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OK so from what I can gather looking at this forum and various stuff on the web the issues with this phone are (not in order of importance)
1. UI lags. However, this can be overcome via a 3rd party launcher and some 'Nand' hacks? which pardoxicallly means limited app memory again !
2. The GPS is unreliable. It can be fine one time and refuse to lock on another time?
3. The WiFi connection is also unstable for many users?
4. The battery life is not very good out of the box but improves after a few recharges? However, its still difficult to get a full day if using it heavily?
5. Samsung have a poor record when it comes to updates. There is no guarantee when / if the phone will be updated so it should be bought based solely on the features it has today?
Have I got this about right ? Anything missing or just wrong ? Are there any known fixes for issues 2 and 3 above.
Please note this not an attack on the phone I am considering buying and, as much as possible, I want to understand upfront what the issues are.
Don't forget Kies is rubbish and there's no apps for Android on the Kies marketplace, despite what the manual says.
If you are on a Mac (and presumably Linux) you have to enable USB debugging mode to be able to mount it as a USB storage device.
1 and 2 applies to my phone and I must be having a memory leak issue. My available memory drops pretty steadily throughout the day even after killing all the apps with a task manager. I need to reboot once or twice a day or the phone dips below 100mb. My guess is this is also the cause of the laggy UI.
My gps is quick to get a fix but it drops often for no good reason.
The wifi has been flawless for me, I'm on a 802.11n only network.
My battery is ok, not great but not bad either.
I still love this phone and I would buy again even with these minor annoyances.
Wifi wont reconnect when waking up from standby mode...(sometimes)
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
1- pretty minor problem IMO, i don't bump into it a lot. Let's see what samsung will do.
2- From what i see, after upgrading a firmware the problem is solved, in most of the cases.
3- Seen reports, but i didn't bump into problems with it even once.
4- After comparing with a nexus one, an HTC desire and a motorola milestone, i can clearly say that currently, after 5-7 charges, the SGS has the best battery in the android market.
I manage to squeeze over 3 days of moderate use from my device, or 2 days of heavy use.
5- I can't really say anything about it, samsung does have a poor support record for it's devices.
I'm running firmware XXJF3
1.Lag) applies to me, with any launcher. it's ok most of the time, but when it happens it is very annoying.
2.GPS) No problems so far. Not using it much for navigation, thus. Just for stuff like checking into foursquare and buzz.
3.WiFi) No problems now. I had a strange problem with wlan not working at all at my first day with the device, but I did a factory reset once and since then I never had any problems with networking anymore.
4.battery life) Everything just as with the nexus one or G1: I need to charge it at least once a day, unless I do not really use it.
5.update support) It's annoying, and it's a shame. But except for the nexus one, there are not really better alternatives with better update support out there. At least here in Europe. Motorola and HTC and Sony all abandon their devices after a few month as well.
We can only hope that Samsung thinks this is something that is worth doing better than in the past, and better than the competition currently does. Or that building custom ROMs based on upcoming Android Versions on the Galaxy S is not going to be as difficult as psychoace thinks.
If Samsung fixes the blackout/lag issues soon with a new firmware, I'm going to keep the device. Most of the time it is a great mobile. I even like touchwiz 3.
MetaDude said:
OK so from what I can gather looking at this forum and various stuff on the web the issues with this phone are (not in order of importance)
1. UI lags. However, this can be overcome via a 3rd party launcher and some 'Nand' hacks? which pardoxicallly means limited app memory again !
2. The GPS is unreliable. It can be fine one time and refuse to lock on another time?
3. The WiFi connection is also unstable for many users?
4. The battery life is not very good out of the box but improves after a few recharges? However, its still difficult to get a full day if using it heavily?
5. Samsung have a poor record when it comes to updates. There is no guarantee when / if the phone will be updated so it soils be bought based solely on the features it has today?
Have I got this about right ? Anything missing or just wrong ? Are there any known fixes for issues 2 and 3 above.
Please note this not an attack on the phone I am considering buying and, as much as possible, I want to understand upfront what the issues are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes I get lag. Very irritating on the supposed "most powerful phone around". On original jf 3 firmware though, but will surely try the new rom from modaco as I don't think I could live with this in the long term.
2. Only time I tried to use google navigation, it let me down badly.
3. Generally been ok but for the first time today I had wifi icon but no internet connection. Had to restart phone (toggling had no effect).
I've had other issues as well, complete lock ups, mass storage randomly not working, and other weird seemingly random behaviour.
Overall, so far this has been a frustrating device to live with. Things can only get better I hope.
Latest firmware seems to have solved almost all of these "problems"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=718621
Latest firmware released today solved the lag problem.
Not sure about the others. never had problems with the GPS.
Wifi connection was solved 2 firmwares ago
Hi, ive decided to get the iconia over the transformer, but i would like to ask a few questions.
1. What is the max amount of points the iconia supports for multitouch, and how smooth is pinch to zoom in the browser and other apps.
2. Does the iconia have a microphone.
3. How are the viewing angles and screen clarity.
4. Does it have a gyroscope
10 all your fingers
yes ,although i doesnt find it,i can ues to record.
i dont know .it is good enough for me ,so i dont care the number .
yes ,it has.
Okay thank you the main concerns was the microphone, can it be used for video chat. Also many of the problems people say they have with the iconia is it software related?
EDIT: I read about a problem where the screen keeps coming on and off by itself, has this been fixed or is it still there and the problem with wifi disconnecting is that still happening or has that been fixed.
the mic is ok .
i use qq,a chat software which is widely used in china.
mic and camera work well.
i dont test mic with msn or skype.
in china , we dont use msn in daily.
but ,if it can be used with qq,i guess it will work with msn or other chat software.
Hi yeah i edited the post above could you answer those questions?
M..N said:
Hi, ive decided to get the iconia over the transformer, but i would like to ask a few questions.
1. What is the max amount of points the iconia supports for multitouch, and how smooth is pinch to zoom in the browser and other apps.
2. Does the iconia have a microphone.
3. How are the viewing angles and screen clarity.
4. Does it have a gyroscope
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, too was worried about the problems people seem to be having..
I bought a 32G A500, and the GPS works perfectly.
Wifi is a little sensitive to distance from router, but that might be my router..
To answer your questions:
Dunno - it does pinch zoom and expand perfectly though.
Clear, very clear and sharp. I can read the screen at such an angle it almost horizontal.
It has hardware compass, mine seems to be pretty accurate.
Microphone - dunno where it is, but it records for voice input quite well (although you look a right tit talking to your tablet!)
I suspect maybe a bad batch got out (especially the GPS units, maybe wifi antenna is a bit loses in some). You don't know what people have done to their tab before they start to whine about problems (failed root? deleted apps?)
What I don't like about it?
Full of apps (facebook crap, twittery crap) I'll never use, yet am worried about deleting them in case an update fails and it's bricked - this should have been release with full customisation!
No file manager from start-up - I had to go find some silly ad supported thing to install my backup file manager off the mSD card.
Some apps do't work (copilot dies all the time, NDrive is TINY!!!)
Fluffbutt said:
I, too was worried about the problems people seem to be having..
I bought a 32G A500, and the GPS works perfectly.
Wifi is a little sensitive to distance from router, but that might be my router..
To answer your questions:
Dunno - it does pinch zoom and expand perfectly though.
Clear, very clear and sharp. I can read the screen at such an angle it almost horizontal.
It has hardware compass, mine seems to be pretty accurate.
Microphone - dunno where it is, but it records for voice input quite well (although you look a right tit talking to your tablet!)
I suspect maybe a bad batch got out (especially the GPS units, maybe wifi antenna is a bit loses in some). You don't know what people have done to their tab before they start to whine about problems (failed root? deleted apps?)
What I don't like about it?
Full of apps (facebook crap, twittery crap) I'll never use, yet am worried about deleting them in case an update fails and it's bricked - this should have been release with full customisation!
No file manager from start-up - I had to go find some silly ad supported thing to install my backup file manager off the mSD card.
Some apps do't work (copilot dies all the time, NDrive is TINY!!!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thanks for the response and the problem with the screen turning on and off by itself is that fixed. Also how well do games play on it, and the camera quality when video calling how good is it?
I've not (yet) had the turning on/off thing.
Games play very well on it, smooth and crips.
EG: N64oid was almost unplayable on my previous tab, this plays it like BUTTER.
(Nenamark test of old tab was 16.7 fps, this tab is 37.7 fpds)
I don't do video calling. Rear camera is nice, good pix in low light (flash), nice pix in daylight. No tried front cam yet, not needed to.
(I have specific ideas of what I want a video app to do, and until i find one I won't use one. It basically need to do what the Logitech VID system does for PC, including allow tablet to PC video chat)
Questions and Answers A500
I've had mine for a couple of weeks and I'm really loving it...
I've done video chat with both Google Talk and Skype with many friends and many of them commented how clear my video was, sound was a tiny bit muddy to start, but with some tweaks, got it sussed out.
If you get root, get a program called Adfree which downloads a database of ad servers and keeps ads from running on your android.
On / Off issues still exists for a number of users. I've experienced it on a few occasions, mostly when I've let the unit go to sleep - not turned off. There is another thread that seems to think it's a wifi wakeup / router call issue and will probably be fully addressed when 3.1 rolls out later this month.
If you have any more questions ask away!
wifi works well ,at least on my device,build 135.
some people say wifi works better with build 141,a little update.
so i think it is fixed.
screen off/on ,it is not very often .
but ,i dont know wether it is fixed or not.
i dont notice it.
Okay I have another question how much free space for apps installation is there?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App
You can use all your memory for apps on the Iconia (27 gigabyte for me atleast).
abats said:
You can use all your memory for apps on the Iconia (27 gigabyte for me atleast).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay that's fine, just wanted to know because I guess its different to phones
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App
M..N said:
EDIT: I read about a problem where the screen keeps coming on and off by itself, has this been fixed or is it still there and the problem with wifi disconnecting is that still happening or has that been fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had mine just over a week and noticed the screen on/off thing for the first time today. The only 'new' thing I have done was connect it to my Ubuntu laptop via the micro USB. This caused USB debugging to activate which I also saw for the first time today.
Let's be clear. G4 is an awesome device. But it's still kindof in the pre-production phage, don't you think? It's not even available 10 countries in the world. Anyway many of who have already bought LG G4, are actually migrated from another smartphone branding either HTC, Samsung, Nexus, Apple etc. And the youtubers contributed a lot in this publicity for LG. I hardly found anyone said any bad thing about G4, neither about it's battery life nor performance in those videos or reviews. But these two have become the most concerning area as well as disappointment for many of the users right now. I, myself also have been suffering with a few issues. I have already changed one device. Coming from XDA forum, here I will try my best to summarize all the problems people are facing with their G4 & also my observation on that matter from my personal experience as well as gathered knowledge from almost all the forums in XDA:
1. MISSED TAP:
Almost all users reporting that G4 missing many taps to recognize.
My observation:
Well, I have also experienced a few missed taps. But what I think it's not a LCD issue, rather less optimization/smoothness issue of the G4 ROM. How do I know? Well I switched on the touch sound. And every tap I did, including the missed ones, there was tapping sound. Even I tested in the manual testing, nothing reported like that. And even after formatting, symptoms reduced for some. But surely it's very annoying.
Oh one thing about knock codes, I found LG LCD doesn't response to gentlest touches sometimes. You need to press slightly a bit more. Fact to be considered : I am still using the provided plastic protector.
2. LAGGING ISSUE:
There is stuttering here and there in G4, not only in the stock launcher but also in the whole system.
My observations:
No doubt G4 lags. You will notice less smoothness / sluggishness while sliding any page up & down in chrome, youtube, Google plus or anything. It is not "butter smooth" like some other OEMs for most of the users. But switching to Nova, turning off smart bulletin & dual window helped to some extent, but not completely.
3. BATTERY LIFE:
Many of the moderate to heavy users complaining about quick battery drainage with low to medium brightness.
My observations:
LG said many things about their battery life of G4 in their announcement party and many well-known youtubers also said very much positive things about G4's battery life i.e. it can easily last a day which raised up the expectation bar of many users. But the real scenario is quite not like that. Most of the medium to heavy users are getting average 3 - 4.5 hours SOT with keeping screen brightness low to medium which is not at all the way LG mentioned. It seems like LG is providing that extra battery knowing the fact that you will need to put on that extra one at the middle of the day for sure. Anyway, what I found is: G4's stand-by time is OUTSTANDING. Don't turn on that screen much, only receive a few calls, you can pass a decade (not literally) with a single charge. But turn on that screen, do browse, chat, Facebooking or Youtubing or anything keeping that overkill screen on, you will hardly pass 5 hours maximum. Raise the brightness a bit more, like 75-100%, brother, you are doomed. Your G4 will die within hours. For some, turning off auto brightness & keeping the brightness below 50% all the time, turning off fast-dormency, turning off GPS, using Greenify helped a bit. Anyway, my point is that awesome-bright-vivid-overkill screen is actually the curse for the G4 at present if LG doesn't bring up some solutions for it. What's the point if you can not enjoy the juice of a fruit which is known to be the tastiest of them all???
4. HEATING & SLOW CHARGING ISSUE:
Very limited people including mine are complaining of frequent, not consistent, heating up issue of the phone as well as slow charging.
My observations:
Many factors can be responsible for this. Some people find this scenario happening once a day, for some once in two days and these two issues are interconnected in my opinion. What can heat up the phone? May be some hidden apps, maybe weather, maybe some other things, but surely it does for some. Yah we have seen in all the reviews that G4 warms up a bit, but not very much. But the people who are complaining about it, found it uncomfortable to speak touching the phone to the face. I will attach a screenshot here, in which my phone was completely idle, was on charge, no phone call came & my phone got heat up to 42 degrees & it took almost 5 hours to charge from 20 - 100%. Again I am saying this is not a consistent scenario, but it's frustrating for some including mine.
5. OTHER ISSUES:
These are some random issues found by some people:
a) White sparking light in the screen.
b) Yellow tint on screen.
c) Bad bluetooth audio.
d) Wifi speed problem.
e) Helium app doesn't work properly.
f) Nova launcher cannot install properly.
g) Vibration too soft.
h) Auto brightness inconsistancy.
So guys, if you have read it and if you are one of those renowned youtubers or columnists or bloggers whom LG guys follow on regular basis, please make an article or video about it, spread these information and let the LG guys know about these so that they can do something about it. I personally believe, software update can solve 95% of the issues. So be it.
Thanks for your patience to read my post.
I guess I've been pretty lucky thusfar.
Only missed taps I've had is on the double-tap to wake, but I think it might be due to my hardly tapping it (was used to HTC's touch profile last time I had this feature).
No lags here. I did notice that once, when I hit Home button, I returned to a blank home screen and it took about 5 seconds for the icons/widgets to show up...hasn't happened since the one time, though.
Charging, I use the stock charger from my old Note 4, so I get decent times with that (generally 10%-100% in about 50 mins...I'll take that).
As far as battery, I get about 3 hours screen on and 16-18 hours total per charge. Not bad considering I'm a heavy user when the screen is on and stream Spotify via BT speaker 12 hours/day while at work. I've only been through 3 charge cycles so far. It's still not what I was used to with the M8 or Note 4, so I will admit I'd like it to be better.
I think I would go just about nuts if I had any of 5a, b, c, or d. LOL
5d is a huge concern for me. My WiFi speed is complete bollocks. I'm getting a reading of 60mb down from my 5gh router when running speedtest on the phone. But when I actually load a website it's like I'm using dial up again. The load times are atrocious! I'm going to look into changing chanels on my router as someone has mentioned as a fix. Fingers crossed
I haven't had any of those issues. Honestly been flawless so far. Surprised by how smooth it is. I do only get 3 hours sot if I run power intensive apps. But I think that's normal.
The only real issue I've had is **** slowness on Wi-Fi but blazing speed on data
Sent from my G4 using your mom
Wifi speeds are complete crap for me i swear it's like im on dial up waiting for a page to load and forget about getting youtube to load
Th3Bill said:
I guess I've been pretty lucky thusfar.
Only missed taps I've had is on the double-tap to wake, but I think it might be due to my hardly tapping it (was used to HTC's touch profile last time I had this feature).
No lags here. I did notice that once, when I hit Home button, I returned to a blank home screen and it took about 5 seconds for the icons/widgets to show up...hasn't happened since the one time, though.
Charging, I use the stock charger from my old Note 4, so I get decent times with that (generally 10%-100% in about 50 mins...I'll take that).
As far as battery, I get about 3 hours screen on and 16-18 hours total per charge. Not bad considering I'm a heavy user when the screen is on and stream Spotify via BT speaker 12 hours/day while at work. I've only been through 3 charge cycles so far. It's still not what I was used to with the M8 or Note 4, so I will admit I'd like it to be better.
I think I would go just about nuts if I had any of 5a, b, c, or d. LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Not sure why there is so much inconsistency between devices. I bought the US trial version, and mine has been relatively good. If I had half of the problems reported I would have sold this thing ASAP and waited for a better crop of devices to come out this fall. I'm one of the few people who really like a stripped down TouchWiz, but with Knox/sealed but not waterproof body/no SD/weak battery the S6 wasn't cutting it. If only Samsung sold the Exynos to these other vendors... For now, I'm fine with the G4, but really hope we get root and unlocked BL so development explodes and the kernel can get tweaked.
Only problem I've had is holding back my enthusiasm about how flawless this phone is ( my wife would try to hijack it if she knew how impressed I am). I do miss 4 buttons on the bottom though
knoshann said:
Only problem I've had is holding back my enthusiasm about how flawless this phone is ( my wife would try to hijack it if she knew how impressed I am). I do miss 4 buttons on the bottom though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can add the 4th button. You can add up to 5. Settings - Display - Home touch buttons - Button combination
Perfect summary.
I've also seen a lot of people saying that they aren't having these problems which can lead to people thinking the phone is perfect, which it's not. I love the screen size and the display but the software is really letting this phone down.
I've experienced many problems too, such as: stuttering, poor battery life at high brightness, brightness dimming down by itself, slow charging, lag and stutter in games, e.g. dead trigger 2 and subway surfers (yes I've turned off game optimiser) and the notification pull down freezing frequently when I get a notification. However, as I saw a lot of people saying that their phones were perfect I chose to exchange my phone instead of return it. My new phone has the exact same problems (uk device on v10a).
Maybe these problems can be fixed with a software update but the question is will it? My G3 lagged and stuttered from the beginning and no software update changed that. The only fix was to switch to a cm12 rom which made the phone finally perform smoothly, at the cost of battery life and camera quality.
It's been at least 3 phones in a row now that have had poor software (g3, g flex 2 and now g4). They're supposed to test their phones before putting them out to consumers but it doesn't seem like they really care so I don't have much hope.
Worst thing is I really want to love this phone and think LG's hardware design is perfect but the software is most likely going to make me sell it.
It might be worth mentioning which version you're on, especially if it's one where the provider (such as VZW) has bogged it down with bloatware. That could conceivably be a contributing factor to battery life issues, if nothing else.
Just a suggestion. Might be a good idea for people to put which model they're on and which Software version they're running.
Like I'm on the H811 running version 81110D. That way, we can see if any issues might be carrier type or software version based...
Just a thought.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but on the Sprint model the WiFi randomly turns itself on. I rarely use WiFi, so it's definitely not me turning it on and forgetting that i did or anything.
I was having a issue where my screen Brightness would change on it's own. Tmobile H811 running version 81110D ? I believe that was the version before the update I got and installed on its own last night of H. When I mean change on it's own I had the Screen Brightness on 100% like every other phone and after the few secs when the screen dims and you touch it again the screen brightness would now be set to 70% now 100%. AUTO is off I don't use that.
I will see if this happens on the H update or not.
Ogre6473 said:
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but on the Sprint model the WiFi randomly turns itself on. I rarely use WiFi, so it's definitely not me turning it on and forgetting that i did or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've actually seen this on the TMO version (8110d). Very sporadic (or it happens more than I realize but I don't spend enough time looking at the phone to notice, not sure which).
I've also seen it randomly turn OFF wifi (just happened 30 seconds ago) for no reason. Interestingly enough THAT one might be oddly due to some weird power saving feature or something as I was just able to reproduce it 3 times in a row turning the screen off and on.
Screen on=wifi on
Screen off=wifi off
Weird stuff.
smw6180 said:
I've actually seen this on the TMO version (8110d). Very sporadic (or it happens more than I realize but I don't spend enough time looking at the phone to notice, not sure which).
I've also seen it randomly turn OFF wifi (just happened 30 seconds ago) for no reason. Interestingly enough THAT one might be oddly due to some weird power saving feature or something as I was just able to reproduce it 3 times in a row turning the screen off and on.
Screen on=wifi on
Screen off=wifi off
Weird stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into Wi-Fi Settings.
Under Advanced Wifi Settings
In Useful Settings, there is a setting for "Keep Wi-Fi on when screen is off".
It's set to NO by default.
I would imagine it's some sort of power saving feature.
smw6180 said:
I've also seen it randomly turn OFF wifi (just happened 30 seconds ago) for no reason. Interestingly enough THAT one might be oddly due to some weird power saving feature or something as I was just able to reproduce it 3 times in a row turning the screen off and on.
Screen on=wifi on
Screen off=wifi off
Weird stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In setting, wifi, advanced there is an option for turning off wifi when the screen is off. Check that and wifi will stay on. Still haven't digured out why it's turning itself on though.
Ogre6473 said:
In setting, wifi, advanced there is an option for turning off wifi when the screen is off. Check that and wifi will stay on. Still haven't digured out why it's turning itself on though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't touched anything in Wi-Fi settings other than setting my passkey and turning "Always allow scanning" off. That setting for Wi-Fi off when screen is off was on when I got the phone. Looks like default position.
It probably doesn't help that they keep losing software engineers at their California office (i work at LG). Senior engineers to make things worse.
The yellow tint on the screen is the part that upsets me the most. The lead-up to the G4's release was all about how superior the screen is to the G3's. Yet the G4's I've received have had yellow tint issue (two of them so far). The screen also appears dimmer than my old G3 at max brightness as well (this is before auto dimming kicks in too.)
There seems to be a rather big shipment of G4's with yellow screens in my area. I've been to 4 different AT&T stores in the past 4 days and have seen at least 5 brand new phones with the yellow tint. It seems to be restricted to the grey metallic retail ones as well. None of the display models or the leather backed ones I've seen thus far as the yellow tint issue. This is in Houston, TX btw. I'm heading to a 5th after work in the hopes of finding a G4 with a non-defective screen.
Has anybody done a hands on video for the standard Phab 2. I am thinking about ordering it, but I would like to see it in action and hear what people think about it. There is not much out there yet about this one as it is being overshadowed by the Tango phone. Thanks for any info guys.
I have had mine for a few days and had lots of trouble so far. Not to say it is a bad phone, just hoping I received a bad one. Waiting on Lenovo to ship a replacement now.
'Timely'(clock/alarm) app doesn't work at all(force closes on opening) but it is most likely an issue with the app itself.
The Phone/Dialer app was buggy as well. It was showing all contacts on the contact page of the app, but search feature on contact page and T9 input on the dialing screen wouldn't bring up any information(just a blank screen) making me have to go into the contact screen and scroll down to whoever I wanted to get in touch with just to make a call. Then, the microphone wouldn't work when using the phone as a handset(hold up to head like a regular phone) but would work fine for Google("Okay Google") searches (or if connected to Bluetooth). A full, hard-reboot seems to have fixed the Phone/Dialer issues but it was annoying for a couple days.
It has a horrible WiFi(WLAN) battery drain issue as well. It has used as much battery as the screen has with the SOT of almost 3.5 hours. I mean, over 50% battery life left with 3.5hrs of SOT is not terrible, but I wonder how much better it could be...
The plastic back/case make noises intermittently(squeaky plastic-on-plastic noise) that is pretty annoying as well.
Hopefully the replacement phone will be better, if not, I'll return it and pay the difference for either the Plus or the Pro.
Gotta love that 14 day return policy...
So I went ahead and made the purchase too. My phone dialer would never pull up and would immediately force close even after reboots. I just downloaded a 3rd party dialer app and that works just fine. Today, the other bug hit me. My wife called and she could not hear me. I tried speaker phone and even hung up and called her back, but the microphone was not recognizing me during the call. This is an irritating bug, but it seems like it is just software. I also have an issue with turning the wifi on. If it is off, my phone will immediately turn it back off each time after I try to turn it on. The only way I can find to make it work is to turn it on directly after a reboot and then just leave it on. The only bug that is a big deal to me is the phone call issue. If that does not reoccur often, I can deal with the other issues since the phone was such a reasonable price.
couldnthinkaone said:
I have had mine for a few days and had lots of trouble so far. Not to say it is a bad phone, just hoping I received a bad one. Waiting on Lenovo to ship a replacement now.
'Timely'(clock/alarm) app doesn't work at all(force closes on opening) but it is most likely an issue with the app itself.
The Phone/Dialer app was buggy as well. It was showing all contacts on the contact page of the app, but search feature on contact page and T9 input on the dialing screen wouldn't bring up any information(just a blank screen) making me have to go into the contact screen and scroll down to whoever I wanted to get in touch with just to make a call. Then, the microphone wouldn't work when using the phone as a handset(hold up to head like a regular phone) but would work fine for Google("Okay Google") searches (or if connected to Bluetooth). A full, hard-reboot seems to have fixed the Phone/Dialer issues but it was annoying for a couple days.
It has a horrible WiFi(WLAN) battery drain issue as well. It has used as much battery as the screen has with the SOT of almost 3.5 hours. I mean, over 50% battery life left with 3.5hrs of SOT is not terrible, but I wonder how much better it could be...
The plastic back/case make noises intermittently(squeaky plastic-on-plastic noise) that is pretty annoying as well.
Hopefully the replacement phone will be better, if not, I'll return it and pay the difference for either the Plus or the Pro.
Gotta love that 14 day return policy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
couldnthinkaone said:
I have had mine for a few days and had lots of trouble so far. Not to say it is a bad phone, just hoping I received a bad one. Waiting on Lenovo to ship a replacement now.
'Timely'(clock/alarm) app doesn't work at all(force closes on opening) but it is most likely an issue with the app itself.
The Phone/Dialer app was buggy as well. It was showing all contacts on the contact page of the app, but search feature on contact page and T9 input on the dialing screen wouldn't bring up any information(just a blank screen) making me have to go into the contact screen and scroll down to whoever I wanted to get in touch with just to make a call. Then, the microphone wouldn't work when using the phone as a handset(hold up to head like a regular phone) but would work fine for Google("Okay Google") searches (or if connected to Bluetooth). A full, hard-reboot seems to have fixed the Phone/Dialer issues but it was annoying for a couple days.
It has a horrible WiFi(WLAN) battery drain issue as well. It has used as much battery as the screen has with the SOT of almost 3.5 hours. I mean, over 50% battery life left with 3.5hrs of SOT is not terrible, but I wonder how much better it could be...
The plastic back/case make noises intermittently(squeaky plastic-on-plastic noise) that is pretty annoying as well.
Hopefully the replacement phone will be better, if not, I'll return it and pay the difference for either the Plus or the Pro.
Gotta love that 14 day return policy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought Lenovo Phab2. So far so good. No issues. Pretty smooth. You just got unlucky and got the bad one. I am trying root but cannot find any info.
Unfortunately my replacement device seems to have the same issues the original did in regards to the Phone App. No contact loading. I wiped and installed my Google account every different way I could think of(7-8 times...) but no luck. Sorry Lenovo, like I said, I really wanted to like this phone, but I feel there are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out. Good luck to those of you with the fortitude to rock this beast, but I'm out. Sent it back yesterday for a refund and ordered an Axon 7 that I'll be picking up later today.
---------- Post added at 11:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:45 AM ----------
archaleus said:
So I went ahead and made the purchase too. My phone dialer would never pull up and would immediately force close even after reboots. I just downloaded a 3rd party dialer app and that works just fine. Today, the other bug hit me. My wife called and she could not hear me. I tried speaker phone and even hung up and called her back, but the microphone was not recognizing me during the call. This is an irritating bug, but it seems like it is just software. I also have an issue with turning the wifi on. If it is off, my phone will immediately turn it back off each time after I try to turn it on. The only way I can find to make it work is to turn it on directly after a reboot and then just leave it on. The only bug that is a big deal to me is the phone call issue. If that does not reoccur often, I can deal with the other issues since the phone was such a reasonable price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it's a pain, but I would try a hard reboot/wipe. That's the only thing that worked for mine(the original anyway) as far as the mic goes. Hopefully you have better luck than I did.
Check, Check, 1, 2, 1,2 - Mic issue - Otherwise pretty good phone
I have mine since 12/6 (just under a week).
Likes: Big Screen. Quality screen. I'm coming from a 1080P display and it's a 720P, but I have to say, it's bright, colors are good. Very clear. Good for consuming media and as a remote terminal (for Citrix/RDS). 32 GB of internal storage. Reasonably responsive. Not much of a gamer.
Dis-Likes: Microphone disconnecting. Camera. Teflon-like slickness of case. MicroSD Card caddy - cannot read my card.
OK, after long, obsessive deliberation on my next new phone, I ended up with this phone. It was a long and winding road to end up a place I didn't expect to be. I was originally intent on purchasing the Zenfone 3 Ultra. But since the fine folks at Asus, didn't want to a put a radio on this model that would get 4G/LTE speeds (in the U.S.) AND being that I use my phone for hotspot and pay for the data bandwidth, I wanted the ability to realize that bandwidth when hotspotted in on a notebook. So, I decide on the Phab2 Pro, but purchasing through the portal seemed like "unavailable", "ships in 5 weeks", "ships in 3 weeks" etc......So, around Thanksgiving, as I'm checking in on the Pro, I see that the Phab 2 is available for $30 bucks off the pretty low $200. I think to myself "What if I'm only in love w/ the idea of a big phone and not the reality of a big phone?". My phone prior was the Moto X Pure (great value, love the phone) 5.7" display. Pretty big, but not this big. So, I figure, a buck 70? why not? If I don't like it, it can be a tablet/lifeboat for the next keg-tub diving non-waterproof phone incident where I need an emergency phone. Again, it can be a tablet on my sofa console.
So, I purchase it. It comes. The first thing I noticed was the slipperiness of the phone. It's a big phone, that I thought I'd be able to single hand (I'm 6'3" w/ ham hands, not-petite). I cannot. At the fear of breaking a new (though reasonably priced) toy, I heir on the side of cautious and I operate w/ both. So, I figure, I'll just "OK Google" dial and use earpods. I quickly find out (believe) that "OK Google" exacerbates a microphone issue. Not sure if the process being spawned has enough rights, holds on to the application, causes a memory leak, or what. But if you "OK Google" dial, it will (*may*) lead to the mic becoming unresponsive and playing the "I can't hear you game". I will be the first to admit that phones are phones anymore. They are computers that you can also make and receive phone calls from *BUT* the phone functionality is still a pretty necessary element of these handheld computers. So, hopefully Lenovo will get this sorted out in Nougat, or maybe they paid short shrift to bug squashing on Marshmallow knowing they were quickly going to Nougat. But the mic issue definitely not great.
I did some testing and found that I could reliabley place calls 10 times in a row (mic connected) manually, then 10 w/ google while it was unlocked, then 9 out of 10 w/ google dialing while phone was locked.
I followed this up w/ 40 manual dials where the mic was always connected. I was pretty sure the mic issue was related to OK Google (voice command), but then I let it sit overnight (last night), and found that w/o any OK Google, the mic disconnected on the phone. (That's why I'm thinking maybe memory leak, as OK Google might exacerbate the problem, not cause it). Reboot fixes this; but they need to get this squared away or it could create some negative buzz around an otherwise pretty nice little (ok, big) value phone.
Ok hello from India!!!! Got this phone today, screen is bright but in sunlight okkish,,call quality great,touch fabulous,slow dt2w,net wlan speed great,gets attentions, software can b better , lag sometimes or freezes very slightly, while commuting not handy cause size.
First Impressions...
I dropped my Xiaomi Note (5.7in), spider-webs appeared = I **HAD-TO** get a new phone. I decided to try a larger size. Impressed by the 3Gig RAM, the size, the capacity for expandable memory, the FM radio, the price, I bought the Phab2. The shop did not have a cover for this device, they advised me to go online. sigh... (that's how the spider-webs appeared in the first place... no cover!!!
The size takes some getting used to. Fits in my pockets ok. Camera = ok. Colors = ok. Calling and SMS = ok. Music reproduction = ok.
I. am. satisfied.
I have the Phab 2 (NOT the Phab 2 Plus - NOT the Phab 2 Pro) - bought in Prague, CZ.
-I had a problem to make GROUPS in my contact list. Android automatically added my contacts from my laptop Google Contact List. New folks that I added later to the phone could not be put into the newly created Group-List. What gives?
-A somewhat similar problem showed up when I attempted to make a Group-List of widgets / programs. Every morning when I switch on the phone, I have to re-organize the widgets & programs into groups AGAIN.
Is this a systemic problem? Am I doing the processes incorrectly? Can we add this to the list of known bugs?
LeePa
Love the phone, but can not get phone to work on voLTE. Anyone?
working 4 me but model is pb 650 m
works on 650 m model
sushil888 said:
works on 650 m model
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah mine is PB2-650Y
sushil888 said:
works on 650 m model
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you set voLTE on 650m. Mine switches backs to 3G when I make calls?
settings
Nothing special.
Settings
Mobile networks.
ENHANCED networks.
Just enabled it.thats it
see
See got update 1.4 gb approx
Got update today,,,
Now volte iß fixed , whichwas disappeared in previous update
Does this support OTG? and is it upgradable to android nougat?
Otg = yes.
Nought = no
As you will notice from my signature, I had tried a move to a LG V20, but I came back to the Note 4. So, I'm tracking my attempt to have a happiness with the Mate 9. Putting my notes and info here.
I'm in U.S., and so have North America version. Received it this afternoon, and have had a SIM card set up in it.
I'll document as I go for my results on setup. Not starting off great:
Restoring Data
Phone Clone
Tried this first. On the Mate 9, all I could get was the spinning hour glass (or whatever it's called). Would never come up with the QR code that is needed to mate to the old phone.
So I moved to...
Hisuite
So, I installed Hisuite on my laptop. Below are instructions followed with results:
Instlal Hisuite on Laptop - Success
Plug Huawei device to the computer, and touch restore data in Hisuite. ... Well, first thing I was wondering was how was the laptop to be able to ge the data from teh old phone? So, I proceeded
So my device is found, as the PC came up with a box to select how to use the device. But I see no option to restore data. I noticed a note at the bottom that it will not connect if charging only for usb is selected. So the instructions say...
Touch Settings - success
Then touch Security and Privacy ... There is no Security and Privacy specifically to touch, but there is a category called Security and Privacy, and a Security option to touch. But, I did find the Security option, and clicked it and found the option to allow Hisuite.
So, now, having done all that, I see the phone connected. But I see absolutely no way to get my data: messages, phone log, etc from my oldphone to the new one.
Pretty unimpressed at this point.
Tried Phone Clone again. Nothing.
If anyone has any suggestions...it's appreciated.
I managed to get my SMS and call logs by using SMS Backup and Restore. Had to move files around via dropbox.
Observations
I'm finding that as I run apps, the common pop-up about needing rights often freezes and I need to go into Settings/Apps and assign priviledges. Not sure if this is a common issue for others or not.
Phone, of course, is performing well.
Screen resolution is fine for me
Fingerprint reader is very fast. I had come to really like the finger print reader on the back while using the V20. I'm having to get used to it not also being the power button.
I am finding that various things that fill the page and are white hides the on-screen buttons. I don't recall that as an issue when I was trying out the V20.
The email app is going to take some getting used to. I am very used to the Samsung email app, which I liked better than Gmail.
Stick with it. This phones menus and ways of doing certain actions is different than Sammy or LG. But I really like that. Once u use it for a bit. You'll love it!!!
G
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
def-g said:
Stick with it. This phones menus and ways of doing certain actions is different than Sammy or LG. But I really like that. Once u use it for a bit. You'll love it!!!
G
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I plan to. Liking it so far...but...
The GPS is getting zero satellites. Not working. I do have high accuracy turned on (Use GPS and Wifi). Loaded GPS Test, and no sats visible.
Another issue with first drive...when the screen goes off, intermittently it shuts down Pandora. I checked the Battery Optimizations to make sure Pandora is NOT set to close when screen is off, and it is not.
I'm on hold now with B&H Photo. I'm guessing I'll be exchanging it. PITA...but I'll l give one more a try.
Obesrvations (other than above issues)
Battery is looking like it will be great
I like that the icon in the noti bar shows what AP I'm hooked to
Volume is very good. Sound is OK (better for sure than Note 4)
I'd like to have dark notifications. Haven't checked to see if ther is a way to do that yet.
[EDIT]
I just checked. I was on FW 138. There is an update to 183. I'm downloading it now. If GPS still doesn't work, my next task is to call Huawei support...then if no good, exchange.
ewingr said:
I plan to. Liking it so far...but...
The GPS is getting zero satellites. Not working. I do have high accuracy turned on (Use GPS and Wifi). Loaded GPS Test, and no sats visible.
Download GPS Status from play store, set it up, reboot, and see if that helps
Another issue with first drive...when the screen goes off, intermittently it shuts down Pandora. I checked the Battery Optimizations to make sure Pandora is NOT set to close when screen is off, and it is not.
I'd uninstall, and re install Pandora; doesnt happen for me
I'm on hold now with B&H Photo. I'm guessing I'll be exchanging it. PITA...but I'll l give one more a try.
Obesrvations (other than above issues)
Battery is looking like it will be great
I like that the icon in the noti bar shows what AP I'm hooked to
Volume is very good. Sound is OK (better for sure than Note 4)
I'd like to have dark notifications. Haven't checked to see if ther is a way to do that yet.
[EDIT]
I just checked. I was on FW 138. There is an update to 183. I'm downloading it now. If GPS still doesn't work, my next task is to call Huawei support...then if no good, exchange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery is awesome on my mate 9 pro; your should be too
There are lots of themes you can install to get your notifications dark; check the apps/themes thread
wase4711 said:
Battery is awesome on my mate 9 pro; your should be too
There are lots of themes you can install to get your notifications dark; check the apps/themes thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery right now:
30%
9 hr 33 min
4 hr 22 min
Definitely better than my Note 4. Not sure it's up to what some claim. But I think I'm going to be happy with it.
Good news on GPS: the 183 update got the GPS to functioning. Haven't done much other than be sure it is working. Out of interest, soon I plan to do a walk and see how it goes. That type of GPS tracking is what most folks complain about re: the GPS.
Observations
Lightflow does not work with the LEDs on Huawai phones
I installed Light Manager, which works when I test LEDs from teh app,.I had quite a bit of trouble getting it to work, but it appears that just now I did. NOTE: it appears that if you do NOT have PULSE LED on, that the LED does not work at all.
Interesting: If Hold to Ear to Answer is on, and phone is face down on a table, and a call comes in...it does not ring. It answers. Not exactly what should be expected.
I tried Lightflow again, and it IS working now. I uninstalled and reinstalled.
Observation
I wish I had purchased a dark phone which would come with a dark bezel. The LED is very small and not very bright. Makes it almost impossible to see if anywhere near sunlight.
The Note 4 definitely outshines the Mate 9 with regard to three LED.
Well, my Lightflow is giving me problems. It's intermittent. I think the problem may be related to my having restored the configuration from my install on the Samsung. Intent was to get all the LED settings for the various apps. But I think some specific Samsung related settings came in.
The interesting thing is that I can uninstall, and delete anything in the SD card that has Lightflow in the name, but then the next install, the previously restored settings are there. So I need to find out how to get that out.
All that being said, the Light Manager app is working pretty good. Just not as many options.
Today's Observations
GPS is working well for driving. Still need to test it for a walk
For anyone on a Note 4: be aware that the Mate 9 has proprietary charging. That was something that contributed to keeping me away from the Oneplus 3t. But I overlooked it for the other pluses of this phone. I have read that Power Delivery chargers work better than QC, but not as good as the stock Huawei one. I have a PD on order for my car. We'll see
The issue where a pop up comes up for rights needed is a PITA. It often locks up the app, and I have to go into Apps/Permissions and grant them there.
So far each BT device I have added is working well. (Problems with BT was the straw that made me pull the plug on the V20)
Had screen on for quite a while with GPS app. Phone did run just a bit warm. In fact, it seemed to be warm for quite a while after turning off the GPS software and browsing through a store
Current feeling about the move to the Mate 9 from the Note 4
I'm feeling very positive. I think the 4K battery will be a real plus. If I can just get a full day out of it I'll be happy. I think it is hopeful for that.
Performance is very good.
Size is perfect. Almost identical to my Note 4, 1/4" taller. I am able to use the Spigen holster from the Note 4. However I need to get a case that has at least hard edges so it will slide through the clip w/o pushing the case back.
Loving the fingerprint scanner on the back.
I hope this thread is helpful for someone.
ewingr said:
Well, my Lightflow is giving me problems. It's intermittent. I think the problem may be related to my having restored the configuration from my install on the Samsung. Intent was to get all the LED settings for the various apps. But I think some specific Samsung related settings came in.
The interesting thing is that I can uninstall, and delete anything in the SD card that has Lightflow in the name, but then the next install, the previously restored settings are there. So I need to find out how to get that out.
All that being said, the Light Manager app is working pretty good. Just not as many options.
Today's Observations
GPS is working well for driving. Still need to test it for a walk
For anyone on a Note 4: be aware that the Mate 9 has proprietary charging. That was something that contributed to keeping me away from the Oneplus 3t. But I overlooked it for the other pluses of this phone. I have read that Power Delivery chargers work better than QC, but not as good as the stock Huawei one. I have a PD on order for my car. We'll see
The issue where a pop up comes up for rights needed is a PITA. It often locks up the app, and I have to go into Apps/Permissions and grant them there.
So far each BT device I have added is working well. (Problems with BT was the straw that made me pull the plug on the V20)
Had screen on for quite a while with GPS app. Phone did run just a bit warm. In fact, it seemed to be warm for quite a while after turning off the GPS software and browsing through a store
Current feeling about the move to the Mate 9 from the Note 4
I'm feeling very positive. I think the 4K battery will be a real plus. If I can just get a full day out of it I'll be happy. I think it is hopeful for that.
Performance is very good.
Size is perfect. Almost identical to my Note 4, 1/4" taller. I am able to use the Spigen holster from the Note 4. However I need to get a case that has at least hard edges so it will slide through the clip w/o pushing the case back.
Loving the fingerprint scanner on the back.
I hope this thread is helpful for someone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I'm taking the trip from Note 4 myself. I would love to see how quickly the Power Delivery charges your phone vs QC 3, seems like an interesting new charging technology.
Swan Princess said:
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I'm taking the trip from Note 4 myself. I would love to see how quickly the Power Delivery charges your phone vs QC 3, seems like an interesting new charging technology.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be sure to post results.
I did the same change, Note4 > Mate 9.
I did however managed to get my phone cloned via the tap & send thing, I got it all on my new phone.
It's been a couple interesting days.
I got the 2 Led apps working: Lightflow, and Light Manager. A fresh install of Lightflow, with NOT restoring my previous configuration worked for it, so I stayed with it.
But the next day neither would work. WTF! I messed with it for a while, and could not get it working. I found another app, LED Pro, and it is on it's second day of working.
Then this morning my daughter called my wife and told her she had called me twice, and the phone answered but I wasn'on theh line...she could here the TV. Here's my thread about figuring out that problem.
Ready to declare success...keeping the phone
I am really enjoying the phone. albeit with expected new phone type learning curve to go through.
PROS
Very fast
Screen size very close to same as Note 4...1/4" taller
While I would liked to have 6GB of memory, the 4GB seems to be fine. Every time I've checked, I've had over 1GB free. Right now, I have 1.86GB free.
Some really nice features: Loving the instantlly responsive finger print reader on the back...fits just. right for my hand
Slide finger down the FP reader to bring down the notifications. Slide up on it to close.
Camera features are nice
Sound with stereo speakers better (but of course not like using headphones)
Charging is fast, but so is Note 4
Larger battery, at 4000, is lasting me well
Con
Proprietary charger
Small Led. I would recommend getting a phone that has a black bezel rather than white so that there will be more contrast between the light and bezel. I have a white bezel, and it makes that small, dim, LED hard to see
Some apps may not be compatible. Specifically LED related apps
There may be more pros and cons, but that's the list i can think of now. Others may chime in if they think of more.
So, maybe some day I will root, and I will add to this post of how rooting goes compared to Samsung. For now, I'm holding of of rooting.
Yep !!
ewingr said:
I hope this thread is helpful for someone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm just here in the reading of your journey.
Made the same choice, I was waiting for Note 7 ...
No problem for me for backing up my old files, I made the back up on my PC.
I wanted to discover, and still discovering EMUI 5 et Nougat.
Having my Mate for 3 days !
I will tell you my journey too, pros and cons ...
kctus777 said:
Hi,
I'm just here in the reading of your journey.
Made the same choice, I was waiting for Note 7 ...
No problem for me for backing up my old files, I made the back up on my PC.
I wanted to discover, and still discovering EMUI 5 et Nougat.
Having my Mate for 3 days !
I will tell you my journey too, pros and cons ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good. I have found more interesting things, likely can'at think of them all.
But one neat feature is this: When phone screen is off. there is a setting in the camera where you can double click the down volume and it will open and take a picture. Pretty cool.
Battery is lasting all day with no need to top off, and providing 5 hours SOT.
BT has been working good on everything I hook it to.
GPS is working good for driving and walking tracking.
check for firmware updat b190.... ( usa )
i also came from the note 4. leds drove me nuts. i now use an app called led blinker pro which puts a led(dot) right on the screen. it works great and is set in different colors for different apps.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ledblinker.pro
Thanks for pointing out the update.
I am using LEDBlinker Pro. Only led so I could get to work consistently on this phone.
So far I haven't the screen fur the notification yet.
Anther great feature...
This past week I found something happening in this phone that I had wished would happen on my Note 4: the WiFi will connect automatically to the stronger point. For example, when in the rear area of my house it will hook to the access point in my wife's scrapbooking room. If I get up and go to the office in the front of the house, it will disconnect from the one in the back and connect to the one in the office. Really nice. This is known in the settings as WiFi+.
Another Note 4 devotee who's moved to the Mate 9 - I'm in Australia and I've had the phone for 3 days.
Keep us posted on how it goes. Particularly the things that stand out.
I'm on the mate 9, had it four months, Chinese version, 6gb, 128gb, ufs 2.1 (fast ram, not the slower stuff that some have) running international ROM C636. Battery life is absolutely stellar however the camera IS a let down. Low light mode is better than the note 4 hands down but the Note does hold its own for video and day mode shots (superior fur video no question, especially 4K). Panoramic mode is mediocre. The camera for me is hit and miss, the one thing I dislike about the phone and the poor video stability.
I've been back to my note 4 a few times and will likely get the 7 when it's re-released next month but know the battery life will be an issue.
Mate 9 is a great phone that's let down by a camera that promises so much but fails to match the likes of the S7. If that's not important to you then you will love the mate.