Android 4.3 May Be Wrecking Nexus 4 Phones
Nexus 4 owners are complaining over overheating, devices in infinite boot loop, frozen "X" screens and more.
Android 4.3 has probably been the most talked about incremental update released by Google for some time. For first-generation Nexus 7 owners, it's supposedly breathing new life back into the tablet thanks to a new garbage collection feature that speeds up the storage I/O process. However for many Nexus 4 owners, the new update has been more of a nightmare.
Customers are beginning to flood Google's Product Forums, most of which claim that after updating to Android 4.3, their Nexus 4 either gets stuck in a never ending "boot loop", their device freezes at the "X" splash screen, or the home button stops working after rebooting.
There are also reports that the update is now causing an overheating issue, touch has stopped working altogether, and the device itself running extremely slow. Unlocking the phone has its own set of issues, and many users claim that apps and photos have even disappeared.
"I updated it today morning and my gallery is all messed up," reports one Nexus 4 owner. "Thumbnails of deleted pics are still shown in the Gallery, and when you click on the thumbnail the later pictures come up. So if u try to delete the thumbnails the new pictures are getting deleted."
What a mess. Currently the only fix for these instances is to somehow flash the device to an older version of Android, or reset it to the factory default settings.
There also seems to be a problem with Netflix, Android 4.3 and the Nexus 4. Users claim that after the update, launching the Netflix app will cause some handsets to freeze up (aka Sleep of Death), thus forcing owners to reset the device after long-pressing the power button. Android engineer Dan Morrill has confirmed the Netflix issue and said that a fix is in the works.
Given the rising number of complaints over the last several days, Nexus 4 owners may want to hold off in upgrading to Android 4.3 for now. Google pumped out 4.2.1 "Jelly Bean" rather quick after v4.2 caused such a fuss, thus Nexus 4 owners may see a fix just as quick very soon (if it comes down to that).
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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the1kingbob Luckily I haven't had problems with overheating or booting. I have had the sleep of death when using netflix and chromecast. Also had to restart to get my wireless networking back yesterday.Reply -
InvalidError After seeing the first N7v2 I have seen hard-lock within minutes of me touching it, I am not too surprised 4.3 might have some nasty surprises for some people.Reply
That made me a little nervous about hitting the 4.3 "Install" button on my original N7 but I have not seen/noticed any problems on it - at least not yet. -
IndignantSkeptic This is why, when I have a choice, I upgrade only after a few days of release to see if there are any news reports like this first.Reply -
whiteodian I waited a few days too. I read an article about how it was suppose to speed up the performance and installed yesterday. So far it seems ok to me.Reply -
sulanis It's not just Nexus 4, its also Samsung Galaxy Nexus as well. Although they are probably incredibly similar. I strongly suggest waiting till Google Says its safe to installReply -
Suhel Sayyad ANDROID 4.3 EMULATOR for WINDOWS...Reply
http://www.suhelsayyad.com/2013/08/android-43-emulator-for-windows.html -
matter37 I have not had the overheating problems, and I have not had Sleep of Death with Netflix (I will avoid Netflix for a bit, now, though), but I did get a infinite boot loop. That was fixed quite easily by forcing it to shut down while stuck in that loop, so it was no big problem; I definitely did not realize how many other problems with 4.3 there apparently were.Reply -
Phillip I updated my N7 to 4.3 the second there was a zip to flash on a rooted device. I haven't had one single issue with mine...yet. :-) Netflix runs fine, and my bluetooth headset works fine. I do have about a .5 second audio delay when using a bluetooth audio device on Netflix and such...apps that don't include a way to adjust for this.Reply