Nexus 7 Downgrade

[Whoey]

Well I gave it as long as I could... I got tired of my Nexus 7 (grouper) hanging thanks to the upgrade to 5.0/5.0.1/5.0.2/5.1

Even with any of the tweaks I mentioned, while it was better, it still wasn't the tablet it was with 4.4.4

I finally had enough and decided it was time to downgrade/flash back to 4.4.4

It wasn't painless as I had hoped. For the most part I followed this guide:
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2015/01/30/how-to-downgrade-android-5-0/

Exceptions:
While I installed the ADB as it says adb/fastboot/drivers when I plugged my nexus 7 into my Lenovo laptop with Win 8.1 I noticed it detected it as an Acer ADB device... odd since the N7 is an ASUS device... I had to manually force the driver to a generic google one otherwise windows kept disconnecting and reconnecting the device every 3 seconds... This was probably by far the most annoying part of the process... once I got it to connect and managed the ADB/bootloader tasks the flashing to 4.4.4 went smoothly...

I also had to use the actual usb cable that came with my N7 as the others I have seem to hang loose and cause it to disconnect if you even look at it sideways... I've always hated the N7's USB port and thought it poorly designed (and upside down to boot!)

Currently updating apps and getting it back to where I was before this mess...

[Whoey]

Barely got most of my apps reinstalled and I got the 5.0.2 update nag already... Have disabled it now

[Mercury]

Yea, I was a tad disappointed with both the process to root my Nexus 7 and the results.  The one bonus is I haven't been prompted to upgrade my OS, so mine doesn't lag too terrible now. 


I'm not sure it it's the newer versions if android or the fact that the N7 was the first device I've rooted in years, but I am pretty well lost now.  I haven't kept up and that killed my skill!

[Whoey]

It's only been a short few hours since the downgrade, but usability is far superior already... Definitely recommended for any other nexus 7 users on 5.x lollipop

[Mercury]

It's only been a short few hours since the downgrade, but usability is far superior already... Definitely recommended for any other nexus 7 users on 5.x lollipop

Lollipop has sure slowed down my GS5, I'm getting sick of the upgrades, they aren't worth a damn anymore.

[Whoey]

I'm all for updates... but not when it turns a perfectly good functioning device into a brick.

My Nexus 4 seems quite fine with the updates, without a reset or anything at least since going to 5.0, now running 5.1 happily (5.0.1 > 5.1 last week)

Loving my Nexus 7 again now that it's on 4.4.4 it's usable, and doesn't hang every 3 seconds when I try to do something like open a new tab or app.

[Whoey]

few days on and I'm very happy with my N7 on 4.4.4

There's no way I'm going back to 5.x

There are a few minor tweaks I miss, but not missing the lag/slowdowns/freezing/crashing at all.

[Mercury]

I hope google stops the crap here.  They are clogging things down so badly with the latest updates.  My Galaxy S5 is starting some real crap lately.  Lagging on startup. Lagging when I wake the phone up.  Apps crashing.  Starting to really annoy me.

[Breezy12]

thanks for the update, Whoey.

I'll be doing the same to my N7 in the near future.

[Whoey]

I cannot stress enough how important the generic google drivers are on a windows machine.

http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html Should be what you need.

Once you sort that, everything else is pretty much follow the directions as is.

Also you'll need to extract the image (probably twice) I use 7zip as it covers all formats and is free http://www.7-zip.org/

[Whoey]

I did Grant's old Nexus 7 earlier today, took me about 30-45min all in with the messing about getting windows the right driver and all that. A lot of the time is waiting for processes to complete and reboots of the tablet.

[jzmtl]

I hope google stops the crap here.  They are clogging things down so badly with the latest updates.  My Galaxy S5 is starting some real crap lately.  Lagging on startup. Lagging when I wake the phone up.  Apps crashing.  Starting to really annoy me.

That's interesting to hear, I've always thought the problem with new OS is the hardware isn't powerful enough to run it (android is getting bigger and bigger), but didn't think S5 would have problem. I'm still on 4.4 since I've made "unauthorized change" and it wouldn't let me upgrade, guess it's a good thing.

I've upgraded my mom's xperia mini and it seems to works okay, although there are a few new issues that I'm not sure if it's due to the new OS yet.

[Mercury]

I hope google stops the crap here.  They are clogging things down so badly with the latest updates.  My Galaxy S5 is starting some real crap lately.  Lagging on startup. Lagging when I wake the phone up.  Apps crashing.  Starting to really annoy me.

That's interesting to hear, I've always thought the problem with new OS is the hardware isn't powerful enough to run it (android is getting bigger and bigger), but didn't think S5 would have problem. I'm still on 4.4 since I've made "unauthorized change" and it wouldn't let me upgrade, guess it's a good thing.

I've upgraded my mom's xperia mini and it seems to works okay, although there are a few new issues that I'm not sure if it's due to the new OS yet.

I'd agree with you that the S5 shouldn't have any trouble, but boy does it.  My phone regularly stalls when I swipe to unlock, and apps crash daily.  And for some weird reason, at random my wallpaper will be cut in half, the upper half will remain on the screen and the lower half is black, with all my icons still present and all functions normal. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Odd, mine is running fine with the upgrade.  No issues at all.

Def

[jzmtl]

I hope google stops the crap here.  They are clogging things down so badly with the latest updates.  My Galaxy S5 is starting some real crap lately.  Lagging on startup. Lagging when I wake the phone up.  Apps crashing.  Starting to really annoy me.

That's interesting to hear, I've always thought the problem with new OS is the hardware isn't powerful enough to run it (android is getting bigger and bigger), but didn't think S5 would have problem. I'm still on 4.4 since I've made "unauthorized change" and it wouldn't let me upgrade, guess it's a good thing.

I've upgraded my mom's xperia mini and it seems to works okay, although there are a few new issues that I'm not sure if it's due to the new OS yet.

I'd agree with you that the S5 shouldn't have any trouble, but boy does it.  My phone regularly stalls when I swipe to unlock, and apps crash daily.  And for some weird reason, at random my wallpaper will be cut in half, the upper half will remain on the screen and the lower half is black, with all my icons still present and all functions normal.

try factory reset it. ive come to realize android is just like windows that it eventually run itself into ground

[Mercury]

I hope google stops the crap here.  They are clogging things down so badly with the latest updates.  My Galaxy S5 is starting some real crap lately.  Lagging on startup. Lagging when I wake the phone up.  Apps crashing.  Starting to really annoy me.

That's interesting to hear, I've always thought the problem with new OS is the hardware isn't powerful enough to run it (android is getting bigger and bigger), but didn't think S5 would have problem. I'm still on 4.4 since I've made "unauthorized change" and it wouldn't let me upgrade, guess it's a good thing.

I've upgraded my mom's xperia mini and it seems to works okay, although there are a few new issues that I'm not sure if it's due to the new OS yet.

I'd agree with you that the S5 shouldn't have any trouble, but boy does it.  My phone regularly stalls when I swipe to unlock, and apps crash daily.  And for some weird reason, at random my wallpaper will be cut in half, the upper half will remain on the screen and the lower half is black, with all my icons still present and all functions normal.

try factory reset it. ive come to realize android is just like windows that it eventually run itself into ground

That's one thing I haven't tried yet.  I totally agree though, the longer you use Android the slower it gets.  Resets are mandatory.

[Whoey]

I haven't factory reset my nexus 4 on any of the 5.0/5.x updates. It runs pretty great in comparison to the failing on the nexus 7... where even resets, tweaks did nothing to make it remotely as usable as pre 5.x

of course it's also worth looking into disabling the updates once you roll back.