Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus problems via GottaBeMobile
It’s fair to say that when the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone was released towards the end of last year it was one of the most highly awaited phones of the year, running on the latest Android 4.0 ICS operating system. Although it remains a hugely popular handset there have been some concerns and today we want to focus on Verizon Galaxy Nexus problems as issues still appear to be ongoing.
We’ll be looking at three main problems that Galaxy Nexus owners on Verizon are encountering and to get an idea of how widespread these concerns are we’d like to hear from readers about whether they have any of these difficulties. An interesting article on Gotta Be Mobile tells one mans story of owning the Galaxy Nexus for the last 5 months and helps us get an overall picture of some of the problems that owners have been facing.
Adam Mills tells how since he had his Verizon Galaxy Nexus he met with various problems that eventually added up so that he temporarily went back to using an iPhone 3GS. He recently decided to try his Galaxy Nexus again only to find that far from finding an improvement his previous issues seemed to be getting worse. Have you faced any of the problems that Mills is still having?
Firstly, a microphone issue was reported by some users when the phone was first released, whereby the microphone cuts out during calls. Mills notes that this used to happen occasionally with his Galaxy Nexus when he was using it regularly but when he tried out his Galaxy Nexus again it happened every single time he made a call. Within 30 seconds the microphone would cut out.
Another major issue that Mills found was the battery life of his Galaxy Nexus. Although he had already expected the battery life to be average he had dealt with this by purchasing the extended battery but to no avail. He found that the battery life simply dives even though he’s careful not to be running multitudes of apps and not overworking the phone. To add to his woes other Galaxy Nexus owners of his acquaintance find the battery life to be perfectly adequate.
Finally his Galaxy Nexus suffered from random reboots since he first purchased it and when he recently tried it out again for the weekend this occurred three times, even more often than it had happened previously. Other more minor glitches noticed were the speaker volume being low and the phone seeming sluggish. Mills did point out though, that for all its faults he does appreciate the 4G LTE connectivity of his Galaxy Nexus and its HD display.
A software update (4.0.4) is expected for the Galaxy Nexus and there are rumors it could arrive today. If that happens then Mills hopes that many of these issues will be fixed and as the update has been five months in the making we’d also hope that by now Verizon and Google should have found a way to sort out these problems.
We’d like to hear your views on this. Are you a Verizon Galaxy Nexus user and have noticed any of these problems yourself? Do you wonder why it has taken to long to make a software fix available? Have any issues spoilt your enjoyment of your phone or has the phone wowed you enough that you can forgive some glitches? Let us know by sending your comments.
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53 thoughts on “Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus problems via GottaBeMobile”
I been having the same issues. I sent my phone to samsung and they did some test and said the test was sucessful but i am still having these same issues. Also i must have had so many replacements it is very discouraging.Also i hope the update is really coming. It seems like the samsung galaxy nexus at one time it was the phone we all were waiting for and it has so many issues. I feel like the phone is forgotten by Verizon, Google , and Samsung. I believe 4.0.4 when it hits my phone other than that i don t believe it It seems like their has been a cloud around this phone that has been nothing but problems. I wish i would’ve waited to used my upgrade.
micmarno
I have the network drop issue constantly as well…
My data connection gets dropped all the time.
Yes I am and the phones horrible. Looks great, but works horrible.
Bot my Galaxy Nexus in Dec 2011.  Only problem I have is battery life and I use charger at home, in car and in office.  Phone with Google apps  so good I use my laptop less and less.  My immediate service area is wall to wall 4g.  Delay in receiving 4.0.4 is all Verizon.  Next time I plan to buy direct from Google. Â
Here’s what my Nexus is doing now. First the tones for the touchpad on the phone no longer play unless you have headphones in. I cannot have a conversation unless the headphones or speaker is on. Texting or games are not affected (yet). I was told by a Verizon store employee that this is a “known issue” and the fix will be out by months end. Battery life is an ongoing problem but manageable. The tones and functionality of the phone come and go randomly. Very frustrating.
Mike F., Massachusette 5/22/12
Had the phone for several months, I’m a business user so lots of 4G data, lots of time on the phone, lots of time on the web. Â I run business type apps on it, package tracking, contact info, skype, etc.
I’ve not had one issue. Â The microphone has never cut out. Â The reviewer referenced above has a defective phone and should replace it under warranty instead of whining. Â Does he really think that the phone is DESIGNED so that the microphone cuts out during every call? Â That it’s supposed to be that way? Â It’s obviously broken, why talk about it in a review. It would be like negatively reviewing a car based on getting a flat tire.
4G data both to the phone directly and via WI-FI tethering have been flawless, never cut out, never stopped working.
The battery life is an issue, the salesman told me that up front.  It’s a balancing game between a fast processor and huge, bright screen, and thin-ness and lightless.  I purchased an aftermarket higher capacity battery and larger rear cover, one of the two batteries always sits in a charger (usually in my car), the other sits in the phone.  Even with HEAVY use, it would be impossible to drain both batteries in the course of a day. The 20 seconds that it takes to swap batteries and re-boot are a small price to pay for that glorious big screen.  I plan to root the phone and underclock it to slow the processor to increase battery life.  Apple does this on the iPhone, underclocking the 1Ghz processor to 800Mhz to extend battery life.  They advertise a 1Ghz processor but don’t run it at that speed.
The brilliance of the GPS with Google Maps and Navigator in themselves make the phone worth while. Â Price this phone against any GPS. Â Now consider that your POI list is the entire internet via Google, not limited to some directory on a hard drive that you have to pay to update. Â If this phone were only a GPS, with it’s superior functionality, it would be worth the $299 I paid for it. Â You can cache 10 sq. mile map tiles in the phone over WiFi before you leave, so data usage with navigation is almost nothing. Â I have the entire Los Angeles area stored in memory and could add a lot more.
When I read about people whining about incredible technology like this phone, I’m reminded of a Louis CK bit where he quotes spoiled 20- somethings whining about how much airplane travel sucks. Â Really? Â You pay a few hundred dollars, you get to travel at over 500 MPH and get across the country in 5 hours and that sucks? Â Getting cross country in a wagon train, stuck in Donner pass, having to eat your friends to survive sucks. Â Air travel does not suck, nor does any aspect of superphones like this one. Â Stop whining.
Flawed device and or software
Bought this phone for my wife and I. I love it and have not experianced any issues. Even my battery life doesn’t seem any worse than my old HTC Incredible. My wife on the other hand has gone through two phone exchanges and one sim card change all to no avail. She has the network conectivity issue and had to just turn off 4g and stick to 3g. The verizon reps said the update should fix it, if it ever comes out. It’s strange how some people have no issues and others have issues no matter how many times they do an exchange, or switch out their phone. I dont think people are complaining unwarrented, there is am issue, and for those who have it, solving it is not as easy as switching out your phone. Google has had out 4.04 for awhile, they release it to the carriers, who do there own testing. It’s verizon that is the bottle neck. Verizon always seems to take forever to release updates.
I had a bad one at first that would not hold a signal. Constently trying to find a signal would drain the battery fast. Traded it in for a new one and it’s been great ever since. Super fast and beautiful screen. Puts my wifes iPhones4 to shame. I run lots off apps games video and hardly a stutter. Best part of the phone is no Verizon bloatware.
I’ve had similar issues. Extended battery doesn’t last throughout a full day. I get knocked out of apps and sms sporadically when composing messages. Push notifications don’t seem to work much of the time, may be 3rd party app bugs, but my incoming e-mails often stop as well. A soft reboot usually fixes this temporarily. Frustrating, because this is a gorgeous device in many other ways.Â
True enough. Â A great phone in most ways that is absolutely ruined by a few fatal flaws.
Reboots, volume problems, freezes, droo
Piped calls, poor reception…….then there’s ics4.0.2 with horrible fonts, email client, SMS client, camera integration…..design flaws abound. Save yourself the trouble of being on the donkeys ass of a trade war and buy apple or rim
I own the Nexus. Â The biggest issue for me is battery life. Â Honestly, any phone should get more than 6-7 hours under extremely light use. Â If my phone cannot make it through a work day, it has no business being my phone. Â I wish I wouldn’t have gotten the thing.
Agree 100% – for the price it sucks – battery drains even though I have everything turned off -why have the apps/service if you have to keep them turned off
Yes,yes,yes..I have returned this phone 4 times with same issues. So Verizon let me switch, bad idea I went to the DROID Max! The only good this about Max is battery life isn’t comparable to the Nexus.
So what did I do..went back to the Nexus. Phone arrived today just waiting on the battery. I guess I would rather have a phone with a couple of problems than a phone that does nothing at all. Wish me luck on phone number 5
I just got my phone last week and have had a lot of drop signals even if im just on 3g. Im pretty much on 3g all the time seeing my battery life sucks. I can manage to get between 6 ti 7 hours
On a charge. I really like the phone and ICS. Camera has been so so. I guess in ginna havr to root it and get a extended battery.
Oh yeah, love the screen!
on nexus number two, first phone had random reboots, microphone cut outs, and the regular battery sucks when the phone is being used, when nor in use it can go 10 + hours. phone number two fixed 2 of these problems but battery life still blows. Thia phone is absolutely great and with some radio tweaks on the next update and the extended battery that issue should also be dealt with. i would take my nexus over iphone 4s 10 out of 10 times, and my girlfriend who has the 4s agrees with me 100%
i paid 690 $ Â for it in lebanon duty free 2 month ago…i miss my S2.
The Galaxy Nexus is a candy store of functions and features, some of which will drain the battery quickly unless you intelligently manage your power consumption. Â The big screen has less to do with it than the 4G LTE radio and all of the updates that interrupt its “sleep” during standby. Â I found it useful to toggle back to 3G when not surfing. Â I also found it helpful to toggle off of Data Enabled, to consolidate the updates. Â I use Location Services when I’m running GPS, but otherwise toggle it off. Â I also take advantage of Wi-Fi opportunities, run black as my wallpaper, moved glowing desktop icons to other screens, etc.
I used to get a mere 6 hours out of a slim 1850 battery. Â Now, I get more than 12 hours out of it and have clocked as much as 17 hours off of the same anemic battery.
Before discovering the benefits of power management, I upgraded to the 2100 mAh extended battery, and then to the super extended battery, with 3800 mAh. Â I got much better numbers than with the original battery, but not nearly as much as when I started intelligently managing battery life.
So far, I’ve been able to get 28 hours and 20 minutes off of a 3800 mAh battery, and that was with intermittent web searches, GPS usage, camera shots and Facebook photo uploads. Â I passed up a lot of tethering/recharge opportunities – in the car, at the office and at home – in order to let the battery go from 100% to zero. Â I’m at the point now where the length of a single charge makes it hard to run a full cycle between charges.
Those who repeat the battery-life issue are doing so thoughtlessly. Â It has now become a “truth” so engrained that actual experience is ignored in favor of repeating conventional wisdom.
The highest speaker volume is insanely quiet. I can’t hear voice prompts even mounted in the dash holder. I’ve missed numerous texts and calls when I couldn’t hear the ring and didn’t notice the vibration.
I usually have to toggle GPS a couple of times before it will find my current location.
Battery life sucks, but everyone already agrees on that.
Never had any of the random reboots.
If I had to do over I would have picked up the RazrMaxx instead and waited for ICS. they’ll probably get it before we get 4.0.4 anyway.
Two of the features that I was really excited about are unusable. The 3-pin connectors for docking are not used with the Verizon Car Dock and Verizon has blocked NFC transmission while they try to develop the technology which I’m sure they will try to charge us for.
Never had the microphone issue at all. Battery life is a huge headache, but, I DO have 400-500 apps, & with all their various bg processes that’s to be expected. The rebooting is also an issue, however, it happens to me LESS frequently as time goes on; make of that what you will.
The Nexus is a great phone. Remember there are no perfect phones.I can wait for the update. I have more problems with Verizon delivering the updates. Thats what bothers me the most. I thought about just buying a phone straight from Google and maybe I can get what I need for my phone. Other than that the Gallaxcy Nexus is Number One…Enough said
This is just what I’ve been waiting for. I’ve always felt that my Galaxy Nexus wasn’t designed for Humans and inspired by Nature. This solves that problem!
All the problems detective Mills described are spot on for my SGN. If the software doesnt solve these things i guess i will have to get a different phone. Turns out i need a phone to make phone calls!
I’ve never been so displeased with a phone before.  The random reboots alone drive me crazy, but then add on the “speaker” and the crappy antenna…I’m waiting (waiting for Verizon to deliver GN, seems all too familiar)  for the 4.0.4 ota but if that doesn’t fix the antenna issue, i’m going to the Maxx)  I’ll never buy samsung phone again.
Random reboots, poor call quality from the in and out speaker reception and problems with sluggish reaction to touch commands. Sometimes it takes 3-4 touches (and a mash or two) to get the phone to respond to what you’re trying to get it to do.
 same here, just dropped the mic on 2 calls.
My battery life is only fair when in 3g mode. While in 4g LTE I can’t get 6 hours with the extended life battery. If I turn my 4g on my connection drops non stop and I have to reboot to get my phone to look at the network. I suspect that my short battery life is because of the constant network retrains that my phone goes through. Verizon tech support keeps saying wait for the update. As of now I would not recomend this phone to anyone!
 My phone is doing the same. It has difficulty switching back and forth between 3g and 4g LTE. It also shows many error messages, saying “Launcher has stopped”
Ive had mine since january. Workes fine up until about 2 weeka ago. Now battery goea from 100% to dead in under 4 hours…and that is after i uninstalled most apps with no phone calls and just a couple texts. Random reboots as well as freezes during boot sequence. Need to pull battery to use phone.
Absolutely HATE this phone…. Battery ‘dives’ and is dead in 6 hours of no use, 45 mins of active use.   In LTE/CDMA mode it spends most of its time searching for a network.  Rarely do I receive a call and have to spend time to retrieve from vmail.  Â
Seems to work fine in CDMA mode, but I think that just pisses me off more…. Â
And oh, after waiting 5 months for 4.04 to fix, (got the download Friday) ….NO CHANGE.
I’m throwing it away….
I too have suffered through the mic cutting out since I bought my original G-Nex.  I had it replaced with new phone only to have the same problem. Tech support had me mark calls in which this happened by pressing ### send each time it happened.  Their engineer called and said it was a weak signal problem.  I have had this happen in multiple locations, sometimes with full bars, so I know that is not the issue, especially after seeing all the other people having the same exact problem.  I was then told that the 4.04 update would address this problem, but it doesn’t  About the only improvement I have seen with the update is slightly better battery life. I am also still getting random reboots, so that doesn’t seem have been fixed either.  I would really love this phone if not for these issues.  Verizon did offer to replace the phone again with a refurb (which I know won’t make a difference), or to change to the Razor, which in my opinion is not a worthy replacement.  I spent $300 on this thing!  Hopefully when the Samsung S3 is released they will allow me to switch to that phone, but honestly I wish they would just FIX the problems!
Generally like the phone but it only connects to 4g about half of the time. I actually have disabled LTE service so I can use the phone. It actually got worse after the 4.04 update yesterday.
Same exact issue as you. Bought the phone in Jan. Had the occactional 4g drop out on 4.0.2. Ever since the 4.0.4 update, it happens several times a day, and god forbid I actually try using it to stream video. I have to literally reboot the phone for it to regain any internet connectivity.
Oh, and my battery now dies in 6 hours of minimal use, vs. the 12 hours I was getting on 4.0.2 last month.
I have this phone and have had nothing but trouble. I have to charge the batter 3-4 timers daily despite hardly using this phone. This is the worst phone I have ever had. I waited so long to get this phone because it whould ahve been a great phone. Oh how I wished I would have bought the Motorola Razzr.. Now I am stuck with this crappy phone.. and I paid big for it. I just shipped it back to Samsung to have them look at it since it is less than 60 days old… Whatever you do, do not buy this phone… terrible terrible terrible
This is the first smart phone that I have ever purchased and I’m disappointed. I had to disable the LTE network because I would move in and out of the 4g service area and it literally drained the battery. In addition, It would freeze sending pic messages. As an insurance agent, there are times that I need to send info and it was important to get the info in fast. I lose calls frequently. I can hear the callers, however they can’t hear me and all they hear is clicking noise. This has been and issue when I have had to leave messages and become incomplete. This creates additional work to continually to make follow up calls. Then there’s the microphone. The most of the time when I try using the speak to text, it completely wrong. Verizon told me that the last update was suppose to have fixed these issues, but I still have them.Â
I’ve the Galaxy Nexus from Verizon for about a month now. Â I’ve had none of the problems stated above. Â Battery goes down to about 60% after about 10 hours. Â Haven’t let it go down further than that so I can’t say how many hours it gets. Â I’m wondering if this is the Apple propaganda machine.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Proclaim that cuts off during phone calls. I can hear the person that I am talking to but they can’t hear me. I have contacted StraightTalk many times but they do not seem to get the problem fixed. The thing that bothers me is that the StraightTalk support people don’t seem to want to acknowledge that there is a definite problem. I have trouble understanding what they are saying because they use personnel from a foreign country that don’t pronounce English words in an understandable fashion.
Well I have a Nexus and I would live my phone if every call I made didn’t drop. You must have the lucky 1 in a million nexus to work. Congrats.
I HATE THIS PHONE!  In Dec my wife got the Razor and I got this highly anticipated phone — what a piece of junk.  On my third phone, the prior two were replaced.  Random reboots, inability to hold a call, battery drained after a few hours, phone locking, etc.  Basically a very unreliable phone.  Now the regular mic and earpiece aren’t working on this one — have to be on speakerphone to make a call.  I HATE THIS PHONE! I HATE THIS PHONE! I HATE THIS PHONE! Â
And just an update …. I got the replacement phone (certified refurbished) today and turned it on. Â Got busy at work and forgot to actually make a call …. silly me … then when I needed to make a call on the way home guess what had a problem with the mic and earpiece … speaker phone worked. Â So that does it. Â The Nexus is being replaced with a Razr Maxx.
And now my LAST Nexus is making its way back to Verizon. Â The Razr Maxx arrived yesterday, and son of a gun, I could make a phone call with it!
Oh, and 10 hour battery life on the Nexus?  Not on any I’ve had.  My phone will drop 40% just traveling to work in 2 hours and that’s without doing anything except traveling in Chicago.  This phone never met a battery charger it didn’t need.  and did I mention I HATE THIS PHONE! I HATE THIS PHONE! I HATE THIS PHONE!Â
I bought my nexus the first day it came out. I have had nothing but issues with this phone. My biggest issue is my tower bars change from blue to grey. When it does that it want make a call or use the internet. This phone is constantly trying to find a signal and now that we have 4G it seems even worse. The battery is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen in a phone. So I got the extended battery and it’s not much better. A phone of this calibre should have had a great battery from the beginning. Lately I have been having a huge issue with drooped calls. I don’t know if this is a verizon issue or a phone issue. The update changed only the power off screen from what I can tell. Let’s put it this way, as much as this phone was anticipated and for spending $250.00 for it. It is a huge dissapointment! I would like to think the S3 will be better but honestly the past two Samsungs I have had have been complete trash. The only good thing is the screen image, but how long can that keep you impressed when the phone can’t even perform basic functions; Like keep a call.
My Nexus just turned off and won’t turn back on. Last night I was checking my Facebook at a restaurant. I put the phone back in my purse and when I went to leave, I pulled it out of my purse to check my messages. The phone was off, but it was hot and the little white light at the bottom of the phone was blinking. I put it on the charger after I got it and this morning, it still will not turn on…and the little light it still blinking. I’ve only had the phone for 15 days…that really sucks! Anyway, if anyone has ever had something similar to this I’d like to know how you resolved it. Please email me at marialuvsjazz@gmail.com with your wisdom/advice. I’m taking it back to the Verizon Store at lunch today just to see if there is anything that they can do.
Yes, indeed.  I have had 3 replacements, all “certified refurbished”.  Each has had its own special annoyance.  Anything from crackling while trying to speak or hear someone, dropped calls and then the phone shows “unable to make connection” when trying to redial.  I agree with everyone else– the battery sucks!  The interesting thing though, when I speak to a Verizon Agent, they act as though this is the first time they heard of any problems.  They must be taught to act dumb on the subject.  I started thinking after the third replacement–“How many ‘certified refurbished’ phones do they have?  Do they recycle them and hope that the phone works for the next person?”  I did mention to one agent that I felt like I was with AT&T again (poor coverage area in my region)–very frustrated and disappointed in a phone that is expensive.
My Nexus kicks in and out of service. One moment I’ll be freely surfing the web next minute I’ll see a lovely gray X on top of my bars. (No service no signal). I called Verizon and Samsung and they are full aware of this issue but won’t let me know when the next update is to fix the phone. I’ve gotten to the point where I want to just throw the phone out. It drops calls constantly due to the same issue. I love my phone despite all of this but this issue is more than an annoyance…. shouldn’t a phone be able to be used as a phone?All the apps and functions of the phone are useless if I cannot even make a phone call.
I hate the phone it will be in a box going back to verizon asap!! Do not buy
I have had the Galaxy Nexus since the first week of January. Battery life is horrible. I have v 4.04 and still have microphone problems. Every once in a while the speakers will barely work. The wireless wifi signal is terrible. I will be inside my house and lose wifi on the phone. I plan on going back to iphone when contract is up in this phone.
Have had no issues with my nexus! Bought it the day it came out and never dropped a call. Battery is small for HD an LTE, speaker isn’t loud enough..volume app fix!! Seems earlier phones are better than later phones. Where’s Jellybean??
i just got my phone a month ago. i have the 4.0.4 system and have experienced the microphone issues almost whenever i place or receive a call. i called them about it today, and they told me to take out the sim card for a few minutes to “reset” my phone. i will try that, but now, after reading more about this issue, i’m not very hopeful.