kind of arguement never fullfills itself...because there is something new everyday.
We take our phones to heart...they are an investment and we want to believe we make the best choices for us. When it looks like maybe we didn't, we spend time justifying why we did something. Thats where expectation gets in the way. We pulled the trigger and got what we got. After the remorse period, it was ours...most people, for 2 yrs..while the contract runs out.
But we can only expect companies to what is right and best...we know that their interests and ours are different. Should they have waited?? Why? They just released the Revolution...and the Thrill is coming out next month. waiting for the G2x would have only delayed those releases.
Remember, the bottom line is not quality and satisfaction, but rather, $$$.
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I completely agree with you. But if it is really true that there are so many issues with the phone it seems to me quite incredible that they did not notice at least some of it before it went into stores.
krekabl said:
Since I have NO IDEA what A2DP is, I guess it's OK to flash CM7... I mean if it REALLY is that stable
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A2DP is Advanced Audio Distribution Profile
A Bluetooth profile (mode) for streaming audio, such as from a music phone to headphones.
Compared to profiles such as Headset and Handsfree, A2DP supports stereo audio, and is one-way instead of two-way.
ickster said:
I like you alodar1. I usually agree with most of what you say.
But I call BS on this part of your answer.
There were two different threads that took polls. One ended at about 2 out of 3 bad before IT closed and the 2nd was at around 1 in 2 last I checked. Even accounting for the oft posited fact that most here are power users and that's why they are here complaining, that's a LOT MORE than 5% bad.
I take issue when anyone tries to say that there are not real problems with most of the G2X's.
You may think I'm a whiner or I returned my phones for no good reason (I know better), but there is no changing the fact that I got four bad. Some were way worse than others, but they all had real problems. My last one seems great and my daughter got a great one from the get go. But there are a lot more than 5% of G2Xs that are bad.... a lot more. A lot of other people beside me are on their forth or fifth one. Others like my daughter got good ones from the get go.
I'm a fan. I am not keeping my Sensation. It cannot compare with the G2X. But I believe way more than 5% are bad.
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I think we're on the same page, whether you believe it or not. If we took a poll of how many power users are on XDA it would be a high %. But, LG did not only sell only to XDA members.
We will never know the actual number of G2x's sold. Nor will we ever know the actual number of bad devices. We can only go off of what we see in forums and reports around the Internet. I recognize that many or the reports are 'retweeted' or reposted from single sources, making a problem appear more prevalent than it actually is. If we were talking about Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan, the term would be sensationalism.
The bottom line is I would never indicate to you that your problem is trivial. Its your problem and its important to you. Period... But in the same aspect, don't trivialize my point that there are many people without problems. This does not make your issue less important.
I have read virtually every post and poll here in this forum. I beg to differ. From my reading, for every How many people have a problem device poll there is, there is a poll that says, how many people do not have a problem device. Its this type or realization that helped make my choice to buy this device in the face of the reported problems.
My 5% number is an off the wall number. What ever industry standard is for a definition of a problem device, should be used. I simply do not know what that number is. But I bet 5% might be high. I also bet that the G2x did not hit that number. I bet that LG recognized a problem with the release and took steps to fix it. I bet that is why we see Temporarily Out of Stock on the TMO site. I bet they have figured out how to solve the problems and most of the problems are software based....or, they would not have stopped most of the replacements from going out. I bet the G2x is still and will be a defining device in the lines of the Nexus one.
If my statement in any way painted you as a whiner, I apologize. Certainly not my intention. But I do realize that people get tired of others saying they have problem free devices. Just as they get tired of people saying, they are on their 4th replacement. At best it should be a wash. To me...I wonder...why did my device turn up ok...and yours did not? To me that is a mystery. There are good devices out there...why the difference.
I used to work in Mobile Device support. I used to take great joy in working with my friends and their phones. If they have a problem, I'd give them steps to fix it...and just watch them do what they were supposed to do...and 9 out of 10 did not follow the steps I gave them. Does that mean they are wrong? Or my instructions were bad?
On the Dell Venue Pro forum I worked with a guy that had HUGE problems with his device. I had him send me his device when he was in a bricked state. I had his device working in 5 minutes. After a few hard resets, I was satisfied the device was ok. I used his device for 24hrs and did NOT experience a single problem. I sent it back him. Within 24hrs he was complaining. Why?? This was a device I had in my hand and actually used as my own ....and an hour in his hands there were problems???
does that mean he did something differently than I did? Does his body chemistry short out electronic signals? Is he an undercover alien that is incompatible with Dell Mobile devices?
Who knows...but my phone works...many phones work. If the number of bad phones was much higher than what I said, I guarantee the response by LG would be different.
No way is it just 5% bad, it HAS to be more.
My wife and I both have "bad" phones, and if the chance of getting a bad phone is 5% (random distribution), there was 0.25% chance of us both getting bad ones.
krekabl said:
I completely agree with you. But if it is really true that there are so many issues with the phone it seems to me quite incredible that they did not notice at least some of it before it went into stores.
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Makes you wonder doesn't it. Could they have possibly ignored all the issues? Is their testing standard, not catching the issues? Or of all the devices they tested, did the issues not show up?
First time to this forum I searched for an issue list. I went down the list. After reviewing the list, I bought my device anyway. My theory was, if the reboot issue was so prevalent, why was it not caught. The answer I came up with ...it was a bad lot.
Other issues I looked at:
-Battery Life: all phones today have this issue. Truth is, there are ways to make it better. There are virtually no way to make it great. When I charge my battery I want it to last all month. I'll accept till dinner time.
-Screen bleed: No idea what this issue. If I have to change the normal settings on my phone to find it...its not a problem to me. This is a personal decision.
-Overheating: First...its dual core. Second, every phone I've ever had has overheated. Pull the battery , start again...does it stop? For me...every time.
-Dust under the display: Man, I wear glasses. Life is a blur. I like big, large letters. I don't see dust if I fall down.
-REbooting: Every phone I have ever had has rebooted...at least once. Sometimes it shuts off. If it continues, I replace it. If it still continues, I calmly get the company to exchange the device. The best way to do this, is in person. In person and able to reproduce the problem for them. Faced with proof, they will almost always do what's right.
Even looking at this list, bought the device because I know there is no way that any reliable company misses that stuff. It had to be limited and it had to be contained. If you want to be it was a conspiracy....then no forum post can help you.
Maybe we can help. I have several theories regarding people that are are having issues.
1. People do not read or do not understand what they are reading regarding instructions. This has happened to me, so I am not calling people out.
2. Restoring apps and settings from Google. This is a cool feature concept wise, but I believe google has created more problems by allowing people to restore apps and settings across different versions of android.
3. Titanium backup. Same issue as above. I personally love the program, but it has limitations. I believe many are restoring data and in some cases system info from previous roms.
4. Defective batteries. I firmly believe that screen of death while charging is a battery issue.
5. Pushing their hardware beyond its stable limits. It is fun to rack up big scores on benchmarks, but it can lead to instability. Not all hardware is created equal.
For those that have ongoing issues, I would love to help. I am not guru and I am constantly learning new things, but many of us can help with the basics.
When you ask a question, please let us know what rom you are using and what baseband you are using. Let us know what you have tried to correct your issues. The more info you provide, the better chance you will receive an answer that corrects the issue.
Like many, I am tired of seeing the same old questions again and again, but many of those people are new to android or the G2x and so I encourage patience. We need to help our fellow G2x users and make this forum the envy of the board.
I am relying on my fellow xda members to chip in and help those with major issues. I know this happens already, but lets step it up a notch.
I will help too
been around since the g1 and pretty savvy (no coding) but hacking/flashing/fixing/troubleshooting is my forte.
+1 on the OP.
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sent from my calculator with android
This is my first smartphone. Gave up my company provided BB for an honest to goodness smartphone. I don't think I have a "bad" G2X but I don't think I have a perfect one either. Probably on par with what 90% of others have I'd guess. I get occasional reboots, have had to pull the battery a time or two. Nothing more drastic than what I had to do with any BB.
I really don't get the hate for this phone (I do see a bunch of lazies that don't know how to; A: READ, B: Follow instruction), but conversely I don't get the adoration either. What makes it so great? I see "ZOMG SOOOO FAST" comments all the time. I don't find it blazing fast (maybe because it's my first?) but it's not slow (minus the occasional slow-down).
I must say I'm looking forward to an official ICS. Hopefully an honest to goodness dual-core OS that our devs can further improve upon.
G2X=Good Phone.
sidenote: Google desperately needs to improve their email client for business useage.
Dr. Bogenbroom said:
This is my first smartphone. Gave up my company provided BB for an honest to goodness smartphone. I don't think I have a "bad" G2X but I don't think I have a perfect one either. Probably on par with what 90% of others have I'd guess. I get occasional reboots, have had to pull the battery a time or two. Nothing more drastic than what I had to do with any BB.
I really don't get the hate for this phone (I do see a bunch of lazies that don't know how to; A: READ, B: Follow instruction), but conversely I don't get the adoration either. What makes it so great? I see "ZOMG SOOOO FAST" comments all the time. I don't find it blazing fast (maybe because it's my first?) but it's not slow (minus the occasional slow-down).
I must say I'm looking forward to an official ICS. Hopefully an honest to goodness dual-core OS that our devs can further improve upon.
G2X=Good Phone.
sidenote: Google desperately needs to improve their email client for business useage.
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Something I found to improve the speed of the interface is Spare Parts. It does not change benchmarks, but makes the phone feel much more responsive. Set all the animations to fast in the options.
The problem here is that there really are defective g2x's out there. A small portion of the problems could undoubtedly be user error or as you say. But the vast majority of the original issues were because of defective phones. Period.
I got multiples bad ones. I finally got a refurbed one that was awesome. Then when I broke the screen on that one recently, my (brand new) replacement has performed PERFECTLY as well.
I did nothing different on any of them. Nothing. (Although I have not rooted this new one...it's got the updated oftware).
But it's purrrfect!
This is why I'm now mostly a lurker here. I've nothing to complain about. I love this phone. And I also got a Sensation. Didn't like it as much and sold it.
ickster said:
The problem here is that there really are defective g2x's out there. A small portion of the problems could undoubtedly be user error or as you say. But the vast majority of the original issues were because of defective phones. Period.
I got multiples bad ones. I finally got a refurbed one that was awesome. Then when I broke the screen on that one recently, my (brand new) replacement has performed PERFECTLY as well.
I did nothing different on any of them. Nothing. (Although I have not rooted this new one...it's got the updated oftware).
But it's purrrfect!
This is why I'm now mostly a lurker here. I've nothing to complain about. I love this phone. And I also got a Sensation. Didn't like it as much and sold it.
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Click to collapse
hey ickster. I know what you are saying. I was just hoping to address some the the current problems and present a list of things I know caused me issues. I exchanged my first phone purchased the day of release because of reboots. At this point I think a lot of the issues are user error. I actually have 4 G2x's. My wife and I each have one and I gave a pair away to my two best employees. All four are running flawlessly now after some tweaking. Day after day of thread after thread about problems that can probably be rectified with a few simple steps was making me nuts.
I just want to make this forum the best I can. Maybe I am going about it in the wrong manner. I thought I would give it a shot.
ickster said:
The problem here is that there really are defective g2x's out there. A small portion of the problems could undoubtedly be user error or as you say. But the vast majority of the original issues were because of defective phones. Period.
I got multiples bad ones. I finally got a refurbed one that was awesome. Then when I broke the screen on that one recently, my (brand new) replacement has performed PERFECTLY as well.
I did nothing different on any of them. Nothing. (Although I have not rooted this new one...it's got the updated oftware).
But it's purrrfect!
This is why I'm now mostly a lurker here. I've nothing to complain about. I love this phone. And I also got a Sensation. Didn't like it as much and sold it.
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Click to collapse
I got a refurb that was acting wonky from the get go, did a factory reset and its the honestly the best one yet.
jcbofkc said:
1. People do not read or do not understand what they are reading regarding instructions. This has happened to me, so I am not calling people out.
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Of course.
jcbofkc said:
2. Restoring apps and settings from Google. This is a cool feature concept wise, but I believe google has created more problems by allowing people to restore apps and settings across different versions of android.
3. Titanium backup. Same issue as above. I personally love the program, but it has limitations. I believe many are restoring data and in some cases system info from previous roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've NEVER seen google restore any of my data. Not one iota. I don't think the feature was there when I had the G1 or MyTouch 3G. On my Vibrant, I always ticked the box hoping I'd at least get my wifi passwords, but alas no.
Titanium backup works fine, as long as you don't try to migrate system data. I've NEVER had an issue with it. I even do move data for News and Weather app which "counts" as system data, as well as Wifi passwords, because I have way too danged many of them NOT to move it. As far as moving user apps/data, have never had any issues other than market items not attaching properly.
jcbofkc said:
4. Defective batteries. I firmly believe that screen of death while charging is a battery issue.
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Maybe. I was having screen of death using MIUI, and when I switched back to an LG build it went away.
jcbofkc said:
5. Pushing their hardware beyond its stable limits. It is fun to rack up big scores on benchmarks, but it can lead to instability. Not all hardware is created equal.
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Click to collapse
CERTAINLY. This is the biggest issue. Undervolted kernels, overclocked kernels, etc. When I had my Vibrant, it couldn't handle even the slightest hint of an overclock without issues. And, of course, the issues wouldn't show up right away, so it was easy to hope it wasn't due to the overclock. But it was. It could undervolt all day long, however. Other phones of the same make were just the opposite. Dunno about the G2X, but that's why manufacturers set things as conservatively as they do -- to take into account the variances in the manufacturing process. Those variances can be a benefit to the crafty, but you can never DEPEND on it to not introduce instability.
jcbofkc said:
When you ask a question, please let us know what rom you are using and what baseband you are using. Let us know what you have tried to correct your issues.
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Click to collapse
I'm curious how many of those with ongoing issues are running the old baseband. I have the July baseband, and always have as I just bought my phone. But if someone who was rooted before the official LG update never got the baseband update, that could be an issue.
jcbofkc said:
Like many, I am tired of seeing the same old questions again and again, but many of those people are new to android or the G2x and so I encourage patience. We need to help our fellow G2x users and make this forum the envy of the board.
I am relying on my fellow xda members to chip in and help those with major issues. I know this happens already, but lets step it up a notch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still learning the G2X ecosystem. A few differences from the Vibrant, and a much quieter forum overall. Strangely for a US only released phone, lots of posters from outside the US. Not sure why?
Some of the repeated "over and over" questions have to do with lack of a good all-in-one FAQ I think. There's a thread that lists a few key threads, but some aren't on it, and some info just isn't presented super clearly. No offense to Mr. Clown (the moderator that maintains the FAQ thread), but there's just a lot of info you can't get from that thread that really should be there. For the "one and only, don't ask" sticky, it's not the best. How could it be, when the moderator that maintains it doesn't even have a G2X? It's merely a list of links suggested by forum members, and there's no experience shared there that's helpful to newbies.
There's not even an XDA wiki on this phone that I can find... Maybe that would help -- I might be talked into contributing to that.
The majority of problems with the phone at launch were related to a badly programmed OS by LG. The GB update fixed almost all of the related problems. I have minimal screen bleed that can only be seen in a dark room. I can live with that.
Awesome Post, I bought my g2x the day it came april 20, 11 and i never had any problems posted in xda developers beside the backlit bleeding around the corners which is not really a big issue for me. It is really an awesome device. I use hdmi to watch my netflix movies or even to play games on my hdtv, everything performs flawlessly and the battery last a day in moderate use and 2 days in slight use. I think thats pretty good for a dual core smartphone. The only thing i am not happy is the support it got from lg. The gingerbread update took away awesome camera app and the signal bars didnt work according to the connectivity. I think the gingerbread build was incomplete. Waiting for the ICS on my g2x. I get a unexpected reboot probably once in 2 weeks or some which is mainly because of the extensive multitasking and lack of ram, i know 512 is not less however the hd games and livewallpapers consumes huge lot of ram. so those seldom unexpected reboot does make sense as i never switch off my divice. I think it is still an awesome device. The tegra really has some potential, you can play shadowgun to figure out the gpu capability of g2x.
+1 to the OP
@OP I agree with the principle behind what you said, but isn't that exaclty what this whole xda forum is about in the first place, users helping each other out? I'm not trying to put your idea down, but just saying its nothing new really. Maybe I misunderstood what you said and if so, then my apologies.
The problem you identified in #1 is exactly correct -- people don't read or don't understand what they read. They get ahead of themselves and start doing stuff to their phones without understanding the potential consequences if something goes wrong. Then they freak out and instead of searching for a solution to their own problem they just post a new thread saying "ZOMG!!!! Plz help!!! Plz!!!!!!!!!!!!" I've read several threads like that and then found the answer to their question literally 2 threads down.
Anyway, I'm starting to digress. You make a very good point and ideally people will read and follow. Sadly, and realistically, they wont.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
As many on XDA will tell you a Phone or ROM is only as good as it’s support team. As a developer who has offered various ROMs and android mods since 2009, I have extensive experience in troubleshooting and helping others do so. And in recent years, I very rarely go out of my way to lend an opinion or even review a device, however, I think the android community should be informed about the support that the Essential Phone offers before buying their product.
I was very excited to hear about Andy Rubin's project and immediately pre-ordered the PH-1 with the extended warranty. Despite delays, I had high hopes and had every intention of making it my daily driver. The day I received the phone I also received an email stating that it was not certified for usage on Verizon’s network. Verizon is the only network where I live. I tried my existing sim card and received awful reception. I wrote a quick review and stated “This may be a simple APN fix or could be a serious issue with the radios.” Since the phone was unusable, I boxed it up awaiting Verizon certification.
About a month went by before I finally got an email stating the PH-1 was certified for Verizon. I tried the phone and still received abysmal data reception. Despite 3-4 bars, the download speeds around 3 Mbps and uploads of 0.01 Mpbs or slower. Without wifi the phone cannot complete initial setup/login, Google Assistant cannot function, and in general does not work.
I spent 3 days troubleshooting this with APNs, data resets, Manufacturer's reset, custom bands, hidden menus, confirmed the IEMI via the web portal... you name it, I tried it. During this time, I noticed there are a few spots on the top of the screen that work poorly. So, I finally decided to contact Essential’s support; the options are limited to leaving a voicemail or email. I tried leaving a voicemail that no one returned.
After a week of waiting for a return call, I moved to the email support. I summarized all the steps I had tried. I received a follow up email the next day asking me to perform factory reset….. Something that I had clearly stated I had already done. So, I did another and responded that it did not work. It took over 1 week to receive a follow up asking if I had the My Verizon app installed. I cannot imagine how this would influence data speeds, but I played their game and gave it a try. Of course there was no improvement.
Their follow up ask me to reset the APNs, which is a much more logical option than their first and second response, but once again something I clearly stated I had previously done in my initial request for support. At this point, I took my phone to a Verizon and T-Mobile store and their representatives tried new sim cards, provisioned, and troubleshooted the phone. Both Verizon and T-Mobile, have said there is nothing wrong with the setup, the sim, the apps, and the phone’s hardware is defective.
I relayed this message to Essential Support and and their response was to #1 download the Verizon app #2 reset APNS #3 set the phone to global mode…… Not only had they told me to do this before, but if they bothered to read any of my emails they would have seen this has been tried, and both Verizon and T-Mobile have independently verified the software is fine, it is not user error, and the hardware is defective.
Over the last month, I have made no progress at all on the radio issue and it has been 4 days since Essential’s last lackluster communication.
Despite reminding their support staff several times, no has even tried to troubleshoot the other issue I am having with the screen involving poor touch sensitivity on the superior border. No one has offered me a new phone nor referred to my Essential Extended Care (which I do not want pay the deductible for a phone that never worked). When I asked to return, the phone they said it was 14 day window despite the phone not being certified on my network for the first month I had not the phone.
Over the years, I have owned Motorola Droid, Galaxy Nexus (toro + maguro), G2, G3, 1+1, 1+2, 1+3, LG G2, LG G3, LG G4, GS3, GS4, GS5, Sony Pollux, Nexus 4, Nexus n6p, among others, and I have had to call support for hardware issues. The Essential Phone is by a very wide margin has the worst support I have ever come across and Google’s has had the best.
In its prime, my custom ROM had well over 100,000 users and I tend to be the only one on the team who offered support, so I completely understand android support like very few on this planet. As of last month before the price break, Essential was estimated to have only sold 5,000 phones. Even with a bare bones staff fielding emails and not checking voicemail, their support volume per day is likely less than what I personally did for free for our community for free as part of a “hobby” for almost a decade.
To sum it all up: “Buyer Beware”
DHO said:
As many on XDA will tell you a Phone or ROM is only as good as it’s support team. As a developer who has offered various ROMs and android mods since 2009, I have extensive experience in troubleshooting and helping others do so. And in recent years, I very rarely go out of my way to lend an opinion or even review a device, however, I think the android community should be informed about the support that the Essential Phone offers before buying their product.
I was very excited to hear about Andy Rubin's project and immediately pre-ordered the PH-1 with the extended warranty. Despite delays, I had high hopes and had every intention of making it my daily driver. The day I received the phone I also received an email stating that it was not certified for usage on Verizon’s network. Verizon is the only network where I live. I tried my existing sim card and received awful reception. I wrote a quick review and stated “This may be a simple APN fix or could be a serious issue with the radios.” Since the phone was unusable, I boxed it up awaiting Verizon certification.
About a month went by before I finally got an email stating the PH-1 was certified for Verizon. I tried the phone and still received abysmal data reception. Despite 3-4 bars, the download speeds around 3 Mbps and uploads of 0.01 Mpbs or slower. Without wifi the phone cannot complete initial setup/login, Google Assistant cannot function, and in general does not work.
I spent 3 days troubleshooting this with APNs, data resets, Manufacturer's reset, custom bands, hidden menus, confirmed the IEMI via the web portal... you name it, I tried it. During this time, I noticed there are a few spots on the top of the screen that work poorly. So, I finally decided to contact Essential’s support; the options are limited to leaving a voicemail or email. I tried leaving a voicemail that no one returned.
After a week of waiting for a return call, I moved to the email support. I summarized all the steps I had tried. I received a follow up email the next day asking me to perform factory reset….. Something that I had clearly stated I had already done. So, I did another and responded that it did not work. It took over 1 week to receive a follow up asking if I had the My Verizon app installed. I cannot imagine how this would influence data speeds, but I played their game and gave it a try. Of course there was no improvement.
Their follow up ask me to reset the APNs, which is a much more logical option than their first and second response, but once again something I clearly stated I had previously done in my initial request for support. At this point, I took my phone to a Verizon and T-Mobile store and their representatives tried new sim cards, provisioned, and troubleshooted the phone. Both Verizon and T-Mobile, have said there is nothing wrong with the setup, the sim, the apps, and the phone’s hardware is defective.
I relayed this message to Essential Support and and their response was to #1 download the Verizon app #2 reset APNS #3 set the phone to global mode…… Not only had they told me to do this before, but if they bothered to read any of my emails they would have seen this has been tried, and both Verizon and T-Mobile have independently verified the software is fine, it is not user error, and the hardware is defective.
Over the last month, I have made no progress at all on the radio issue and it has been 4 days since Essential’s last lackluster communication.
Despite reminding their support staff several times, no has even tried to troubleshoot the other issue I am having with the screen involving poor touch sensitivity on the superior border. No one has offered me a new phone nor referred to my Essential Extended Care (which I do not want pay the deductible for a phone that never worked). When I asked to return, the phone they said it was 14 day window despite the phone not being certified on my network for the first month I had not the phone.
Over the years, I have owned Motorola Droid, Galaxy Nexus (toro + maguro), G2, G3, 1+1, 1+2, 1+3, LG G2, LG G3, LG G4, GS3, GS4, GS5, Sony Pollux, Nexus 4, Nexus n6p, among others, and I have had to call support for hardware issues. The Essential Phone is by a very wide margin has the worst support I have ever come across and Google’s has had the best.
In its prime, my custom ROM had well over 100,000 users and I tend to be the only one on the team who offered support, so I completely understand android support like very few on this planet. As of last month before the price break, Essential was estimated to have only sold 5,000 phones. Even with a bare bones staff fielding emails and not checking voicemail, their support volume per day is likely less than what I personally did for free for our community for free as part of a “hobby” for almost a decade.
To sum it all up: “Buyer Beware”
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man...
I really like this phone... It hit all the sweet spots for me as a device... And I'm in love with the battery life...
But to see @DHO blast Essential like this...
I have seen on other posts that the Essential team reads XDA... And I can only hope that seeing a respected developer complain in such an articulate way has some gravity with them to possibly step up their game...
The hardware (for me on AT&T) has been superb... And I have few if any complaints... But maybe it has to do with the CDMA portion of the device which I will never have to deal with
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
thanks for the detailed post. It's good to be prepared when it's required. Hope they change their support model and performance very soon.
cheers
rignfool said:
Man...
I really like this phone... It hit all the sweet spots for me as a device... And I'm in love with the battery life...
But to see @DHO blast Essential like this...
I have seen on other posts that the Essential team reads XDA... And I can only hope that seeing a respected developer complain in such an articulate way has some gravity with them to possibly step up their game...
The hardware (for me on AT&T) has been superb... And I have few if any complaints... But maybe it has to do with the CDMA portion of the device which I will never have to deal with
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rignfool Thanks.
With a little luck word will get out and they will step up their game.
I really hope this post doesn't put all future custom rom development in a death spiral before it even starts. :/
Damn that sucks... I've been using my phone on Sprint for several days and the reception has been outstanding, full bars of LTE+ almost everywhere, while the other phones in my family (Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6, 2 iPhone 7's) get three bars of LTE at most. Hope you get this sorted out, sucks that it happened in the first place.
---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------
12paq said:
I really hope this post doesn't put all future custom rom development in a death spiral before it even starts. :/
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Click to collapse
Very unlikely, cause @invisiblek has been going ham in terms of getting LOS/TWRP stable on this device.
DHO, sorry to hear you are having issues. I am a Verizon user in Houston. When I first got my PH-1, I couldn't get Verizon to stay connected. Constant drops, like non-stop and unusable.. I was ready to send it back. It was incredibly frustrating. Then I read a post here about resetting radio setting. I changed to Europe, then changed back to US. I set to LTE/CMDA, in the ping/radio section and also on the user network setting.. Who knows what else I changed and changed back. I was trying anything and everything I could. I am definitely a user, not a cellular techie. But Verizon started staying connected, even showing LTE+ most of the time.
Good luck. Maybe you have a defective phone? Seems you obviously know all about troubleshooting and have tried everything. If you can get it working on Verizon, I am confident you will like the PH-1.
Still issues with Verizon WiFi calling, Verizon voicemail and Verizon visual voicemail. But for me, I can live without the WiFi calling and have workaround for vm.
Frustrating situation, no doubt. All the best.
I second the defective phone scenario.. from my reading these forms the first batches with the foam earpiece had numerous issues. Lots of posts about connectivity issues that were resolved by replacement phones
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
12paq said:
I really hope this post doesn't put all future custom rom development in a death spiral before it even starts. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was surprised, in my circle of devs. I am the only one to purchase the PH-1. Based on my feedback I know it has prevented a few people who were on the fence.
I'm sure once more source becomes available this phone will pick up support. It has TWRP before the Pixel2. And invisiblek is as good as it gets for device bring up. So there is hope
TheF|ipSide said:
Damn that sucks... I've been using my phone on Sprint for several days and the reception has been outstanding, full bars of LTE+ almost everywhere, while the other phones in my family (Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6, 2 iPhone 7's) get three bars of LTE at most. Hope you get this sorted out, sucks that it happened in the first place.
---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------
Very unlikely, cause @invisiblek has been going ham in terms of getting LOS/TWRP stable on this device.
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Click to collapse
Thanks
houstonironman said:
DHO, sorry to hear you are having issues. I am a Verizon user in Houston. When I first got my PH-1, I couldn't get Verizon to stay connected. Constant drops, like non-stop and unusable.. I was ready to send it back. It was incredibly frustrating. Then I read a post here about resetting radio setting. I changed to Europe, then changed back to US. I set to LTE/CMDA, in the ping/radio section and also on the user network setting.. Who knows what else I changed and changed back. I was trying anything and everything I could. I am definitely a user, not a cellular techie. But Verizon started staying connected, even showing LTE+ most of the time.
Good luck. Maybe you have a defective phone? Seems you obviously know all about troubleshooting and have tried everything. If you can get it working on Verizon, I am confident you will like the PH-1.
Still issues with Verizon WiFi calling, Verizon voicemail and Verizon visual voicemail. But for me, I can live without the WiFi calling and have workaround for vm.
Frustrating situation, no doubt. All the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried this. I have noticed some VERY interesting bugs in the USA band that are causing some sort of error resulting in the deactivation of the data. I wish I could grab a logcat (need SU). If their support was more .... receptive ... I would gladly report how to replicate RIL failures that result in complete deactivation of the radios. Unfortunately this is not the underplaying cause of my issue :/
stinger4321 said:
I second the defective phone scenario.. from my reading these forms the first batches with the foam earpiece had numerous issues. Lots of posts about connectivity issues that were resolved by replacement phones
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Yea, I am hoping they will do the right thing and replace it.
DHO said:
I have tried this. I have noticed some VERY interesting bugs in the USA band that are causing some sort of error resulting in the deactivation of the data. I wish I could grab a logcat (need SU). If their support was more .... receptive ... I would gladly report how to replicate RIL failures that result in complete deactivation of the radios. Unfortunately this is not the underplaying cause of my issue :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am surprised to hear you have not rooted yet with it being available.
Sure you probably tried already but take the sim out and factory reset. Put sim in and factory reset again. Make no other changes unless your trying to get volte to work. Info based on an already active Verizon sim account.
The support reps for some reason go by their tech cheat sheet all the time, instead of reading email fully and understanding that they are communicating to a tech savvy person. I had that before with other OEMs, where they would make go through troubleshooting which were already done previously. Another thing would be if support team knows that this is an average user who doesn't really play nice with technology, then yes, going through troubleshooting steps would be logical.
So, I am planning to buy this phone soon, do users on T-Mobile network have any cell/data issues?
@DHO I assume you've tried the latest stock build? I assume they had to push something once it was Verizon certified. Mine, along with a couple other devs I work with, are working just fine on Verizon.
T-Mobile
Charkatak said:
The support reps for some reason go by their tech cheat sheet all the time, instead of reading email fully and understanding that they are communicating to a tech savvy person. I had that before with other OEMs, where they would make go through troubleshooting which were already done previously. Another thing would be if support team knows that this is an average user who doesn't really play nice with technology, then yes, going through troubleshooting steps would be logical.
So, I am planning to buy this phone soon, do users on T-Mobile network have any cell/data issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on T-Mobile here in Los Angeles with no problems whatsoever compared to my previous S8+ and HTC U11 devices. I know others have reported reception issues on T-Mobile, but I personally am perfectly happy on T-Mobile here.
invisiblek said:
@DHO I assume you've tried the latest stock build? I assume they had to push something once it was Verizon certified. Mine, along with a couple other devs I work with, are working just fine on Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this statement.
I'm on Verizon and I've had decent speeds.
I've been averaging between 35 - 45 Mb/s down and 7-10 up.
The lowest I've had it drop is 25 down and 2 up.
I can't say i've had any drop out issues either.
mrcooter said:
I am surprised to hear you have not rooted yet with it being available.
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Click to collapse
I don't want to give them a reason to say I voided the warranty. If they want proper logs, I would be happy to supply.
bill3508 said:
Sure you probably tried already but take the sim out and factory reset. Put sim in and factory reset again. Make no other changes unless your trying to get volte to work. Info based on an already active Verizon sim account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep tried everything. The Data speeds are insufficient to support voLTE. Even with the LTE+ icon I get 1G speeds,.. a few decibites a second. LOL
Charkatak said:
The support reps for some reason go by their tech cheat sheet all the time, instead of reading email fully and understanding that they are communicating to a tech savvy person. I had that before with other OEMs, where they would make go through troubleshooting which were already done previously. Another thing would be if support team knows that this is an average user who doesn't really play nice with technology, then yes, going through troubleshooting steps would be logical.
So, I am planning to buy this phone soon, do users on T-Mobile network have any cell/data issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Verizon and T-mobile has identical issues for me.
I know their support is check list based. So I walked them through each step I tried..... around the 6th follow up email I eve wrote out a numbered list because they had circled back to asking the same questions they had previously.
invisiblek said:
@DHO I assume you've tried the latest stock build? I assume they had to push something once it was Verizon certified. Mine, along with a couple other devs I work with, are working just fine on Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I have tried on each release, including the one pushed over the last week. I have also tried a T-Mobile sim card and no difference than Verizon.
I know this phone is now "Certified" by Verizon but that is somewhat misleading. Because it is not an actual Verizon phone they block it from supporting WiFi calling and Visual Voicemail. You cannot even download and install Verizon's Visual Voicemail app from the Play store and built in Visual Voicemail in the Google Dialer does not work on Verizon. Also while a Verizon SIM is installed in the phone WiFi calling options completely disappear from settings. I think there is one person who said those two features are working for him but for the vast majority of us it does not work. I'm with DHO 100%. With the very poor customer support and the phone not functioning as well as most other phones there are far better options out there. I had connectivity issues with T-Mobile so bad I switched to Verizon and then found out the hard way they don't support those features on this phone. I ended up taking advantage of Verizon's 50% off the Pixel 2 XL with certain trade ins and ordered a Pixel 2 XL to use. I've ended up with a $700 Essential phone I cannot use. So I agree with DHO........BUYER BEWARE
That sounds more like Verizon douche baggery at work, more so than a problem with Essential's support.
Verizon is the one that decides who gets those features, not the phone manufacturer...
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
JasonJoel said:
That sounds more like Verizon douche baggery at work, more so than a problem with Essential's support.
Verizon is the one that decides who gets those features, not the phone manufacturer...
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
For WiFi calling, I think a little column A and a little column B here-.
their radio reception is just awful- that's it. if you get good signal, then you will not likely have issue. even if you go to relatively worse area, you won't notice it too much. but if you actually live or work at a place with weak signal, then your signal drops way too often compared to any other ****ty plastic old phones.
no real way to fix it unless there's some crazy baseband update that somehow drastically improves it. I think they just did not do enough field testing to see how weak signal reception the device can handle. and now, they merely provide lackluster response because they cannot do anything and they cannot really admit that they ****ed up the "essential" part of the essential ph-1. i personally like this phone only because of the price is competitive and LineageOS is now finally supported. I still have some return window thanks to Amazon's holiday return policy, but might have to wrap this up and send back to Amazon for being defective.
Because, I also get ****ty reception on T-Mobile.