Some SGS2 problems could be device specific? Maybe? Post your findings... - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, I have recently come back to an SGS2 after dumping one after they first came out. The reason for me was terrible battery life, the 3G, H, H+ switching lockup issue, and poor GPS performance. At the time I think the most recent firmware was XXKE4. My original phone was originally on 3, which I de-branded and upgraded every time a newer version of firmware got released, after a couple of weeks use I noticed a duff pixel, so re-branded, took it back and swapped it for another, did the same customisation and it was still no good, I could be wrong, but I think the received signal strength was worse on the second one too. In any case the aforementioned issues still remained. In the end I got rid of it and went for a HTC sensation.
This proved, ultimately, to be a bad choice, what with all the dust issues, and an even bigger battery life problem than the SGS2, also, despite popular belief, i think the build quality of the SGS2 is better, sensation is horrible and creaky. Anyway, I ended up getting all disappointed with dual-core phones, and went back to my trusty old LG optimus one for a bit of normality. Eventually tho, I got the opportunity to own an SGS2 again, and I crumbled..
Now, I have an SGS2, I was immediately greeted with a software update, which I did, to XWKG4, still 3 branded, only mod was insecure kernel, root, reflash standard kernel. That's it.
Now I have no 3G, H, H+ switching issues, it takes its time sometimes but never gets completely stuck like it used to, GPS is better, Signal strength is actually good, no browser flash crashes, and most impressive, even set up as it was before with multiple push email, whatsapp, skype running constantly, twitter, constant syncing, wifi on all the time, gps on all the time, no battery saving at all, it's using about 4% an hour in standby. Which I think is pretty darn good. In fact, I can't find anything to complain about.
Seems to me, some of these problems could be related to individual handsets, so i'm keeping this one, and not gonna be messing with any ROM's either.
Anyone else got one that "just seems to work"?

Pink spot on camera is my only problem, playing with white balance almost solves this. I get 10 - 12hrs heavy use, 36hrs medium use and 48ish hrs light use. all with wifi on constantly, gps on, emails on push. no signal issues, no yellow or blue tint on screen. sound through headphones is great on power amp, never used stock player, no wake up lag. from reading on here we may be the lucky ones tho, either that or the other happy people don't bother posting
Btw I'm on unbranded voda UK, kf3, stock Rom without root

My wifi keeps dropping out. It'll work for 10 minutes and then stop completely yet still show bars of signal. Latest firmware i've used is KG3. I've now taken it in to be fixed.

No Probs with wifi here, seems to work just fine. Actually, just had my first issue, although nothing major, was using the built in email app, just went to reply to an email and it kept insisting that it was an unrecognized email address, wouldn't let me reply, so just binned it and gone back to using Gmail.

Had 2 phones from O2 in the UK and both have poor in call volume through the headset.
Music volume is fine. I think it uses different hardware for voice calls? Which means it might not be fixable via firmware. I'll make do tho cause everything else is smashing!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

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[Q] Sluggish Performance

I apologize now for the long explanation but feel the info is needed.
I had a replacement phone in March so I could root and after that all was good, I finally in May got frustrated with my lead bunker of a house and no cell signal so I got a Verizon Network Range Extender (Samsung). After I got it and a week of getting it working right my cell signal hasn't been the same, I know the bar graph isn't an accurate representation of the signal so I was watching the Db levels and the fact when I was in the middle of town in the open I had one or no bars and a -104 signal.
After Kaos and Conap got Froyo up and usable I tried using the ROM's but after a week the phone would be so unresponsive it would take literally 5 minutes to find a number and dial it. I would miss calls all the time and constantly would have to reboot. I was at first trying 768 on the OC but eventually stepped it down to 710. I have tried KaosFroyo V19-33 with no luck, each update I do has less and less time between flashing and when it becomes unresponsive. I have Tried CLEB 1.6-2.4 same thing. The only ROM that I can use with the best results is Plain_JaneT2 OC'd at 710.
I currently still have cell reception issues and sluggishness on most ROM's, I am on the current 4.27 radio and have formatted several times the SD card to start with a blank slate. I am not using swap or ext3 for AP2SD. I have unrooted and rerooted 2 times. This phone was pre legit 2.1 OTA.
Not sure what I did or what to do next to get it back in order
morphius2036 said:
I apologize now for the long explanation but feel the info is needed.
I had a replacement phone in March so I could root and after that all was good, I finally in May got frustrated with my lead bunker of a house and no cell signal so I got a Verizon Network Range Extender (Samsung). After I got it and a week of getting it working right my cell signal hasn't been the same, I know the bar graph isn't an accurate representation of the signal so I was watching the Db levels and the fact when I was in the middle of town in the open I had one or no bars and a -104 signal.
After Kaos and Conap got Froyo up and usable I tried using the ROM's but after a week the phone would be so unresponsive it would take literally 5 minutes to find a number and dial it. I would miss calls all the time and constantly would have to reboot. I was at first trying 768 on the OC but eventually stepped it down to 710. I have tried KaosFroyo V19-33 with no luck, each update I do has less and less time between flashing and when it becomes unresponsive. I have Tried CLEB 1.6-2.4 same thing. The only ROM that I can use with the best results is Plain_JaneT2 OC'd at 710.
I currently still have cell reception issues and sluggishness on most ROM's, I am on the current 4.27 radio and have formatted several times the SD card to start with a blank slate. I am not using swap or ext3 for AP2SD. I have unrooted and rerooted 2 times. This phone was pre legit 2.1 OTA.
Not sure what I did or what to do next to get it back in order
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i cant attest for the network extender but i have noticed if the rom has an overclocked kernal and i use setcpu it turns into a slugg real quick especially with autokiller installed. u might just try a rom and not overclock it and and uninstall autokiller that is if you have that..
Are you using the setcpu widget? That messes things up quite a lot. The degradation in performance is enough that you'll have to pull the battery waking up, even when you're overclocking to 768mhz.
No I never use that I just go on the hopes that the OC is working but I wasn't aware that the OC Kernel and the Autokiller was an issue. May give that a try.
Usually the sluggishness is there but not terribly bad but I am lazy after I flash a new rom and don't set up my screens or apps for a couple of days so that may be the reason there is a window of time that the performace isn't teribble and tollerable but as soon as I do a SetCPU it goes out the window.
Thanks for the advice, just wish you had something for my cell signal.
I don't know about the extender. But yeah don't use the widget. What settings do you use for SetCPU? You may want to call Verizon for the extender.
Ok so day 2 of CELB 2.6 and all is good I didn't go to SetCPU and I noticed when I put the Facebook widget on the screen things got somewhat slow so I took it off. Still have some slow response in the app drawer but that may be from my screen replacement. It is a Verizon screen not a third party but don't know.
As for signal I am just going to suck it up and wait till August and get a newer phone.
Thanks for all the ideas
I would remove setcpu altogether and maybe try a different rom just to be safe.
Sent from my BLACK RAIN V2 using Tapatalk

[Q] Capacitive buttons pushing themselves?

Hi all,
So this issue started really becoming annoying on my Fascinate with 2.2 but for awhile now, it's had this issue where I won't be touching any of the capacitive buttons on the bottom but the phone will start vibrating and acting like some of them are getting pushed. Now with 2.2, it's even more annoying because that sometimes makes it so when I go to turn off the screen, it takes a screenshot and makes the camera sound, sometimes at awkward times!
Anyway, are other people having issues with their buttons or have I dropped my Fascinate too many times?
And is there a way to disable the screenshot thing in 2.2?
Thanks!
PS. I should mention that I've been on a lot of different ROMs and had this happen, so it's not isolated to a specific one...
I've had the same problem on every rom including stock. It seems to only happen when I have a poor 3G signal, never happens while on wifi.
yeah it happens to me.
to get rid of the screen shot (i found out cuz it straight pissed me off) you go into system/app and delete screen capture.apk (not the exact name but it has screen capture in it)
that well help with that
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I've had the same problem on multiple ROMs with and without WiFi connected. It seems to be my search button that gets triggered the most.
I haven't noticed it happening for the last few days with my current setup (Comm 1.2 + ED01 + Xtreme Green) but it was very random so that probably doesn't mean much.
I do notice that it happens more when my phone is in the media or car dock as well.
****ty touchwiz glitches lol
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
jt1134 said:
****ty touchwiz glitches lol
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it certainly is worse because of touchwiz but I'm pretty sure if I recall, last time I tried something non-touchwiz, the buttons still acted flakey...
Also, I have had bad signal where I am today and I swear the buttons have been worse than usual @AlgorithmX
so annoying/weird
AlgorithmX said:
I've had the same problem on every rom including stock. It seems to only happen when I have a poor 3G signal, never happens while on wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I've narrowed it down to poor 3G signal as well. I was out in the woods at a Retreat recently and had the capacitive buttons pressing themselves problem. As soon as I entered an area with strong 3G signals, it stopped. Now that I am at home with full 3G signal, I don't get it at all.
Sooo obvious question: why the hell would 3g reception affect the buttons?
Do you guys use mini info? I've noticed that it only seems to occur when I have that installed...
yea this happens to me all the time in a bad service area, bouncing around from 3g, 1x, and no signal. Running the evil fascination 3.4.2 with OTB 1.3 kernel. I don't think my setup is to blame i noticed this with the last superclean in the same bad service area. Not using miui info either
I had this problem as well but it never really seemed related to signal. It would sometimes happen on different roms and kernels I would use, but not all of them. I haven't had it happen while being on ED01 and the CommRom, so I'm not sure.
My other guess is that it might be the softkey press lagging and then pressing seconds after touching them.
I had the same problem with the back button. It happened across all ROMs and even stock. I exchanged the phone out and the new one never did it. Then i dropped that one and broke the screen and had it switched again and that one doesn't do it either.
virtualvenom said:
I had the same problem with the back button. It happened across all ROMs and even stock. I exchanged the phone out and the new one never did it. Then i dropped that one and broke the screen and had it switched again and that one doesn't do it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting...this is my original fascinate purchased shortly after launch, I wonder if the problem is isolated to the early run of them?
cj1171 said:
Interesting...this is my original fascinate purchased shortly after launch, I wonder if the problem is isolated to the early run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got mine about a week after launch.
You may be on to something. I got mine on launch day.
I got mine in early october I think and just today it started doing it so bad it made the phone unusable. it took me 6 tries to get into the xda app.
the issue started recently, and right now I'm in school and its never done it in here before.
I guess it may be linked to the recent connection issues? it has definitely gotten worse, I can't even watch a youtube video now.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Have always had this issue. It certainly seems to be more noticeable in weak signal areas. I relate it to like a computer freezing up and storing commands and then when it unfreezes a barrage of button presses is released further screwing up the queue for the CPU. (And obviously causing other issues, like "stuck" touches)
I've always found that on this phone when the radios are switching on/off or to another type of service. 3g/1x the phone lags out pretty good.
I have this problem since 2.2 update. It seems to be a known problem for samsung galaxy s. Other vibrant (I9000) seems to receive softkey firmware upgrade to fix the bug.
mzrdisi said:
Have always had this issue. It certainly seems to be more noticeable in weak signal areas. I relate it to like a computer freezing up and storing commands and then when it unfreezes a barrage of button presses is released further screwing up the queue for the CPU. (And obviously causing other issues, like "stuck" touches)
I've always found that on this phone when the radios are switching on/off or to another type of service. 3g/1x the phone lags out pretty good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a great explanation and I think is near the mark. I think the phone lags in poor signal areas and stores up the button presses. Mine hasn't done it once now that I'm at home in a major 3g area.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
Do you have a link to more information on a firmware fix for other galaxy s models? I had my phone replaced under warranty because of this and now the new one is doing the same. It's really bad in low signal areas. Verizon said it's a hardware issue the first time around.
I think it may also have to do with third party chargers. Are others with this issue using generic chargers? I read an explanation somewhere that the screen is caused to short out due to increased charge rates.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

[Q] Any major problems with this phone?

I have an SGS1 now. Considering upgrading due to unfixable lag with it. Is the SGS2 free from major problems?
Experience may vary .. but for me, after 1 week (coming from HD2), it's a dream phone. Biggest problem seems to be battery life. My is comparable to HD2, but some people have considerate problems with it.
Battery life (fixable - there are some rogue processes that eat it up), banding (16bit color instead of 24bit - fixable, driver issue).
phone gets very hot when gaming, radio is a bit f***ed in that sometimes you cannot get the internet to work when going from wireless to 3g (workaround is to toggle flight mode, bit annoying to be honest). some are experiencing a yellowish left side of the screen, though i personally do not have that problem.
all in all it's a good phone with a few quirks, but comparing to sgs1, (had it previously as well) i must say that it is quite a leap in the right direction.
speaking of lag on sgs1, have you updated to 2.3.3? i gave the phone to my mom and installed 2.3.3 and the lag is almost gone to be honest.
My Wifi signal seems week ?
andrej.marinic said:
phone gets very hot when gaming, radio is a bit f***ed in that sometimes you cannot get the internet to work when going from wireless to 3g (workaround is to toggle flight mode, bit annoying to be honest). some are experiencing a yellowish left side of the screen, though i personally do not have that problem.
all in all it's a good phone with a few quirks, but comparing to sgs1, (had it previously as well) i must say that it is quite a leap in the right direction.
speaking of lag on sgs1, have you updated to 2.3.3? i gave the phone to my mom and installed 2.3.3 and the lag is almost gone to be honest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have 2.3.3. but lag returns after a while...
OP, go visit a few forums for phones that have recently been released. The new question isn't "are there any major problems?", but "which major problems should I investigate?" I would challenge any existing SGS2 user to point out a dual-core phone that has fewer issues. You'll find "different" issues, but not "fewer." For now, for me, there's no phone currently out that I'd replace the SGS2 with.
And OP, the direct answer to your question is find the threads on display banding, Wi-FI performance, GPS, 2/3/4G radio, audio, camera, and battery life and if, based on your needs, you're OK with what's been discussed you should be fine.
OP, just read across this board and see! No need for a new thread.
Had it for a few days. My wifi works fine, no light leaking out of the sides, battery life is normal for an Android smartphone. I don't notice any banding (and I'm not going to go looking for it).
Coming from a Nexus One it's a massive upgrade. Couldn't be happier with it (aside from the loudspeaker quality, iPhone 4 is better in this regard).
By all means take the plunge. It's the best phone currently on the market.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
I have to keep resetting my internet connection (Go into Airplane mode, and out) as it seems to get stuck when switching from H(SDPA?) to 3G...
I'd say it's a major... but only effects a few people, it seems.
Cralis said:
I have to keep resetting my internet connection (Go into Airplane mode, and out) as it seems to get stuck when switching from H(SDPA?) to 3G...
I'd say it's a major... but only effects a few people, it seems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which network are you using? It could be an issue on the provider's end! I am on Telstra NextG and find that the issue occurs only in certain areas. I believe it is very tower-dependant as I can go into areas where it flips between 3G and HSPDA+ many many times without fail and then I can get into an area which I assume have not been upgraded and I will end up with the phone stuck in one of the two modes and not be able to transfer data.
I really want this phone when it comes to Canada. The issues seem either minor or limited to small percentage of units. No different than the SGS1 or any piece of technology for that matter. Defective units do make it out the door, that is why there are warranty and return periods.
As to the issue some of you guys are having with loss of data signal, the SGS1 had an issue while on Eclair where when you were in a no signal area the phone would totally freeze and you would have to reboot. It's been fixed since Froyo along with many other bugs.
Enjoy your phone, I hope to join ya'll in the not too distant future.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
I am assuming the connectivity issue people are having is with the "up arrow" constantly lit up but not the down arrow. This problem I have seen in every single android handset I have used (G1, Optimus T, SGS1, and of course, the SGS2). The only common denominator is that I have used all of them while on T-Mobile USA's network. It almost always happens when I am in areas with spotty reception, or in other words, instances when I lose signal, momentarily.
However, that isn't the biggest issue for me. I bought the SGS2 to play the Gameloft games I bought on my SGS1, and I can tell you right now that this is the biggest shock to me when I did get my SGS2: none of my Gameloft games work (Asphalt 6, MC2, NOVA2, Eternal Legacy). Although I am finding out more and more about why this is the case now, this was not something I saw coming in the research I've done leading up to my purchase of this phone. 2D games seem to work fine, but if you intend to play 3D games on this phone, I suggest running some searches here with the the name of a game-in-question to see if there are any threads already about its compatibility with the SGS2.
That being said, I do not regret buying this phone one bit. It is hands down the smoothest Android experience I have ever had. I cannot slow this phone down even when I tried, and I am a very heavy user--I can drain my Vibrant's battery in under 3 hours, with di.fm playing while I use feedly and the browser while talking on beejive. This phone can handle that with no slowdown, and last much longer than my Vibrant to boot. I've actually gotten through a full workday with this usage pattern, on a single charge. This is the first phone to last me through an entire day. Even my iPhone needed charging mid-day.
Sleepycat3 said:
Which network are you using? It could be an issue on the provider's end! I am on Telstra NextG and find that the issue occurs only in certain areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have just ported to Telstra, from Three ... and the whole train trip home has been perfect. On 3, I had to restart 3 or 4 times.
So, yeah, seem Telstra is OK.
borchgrevink said:
I have an SGS1 now. Considering upgrading due to unfixable lag with it. Is the SGS2 free from major problems?
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Click to collapse
SGS1 does not lag with almost any recent roms. Major problem for me is that it dont have voodoo sound. A MAJOR problem that lol
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jay_993 said:
SGS1 does not lag with almost any recent roms. Major problem for me is that it dont have voodoo sound. A MAJOR problem that lol
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Hehe, well mine lags on every rom I've tried.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Galaxy s2
That was the biggest pile of junk i had ever owned. In 5 months the charging port quit working. In 8 months power botten failed. So then, all the phone would do is boot over and over. Completly usless.

[Q] A2DP and Mobile Data problem with official ICS ROM

Hey guys! This is my first post on XDA, though I've been using it for quite a while.
I'm not exactly looking for answers/solutions, but rather sharing my problem and see if someone else is having them too.
I have a Latin American version of the I91000 (TTT). I recently upgraded to ICS using the official firmware from Samfirmware (UHLPE). At first everything looked great. The performance improvement was noticeable from the first bootup. Not only was it faster, but the intro video was far smoother and looked nicer. The general UI changes are very nice, and I did notice an improvement in battery life.
However, I've been experiencing a couple of glaring issues that really mared the experience enough to make me want to go back to Gingerbread, which I will probably do.
These are the problems:
1. The mobile data connection is very unstable. Sometimes it just doesn't load anything, and sometimes I lose the signal altogether. The 3G/H/H+ icon disappears and all. I never had this problem in GB during the 6 months I've had this phone.
2. The Bluetooth audio connection also has problems. It's now more unstable and susceptible to interference, and the lag is also much more noticeable now. It was about .5 seconds before, but now it's more than a full second.
But that's not the worst issue. The media remote control functions just stopped working altogether, namely, the |<< , >>| , >/|| buttons on my headset. I have a Nokia BH505 Bluetooth headset, and I didn't have any of these problems before either.
So that's it. I would like to know if someone else is experiencing one or both of these issues. I'll also check the Samfirmware forums to look for replies on the matter. Thank you for your feedback.

Modem/Radio issue or hardware issue?

Just got my new Redmi Note 3 Pro (kenzo) last week. Decided to jump onto a custom ROM after using MIUI for a few days. Here's what I've done:
1. Official bootloader unlocked
2. Installed alka TWRP
3. Wipe all partitions
4. Installed CM13 Radios.zip , then installed official CM13 ROM + OpenGapps + SuperSU
Booted into the ROM fine, used it for a few days and everything works well (including fingerprint). Problem is, I keep getting orange/yellow/red signal bars under battery stats. It's not constantly either. If I leave the phone at the same spot, the signal fluctuates between orange and light green constantly. The entire cellular network signal under my battery graph looks like a traffic light.
I'm not using LTE, just standard 3G. I get about -85db to ~91db, which is high. At the same spot on a different phone (also on 3G), I get about -75db (the lower the better). The thing is, on my kenzo, the signal bar is usually full or almost full, so I don't understand why the signal is so bad. So I thought, maybe I just need to flash another radio/modem. I then took the official MIUI 7.x ROM and flashed the NON-HLOS.bin via fastboot, but the result is still the same.
I've tested a different ROM as well, but same result. I don't seem to have any issues with call qualities and battery seems to be OK and unaffected by this. Not sure if it's a bug (unlikely, as I've tested both a CM and AOSP ROM), or perhaps an issue with the modem/radios or more likely a hardware fault with my phone? Someone else reported this issue as well, but apparently it works fine for them on ZephyrOS or something (I haven't tested this).
I must also point out that while I was on stock MIUI, I don't see any bad signals on my phone. It's always green.
Anyone?
Hi, I'm the one who posted it works on Zephyr. But it doesn't, actually. I solved this problem by putting it on airplane mode, waiting ~10secs and the problem stops(mostly, if it didn't, try again). You can check in *#*#4636#*#*, it doesn't drop to -113dBm. I thought it might not drain battery but I'm on ressurection remixed and there's a phone idle drain of about 131mAh.
Hi mate, thanks for your reply.
I've noticed that as well, tried putting it in airplane mode and then back to normal mode, the signal seems to be a lot more stable. My phone has never went to -113dBm though, just averaging high -80dbm ~ -95dbm. I've noticed that if you hold the phone with your left hand, the signal is much better. I think this may be similar to iPhone 4's signalgate issue, where the modem chip/band is sitting at a bad spot that is blocked depending on how you hold the phone. Disappointing to be honest.....but anyway, signal seems to be stable so far on the leaked 5.1 Qualcomm AOSP ROM. Same thing on MIUI.
Update:
BTW, it's not just the phone signal, even GPS is affected as well. When I'm inside buildings, I can't get any GPS signal at all using Device Only. If I select High Accuracy (which uses GPS and WiFi for fetching signals), I can then lock on a signal. In other words, the Device Only option (which solely relies on GPS itself) will fail when I'm inside buildings. This tells me that the chip for fetching phone and GPS signals is either crap, or that Xiaomi has packaged them in a bad layout design or position within the phone. It doesn't matter what ROM I try, the result is the same. Even using apps like FasterGPS (which downloads the gps.conf file for your country) doesn't help.
However, it's not really a big deal. I can get a lock on the GPS signal inside buildings if I use High Accuracy. Once a signal is locked, I can then switch back to Device Only and GPS will continue to work. Also, when I'm outside of the building, I can get a fast lock on using Device Only straight away, so it's not really a problem. It's just that compared to my Galaxy S5 (a 2 year old phone), the Redmi Note 3 doesn't seem much better. I know it's a budget phone, but the specs of the phone should be a lot better than my 2 year old S5.
One last thing I should point out is that the building I'm in isn't a big building with multiple floors. It's actually a small house and I get about -75dbm for my phone signal. So it's not like I'm in a bad spot with no reception. GPS just doesn't work well when you're inside a house/building on this phone.

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