It's funny, I actually upgraded to 5.0.1 stock from Cyanogen 11 (4.4.4) because the phone portion stopped working in 4.4.4. Haven't had any issues with calls since then. Now I'm worried that it'll suddenly go south again :(
Nexus 4 is clearly the red-headed stepchild in the Nexus family now. If there was a newer Nexus that wasn't the size of an iPad, I'd upgrade; but there isn't. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't like holding War and Peace against my ear to talk on a phone.
The newer versions aren't much better. The Nexus 9 is the worst Nexus device I've ever owned. First it had a rotation-not-working issue that they never acknowledged, then there is a major battery charge problem (mine takes 7 hours+ to charge. That's a full work day) that they also do not acknowledge
If you must have Android, you should look at the Moto G. It's inexpensive, has a small (by today's standards) 4.5" screen, and is fairly powerful for the price. I'm not a Motorola fan in general, but I think they have a solid phone with this one.
I really like my N5, and i have been enjoying Lollipop as a user experience. I use ADW launcher and keep my device very trim in terms of apps; the only niggling issue currently is that TextSecure does not receive group texts from iTards when WiFi is enabled, but they are aware of the problem so it is a m00t point.
It bears consideration that the N5 is not carried by Verison [CDMA].
> It bears consideration that the N5 is not carried by Verison [CDMA].
The Nexus 5 does actually have a CDMA radio and works well on Sprint and its MVNOs. The problem is that Verizon won't list it as an approved device in their database, which means it won't provision for them. From what I understand, it's a control issue, not a technical issue; they can't get carrier exclusivity with an unlocked Nexus phone so they don't want it on their network. In short, the problem is Verizon, not the radio in the phone.
Thank you for explaining that. I am on Tmobz and their customer service has been exceptional to date (which is why i left Verizon) but i miss the connectivity as i travel in rural areas a fair amount.
Seeing as the hardware is there, is it theoretically possible to jigger the channels (technical term) and use an N5 on Verizon?
I don't think approaching it from a radio standpoint would help, since it's simply a matter of Verizon choosing deliberately not to provision the phone.
For extra coverage while traveling, you could order a SIM from Ting[1] (a Sprint MVNO that I've used and really enjoyed), and switch to it for coverage on Sprint's LTE network; they fully support the Nexus 5. It's not as expansive as Verizon's network, but from my experience it tends to fill in the gaps left by T-Mobile. I say that because my service is with Straight Talk on T-Mobile's network, and my wife's phone is on Ting. Everywhere I don't have coverage, she does, and vice versa.
Ting charges a base price of $6 per month per device, then charges for metered usage. My wife uses about 800 MB of data, about 80 minutes of calls, and about 300 texts per month, and her bill comes in at under $40 per month. I won't pretend to know your travel itinerary, but if all you do is order the SIM and activate it once every few months, you're probably looking at less than $70 per year to have the convenience of extra coverage when you need it.
Or, you could forgo all of that and go back to Verizon on a Moto X, it's the closest you'll get to a Nexus device on that network, but then you're back in user-hostile support territory.
I agree this may haven't been resolved nicely, but hidden extrapolation from a few employees to the whole company is not cool on your side either. There are people in there, working their butts off to make one of the largest open source projects better.
I refer simply to getting angry at the whole company for action of a subset of employees. That's so common today and makes me think I don't ever want to own or work for a large, multi-project company.
I think they're handling this poorly and that for a company as big and rich as google, "we only have so many people fixing Android 5 bugs." is a pretty weak excuse.
That said, I bet google knows better than we do how many active Nexus 4 users are still out there, my suspicions is - not many.
Here's my guess - they prioritize bugs not just on severity but also based on number of users impacted, and who those users are (in this case, people who are still using a phone that was discontinued over a year ago, have manually updated their phones and then reported a bug in the AOSP tracker. a demographic I suspect is going to be very hard to satisfy no matter what). I'm guessing they hope that people will take this problem to the carrier they bought it from (if they got it from someone besides google), contact google play store customer support (who have always been helpful in my experience), downgrade, or just move on and buy a more recent phone.
This is a terrible precedent Google is setting, and it is going to cause considerable harm if it gains traction: It's one thing to stop upgrading "older" devices, but quite another to actually break critical, regulated functionality. The Google employee who decided this was a "small" issue apparently doesn't realize that the inoperation of basic voice functionality of cellular devices is the fuel for fat, deserved lawsuits.
I have a Nexus 5, have no interest in the Nexus 6, and could easily think "Oh well...upgrade", but as the old saying goes -- first they abandoned the Nexus 4, and I didn't speak up...
I think they are starting to regret the Nexus line as they don't make any money off of it and users have high expectations. You can tell, imo, that they are looking to just slowly kill it off.
The Nexus line really saved Android -- it was always the excuse (the best word I can think of) when other devices had update, performance, or security issues. "Well it isn't Android, it's Samsung/HTC/Motorola/Sony/etc, because my Nexus...". It was a critical line.
Google may have killed the Nexus line by making the 9 and 6 so uncompelling, but I doubt it was intentional. They're just a company that has a chronic difficulty prioritizing customer service. Further I don't really think it's "high expectations" to demand that voice functionality works (again, this stuff gets you in serious trouble with regulators. If this were raised to the FTC and/or CRTC, you can bet Google would find a fix extremely quickly).
This isn't new. We basically banished android a few years ago when an active sync bug on a few thousand devices killed our on-prem exchange. The workaround was literally to land something like 8-12 servers.
Filed a bug with Google, they closed it. The handset vendor fixed it, but the carrier refused to release it. So we made the carrier take them back and give us iPhones. (One of those rare times when it's fun to work for a massive bureaucracy!) Never looked back.
Google is well know for their abysmal costumer support, but this is just the last straw; a telephone that cannot make calls, not even emergency 911/112. And such issue is marked as "Priority-small" and dismissed.
It was good while it lasted, but it's clear now that Google not only cannot be depended on for their software (see Google Reader), but also cannot be relied on for our hardware needs.
Same model and I don't have this issue.
This might be a driver or hardware issue. Phone is manufactured by LG, so it is possible that Google can't really fix it.
One comment claims same problem happened in 4.2.2, 4.4.4 and 5.0 too, so it might be some changes in 5.0 just make it happen much more often (NuPlayer?)
If you have time (and the inclination) then you could report this to the technical support department of the mobile telco you are using.
You won't get instant gratification that you would by using a bugtracker but technical reports back to the vendor (in this case Google) do eventually get sent upstream.
If enough people complain via Google's channels then the bug will be brought up at higher levels eventually.
The other option is to tweet at senior Android guys and see if you get a response.
You know, that is a valid option. When iPhone 4's telephone broke because of the "grip of death" antenna issue, Steve Jobs himself came out, apologized, offered a free bumper case to mitigate the issue. Compare that to this.
And the telco of Nexus is Google! Google just pointed to contact Google.
It isn't, Google doesn't run their own mobile network or mobile virtual network (yet).
Contacting the technical support team of the company that provides you the SIM card that is inserted into the Nexus device will have an effect.
I know it seems backwards because the issue has actually been introduced with Google's OTA update but those technical support calls get escalated and eventually they'll end up back at Google (via the team that deals with carrier interaction).
Yes it will. I am fully aware that the handsets are bought contract-free from Google (I am a long time Nexus user and purchaser), I am not suggesting that the carrier will replace or repair the handset.
The handset that attaches to a GSM network has to conform to many standards set out by the GSMA (GSM association) as well as many other local certification bodies and associations (one example is the handset must have the ability to call emergency services).
If complaints are made to the technical department of the carrier being used, the calls will eventually be escalated to a vendor/manufacturer of Google's size.
I've worked for various different cellular providers and I have personally seen such tickets.
It does seem counter-intuitive though. I would never have thought to do this. The only time I would think to contact the mobile operator is if the phone was running a custom firmware provided by the operator.
How do you remember it? Because the parents recollection matches mine. The media kicked up a storm over it but they held a massive press conference, apologised (somewhat) and offered free cases to everyone to solve the issue.
And with good reason. That was never said by Apple. They simply explained why it happened (people's hands touching various parts and messing with the antennae). The media created that whole "You're holding it wrong" thing.
More than the fact that tickets like this get closed, I find the way that they are closed infuriating. You would think that dozens of comments, many of them with lots of details, would merit a more extensive answer than a single
> contact customer support.
How about "Thanks for all your comments. Unfortunately, this is the wrong forum to report problems like this. Please contact the Nexus customer support and let them know about the issues you are having."
The other reason closing tickets is not a good answer: if there's gonna be an answer or a solution, someone who had the problem in the past or just solved it now is going to post it there. Then people googling the problem and arriving at the ticket will not be met just with people who are complaining, but also possibly a working solution.
Google is "Nexus customer support", they just don't particularly care about doing that job. Google drops support for their own developer phones faster than Samsung and HTC do.
E: To address the initial downvoters: why don't you explain yourselves. How is Google not responsible for supporting nexus devices? They're sold directly by Google, they're produced for Google, and they're heavily marketed by Google. Google provides the software and hardware support directly after purchase and handles RMAs directly. Google depreciates Nexus device support in <18months. Nexus One, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus were all dropped about a year after release, significant performance problems were never addressed. N7(2012) was dropped early last year from official maintenance and the absolute shit NAND quality was never addressed. Google has a history of not caring about proper support for their Nexus devices.
HTC has released lollipop upgrades for devices that are >2 years old. Samsung has also released lollipop upgrades for devices >2 years old.
Well...the phone itself is over two years old now, which means it's about 18 months out of support if you're equating it with certain other vendors' devices; Nexus phones actually fare better than some other devices. That said, the fact that Google decided to push 5.0 to it is in itself amazing to me, Nexus status or not.
I have a Nexus 4 that runs 5.0, and when I've switched to it from my Windows phone I've noticed that I randomly have no call audio in the cellular dialer as well as the Hangouts dialer. I guessed it was something to do with the 5.0 release but I figured as little as I use the phone, it was nothing to worry about. But the more I think about it, the more I'm tempted to revert to 4.4 since this is my only backup phone, and I'd rather have it ready to go at the expense of playing with 5.0.
The Lollipop release looks to be an EOL update with little to no love from Google. They haven't done a great QA job on it either since they broke core functionality (Dailer/voice calls, Wifi, location provider polling broken).
I agree, and I'll probably revert mine back to 4.4 as I said above, though I'll miss out on the better battery life. That's the clear advantage of a Nexus device: If Google does break something in a newer version, it's trivial to revert as they provide ROM images even after the device is out of support. The same can't be said for most of the other main vendors, who sometimes don't even make official ROM images available for restoring their devices.
>Well...the phone itself is over two years old now, which means it's about 18 months out of support
That is a horrid mentality being permitted in the phone industry. My "2013" Moto G has a 1.2GHz quad core with a 300+ dpi screen. It's completely unacceptable to declare that device out of support as a consumer technology.
I'm right there with you. Sadly, the best support is found at Apple, but I've owned two iPhones and I just find them obtuse. They are certainly nice devices, I just don't care for iOS. So that leaves me with Windows Phone, which I love to use but Microsoft is all over the place in deciding how much support to offer; and Android, which I don't care to use daily, but the power of the OS can't be denied.
I didn't vote your comment, but the issue tracker for AOSP is not Google customer support.
(Let's not bother discussing whether it should be or whether it makes sense to file customer support issues there in the face of lackluster support elsewhere, those are mostly opinion battles)
The only other option is the Google Product Support forums[1], which are mostly "staffed" by non-googler community moderators that offer no real support. Googlers who are on the forums do their best to ignore actual problem posts.
Regarding this particular issue on AOSP issue tracker, it is a software bug in AOSP that kills voice calls. Filling an issue report would seem prudent.
Regarding this particular issue on AOSP issue tracker, it is a software bug in AOSP that kills voice calls. Filling an issue report would seem prudent.
Yes, however, the bug report is very terse and the far majority of the comments do not add any useful data points. Only 'me too!'s and junk like
IS GOOGLE TURNING INTO MICROSOFT??!!
If you follow the Android bug tracker you see that many issues are flooded with such comments of people who think that the issue tracker is a poll or some social network.
I was explaining how what you said might be interpreted and why someone might vote it down.
End users should certainly file AOSP bugs, but they should probably only bother if they happen to actually have some information that could eventually lead to a fix (rather than opening endless "my phone doesn't work" bugs.).
they advertise nexus as being the pure Google Android experience.
they own android source.
if there's a problem in your nexus software, why isn't it a problem in Google owned pure android code?
what could the support guy possibly do other than ask you to reboot and then file a ticket himself in some closed system bug tracking for the engineers?
this completely shows that either 1) nexus aren't close to pure android; and/or 2) the open bug tracking is just for receiving small features and mostly for shows.
I don't see why they would bother with the internal dev ticket for a report with so little information. Hopefully they would keep track of how many "audio stops working" reports they were getting, but it doesn't rankle me that they would essentially disregard the first couple dozen (people make stupid complaints).
I remember reading the google+ page of JBQ a while back where he openly lamented having to do customer support bullshit all day because Google is terribly organized without enough Android staff.
Also the stock lollipop Nexus4 image doesn't fix this, you still have to reboot every so often to get voice back. It will only happen at the most crucial times too given Murphy's law, like phoning a cab in the pouring rain with only 5% battery left, and when I called a girl I met back and ended up calling 4 times looking like a complete inept fool or harassing weirdo when the voice first disappeared.
Funny, I'd imagine a number of Googlers still have Nexus 4 corp phones. Just curious how that sort of thing is handled internally. You get a new phone issued?
I don't want to be a nitpick, but it's "its customers". Possessive its (for some reason, the words google, possessive and customers together like that make me feel uncomfortable). Not "Google treat it is customers".
I'm on CM11 with 4.4.4 and I need to reboot daily to get around this issue. CM just posted an upgrade to CM12 nightly for Nexus 4 and I'm thinking of biting the bullet and taking on that upgrade
Of course there are multiple rationales for choosing a platform, but support is certainly one of them.
A while ago someone made a nice graph of how good Apple/Google are at maintaining OS support for their devices, it's pretty informative (although I'd like to see a new one). http://www.fidlee.com/android-support-vs-ios-support/
In this case the Nexus 4 is still officially supported by 5.0... but not being able to call on a phone seems like unsupported to me.
My wife has an N4 running 5.0.1 with no issues re calling, so if there is an issue for these users it's an isolated one and not a systemic problem with all N4s.
Most of the Android phones on the page you linked are not Google phones. Whether or not they get updated is up to the manufacturers and carriers, not Google. You'll note that the Nexus phones have more update support in general.
Whether providing major updates to a phone is a good thing is debatable. My wife hated getting the 5.0 update. She saw it as a major inconvience that changed how her phone worked for no good reason. She would prefer to have the phone work the same way for the entire time she owns it.
> My wife has an N4 running 5.0.1 with no issues re calling, so if there is an issue for these users it's an isolated one and not a systemic problem with all N4s.
That's a bit of a leap to declare that the issue is an isolated one because your wife is not having the problem. As it turns out, my wife had that exact problem with her Nexus 4 on 5.0.1.
How widespread is the problem? Who knows. From my perspective it seems like the 5.0 release has been a bit more problematic than previous major Android upgrades.
If there is one device which is not impacted then it is not a problem with all devices. The problem is therefore isolated to a subset of all devices. Perhaps that subset is the majority of all N4s, perhaps it is a small fraction. We don't have enough data to say one way or another.
Ahh, the ol' "works for me". Just because it works for your wife doesn't deem it as a non-problem, as seen by the hundreds of comments on a single bug report in the span of just a couple days.
I really like Android and have no desire to switch to iOS.
However that being said: That graph really makes the entire ecosystem look dysfunctional. All smartphones should have full support for at least two years regardless of manufacturer and the fact most don't is a poor reflection of everyone involved.
Android needs a Linux style package system. They bundle too much stuff together into singular giant update packages, when in reality you should be able to update e.g. Dialer, Browser, and so on without touching the Linux kernel or Android services.
In the link #440 reports that disabling "NuPlayer" fixed the issue. This setting is in Settings > Developer options under "Media".
I've also found that NuPlayer plays unpredictable havoc with an audio playing app I wrote that is currently on Google Play. Some users on Lollipop report audio glitches, silence or weird bluetooth issues. Disabling NuPlayer fixes these issues. I wish there was a way for me, as a developer, to force use of the old AwesomePlayer system for my app in particular, but have no idea if this is possible technically. I certainly haven't found a way to do it.
But what I find surprising is that NuPlayer is labelled "experimental" in Developer options but is enabled by default. Isn't that a bit weird?
That's interesting. I didn't realize that only some 5.x devices came with it enabled by default. I can only speculate as to why some devices come with it turned on and some don't, but I've definitely supported some Nexus 5 users on 5.x who had it turned on by default - they didn't even have developer options enabled prior to contacting me.
Bizarrely, some apps seem to need NuPlayer as a workarounds (particularly for the new imgur gifv in Reddit if Fun, black screen problems in Words With Friends, etc).
I found NuPlayer was disabled on my Nexus 4 after upgrade from KitKat and I had to turn it on. Not sure about what it defaults to after a factory wipe.
I wish Windows Phone was just like... 15% better in terms of app support. Existence as an Android user just seems more and more self-hating as time goes on, and it's clear that Google, the OEMs and the carriers are just not about to cooperate to make the user experience any better. (I know, I know, there's the iPhone, but I have a pathological hatred of iTunes for Windows, so that's not really an option.)
There is also the problem where companies like Google refuse to acknowledge platforms apart from theirs. The iOS apps are usually faulty, and Google DMCAs any third party apps that talk to their services on the windows platform.
Android has deteriorated so much I'm working out how to move to Windows phone which really means leaving the Google ecosystem completely. And my career has been Android based for many years now.
I have the 2012 Motorola X, and a Nokia Lumia 635 I picked up for $50 at Radio Shack a few weeks ago. I'm betting that the Lumia sees the Windows 10 preview before the Motorola X sees Lollipop. It's so bizarre.
I'm not sure there IS anyone like Google. Apple is all walled garden, but they don't offer all that many services that make sense outside of their platform anyway -- they don't offer anything like Maps or YouTube. (Well, I guess iTunes, but... Apple gonna Apple.) Amazon is outright weird about supporting non-Fire Android, but they've finally got Amazon Video available on other Android platforms, and stuff like Kindle readers are available for any platform imaginable. Amazon Video is also on the Xbox, Playstation, Wii and Wii U, Roku and all kinds of smart TV/I guess smart BluRay devices. With the weird exception of Xbox Video, Microsoft is pretty much falling all over themselves to be on every platform -- Xbox Music, Xbox Smartglass, Office, Outlook.com, OneNote... they're all on iOS and Android.
Google has a Google PLay app for Roku, at least. They offer some stuff on iOS, but not as much as they do on their own platform. But they're not on Xbox. They're not on Playstation. I can at least reason out why they don't want to be on Windows Phone or such, but... Google isn't competing with the Xbox and Playstation, and they're kidding themselves if they think they are. Why not a Playstation app for movies?
> But they're not on Xbox. They're not on Playstation
There's a google-made youtube app on xboxes and playstations. I've never actually tried buying a play store video so not exactly sure if it works on the consoles themselves, but you can at least purchase them on a computer and then watch them on the playstation (Kotaku did this for The Interview, for instance[1])
Huh, interesting... I've actually used the YouTube app to watch YouTube videos on the Xbox, but it never occurred to me to try it on Google Play movies. Thanks.
The difference between android and iOS and windows phone is that android has an open bug tracker, making issues like this a lot more visible. Maybe this issue doesn't affect many people, or google determined that it only happens for phones on a certain carrier and can't disclose that publicly. Sure, the bug could have been closed with a friendlier message, but an open bug tracker seems like a good thing to me
Agreed. JIRA is managed this way as well and it does lead to a lot of anger around 12 year old issues that really should be implemented. However, at least we can see what is going on.
That difference applies to individuals and SMBs. With both Apple and Microsoft, if you have an account team you have a channel to get things escalated, and if you are a strategic customer, you'll get rapid attention.
Google doesn't really offer that, or if they do, the threshold to get that attention is very high.
What other response did you expect from Google employee? Google doesnt hire low level customer support people, google hires top of the line, few hours in front of white board interview coders, people with multiple phd's and industry veterans. I bet they dont even have dedicated support staff, just 200K a year programmers assigned to bugtracker having to divide their time between actual work and asking 'have you tried turning it off and on again'. Its BENEATH those people to interact with rabble.
And unlike hard- and software, such a broken system can last a very long time. There's an old French joke about "polytehcnician" (i.e graduate from Polytechnique, a top-level post graduate institution). What's the difference between a train and a polytechinician? When the train gets off the tracks it stops.
I feel like Android 5 is a step back, UI-wise. One of those "change for the sake of change" things. I don't see how a triangle, square, and circle are more user friendly than a back button, a home button, and a tab button.
Chrome is also crashing constantly on 5.03 and the new keyboard is very very bright at night.
Not a telephony issue, but I feel like 5.03 was a step back and I've actually contemplated downgrading back to 4.* Is that an option for phone users, or does the carrier push the updates?
Edit: It seems like every time I make a comment that might be slightly anti-Google these days, it receives downvotes. That's concerning.
exactly. not to mention, the UI is full of elements that overlay other elements ... like the loading circle on top of emails, compose button on top of email (in gmail app), lots of blank space ... its just horrible (for me).
Tabs being treated like apps is definitely annoying. However, you can fix that by going to the chrome settings and turning off the "Merge tabs and apps" switch.
I like Lollipop, and i don't like what you are saying, and i completely share your concern. Many of the comments ITT that make a negative assessment of Google are greyed out. The feel is bad, but i maintain my loyalty to Google, as there is no better option. I also get the feeling that they are building a Mothership and i would like to be on that craft when it leaves Terra.
> I feel like 5.03 was a step back and I've actually contemplated downgrading back to 4.* Is that an option for phone users, or does the carrier push the updates?
If we're still talking about a Nexus 4 or 5 here, it's Google who pushes the updates, not the carrier, as they are truly unlocked devices beholden only to Google. As such, you can download the previous versions of the OS all the way back to the initial release version[1]. The process to revert to an older version is not difficult (given the audience here) but if you've never done it before it can be a pain. The instructions are on the linked page.
For the Nexus 4, you can go all the way back to 4.2.2 (a nice, stable OS version if I may say so), and back to 4.4 for the Nexus 5.
If instead you are talking about another manufacturer like HTC or Motorola...good luck. Every manufacturer approaches downgrading/upgrading differently, not all manufacturers provide older ROM images, and some phones simply can't be downgraded once they've taken an OTA update.
Heh. I've just been hunting for clues to fix my "Nexus 6 randomly reboots" problem. Also quite common problem, and also radio silence from Google. Missed several phone calls due to phone having secretly rebooted.
Nice synchronicity.
I'm going to cross the streams a bit here and bring up a major concern going forward. Right now, "Project Ara" is Google's project to create a modular phone that allows hot-swappable components in a totally customizable pocket device. That is, you could have 3 cameras and no wifi in your device if that's how you choose to put it together.
How in the hell do we expect the Android OS to actually make this anything but a bug-laden shit show? They're clearly having a hard enough time making Android work on their own narrow line of devices. The very idea of using this same OS for a completely open-ended device seems laughable, at best.
They would definitely have to tweak and re-arrange android to work in a more modular system, where software can be built by the manufacturer/on the fly with pre-built components you can put in the software (depending on what module you have in the phone)
I was getting excited about the Spiral but this thread has decreased the wind pressure in my sails considerably. Theoretically speaking, is any big mobile device company capable of supporting a modular device that can compete with the top of the line devices?
That bug tracker is for AOSP code issues, not issues related to any specific device, so contacting customer support is the best route for the problem no matter who sold you the device.
I had the same problem on android 4.4.4, but on moto G. The solution given on the Motorola customer support site was to wipe the cache partition. It worked.
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[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 200 ms ] threadNexus 4 is clearly the red-headed stepchild in the Nexus family now. If there was a newer Nexus that wasn't the size of an iPad, I'd upgrade; but there isn't. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't like holding War and Peace against my ear to talk on a phone.
The Nexus 5 isn't that much bigger than the 4, and certainly isn't as big as the Nexus 6. It's also not nearly as expensive as the 6.
Size comparison of the 5 and 4 (from the left, respectively):
http://newlaunches.com/archives/google-nexus-5-competition-c...
It bears consideration that the N5 is not carried by Verison [CDMA].
The Nexus 5 does actually have a CDMA radio and works well on Sprint and its MVNOs. The problem is that Verizon won't list it as an approved device in their database, which means it won't provision for them. From what I understand, it's a control issue, not a technical issue; they can't get carrier exclusivity with an unlocked Nexus phone so they don't want it on their network. In short, the problem is Verizon, not the radio in the phone.
Seeing as the hardware is there, is it theoretically possible to jigger the channels (technical term) and use an N5 on Verizon?
For extra coverage while traveling, you could order a SIM from Ting[1] (a Sprint MVNO that I've used and really enjoyed), and switch to it for coverage on Sprint's LTE network; they fully support the Nexus 5. It's not as expansive as Verizon's network, but from my experience it tends to fill in the gaps left by T-Mobile. I say that because my service is with Straight Talk on T-Mobile's network, and my wife's phone is on Ting. Everywhere I don't have coverage, she does, and vice versa.
Ting charges a base price of $6 per month per device, then charges for metered usage. My wife uses about 800 MB of data, about 80 minutes of calls, and about 300 texts per month, and her bill comes in at under $40 per month. I won't pretend to know your travel itinerary, but if all you do is order the SIM and activate it once every few months, you're probably looking at less than $70 per year to have the convenience of extra coverage when you need it.
Or, you could forgo all of that and go back to Verizon on a Moto X, it's the closest you'll get to a Nexus device on that network, but then you're back in user-hostile support territory.
[1] https://ting.com/shop/microsim
I'm on Verizon Galaxy Nexus. If Nexus 4 is the red-headed stepchild, Verizon Galaxy Nexus is the kid chained in the basement nobody talks about :-/
I agree this may haven't been resolved nicely, but hidden extrapolation from a few employees to the whole company is not cool on your side either. There are people in there, working their butts off to make one of the largest open source projects better.
I think we're seeing a pattern here.
It looks much more like issues in that tracker start as Priority-small and no one upgraded it.
I do agree it's by no means a small priority ticket and not one that should be closed without a fix. Although there is a solution mentioned in https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82949#c44... which actually worked for me.
That said, I bet google knows better than we do how many active Nexus 4 users are still out there, my suspicions is - not many.
Here's my guess - they prioritize bugs not just on severity but also based on number of users impacted, and who those users are (in this case, people who are still using a phone that was discontinued over a year ago, have manually updated their phones and then reported a bug in the AOSP tracker. a demographic I suspect is going to be very hard to satisfy no matter what). I'm guessing they hope that people will take this problem to the carrier they bought it from (if they got it from someone besides google), contact google play store customer support (who have always been helpful in my experience), downgrade, or just move on and buy a more recent phone.
I have a Nexus 5, have no interest in the Nexus 6, and could easily think "Oh well...upgrade", but as the old saying goes -- first they abandoned the Nexus 4, and I didn't speak up...
Google may have killed the Nexus line by making the 9 and 6 so uncompelling, but I doubt it was intentional. They're just a company that has a chronic difficulty prioritizing customer service. Further I don't really think it's "high expectations" to demand that voice functionality works (again, this stuff gets you in serious trouble with regulators. If this were raised to the FTC and/or CRTC, you can bet Google would find a fix extremely quickly).
Filed a bug with Google, they closed it. The handset vendor fixed it, but the carrier refused to release it. So we made the carrier take them back and give us iPhones. (One of those rare times when it's fun to work for a massive bureaucracy!) Never looked back.
It was good while it lasted, but it's clear now that Google not only cannot be depended on for their software (see Google Reader), but also cannot be relied on for our hardware needs.
At least they have the search thing...
How about all versions of Android 4.3 and down? 60% of the Android user-base is now without updates for critical security errors.
Their support is ridiculous.
One comment claims same problem happened in 4.2.2, 4.4.4 and 5.0 too, so it might be some changes in 5.0 just make it happen much more often (NuPlayer?)
You won't get instant gratification that you would by using a bugtracker but technical reports back to the vendor (in this case Google) do eventually get sent upstream.
If enough people complain via Google's channels then the bug will be brought up at higher levels eventually.
The other option is to tweet at senior Android guys and see if you get a response.
Good luck.
And the telco of Nexus is Google! Google just pointed to contact Google.
It isn't, Google doesn't run their own mobile network or mobile virtual network (yet).
Contacting the technical support team of the company that provides you the SIM card that is inserted into the Nexus device will have an effect.
I know it seems backwards because the issue has actually been introduced with Google's OTA update but those technical support calls get escalated and eventually they'll end up back at Google (via the team that deals with carrier interaction).
The handset that attaches to a GSM network has to conform to many standards set out by the GSMA (GSM association) as well as many other local certification bodies and associations (one example is the handset must have the ability to call emergency services).
If complaints are made to the technical department of the carrier being used, the calls will eventually be escalated to a vendor/manufacturer of Google's size.
I've worked for various different cellular providers and I have personally seen such tickets.
> contact customer support.
How about "Thanks for all your comments. Unfortunately, this is the wrong forum to report problems like this. Please contact the Nexus customer support and let them know about the issues you are having."
E: To address the initial downvoters: why don't you explain yourselves. How is Google not responsible for supporting nexus devices? They're sold directly by Google, they're produced for Google, and they're heavily marketed by Google. Google provides the software and hardware support directly after purchase and handles RMAs directly. Google depreciates Nexus device support in <18months. Nexus One, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus were all dropped about a year after release, significant performance problems were never addressed. N7(2012) was dropped early last year from official maintenance and the absolute shit NAND quality was never addressed. Google has a history of not caring about proper support for their Nexus devices.
HTC has released lollipop upgrades for devices that are >2 years old. Samsung has also released lollipop upgrades for devices >2 years old.
I have a Nexus 4 that runs 5.0, and when I've switched to it from my Windows phone I've noticed that I randomly have no call audio in the cellular dialer as well as the Hangouts dialer. I guessed it was something to do with the 5.0 release but I figured as little as I use the phone, it was nothing to worry about. But the more I think about it, the more I'm tempted to revert to 4.4 since this is my only backup phone, and I'd rather have it ready to go at the expense of playing with 5.0.
That is a horrid mentality being permitted in the phone industry. My "2013" Moto G has a 1.2GHz quad core with a 300+ dpi screen. It's completely unacceptable to declare that device out of support as a consumer technology.
(Let's not bother discussing whether it should be or whether it makes sense to file customer support issues there in the face of lackluster support elsewhere, those are mostly opinion battles)
Regarding this particular issue on AOSP issue tracker, it is a software bug in AOSP that kills voice calls. Filling an issue report would seem prudent.
[1] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/nexus
Yes, however, the bug report is very terse and the far majority of the comments do not add any useful data points. Only 'me too!'s and junk like
If you follow the Android bug tracker you see that many issues are flooded with such comments of people who think that the issue tracker is a poll or some social network.I can't blame them for closing such issues.
End users should certainly file AOSP bugs, but they should probably only bother if they happen to actually have some information that could eventually lead to a fix (rather than opening endless "my phone doesn't work" bugs.).
they advertise nexus as being the pure Google Android experience.
they own android source.
if there's a problem in your nexus software, why isn't it a problem in Google owned pure android code?
what could the support guy possibly do other than ask you to reboot and then file a ticket himself in some closed system bug tracking for the engineers?
this completely shows that either 1) nexus aren't close to pure android; and/or 2) the open bug tracking is just for receiving small features and mostly for shows.
Also the stock lollipop Nexus4 image doesn't fix this, you still have to reboot every so often to get voice back. It will only happen at the most crucial times too given Murphy's law, like phoning a cab in the pouring rain with only 5% battery left, and when I called a girl I met back and ended up calling 4 times looking like a complete inept fool or harassing weirdo when the voice first disappeared.
A while ago someone made a nice graph of how good Apple/Google are at maintaining OS support for their devices, it's pretty informative (although I'd like to see a new one). http://www.fidlee.com/android-support-vs-ios-support/
In this case the Nexus 4 is still officially supported by 5.0... but not being able to call on a phone seems like unsupported to me.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6853222
Most of the Android phones on the page you linked are not Google phones. Whether or not they get updated is up to the manufacturers and carriers, not Google. You'll note that the Nexus phones have more update support in general.
Whether providing major updates to a phone is a good thing is debatable. My wife hated getting the 5.0 update. She saw it as a major inconvience that changed how her phone worked for no good reason. She would prefer to have the phone work the same way for the entire time she owns it.
PS: 'Sup, fury?
That's a bit of a leap to declare that the issue is an isolated one because your wife is not having the problem. As it turns out, my wife had that exact problem with her Nexus 4 on 5.0.1.
How widespread is the problem? Who knows. From my perspective it seems like the 5.0 release has been a bit more problematic than previous major Android upgrades.
However that being said: That graph really makes the entire ecosystem look dysfunctional. All smartphones should have full support for at least two years regardless of manufacturer and the fact most don't is a poor reflection of everyone involved.
Android needs a Linux style package system. They bundle too much stuff together into singular giant update packages, when in reality you should be able to update e.g. Dialer, Browser, and so on without touching the Linux kernel or Android services.
I've also found that NuPlayer plays unpredictable havoc with an audio playing app I wrote that is currently on Google Play. Some users on Lollipop report audio glitches, silence or weird bluetooth issues. Disabling NuPlayer fixes these issues. I wish there was a way for me, as a developer, to force use of the old AwesomePlayer system for my app in particular, but have no idea if this is possible technically. I certainly haven't found a way to do it.
But what I find surprising is that NuPlayer is labelled "experimental" in Developer options but is enabled by default. Isn't that a bit weird?
I found NuPlayer was disabled on my Nexus 4 after upgrade from KitKat and I had to turn it on. Not sure about what it defaults to after a factory wipe.
Android has deteriorated so much I'm working out how to move to Windows phone which really means leaving the Google ecosystem completely. And my career has been Android based for many years now.
Google has a Google PLay app for Roku, at least. They offer some stuff on iOS, but not as much as they do on their own platform. But they're not on Xbox. They're not on Playstation. I can at least reason out why they don't want to be on Windows Phone or such, but... Google isn't competing with the Xbox and Playstation, and they're kidding themselves if they think they are. Why not a Playstation app for movies?
There's a google-made youtube app on xboxes and playstations. I've never actually tried buying a play store video so not exactly sure if it works on the consoles themselves, but you can at least purchase them on a computer and then watch them on the playstation (Kotaku did this for The Interview, for instance[1])
[1] http://kotaku.com/sonys-the-interview-can-now-be-seen-on-xbo...
Google doesn't really offer that, or if they do, the threshold to get that attention is very high.
and here we have a result of this broken system.
Chrome is also crashing constantly on 5.03 and the new keyboard is very very bright at night.
Not a telephony issue, but I feel like 5.03 was a step back and I've actually contemplated downgrading back to 4.* Is that an option for phone users, or does the carrier push the updates?
Edit: It seems like every time I make a comment that might be slightly anti-Google these days, it receives downvotes. That's concerning.
When I'm on tube and read Effective Go I need to scroll through all apps and tabs to go back to it.
Why "on" is the default setting is beyond me.
If we're still talking about a Nexus 4 or 5 here, it's Google who pushes the updates, not the carrier, as they are truly unlocked devices beholden only to Google. As such, you can download the previous versions of the OS all the way back to the initial release version[1]. The process to revert to an older version is not difficult (given the audience here) but if you've never done it before it can be a pain. The instructions are on the linked page.
For the Nexus 4, you can go all the way back to 4.2.2 (a nice, stable OS version if I may say so), and back to 4.4 for the Nexus 5.
If instead you are talking about another manufacturer like HTC or Motorola...good luck. Every manufacturer approaches downgrading/upgrading differently, not all manufacturers provide older ROM images, and some phones simply can't be downgraded once they've taken an OTA update.
[1] https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
How in the hell do we expect the Android OS to actually make this anything but a bug-laden shit show? They're clearly having a hard enough time making Android work on their own narrow line of devices. The very idea of using this same OS for a completely open-ended device seems laughable, at best.