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Hello all,
I am new to both this forum and Android as a Nexus 7 owner. First things first: I've been a semi pro gamer for a few years. (currently a BF3 jet pilot at world rank 20) My vision is extremely sensitive to movement, color and changes in brightness. I can tell you what Hz a crt is running at from a glance and see very easily when any sort of interference is coming into an LCD. I stare at screens a lot. I only state this because I am hyper sensitive to these things as opposed to people who turn on lux and think the problem is gone because the filters make it less visible.
I've owned three Nexus 7s so far. The first one had flicker that was easily visible in Gmaps and Chrome. The second one's accelerometer was grossly defective so it didn't even get screen tests. The third one came off the truck fresh on Friday and when tested (download going, 0 backlight, auto adjust and wifi at 2 bars) in Gmaps it had a slight flicker to it. Almost a pulse more than a full flash. I figured that's as good as these are going to get so I kept it. I applied the tape mod (electrical) and it lessened the duration of the flicker but didn't get rid of it. I had to compensate by adding brightness like everyone does but even then I could see the back light making pulse changes extremely faintly on white screens. I've seen a couple of others here with keen vision who noticed the same thing. It's not like a brightness change but more like a distortion. I'd say most normal folks wouldn't even notice it but for me it was an annoying itch reminding me of the fault. Because of that I tried the suggestion of changing the WiFi channel.
I went from channel 6 (2.437Ghz) to 11 (2.462Ghz) and instantaneously on reconnect the pulse was gone. I began testing again in darkness, zero backlight, auto adjust, large download going, wifi at 1-2 bars and scrolling like a maniac on Gmaps. Result: Absolute zero pulse, flash or distortion... And this is a result confirmed by someone hyper sensitive to any imperfections at all.
I'd like to know why this happens from any of you tech lords here. If flicker is a hardware issue caused by bad soldier as some claim, why would wifi channel remove the issue? As most of you know, channel 6 is default on a lot of US routers and if you travel with the N7 without using hotspot or etc, six will return to cause issues. Is the Ghz jump from .437 to .462 large enough to actually affect hardware to that degree? I ask because it seems to me that this could be something fixed by software updates.
Making the N7 perfect at home where I control the channel is one thing, but on traveling I fear old channel 6 will sneak up on me again. What do you guys think? Might this really be software after all? And if it is, do you think Asus or Google would even take the time to fix it?
I'm not sure really. I have my router set to channel 10 and I had the screen flickering! What fixed it for me was using Lux Dash app, I think it's a problem with the auto. brightness acting up, but not sure.
I had flickering on channel 2, replaced my unit and then had no flickering while still on channel 2.
The common consensus is that flickering happens when you have a weak signal, if you change channels to one that doesn't have any interference, you'll see an improvement.
So I'd assume your flickering potential is still there, you just now have a signal strong enough not to trigger it.
Cryingmoose said:
I had flickering on channel 2, replaced my unit and then had no flickering while still on channel 2.
The common consensus is that flickering happens when you have a weak signal, if you change channels to one that doesn't have any interference, you'll see an improvement.
So I'd assume your flickering potential is still there, you just now have a signal strong enough not to trigger it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. The only problem with that idea is that part of the testing I did was dropping the signal purposefully to one bar on the Nexus. So both signals were being extremely weakened. I live in an area where my wifi is the only wireless network in range so would interference be an issue in the first place?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Update 12/30/13 10 full days of no issues (as specified in this OP) for me or other VZW G2 owners after the latest VZW update, as reported here and on Android Central. Could it have been the result of the efforts of those that contributed here? Could be - no way of telling though. But thanks to everyone that weighed-in and contributed to the discussion.
Most of all "THANKS" to VZW and/or LG for either directly or incidentally fixing this issue.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Update 12/24/13: It's now 3 days post VZW OTA update, and I am not seeing any issue at all anymore - nothing but stable, super-fast performance. Can we be past this issue once and for all? As of now it's still too early to tell, as it can take hours, days, weeks for this issue to surface. But, we are well on the way!
If you are a VZW G2 owner, please weigh-in at the end of this thread. We all want to know what you are seeing in the way of this long-standing software defect.
_______________________________________________________
Update 11/27/13: (more updates at the bottom of this OP)
The reports of the G2's erratic behavior related to the touchscreen have grown to the point where I really need to revise this OP so that readers can get a summary of what we've learned over time without having to read the entire thread.
The Issue:
The G2 exhibits erratic touchscreen behavior including:
- Phantom touches that result in unintended selections being made
- Wild scrolling - the user intends to scroll on a web page just a bit, and the page goes flying in that direction - out of control
- The inability to draw a straight line in a drawing app- your straight line gets interpreted on-screen as a jagged, EKG-like readout
- Pulling-down on the notification shade unintentionally selects one of the apps within the shade like QuickMemo or RichNote
- Swiping to unlock turns the screen off
- Pulling-down on the notification shade turns the screen off
- Gibberish is entered when using the swipe function on the keyboard
- Jittery behavior when holding on to an on-screen icon that you intend to move
- Jittery behavior when scrolling very slowly between homescreens
- Holding on to an icon on the homescreen (just holding it) can unintentionally move the icon to another part of the homescreen, or execute the application for that icon
The occurrence of this issue appears to some to be random, to others it clearly follows active use of the device, such as:
- Watching a video
- Playing a game
- Entering in paragraphs of text into the keyboard using the swipe function
- Spending time scrolling around web pages
- Actively swiping through home screens
As time goes on, there are more and more postings on forums across the 'net of people observing this issue. Typically, they are seeing just one symptom, but when you survey across all of the postings, it's immediately apparent that they are all related to the same root cause. You can simply Google terms like "G2 Touchscreen problems" and you'll find endless reports of issues related to the "G2 touchscreen". Here's a link to just one informative thread on another forum. There are many more.
One owner discovered early on that when the G2 is getting erratic, you can go into QuickMemo and if you attempt to draw straight lines in transparent mode, you'll often get wacky EKG-like, spiky lines. It's important to note that this is just a simple, somewhat reliable visual confirmation of the phantom touches. "Somewhat reliable" because it does not work in every case for every owner.
YouTube videos showcasing this defect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19u8qo8-ACU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLnRZyKAL1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4QOMB8UTx4
The Cause:
Purely speculative at this point, but my vote is that it's a software issue (probably at the binary/driver level), because:
- Simply turning the screen off and back on will remedy the issue, for the moment
- It is not related to device tempurature, which could lead to hardware variances in the touchscreen itself, as there is no repeatable evidence of this
- It seems to be affected by "getting busy" with the device
The Fix:
Again, it's "early days" so I'll just forward my opinon: LG needs to investigate and address this issue with a software update.
In the meantime, you can turn your screen off, and then on again. In most cases, you'll be good-to-go for a while, or maybe for a few days, or maybe longer. It really appears to be usage-dependant.
A number of us are keeping an eye on the relationship between having sufficient RAM available and this issue. I have been religiously dumping apps during the day and I haven't had a recurrence in quite a while. This is certainly not conclusive at this point - just speculative for now. 12/1/13: RAM appears to have nothing to do with this. See post #91.
Regarding Rooting/ROMs: There are many accounts of owners who attempt to "fix" this problem by rooting and using a custom ROM. The majority of these owners end up reporting that the issue surfaces just the same with the new ROM. This is why I suspect a software issue at the binary/driver level.
Regarding Returning/Exchanging: If you are able to easily return or exchange, it's your decision. I decided to exchange mine after a week, even though most of my research showed that this issue just reoccurs for most owners. So I got a new one, and within 4 days it was exhibiting the same issue. There are numerous reports of owners that have gone through 3, 4 or more G2's, all exhibiting the same issue. So, it's your call. Good luck!
Lastly...
Please note that this issue does not surface for every owner every day - so please - there's no need to report in this thread that your device is "fine"!
12/1/13 update: See post #91. I was able to "play" with the issue for an extended time and learned some new things.
12/16/13 update: It appears that this issue is generally related to "getting busy" with the G2. One specific activity that is emerging as a repeatable observation across the G2 community is viewing videos in the browser (not via the YouTube app). This is not to say that this is a 100% prerequisite, it's just an activity that many (not all!) G2 owners report just prior to the G2 spazzing-out.
billykxda said:
I've noticed a bit of weird behavior with the stock browser app, and was wondering if I was the only one seeing this...
At random intervals, my browser seems to spaz-out when trying to do simple operations. For instance, sometimes trying to move an icon (typically from the top row) can get very weird - I long-press it, it recognizes the long press, then as I hold it, it goes and does random behaviors like opening the app that I am long pressing, or making the browser jitter from side-to-side. I never get the opportunity to actually move the icon. I sometimes have to try 5-6 times to simply grab an icon on the top row of the homepage just to move it. Other times it works great.
I am a very experienced with Android devices and I've never seen anything like this.
Has anyone else seen this? Can anyone offer some insight?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not normal. I've had my G2 for over a month and have never had this issue. Try factory resetting the phone and see if the problem stops. Also try another launcher as well
Thanks for the reply.
I've considered going back to Nova Prime - my launcher of choice for years now. But, I like the stock launcher features, so I wanted to stay with it longer. I may do a factory reset.
Factory reset worked. Thanks for the suggestion.
The launcher is now working perfectly - smooth, fast, consistent. I must of had some app conflicts, or maybe some of the apps I disabled surfaced problematic behavior.
**Edit**
The issue was not resolved.
I've done some learning on this issue. Please weigh-in if you have additional experience.
Turns out, erratic touchscreen behavior is a common G2 issue that may be present in many G2's, even if you have not witnessed it yet. It appears to be totally dependent on your usage pattern. Some users report that their G2 is "fine", but they may not really push their G2 to exhibit the issue.
The problem:
The touchscreen gets over-sensitive, logging erratic phantom touchpoints. The issue is discussed in many threads on the 'net. The issue can be seen in the launcher, as I described in the link above, or in other apps. When present, you can really see this behavior if you go to Quick Memo and try to draw straight lines, you'll get something that looks more like a a cardiac EKG - random points registered to either side of your lines.
Possible cause:
It's likely to be software-related, as it occurs and then totally resolves itself. According to what I've observed and what I've seen online, if you use your G2 intensely for an extended period this issue can surface. I happened to do a total Factory Reset last night, which "fixed" the problem, but it probably would have corrected itself 100% once I left it alone for a while. If the touchscreen was "bad", it would tend to exhibit this issue more consistently - I would think.
It's not the screen protector or my case, as my G2 was working 100% perfectly last night after reset. I see only the tiniest bit of weirdness this AM as I was setting my phone back up (again, heavy duty usage).
There are posts in many threads where G2 users return their G2's only to find that it "comes back". A number of users have returned their G2's four or more times - every time the new G2 has the same issue. This is either wildly remote coincidence, or it's an advanced user pushing the G2 in a specific manner, causing it to behave erratically.
My wife has a G2 bought on the same day. She does not use her phone much, nor does she have any new apps installed on it. Works "perfectly". Not sure how it would behave if it had all of my apps on it and I was putting it through the paces.
If you have some helpful info on this topic, it would be great to hear it. For now, I am 5 days into a 14-day trial period. Even though most evidence seems to point to the issue not be resolved with a replacement G2, I still might try that route if I have to.
I LOVE this phone. For me it's the perfect follow-up to my beloved Gnex. It would be great to resolve this issue!
billykxda said:
I've done some learning on this issue. Please weigh-in if you have additional experience.
Turns out, erratic touchscreen behavior is a common G2 issue that may be present in many G2's, even if you have not witnessed it yet. It appears to be totally dependent on your usage pattern. Some users report that their G2 is "fine", but they may not really push their G2 to exhibit the issue.
The problem:
The touchscreen gets over-sensitive, logging erratic phantom touchpoints. The issue is discussed in many threads on the 'net. The issue can be seen in the launcher, as I described in the link above, or in other apps. When present, you can really see this behavior if you go to Quick Memo and try to draw straight lines, you'll get something that looks more like a a cardiac EKG - random points registered to either side of your lines.
Possible cause:
It's likely to be software-related, as it occurs and then totally resolves itself. According to what I've observed and what I've seen online, if you use your G2 intensely for an extended period this issue can surface. I happened to do a total Factory Reset last night, which "fixed" the problem, but it probably would have corrected itself 100% once I left it alone for a while. If the touchscreen was "bad", it would tend to exhibit this issue more consistently - I would think.
It's not the screen protector or my case, as my G2 was working 100% perfectly last night after reset. I see only the tiniest bit of weirdness this AM as I was setting my phone back up (again, heavy duty usage).
There are posts in many threads where G2 users return their G2's only to find that it "comes back". A number of users have returned their G2's four or more times - every time the new G2 has the same issue. This is either wildly remote coincidence, or it's an advanced user pushing the G2 in a specific manner, causing it to behave erratically.
My wife has a G2 bought on the same day. She does not use her phone much, nor does she have any new apps installed on it. Works "perfectly". Not sure how it would behave if it had all of my apps on it and I was putting it through the paces.
If you have some helpful info on this topic, it would be great to hear it. For now, I am 5 days into a 14-day trial period. Even though most evidence seems to point to the issue not be resolved with a replacement G2, I still might try that route if I have to.
I LOVE this phone. For me it's the perfect follow-up to my beloved Gnex. It would be great to resolve this issue!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've experienced this issue as well. There is a great video demonstrating the problem here.
As mentioned in the linked video, the problem does seem to be fixed by turning the screen off and then on again (which would indicate to me that it is a software issue).
Thanks for touching base.
Yup - I am well-aware of that video and it's exactly what I've experienced.
I wonder, how many G2 users who have observed this issue have just kept their G2's figuring that an upcoming release will address the issue? I am on the fence about returning mine, as I am not convinced that it's a hardware issue either.
I have not experienced it at all. But I will watch out for it now.
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
billykxda said:
Thanks for touching base.
Yup - I am well-aware of that video and it's exactly what I've experienced.
I wonder, how many G2 users who have observed this issue have just kept their G2's figuring that an upcoming release will address the issue? I am on the fence about returning mine, as I am not convinced that it's a hardware issue either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try a rom (cyanogen for example)? If yes, is this issue still present there?
Made a video of this happening on my LG G2 (Sprint LS980). It is definitely intermittent but doesn't seem to have anything to do with using the phone a lot as when it happened to me today I had barely touched the phone in hours.
http://youtu.be/N8jyCjw8sIQ
It happens only and not frequently(especially when I played one after another) when i play the Samurai Siege or Death Trigger games. I also think-hope that this is a firmware problem. Mine is t-mobile variant.
Although a bit of a PIA, I pulled the trigger and a replacement G2 is on it's way.
Figured this is the best thing to do since I am still in the 14-day period.
The thing that makes this issue extra difficult is that it is sporadic and the way it manifests itself can be subtle. The fact that the phone starts registering phantom touches can show up as a crazy keyboard, scrolling issues, random selections, etc. Sometimes, if you didn't know better, you'd just assume you lifted your finger accidentally. Additionally, often times when this happens I'll try to pull down the notification bar but instead the device will register a double-tap on the notification bar and turn the screen off. Turning the screen off remedies the issue so once you turn it back on things seem normal. It is my guess that this issue is much more prevalent than it seems because a lot of users are probably chalking it up to some little goof on their part.
I noticed random issues like this the day after having my phone. On the FB app it was scrolling super fast and jerky. Then I tried to write a text using Swype and my words are all broken up. It only happened a few times. But it's noticeable when it acts up.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
yutlin said:
The thing that makes this issue extra difficult is that it is sporadic and the way it manifests itself can be subtle. The fact that the phone starts registering phantom touches can show up as a crazy keyboard, scrolling issues, random selections, etc. Sometimes, if you didn't know better, you'd just assume you lifted your finger accidentally. Additionally, often times when this happens I'll try to pull down the notification bar but instead the device will register a double-tap on the notification bar and turn the screen off. Turning the screen off remedies the issue so once you turn it back on things seem normal. It is my guess that this issue is much more prevalent than it seems because a lot of users are probably chalking it up to some little goof on their part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great post. This further explains EXACTLY what I've experienced.
I also agree on the potentially prevalent nature of this issue. I wouldn't be surprised if this G2 touchscreen issue was inherent on many G2's. It seems that the owners that complain are ones that actually spend time entering text (more than a one-sentence sms message) and/or configuring their device (swyping/picking/scrolling). For me, I can get my G2 to exhibit this issue when I enter a couple of paragraphs in any app. Eventually, I'll start getting strings of random garbage words in place of a single word entry. If I immediately flip over to the Quick Memo app (with transparent background) and try to draw a straight line - I can't - my straight line gesture becomes an "EKG line" on the screen (as seen in various YouTube videos). I've also gotten every random issue that the poster above stated, including the annoying notification shade issue - you slide your finger down to open the shade and it turns off the display (or starts up one of the apps in the shade).
If your device doesn't exhibit this issue, it may mean that:
- You just never really use your device that intensively, or you don't look that closely, or you are quick to say "wow - that was weird" when you enter text via the keyboard and get a garbled result.
- You may actually have a device that is not affected. I honestly hope that this option actually exists in the wild as I have my second G2 on it's way
Lastly I'll add that my wife's G2 does not exhibit this issue when I enter a few paras of text, but that could just be chance. She uses her G2 for calls and the occasional text - again, possibly supporting the notion that more casual users just don't get exposed to this issue, OR, that there are plenty of G2's that don't have this issue. For sure, given the frequency of postings on many forums,there are plenty that do.
billykxda said:
Great post. This further explains EXACTLY what I've experienced.
I also agree on the potentially prevalent nature of this issue. I wouldn't be surprised if this G2 touchscreen issue was inherent on many G2's. It seems that the owners that complain are ones that actually spend time entering text (more than a one-sentence sms message) and/or configuring their device (swyping/picking/scrolling). For me, I can get my G2 to exhibit this issue when I enter a couple of paragraphs in any app. Eventually, I'll start getting strings of random garbage words in place of a single word entry. If I immediately flip over to the Quick Memo app (with transparent background) and try to draw a straight line - I can't - my straight line gesture becomes an "EKG line" on the screen (as seen in various YouTube videos). I've also gotten every random issue that the poster above stated, including the annoying notification shade issue - you slide your finger down to open the shade and it turns off the display (or starts up one of the apps in the shade).
If your device doesn't exhibit this issue, it may mean that:
- You just never really use your device that intensively, or you don't look that closely, or you are quick to say "wow - that was weird" when you enter text via the keyboard and get a garbled result.
- You may actually have a device that is not affected. I honestly hope that this option actually exists in the wild as I have my second G2 on it's way
Lastly I'll add that my wife's G2 does not exhibit this issue when I enter a few paras of text, but that could just be chance. She uses her G2 for calls and the occasional text - again, possibly supporting the notion that more casual users just don't get exposed to this issue, OR, that there are plenty of G2's that don't have this issue. For sure, given the frequency of postings on many forums,there are plenty that do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
idk if I've really understood every post in this thread but from what I've understood is while using phone for a long time and heavy tasking the touch goes crazy and starts doing stuff on it's own, so I have my G2 since 2 days have been badly using it 45 mins of asphalt 8 non stop then web browsing for 5 mins and 30 mins of ebook reading (45+5+30=70 mins) I have my phone on since 70 mins no stop dint turn it off even for a second I tried every possible thing stated in this thread specially the quick memo which I also saw on YouTube and I don't have those issues I did had those kind ofa issues in my xperia sp few months ago but a custom ROM and also a offical firmware update had fixed it so I am pretty sure it's software related, don't mind me if I said something wrong as I dint go through the thread thoroughly.
Edit : My device is Indian D802
AndroidNoob22 said:
idk if I've really understood every post in this thread but from what I've understood is while using phone for a long time and heavy tasking the touch goes crazy and starts doing stuff on it's own, so I have my G2 since 2 days have been badly using it 45 mins of asphalt 8 non stop then web browsing for 5 mins and 30 mins of ebook reading (45+5+30=70 mins) I have my phone on since 70 mins no stop dint turn it off even for a second I tried every possible thing stated in this thread specially the quick memo which I also saw on YouTube and I don't have those issues I did had those kind ofa issues in my xperia sp few months ago but a custom ROM and also a offical firmware update had fixed it so I am pretty sure it's software related, don't mind me if I said something wrong as I dint go through the thread thoroughly.
Edit : My device is Indian D802
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you have a "perfect" G2. I honestly hope that a good percentage of G2's are in that category. It's a totally awesome phone!
I can't replicate this issue either with Quickmemo or anything. I've seen mentions about it before but just haven't noticed it myself. I'm sure I would notice it straight away if my device behaved like that because I am super sensitive to stuff like that.
I'm on the international one.
I have same problem
Actually, exactly same problem with this
Actually i have 2 G2,
Normal version
ic_fw_identifier = PLG270 - 1
ic_fw_version = F008
img_fw_product_id = PLG270
img_fw_version = F008
ic_chip_rev = 2
bootloader_fw_ver = 0
lcd_panel_type(boot) = 0
lcd_panel type(current) = 0
Error version
ic_fw_identifier = PLG244 - 1
ic_fw_version = F016
img_fw_product_id = PLG244
img_fw_version =F016
ic_chip_rev = 1
bootloader_fw_ver = 0
lcd_panel_type(boot) = 0
lcd_panel type(current) = 0
Not sure its related or not.
Tomorrow i will go to LG SC to report this issue
I assume this is digitizer problem,
*To check touch firmware version go to
Hidden menu - HW device test - Touch test - Touch firmware version
Xenovias said:
I have same problem
Actually, exactly same problem with this
Actually i have 2 G2,
Normal version
ic_fw_identifier = PLG270 - 1
ic_fw_version = F008
img_fw_product_id = PLG270
img_fw_version = F008
ic_chip_rev = 2
bootloader_fw_ver = 0
lcd_panel_type(boot) = 0
lcd_panel type(current) = 0
Error version
ic_fw_identifier = PLG244 - 1
ic_fw_version = F016
img_fw_product_id = PLG244
img_fw_version =F016
ic_chip_rev = 1
bootloader_fw_ver = 0
lcd_panel_type(boot) = 0
lcd_panel type(current) = 0
Not sure its related or not.
Tomorrow i will go to LG SC to report this issue
I assume this is digitizer problem,
*To check touch firmware version go to
Hidden menu - HW device test - Touch test - Touch firmware version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would consider myself a moderate user, I play games but not too many graphic intensive games and for periods of 30min to 1 hour at a time. I also usually stop when my phone gets to 40*C. I have yet to see this issue occurring on my phone. I haven't had any funky scrolling or texting yet. I have an LG-D801 bought through Wind Mobile (I think it's identical to T-mobile variant).
The following is my Touch Firmware Version:
ic_fw_identifier = PLG208 - 1
ic_fw_version = E058
img_fw_product_id = PLG208
img_fw_version = E058
ic_chip_rev = 2
bootloader_fw_ver = 0
lcd_panel_type(boot) = 0
lcd_panel type(current) = 0
Hello xda, I don't know if it is problem or it is that "technology" when i set full brightness, I notice that screen is somehow "flashing" anyone facing that or it's just me...
I noticed this flickering, but not always, just in two live wallpapers, I think it has to do with the number of fps, some lwp use different fps, from 20 to 60, as I have not noticed this in the rest of the apps, native or installed, I think these two apps cause this, not the hardware
winol said:
I noticed this flickering, but not always, just in two live wallpapers, I think it has to do with the number of fps, some lwp use different fps, from 20 to 60, as I have not noticed this in the rest of the apps, native or installed, I think these two apps cause this, not the hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went to Samsung store and every Note4 has screen flickering, when you are not watching screen for example you are looking at home button you'll see that screen flickers.
You are sensitive to flickering and Samsung use this technology for better battery. There is nothing you can do except get used to it or get another phone without amoled.
It funny how all pc monitor market move to non pwm flicker free as selling point, and yet Samsung use more and more aggressive flickering.
razno said:
You are sensitive to flickering and Samsung use this technology for better battery. There is nothing you can do except get used to it or get another phone without amoled.
It funny how all pc monitor market move to non pwm flicker free as selling point, and yet Samsung use more and more aggressive flickering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
battery ? I hate this phone and battery, it's downgrade from note 3 not updrade. screen at minimum brightness, greenified everything...
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.
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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.
My main phone for the past year and a half has been a Huawei mediapad x2. Tmobile had the black Friday trade in deal for this phone, so I turned in my very unreliable note 4 and hoped to have a very nice, very affordable 2nd phone, with LTE to boot (mediapad only gets hspa +)
Fast forward a couple days and I have a lot of issues with this phone. With the stock app load out plus Facebook messenger and pie Control, I get an error every time I try to give permission to an app that a screen overlay is detected. Running marshmallow on the mediapad did not give this issue. Both of these apps are mandatory for me, but the error forces me to turn off drawing over apps any time I want to set a new permission. Very inconvenient. Is there any stock tmobile app that might be causing a conflict?
Second, piecontrol seems to think the edge pixels on both sides are dead pixels, as does Swift key, making typing a p a real chore. Are the edges supposed to respond to touch?
Finally, YouTube freeze frames when I change orientation or pop out of and back into the app. Not even the thumbnail, it just freezes up on a frame and won't resume proper playback until I pause the video, leave the app, come back, and resume it.
Any advice on any of these issues?
I've noticed that if I have a chat head open, it says to turn off screen overlay. Once I close out of the chat head, it allows me to give permission. I'm sure the same can be said for any app that is currently laying over the top of another app. Try closing whatever is on top and let me know. For what it's worth, once Nouget is released, you won't have that issue anymore. I'm currently running the beta of 7.0
Closing out the chat head unfortunately did not fix my issue. Is there any other ways to work around this?
Snap despite drawer also causes the overlay issue.
I do not think any of the problems posted are related to the phone.
Sent from my SM-G935T using XDA-Developers mobile app
I'll look into exchanging it then, it struck me as odd that a top tier phone like this struggles with YouTube, which I must have.
I exchanged the phone for an identical device. Every issue persists as before. Of the issues I mentioned, the app overlay detected is grueling and the YouTube issues are highest priority to deal with. Is there any sort of app I can use to collect feedback, or would providing a list of all apps on the phone help?
If it matters at all, I have the newer coral blue variant, I don't know if that could possibly have different software than the ones that launched earlier this year.