Database Info

Essential Support -- Buyer Beware

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
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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.
Click to expand...
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.
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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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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 :/
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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.
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
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.

Question 5G no longer working after April Android 11 update

On Tmobile, 5G was working fine but after the April Android update 5G no longer works. LTE works fine but if you try to force 5G on, it actually only shows 3G active. Was working fine before the Android update. Anyone else seeing this? Tmobile only?

xenokc said:
On Tmobile, 5G was working fine but after the April Android update 5G no longer works. LTE works fine but if you try to force 5G on, it actually only shows 3G active. Was working fine before the Android update. Anyone else seeing this? Tmobile only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue here (had a crappy phone laying around, reason for the trade in). I tested it and in my area I have only Band 66 and shows 5G but no data. LTE works fine, my LG V60 has no problem with 5G. After the update I noticed this, factory reset and everything I have tried hasn't resolved anything. Most people might haven't noticed because they might be on LTE, haven't updated or possibly other 5G Bands work fine.

xenokc said:
On Tmobile, 5G was working fine but after the April Android update 5G no longer works. LTE works fine but if you try to force 5G on, it actually only shows 3G active. Was working fine before the Android update. Anyone else seeing this? Tmobile only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep updating until it's broke vs update only when it's broke.
At least wait a few months to update to hear if any horror stories come out.
If I have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission I let it be. Security is almost never an issue on Android unless you do stupid things and no update will save you from that.
I'm still running Pie on my Note 10+, zero issues.

blackhawk said:
Keep updating until it's broke vs update only when it's broke.
At least wait a few months to update to hear if any horror stories come out.
If I have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission I let it be. Security is almost never an issue on Android unless you do stupid things and no update will save you from that.
I'm still running Pie on my Note 10+, zero iss
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
blackhawk said:
Keep updating until it's broke vs update only when it's broke.
At least wait a few months to update to hear if any horror stories come out.
If I have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission I let it be. Security is almost never an issue on Android unless you do stupid things and no update will save you from that.
I'm still running Pie on my Note 10+, zero issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The update was to fix some issues with calls ( which many were having, not sure if all, I did). In the process broke other things. I never update right away, but in this case was needed. Probably there's a bug with automatically selecting bands. There's never an update without bugs. I find updates scarier than flashing ROMS.

Derfomiundz Ivy said:
The update was to fix some issues with calls ( which many were having, not sure if all, I did). In the process broke other things. I never update right away, but in this case was needed. Probably there's a bug with automatically selecting bands. There's never an update without bugs. I find updates scarier than flashing ROMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most times you can find work arounds for issues but they take time. Once found, no firmware solution needed.
You always get new issues that need work on a new OS plus the inevitable learning curve.
Time/effort vs benefits; the payoff better be worth it and unfortunately many times it isn't.
After over a year on Pie maintenance is almost effortless and second nature. It's very stable and predictable so malware is easy to quickly spot if it inadvertently works it's way in.
Not knowing what to expect from an OS opens you to all sorts of new dangers as well as wasting huge amounts of time.
Updates can also bring very unwanted features and lockouts that can't easily if at all rolled back

blackhawk said:
Most times you can find work arounds for issues but they take time. Once found, no firmware solution needed.
You always get new issues that need work on a new OS plus the inevitable learning curve.
Time/effort vs benefits; the payoff better be worth it and unfortunately many times it isn't.
After over a year on Pie maintenance is almost effortless and second nature. It's very stable and predictable so malware is easy to quickly spot if it inadvertently works it's way in.
Not knowing what to expect from an OS opens you to all sorts of new dangers as well as wasting huge amounts of time.
Updates can also bring very unwanted features and lockouts that can't easily if at all rolled back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At least I have way above average knowledge, but still is a horrible experience for normal consumers. Returning products, contacting the company for repairs. Both points are valid and differences of opinion. Still, it's possible the update was just fine and it's just the network and the new device. I don't care much about malware, that's up mostly about how someone use their devices. Funny story, I never used Android 9, I went from a device with Android 8 to 10 and 11. Also a reminder to people that aside from the main device is always good to have backup devices. We all know, they don't.

Derfomiundz Ivy said:
At least I have way above average knowledge, but still is a horrible experience for normal consumers. Returning products, contacting the company for repairs. Both points are valid and differences of opinion. Still, it's possible the update was just fine and it's just the network and the new device. I don't care much about malware, that's up mostly about how someone use their devices. Funny story, I never used Android 9, I went from a device with Android 8 to 10 and 11. Also a reminder to people that aside from the main device is always good to have backup devices. We all know, they don't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they are little heart attacks
Those not technologically interested/adaptive will suffer like pigs, ☠guarenteed☠
I went from Kitkat to Pie, talk about future shock.
However I quickly learned to navigate it and plunged straight into settings and customizing it.
Double tap on/off, Good Lock Apps/One Handed Operation +, Galaxy store custom themes/icon packs, hell yeah.
Not bad for a none rooted phone
Optimizing it was a nightmare but only persistent prevails It was a hot running bandwidth/battery hog and it took close to a year to complete tone it down and dial it in.
Many failed experiments and 2 boot loop forced factory resets latter it's a very stable, fast platform that gets good battery life and fulfills its mission. It's drop dead gorgeous and hella fun to use even after 1.5+ years.
Malware is almost always the operators fault. I had one script jpeg that trashed the download folder files a bit but I tagged right away. Had a trojan preloader (came through the browser) that got in but was detected/deleted before it could go to town.
So far in 7 years no malware forced reloads. Not bad considering most of that time has been on systems deliberately not updated.
Data loss? Bah-ha-ha-ha listening to Don't fear the Reaper, BOC
Android's rarely crash... until they do☠☠

Have a T Mobile A32 5G (SM-A326U) with the lastest update.
Baseband version A326USQU1AUD4
Kernel Version 4.14186-21188749
Build number RP1A-200720.012.A326USQU1AUD4
KNOX 3.7API level 33
5G download speed 15-20 Mbps
4G LTE download speed 45-65 Mbps
I suspect the 5G issue may be related to your local transmission tower(s). Perhaps T Mobile has just released another update to fix the 5G connection problem.

Just got May update and still no 5G on Tmobile. 5G worked fine before getting the last update. Any suggestions?

xenokc said:
Just got May update and still no 5G on Tmobile. 5G worked fine before getting the last update. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your phone has the same software spec revision as mine, then the problem is probably coming from your T Mobile tower. Again, I get 5G, but the speed is slower than 4G LTE. I can manually switch between 5G and 4G LTE. I disabled KNOX, but I doubt that was the root cause for the lack of 5G connectivity.

I've tried in several parts of town that are known to have Tmobile 5G. Maybe its this particular phone. Will take to a TMO store.

xenokc said:
I've tried in several parts of town that are known to have Tmobile 5G. Maybe its this particular phone. Will take to a TMO K
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The key is the software update number. My area is full of users, so I only get about fifteen M of throughput. Went to a poor neighborhood, and the 5G speed hits 390 Mbps. This phone does not allow the user to lock in to a particular T Mobile band.

furballi said:
The key is the software update number. My area is full of users, so I only get about fifteen M of throughput. Went to a poor neighborhood, and the 5G speed hits 390 Mbps. This phone does not allow the user to lock in to a particular T Mobile band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does permit on dialer go *#2263# and banc lock lol phone supports 3xCA

financeledger said:
Yes it does permit on dialer go *#2263# and banc lock lol phone supports 3xCA
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Click to collapse
Thanks. Still slower 5G speed at some locations. 4G LTE is best for me, but that may change next year.

OOS 12 - should I upgrade?

Hey guys,
I got the popup to update to Android/OOS 12 on my Oneplus 8 (Europe/BA variant) recently and I've been thinking - should I do it? Some other forums say it's a total dumpster fire but I'm not sure if it's just irrational hate. I'm being prompted to download IN2013_11.C.16_1160_202204222304 so this isn't the first version. I'm satisfied with the current performance of my phone for now but I'm trying to find out for the future.
Are there any game-breaking bugs or battery life concerns?
Sorry if it's been posted before, I couldn't find this topic. Thanks--

Stay away from it. it's real crap.
Your phone will be slower, many gestures will be slowed down and you will regret the update very soon. Also the latest versions have big problems with Google sync, you will not receive notifications and updates from Google applications.

If you have wifi calling turned on don't upgrade. It's gone in v12.
Other than that, I find things seem to work. Some of the notification sounds have changed, but it's easily fixed.
Alan

Not sure about all of the haters on here, but wifi calling is still available on Android/OOS12. Also, google notifications work fine. I have been using a rooted stock rom on 12 and it has been working well. My only issue is that I lost root with this latest update, but Android 12 is pretty solid.

Thanks for the answers!

crashfly said:
Not sure about all of the haters on here, but wifi calling is still available on Android/OOS12. Also, google notifications work fine. I have been using a rooted stock rom on 12 and it has been working well. My only issue is that I lost root with this latest update, but Android 12 is pretty solid.
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How do you get at wifi calling? In my UK phone, it's not there.
Alan

I just read the first post again, and I am on the global version, so that may be the difference.
For me:
Settings -> Mobile network -> Select sim card with number [Square at the top] -> Wi-Fi Calling
Specifically on the SIM info & settings page, I see the following:
Enable {selector}
SIM name
SIM number
Data roaming {selector}
VoLTE calls {selector}
Wi-fi Calling {sub menu}
Preferred network type
Access point names
Carrier
Maybe that will help.

I did the upgrade about two months ago, and let me tell you is a mess. Stay away from it. Ghost touches, the screen goes ON for no reason, plenty of issues. To me OnePlus has lost its course, this will probably be my last OnePlus device.

ryantek said:
I did the upgrade about two months ago, and let me tell you is a mess. Stay away from it. Ghost touches, the screen goes ON for no reason, plenty of issues. To me OnePlus has lost its course, this will probably be my last OnePlus device.
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Oh yeah, this is definitely my last OnePlus device too, on that we can surely agree. With the price hikes they're just not an option anymore, in stark contrast to before when they were my undisputed #1 pick.
They used to do software, pricing and performance extremely well, now they don't do either one right, and nothing has really improved in the last 2+ years.
I just want to use this phone "securely" until it falls apart cause I'm very happy with it right now.
Even after two years of heavy use it still works flawlessly and the battery is still very good.

I have a long thread about it on the Oneplus support site. Buggy software is pretty common these days, but having a release that has so many bugs in it, is troublesome, to say the least. I have contacted OnePlus support and their solution is for me to wipe the phone - like that is going to fix anything?
Not to criticize, but I think OnePlus has lost it, Support does not have a clue, and nobody that can provide answers is reading the forums or paying attention to what the community and users are saying and going thru with their devices.
Is not only the OP8 that is having upgrade issues, the other models too are plagued with buggy software too.
What the least should do is to acknowledge it, Put a communication out, in the proper channels admit that there have been errors and if you are working on it provide a timeline and that is what a reputable company does. By not doing anything, their reputation is going down the drain, the users are left scrambling trying to get a usable phone.

crashfly said:
I just read the first post again, and I am on the global version, so that may be the difference.
For me:
Settings -> Mobile network -> Select sim card with number [Square at the top] -> Wi-Fi Calling
Specifically on the SIM info & settings page, I see the following:
Enable {selector}
SIM name
SIM number
Data roaming {selector}
VoLTE calls {selector}
Wi-fi Calling {sub menu}
Preferred network type
Access point names
Carrier
Maybe that will help.
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Click to collapse
NO I don't have VoLTE or WI-fi Calling. I'm on the EU version (in the UK).

My advice, don't upgrade to OS12. For me it has been a disater.

I haven't had any major issues, but the OS feels much more clunky designed and sluggish to me. There are a few designs I like more, but the update doesn't seem worth it. Also somehow using up much more of my storage space. It says I have 51GB of apps when the total is more like 10-15GB, and 30GB used for system/other.

I just updated my OnePlus 8. I have had Android 12 on it for a few months. It did feel clunky. I just updated it with a 1GB update to OS12. It has greatly improved the performance of the phone. It feels like the original out of box phone now.
I am on global rom and the release landed within the last 3 or 4 days.

TinkerBwoy said:
unless you are having issues with the phone, i dont think you need to reset it. C.16 seems to be super stable with respect to battery life and performance. I see only minor bugs like Processor name showing incorrectly (865 reported as 855), battery % not showing in status bar on swipe down etc.
In short, you should be fine without a factory reset
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Two Sheets said:
I just updated my OnePlus 8. I have had Android 12 on it for a few months. It did feel clunky. I just updated it with a 1GB update to OS12. It has greatly improved the performance of the phone. It feels like the original out of box phone now.
I am on global rom and the release landed within the last 3 or 4 days.
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Same here. It runs perfect since the last major update for me as well on Global rom. This is my first OnePlus phone and an almost flagship phone. I just read that OnePlus will be releasing Android 13 on the 8. This is very good news.

Two Sheets said:
Same here. It runs perfect since the last major update for me as well on Global rom. This is my first OnePlus phone and an almost flagship phone. I just read that OnePlus will be releasing Android 13 on the 8. This is very good news.
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Only if they bring back wifi calling on the EU version. Otherwise, I won't bother, but move to Samsung.

Question Severe baseband vulnerabilities found - update to March update ASAP

Wow. This is crazy. Remote execution vulnerabilities that don't even require user interaction, just your phone number. Google says to either turn off both VoLTE and WiFi Calling or update to March update. Pixel 6 series is screwed until Google gets their update out.
Definitely not a good look for Samsung!
Google: Turn off VoLTE, Wi-Fi calling due to severe Exynos modem vulnerabilities on Pixel 6, more
Google found severe vulnerabilities with Exynos modems used on the Pixel 6 and Samsung phones that warrant disabling VoLTE & Wi-Fi calling...
9to5google.com

funny and crazy

I understand the concern but how many people in the world even know about, or how to actually execute any of these exploits AND has your phone number AND you have the type of phone for it to even work? YMMV

jaseman said:
I understand the concern but how many people in the world even know about, or how to actually execute any of these exploits AND has your phone number AND you have the type of phone for it to even work? YMMV
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Click to collapse
If a threat actor wants to exploit this, they just have to start running numbers until they hit matches. It would be pretty trivial because they don't need anything else but for you to have an affected device that has VoLTE or wifi calling enabled. There is a pretty long list of affected devices from both Samsung and Google, including many midrange devices that have a much higher market share, so the potential attack surface is quite high. The oldest chipset on the list, the Exynos 850 (Samsung updated the list since the article was published to add more affected chipsets including this one), is from 2020, and the newest, the Shannon 5300, is the modem in the Pixel 7 series. This exploit covers close to 3 years worth of Samsung phones, that's a crazy amount of vulnerable devices.
If you don't believe there are groups sophisticated enough to pull off these attacks en masse, you haven't been paying attention to all of the breaches over these last years. Something like this would be a dream come true for them because there's no indication you've been breached and exploits like this can be used to disable system updates so it never gets patched. Lets also not forget that many people don't even bother to keep their devices up to date to begin with. My partner's phone is probably a year behind on updates and he leaves his Windows desktop sitting there with the update icon until it forces him to actually do it.

jaseman said:
I understand the concern but how many people in the world even know about, or how to actually execute any of these exploits AND has your phone number AND you have the type of phone for it to even work? YMMV
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Click to collapse
This is what I often wonder. How bad are all these DOOMSDAY vulnerabilities. I think most are overblown. Possible, but over-hyped.

EtherealRemnant said:
If a threat actor wants to exploit this, they just have to start running numbers until they hit matches. It would be pretty trivial because they don't need anything else but for you to have an affected device that has VoLTE or wifi calling enabled. There is a pretty long list of affected devices from both Samsung and Google, including many midrange devices that have a much higher market share, so the potential attack surface is quite high. The oldest chipset on the list, the Exynos 850 (Samsung updated the list since the article was published to add more affected chipsets including this one), is from 2020, and the newest, the Shannon 5300, is the modem in the Pixel 7 series. This exploit covers close to 3 years worth of Samsung phones, that's a crazy amount of vulnerable devices.
If you don't believe there are groups sophisticated enough to pull off these attacks en masse, you haven't been paying attention to all of the breaches over these last years. Something like this would be a dream come true for them because there's no indication you've been breached and exploits like this can be used to disable system updates so it never gets patched. Lets also not forget that many people don't even bother to keep their devices up to date to begin with. My partner's phone is probably a year behind on updates and he leaves his Windows desktop sitting there with the update icon until it forces him to actually do it.
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Click to collapse
"all of the breaches over these last years"
Are these breaches happening on individual cell phones or on company enterprise computers? I know of nobody that has ever had a breach on their cell phone unless they are accessing very shady web sites themselves. YMMV

jaseman said:
"all of the breaches over these last years"
Are these breaches happening on individual cell phones or on company enterprise computers? I know of nobody that has ever had a breach on their cell phone unless they are accessing very shady web sites themselves. YMMV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was talking about the sophisticated corporate breaches. That takes much more work than this would really. Having millions of vulnerable devices out there, you can bet they're going to start working on this ASAP. Being able to remotely take over a device with just a phone number is a pipe dream for hackers. Getting in at the baseband level... Yikes.

It's bad enough that recent Pixel 7 builds have completely broken wifi calling and n25.
Samsung and Google treat the modem and /vendor like a playground and afterthought.
Have to run the DP1 modem on DP2 for it to work properly. Now I probably have to use the QPR3 or DP2 modem depending on what the bootloader allows or accept the risk.

LLStarks said:
It's bad enough that recent Pixel 7 builds have completely broken wifi calling and n25.
Samsung and Google treat the modem and /vendor like a playground and afterthought.
Have to run the DP1 modem on DP2 for it to work properly. Now I probably have to use the QPR3 or DP2 modem depending on what the bootloader allows or accept the risk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly love that Google doesn't just use Samsung's modems but does extensive security tests on them via fuzzing etc. to find these kinds of exploits before others do (NSA, etc.)
kudos to project zero for finding these
what is n25?
and honestly:
"playground and afterthought", really? what is your argument here. that's just flaming and bull****.

Dj_Fex said:
I honestly love that Google doesn't just use Samsung's modems but does extensive security tests on them via fuzzing etc. to find these kinds of exploits before others do (NSA, etc.)
kudos to project zero for finding these
what is n25?
and honestly:
"playground and afterthought", really? what is your argument here. that's just flaming and bull****.
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Click to collapse
Throughout the Pixel 7's life, the phone has regressed in its phone capabilities.
Recent updates break wifi calling and it's very easy to replicate. It also disabled the n25 5G frequency band for T-Mobile users. It effectively breaks 3CA carrier aggregation for some people with bad spectrum allocations. Until a few months ago, updates had also disabled the ability for a call to use VoNR and be made completely over 5G. I've had to do countless mods and firmware mixes to fix these.
It's a playground because I see the regressions build by build. I've had to raise bug reports for most of them. There is no quality control and these changes are rarely mentioned in release notes.

Sucks, but that stuff will get fixed eventually. it's not one of those issues many people actually notice and most people don't rely on both of these features.
and I think Europe doesn't deploy n25. so less people to report bugs like these. Bugs happen. Google didn't build the baseband. I don't wanna tell you don't blame them, but rather: live with it and don't mark the phone as unusable.
I get it you want to blow some steam
The only two things I experienced so far:
sometimes (very rarely) the screen starts flickering/going black a bit. (not always waking up instantly staying black for some time) like it doesn't get enough power. it might only happen when the battery is close to 0 percent and you then start charging the phone. not sure, it goes away most of the time. (maybe it was fixed by Joe). the other bug is more annoying to me personally: the recents screen breaks every now and then, but a restart fixes that.
broken means: it doesn't list recent apps I opened, but only the ones I used some time ago, opening the activities therefore fails because they were closed by now. I can close all of them but opening the recents screen the same closed activities reappear again.
it's annoying because it breaks my workflow. I can't switch back and forth between apps by swiping the bottom bar of the screen. it just sends me to the home screen since the (wrong) "last" activity was closed already.

jaseman said:
"all of the breaches over these last years"
Are these breaches happening on individual cell phones or on company enterprise computers? I know of nobody that has ever had a breach on their cell phone unless they are accessing very shady web sites themselves. YMMV
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Click to collapse
Sophisticated attackers go for anything, the wannacry ransomware was based on Eternalblue which used a vulnerability in smb1 and this caused major problems for organizations.
A vulnerability was found in IOS and to the researcher's surprise websites were sending out this code before the exploit was made public, this video from about 5 minutes in describes it quite well.

Modem is fixed in March update for P7(P)
Look at CVE 24033

for people running custom roms: do they need to flash basebands themselves or can the custom roms do this with their android security patches nowadays? (asking for a friend with a Pixel 6a. Yes, I know the Pixel 6a wasn't patched, yet ^^)

Dj_Fex said:
and most people don't rely on both of these features.
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Seeing how many countries are in the process of getting rid of 2G and 3G, without one of those features enabled, you can't make calls.
danmaman said:
Modem is fixed in March update for P7(P)
Look at CVE 24033
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Click to collapse
I said this in the first post when I was warning people to update to the March update.

Im still running the November update from when I first bought the phone... Rooted and bootloader unlocked TMobile variant, can anybody link me the steps for updating? Unsure if I can jump from November straight to this version?

jake.99x3 said:
Im still running the November update from when I first bought the phone... Rooted and bootloader unlocked TMobile variant, can anybody link me the steps for updating? Unsure if I can jump from November straight to this version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can by dirty flashing the March security patch.

EtherealRemnant said:
Seeing how many countries are in the process of getting rid of 2G and 3G, without one of those features enabled, you can't make calls.
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Is VoNR the same as VoLTE now? I can take calls just fine. Telekom in Germany has no 3G left and I disabled 2G in the settings and calls work just fine. Just no "HD" for whatever reason. Telekom is an eSIM. "HD" calls work for my other regular Nano Sim though.
So yeah as I said: no calls in 5G is also no deal breaker right now.
edit: I disabled the nano sim and I disabled wifi calling. and calls over lte+ on my Telekom esim still work.
Not_Purgatory said:
You can by dirty flashing the March security patch.
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Click to collapse
Did anyone upload a zip on here? I'm fairly certain (from past phones) that OTAs fail once you unlock the Bootloader.

the Telekom sim is definitely using VoLTE. If I disable VoLTE in the settings I can't take calls unless I enable 2G again.
Now I have to find out why HD voice doesn't work
If VoLTE doesn't work for you, then it might not have been allowed for/activated by your carrier for the Pixel 7 devices.
Maybe call your ISP and ask them.

Dj_Fex said:
Is VoNR the same as VoLTE now? I can take calls just fine. Telekom in Germany has no 3G left and I disabled 2G in the settings and calls work just fine. Just no "HD" for whatever reason. Telekom is an eSIM. "HD" calls work for my other regular Nano Sim though.
So yeah as I said: no calls in 5G is also no deal breaker right now.
edit: I disabled the nano sim and I disabled wifi calling. and calls over lte+ on my Telekom esim still work.
Did anyone upload a zip on here? I'm fairly certain (from past phones) that OTAs fail once you unlock the Bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the official Pixel Web based flashing tool

Question March Firmware?

Has anyone received the March firmware yet (US, unlocked)? Given that the patches for the massive baseband vulnerabilities are included in the March version, I was hoping Samsung would get it out ASAP, but still nothing on my end. Wanted to see if I was alone in this?
For that matter, did anyone ever receive an update in February for this phone? The last update I've got is for the January Security patch (also brought OneUI 5.0 to the phone).

A535E with March here, but from what i know, those vulnerabilities will be fixed with April release.

I believe I saw an article somewhere that said you can turn off WiFi calling on your device to protect yourself from the vulnerabilities until the patch to fix is released.

nsfxpython said:
I believe I saw an article somewhere that said you can turn off WiFi calling on your device to protect yourself from the vulnerabilities until the patch to fix is rereleased
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And then there was an article like it may have been patched already or something.
Use it or don't. Whatever
I'm keeping mine on.
@tmeader
Updates with Samsung happen when they happen no matter what one you get. Some may be worse than others depending on what holds them up. Its all kind of random though. Unlocked doesn't mean much for timing.

Unfortunately disabling WiFi calling doesn't actually negate the issue. You'd have to turn off both WiFi and LTE (which is now basically impossible to do in the US) to protect yourself properly. I was just hoping that Samsung would try to speed things up given that its an issue explicitly with their modem hardware.

tmeader said:
Unfortunately disabling WiFi calling doesn't actually negate the issue. You'd have to turn off both WiFi and LTE (which is now basically impossible to do in the US) to protect yourself properly. I was just hoping that Samsung would try to speed things up given that its an issue explicitly with their modem hardware.
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Yeah, was just going to say that. Forgot that's actually why I wasn't turning it off. Doing so won't necessarily help in this case.