Stock Galaxy Note 3 Phones Only: Any Regrets after Upgrading to KitKat, or are you glad you did?

[zgrrl80]

Yep. Same here. Many stuffs gone. Very inconvenienced since before KK my Note3 was EXACTLY how I wanted it n ran gr8.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ccpopham]

I turned off google+ and it helped a lot, but still random shutdowns that I have never had before. So Verizon is sending me a new phone out tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-N900V using AC Forums mobile app

 

[DLCPhototography]

Update from the OP:

Battery life continues to be fine. It generally works as well as pre-KitKat. *But* I have just discovered a problem with Bluetooth Headset behavior. To hopefully get more specific replies, I have started a new thread, here:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...eadset-behavior-since-kitkat.html#post3692760

but thought I'd tack on an update here, as it is relevant to the original topic.

You can check that thread for the details, but basically with both my BlueAnt S4 Visor Bluetooth device, and a new Bose Series 2 Bluetooth Headset, it works fine the first time, but messes up after that, both in terms of being able to activate the Voice Dialer, and with the audio not being ported to the Bluetooth Device. This is extremely annoying, to say the least.

Any ideas on solving this appreciated - probably posting it on the other thread would be best.

 

[bigguh]

So, when you did the OTA update, did you clear the cache from the recovery menu first? I am realizing that I have a 50/50 chance for my update to work without a full reboot. I would rather not do that of course. I have turned on all apps that I had previously turned off. I am going to look at which apps I can remove for the time being. I plan to clear the partition cache and then do the update.

 

[DLCPhototography]

So, when you did the OTA update, did you clear the cache from the recovery menu first? I am realizing that I have a 50/50 chance for my update to work without a full reboot. I would rather not do that of course. I have turned on all apps that I had previously turned off. I am going to look at which apps I can remove for the time being. I plan to clear the partition cache and then do the update.

I did the OTA update without clearing the partition cache, either before or after. I've not run into any problems.

I figured if I had trouble, I would clear it after the update, but fortunately, not even that was necessary. Certainly no factory reset was required nor done.

YMMV.

Don

 

[recDNA]

Glad I didn't update.

Sent from my Hyperdriven Note 3

 

[DLCPhototography]

Glad I didn't update.

Sent from my Hyperdriven Note 3

Just out of curiosity, why do you say this?

I mentioned above a Bluetooth problem, but as per the other thread I started on this, it turned out to be a Google Search update that created this, and had nothing to do with Google Search.

So I have had no problems with the KitKat Update.

 

[runamuck0870]

On my second replacement N3 from Verizon. Both came with Kit Kat pre-installed. This is now my third N3 running Kit Kat.

All three keep dropping voice calls. All three will go sometimes for an hour where I try to dial someone and it will say "No Mobile Network Available." Leaving phone in same exact spot, at some random time interval later, call will work just fine. If I manually go into settings and try to force GSM mode to attach to AT&T, then go back to Global, it will reconnect to network and let me make a call.

I'm running in Safe mode when all this happens. I've done factory resets (multiple times now). There is something in Kit Kat that has caused this as I had no problems prior to the update. Whether its Kit Kat incompatibility with towers in my area or some kind of voodoo between Kit Kat and the radio I've no idea.

Frustratingly maddening. I need my phone. For first time in my life I'm resorting back to land lines for calls.

 

[hdhuntr]

I use Nova Launcher Pro. So, except for the white icons, which I do not see as an improvement but don't care too much about, I see zero difference otherwise.

 

[Nakrohtap]

On my second replacement N3 from Verizon. Both came with Kit Kat pre-installed. This is now my third N3 running Kit Kat.

All three keep dropping voice calls. All three will go sometimes for an hour where I try to dial someone and it will say "No Mobile Network Available." Leaving phone in same exact spot, at some random time interval later, call will work just fine. If I manually go into settings and try to force GSM mode to attach to AT&T, then go back to Global, it will reconnect to network and let me make a call.

I'm running in Safe mode when all this happens. I've done factory resets (multiple times now). There is something in Kit Kat that has caused this as I had no problems prior to the update. Whether its Kit Kat incompatibility with towers in my area or some kind of voodoo between Kit Kat and the radio I've no idea.

Frustratingly maddening. I need my phone. For first time in my life I'm resorting back to land lines for calls.

Agree with this. No issues with phone reception until the update. However, this may be the new band 4 being enabled for the AWS spectrum, which coincided with the kitkat update.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[paradox60660]

My battery life is worse. Other than that the update is fine.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[recDNA]

Just out of curiosity, why do you say this?

I mentioned above a Bluetooth problem, but as per the other thread I started on this, it turned out to be a Google Search update that created this, and had nothing to do with Google Search.

So I have had no problems with the KitKat Update.

If youve read this thread most complain of problems or no diff. Read no reports. Of improvement and some problems are major.

Sent from my Hyperdriven Note 3

 

[alxarambula]

Only issues I've noticed is I drop to 3g every once in awhile and my swipe got toggled off after update. Besides that no other issues.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[recDNA]

Only issues I've noticed is I drop to 3g every once in awhile and my swipe got toggled off after update. Besides that no other issues.

Posted via Android Central App

some also complain about reception & battery life
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[DeltaBond]

I did the update to 4.4.2 in late May. I noticed within the first few days that there were problems. First, the phone kept freezing for about 30 seconds at a time, every other time I tried to use it. After a few days of this, a fellow Note 3 owner suggested I clear out my photos and videos. I don't have an SD card, so it was all on the regular phone memory. This seemed to stop some of the freezes, but not all. So, I uninstalled all the apps I could do without.

Seemed mostly ok, as long as I didn't save any media on the phone. Then after a few weeks, I realized that most of my texts were not making it to people, nor was I receiving all of the texts that were sent to me. Then voicemail wouldn't always come on when people called me.

The camera started writing much slower to the memory, and the shutter seemed to be staying open longer than normal, leaving all my 13MP photos blurry!

After 3 weeks I was having to charge the phone daily, which I never had to do before. The wifi AND global connections would not stay on longer than about 2 seconds. The only way I could get email and app updates was to keep turning those off and on over and over. At random times it would get extremely hot, and the last straw was it not recognizing its charger, giving me the notification "charging will be faster with the original charger"... the original charger was what I was using, and it never gained a charge.

My phone was essentially useless. I got online with Verizon, and they replaced my phone since it was under warranty, and I have been pushing back the new software update twice a day. That's worth it, though, just to have a phone that actually works. No smart phone is perfect, but that 4.4.2 practically destroyed my phone.

I don't use navigation or an SD card so I can't comment on the issues it caused for a lot of people who do. The Verizon forums have a lot more about this. The only thing that's buggy now is GooglePlay Music app won't connect to wifi, for some reason.

Until I read somewhere that Verizon has sent some other software update to the Note 3s, I guess I'll keep avoiding this current update.

 

[iautox]

I updated to KitKat when Verizon sent through the update. It made my phone almost unusable. It froze whenever it felt like it for a few seconds or a couple of minutes. I could not pick up my VM because the keypad was frozen so long that I could never enter my password. Battery life when to hell - would last no more than half the day and before the KitKat 'virus' I could go two days. I didn't receive some texts. The only thing that makes the phone useable now is putting in in safe mode and even in safe mode I can sit along side someone with a non-F'd up KitKat Android and there 4G is much faster than mine and sometimes I'm only on 3G.

My techie friend roots his phone and does not accept updates on the theory that it worked fine when he bought it and he'll update when he gets a new phone. The Verizon Store rep advised that she never accepts an update until weeks or months after it is released to make sure it doesn't have problems. She has been differing the KitKat update for months. She suggested that I get and iPhone and just dump the Note 3.

Verizon has been no help and really doesn't seem to care except for having me sign a contract and get an iPhone. Samsung sent me back and nice reply that "there were no known problems with my model".

The only thing I really like a lot about the Note 3 is the large screen. I'm month to month with Verizon. I will be dumping Verizon for sure for there lack of service on this issue and an apparent lack of testing of this update. I have a friend with an old iPhone s4 that I can have. I may activate it on AT&T until the new iPhone phablet comes out. Clearly I am done with Verizon, Samsung, and Android.

My first requirement is that my phone actually F'ing work. My iPhone always worked even after an update. This KitKat problem is all over the place and apparently Samsung and Verizon don't give a flying F so I'm voting with my feet and leaving both of them. 99.9% of my friends have iphones and though I was nuts for getting a Samsung. I guess they were right and I guess that the old iPhone is outselling the new Samsung s5 says something. I'm really not an Apple fan and have a PC, but at least their phones works.

 

[DLCPhototography]

I updated to KitKat when Verizon sent through the update. It made my phone almost unusable. It froze whenever it felt like it for a few seconds or a couple of minutes. I could not pick up my VM because the keypad was frozen so long that I could never enter my password. Battery life when to hell - would last no more than half the day and before the KitKat 'virus' I could go two days. I didn't receive some texts. The only thing that makes the phone useable now is putting in in safe mode and even in safe mode I can sit along side someone with a non-F'd up KitKat Android and there 4G is much faster than mine and sometimes I'm only on 3G.

My techie friend roots his phone and does not accept updates on the theory that it worked fine when he bought it and he'll update when he gets a new phone. The Verizon Store rep advised that she never accepts an update until weeks or months after it is released to make sure it doesn't have problems. She has been differing the KitKat update for months. She suggested that I get and iPhone and just dump the Note 3.

Verizon has been no help and really doesn't seem to care except for having me sign a contract and get an iPhone. Samsung sent me back and nice reply that "there were no known problems with my model".

The only thing I really like a lot about the Note 3 is the large screen. I'm month to month with Verizon. I will be dumping Verizon for sure for there lack of service on this issue and an apparent lack of testing of this update. I have a friend with an old iPhone s4 that I can have. I may activate it on AT&T until the new iPhone phablet comes out. Clearly I am done with Verizon, Samsung, and Android.

My first requirement is that my phone actually F'ing work. My iPhone always worked even after an update. This KitKat problem is all over the place and apparently Samsung and Verizon don't give a flying F so I'm voting with my feet and leaving both of them. 99.9% of my friends have iphones and though I was nuts for getting a Samsung. I guess they were right and I guess that the old iPhone is outselling the new Samsung s5 says something. I'm really not an Apple fan and have a PC, but at least their phones works.

This is the kind of doomsday scenario that concerned me before updating, and why I started this thread to begin with.

The first suggestion for this type of problem is doing a complete hard factory reset. Have you tried this? If you have problems after a factory reset, and before reinstalling your usual apps (some of which might be the cause of your particular difficulties), then there would have to be some type of hardware problem, or otherwise thousands of users would have the same problems.

Let us know, and sorry you're having problems!

 

[Jalopiejoe]

I updated to KitKat when Verizon sent through the update. It made my phone almost unusable. It froze whenever it felt like it for a few seconds or a couple of minutes. I could not pick up my VM because the keypad was frozen so long that I could never enter my password. Battery life when to hell - would last no more than half the day and before the KitKat 'virus' I could go two days. I didn't receive some texts. The only thing that makes the phone useable now is putting in in safe mode and even in safe mode I can sit along side someone with a non-F'd up KitKat Android and there 4G is much faster than mine and sometimes I'm only on 3G.

My techie friend roots his phone and does not accept updates on the theory that it worked fine when he bought it and he'll update when he gets a new phone. The Verizon Store rep advised that she never accepts an update until weeks or months after it is released to make sure it doesn't have problems. She has been differing the KitKat update for months. She suggested that I get and iPhone and just dump the Note 3.

Verizon has been no help and really doesn't seem to care except for having me sign a contract and get an iPhone. Samsung sent me back and nice reply that "there were no known problems with my model".

The only thing I really like a lot about the Note 3 is the large screen. I'm month to month with Verizon. I will be dumping Verizon for sure for there lack of service on this issue and an apparent lack of testing of this update. I have a friend with an old iPhone s4 that I can have. I may activate it on AT&T until the new iPhone phablet comes out. Clearly I am done with Verizon, Samsung, and Android.

My first requirement is that my phone actually F'ing work. My iPhone always worked even after an update. This KitKat problem is all over the place and apparently Samsung and Verizon don't give a flying F so I'm voting with my feet and leaving both of them. 99.9% of my friends have iphones and though I was nuts for getting a Samsung. I guess they were right and I guess that the old iPhone is outselling the new Samsung s5 says something. I'm really not an Apple fan and have a PC, but at least their phones works.

So many F'words, so little time!
My Note 3 has been Supurb since the upgrade to KitKat, any problems were easily taken care of with help from my friends on AC Forums!


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3
"Size Does Matter!"

 

[shortwave8669]

Thank you for your service, Marine

 

[Spencerdl]

Thank you for your service, Marine

Your Welcome....No Problem