Many of us think of Android 4.3 as a “minor” update. I don’t. Every version of Android is big, whether it’s a bunch of changes under the hood or a bunch of UI changes. Every point-release is big. Android 4.3 brought us some restricted profiles, TRIM support, Bluetooth LE, an many other under-the-hood changes. A big one being battery life.
We are seeing reports over on Google’s Product Forums that suggest many issues with the Android 4.3 update. Primarily for Nexus 4 users, like myself. Some are reporting that their handsets freeze at the Nexus “X” splash screen, and others get stuck in a never-ending boot loop. So far, the only fix for this that has been reported is doing a factory reset or flashing an older version of Android, like 4.2.2. Of course, either way you’ll lose all your data. It appears that there are plenty of people having issues with 4.3, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Android 4.3.1 coming out in the next week or so.
In addition, the Netflix app seems to not be playing nicely with Android 4.3 on the Nexus 4. Some users are reporting that after updating to Android 4.3, and launching the Nexus 4 app is causing their handsets to freeze. Resulting in many of them having to long press the power button to a restart. Since of course, you can’t pull the battery. One of the engineers on the Android project, Dan Morrill has acknowledged that they are aware of the Netflix issue and that the team is working on a fix for the issue.
Many of you that haven’t already received the update may want to think twice before accepting that OTA. I haven’t had any problems with 4.3 on my Nexus 4, but then I did flash the factory image the day it came out instead of waiting for the OTA. I also don’t use Netflix on my Nexus 4, and I’m pretty happy that I don’t. You can head over to Google’s Product Forums and see all the details, and voice your problems as well.