Update to ICS or not?

[sammers4247]

I just joined the whole smartphone world last Tuesday with a Droid Razr Maxx. I absolutely loved it, but discovered it had a dead pixel and so brought it back to Verizon for a replacement. Before I went back, I upgraded to ICS just to see what I thought.. I liked it and didn't notice any issues, but only used it for about 24 hours before returning the phone.

Now I'm on my second Razr Maxx and loving it, but still running Gingerbread. Of course, having had problems with the display on the first phone I got to reading forums and everything and saw about all of the ICS issues. Now, I'm totally freaked out by all of these reports of ICS issues and am afraid to upgrade.

I know it's pretty much a personal decision.. but do I have THAT much to worry about by upgrading? I'd really like to upgrade because it seems silly to run an old OS when there is something new out, but battery life is of importance to me.. my phone has been on battery for 11+ hours and I'm only at 80% with light usage. I'm not too worried about encountering App glitches because quite frankly, I do not really use the phone for much else besides Browers, Gmail, and Facebook.

Also not interested in modifying the phone in any way so it's either update OTA and live with what I've got or don't update at all for me.

I AM still within my 14-day Verizon trial period, but somehow I doubt that they'd give me another brand new phone if the ICS update went awry.. since they were hesitant to give me the first replacement to begin with.

Thoughts?? Sorry to have a redundant thread, but my last phone was a flip phone with a 1.5 inch screen and limited internet capability so I'm handling this thing like a newborn baby.

Thanks.

 

[Sydman]

First off welcome to the forum.

Second personally if you are interested in OTA only and not installing leaked version I would stay GB as long as possible.

ICS added nothing for me that GB didn't have except a bit of lag, while the latest .215 is better the OS is still bloated it seems.

Eventually though the update will get pushed to your phone and you will have to either ignore it every day or install it. Not sure if that helps or not.

 

[sammers4247]

Hi Sydman,

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry, forgot to include in my post that it already is being pushed to my phone.. got the message last night. The update has been downloaded and now I have the message to either DL now or Remind in 24 hours.

I don't really mind continuing to hit Remind me Later (it's not THAT big of a deal that the message comes up once a day) but eventually I have a feeling that that is going to get old. Further, I'm assuming that Apps will start to be made with ICS or JB in mind, and I may eventually run in to the problem of wanting to download something that no longer works correctly on GB.

If I wait, could I expect future versions of ICS to NOT have the glitches currently plaguing it now? I know I will have to download this update first, but then I am assuming I can immediately download further updates should they come out. I do not know a whole lot about how updates & such work on phones.

 

[Sydman]

Yeah there have been two leaked OS's after the OTA. The latest one .215 really improved things.

Plus they pushed out the Chrome browser that is really nice. I am sure they know they have problems and will work hard on a new OTA.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX.

 

[94lt1]

Yeah I have a feeling that ics will be up to par with the next ota, and will start to possibly have some UI tweaks added as well.

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[sammers4247]

So maybe waiting until the next update comes out is best? That's what I'm leaning towards. The ONLY reason I was thinking of updating now is because I'm still in the 14 day trial period. But like I said, I somehow doubt they'd give me a new phone after an update gone bad.

Thank you for all the help. I really appreciate it!

 

[bladewriter]

...

Now I'm on my second Razr Maxx and loving it, but still running Gingerbread. Of course, having had problems with the display on the first phone I got to reading forums and everything and saw about all of the ICS issues. Now, I'm totally freaked out by all of these reports of ICS issues and am afraid to upgrade.

I know it's pretty much a personal decision.. but do I have THAT much to worry about by upgrading? I'd really like to upgrade because it seems silly to run an old OS when there is something new out, but battery life is of importance to me.. my phone has been on battery for 11+ hours and I'm only at 80% with light usage. I'm not too worried about encountering App glitches because quite frankly, I do not really use the phone for much else besides Browers, Gmail, and Facebook.

....

You are not alone. Once you upgrade to ICS there is no going back because the new bootloader won't allow it. I decided to stay on GB 2.3.6 with my Maxx because of all the postings I began seeing about problems. I'm very happy with my present configuration, speed, tethering, etc and I don't feel any need to upgrade just for the sake of chasing the laser-pointer of newness. I'll upgrade when there is a reason to and when ICS looks more generally stable (and I realize it is for some people), or when some of my essential apps stop working on GB. One of my macs is still on Snow Leopard, and a couple of PCs are running XP Pro, right next to some macs on Lion and some PCs on Win7x64. You set up your tools in a way that makes sense. Yeah, the ICS UI looks cool, if you are into that sort of thing.

Fair warning: other people have been nibbled to death by trollage on this topic. I'm surprised it hasn't started here (jinx). Instead of answering the question, they will say "Oh grow up you big baby. Just upgrade and get used to it. Stop whining and do it." Which seems more like a sign of one's own insecurity about upgrading. You should upgrade if you think it's best after reading the forums.

By the way, if you are willing root, you can use Titanium Backup Pro to freeze the updater app and you'll never be bothered again. I know the update is there and available, because when I check for it, the phone doesn't say "no updates available" as it used to. I'll unfreeze it when I want the update, not when my friends at Verizon/Motorola say I must.

 

[PurpleSunday]

I bought my MAXX on June 16. I ran GB until June 30, when I searched for updates and found I could download ICS. I've had no problems whatsoever with ICS. I've had some minor hiccups learning some little quirks about the phone, but that would happen whether I'm using GB or ICS. My battery life has been superb. By using Smart Actions to disable data & background sync when my screen is off, I can usually go a day and a half or two days without charging. I agree, you'll probably eventually be forced to switch. So why not update now and learn on ICS instead of learning on GB? You can find plenty of help here (as I have) should you run into any trouble.

 

[cbreze]

Yeah, gotta love those who think they know what's best for you. I have no intentions of upgrading at present. I see no reason to change what is working perfectly as that is what it comes down to. What works for you personally is what you should do, because, gues what? What works for another might not work for you. We all have diff needs when it comes to our smart phone usage. It also bothers me that there is no going back and I see loads of folks who want to come back. So I'm good right here.:biggrin:

 

[PurpleSunday]

I was not trying to be a "troll" or be pushy and force my opinion. I thought you were asking for opinions, so I offered mine.

 

[add119]

If you want stock feeling then get ICS you can freese the apps that verizon/moto preinstalled in the device.

 

[sammers4247]

Honestly, part of the reason I got the MAXX because of all of the reviews of the regular RAZR where people said "I regret not spending the extra hundred dollars for battery life." I decided to heed their advice and not make the same mistake (and to think my first choice for a smart phone was originally a $99 Iphone 4... not sure how I wound up deciding to spend $300, LOL). Now, after what seems like a fair amount of people saying they wish they could go back to GB, I think I might follow that same thought pattern and just stay right here for now.

So after thinking about it.. I think I will continue to ignore the Install message and stay on GB for the time being. I know there are options for rooting and all to get rid of the message but I just am not comfortable doing that... too new at this.

The first dead-pixel phone did run a bit better on ICS (I do notice some glitchy type stuff, particularly in the Browser, on this phone, and the menus do not scroll completely smoothly), but I'm just not sure the reward outweighs the risk. The phone is running fine as is, completely functional and fast.

I really do appreciate all of the opinions and advice as I learn all of this

As for the person who said they were still running Snow Leopard.. Hell, I'm still running LEOPARD on my Mac!!

One final question. Is it necessary to do a factory reset or anything similar if and when I do download ICS?

 

[winteel]

Gingerbread was like Gold for me when I had it. I didn't realize what I had until ICS.
(left to charge phone)

 

[add119]

Gingerbread was bland. The only thing i miss was the notification box being blue, instead of that ugly black..