mobile

The long awaited Lollipop update for Samsung Note 4 is here. For some of us. Maybe it could have waited a bit longer; especially the Developer Edition group who suffers some minor setbacks at the moment... But developers are hard at work trying to snuff out a bug dealing with the brightness control, affected by the reflash of the aboot.mbn (the file we use to put the Note 4 in Developer mode - a.k.a. unlocked), as well as fighting the new Lollipop architecture and compatibility of some applications, including but not limited to xposed framework / modules, and some other not-ready-for-Lollipop-prime-time applications (requiring root, and some not...)

But, while there are a few approaches to getting LP on those devices and keeping the developer option - I wish to report at least my take on Lollipop. I like it. I like it very much. My initial "road test" seems to be quite positive...

I will list the no-so-good items I found so far, which are just a few;

1. As stated above, yes I suffer the lack of brightness control too, where the device stays @ 100% brightness all the time. the other part of that is, if you try and adjust the lighting profile like dynamic, cinema, and or photo etc, it also does not work - I think from the same issue.

2. I also want to report that even with the battery cover off, during all the flashing, my unit got quite hot and reported overheating... but, since the flashing completed, the unit get's a tad warmer (that's my perception) now and then, but in either case, the battery life seems unaffected by it - which is good....

3. Lastly the app installations go a bit slower than KK in my opinion, sometimes a lot slower. But, once installed, and running, all is ok...

So, the "road test" - this is based on a developer version, with the OTA of LP, which hit our devices, just like non-developers - same day.

The noticeable benefits:

1. The phone boots quicker. definitely an improvement over KK

2. Major change in Hardware GPS performance and accuracy. The acquisition is similar to KK, but the accuracy is far better than KK even JB, for sure - Using GPS Test Plus, I get consistent 10ft accurace, whereas before, in KK / JB, it'd get to 10ft every so often, yet seemed to bounce between 13ft and 16ft most of the time... I'm very happy bout this.

3. Bluetooth sync / paring - It was like I had a whole new phone, faster sync, it actually found my speakerphone without me having to make the unit visible, nice...

4. Using TWRP, backups to the internal sdcard0 were 94 seconds to completion, and that was with TWRP, SuperSU, and Root Explorer installed. The best time, after I de-bloated the phone, removing a bucketload of Samsung apps, Some Google, Some Verizon, Virtually all Location Service Software (I'll explain briefly later) and a great handful of applications - brought the TWRP backup time to just 72 seconds - just amazing!!!!

5. DE bloating went smooth, no app stoppages upon reboot, pretty dang clean... Aside from SuperSU and Root Explorer, I was down to about 18 visible apps - "The Naked Lollipop!!"

6. I think I am seeing an improvement on fast charge, if anything, it's not getting worse, which is great...

7. I like the whole UI / UX of Lollipop better than the other OS's, more ergonomic, more notifying, flatter look n feel - but, maybe it's me, cause it's new...

8. Native Call Recording works great (have to be rooted) - this is an app flashable if rooted, not associated w / xposed. General phone use seems to be cool - still getting used to the end button in the middle of the screen...

I have not tried a full audio / video / media test yet, on fidelity etc... that will be a bit later on...

What is everyone's experience with LP, rooted / non-rooted etc.?