Last Wed, I got a message on my almost 2 year old Samsung Galaxy S4 phone saying there was an update. The update was to a new version, V5.0 aka Lollipop. I've heard of Lollipop for a while so I thought that most of the initial bugs would have been worked out. I installed that version, phone rebooted, everything seemed OK. I have no idea why developers need to change the layout of apps. The phone app, primarily, had the End Call, nice and large, near the right side of the phone, just where my thump could hit it. Now, it's a smaller button on the bottom. Anyway, I figured I'd get used to it. On Thurs, I got to work and checked my email. The Red Verizon screen pops up and the phone reboots. No biggie. Use the phone all day, no problem. Friday morning, same thing. Checked the log and don't see anything about any updates. On Sat, no problems all day. On Sunday, go to church, turn the ring to vibrate. Still no problem. At home in the afternoon a friend calls on the house line and asks why I didn't pick up the cell phone call. Checked the cell phone and sure enough, 3 missed calls. I figured I forgot to turn on the ringer. Funny now, but the up volume doesn't work at all. So, reboot the phone, up volume still doesn't work. Take battery out, count to 10, turn on, up volume still doesn't work. Take battery out and wait 30 seconds, turn phone on and now I see a recovery screen I've never seen before. Need a magnifying glass to read it. Called VerizonWireless tech support. The guy on the phone was great, very patient with me. We wipe the cache, nothing, then we reset to factory, still nothing. Then I plug the phone into a laptop and go to Samsung's web site to get the Repair Assistant. Laptop doesn't recognize the phone. Take phone to the desktop system, still nothing. Phone is DOA. VW offers to replace the phone so I tell them I was going to upgrade the phone in 2 months anyway so they offer me an early upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with no fees and no activation charge. So, now I have to wait 2 days for it to be delivered. I reactivated my 4 year old BlackBerry just so I have a phone. So, in the end, stay away from major upgrades on old phones.
There is a program you can download from Samsung called Kies 3. Always plug your phone into your computer and use this software to backup your phone BEFORE upgrading. If you have a problem after the upgrade, you can use this software to restore your phone. Also, when you get a new Samsung, you can use this software to restore all your settings, logs, messages, pictures, etc. My wife's S4 had a problem during an upgrade and this software was able to restore the firmware and all her settings, photos, etc. It has worked flawlessly ever since. Also, if you have Windows 7 or 8 and plan to get the free Windows 10 upgrade, I would highly advise everyone to connect a USB drive, go to Windows Backup and create a complete backup including a system image. If you do not have a Windows Recovery Disk, now is the time to make one. If the upgrade fails, you can use the DVD and the USB backup to completely restore your computer to its previous state. If you have a Surface Pro, purchase a 4GB USB Flash drive and create your Windows 8 Recovery Image before the upgrade.
