How to take the best phone in the world and turn it into crap

[Babbah Shanaba]

I am glad to see that there was some testing on this update and it appears it is working out for some users but I am a very unhappy consumer now since my Note 2 tricked me into clicking the upgrade install by registering my tap on a window that was delayed in displaying. Seriously I tapped on an icon I could clearly see for an app I intended to use and it used it as my consent to proceed with the install. The popup barely flashed on the screen several seconds after my tap. Guess who is pretty disappointed.

I really do not care if my buttons are now a different color or some other useless tweak. But i do care that my awesome phone that i loved full heartedly for 2 years since i got it has an update I did not consent to that made me really freakin HATE this thing. Everything about it sucks now where it used to be awesome.

1. 4.4.2 has some nuke in it that searches for and destroys Flash Player. Hey HTML5 is not taking over for Flash like someone lied about. What gives with taking away my ability to view media content on my phone.

2. Why does the update have to reconfigure my alert sounds? These are not the sounds I had when it abducted my phone. It doesn't even tell me about all my text messages anymore.

3. Wondering what feature is now making my unlock screen light up without me prompting, every minute on the minute. How freakin annoying! I dont even have any of those apps they talk about in the forums and I always turn off Smart Stay. Thats going to diminish my really decent battery life. Not sure if this is related but now my side wake up button responds slower than the front button. Used to be that the front button was slow but the side button woke up the phone a bit faster.I have to hit the side button a few times before it registers now.

4. Now I have applications that just open themselves and bring to the foreground. Awesome. I have to make sure my phone is in a secure place since it just might share all my information with everyone. Feel like I need to strip this thing now. Not worthy of running apps anymore.

In summary, I am extremely disappointed that this pile of mess was seriously pushed on some of us with no way to opt out. More and more like Apple everyday. I used to tell everyone, you get a complete web experience on the Android browser but I guess they don't like having a better reputation. I am now the next person to root my phone because they clearly are not to be trusted with my updates any more.

Is anyone else out there sharing my nightmare? I am a tech savvy person, this thing is getting rooted and I am putting 4.3 back ASAP with a lock out on any future updates.

 

[jlost]

Have you cleared the partition cache when shutting your phone off and before you powered it back up you held the home button and up volume buttons at the same time while pushing the power button. You get a hidden menu and can go down to clear partition cache. I do that once in a while. Makes phone fast and back to normal.

 

[DWooderson]

I always wonder why everyone is so eager to get the newest version of Android so quickly, when they have a phone that is predictable and reliable. Upgrading usually brings little or no benefit, and has the potential to cause so many problems.

It sounds like you're on the right track with your plan to root and downgrade, it's too bad that will waste several hours just to get back to "working".

 

[anon(394005)]

I always wonder why everyone is so eager to get the newest version of Android so quickly, when they have a phone that is predictable and reliable. Upgrading usually brings little or no benefit, and has the potential to cause so many problems.

It sounds like you're on the right track with your plan to root and downgrade, it's too bad that will waste several hours just to get back to "working".

That's always been my sentiment as well. It's a major reason I root my devices and disable the OTA updater to take back control whether or not my device gets updated. Unfortunately, it's the only way to do so since Android still doesn't provide a native way to control OS updates.

I've kept up to speed with all the updates that have come along for the Note 2, but I haven't seen anything in them that has made me want to update. Thus, my Note 2 is still running original release software (Jelly Bean 4.1.1) and still runs like a champ almost two years later. It just works!

I used to mess around with the frequent updates on my OG Nexus 7. That's what's great about a Nexus right? Not so much IMO, that is unless you like being a beta tester and constantly jacking around with your device. I quickly got tired of dealing with issues from the updates or new bugs they'd introduce (so froze the Nexus 7 on Jelly Bean 4.1.2 and never looked back. It just works too. ).

I consider myself a tech head (almost 18 years working in IT now) and have the time to mess around with my devices if I wanted to, but I just don't have the patience for it anymore. Like you stated; I just want my devices to work predictably and reliably. Anyway, I digress. Hopefully the OP was able to get things sorted out.

 

[Nibs]

Although I'm not having many of the specific problems you posted about, I am having severe issues with lagging with just about anything on my Note2. I've given up at this point and I'll be waiting for the Note4 or something else.