Samsung Skyrocket 4G LTE 4.0.4 update. Careful what you wish-for-dept. [ Edited ]

[Riley Martin]

Samsung Skyrocket 4G LTE ICS 4.0.4 update, careful what you wish 4

Posted by Riley Mart on July 11, 2012 12:38 am0

After patiently waiting 9 months since I bought my phone, on the promise that it would be updated in the 4Q/11to ICS, ATT/Samsung finally decided it was time to release a not so robust update from Gingerbread (which was very stable) to ICS 4.0.4 which I find to be somewhat laggy and prone to freezes, quite a disappointment given the wait. Don't even mention wonderful ATT 4G LTE coverage areas (not). 

Anyway after about 1 hour of dealing with the Kies PC download and install to my PC and one failed sync try, I finally was able to get it installed. How do I know? The phone settings now reflect current ICS version. However, in addition to how shakey the stability of new apps is, I also had to go through 3 battery pulls, + remove and re-insert my microSD card in order to restore about 1/3 of my 170 apps that took a hike during the upgrade. This was after calling Samsung Tech support who could only propose a hard reset and start again from scratch in reinstalling each app + re-entering all data set-ups. Luckily, I did not follow that suggestion or I would be up all night restoring phone. 

However one of the biggest disappointments, if not the biggest disappointments is that the ATT update is still covered in Touch "Wiz" 4 which is a big bummer. Neither the phone dialer, contact app, or notification bar updated for me. What has changed is a new email app that is not as smart looking as the one in Gingerbread that it has replaced. ATT never cease to amaze me, along with Samsung in how much they can mess up what should be a transparent OTA update process with a stable release that "just works" that is a genuine UI update, not warmed over Touch Wiz 4 ( and Gingerbread was smoother, too.) Personally, I can't wait for a newer Google Nexus with more powerful chip, LTE and 4.5-4.7 HD screen so I can loose this hot mess. Anyway, if you've been struggling with similar issues after upgrade, please know you are not alone. Way too much like work!

[mwehle]

I've been seeing frequent hangs. The tethering Settings selection bricks the phone every time, but I've locked it up in numerous other ways - just selecting e-mail or the clock this morning.

How do I return to Gingerbread?

[redpoint73 ACE - Wizard]

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mwehle wrote:

The tethering Settings selection bricks the phone every time

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"Bricking" the phone means you lose all functionality, and can only be fixed by opening the phone (if at all).

What you have is just a crash or freeze.

[aarbtchc]

same thing happens to my skyrocket. the settings app crashed everytime when i click the hotspot option.

the updated ics skyrocket is slow and easily hanged.... 

frustrating.... this is not what i'm waiting for ...

[Morales2k]

I had the issue where the email app would become useless. No emails were listed. well let me go over my story.

In the end it was a successful upgrade. I am happy now that i resolved all the issues.

I updated following samsung's step-by-step guide. Easy with kies on desktop, phone over usb, followed all the steps and it worked.

after the upgrade, the email app would block the phone... everything was all choppy, as if a thousand background processes were running at once, the phone became unresponsive and it scared the living crap outta me.

I fixed it, but going into the email app, checking the settings (hit that leftmost button nxt to the home one) and select a font size. It was previously blank, nothing showed up... once i did that, all msgs showed, and the app stopped failing.

I have no clue what caused it, seems the upgrade process isn't flawless with kies... but it worked fine after that. All apps behave well now... seems to me that it is going smooth.

[dranklean14]

Y'all cried about the update not here now its here y'all crying more lol everybody that updated knew it would be bugs and certain things wouldn't work right everything on my galaxy note work fine after the update but if my note would of been tripping i would have to live with it till the bugs get fix everybody knew the risks before updating

[mwehle]

AT&T support said downgrading back to Gingerbread was not possible, and issues I saw were not their responsibility, to contact Samsung. Samsung's support said instability wasn't their problem, to contact Google.

I followed the instructions at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1652398 and successfully restored 2.3.5, then got 2.3.6 again OTA. Phone is stable again. ICS 4.04 ROM was way too unstable for me. I'll stick with Gingerbread.

[jzisson]

Dear Dranklean 14,

          Actually cursing is a way more accurate description than crying with regards to Skyrocket ICS update theater.

Best,

Henry Hooey

[Janisbrady]

Thank you for your post. I had the same problem as you. I used your information and problem solved. YES!

[kylerklein]

have to agree that the upgrade was horrible and I do not recommend it to any skyrocket owners...  looks like ill be wasting my time trying to flash back to stock gingerbread or hoping for a bugfix update.  also have to mention samsung kies software is a huge steaming pile and forcing anyone to install for updates is not cool

-kk

[valerie1766]

I had just bought my phone and was so happy with it! It was barely 2 months before they asked me to do the update. I had NO CLUE what was going to happen to my phone. I swapped it out 2x before I got one that worked and then guess what??? Here comes ANOTHER update!!!

I'm so mad I could SPIT!!!

[valerie1766]

Wish I could say the same. My phone has not been the same and I barely had it for 2 months before it went kablooey on me. Kies updates every time I open it and dumps all of my stuff each time so what good it is supposed to be I'm not really sure.
I swore I would never buy another ATT phone or sign another contract EVER. What an a-- I am ...