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Problems I've got with the Acer A500:
GPS is very weak. I get the best reception with the back of the unit facing the sky but in normal orientation I'm lucky to get 5 sats.
Compass doesn't work, always 90deg off
Digitizer unresponsive 3 times, had to power off each time. Strangely enough, the last time this happened the buttons at the bottom (home, menu, etc) still worked but nothing responded when tapped on the main screen area.
Have to be careful about plugging and unplugging items while the device screen is off. The headset icon is still showing in the tray after having disconnected a cable last night when the screen was off. Have seen problems where external USB devices aren't scanned if the screen is off.
System shut down 1 time after showing a low power notice. I was at 80%. Haven't had this happen again.
Market, Maps, Firefox crash a lot. The latter is probably Mozilla's fault but the core apps shouldn't be this crash-happy.
Bluetooth sharing only shows visible devices and not paired devices. What's the F-ing point of pairing if I have to make a device visible before I can send a file to it?
No media scanner notification. It takes a while to scan external USB media and there's no indication the scanning is going on. The only indication that it's done is when media starts appearing in apps like gallery. On older revs of the OS there is a notice that scanning is ongoing.
Copy/paste annoying. Especially that you can't paste if there's no text in your editor!!! In 2.2 you tap once to bring up the picker/caret (don't know what the google term is) and you tap that to get a popup menu for copy/paste/delete. On the Acer you have to double-tap to select text and only then do you get a menu on the top of the screen. Trouble is, if you have no text in your document you can't paste because there's no text to select!
Can't turn the d**n sound off on the camera.
Have to drill down into the settings turn the "ringer" off to mute the system. Why isn't there a dropdown icon for that?
Some of these are certainly Acer's fault and are related to hardware specific to this device. The UI elements I'm left wondering about. This is the only Gingerbread device I've really used and I can't tell how much is default behavior and how much Acer messed with the OS and borked it.
It's possible I've become spoiled by the devs on XDA. I'm coming from a Vibrant and the dev action is furious with that device. I've regularly upgraded my device with new ROMs on the order of every 2-3 weeks since October and I'm currently using 2.2.1 on my phone.
Given that the bootloader is locked (and encrypted?) I'm thinking dev action isn't going to happen real soon and I'm further thinking about returning this. I hate the idea of doing that because in a lot of ways this is a really nice tablet. It's got the form factor and weight I want. It's responsive. wifi is good enough for my purposes and I can carry it throughout home and work with no connection problems. I've found ways to make it part of my device chain (doc markup, blogging, reading, music playing) and the price was was low enough for me to give it a try. For the most part I like the device.
Trouble is, the bugs are like having someone standing next to you randomly poking you in the ribs. It's not enough to call the police but if he doesn't stop I'm going to punch him in the nose. With the Acer the bugs aren't bad enough for me to throw it out the window but they're getting bad enough that this thing may get returned.
For those in the know, how much of what I've complained about is normal Gingerbread and how much has Acer likely borked?
For reference my kernel is 2.6.36.3-00001-g9b3ce2b and build is Acer_A500_1.104.02_COM_GEN1
michaelh99 said:
Problems I've got with the Acer A500:
GPS is very weak. I get the best reception with the back of the unit facing the sky but in normal orientation I'm lucky to get 5 sats.
Compass doesn't work, always 90deg off
Digitizer unresponsive 3 times, had to power off each time. Strangely enough, the last time this happened the buttons at the bottom (home, menu, etc) still worked but nothing responded when tapped on the main screen area.
Have to be careful about plugging and unplugging items while the device screen is off. The headset icon is still showing in the tray after having disconnected a cable last night when the screen was off. Have seen problems where external USB devices aren't scanned if the screen is off.
System shut down 1 time after showing a low power notice. I was at 80%. Haven't had this happen again.
Market, Maps, Firefox crash a lot. The latter is probably Mozilla's fault but the core apps shouldn't be this crash-happy.
Bluetooth sharing only shows visible devices and not paired devices. What's the F-ing point of pairing if I have to make a device visible before I can send a file to it?
No media scanner notification. It takes a while to scan external USB media and there's no indication the scanning is going on. The only indication that it's done is when media starts appearing in apps like gallery. On older revs of the OS there is a notice that scanning is ongoing.
Copy/paste annoying. Especially that you can't paste if there's no text in your editor!!! In 2.2 you tap once to bring up the picker/caret (don't know what the google term is) and you tap that to get a popup menu for copy/paste/delete. On the Acer you have to double-tap to select text and only then do you get a menu on the top of the screen. Trouble is, if you have no text in your document you can't paste because there's no text to select!
Can't turn the d**n sound off on the camera.
Have to drill down into the settings turn the "ringer" off to mute the system. Why isn't there a dropdown icon for that?
Some of these are certainly Acer's fault and are related to hardware specific to this device. The UI elements I'm left wondering about. This is the only Gingerbread device I've really used and I can't tell how much is default behavior and how much Acer messed with the OS and borked it.
It's possible I've become spoiled by the devs on XDA. I'm coming from a Vibrant and the dev action is furious with that device. I've regularly upgraded my device with new ROMs on the order of every 2-3 weeks since October and I'm currently using 2.2.1 on my phone.
Given that the bootloader is locked (and encrypted?) I'm thinking dev action isn't going to happen real soon and I'm further thinking about returning this. I hate the idea of doing that because in a lot of ways this is a really nice tablet. It's got the form factor and weight I want. It's responsive. wifi is good enough for my purposes and I can carry it throughout home and work with no connection problems. I've found ways to make it part of my device chain (doc markup, blogging, reading, music playing) and the price was was low enough for me to give it a try. For the most part I like the device.
Trouble is, the bugs are like having someone standing next to you randomly poking you in the ribs. It's not enough to call the police but if he doesn't stop I'm going to punch him in the nose. With the Acer the bugs aren't bad enough for me to throw it out the window but they're getting bad enough that this thing may get returned.
For those in the know, how much of what I've complained about is normal Gingerbread and how much has Acer likely borked?
For reference my kernel is 2.6.36.3-00001-g9b3ce2b and build is Acer_A500_1.104.02_COM_GEN1
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I'm not sure if you know this or not, but tablets and Honeycomb are pretty new.
rorytmeadows said:
I'm not sure if you know this or not, but tablets and Honeycomb are pretty new.
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Yeah, I'm aware. How does that apply to my questions & issues with the A500?
michaelh99 said:
Yeah, I'm aware. How does that apply to my questions & issues with the A500?
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Click to collapse
Well, I think your thread is misleading. Tablets are new and there are going to be flaws in new products. That's why you don't buy the first new model of a car. But if you're going to, then understand there is always risk.
1. I have had no problems with the GPS.
2. I have had problems with the compass, but nothing unusual for a digital compass.
3. Unresponsiveness happens with pretty much every device. Mine has been unresponsive like 5 times already, but a power down and then up again fixes it beautifully. It's like a nice reminder to clear the system and make it run faster. This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Acer. It could be Honeycomb.
4. Apps crashing. Happens. I'd think that it's Honeycomb, rather than Acer.
5. I've seen the headset icon on when I didn't have any headphones in. Oh no! Stop the presses! This occurs, sure, but that could be Honeycomb, not Acer. Also, are we sure it's not the music icon?
6. Bluetooth profiles are limited. Sure. But maybe that's a reminder to us all that Bluetooth is awful technology. This one is probably Acer.
7. Copy and paste, although annoying, isn't Acer.
8. Right now, it's not proper to open the bootloader for everyone. Don't hold that against any company.
Most of the things you mentioned really might have to do with Honeycomb rather than Acer. So don't trash the wrong company.
Now given that it's Honeycomb instead, it's new. It will have bugs and problems. Sit and wait or learn the trade and get in there and fix it.
Or wait until a future generation product.
Problems I've got with the Acer A500:
Digitizer unresponsive 3 times, had to power off each time. Strangely enough, the last time this happened the buttons at the bottom (home, menu, etc) still worked but nothing responded when tapped on the main screen area.
NEVER OCCUR for me
Have to be careful about plugging and unplugging items while the device screen is off. The headset icon is still showing in the tray after having disconnected a cable last night when the screen was off. Have seen problems where external USB devices aren't scanned if the screen is off.
NEVER OCCUR for me
System shut down 1 time after showing a low power notice. I was at 80%. Haven't had this happen again.
NEVER OCCUR for me
Market, Maps, Firefox crash a lot. The latter is probably Mozilla's fault but the core apps shouldn't be this crash-happy.
Just restore to factory default or clear the data in "manage application" can solve the problem
Can't turn the d**n sound off on the camera.
Root the device and remove the sound using root explorer
Have to drill down into the settings turn the "ringer" off to mute the system. Why isn't there a dropdown icon for that?
when you press vol +/-, there is a small icon on the right and you can adjust 3 volume settings
....
Ya, I'm pretty much in the rorytmeadows and ardatdat camp. Considering Acer did very little to their OEM copy, I'd place the blame for a lot of the issues on HC.
The compass is definitely finicky. I've only ever got a solid read when my GPS was tracking - when it's not, the compass is definitely off (using GPS Essentials here which could also be an app issue). If there is a common degree variance, this can be coded in/out. Also, orientation matter - whether you have it in portrait, facing you, landscape facing up... There's a difference and the gyro checks.
I understand where some of you guys are coming from re. new releases having bugs. I can't accept that viewpoint. I paid for this device and while a few bugs are to be expected these days, some of the problems amount to beta level bugs that should have never left the factory.
If there were going to be regular releases of updates I'd feel differently but it seems clear that releases will likely only come from the devs and only after jumping through the hurdles and hoops that Acer has put in their way.
I think the A500 was worth trying but I'm still not sure it's worth keeping.
A BETA bug is something that is consistent (across all testware) and repeatable. Nothing you listed falls near that.
gammaRascal said:
A BETA bug is something that is consistent (across all testware) and repeatable. Nothing you listed falls near that.
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I think we'll have to agree to disagree. The general level of bugginess shown by the complaints in this forum alone cause me to classify this (and many other android devices) as beta.
With so many people willing to be paying testers, the manufacturers don't have any incentive to behave differently.
michaelh99 said:
I think we'll have to agree to disagree.
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Ya, but... Nothing you listed is consistent and repeatable... Where exactly is the disagreement?
The general level of bugginess shown by the complaints in this forum alone cause me to classify this (and many other android devices) as beta.
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I don't see it. Maybe I'm biased *shrug* The majority (not all, of course) complaints or issues with the a500 (be them HW, SW or HC related) on this (and other) forum are sporadic and inconclusive. Not a lot of serious testing happening and a complaint like 'my gps can't see any satellites' doesn't mean a whole lot without more granular info. It doesn't help and it certainly shouldn't be used as part of a rationale. You gotta take those kinds of half-thought out complaints with a grain of salt.
With so many people willing to be paying testers, the manufacturers don't have any incentive to behave differently.
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I read this all the time - with games mostly, but the argument is the same.
How when a new game is released (pick your poison) you're bound to get a very small, thought vocal, minority who dig their nails into the support section complaining about 'players are paying to be testers' - or - 'their computer should be able to play it' etc. The argument being, 'it's suppose to act the way I want it to act' when in fact, that is never the case. With games, with hardware - software. 'It's suppose to act the way they want it to act' - We're just consumers. We consume. They create, we consume.
Now, I'm not trying to discount the importance of your view (I know it reads like I am but I'm not trying too - just trying to further the discussion). You're obviously having issues with the a500 and far be it for me to make lite of them. I think what is key here is that, for the majority of us, there aren't any of these kinds of issues and that, of the ones you listed, few are consistent and repeatable.
So I chalk it up to one of two things - you got a bum tablet or it's user error.
gammaRascal said:
Ya, but... Nothing you listed is consistent and repeatable... Where exactly is the disagreement?
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Most of the problems are very repeatable on my machine. In the end, that's the only one I care about and the only one that matters to me.
Not a lot of serious testing happening .. You gotta take those kinds of half-thought out complaints with a grain of salt.
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You're mistaking brief descriptions for incomplete testing or "thoughts.". I haven't described my testing methodology nor put down all the tests I've done because I'm not game for writing a paper on the subject.
I've been around quite a while and have been in development for decades and done my time in QA. I know how to test. Which is part of the point. I'm not running into these problems while doing things that qualify as something a user shouldn't do and I'm really not interested in helping Acer or Google iron out the bugs in their system.
Hell, I just did a factory reset and without installing any apps I had the Market crash twice while just browsing my paid apps list.
The argument being, 'it's suppose to act the way I want it to act' when in fact, that is never the case. With games, with hardware - software. 'It's suppose to act the way they want it to act' - We're just consumers. We consume. They create, we consume.
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Yeah, know where you're coming from. My complaint isn't the same.
I want it to behave the way it used to
My UI complains stem from behavior that was present in 2.2x and is very different but harder to use in 3.x. They futzed with the UI for no good reason IMO.
So I chalk it up to one of two things - you got a bum tablet or it's user error.
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Well, it's not user error
I've just factory reset the thing and I'm going to spend a few hours using just the apps I can't live without and leave off the questionable utilities that might be destabilizing the system (widgetlocker, stuff like that) and see where that gets me.
So far it's not good though. 2 market crashes with a stock system.
All very fair and understandable. I've had my share of freezes/lockups and FC. There is no doubt that updates are needed. I'm just not convinced the majority of the issues are Acer related, but rather, Honeycomb related.
Hey Michael do us a favor and return it. I am having none of the issues you have listed with mine with the exception of some FC apps, but I attribute this to the apps not being optimized for HC since the tablet specific apps work perfect.
Sounds like you got a bum tablet, so you have 3 options. 1) keep it and keep complaining and hope you or another dev can fix your problems. 2) exchange it for a new 3) return it and wait a year or so til HC is more stable and out of this "beta" phase.
Sent from my Droid using XDA Premium App
michaelg1030 said:
Hey Michael do us a favor and return it.
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Do you a favor? In other words, stfu?
BTW michaelh99, I appreciate the fact that you're not flying off half-cocked and taking anything I (or others) have said out of context. It's important for mature and focused discussion to stay calm and proactive - with the goal being, resolution - not argument.
If bugs were completely out of technology before it was released to the public then we wouldn't have technology.
gammaRascal said:
BTW michaelh99, I appreciate the fact that you're not flying off half-cocked and taking anything I (or others) have said out of context. It's important for mature and focused discussion to stay calm and proactive - with the goal being, resolution - not argument.
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Thanks.
I'm not really expecting people to supply resolutions to the problems I've seen. It looks like most of them are problems with the first release. Some could be due to my personal usage patterns (apps I have installed) but others are clearly out of box bugs.
It may be that I need to bite the bullet and get a larger version of my phone (Samsung), which I've been very happy with. Like many people I wanted to pay as little as I could. May be that I went too low for my expectations.
rorytmeadows said:
If bugs were completely out of technology before it was released to the public then we wouldn't have technology.
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If I can crash the market by browsing my paid apps after having done a factory reset and without having installed anything I would say they haven't met the minimum necessary to release the device.
The market is a core component of the system. If that's unstable, the whole device is suspect.
Why did you start this thread knowing that no matter what good things are said about the tablet, nothing would change your mind. If you are not happy with the device then return it and go on. The majority of the owners here are very satisfied with both the hardware and software of the Acer. I don't think anyone was expecting HC to run as smooth as apple os and if these were your expectations then you will never be happy for the time being.
Again, I'm assuming you started this thread hoping someone would agree with you, but the fact is that most of us do not. Your problems are way out of the ordinary and for all intended purposes unacceptable in this device. So again, return it. Your not doing yourself any service by keeping a faulty product.
Sent from my Droid using XDA Premium App
Good point michaelg1030.
michaelh99 said:
If I can crash the market by browsing my paid apps after having done a factory reset and without having installed anything I would say they haven't met the minimum necessary to release the device.
The market is a core component of the system. If that's unstable, the whole device is suspect.
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Click to collapse
michaelh99 have you considered posting a bug report to Google? For what it's worth, it may at least bring the issues you're having to their attention. It's placating but it can't hurt.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list
not the kinda thing i want to write up first thing in the morning but i want to see if i'm alone here or if these are release wide bugs in which case hopefully asus will fix them.
for some perspective, i have a galaxy nexus and that does not have any of these issues.
Gallery: i downloaded a few files off of the internet and then never showed up in the browser, even after forcing a refresh and erasing the data they did not show up. After rebooting they showed up, but on first boot nothing would work.
MKVs/AVIs. diceplayer
So 720p MKVs are even worse than before. they lag so bad that it makes honeycomb look good. 720p avi file plays perfectly.
standard def avi files in diceplayer and moboplayer are being sped up just slightly. kinda like looking at a 120hz tv. was not like this in honeycomb.
And on my Galaxy Nexus these files play perfectly in diceplayer and moboplayer, so i doubt it's an ICS issue, but an asus issue.
------
curious to see if anyone else has these issues. honestly very upset with the video issues. i was hoping that ICS would finally allow me to play my hd videos, and now my HD and SD videos are screwed up. almost like asus is forcing me to buy the prime if i want to watch videos, which i refuse to do
Two bugs I've seen so far:
-Battery meter taps out at 99%... It will not say 100. The lockscreen says Charged, but check in Battery and it says 99%, also in the notification area in the lower right.
-Two hours later, the Sync Browser in the Accounts and Sync is still thinking...
fatesealer said:
Two bugs I've seen so far:
-Battery meter taps out at 99%... It will not say 100. The lockscreen says Charged, but check in Battery and it says 99%, also in the notification area in the lower right.
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Click to collapse
I have the same on my Moto Defy with ICS. It only reaches 100% when charger connected but will drop to 99% if removed. I guess, "It's not bug, it's a feature". You can try Battery Calibration if it never reaches 100%.
battery charge
My nexus S never charges over 96%. Then I found its a "feature". It is meant to prolong battery lifespan.
Stock internet explorer turns off by it self.
fatesealer said:
Two bugs I've seen so far:
-Battery meter taps out at 99%... It will not say 100. The lockscreen says Charged, but check in Battery and it says 99%, also in the notification area in the lower right.
-Two hours later, the Sync Browser in the Accounts and Sync is still thinking...
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Click to collapse
Please read up on LiPo batteries. It is working as intended. LiPo's are not meant to be ever fully charged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_polymer_battery
People having problems with things shutting down, done a factory reset?
I know it's a huge pain, but the lag/stopping of programs I was having appears (so far) to have been solved by a wipe, and re-install of all my apps.
Thiesen said:
Please read up on LiPo batteries. It is working as intended. LiPo's are not meant to be ever fully charged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_polymer_battery
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Ok, as a remote control hobbyist who uses lipos all the time, this is just not true. There is no reason why at a certain voltage (4.2 per lipo cell) that the TF should read 100%, this is not normal behavior..but 1% is a negligible drop in battery performance, but could only get worse.
My major bug I discovered- Do NOT use ANY LCD density apps, it will severely mess up you keyboard scaling while not affecting anything else, so I used another one and my launcher is FC'ing will not even boot into it. Time to factory restore..
Factory restore worked, did not even lose root access, but in the process discovered two things, one cool, the other not so much.
1: Asus task manager widget!!
2: tapping VERY quickly seems to be registered as a long press..try it on a widget, just tap it very fast, see if it lags up and then highlights as if it is ready to be dragged, the next tap on the screen will be seen as a drop. Apparently there are touch screen issues even within the official build..CONFIRMED.
luna_c666 said:
2: tapping VERY quickly seems to be registered as a long press..try it on a widget, just tap it very fast, see if it lags up and then highlights as if it is ready to be dragged, the next tap on the screen will be seen as a drop. Apparently there are touch screen issues even within the official build..CONFIRMED.
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I can't seem to duplicate this error.
Regarding the widgets, I'm not so sure that it's a bug. Now I hate to harp that drum but it's very consistent in the way it acts, and I've only found that behaviour with widgets specifically. In fact, the whole tablet runs like a bloody dream after the update, with touch reaction being one of the improved things. Regarding trouble with video in dice, I'm lucky to not have the same fate. Then again I've always been on stock.
Holy ****, I'm actually blown away. Swiftkey feels so much better now too, and there's absolutely no typing lag in chrome, which was the first thing I downloaded. Wow
EDIT:
But Chrome will never support Flash. Weh.
I as well am blown away.. Never going back to HC lol! ICS is just so smooth, and even with a couple quirks, better than HC
The quirks I see could possibly be with not having rebooted since install, so grain of salt with these please:
Slight lag when opening some programs that are not in memory
slight type lag if other things are going on (picky, I know)
bit of an install lag
Its damned good, but why oh why does the bloody GMail widget *STILL* not update/refresh properly?? i.e. what *should* happen is that new emails arrive, and the widget refreshes highlighting the new email in bold and showing an unread count..
Nope.. no dice.. seems to suffer from exactly the same behavior as the old Honeycomb widget, i.e. it updates some of the time at best (a force close on "Launcher" will cause it to refresh just as before).. In the grand scheme of things, this is small potatoes but it would've been nice if it just *worked*
In other news, the stock browser seems great and typing lag is definitely a thing of the past on forum sites like XDA
jms_uk said:
Its damned good, but why oh why does the bloody GMail widget *STILL* not update/refresh properly?? i.e. what *should* happen is that new emails arrive, and the widget refreshes highlighting the new email in bold and showing an unread count..
Nope.. no dice.. seems to suffer from exactly the same behavior as the old Honeycomb widget, i.e. it updates some of the time at best (a force close on "Launcher" will cause it to refresh just as before).. In the grand scheme of things, this is small potatoes but it would've been nice if it just *worked*
In other news, the stock browser seems great and typing lag is definitely a thing of the past on forum sites like XDA
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Click to collapse
as far as email widget, do you have push notifications on for gmail?
panorama mode doesn't work with the new camera app, it just shows a black screen. Has anyone else experienced this ?
I also got a random reboot, which is new for me,, as HC never did that.
Another thing I've noticed: When I do a shutdown, I have to plug in power to get it to come bakc on. No amoutn of holding or pressing the power button will work without power applied.. Doesnt bode well for me, as it happened also on spark rom when I had it. Seem that i'm the only one with this issue :/
No sound of any kind system, media or otherwise. Silent mode is not on. Really weird. Had no problem with the tablet playing/making sounds prior to the ICS update.
Anybody dock since ics? Im not seeing my battery info for the dock in notifications, just that it is docked.
Some of the buttons(namely the settings button) dont work or dont work the same. Maybe there is suppose to be a firmware update? Is there away for it to force a check for an update of the docks firmware?
kingofyo1 said:
as far as email widget, do you have push notifications on for gmail?
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Click to collapse
Yep, all enabled. As I said above, it works *sometimes* and always after you force close Launcher, but we shouldn't have to do that..
Had a look around, and irritatingly some people get the same problem and some don't so there's no conclusive answer
G+ keeps closing
I did not notice any sort of issue with dice and 720p mkv files. Should I be looking for something specific ? (These profiles are baseline as high causes artifacts under hc).
Had a question about NFC tags... I'm seeing a bunch of coverage on them lately and it looks like it indeed could be useful.
It seems you would almost need 2 tags per "action" though.
I'd love to have one at work, but wouldn't I need one for "arrive at work" and "leave work" to turn on/off certain things?
I did see (at least some) apps that make use of TOGGLE - however, what if for example I had a Car NFC which I want to turn on bluetooth when I get in, and turn it off when I get out - what if I happened to enable bluetooth earlier - maybe listening to a bluetooth speaker? This would create an inconsistency and kind of break the toggle (assuming I was toggling multiple things, at least...)
Still trying to read through and thoroughly understand it - any insight from people who actually use these on a daily basis?
Seems like these NFC taskers need to create a new service to always listen to NFC - is that true? Are they battery killers?
Lastly - any recommendations on where to pick some NFC tags up?
I'm no NFC expert but I do use it with the Tagstand NFC Task Launcher.
1. You don't need 2 tag with NFC Launcher for, like you said, it can toggle. Toggle works by performing Action 1 the first time its scanned and then Action 2 the second time its scanned.
2. Say, for example, Action 1 says to turn on Bluetooth and Action 2 says to turn it off. You scan it and it performs Action 1 but its already on, it will do nothing (wont create some universe shattering paradox ). Then if you have take the phone off the tag and scan it again it will turn Bluetooth off (Action 2) and then loop back to action 1 and so on.
3. On our phone, if not all of them (idk), the NFC chip is only on when the screen is on. A mod found here enables it to be on always but this eats battery life.
4. I currently use Tagstand's own NFC stickers from their store and they are pretty cheap and work great. buynfctags.com has then cheaper but the blank ones have a minimum order of 5 and the custom printed ones have a minimum order of 250.
VERY IMPORTANT!- The Nexus 4 wont work with Mifare Classic 1K Stickers, these include Samsung tech-tiles, because they use proprietary standards (see here for more).All truly NFC compliant tags will work, eg. The Type 2 (NTAG203) and Type 1 (Topaz 512) stickers.
NFC stuff is great, don't get me wrong. But there are alternatives so I just wanted to offer some suggestions just in case you weren't aware. I'm writing this based on your "work" scenario.
I do a LOT of the stuff that you can do with NFC Task Launcher etc. with automation apps. You can in fact, do all the basics you can do with NFC with automation apps, the bonus of NFC is being able to pin point areas and to design complex macros. I've used Tasker in the past but right now I use llama primarily.
For me, NFC is more of a boon in "trusted" areas, like in my home, my car or say at work vs. out and about. I'll admit I'm slightly paranoid about nfc scanners/readers siphoning information right out of my phone. It's very highly unlikely but tech has gotten all the better and thieves are getting super creative - we're also making it so very easy for them. The culprit would have to be close to me and in case of our devices, the screen would need to be on, but that wouldn't be difficult in a cinema or in a crowded area. My habit right now is to disable it unless I'm home or have a reason to use it while out. Eventually I'll source a nice case for my phone and tablet that blocks it, then I can leave it enabled.
So, yeah...keep the alternatives in mind if you're just interested in basics. I set my wife's llama to set her phone to the silent profile when at work. She's not allowed to use her phone there but I hate her turning it off because sometimes she doesn't remember to turn it on when leaving but rather when driving on the way home. So her llama sets the phone to full silence when in her office and as soon as she leaves the garage it sets it to normal.
As I mentioned, with NFC it's more about the ability to pin point within certain areas and design more complex conditions. For example, llama can detect when I leave my home but it can't detect when I've moved from my office into my kitchen or into my bedroom. This entire area is just, Home. Maybe it could if I trained it but goodness knows I would hate to have to set adjustments based on each of the areas in my home anyway. NFC allows you to focus on the actual area. I haven't found a whole lot of use yet for my tags, but I do have one in my kitchen and bathroom which starts music on my N7. Of course, that's just really, really lazy of me vs. useful. There's also one in my car's phone mount that is set to turn on navigation when I mount the phone but I don't use that one since I have to enable GPS manually anyway.
Kevin has said everything re: the use of the tags and the stores. Some additional stores are here. Like him, I got mine from Tagstand because they look nice, were pretty cheap and they do try to beat competitor prices.
Good Luck.
Kaitlyn2004 said:
Had a question about NFC tags... I'm seeing a bunch of coverage on them lately and it looks like it indeed could be useful.
It seems you would almost need 2 tags per "action" though.
I'd love to have one at work, but wouldn't I need one for "arrive at work" and "leave work" to turn on/off certain things?
I did see (at least some) apps that make use of TOGGLE - however, what if for example I had a Car NFC which I want to turn on bluetooth when I get in, and turn it off when I get out - what if I happened to enable bluetooth earlier - maybe listening to a bluetooth speaker? This would create an inconsistency and kind of break the toggle (assuming I was toggling multiple things, at least...)
Still trying to read through and thoroughly understand it - any insight from people who actually use these on a daily basis?
Seems like these NFC taskers need to create a new service to always listen to NFC - is that true? Are they battery killers?
Lastly - any recommendations on where to pick some NFC tags up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know the real max range possible of the NFC system the Nexus 4 uses or the range other devices can interface with it at? I guess really I am trying to find out if there is a way to increase the range from the official .2m / 8" to something farther away. I am trying to figure out how far away from my phone someone needs to be to read my info if I have my NFC turned on?
donec said:
Does anyone know the real max range possible of the NFC system the Nexus 4 uses or the range other devices can interface with it at? I guess really I am trying to find out if there is a way to increase the range from the official .2m / 8" to something farther away. I am trying to figure out how far away from my phone someone needs to be to read my info if I have my NFC turned on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well for the chips in our phones, it usually needs to be within 1 inch, like a key fob RFID scanner. I've heard CLAIMS that people can do it from across a room, although I don't believe the chip has enough power to make such a connection at that distance. (Someone correct me if I'm truly wrong, because I'm curious too).
For NFC chips, it usually requires that the chip touch a specific part of the back of the phone. Same with Google Wallet on pay pass. NFC is pretty neat and can be used for various things. Like wallet, tags, sharing items with another phone, etc.
Kaitlyn2004 said:
Had a question about NFC tags... I'm seeing a bunch of coverage on them lately and it looks like it indeed could be useful.
It seems you would almost need 2 tags per "action" though.
I'd love to have one at work, but wouldn't I need one for "arrive at work" and "leave work" to turn on/off certain things?
I did see (at least some) apps that make use of TOGGLE - however, what if for example I had a Car NFC which I want to turn on bluetooth when I get in, and turn it off when I get out - what if I happened to enable bluetooth earlier - maybe listening to a bluetooth speaker? This would create an inconsistency and kind of break the toggle (assuming I was toggling multiple things, at least...)
Still trying to read through and thoroughly understand it - any insight from people who actually use these on a daily basis?
Seems like these NFC taskers need to create a new service to always listen to NFC - is that true? Are they battery killers?
Lastly - any recommendations on where to pick some NFC tags up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the confusion is in the word "Toggle" - instead for NFC Apps let's call them "Switch Tags". This means the first time you tap them, the execute one set of commands and the second time you tap them they execute a second set of commands. But these commands can be anything. So for example you wouldn't have either set of commands "toggle" Bluetooth - instead, you'd have it "Turn BT On" or "Turn BT Off". If you're BT was already in the state then nothing would happen.
NFC was developed to use very little power - part of the reason why the range is very small and you have to pretty much tap a tag. The affect on your battery leaving NFC enabled will be barely noticeable. The apps themselves are not "always on" - the tag is programmed to trigger the app when your phone's nfc antenna detects the tag.
As for where to pick up tags, of course I'd recommend AndyTags, but I'm biased. You can check them out, but there are lots of great places to get tags. For the Nexus 4 phone, make sure to get NTAG203 tags.
Hey I am still confused on these NFC Tags. I watched some video on how it works and it looks pretty awesome but i have some questions.
For example. I have a phone holder in my car. i only use it when i use my GPS. i want to paste an NFC Tag on the holder so every time I place the phone in the holder it turns on my GPS, launches my GPS app, and maybe turns off my Wifi. From what I have seen this can easily be done.
Here is the part I am confused about. When the phone is in the holder it will be right beside the tag. What effect does that have on the tag? Is it constantly communicating?
The feature i really want is this: when I remove the phone from the holder and away from the tag can I program it to turn off the "car settings"?
So I am wondering if I can use a phone holder and NFC tags to create a dock(without the charging). Put the phone on the dock and leave it there and it changes to "car settings" and keeps it at that setting. Take the phone out of the "dock" settings turn back to non-car settings.
everything i see involves tapping.
Prelude38 said:
Hey I am still confused on these NFC Tags. I watched some video on how it works and it looks pretty awesome but i have some questions.
For example. I have a phone holder in my car. i only use it when i use my GPS. i want to paste an NFC Tag on the holder so every time I place the phone in the holder it turns on my GPS, launches my GPS app, and maybe turns off my Wifi. From what I have seen this can easily be done.
Here is the part I am confused about. When the phone is in the holder it will be right beside the tag. What effect does that have on the tag? Is it constantly communicating?
The feature i really want is this: when I remove the phone from the holder and away from the tag can I program it to turn off the "car settings"?
So I am wondering if I can use a phone holder and NFC tags to create a dock(without the charging). Put the phone on the dock and leave it there and it changes to "car settings" and keeps it at that setting. Take the phone out of the "dock" settings turn back to non-car settings.
everything i see involves tapping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tag is only a marker, in Stock ROM you need to actually unlock your phone before your NFC will start pooling (There are mods for this so no worries). The actions are all programmable depending on what kind of apps you use to program it, that's all!
Personally I find tasker to be more useful than NFC tag. I don't buy all the marketing gimmicks.
I have started to tinker with NFC tags.
Is there a way to start the stock android clock timer (from zero or a countdown from a preset time) using nfc tags? I tried NFC task launcher but it just uses their own in app timer, which im not a fan of (it doesn't show time remaining/elapsed and all that stuff). Or maybe an automation app that can be triggered by a nfc task.
[HOW-TO][NEWBIE GUIDE] Optimize & proper set up your Galaxy S6 Edge (stock firmware)
As I've read across this forum and on several specific threads related to usage, battery life and so on, as well as discussing with some of my friends having a S6 or S6 Edge, I realized that most of the people don't really know how to properly set up their phones or how to use them efficiently.
OK, I get it, this is a fancy phone, not every owner is a developer or tech guy so it might be that many choose it based on the looks and don't really know how to optimize it...then they start complaining about different things like lag or battery drain not knowing that most of the problems are caused by miss-usage or improper setup. Of course there are bugs too, nothing is perfect. Of course there are many firmwares available and some are market or carrier dependent so some features or settings might be missing from some of them or even work differently.
What I will try here is to provide some guidelines and tips for setting up various things on the phone in order to maximize it's battery life and for a better usage. I will also make some recommendations based on my experience, tests and usage that might not apply to everyone. Use common sense and logic to apply similar settings in your particular case. Don't come screaming that you made that or that and now something is not working.
And YES, I know there are similar guides like this posted over the Internet and I'll probably make similar recommendations here too but I couldn't find such a guide here on XDA that is particular to this phone (if there is a better one than you might as well ignore mine).
All these things I'll describe below are applicable to any STOCK, NON-ROOTED 5.1.1 firmware and won't break warranty or your phone.
Now that was a long (and maybe unneeded introduction) but I thought to write this for everyone...let's start.
Model No.: SM-G925F
Android: 5.1.1 r2 (LMY47X)
Baseband: G925FXXU2QOI7
Kernel: 3.10.61-5672012
Build date: Fri Sept 4 2015
Carrier: Orange RO
DISPLAY
First I would like to say some words about the display. We have a great display, high resolution and it is most likely the biggest battery drain factor. There are two major things about it that you should keep in mind and will help you to get a better battery:
1. It's AMOLED...that means that the black pixels on it will consume no power because are not lit. Studies showed that even if not completely black, AMOLED displays use less energy if the displayed picture is darker compared to a lighter one.
2. The brightness level. Most people use it on "auto" or high level settings and this will be a major drain factor.
You can drastically lower the battery drain caused by your screen by selecting as much as possible dark (black) backgrounds and/or themes. There are some nice ones available in the Theme Store (my favorite is the Dalkomm Coffee Theme), that make most screens and menus dark/black. Also choosing a dark wallpaper for lockscreen/homescreens will help.
Don't use screen brightness at maximum...never. You don't need that in 99% of the cases. Also you won't probably need the automatic setting either since most of the people are spending most of the time indoors (either at work or home). A low manual setting will be fine most of the time, I have it set up at about 20% and only need a brighter one when going out. At that time I just tap on "auto" and it'll increase based on ambient light level. So you don't even need to tweak it alot every time. Find a low manual setting that's fine for your eyes and just tap on "auto" when you go out in sunlight.
CONNECTIVITY
Another battery drain factor is your multiple connection/radios features. In most cases you use just several: Mobile Data, WiFi, GPS/location and BT (when applicable). That means you should turn off all the others you don't use...NFC or BT (when not connected to a headset or car-kit or not listening to music). I don't listen to music and don't have a BT headset so I mostly not using BT (just when I'm in my car) and almost never use NFC so I have both disabled and I enable them only when needed via the Quick Settings.
WiFi
WiFi should also be properly setup otherwise it'll have impact on battery. It was incorrectly assumed or considered that keeping WiFi on all the time will drain battery faster. That was proven in different tests that's not true and in fact keeping WiFi on all the time won't make a big difference and in some cases was even better than to turn it off/on. I think is something similar with the car engines that suck more fuel when started that when running at idle. The major power drain is not when WiFi is running while is not connected to any network, but when the WiFi radio is powered up. When is on and not connected, it's going into a lower power state so the battery consumption is negligible.
I had a case with one of my friends that had WiFi setup to turn off when display was off...wrong choice, he got about 30% battery drain overnight because instead of having it connected to his home WiFi, the phone was using his 4G/LTE connection to make all the background sync/updates. That was eating his battery and also his data plan. After setting WiFi to "always" his overnight drain lowered to as little as 2-3%.
In some regions/carriers there are 2 other settings that were proven to help battery life: WiFi calling and VoLTE. I don't have either of them but based on different articles and what people say, they surely help with that so don't forget to turn them off if you don't use these features.
You might also want to try turning off "Always allows scanning" and "Smart network switch". I have the second turned off but I keep on the first one. Basically the first option tell the Location service to use WiFi for locating the device even if WiFi is switched off (by the on/off switch) so that means the radio is active. Second option should make you switch faster from WiFi to mobile data in case the WiFi signal is not strong enough or fluctuating. In my country there are plenty of WiFi hot-spots and they have mostly good connections so I don't use this feature.
GPS
Well here the opinions are split but I am currently having it ON all the time and Location Service is set to "high accuracy". I personally haven't noticed such a major difference with or without it so I preferred to let it on as it is used by many apps or services. You can try to set Location to "wifi and cell only" but don't think that will bring you a major benefit.
RUNNING APPS/PROCESSES
Well this is an important one. I've initially started to turn off/disable/uninstall everything I don't need or use. This can be done mostly from the Settings - Applications - Application Manager or if you want to go further, you can install Package Disabler Pro from PlayStore, about which I'll detail later.
Now why we should do that? There are lots of apps, processes and background services running on our devices that take care about all the things we do on the device. The problem is that ALL are using resources: processor time, memory, space and so on. In the end these are translated for a user in LAG or battery drain. Of course we cannot kill everything and I learned long time ago that installing Task or memory managers on Android it's the worst thing you can do. Android it's smart enough to take care better about it's resources and processes (at least to a certain point) and keep killing a certain process won't give you more battery life but will eat more of it in the end,
What I wanted to say is you shouldn't start disabling, killing or blocking everything cause you might end up with an unstable or not properly working phone (case in which only a factory reset might help). First of all look at the ALL tab in Application Manager and try to identify what you don't need or use. For example I'm certainly not using some things like: music, books, news feeds, Samsung's keyboard (I use SwiftKey), the TouchWiz launcher (I use Nova), health services or whatever, S-Voice, S-Health, S-Finder, I don't have any smartwatches so I don't use any Gear processes, fancy device wake-up functions (like wave gestures) or animated wallpapers either.
So after all considerations above, you decided that you can safely disable some apps/processes. All good but you'll quickly learn that some of them cannot be disabled via Application Manager (the "disable" button is grayed out). Now what? Well here comes handy that Package Disabler Pro that I've told you about in the beginning. That app is able to disable ANY apps/processes on your phone, including those that are protected and cannot be disabled via the normal way (and yes it can do that without being rooted). The downside of it is that you must be careful what you choose to disable not to have something that is needed for the normal functionality or the apps you're currently using. The app has also a backup/restore function (via an xml file) for saving the list with apps you have disabled and easily import them back after a factory reset for ex. I've added to this thread my list of disabled apps as it is exported by the application (just unzip and copy the file on the root of your internal memory and it can then be imported in the Package Disabler app)
Another important thing is WHAT apps you're using. I know that socializing and social networking are some of today's most trendy things but keep in mind that some of the apps used for that are not so well made. An example could be the Facebook app/messenger which are reported to drain alot of battery. RSS feeds, news feeds, multiple weather apps or widgets, all contribute to battery drain and lag. Don't install several apps/widgets for the same purpose (like several calendar apps or weather apps). Each will take resources and won't have an added value. Want to use another weather app/widget than the one coming with the phone? Fine, install it...but don't forget to uninstall/disable the built in one or others that do the same thing. Same goes for keyboard for ex; I use SwiftKey for years and got used with it. For me it's better than any keyboard that Samsung might put on the device, therefore I've disabled the standard Samsung keyboard. I also don't like TouchWiz launcher and use Nova that offers me much more flexibility so...I've disabled both the "easy" and "regular" TouchWiz launchers. I went to the point that I've even disabled the different embedded font types, you have 5 of them and I doubt someone uses more than one at a time.
So as you all can see it's not only a matter of setup but also a matter of usage. When you have a device you have to use it properly otherwise it'll not perform as you expect. Imagine a car that has a manufacturer fuel consumption value of 5.5 liters/100 Km....that's under certain conditions not on ANY type of driving. Fly with 200+ km/hr on a highway and I'll guarantee you won't have 5.5 liters/100 km consumption. That doesn't mean the manufacturer has lied or mislead you. Same goes with a phone, if you don't know how to use it and optimize it, you'll have a bad experience.
I work in the IT industry for years and I mostly laugh when I hear someone advising somebody to reinstall the operating system to solve a problem. Same goes for "factory reset" for a phone. Yes, this method works some times but that won't solve the root cause of an issues if you're using it the same way. After several days it'll perform as bad as before and you'll just say that "factory reset" did nothing. Of course it didn't...YOU have to do something different, not the phone.
Now I apologize for the long post and I do hope that at least some will learn to better manage their devices and to understand what they're doing not just running certain commands or procedures blind. Both S6 and S6e are great devices but we should learn how to properly use them in order to benefit the most from them...otherwise we just come here asking for help or mumbling about what crap devices they are.
Thank you, I will check to see if I get an improvement on the standby battery drain.
Your part about not setting the screen to Auto is flawed. You mention that we are mostly indoors, and you don't need a brighter screen for that. Auto mode also knows that and sets the brightness lower. It already does automatically what you do manually.
Tnx. And yes....keeping screen at 20% brightness and just switching to auto when in outdoors works great for the battery life.
ArmedandDangerous said:
Your part about not setting the screen to Auto is flawed. You mention that we are mostly indoors, and you don't need a brighter screen for that. Auto mode also knows that and sets the brightness lower. It already does automatically what you do manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite, I've tested it. If you're on "auto" and use a lower setting on the slidebar, in a dark room the screen is too dark, you'll have to turn off "auto" and the manual brighteness set on the same level will be much higher than on auto.
Now if you have such good eyes and you're able to use "auto" in all cases with the slider at 20% that's good for you...unfortunately I am not so that's why I use it as I've described. The point is that "auto" mode consumes MORE battery regardless of how it's set, than a lower 'manual' mode. So I preffer to have it like this than to use auto all the time.
Thanks for the awesome guide. I'll start disabling some useless processes and see how my battery life is working. Anyway without much editing the battery of S6Edge is pretty good. I can use it a whole day and still 19% remaining. As a comparison I wasn't able to do it with my S3 having to recharge it 2 or even 3 times at day.
Again, thanks for the guide!
Enviado desde mi SGS6e mediante Tapatalk
Last night I got one of those cheap Chinese smartwatches for $40 locally. (Amazon seems to have some for $20 at amzn.to/2qpSftK) Yeah I know, I know, but I work at a job that is anal about cell phones (a major gripe of mine the way places can be that way) and I need to know if my child's ride at school doesn't show up or if school lets out early due to a power outage etc, if that happens then I HAVE to pause what I'm doing and make a call or two to make pickup arrangements or else it's a legal issue of child abandonment. Such may only happen 2-3 times an entire school year, but it has happened a few times--my mother-in-law's battery was dead and she was running late, or she couldn't find her keys etc--in such cases I had to track down someone locally and get them to step-in, last minute.
Thus, I need a smartwatch which can relay calls which have come in so I can see them and it also needs to push SMS messages and let me reply to them, that way without even pulling my phone out of my pocket I will know if this has occurred (and can quickly reply to SMS) but I can otherwise keep my phone in my pocket knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt that if a call or SMS has come in, this watch WILL pick it up and I WILL be able to reply to them.
This watch I got, it is fine with relaying phone calls and it even relayed the audio from a YouTube video I was watching on the phone itself, but it WILL NOT WORK with relaying SMS. At first it did, such requires installing a "BT Notifier" on the phone (which is the best?) but even then it was hit or miss, and then it just stopped. I've done EVERYTHING in terms of different BT Notifier apps, I even scanned the "OCR Code" or whatever to point to the BT Notifier specific to that model (it appears to be a GT08 type, with the "fan" style of icons, menu/phone on the bottom left and names/text on the right, this YouTube video Ksy0pd-12BI shows one like it), I set that app up--no matter, IT WILL NOT push SMS to this smartwatch, no way/no how.
Is this a common occurrence with such smartwatches? Is this a case of that I'm going to have to just accept this model CANNOT handle SMS no matter what and get something else, vs being able to actually fix this? One model I had read good things about in an article (BIT and 2lTVoxg) called the OUMAX Bluetooth Smart Watch S6 for around $50, this model looked like a good one because it downplays "fitness" features I do not at all need and instead stresses pushing smartphone notifications and being able to replay to them, which is what I DO need. I started to get it on Amazon but then it would've required several days to get here and I need something up & running quickly but without spending $250. Maybe I should've just gotten that and waited?
Tips in general?
If anyone has any tips please do reply, I am only say this because I have an update but that doesn't mean I am not still looking for help.
I've somehow got it working just fine, no timing out of connectivity or any such thing. I had saved the downloaded BT Notifier .apk file from the app it referenced in the barcode I scanned, and I tried again but this time I disabled an app I've used on the phone for a long time--NoLED, which displays a moving dot on the LCD when notifications arrive, making it unnecessary to "wake up" the phone to see missed calls etc. I've used that app for forever, it's a long-time staple of mine, but I wondered if it was possibly interfering with this process.
I'm not sure if that is the case, but since disabling it (but also turning the watch off and letting it charge to full overnight) it's working great today. I possibly could get beyond that eventually but for now I'll take it, I mean having a smartwatch does somewhat make it less necessary anyway. The only issue now--the band, it won't attach and it's apparently a permanent part of the watch's structure, not easily swapped out. I'm not sure how I'll get around that, maybe stitching another watch band on top of it using a sewing kit?
Ultimate Fix: Watch-Specific App/Disable/Install 3rd Party
I'm somewhat disappointed in the lack of replies. Is this because this watch is now perhaps an older model, or what is the reason?
In any case, I now have the ultimate fix.
It's 3 things:
(1) Install the watch-specific app by scanning the QR code and "sideloading" the app
(2) "Force Stop" this app in Google settings but DO NOT uninstall it, leave it installed.
(3) Install the 3rd party app by "Shenznen Fan Yun Technology Co, Ltd" (green background, white circle with exclamation point) then under the "Accessibility" enable the second "BT Notifications" entry, leave the 1st one at OFF
When I got this watch, the first thing I did was download that 3rd party app, it worked some but not consistently, then it totally stopped. I then stumbled across the QR code in the watch, scanned it, installed that app, and that worked--but that app was FULL of adware, constantly bugging me to install this app or that, launching a new tab and page in my Chrome browser, and just being a total pain. I was glad the watch worked, but hated that behavior--so much I disabled the app, figuring I'd just have to re-enable it when the watch was being used.
On a hunch, eager to try again, with the watch-specific app still disabled, I downloaded the 3rd party "Shenznen Fan Yun Technology Co, Ltd" app and, just totally guessing, under "accessibility" enabled the 2nd entry (both entries have identical names so you can't tell which is which), but didn't uninstall the watch-specific app only because I figured that I would end up having to revert back to it anyway.
To my surprise, this has worked. It seems to require me turning the watch off and connecting through the watch initially, but however I get a connection and the SMS message log on the phone populates on the watch, at that point it is stable and reliable from that point on. I had it running today all-day and was receiving texts and the inbox was coming up reliably.
I hope this helps somebody. (Note: this watch is still being sold as eBay item #381686066028.)