Verizon crippled a great phone - Verizon Motorola Droid Turbo Q&A, Help & Troublesh

No way to add or remove Quick Settings tiles.... Voice Mail notifications force you to Visual Voice Mail ($$) with no way to change it to *86 and three steps to clear the damn notification.
And don't even get me started about the trip back to the 90's with voice OR data.
Customer service rep says, "This phone doesn't do VoLTE"
Me, "Umm, *ever*? Or just until it's setup?"
Long pause, "...I don't know"
So ridiculous. I was really excited about getting this phone, but without root to at least put back all (any) of the standard Android features that even most VZW phones have, I'm going to end up returning this thing and going back to my S4.
What a waste. This had such potential but it's been ruined once again by VZW and their sick need to drain every penny out of their customers.
If I've missed something obvious about anything above, feel free to correct me. I have no trouble eating my words if I can get some of these really annoying things corrected.

rpitera said:
No way to add or remove Quick Settings tiles.... Voice Mail notifications force you to Visual Voice Mail ($$) with no way to change it to *86 and three steps to clear the damn notification.
And don't even get me started about the trip back to the 90's with voice OR data.
Customer service rep says, "This phone doesn't do VoLTE"
Me, "Umm, *ever*? Or just until it's setup?"
Long pause, "...I don't know"
So ridiculous. I was really excited about getting this phone, but without root to at least put back all (any) of the standard Android features that even most VZW phones have, I'm going to end up returning this thing and going back to my S4.
What a waste. This had such potential but it's been ruined once again by VZW and their sick need to drain every penny out of their customers.
If I've missed something obvious about anything above, feel free to correct me. I have no trouble eating my words if I can get some of these really annoying things corrected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Press and hold 1 to access your voicemail if you don't wanna use VVM. And yes no voice+data does suck..but it is what it is...and yes..most of the VZW reps at Cust service are morons Lol I work for the Verizon Indirect Side so I know very well lol anything else??

rpitera said:
No way to add or remove Quick Settings tiles.... Voice Mail notifications force you to Visual Voice Mail ($$) with no way to change it to *86 and three steps to clear the damn notification.
And don't even get me started about the trip back to the 90's with voice OR data.
Customer service rep says, "This phone doesn't do VoLTE"
Me, "Umm, *ever*? Or just until it's setup?"
Long pause, "...I don't know"
So ridiculous. I was really excited about getting this phone, but without root to at least put back all (any) of the standard Android features that even most VZW phones have, I'm going to end up returning this thing and going back to my S4.
What a waste. This had such potential but it's been ruined once again by VZW and their sick need to drain every penny out of their customers.
If I've missed something obvious about anything above, feel free to correct me. I have no trouble eating my words if I can get some of these really annoying things corrected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give "YouMail" a shot for your voicemail. I love it. No more dialing to hear messages...
And yes. Verizon is very annoying. Gotta pay for hotspot if you have unlimited data. Even then they only let you use 2gb over the hotspot a month. Love the phone...just praying for root or unlocked bootloader to put the icing on the cake
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

Google voice for visual voicemail. Volte fix is incoming. Android doesn't natively have editable quick settings tiles as i know of.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

rpitera said:
No way to add or remove Quick Settings tiles.... Voice Mail notifications force you to Visual Voice Mail ($$) with no way to change it to *86 and three steps to clear the damn notification.
And don't even get me started about the trip back to the 90's with voice OR data.
Customer service rep says, "This phone doesn't do VoLTE"
Me, "Umm, *ever*? Or just until it's setup?"
Long pause, "...I don't know"
So ridiculous. I was really excited about getting this phone, but without root to at least put back all (any) of the standard Android features that even most VZW phones have, I'm going to end up returning this thing and going back to my S4.
What a waste. This had such potential but it's been ruined once again by VZW and their sick need to drain every penny out of their customers.
If I've missed something obvious about anything above, feel free to correct me. I have no trouble eating my words if I can get some of these really annoying things corrected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is a little over dramatic. I hardly think that these issues ruin the phone.
I know it should work out of the box, but the beauty of android is that there is more than one option. If you dont like the default voicmail use somthing like Google voice. You talk about a trip back to the 90s. I would say using default VZW voicemail falls in this category.
The data and phone issue is dumb, but it is confirmed they will be fixing it. They will also be enabling VoLTE at the same time. Im pretty sure it will be one of the first devices with VoLTE support.
Customizable tiles is not a stock android feature. Only custom ROMs have this at the moment. Other maufacturers might have added this, im not sure if TouchWiz allows it. As far as im concerned I would rather be missing this feature than dealing with God awful TouchWiz.

Visual Voice Mail opt out
One of the first things I did while setting up my phone was to go into Apps and disable all Verizon apps. When I dialed *86 to set up my voice mailbox I went through the set up procedure and then hung up. After I hung up I received the notification for Visual Voice Mail. I tapped the notification, but when it asked me to Continue on the set up screen I hit the Home button. Then I pulled down the notification bar, it read "tap here to continue Visual Voice Mail setup". Instead I hit the X that clears all my notifications. Now my voice mailbox is set up and I didn't have to sign up for Visual Voice Mail. When I get a voicemail in my notifications it goes to *86. Hope this helps. Also, as far as Talk and Surf and VoLTE, all reviews I've read plus the Day 1 update we received, have indicated we will have that capability by the end of the year. I can wait a month for that.

I found out last night from Verizon that they won't sell this phone in Alaska until the update for VoLTE happens (something to do with roaming charges otherwise. Didn't make any sense to me but I didn't want to sit and argue with them when it wouldn't change the fact they didn't have any Turbos). Which as others have said is in the next month or two. As for visual voicemail, I use PF Voicemail on my Nexus 5 and while the UI is dated, it works well (on AT&T/Straight Talk). As for editing quick settings, that will be a stock feature of Lollipop, so again, hopefully in a two to three months the Turbo will have that feature too.
Sounds like most of your issues are/will be fixable. It just depends on if you're willing to wait. By the time I can buy this phone in Alaska hopefully these issues plus root will be achieved. Or else maybe an AT&T variant will be announced by then.

hongkongph00ey said:
One of the first things I did while setting up my phone was to go into Apps and disable all Verizon apps. When I dialed *86 to set up my voice mailbox I went through the set up procedure and then hung up. After I hung up I received the notification for Visual Voice Mail. I tapped the notification, but when it asked me to Continue on the set up screen I hit the Home button. Then I pulled down the notification bar, it read "tap here to continue Visual Voice Mail setup". Instead I hit the X that clears all my notifications. Now my voice mailbox is set up and I didn't have to sign up for Visual Voice Mail. When I get a voicemail in my notifications it goes to *86. Hope this helps. Also, as far as Talk and Surf and VoLTE, all reviews I've read plus the Day 1 update we received, have indicated we will have that capability by the end of the year. I can wait a month for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an immense help! Thanks so much! BTW, love the nym; one of my favorite cartoons from when I was a kid...☺

Related

!IDEA! Voicemail App

I woke up yesterday morning and had an idea for an app...
Now im not a coder so im not sure how easy it would be but im thinking alot of it should be pretty simple.
Now to the core of the app.
My thoughts are for an app that goes and retrieves your voicemail and saves it as a mp3 on your phone.
1. When a message is recieved from a certain number the app is triggered
2. The app starts recording the voice mail that is left.
3. (this is the tricky part) detect when the voicemail has finish and send the no. to delete the message. For my voicemail i press 3 to delete the messages.
4. Hang up the call and save the message to your phone.
Now there is a few reasons behind this.
It will save on money for some people, as i know here in Aus some companies charge to ring your voicemail no. So this app could download it and you could listen to it as much as possible.
If its important you could save it off to your computer or email to someone else to listen to.
As i said im not a coder but i thought this might be a good idea for someont o look into. Would have been good for the ADC2 but entries have finished for that now.
Anyway if any developers want to run with this go a head.
Great idea! But it has already been done. Check the market
seriously, lol
Whats the name of it
Thanks for the heads up
pf fusion voicemail, youmail I think, tmobile visual voicemail. I personally use pf fusion visual voicemail. It saves the messages to your sd card, has a nice user interface, and also backs them up to their server so you can retrieve them online.
lookout4theyeti said:
pf fusion voicemail, youmail I think, tmobile visual voicemail. I personally use pf fusion visual voicemail. It saves the messages to your sd card, has a nice user interface, and also backs them up to their server so you can retrieve them online.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
youmail does exactly the same thing. in addition to that, if you buy a youmail premium subscription (they have several levels depending on how many voicemails you regularly get) you can get the voicemails transcribed to text and displayed as well.
another one to add to the list is google voice. also does the above mentioned features.
Thanks for your suggestions everyone.
There is an issue with the suggestions though.
I live in Australia and all the options are for the US.
YouMail and PhoneFusion both need your voicmail to be diverted to them and GoogleVoice isnt here yet.
What I was thinking of is something that runs from your phone.
The App calls your pre defined Voicemail number and records the message and saves it to your phone.
Would work worldwide and you wouldnt need to change your voicemail details.
Anyway, just a thought
I understand what you're trying to say and from a developer standpoint, I can fill you in as to why it wouldnt work.
First, voicemail is like call forwarding. After your phone stops ringing, nothing is actually happening on your phone. The call is forwarded after a preset number of rings, or an action (like pressing the end key to ignore the call) to a voicemail server, which answers and records the message. At that point, your phone is completely out of the loop, so the idea of having it record to both the phone and the voicemail server is dead right there because it just cant be done. The way youmail, t-mobile vvm, google voice and phonefusion simulate this is by recording the message on their servers and then downloading it to your phone using your data connection.
Now, it would be possible to have your phone do the recording after a certain number of rings, like an answering machine, but it would be ridiculously process intensive because it would have to be running at all times. This would do two things:
1. slow down your phone considerably.
2. eat battery like you wouldnt believe.
And whats the point of having something like this if your phone is going to be dead all the time and unable to record messages anyway?
So yes, its possible, but not feasible. GV should be in australia soon, seeing as the wave development team is entirely based there. So keep your fingers crossed until then.
ok I wanted this app too, but you think too hard.
Disable provider voicemail.
After 10 rings, let phone pick up call and play message. Then a beep, and the phone starts recording.
No external voicemail server needed, just have an anwering machine application.
kusotare said:
Now, it would be possible to have your phone do the recording after a certain number of rings, like an answering machine, but it would be ridiculously process intensive because it would have to be running at all times. This would do two things:
1. slow down your phone considerably.
2. eat battery like you wouldnt believe.
And whats the point of having something like this if your phone is going to be dead all the time and unable to record messages anyway?
So yes, its possible, but not feasible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would slow your phone down so much? It could be service, not doing anything untill a call is recieved. If it rings too long it takes over.
It doesn't need to record all the time.
Try HulloMail
can't find HulloMail in the market
i also would like to have this "answering machine" app... and I also don't understand why this would slow down the phone, or eat up a lot of battery. as someone said already, it would run in the background (like "toggle settings" "missed call" and all the other services do) and just really start to work when a call comes in and it has to play a message and record the callers message.
the only downside (with which i can live) is certainly that the phone has to be switched on all the time, because off it couldn't record anything. for me that is no problem, i have a docking station at home and in the office, so when i am not running around, it is charged.
technically i see this as very feasible
i wonder whether devs shy away from this... because actually doing this is a major attack at the "revenue machine" of mobile operators, because - well - a local soft answering machine would take a huge amount of calling minutes away from the operators.
kusotare said:
First, voicemail is like call forwarding. After your phone stops ringing, nothing is actually happening on your phone. The call is forwarded after a preset number of rings, or an action (like pressing the end key to ignore the call) to a voicemail server, which answers and records the message. At that point, your phone is completely out of the loop, so the idea of having it record to both the phone and the voicemail server is dead right there because it just cant be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that's not exactly true. If you take a look in the Android Call Settings. Under GSM/CDMA Call Settings > Call Forwarding, you'll see that Call Forwarding when busy, unanswered and unreachable can all be disabled. It's possible one could write a program to catch the call after it rings X times, but I'm not sure if Android has that kind of hook in its API yet.
But as for it being impossible due to the forwarding, that's utterly false.
Quite simple.
Cancel the carrier answering service. (I hate the term "voicemail" -- everyone who uses it should be shot dead).
Have the program answer the phone after some defined number of rings and record it.
1) It would NOT slow down your phone.
2) It would NOT eat battery.
Don't know where that guy got the idea that it would... it WON'T.

[Q] Verizon bought N6 and voicemail

Good afternoon,
I thought I'd bounce this one off the community before calling VZ (as we all know what that is like).
My N6 was purchased from Verizon, and it was an upgrade to my line (that had my trusty GNex).
If I don't take a call and they leave a voicemail, the notification appears as follows:
"Voicemails received (below in smaller text) click here to setup visual voice mail"
Ok, I have checked my account online for my line and my wife's, and visual VM is not enabled for either. Nor do I want it at this time.
How might I go about getting a normal VM notification? Am i going to have to have them reset something on the account?
Activation was fine, but just noticed this behaviour.
Thanks ahead of time.
RW-1 said:
How might I go about getting a normal VM notification? Am i going to have to have them reset something on the account?
Activation was fine, but just noticed this behavior.
Thanks ahead of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, here's my SWAG: I would start by renaming the VVM apk (.bak). Then, maybe the "standard" Google voice mail app will work? NOTE: this is nothing but an untested hypothesis.
VVM isn't installed on the phone ...

verizon voice mail nightmare

im running chroma and want visual voice mail, so I called Verizon and disabled vvm and put on basic, tried setting up google voice no go. figured I had to have vvm turned on so I turned it back on, still didn't work. for the sake of time I disabled vvm again and put it to basic, now im getting the gargled text messages and voice mail notifications idk if itll turn off on its own? maybe it has to process in their system because so many changes?? if I wanted VVM google voice to work is there any easy instructions and should it be set to basic?? it kept saying in setup my account isn't supported when I had it set to google voice.
imablackhat said:
im running chroma and want visual voice mail, so I called Verizon and disabled vvm and put on basic, tried setting up google voice no go. figured I had to have vvm turned on so I turned it back on, still didn't work. for the sake of time I disabled vvm again and put it to basic, now im getting the gargled text messages and voice mail notifications idk if itll turn off on its own? maybe it has to process in their system because so many changes?? if I wanted VVM google voice to work is there any easy instructions and should it be set to basic?? it kept saying in setup my account isn't supported when I had it set to google voice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, for your issue, from what I've read VVM doesn't play nice with ROM's, need to be stock. I hope I'm incorrect, others likely will chime in ...
I've got the opposite issue, stock N6, not rooted or unlocked yet, and it prompts me to install the VVM app for any VM's I get (bought from VZW), I do not want VVM, and VVM is NOT enabled on my account, never has been.
How might I get my N6 VM notifications to act like I expect, and not an ad for VVM?
i know you can uninstall the Verizon vvm and call them and have it set to basic, I did on my stock phone. but now I want a rom and vvm.
imablackhat said:
i know you can uninstall the Verizon vvm and call them and have it set to basic, I did on my stock phone. but now I want a rom and vvm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't use Verizon VVM on anything but stock. No matter how much you want it.
RW-1 said:
I've got the opposite issue, stock N6, not rooted or unlocked yet, and it prompts me to install the VVM app for any VM's I get (bought from VZW), I do not want VVM, and VVM is NOT enabled on my account, never has been.
How might I get my N6 VM notifications to act like I expect, and not an ad for VVM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn off enhanced LTE on the phone. On your Verizon account disable HD voice and switch to basic voice mail. Obviously you will lose VoLTE but that's the only way to get regular basic voicemail.
stevexyz0 said:
Turn off enhanced LTE on the phone. On your Verizon account disable HD voice and switch to basic voice mail. Obviously you will lose VoLTE but that's the only way to get regular basic voicemail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to say I don't know how to turn off enhanced LTE on the N6, however, as far as the account goes, I don't have HD voice turned on, nor VoLTE, which is why this is so annoying.
I was on regular basic Voicemail, until I switched to the N6 as an edge upgrade, and hadn't done anything other than have it activated on my line.
RW-1 said:
I hate to say I don't know how to turn off enhanced LTE on the N6, however, as far as the account goes, I don't have HD voice turned on, nor VoLTE, which is why this is so annoying.
I was on regular basic Voicemail, until I switched to the N6 as an edge upgrade, and hadn't done anything other than have it activated on my line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure it's not set on your account? They probably set it automatically when you activated the new phone. They were calling it advanced calling 1.0 at one point. On the phone go to settings, More, and then cellular networks. If you don't see enhanced LTE there its because it's off on your account and the phone setting doesn't matter.
IMHO I would never give up VoLTE to get basic voicemail but to each his own.
It's also possible something changed in 5.1 but I thought the plain VM indicator worked briefly for me after the 5.0.1 to 5.1 upgrade before I turned VoLTE on.
stevexyz0 said:
You sure it's not set on your account? They probably set it automatically when you activated the new phone. They were calling it advanced calling 1.0 at one point. On the phone go to settings, More, and then cellular networks. If you don't see enhanced LTE there its because it's off on your account and the phone setting doesn't matter.
IMHO I would never give up VoLTE to get basic voicemail but to each his own.
It's also possible something changed in 5.1 but I thought the plain VM indicator worked briefly for me after the 5.0.1 to 5.1 upgrade before I turned VoLTE on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not there, never had advanced calling turned on, I had thought about it for both my wife and I, as she has a GS5, but left it for now settling into the N6...
I wouldn't give up VoLTE either just for the VM, but I hadn't yet pulled the trigger on it yet ...
It's not a deal breaker for me, just annoying as all get out, triggers my OCD which all of us here have in regards to their device hehehe.
I suppose I could call a VZ rep and have them look at the account, but truthfully that always worries me whenever one of them are in there ...
If you have any other suggestions, I'm game to listen ...
RW-1 said:
Nope, not there, never had advanced calling turned on, I had thought about it for both my wife and I, as she has a GS5, but left it for now settling into the N6...
I wouldn't give up VoLTE either just for the VM, but I hadn't yet pulled the trigger on it yet ...
It's not a deal breaker for me, just annoying as all get out, triggers my OCD which all of us here have in regards to their device hehehe.
I suppose I could call a VZ rep and have them look at the account, but truthfully that always worries me whenever one of them are in there ...
If you have any other suggestions, I'm game to listen ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't have Advanced Calling turned on then you don't have HD Calling nor VoLTE, they are bundled together. Anyway, no further suggestions but good luck
Just to let you know I have my basic voice mail working and I have advanced calling 1.0 turned on and my HD Calling and VoLTE is working.
I had a lot of trouble with Verizon because they couldn't figure out how to turn the visual voice mail off right. took about 10 phone calls to tech support to get it right.
I was getting the gargled text messages and voice mail notifications just like you.
Don't give up just keep calling back till you get somebody who knows what they are doing!
I knew it wasn't the phone or the sim card, I swapped another sim from a different number and the voice mail worked on the nexus 6.
Good luck!
kae9797 said:
Just to let you know I have my basic voice mail working and I have advanced calling 1.0 turned on and my HD Calling and VoLTE is working.
I had a lot of trouble with Verizon because they couldn't figure out how to turn the visual voice mail off right. took about 10 phone calls to tech support to get it right.
I was getting the gargled text messages and voice mail notifications just like you.
Don't give up just keep calling back till you get somebody who knows what they are doing!
I knew it wasn't the phone or the sim card, I swapped another sim from a different number and the voice mail worked on the nexus 6.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to the both of you, I have yet to call them, but figure something is likely borked from the activation of the new phone, for as large as they are I've seen too many botched provisioning issues lately
Don't know when I'll get to it, but I appreciate the input!

When there is going to be a thread for Urbane 2nd gen?

When there is going to be a thread for Urbane 2nd gen? It is out for almost a week now. I can not believe that nobody got it?
That's a good question. I am also waiting for it.
Came here to ask the same question. Lots of other people have it on android central forms. Please create a thread!!
I agree. I have one and keep checking back here
Your experience with the Urbane 2 LTE
Hi there, I'm also waiting on a forum. But, in the meantime, I'm thinking seriously about buying an Urbane 2 LTE, but have several concerns and thought perhaps you guys might be able to answer them. And all of my questions relate to when it is NOT connected to my smartphone.
1. Will it send and receive calls even when connected to wifi (I don't mean through wifi as I know that isn't possible)? I read in one review that this was a problem.
2. Can I receive my Exchange email through the watch?
3. Are you able to connect to a secured wifi network (i.e., insert a password) without being connected to your phone? Again, this concern came up in a recent review.
4. Can the watch accept Google Voice text messages?
5. How is the call quality talking (for the person you call) and listening (is the speaker loud enough under normal conditions)?
6. Can you easily connect the watch to a bluetooth headset?
7. How is OK Google working? One reviewer said it failed a bunch.
8. How well does it maintain a steady data connection with a link to a phone? Another reviewer concern.
9.
FYI, verizon launch was canceled and all pre-orders orders will be canceled. Big red strikes again.
Same here. I got mine from AT&T on Tuesday. Love it so far.
---------- Post added at 09:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:11 AM ----------
drjim said:
Hi there, I'm also waiting on a forum. But, in the meantime, I'm thinking seriously about buying an Urbane 2 LTE, but have several concerns and thought perhaps you guys might be able to answer them. And all of my questions relate to when it is NOT connected to my smartphone.
1. Will it send and receive calls even when connected to wifi (I don't mean through wifi as I know that isn't possible)? I read in one review that this was a problem.
2. Can I receive my Exchange email through the watch?
3. Are you able to connect to a secured wifi network (i.e., insert a password) without being connected to your phone? Again, this concern came up in a recent review.
4. Can the watch accept Google Voice text messages?
5. How is the call quality talking (for the person you call) and listening (is the speaker loud enough under normal conditions)?
6. Can you easily connect the watch to a bluetooth headset?
7. How is OK Google working? One reviewer said it failed a bunch.
8. How well does it maintain a steady data connection with a link to a phone? Another reviewer concern.
9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experiences so far on the AT&T Urbane LTE and a T-Mobile Galaxy Note 5:
1. Yes, as far as I can tell as it has its own SIM card, so it has a full cellular radio in it and has its own phone # assigned to it.
2. I don't think it has a full email client on it that I have found anyway. I am also an exchange user trying to find how to get notifications.
3. Yes, you can join WiFi networks that use a passkey/password, but nothing certificate based. Mine pulled the ones my phone knew of.
4. Kind-of. I took the Phone # assigned to the watch and added it to Google Voice as another phone. The notifications I get on a GV Text Message show the random numbers that GV uses as a portal, not the actual # of the person sending me a text message. I don't think there is a google voice app for android wear. At least not one I have found.
5. I think the call quality from the watch itself is quite good. Plenty loud enough and definitely clear. I wouldn't use it often, but in a pinch I wouldn't hesitate to use it either.
6. I have not tried this yet, but I will and let you know.
7. OK Google has not failed me yet. It is responsive and works just like it would on a Nexus Phone as far as I can tell.
8. As far as I can tell, the connection (bluetooth) between my Note 5 and the Urbane is quite robust. I went down the hall to the restroom in my office and left my phone on my desk. I had a phone call on my Note 5 while I was away from my desk and it "rang" on my watch just fine.
As an afterthought, it is probably worth noting that as I am not a current AT&T customer, I bought the watch outright with no contract for $299 so I wasn't locked into a data plan more than month-to-month. As such, I am currently paying a ridiculous $30 a month for a measly 300MB of data for the watch by itself and I am still trying to determine exactly how, when, where, and why it uses data on its own 3G/LTE radio.
I don't plan to separate the watch and my phone often, and I can't see the need to make a voice call on the watch without using my phone, so I am not sure I am going to keep the data plan from AT&T until I learn more about how it works. I have one of those "free" 200MB per month SIM cards from T-Mobile, and I can tell you the watch does NOT appear to be SIM-locked, much to my surprise.
More experimentation to follow. I'd love to hear what others have learned in using theirs thus far.
-Rob
Great insights!
robroy90 said:
Same here. I got mine from AT&T on Tuesday. Love it so far.
---------- Post added at 09:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:11 AM ----------
My experiences so far on the AT&T Urbane LTE and a T-Mobile Galaxy Note 5:
1. Yes, as far as I can tell as it has its own SIM card, so it has a full cellular radio in it and has its own phone # assigned to it.
2. I don't think it has a full email client on it that I have found anyway. I am also an exchange user trying to find how to get notifications.
3. Yes, you can join WiFi networks that use a passkey/password, but nothing certificate based. Mine pulled the ones my phone knew of.
4. Kind-of. I took the Phone # assigned to the watch and added it to Google Voice as another phone. The notifications I get on a GV Text Message show the random numbers that GV uses as a portal, not the actual # of the person sending me a text message. I don't think there is a google voice app for android wear. At least not one I have found.
5. I think the call quality from the watch itself is quite good. Plenty loud enough and definitely clear. I wouldn't use it often, but in a pinch I wouldn't hesitate to use it either.
6. I have not tried this yet, but I will and let you know.
7. OK Google has not failed me yet. It is responsive and works just like it would on a Nexus Phone as far as I can tell.
8. As far as I can tell, the connection (bluetooth) between my Note 5 and the Urbane is quite robust. I went down the hall to the restroom in my office and left my phone on my desk. I had a phone call on my Note 5 while I was away from my desk and it "rang" on my watch just fine.
As an afterthought, it is probably worth noting that as I am not a current AT&T customer, I bought the watch outright with no contract for $299 so I wasn't locked into a data plan more than month-to-month. As such, I am currently paying a ridiculous $30 a month for a measly 300MB of data for the watch by itself and I am still trying to determine exactly how, when, where, and why it uses data on its own 3G/LTE radio.
I don't plan to separate the watch and my phone often, and I can't see the need to make a voice call on the watch without using my phone, so I am not sure I am going to keep the data plan from AT&T until I learn more about how it works. I have one of those "free" 200MB per month SIM cards from T-Mobile, and I can tell you the watch does NOT appear to be SIM-locked, much to my surprise.
More experimentation to follow. I'd love to hear what others have learned in using theirs thus far.
-Rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really helpful, Rob! I can't wait till xda gets a forum for this smarthwatch.
I had a typo for #8. I'm interested in the quality and consistency of the data connection when NOT connected to your phone.
A few follow-up questions.
1. So it sounds like you receive GV text messages even with a funky sender #. But can you also send texts through GV? I seem recall reading that Hangouts (into which GV is now integrated) has a smartwatch app. But I find Hangouts cumbersome because you have to go through several screens to just get to text messages.
2. Without Exchange, what are you doing about email? I emailed an called Nine that appears to do what we want, but haven't heard back. Will report when I do.
I'm going to test out a U2 (that's a much better shortened name!) this morning and will report back if I learn anything.
Many thanks!
I just downloaded and installed the Nine email client. It seems to work great, but I can't figure out how or where to enable Wear notifications.
robroy90 said:
I just downloaded and installed the Nine email client. It seems to work great, but I can't figure out how or where to enable Wear notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't explored it much yet. Did you install Nine on your watch as well? Perhaps go to their customer support and email them?
drjim said:
I haven't explored it much yet. Did you install Nine on your watch as well? Perhaps go to their customer support and email them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't see an option to install it on the watch. I sent a query to them.
robroy90 said:
I didn't see an option to install it on the watch. I sent a query to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here a few possibilities:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.bluemail.mail
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook
None of them indicate specifically about standalone smartwatches, but they say they are for Android Wear.
Also, do you have a gmail account? I believe there is a way to have Exchange email forwarded to gmail and have emails from gmail to show your Exchange email address.
Oh, is there a keyboard for inputting texts and emails?
BTW, did you see this app? Looks really practical: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.npi.wearminilauncher
It looks like something happened. Watch are out of stock on AT&T web site, Verizon cancelled pre orders and no information on LG web site about watch.
I Will have to wait much longer than i expected for availability in europe.
@robroy90 hey dude when you make your wirst go up.. does it push the crown everytime.. would be cool if we could put the watch on the other hand and the screen will rotate accordingly
LG Watch Urbane 2 has been canceled indefinitely
http://www.techradar.com/news/wearables/lg-urbane-2-has-been-canceled-indefinitely-1309332
while I have an love mine, I am still going to wait for a more detailed reason other then Unspecified Hardware Issue. I had it for a week tomorrow and the only issue I have is LTE connection is spotty at best, it seems to be stuck mostly on HSPA
One negative effect is see from this is software updates. When I had the LG G watch, I remember that being rooted. So if this "issue" is nothing to major, maybe someone with the experience will be able to root this beast so we can essentially still have updates, just not from LG specifically
Wow. I wonder why they were shelved? I was going to upgrade to this from a G Watch.
Maybe we can find them on a fire clearance sale?
chachin said:
@robroy90 hey dude when you make your wirst go up.. does it push the crown everytime.. would be cool if we could put the watch on the other hand and the screen will rotate accordingly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no issues with gestures engaging the crown button. I am not sure I follow the second part of your comment.
---------- Post added at 07:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:44 AM ----------
Wow, glad I grabbed mine so aggressively when I did. I am not going to blindly just return mine (unless my wrist catches on fire... lol). I would like a detailed explanation on what this "serious hardware issue is". As far as it maybe being an issue where it drops to HSPA in an otherwise strong LTE service area, I could not care less. I don't think my watch needs the blazing fast speeds of LTE anyway. Someone posted about how cool it would be for it to be a hotspot?!? What, for 10 minutes before the battery dies... LOL. I am happy, and unless mine starts acting really wonky, I am definitely keeping it.
Well regardless of possible reasons, I'll be keeping mine. Yeah its only been a few days with the watch, but it has been a few days of heavy usage bliss. This is the first smart watch, that I have ever used, that does everything well, (well at least the things that are important for me to have in a smartwatch). So a later patch not coming for my device, (can't speak for others owners), won't be so bad for me, since everything I want to work....works great already, and if I return it, what other option is out there? All the other watches I tried don't work as good as this one for the things I want to work.....and this one has the best battery life to boot. Besides, I don't know why everyone thinks a software update won't come. Google controls android wear, an I don't think their going to not update their software.
If they scrap this one and release a new one a year from now, I'll check out that option when that bridge is crossed, but in the mean time, i'm keeping this bad boy.
Oh and if anyone has every used watchmaker before (lets you design your own watch faces), It appears to be working great for me. Just a heads up.
I was lucky enough to buy one of these from AT&T without a contract a couple of days before they were pulled. So far the watch is great. Battery life is good, calls are clear, and the screen is big and bright. However, there is one major flaw: You can't pair a Bluetooth headset to the watch and use it for voice calls. I tried a few different Bluetooth headsets, and they can only be used for audio playback. The only way to send and receive voice calls is using the integrated speaker and microphone on the watch. Another minor annoyance is you must have the phone with you to connect to a new WiFi network. If you try to connect to a new WiFi network using the settings on the watch, it asks you to enter the password on the phone.
The inability to use a Bluetooth headset for calls is pretty big weakness compared to other smart watches, but probably not severe enough to pull the watches from the shelves. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the device is unlocked, and it is so easy to switch carriers without a contract. Also, AT&T was offering this device at the same cost of an LTE tablet ($10/month), but the watch has a SIM that supports both voice and data which usually costs 3-4 times as much. I tried using the watch SIM in an Android smartphone, and it seemed to work fine.

Anyone managed to flash unlocked firmware on verizon yet?

Every time i flash the unlocked firmware, it will succeed and go to the android upgrade screen. But once it reaches 32% it says erasing and goes right back to the verizon firmware
I was able to flash the unlocked version on my Verizon Note 8. Which guide are you following? https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/how-to/stock-recovery-odin-recovery-software-t3671615 I used this guide by BlueFox721.
Discovideo3 said:
Every time i flash the unlocked firmware, it will succeed and go to the android upgrade screen. But once it reaches 32% it says erasing and goes right back to the verizon firmware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot in recovery and factory reset then choose boot to bootloader from recovery main menu and flash unlocked firmware...make sure ums/patch is set to 1 in config file and that you are using Prince Comsy's Odin...UMS slot should be empty...bl in bl, ap in ap, cp in cp, csc in csc
This might sound strange (and, yes, I've already searched all the threads to find what I'm looking for, and couldn't find it), but, has anyone successfully flashed the Verizon firmware onto the unlocked US (SM-N950U1) Note 8? If you're wondering why in the world I'd want to do that, it's simple: Visual Voicemail. Here's my problem - I'm a chauffeur, and I rely (partly) on receiving voicemails, as I can't answer the phone when clients are in the limo (as clients get in, I silence my phone). The unlocked Note 8 not only doesn't have Visual Voicemail, but I don't even receive any sort of notification when a voicemail is left. If I don't receive any indication that I have a voicemail, how am I supposed to know? Calling myself every time I drop, so as to check for voicemails, is not a very realistic way of dealing with this. Having read in other forums, I know I'm not the only one miffed about this. Countless others with the unlocked Note 8, S8, & S8+ have discovered this "problem". Since Verizon has been worthless in helping me, I'm starting to think that the only way I'll get voicemail notifications (of any kind) is to flash my unlocked Note 8 with the Verizon firmware...unless someone reading this knows how to get voicemail notifications working. Assistance is requested...anyone?
Panther6834 said:
This might sound strange (and, yes, I've already searched all the threads to find what I'm looking for, and couldn't find it), but, has anyone successfully flashed the Verizon firmware onto the unlocked US (SM-N950U1) Note 8? If you're wondering why in the world I'd want to do that, it's simple: Visual Voicemail. Here's my problem - I'm a chauffeur, and I rely (partly) on receiving voicemails, as I can't answer the phone when clients are in the limo (as clients get in, I silence my phone). The unlocked Note 8 not only doesn't have Visual Voicemail, but I don't even receive any sort of notification when a voicemail is left. If I don't receive any indication that I have a voicemail, how am I supposed to know? Calling myself every time I drop, so as to check for voicemails, is not a very realistic way of dealing with this. Having read in other forums, I know I'm not the only one miffed about this. Countless others with the unlocked Note 8, S8, & S8+ have discovered this "problem". Since Verizon has been worthless in helping me, I'm starting to think that the only way I'll get voicemail notifications (of any kind) is to flash my unlocked Note 8 with the Verizon firmware...unless someone reading this knows how to get voicemail notifications working. Assistance is requested...anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google voice works great...you just need to forward your vm to Google voice #...search web for Verizon vvm to Google voice...it transcribes better imho...
BlueFox721 said:
Google voice works great...you just need to forward your vm to Google voice #...search web for Verizon vvm to Google voice...it transcribes better imho...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, with the Galaxy Note 8, these instructions (such as those found at https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-switch-verizon-vvm-to-google-t2151572) don't apply, and won't work. In the phone app's "Settings" menu, there is no "Other Call Options" setting. There is, however, within the phone app's settings, a "VOICEMAIL" category, of which the first two options are "Service provider" and "Voicemail settings". Under "Service provider", the only option is "My carrier"...there is no "Google Voice" option. Under "Voicemail settings", there is one sub-setting, "Voicemail number", which currently has *86 entered. Now, I could easily change that to my Google Voice number, but I'm uncertain as to whether, or not, that would do anything (plus, at least as of my time typing this post, I don't have a way of testing, as my wife is at work). Since, as indicated in step 4 of the directions given (in the above-mentioned link), one must first change the voicemail setting from "My carrier" to "Google Voice", that leads me to believe that this won't work on my unlocked Note 8.
In calling Verizon today, something 'interesting' was discovered. It appears that, when the Verizon customer service person canceled my Premium Visual Voicemail (ie. the monthly $2.99 fee) a week ago, he forgot (within Verizon's internal system) to revert my line's setting from "Visual Voicemail" back to "standard Voicemail". After the customer service person (from today's call) changed that setting, I started receiving standard voicemail notifications. So, at least I've been able to finally get traditional voicemail notifications to work. That being said, I'd STILL like to regain some form of visual voicemail, be it Verizon's (which I'm assuming will be impossible, unless I flash my unlocked Note 8 with the Verizon firmware), or Google Voice's. Since the directions given by Winesnob (again, via the above link) don't appear to work on the Note 8 (because "Google Voice" isn't listed as a voicemail option within the phone's phone app settings), any other suggestions, short of flashing the Verizon firmware?
Just
Discovideo3 said:
Every time i flash the unlocked firmware, it will succeed and go to the android upgrade screen. But once it reaches 32% it says erasing and goes right back to the verizon firmware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take out the Verizon sim when. You are flashing the unlock firmware.. it seems to confuse oidn and the firmware for some reason .. then after you set up the phone just pop the sim in. You should be good to go
Just flash it to the TMO version and use t mobile if possible.?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Panther6834 said:
This might sound strange (and, yes, I've already searched all the threads to find what I'm looking for, and couldn't find it), but, has anyone successfully flashed the Verizon firmware onto the unlocked US (SM-N950U1) Note 8? If you're wondering why in the world I'd want to do that, it's simple: Visual Voicemail. Here's my problem - I'm a chauffeur, and I rely (partly) on receiving voicemails, as I can't answer the phone when clients are in the limo (as clients get in, I silence my phone). The unlocked Note 8 not only doesn't have Visual Voicemail, but I don't even receive any sort of notification when a voicemail is left. If I don't receive any indication that I have a voicemail, how am I supposed to know? Calling myself every time I drop, so as to check for voicemails, is not a very realistic way of dealing with this. Having read in other forums, I know I'm not the only one miffed about this. Countless others with the unlocked Note 8, S8, & S8+ have discovered this "problem". Since Verizon has been worthless in helping me, I'm starting to think that the only way I'll get voicemail notifications (of any kind) is to flash my unlocked Note 8 with the Verizon firmware...unless someone reading this knows how to get voicemail notifications working. Assistance is requested...anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Youmail
jay8302 said:
Youmail
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
I am also Unlocked on Verizon and ran into the same dilemma and YouMail works great.
Panther6834 said:
Unfortunately, with the Galaxy Note 8, these instructions (such as those found at https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-switch-verizon-vvm-to-google-t2151572) don't apply, and won't work. In the phone app's "Settings" menu, there is no "Other Call Options" setting. There is, however, within the phone app's settings, a "VOICEMAIL" category, of which the first two options are "Service provider" and "Voicemail settings". Under "Service provider", the only option is "My carrier"...there is no "Google Voice" option. Under "Voicemail settings", there is one sub-setting, "Voicemail number", which currently has *86 entered. Now, I could easily change that to my Google Voice number, but I'm uncertain as to whether, or not, that would do anything (plus, at least as of my time typing this post, I don't have a way of testing, as my wife is at work). Since, as indicated in step 4 of the directions given (in the above-mentioned link), one must first change the voicemail setting from "My carrier" to "Google Voice", that leads me to believe that this won't work on my unlocked Note 8.
In calling Verizon today, something 'interesting' was discovered. It appears that, when the Verizon customer service person canceled my Premium Visual Voicemail (ie. the monthly $2.99 fee) a week ago, he forgot (within Verizon's internal system) to revert my line's setting from "Visual Voicemail" back to "standard Voicemail". After the customer service person (from today's call) changed that setting, I started receiving standard voicemail notifications. So, at least I've been able to finally get traditional voicemail notifications to work. That being said, I'd STILL like to regain some form of visual voicemail, be it Verizon's (which I'm assuming will be impossible, unless I flash my unlocked Note 8 with the Verizon firmware), or Google Voice's. Since the directions given by Winesnob (again, via the above link) don't appear to work on the Note 8 (because "Google Voice" isn't listed as a voicemail option within the phone's phone app settings), any other suggestions, short of flashing the Verizon firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be updated info for Google voice on verizon....For Sprint all I had to do was dial *73mygooglevoicenumber and all was well...I did not mess with the voicemail settings on the phone as it was unnecessary...this just forwards to Google voice...you just need to know the correct "no answer forward" prefix...it used to be *71...leave all other settings alone...then when you get a voicemail phone will forward to Google voice....so if you have to call Verizon tech ask for the *number for no answer forward....then dial it in the phone like you are making a call with your Google voice number...for example, call (dial in phone app) *716235551234 and press the phone button to start the call...the example I used behind the *71 (6235551234) is not a real number and the *71 used to be Verizon's no answer forward prefix...your Google voice number is shown in settings of the Google voice app...
---------- Post added at 01:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 AM ----------
xbmoyx said:
This.
I am also Unlocked on Verizon and ran into the same dilemma and YouMail works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember using youmail on my tthunderbolt...I just preferred Google voice...glad you have something you like though...
BlueFox721 said:
I remember using youmail on my tthunderbolt...I just preferred Google voice...glad you have something you like though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still prefer Visual Voicemail but don't really feel like tinkering with flashing anything. I looked into Google Voice and I was kinda confused, you have to create a new phone number? How can I use my existing number but get Google voice to work properly and get voicemails?
xbmoyx said:
I still prefer Visual Voicemail but don't really feel like tinkering with flashing anything. I looked into Google Voice and I was kinda confused, you have to create a new phone number? How can I use my existing number but get Google voice to work properly and get voicemails?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that you can use your current number for calling on Google voice I'm not sure...but you can still get a Google voice number instead...I just said no when it asked if I wanted to use my cell number...and then forwarded the no answer service to the Google voice number I got from google by dialing *73googlevoicenumber
Change Google voice number:
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/115114
I promised I'd reply back, and I am. Thankfully, it appears that I won't have to flash the Verizon firmware, after all. After canceling my Premium Visual Voicemail with Verizon, I should have started receiving voicemail notifications, to which I'd have to call my own voicemail every time I wanted to listen to voicemails. As I mentioned previously, after my Visual Voicemail was canceled, I still wasn't receiving voicemail notifications. On Friday (10/6), I called Verizon customer service (for a different reason), and during the conversation, and having mentioned the call two weeks earlier, this technician discovered that the previous person had forgotten to switch my line’s voicemail from “visual” to “basic”. Once she did this, I started receiving voicemail notifications.
Of course, what I (still) really wanted was some form of visual voicemail…so, I decided to give Google Voice’s voicemail another shot. I reinstalled Google Voice, redid the GV settings, as well as the settings for my phone’s phone app, and dialed *71 followed by my GV number. I am happy to say that I am now receiving visual voicemail, as well as notifications, and, as such, I won’t have to clutter up my phone with Verizon’s bloatware.
Panther6834 said:
I promised I'd reply back, and I am. Thankfully, it appears that I won't have to flash the Verizon firmware, after all. After canceling my Premium Visual Voicemail with Verizon, I should have started receiving voicemail notifications, to which I'd have to call my own voicemail every time I wanted to listen to voicemails. As I mentioned previously, after my Visual Voicemail was canceled, I still wasn't receiving voicemail notifications. On Friday (10/6), I called Verizon customer service (for a different reason), and during the conversation, and having mentioned the call two weeks earlier, this technician discovered that the previous person had forgotten to switch my line’s voicemail from “visual” to “basic”. Once she did this, I started receiving voicemail notifications.
Of course, what I (still) really wanted was some form of visual voicemail…so, I decided to give Google Voice’s voicemail another shot. I reinstalled Google Voice, redid the GV settings, as well as the settings for my phone’s phone app, and dialed *71 followed by my GV number. I am happy to say that I am now receiving visual voicemail, as well as notifications, and, as such, I won’t have to clutter up my phone with Verizon’s bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see it worked

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