Galaxy Note 4 Android 5.1.1 Update - VZW FAIL

[Dgianne]

Mine did this and once I replaced the battery it stopped although I think the battery died so fast because I was constantly charging the phone. When I called Verizon today they told me that people weren't having issues with the software or they would fix it. I told them to look at their forum and they said that its because only bad comments are posted and that they aren't getting complaints from people about the phone. They have horrible customer service.

[Tidbits]

They can't fix it because it's not their product. Sure their name is on it but it isn't theirs. The branding is to differentiate between models made so you don't end up buying a different one and then it wouldn't activate. Manufacturers for a long time can homogenize their products but choose not to maximize profits by offering options to carriers they couldn't do if they homogenize them.

[Zacharee1]

I think I finally see where you're coming from. You're saying that, even though Verizon is the company that has to certify the update, Samsung is the company that actually has to make the update. You think that's where this update is getting help up. However, Verizon's Executive Customer Relations told me that Verizon currently has the 5.1.1 update and that it is currently being tested. I wasn't told that it had been tested and sent back, I was told that 5.1.1 is in the testing phase at Verizon. This points to Verizon causing the hold-up, and since this information is from executive support, it must carry some weight.

[Zacharee1]

A new battery will actually help you out a little bit. When I updated to Lollipop my battery was destroyed. Leaving it on standby, I was lucky to get even 4 hours out of it before it reached 10%. In May, I got a new battery and, while I still struggle to get over 8 hours from minimal usage, it's a noticeable improvement. I will point out that my battery started having problems literally the second Lollipop finished installing (10% drain in 5 minutes, no usage). I still have the old battery, and I use it as a backup, in case my new one dies. Whenever I use it, I notice pretty much exactly what you described. It drains (very quickly) to around 35%, then drops to 15% pretty much instantly, then 5%, then goes into the startup loop.

[vzw_customer_support]

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, Jason. I would be saddened to see you leave, and hope that you consider giving us another chance. I was happy to provide a possible solution. Please keep me posted when you've made a decision.

LynnD_VZW
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[Note4s]

They really need to get a fix out for this soon.  We have 3 Note 4 phones and all 3 of them are having the same issues since updating from Kit Kat.  Before the update we loved our phones and the battery life was incredible but ever since it has been crap.  Every once in a while I get a decent day with my phone but it is only a tease.  A couple of weeks ago I went to The Samsung area at our local Best Buy to talk to them about getting a refresh of my phone with a non OTA image as I saw somebody else did the same thing and it helped them.  When I went in and talked to them I brought up that I had a phone from Verizon that I am waiting on for an update due to its terrible battery life.  Before I could bring my phone out they said it must be the Note 4.  One of the employees there also had the same phone and he said he was definitely going to jump ship once he could get out of his contract.  They said they have a lot of people coming in with these issues and that the non OTA load rarely works.  I was desperate and had them update my phone.  Well it is still the same POS and I am really getting sick of it.  Last night my battery said it was at 21% when it suddenly went into its out of battery reboot storm.

-Frustrated

[Tidbits]

So the all the Note 4 are the same(everyone's argument lately). Samsung employee say it must be the phone... They said their troubleshooting rarely works. So how is this a Verizon issue when by now everyone should know carriers don't touch code like people thought they did. Manufacturers even said carriers don't.

[Note4s]

The Samsung employee didn't say it must be the phone.  He said our latest Verizon load (5.0.1) was the issue on the Note 4s.  He said that they rarely saw the re-flash help the customers phone.

[Zacharee1]

It's not a carrier issue because we think Verizon did something to it to sabotage 5.0.1; we know that 5.0.1 was problematic even on non-Samsung devices. We (at least I) think it's a carrier issue because Verizon is the company that has the control over whether or not 5.1.1 gets released. Sure it's possible that Samsung is the problem. They could, for some reason,  not be working on the 5.1.1 update for Verizon. However, it's this reason that no one can seem to find. It just makes no sense that Samsung would work up to late November to give T-Mobile its upgrade and then just give up. Also, since this thread was started before T-Mobile got the update, it made even less sense that Samsung would be the company slacking here. Since none of us but you and Ann can see why Samsung has given up on Verizon, we blame Verizon. I have spoken with Verizon Wireless Executive Customer Relations, and the rep told me outright that Verizon has the update currently and is testing it. Maybe this is a test of a new build that Samsung just sent out. But, since there aren't any hardware differences between the different Notes that could cause performance problems (I heard from someone else on this thread or on another forum that Verizon Executive told them that the update had severe performance problems), then it would make sense that this is the same build that Verizon has been "testing" for a while now. The only real difference between the US variations is the radio technology. The variant with the other processor isn't in the US, AFAIK.

Maybe this evidence is shaky, but I still don't understand on what you're basing some of what you've said.

[Doing_work_son]

I agree, the problem isn't the phone. KitKat 4.4.4 ran rather smoothly on

my Note 4, hardly ever did I notice lag, the battery life was great and my

wife and I both almost always had good to very strong signals at our house

(4 to 5 full bars), anywhere within it, now it constantly cycles between 3

bars and drops down to one bar numerous times a day, the battery life

suffers due to this. The issue is the buggy mess that Google created in the

5.0.1. build. Verizon was super late in pushing out the initial Lollipop

update last year (even after "rigorous testing" they still pushed this

buggy build out months after the other 3 carriers). They could have at

least pushed 5.0.2 as that build had been out for awhile and squashed some

bugs, but no, they stuck us with an even buggier build of 5.0.1. Now while

all the other 3 large carriers have pushed 5.1.1 OTA to their Note 4's,

which not only squashed many more bugs, it finally fixed the memory leaks

and it seems this build has made the phone more responsive, snappier and

provided better signals (from what I've read). Yet here we are still stuck

on a 5.0.1 build that was released by Google well over a year ago now and

now approximately 5 months (just shy of 150 days) have passed since our

last update to the phone. I understand no software is perfect, there will

always be bugs, I get that, but paying a premium for a smartphone each

month, I'd expect close to premium support, I'm not asking for monthly

updates, but I'd expect when a overwhelming number of Verizon Note 4 owners

are complaining of issues over and over, Verizon listen and act somewhat in

a timely manner and push out some fixes. We still need a security patch for

Stagefright 2.0 (the original was patched fairly timely (kudos to Verizon

on that) but we are still vulnerable to 2.0) and it doesn't seem Verizon

cares one bit. I pay Verizon monthly, not Samsung, they were willing to

sell the phone, now it's time to follow through and support it (all of

their phones for that matter) and make sure they provide adequate software

updates in a reasonable time frame), especially when thousands of people

have been and still are complaining daily regarding issues with the phone

on their own forums! It's not like we've been complaining and listing

issues on an unofficial forum, it's in the official Verizon Wireless

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 forum. Samsung released the 5.1.1 Snapdragon and

Exynos builds back in....July of last year was it? Sprint did what was

necessary to obtain a 5.1.1 build and push it out by August. AT&T did what

was necessary to obtain a copy and pushed out the OTA in October. Sprint

heard and listened to their customers issues with the first 5.1.1 from

August and managed to do what ever was necessary in obtaining a second

5.1.1 build and pushed out a bug fixing 5.1.1 build in October AGAIN.

T-mobile did what was necessary to obtain a build of 5.1.1 and had it

loaded on their T3 Hardware Note 4 around this time and then they did what

was necessary to obtain another build of 5.1.1 and push it out OTA in

November. Here we are January 2016, these forums have been filled, a

plethora of 5.0.1 Lollipop issues and requests for 5.1.1 for well over 4

months now. This is becoming absurd, the lack of support for Verizon to

MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN is ridiculous. If Verizon truly has yet to receive a

build of 5.1.1 (which I don't believe to be true at all), then somebody

high up at Verizon needs to listen to what we are saying and MAKE A PHONE

CALL TO SAMSUNG AND GET A PRIORITY5.1.1 BUILD built! We pay a monthly

premium at Verizon for smartphones, Samsung has long been done with 5.1.1

builds for Snapdragon variants and Exynos variants, they have moved onto

building 6.0.x builds of Marshmallow and has been developing builds now for

around 1 and a half months or so. The way things are going, I wouldn't be

surprised if the other 3 major carriers start pushing out 6.0.x builds of

Marshmallow and we're still stuck on 5.0.1 from August of 2015.....I would

HOPE that if we don't get an update soon it's because Verizon is rushing to

be one of the first (like Sprint who was one of, if not the first of any

Note 4 variants to push out 5.1.1 builds to the Note 4) to push out a

Marshmallow 6.0.x build OTA for any Note 4 (internationally, unlocked or

carrier variant).