4.4.4

[Thom]

I'm still debating doing a Factory Data Reset. Waiting to hear more from others. The rumor is better battery life after a Factory Data Reset. I wonder if the absurdly long Cache Data Buffer clear will be any faster.

... Thom

 

[dar4121]

I'm still debating doing a Factory Data Reset. Waiting to hear more from others. The rumor is better battery life after a Factory Data Reset. I wonder if the absurdly long Cache Data Buffer clear will be any faster.

... Thom

Thom,

Have you any more feedback or have you tried the FDR? My battery life has gone to crap after the update.

 

[Thom]

The feedback is very light. A few people have indicated marked improvements in battery after a Factory Data Reset.

I have a Tylt wireless charger. When out and around just carrying my phone I come back and place it on the charger. 4.4 nothing reported. 4.4.4 almost always reports a charge is going on. (So of course it isn't happening today.)

It is common after any system upgrade to have battery use that is heavier than normal. That usually settles after 2-3 days.

I'm debating a Factory Data Reset today.

... Thom

 

[Rumma]

So far, I haven't done a FDR. I did "Thom's" cache wipe and a had a few minor app glitches, but a couple of off/on cycles, and everything seems normal. Battery life appears to be the same....65% remaining after 15 hours of light use. I use Google everything (gmail, calendar, contacts, music, docs and Drive for storage), so FDR's are a snap....I probably will do one when I get a few moments. FDR
even restores installed apps and (most of) their settings.

 

[rdsok]

Currently my battery life, after the update, is pretty bad compared to before... Normally I get home with something about 65-70% left after a full charge overnight... yesterday it dropped past 50%

I also changed from dalvik to art... everything is snappier and so far I'm only having one app hang on occasion ( Solitaire by Softik ).

My Bluetooth over the last couple of days... seems better and keeps a connection unlike before when it would randomly disconnect/reconnect several times a day.

I'm going to wait it out at least until this weekend and see if the battery improves or not... then I'll FDR after that and compare again.

 

[doogald]

Currently my battery life, after the update, is pretty bad compared to before... Normally I get home with something about 65-70% left after a full charge overnight... yesterday it dropped past 50%

I also changed from dalvik to art... everything is snappier and so far I'm only having one app hang on occasion ( Solitaire by Softik ).

My Bluetooth over the last couple of days... seems better and keeps a connection unlike before when it would randomly disconnect/reconnect several times a day.

I'm going to wait it out at least until this weekend and see if the battery improves or not... then I'll FDR after that and compare again.

Well, you may want to try a switch back to Dalvik, too. There are circumstances where ART may not be as good as Dalvik. It's worth a try before an FDR. By the way, after switching from one runtime to another, there's no reason to wipe cache - cache is wiped as part of the switch.

BT should be better - there were changes with 4.4 that Google improved with subsequent updates. BT issues, the 4.4 share bug, and the google authentication issue when in low signal areas, all experienced by some people and not others (I never had BT issues with 4.4) - that's what frustrates me most about waiting 6 months (plus for some of us) to get an update to fix these issues. Kudos to Moto and Verizon, though, for making our phones one of the first with 4.4.4.

 

[Thom]

I did the Factory Data Reset. I'm still in the process of restoring some customizations.

It does indeed clear the Data Cache Partition as part of the Factory Data Reset. AS a test I just cleared the Data Cache Partition. Under 4.4.4 previously I measured 4.5 min and 6.5 min. This one took 4.25 min.

This is an ideal opportunity for me to get rid of some junk residue and I am doing it.

Much too early to have any opinion on battery.

... Thom

 

[rdsok]

Well, you may want to try a switch back to Dalvik, too. There are circumstances where ART may not be as good as Dalvik. It's worth a try before an FDR. By the way, after switching from one runtime to another, there's no reason to wipe cache - cache is wiped as part of the switch.

I've always done a FDR at some point after a major update... Like Thom, I also use the opportunity to get rid of stuff that I just tried and then didn't use this way.... sort of the spring cleaning type of thing.

I may switch back to Dalvik... but later if so. I've been wanting to see what ART can do for a while and held off... With fewer issues being reported now, now is a good time as any and I can always switch back later. As long as the battery does last the day for me... I'm good. Still, I wanted to report what I saw.

 

[Thom]

I started using ... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pixelrush.xphonefree&hl=en ... a few months ago under 4.4 and find it to be simply great ... for many reasons. I had absolutely no problem with it and highly recommend it.

I tried ART under 4.4 and everything seemed fine. After a few days Pixel Phone butt dialed three different numbers. I reverted to DALVIK and it never happened again.

I have not tried ART under 4.4.4.

... Thom

 

[OhBe1]

Got the update this morning! Like others have said, I'll give it a couple of days before deciding on a FDR.

 

[mad4sax]

2 notes on my upgrade.

1st the messaging app was killing my battery very fast. Previous bug with other versions also. Had this issue before and fixed it.
Now it is OK

2nd my bluetooth message sharing is still not working in my Toyota Grrrrrr.....
Was so hoping this update would fix it and it would work again. :-(

 

[lewwill]

I started using ... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pixelrush.xphonefree&hl=en ... a few months ago under 4.4 and find it to be simply great ... for many reasons. I had absolutely no problem with it and highly recommend it.

I tried ART under 4.4 and everything seemed fine. After a few days Pixel Phone butt dialed three different numbers. I reverted to DALVIK and it never happened again.

I have not tried ART under 4.4.4.

... Thom

I tried ART under 4.4 and 4.4.4 and did not see significant difference either time. I have heard that dalvik may be the better choice until art is improved. I am currently back on dalvik and running great. With everything but the kitchen sink running and no FDR I currently go 16+ hours of moderate to heavy use and back on the TYLT VU with 50-60% remaining. Maxx is a great phone and great battery.

 

[doogald]

2nd my bluetooth message sharing is still not working in my Toyota Grrrrrr.....
Was so hoping this update would fix it and it would work again. :-(

I apologize if you tried this already, but you may want to try deleting and recreating the pairing, definitely on the phone, and in the car, if you can. In the past when I had BT issues after upgrades it always seemed to be better after doing that.

There were definitely BT changes in Android between 4.4 and 4.4.4.

 

[Old Member]

Battery life after FDR better.

 

[speede541]

Ok, help a brother out here...

According to ART Checker (app from Play), I'm still on Dalvik, running 4.4.4.

Link to the steps to switch to ART?

 

[Thom]

Enable Developer Options (see ... Developer Options)

Then go to ... Settings | Developer Options | Run time

... Thom

 

[doogald]

Ok, help a brother out here...

According to ART Checker (app from Play), I'm still on Dalvik, running 4.4.4.

Link to the steps to switch to ART?

Go to settings. If you don't see Developer Options, go to About phone, scroll to the bottom, and tap the Build number field seven time. This will add Developer options to the Settings.

Then, settings / developer options. Make sure that it's toggled on at the top, and then go to "Select runtime" (it will say either Dalvik or ART.) If it says ART, you're already on ART.

 

[speede541]

Roger that, thanks to you both. Switched over and checking it out.