Verizon Kit Kat rolling out, how it went for me:

[Methos1979]

I've noticed that Verizon is finally rolling out Kit Kat in a lot of places but I'm not seeing much in the way of comments either way, with the exception of some early discussions on battery life and a voice mail issue.

I am truly hopeful that this means Kit Kat is relatively seamless and transparent and there are not much in the way of problems? Those that have installed, please update those of us waiting.

 

[Methos1979]

Well, let me be the first to reply on my own thread! The OTA hit my area this morning shortly after my post so I went ahead and ran the update. I don't think there is any way to avoid this update forever without rooting/ROM'ing so I figured I'd just go for it.

It did not go well for me. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go through the factory data reset and was prepared to live with a little quirkiness but that was not an option for me. Note that I was running Nova Prime and my phone is pretty highly configured with a couple hundred apps and all kinds of tweaks.

The phone was not bricked, but it might just as well have been. Nothing would run and nothing but errors and lockups, even after several restarts, hard boots, battery pulls. So now I've done the factory reset and I'm starting from scratch. Just as well anyway as I had way too much on the phone and had been thinking of doing this for some time.

I'll report back as I continue to try to get the phone back to where I like it if I run into any noticeable differences with the new software update. Please post your experiences with the update (along with how your phone was set up before) to help others know what they are in for when updating.

 

[johnpjackson]

I'm running the stock launcher and at least several dozen apps. The upgrade to Kitkat has been fine here. I've noted a few differences. The system fonts got a tiny bit smaller and less 'bold'. The line that follows your finger on the 'picture' lock screen got narrower as well. The interruption in music playing through WinAmp when a Facebook message alert sound plays is now shorter. And my battery rate of drain is definitely noticeably slower now, overall. I'm very happy with Kitkat so far.

 

[atrain311]

HD Widgets isn't working but they are aware of the problem and working on it.

 

[Gravytrain]

Downloading now

 

[quiksilver169]

Back in October or whatever I thought it was noted that the connection arrows were removed from the status bar

Not complaining!

 

[Gravytrain]

Unlock screen is lightening fast now

 

[shutterman]

I got the OTA upgrade 2 days ago. I have not installed any apps or made any changes for over 2 weeks now. The only thing I did do was download one Kindle book.

Like another thread here mentioned, my battery life has suffered immensely since the OTA upgrade. Since day 1 of having the N3, the battery would easily last me 2 days. I could leave work and go home and I would be at 60% - 70%. I would plug it in at night for overnight charging and was always happy knowing that I really didn't have to.

Since the upgrade, the level has been below 20% when I get home.

In the past with previous phones, I was not too happy doing total resets because it does require a lot of time afterwards, but it seems that I will have no choice again.

 

[dibble]

i did the OTA this morning. took about 15 minutes from clicking 'ok' to having a usable device.

main thing i see different after a day of use is the lockscreen, and one quibble about the music player i'll address in a minute.

i do like the lockscreen ideas...that is now you can either launch directly in to the camera app by an icon next to the 'swipe here' OR customize it with 5 apps of your own choosing.

like i said, the *idea* is good. however, i'm finding it a little hit and miss actually getting the apps to launch. maybe my big, sausage-like fingers are missing the hot areas. but, i'm having to really concentrate on hitting the icon to get the app to launch---which kinda defeats the purpose. it's quicker just to swipe and launch the app than spend the time to try and swipe correctly on the launch screen.

my only real quibble is with the samsung music player.

my car has bluetooth. and, prior to the update when i'd get in my car NOTHING HAPPENED AUTOMATICALLY. i'd swipe my screen, hit play on spotify and i'd be off on my trip.

however, NOW the stupid samsung music player automatically starts playing whatever music it has in it...which is nothing but ringtones and some insipid new age jazz melody.

is there any way to disable this app. i don't use it. ever. and, now it's forcing itself down my throat every time i get in the car.

 

[ceva321]

😀😁 I just got my update Saturday May 17..... at 6 am South Florida

The upgrade was smooth about 10, minutes. So far no problems.

 

[SFWB]

I got it this morning as well, and the first thing I noticed was the increased speed of the unlock screen.

 

[ceva321]

One thing that I noticed is that the little icons on top are no longer green.... but white...(Bluetooth, 4g, battery status, etc)


.

 

[Methos1979]

Well, I'm back up and running about where I was before the update. Everything seems to be running very smoothly. The unlock/wake up really is much faster, which is nice. And yes, the icons at the top are white now and not green. I do really like the camera launch from the lock screen. I set it up to use my alternate camera app, Snap, because it has a 'Fast' photo mode so now I can go from a locked phone to taking a photo in a matter of just few seconds - very handy.

Battery life so far seems to be much better, although I'll have a better sense about that after a few days of weekday use. I'm back to using Nova Prime and it's working flawlessly. I added apps back on and tried to only put on the ones I used most but still ended up with over 150 apps.

The menu and back button flashing issue I had is gone so that is nice. Over all I suppose it was time for a factory reset and do-over so I guess this forced my hand. I'll update again in a few days with battery performance and any issues I note either good or bad.

 

[Methos1979]

Here's some screen shots of the newest setup:

 

[srad2drag]

The one thing I noticed and pleased about is when the phone has blocking mode enabled the icon doesn't show up until the scheduled time. Before the update the icon would be in the notification bar all the time until you turned blocking mode off.

 

[tarek24]

Hello every body iam having trobles in the application s-voice when i want to activate it and order my phone by voice this statement appears ( i cannot find a network connection please connect and try again) any body please know how to solve this problem

 

[jonny772]

My transitions seem to be not as smooth doing from screen to screen with lots of lagging
Verizon and it all started after the update

 

[Methos1979]

More real-world battery test today with a normal, high-use day shows battery life to be about the same as before, so no real gains there. But the phone is running very well with no other issues noted.

Anyone experiencing issues should definitely do the full factory reset. It sucks starting over but once I did that operation has been great. Will keep posted.

If you post an issue here, make sure it's Kit Kat related and on a Verizon phone and also state whether you have done the factory reset, please.

 

[deeanjo]

I set it up to use my alternate camera app, Snap, because it has a 'Fast' photo mode so now I can go from a locked phone to taking a photo in a matter of just few seconds - very handy.

Would you mind sharing the name of that camera app? I can only find something call Action Snap - is that it?
Thanks!

 

[Rxpert83]

Would you mind sharing the name of that camera app? I can only find something call Action Snap - is that it?
Thanks!

It appears to be this one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marginz.snap

 

[deeanjo]

It appears to be this one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marginz.snap

Thanks! Looking at it now . . . .

 

[Methos1979]

Thanks! Looking at it now . . . .

Yes, that is the one.

 

[stanw]

I want to back everything on my Note3 prior to doing the new update through VZW. By everything, I think I really just mean my apps and the placement of my apps on each home screen. Everything else I have in the cloud, my photos are saved through Dropbox, I have documents in Evernote, and Google Drive, so I just really want my apps, app location on homescreens, and email settings, etc.

I am not rooted.

What program should I look into for doing this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[woodbutch4]

Got my update OTA on Saturday. No real issues, battery life the same. Had to set some app defaults again. No really happy about DoubleTwist not being able to access the Music directory on the SD card. I'd have to resync and have the music in a doubletwist folder. Or just leave it there and use the stock music app. So much for syncing with itunes.

 

[Willdiver]

I must have a corrupted update. After the update, the device was stuttering and jerky. Did a factory reset. Still very bad. Took off my s view cover, and it works smoothly now. But I have squat for reception. Standing next to my wife's razr, she gets great signal, I have nothing. Going in to Verizon for them to reflash. Maybe it'll work then.