Users of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge and Note 3 are continuing to experience performance issues with their phablets following the Android 5.0 Lollipop update. The issues reported include overheating, battery drain, freezing of apps, Wi-Fi connectivity and more.
Recent speculation is swirling about the release dates and specs for Samsung's Galaxy Note 5, the upcoming successor to the popular flagship phablets the Note 4 and Note Edge. Reports have claimed that Samsung was planning to launch the Note 5 in July, instead of its usual September timeframe, to beat Apple's upcoming iPhone 6S Plus to market. Samsung's CEO J.K. Shin just publicly denied his company is planning to release the phablet in July.
Meanwhile, many Note 4, Note Edge and Note 3 devices are still experiencing significant issues and performance problems since the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. Frustrated users are still flooding message boards and Tech Times with complaints about the negative effects the update has had on their smartphones.
One user recently summed up the feelings of many: "Using the Note Edge AT&T and I'm pissed at the 5.0 update, being my battery went from not having to be charged from 6 a.m. until around 8 p.m. to now 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Next issue ... freezing. Ugh ... I hate this crap! Then my Wi-Fi is far from stable. I almost went over my minutes thinking my Wi-Fi was on but it wasn't somehow. One thing I hate is a headache from a PHONE! Smh."
The most frequently cited issue appears to be severe battery drain: "Battery life is terrible since update ... lag issues ... phone turned slow in lots of ways, please inform if we could switch back to old OS, a work phone should not have these issues, as time is always the case ... especially battery life!!" complained one user.
While it is officially not possible to switch back to an older Android operating system following an update, some technically-savvy users have found a workaround to revert back to KitKat. As we have reported, many users have also found that a factory reset helped solve some or all of their issues, but just as many received no relief from that approach: "I did a factory reset twice after upgrading to Lollipop. My battery will barely last 10 hours with light use. Before upgrading, it would last 20 hours easily with moderate use. Before, the Android system would only use about 4 or 5 percent of battery use, now it is consistently 20 percent. I know it is not any apps because I have less apps than prior to the update, and no new ones at that."
Meanwhile, several users are having no problems with the Android 5.0 Lollipop update and found it actually improves performance on their devices. One owner of multiple Note 4 handsets reports that it worked fine on one and not the others: "I have one Note 4 that took the update with no problems, the other 2 bricked and Kies could not recover the previous version. The update downloaded but wouldn't fully install, i.e. a bricked phone. Very unhappy with this issue. We've been waiting months for this update and this is what we get, some that will take the update and others that won't work at all. I really hope that Samsung and our carriers will be fixing this issue soon ..."
Samsung and its affiliated carriers have been officially silent on the issues, but many customers have reported instances of service reps acknowledging the various problems, and AT&T and Verizon both issued small updates several weeks ago, presumably to tackle some of them. Many Galaxy S5 users are experiencing similar issues with the Android 5.0 Lollipop update as well, and Samsung UK actually acknowledged those problems with a tweet promising upcoming micro-updates to fix them.
We'll continue to report on the various issues experienced by Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note 3 and Note Edge users as well as any responses from Samsung and its affiliated carriers. Meanwhile, if you are experiencing similar problems with the update on your Samsung Galaxy Note device, please let us know in the comments below.
