Galaxy Nexus LTE Update IMM76Q Sneaks Into Some Replacement Phones, is Not a Good Thing

Remember the mysterious IMM76Q update that showed up on a developer Galaxy Nexus LTE a couple of weeks ago? According to a handful of readers, this update has been pre-loaded onto a batch of replacement G-Nex devices, and this isn’t a good thing. 

One of our readers went through 3 replacement devices over the last week, all of which ran this new IMM76Q software. He said that his phone has been unable to hold a 4G connection for more than a few minutes at a time. It could have something to do with new radios in the update, as the baseband has changed to I515.10 V.FC04, from the I515.09 that came with IMM76K. (Edit:  As some have pointed out, the .10 refers to the hardware version, not software. It’s a mystery then as to why IMM76Q is destroying connectivity.)

He is also noticing that the on-device search seems to have been dumbed down and no longer returns results for apps or contacts, something we were afraid would come with the next update thanks to ongoing battles with Apple.

We aren’t sure exactly why only replacement devices are coming pre-loaded with this update. We also do not think that all replacements have IMM76Q, but if you get stuck in a batch of replacements that have been, you may be in for a rough ride. We are hearing that some stores have marked the devices with “Updated” stickers and are sending them back in some cases because of the number of issues that users have experienced. In fact, one of our readers took his device in to be looked at, and once the rep saw the “Updated” sticker, immediately knew the issues at hand.

Update:  As many readers have pointed out, this could have to do with the .10 version of the device, or just replacements in general. I’ll just say this – hopefully none of you have to get a replacement any time soon, as our comments on this thread alone are filled with users who have had nothing but problems with them.

If you have received a replacement Galaxy Nexus from Verizon over the last couple of weeks, how has your device been acting? Is it running IMM76Q?

Cheers Tim!