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Note to Verizon: This is How You Update Phones

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While it took Verizon almost six months to release a single bug fix update for its Samsung Galaxy Nexus, T-Mobile has gotten its flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One S, updated in less than half of that time.

T-Mobile released the HTC One S, on April 25th. Yesterday, an OTA update that will shore up some of the issues that device owners have been having started to roll out. So, it took T-Mobile a little over a month to get an OTA bug fix update out to owners of a non-Nexus device.

T-Mobile likely had to get the update from HTC. It’s my understanding that Google supplied Verizon with the update directly.

Verizon released the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on December 16th, 2011. Owners had been seeing issues since the phone launched with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Last week, on May 31st, Verizon started to roll out a bug fix update for the device, a little over five months after the device launched.

Read: T-Mobile HTC One S Review.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is no ordinary device either. It’s a Nexus device, a developer device, and one that many owners thought would be updated regularly.

That of course turned out not to be the case.

My point is this. This is how a phone, especially a flagship device, is supposed to be treated. This is how customers, who pay hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for these devices are supposed to be treated.

Bugs are found, they are eliminated. I had been dealing with issues on my Galaxy Nexus since December and I had to wait until June to get a single bug fix update. I also had to wait until the day before it rolled out to hear anything from Verizon. T-Mobile communicated this update to its customers through a webpage.

That tells you a lot about the companies.

So, really, there is no excuse that I can think of other than Verizon had a hard time figuring out how to solve all of the bugs. Well then, why not release a patch in the meantime to keep customers happy?

T-Mobile got it right here and rival carriers should take note.

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Neil

    06/05/2012 at 5:49 pm

    Preach it! Well said.

  2. Hoot Gibson

    06/05/2012 at 6:49 pm

    T-Mobile deserves kudos on this one, but they were just about like Verizon last year, when the released the LG G2X as their flagship, and didn’t “squash” the bugs until the fall.

    Seems like many companies just really don’t understand customer service.

  3. jj

    06/05/2012 at 11:58 pm

    Its taken Tmo SEVEN MONTHS to update their glitchfull Exhibit2from Samsung & the freezing and random turn offs continue…so do a little more research

  4. liversausage

    06/06/2012 at 1:41 pm

    it should also read: “Note to Google: This is how you screw up by giving in to carriers”

  5. fed up

    06/10/2012 at 8:16 pm

    Anyone considering a switch to Verizon should do so only if the network really is substantially better than an alternative.

    I’m the sad owner of a droid x from craptastic Motorola. Don’t get me wrong, I used to love Motorola, have owned four cell phones before this piece of sh*t. Actually, that’s not accurate, since this is my FOURTH Droid x, and it’s the worst of the bunch. Every witness a crime or have an emergency where you need to call 911 ASAP? Yeah, you better hope you don’t have a droid x. Try to use this phone and you’re more likely than not going to find it freezes on the screen lock swipe, which by the way they made mandatory, yeah, they removed the option to not even use a screen lock, idiots. So, you’re in a hurry to call and you end up locked up and have to do a battery pull, takes four full minutes to cycle that to even make the call, then it keeps switching off 3G, then it shuts off mid-call, because apparently, whatever issue you had before the battery pull has caught up and now decides it must clear itself with a restart, without asking, all the while you need to make a call urgently.

    Ok, Motorola and their sh*t phone and sh*t customer service that hides behind the bushes because “that’s an old phone anyway, why not upgrade to the droid maxx?!! Oh and we’re not going to offer upgrades at this point because your phone is so old (freakin’ phone was still UNDER CONTRACT!!) is not the issue at hand. Verizon is the issue. Verizon offered zero help even though they KNEW they were selling craptastic phones. They knew there were a ton of issues with the Motorola (co sucks) droid x phones, in fact, I’ve confirmed from three different techs that they have memos on these phones, internal memos on how to deflect the known issues of the craptastic POS droid x. Fine, can’t really blame them, it’s Motocrapsh*t’s phone, after all. BUT, what’s with Verizon’s inability to even try and bother with coming out with new phones? Seriously, a supposed flaship of the industry is lagging by six months in the new phone category. I need a new phone, I’ve needed a new phone since the day I spend three hundred freakin dollars on some POS Motorola garbage scam BS phone that was never properly tested. Verizon hasn’t come out with a new phone that’s an upgrade in six months. They ruined the Samsung galaxy or whatever it’s called, rounded all the edges, made it look like crap, and that’s been out for many months. What’s next? Not one of their phones makes me want to even spend $50 to replace my POS droid x, even with its issues of black burn spots on the screen that never works unless you’ve done a fresh battery pull. All the other companies have come out with tons of phones, Verizon.. NONE.

    I want a Note, or whatever retarded incarnation and handicapped version verizon comes up with, I’ve heard “Journal,” whatever, won’t happen anyway because they’re too busy trying to count all the dough they’re raping from their customers with the “sure, you can grandfather that plan in,” to “NOpe, we’re going to discontinue your grandfathered unlimited data plan, but you’re still stuck with our plan for the next 1.5 years” BS.

    Unfortunately, my wife upgraded recently to an iphone. Doesn’t matter much though since I’m jumping off the Verizon ship after 15 years. Yeah, they F’d up, and to be honest I’m 10 miles from DC and I’m always only ever getting 1x signal, so why should I be paying for a 4G? Verizon likes to toot their own horn, makes me wonder why in such a metro area where average houses cost $900k they would have trouble delivering a simple 3G.

    • Sploosh

      06/19/2012 at 3:50 pm

      Now, now
      The Droid X isn’t that bad I mean it doesn’t crash and reboot on you in the middle of an important call…
      Okay, being serious for a moment, yeah I have to agree, it’s a POS. It’s bad enough that it lags just trying to perform a simple task like answer an email, but now it can’t even make a call without dying.

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