Does anyone have an S5 that works correctly?!?

[jmellis41]

I have had my Galaxy S5 Active now for about 3 months. In that time I have reset it to factory defaults 4 times and it screws up differently every time. Here are just a few of the issues I've had to deal with on this brick.

1) Speech to text doubles up on a text. Try saying "Hello, how are you" and you get "Hello, how are you.Hello how are you".
2) Dictation doesn't work at all, ie. parenthesis, quote, new line, carriage return. It's the saddest excuse for speech to text I've EVER seen.
3) I can send a text to my girlfriend and then 5 minutes later it says the number isn't valid. The reason is because the phone has added a +11 to the beginning of the number. Nothing was changed, phone wasn't restarted or anything.
4) I have to add my profile to the phone every 10 minutes. It will be there, then all of a sudden it's gone and won't come back.
5) Blue tooth sound quality is horrendous. Trying to play pandora through my bluetooth speakers and it sounds as if it's underwater.
6) and we won't even go into all the junk apps and advertisements loaded on the phone from the factory. If I want advertisement I'll watch TV but I don't want it on my device that I paid $200.00 for!!


These are just a few of the problems I've had with this useless excuse for a phone. I'm tired of dealing with having to reset it and then reload all of my regular apps. AT&T won't release Lollipop for some undisclosed reason and at this point in time I could care less!!! I just want a D$#M phone that works CONSISTANTLY!!!!!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It's possible that some app you keep installing is causing instability. Try booting into Safe Mode, which temporarily disables all 3rd party apps. https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-10696
If the problem disappears in Safe Mode, then something you installed is causing the problem. You may have to uninstall apps one by one until the problem disappears. If the problem persists in Safe Mode, then it's more likely to be a hardware or firmware problem.

 

[jmellis41]

first, let me preface this statement by saying that I am an electronics engineer and have been for 26 years. that said yes these problems do occur in safe mode and if there is a firmware or hardware issue then there are hundreds if not thousands of other phones out there doing the exact same thing. Every problem that I have I can search for on the internet and find at least a dozen people experiencing the same problem. I guess that's the problem with one company manufacturing the phone and another company manufacturing the operating system is everybody wants to push the blame off on the other guy nobody wants to accept responsibility or deal with the possibility that it could very well be their issue. all of that said, it still does not answer to the fact that the speech to text engine is minimal and archaic. just today I read an issue where other people in a forum had their prois up with my phone I'm supposed to start deleting apps to figure out which one caused so what, every time you guys send out an update and something else is up with my phone I'm supposed to start deleting apps to figure out which one caused it that's absolutely ludicrous! (The last part of this reply was done with Google's speech to text engine, see how well it works?!?)

 

[jmellis41]

And now we have bugs happening and getting fixed on a daily basis. I really thought I was getting a great phone when in fact all I've gotten is the shaft. I went around touting about how nice the phone was and how impressed I was but for all the noise I made then, I'll make twice as much now. And the worst part is, there's nobody that works for Google or Samsung willing to stand up for their product and prove me wrong.

 

[B. Diddy]

Well, I sure am sorry that you're experiencing so many issues, and I was in no way implying that you're a novice. Please understand that Android Central has members of widely varying experience, and I never assume that a member is an expert.

You are correct that one of the problems with Android is the fact that it's so open--which means that multiple different manufacturers can design hardware for it and also modify it to varying degrees to make it more distinct from that of other manufacturers. Combine these varying modifications of Android with the challenge that app developers have of making apps that are compatible with the many kinds of hardware and firmware, and you'll inevitably find some incompatibilities that arise. That's why I suggested Safe Mode as a starting point--but the fact that all of the problems persist in Safe Mode suggests it might be a defective unit that you have, or perhaps corrupt firmware. Consider reflashing the stock firmware: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...w-flash-stock-rom-via-odin-new-interface.html

And I'm not sure if you were addressing this site directly or in more of a rhetorical way, but just to be clear, Android Central is not directly affiliated with Google, any device manufacturer, or carrier. Hope you are able to resolve your issues in one way or another.

 

[luckytrc]

I love my active ,although I haven't had the issues you have on your phone. I don't use the features you are having problems with so maybe that's why. The only problem I have is Google now has high jacked my home button. I think lollipop has been released for this phone also so maybe load the update and see if it helps

 

[Resendetra]

I haven't had any of the problems you've been having. Maybe you got a lemon. Has it been acting this way since day one?

 

[AugustArborists]

I haven't a single problem with my Active from the day I bought it. I'm sorry you are having so many difficulties, but you must have gotten a bad one.

 

[pjniez]

I've had my S5 Active since the middle of last summer and have not experienced any of the very strange issues you are having. It sounds like you may have a bad phone.

You should contact support and request a replacement phone. I'm not really sure of the process with AT&T since I haven't had to request a replacement since I switched from Verizon 3 years ago. But, with Verizon, they will tell you to do a factory reset and if the problems still remain, then they will send you a replacement phone.

Good luck!

 

[jmellis41]

isn't it interesting? After AT&T finally released lollipop I no longer have any of the problems with my phone that I was having before. That tells me only one thing, it was entirely related to the operating system. Whether it was incompatibility with other apps or not the only thing that has happened to my phone in the past two weeks to change anything is the upgrade to the operating system.