Database Users

Disappointed with TMo HD2

After holding out for the HD2 for TMo US edition. I'm very disappointed in the phone itself. I'm not new to HTC nor to WinMo, I've own several devices already, but this got to be my first device after 6 days I was force to do a hard reset. During the past 6 days, I had to remove the battery several times because it locked up on me. I haven't even begin flashing any rom on to it yet, all I did was install several programs. Very disappointed. Does anyone else feel the same way? I'm already considering selling it and getting a Nexus 1.

I love my HD2. Never had any issues with it. What programs did you install? The fact that some program caused an issue, shouldn't be a reason why you want to sell your HD2...Probably you wanted an Android device from the beginning..Have you thought about that?

Had the same issues. everything cleared up after 1 hard reset and new sim. Make sure you're not installing commonly used apps to Sd. I think that was giving me issues.

itzstevo said:
After holding out for the HD2 for TMo US edition. I'm very disappointed in the phone itself. I'm not new to HTC nor to WinMo, I've own several devices already, but this got to be my first device after 6 days I was force to do a hard reset. During the past 6 days, I had to remove the battery several times because it locked up on me. I haven't even begin flashing any rom on to it yet, all I did was install several programs. Very disappointed. Does anyone else feel the same way? I'm already considering selling it and getting a Nexus 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Does anyone else feel the same way?"
You obviously haven't read many threads or tried a search of the forum.
I would strongly suggest that you do exactly what you say you are considering.
I have no such issues and I shall be keeping mine for some time!

I installed tcmp (the video player), torrent app for testing, 1 sense tweak, & replace the top icons. I wasn't planning to pick up a droid device, but now I am. all program was installed to the device and not the sd card.

i got the hd2 and i loved it so far. never had any problems with it, even lock ups that people are saying... I do close apps via task manager most of the time, so that's prolly why i'm not having lock ups.
but good luck to ur decision, tmo doesn't really have any good android phones right now, you might wanna just wait or just get a mytouch or samsung if ur staying with tmo.

xtenpeben said:
i got the hd2 and i loved it so far. never had any problems with it, even lock ups that people are saying... I do close apps via task manager most of the time, so that's prolly why i'm not having lock ups.
but good luck to ur decision, tmo doesn't really have any good android phones right now, you might wanna just wait or just get a mytouch or samsung if ur staying with tmo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus one is on T-Mobile.
As far as I am concerned, Nexus one is the 'best' Android phone at the time

I'll probably flash a custom rom first before I give up on the HD2 if that doesn't satisfy me then off to the next phone.

I would definitly agree with installing a custom rom. My hd2 was locking up and had terrible battery life on the TMOUS rom. So I flashed TOUCH_X_TREME. Now everything is running great and my battery life is pretty good.

The stock t-mobile USA rom is buggy and I had a lot of problems with it crashing too....particularly if I'm browsing in landscape mode and jump to the home screen. I too had a bit of buyers remorse.
I was initially going to hold off on flashing ROMs until the tmobile ROMs had more time to be tested as being safe. Eventually I got fed up, flashed Kumar's ROM, applied a bunch of tweaks, and now my HD2 runs wonderfully. Long story short, I'm keeping my HD2 now.

I had some issue's with my vodaphone stock rom on my hd2. after getting sick of all those stuff I decided to use an other rom. Since i installed a new rom, things were mutch better. Now after a few months flashing new roms and also new radio roms and trying out every app I wanted. I have a very stable HD2 with long battery life and good performance.
So, in my oppinion, the stock rom I had was buggy and still the latest roms might need some development. It is a state of the art device with high potential.

Seeking advice on possible fix from WM/HTC experts

I'll start by saying I really DO like this phone and don't wish to return it. I am coming from a BB 8320 which I also was a big fan of. This being my first wm/htc phone I have no idea how these two companies support their platforms. The phone obviously has some pretty bad lag/freezing issues as well as some weird glitches where the screen will shift and be half black. Now since its a brand new device in the market I'm totally willing to work with that as most new technology has some kinks to be worked out. I have even been looking into flashing a custom rom as I hear this will help. All this being considered I was hoping you all could perhaps tell me what to expect as far as a possible fix. Do you think this is something htc is working on fixing, or do you think I'm out of luck and should just get used to it? My phone is fully stock and has no additional progs/tweaks on it. I remember when I first got my BB that it had some problems with locking up while web browsing and eventually this was addressed and fixed by an update from BB, do you see a similar thing happening here? Thanks

OneNutShort said:
I'll start by saying I really DO like this phone and don't wish to return it. I am coming from a BB 8320 which I also was a big fan of. This being my first wm/htc phone I have no idea how these two companies support their platforms. The phone obviously has some pretty bad lag/freezing issues as well as some weird glitches where the screen will shift and be half black. Now since its a brand new device in the market I'm totally willing to work with that as most new technology has some kinks to be worked out. I have even been looking into flashing a custom rom as I hear this will help. All this being considered I was hoping you all could perhaps tell me what to expect as far as a possible fix. Do you think this is something htc is working on fixing, or do you think I'm out of luck and should just get used to it? My phone is fully stock and has no additional progs/tweaks on it. I remember when I first got my BB that it had some problems with locking up while web browsing and eventually this was addressed and fixed by an update from BB, do you see a similar thing happening here? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be completely honest I have never relied on the actually manufacturer to fix my problems... because even as you said that they eventually do... how long did you wait to do so.
I own a blackberry, windows phones galore (mostly HTC)... and both I have learned to fix on my own / use the forums to fix my problems. Blackberry 9700 for example.. greatest blackberry alive.. yes... but people hate the phone unless i fix /tweak it like i have mine because the OS the came in the phone with TMO sucked... but uploaded a unofficial rom and all better...
back to windows since thats the topic... every windows phone i have had has lasted longer than it normally would have (i based this on my patience with lag, lack of memory, and frequent crashing over time) because I learned how to flash "cooked" roms on to the phone.
These developers don't make the perfect rom... no one every will.. because not even the manufacturers can and they know the phone not only software wise but hardware better than any of us... BUT:
These developers make the best rom you will ever use compared to an "official" rom.
Will it fix your issue.. no idea... i get half a black screen some times on my cooked roms.. but it has happen once in a week... i will wait to see if it keeps it up. But the speed is better, the cooked in applications are better, and the support if there ARE problems is 10 folds over manufacturer support.
All my opinions are based on NRG's rom, using Mar 30th with cookie home tab (which once u use cookie home tab, you won't look back to stock home tab lol) He made my Touch Pro2 a better experience so I trust him with my HD2

[Q] Intro and a uple ??s

Hi people,
I am a noob as far as Android goes, but I am pretty good at PC stuff. I run a 3D CAD department and I've been the "unofficial" tech guy at every job I've had in the last 10 years.
That being said, I just got the HTC Hero from Sprint last weekend, Android 2.1, update 1. I have always wanted to play with Linux but have never really had the time. So, this is my first encounter with Android or Linux.
So ..... , as much as I'd love to root the phone, I'm afraid to brick it. Is there any way to get rid of all the bloatware without rooting my phone? Also, what are the chances of bricking the phone? I've read a couple "how to root" articles on the net and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard, but I LOVE this phone so far (other than battery life) and I honestly can't afford to go buy a new one at full price if I end up killing my phone.
Another question; I've seen a few people in other posts who have the HTC Hero and say they're running 2.2. How is this done? Is this something else that I would need to root the phone to accomplish?
Also, I just ordered an 8GB microSD card. My laptop has a card slot, so I'm figuring I can put the new card in the slot, connect my phone via USB, and copy everything on the phone to the new 8GB card, then just swapping the cards.
Am I correct thinking this should be as simple as it sounds, or is there more involved?
I appreciate you taking the time to read my post, and I look forward to reading/posting here on a regular basis.
Thanks,
Eric Mortenson

Hey, welcome to XDA!
It is VERY HARD to brick this phone, so don't worry....about the only way we've seen that is by flashing a GSM radio to it, so just don't do that and you'll be fine trying anything else.
There are a couple rooting methods here, and there won't be any problems at all as long as you follow the instructions. It's not as daunting as it may first seem. You do have to root to get rid of bloatware, it can't be done without rooting. I recommend this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=694572 although there are 'one-click' and 'universal' methods out there too.
The ones running Android 2.2 are doing it through a custom ROM called Cyanogenmod. Check out the Development section to find it. It doesn't have the HTC Sense UI though, so it will look and feel different than your stock 2.1. But lots of people here are using it and loving it. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755795
And yes, you should just be able to swap out the SD cards with no problems.

chromiumleaf
Thanks for the quick and helpful reply. It is greatly appreciated.
I think I am going to try to root my phone. Pre-installed "bloatware" on PCs is one of my biggest pet peeves. So, the biggest reason I have right now for rooting my phone is to get rid of the stuff I don't want/need/use.
I will probably leave the 2.1 on the phone because I love the phone so far and if as you say, it will look and feel different. Maybe I'll keep digging through the site and change my mind later. Thanks for the "heads up".
Please do me one favor, and I hate to sound ignorant (I did say earlier I was new at this), but what does "flashing a GSM radio to it" mean, and is it something I could do my mistake?
Sorry, tried doing a search so I wouldn't have to bother you but I'm just not sure.
Thanks again.
Eric

Eric_1966_FXE said:
...what does "flashing a GSM radio to it" mean, and is it something I could do my mistake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To "flash" some code means to burn it into your phone's read-only memory. A number of things can be flashed to your phone's memory, including the radio operating code, high-level operating system code, and "kernel" (system "core") code.
What the poster meant by "flashing a GSM radio" is "downloading the code that operates the phone's radio". Our Sprint Hero phones have what is called CDMA radio hardware, while European Hero phones have GSM radio hardware. The two different radios are not compatible with each other's operating code. So if you ever download ("flash") the wrong radio code (GSM code) into your CDMA phone, that will render your radio inoperative, which will effectively brick your phone.
With that in mind, just read carefully any information relating to any system code you're considering flashing to your phone, and make SURE it's for a CDMA phone, and you'll be fine.

I loved sense and was all against even trying an aosp rom( vanilla/ stock android), but once I flashed CM6 and found beautiful widgets and launcher pro plus and dialer one I haven't looked back. The speed of my phone and the overall appearance is far better than Sense UI. Rooting the 2.1 is far easier than it was when I got mine. You had to download and type in a whole bunch of crap, now its as easy as installing an app and running it.

Thanks
Thank you to all three of you for your quick (and more importantly useful) answers.
You guys are awesome.

Go for it
I have 4 Hero's here at my home on a family plan,and mine is the only one running CM6-RC1 and they are all jealous. Every one that has a Hero at work or a different Android running 2.1 that has seen mine including a few Evo users loves the way mine looks and how fast it is. I thought in the beginning I wouldn't want to loose Sense and feared I would brick my phone as well,but these guys here are great and are a very supportive Hero community and walked me through the process. It is a lot easier now with the universal 1 click method than before,so that was what I did. The nice thing is if you do everything correctly,you can revert right back to you stock phone if you ever have to take it in for service.
Taking your time and researching all of this pretty good before deciding what to do is a good thing,but I can honestly say, there is so much more you can do once you unlock your phone than just downloading apps and bloat ware...you can actually make it work and do what you want it to do.
The chiefs here at XDA are working hard to bring us stable working Roms for everyday use,and I tip my hat to all of them and I certainly am loving how my Hero is now compared to what it was when it was stock.The RC-1 build I am running is awesome and (knock wood) haven't crashed 1x with it where I needed to do anything nor have I had any shutdowns or unexpected forced closed programs that were installed correctly.
So I say... Don't be afraid and just go for it.. you can still have it similar to what it is now,or you can see what aosp is all about like many here have and try it.That's the beauty of Rooting...YOU have the choice of what is on your phone..not someone else.
Good Luck
Mac

Thanks Mac
And Thank you to all who responded.
Like I said in my intro, I am a tech geek when it comes to PCs but this is my first venture into this kind of forum.
You have all been extremely helpful and have made me feel welcome.
I only hope that I can return the favor at some point to others on XDA.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Thanks again,
Eric

[Q] Some basic questions, if you will...

I have a chance to get a Droid X in "mint" condition today for about $75 and I'm considering it, but I wanted to ask a few basic questions that I wanted to just consolidate into one post instead of dropping questions all over the place in various threads. I did spend a few hours doing thread research and reading here and HowardForums and the Rootzwiki (and Cyanogenmod as well) so here goes:
- I'm assuming the bootloader is still locked on the Droid X as I see/saw threads with people doing a petition (like that's gonna change anything), so what exactly does that mean for the Droid X overall - I see some custom ROMs available so I'm confused: I thought having a locked bootloader meant you couldn't have custom ROMs or, are they all running from the microSD card?
- for anyone that bought a Droid X and used the stock ROM(s) from Verizon, does using a custom ROM (if you do so) help the battery life at all, and to what degree (and how bad/good is/was the stock ROM battery life anyway?)?
- I saw mention of ICS in several instances, and also along with some ROMs but, there doesn't seem to be a full fledged ICS ROM available (or is Liberty just such a thing?) so, are the chances high that ICS will never be fully fleshed out for the Droid X? I think I saw mention that there's "some" ROM now with ICS features but isn't the full fledged build, and that the camera doesn't work at all... just hoping for clarification on this. If it's an issue of "at some point we'll have ICS working proper, completely" then I suppose it's worth taking a chance now.
- Last question: would people think that $75 for a Droid X in near "mint" condition (seller's comment, haven't actually held it in my hand yet), a memory card (unknown size but most likely the stock 2GB card), and the charger/USB card is a somewhat decent deal? I've gone through several HD2's over the years and run all sorts of OSes on it, and while it arguably is the best damned enthusiast phone ever created, I am currently on the lookout for something different - can't afford a brand new dual core monster phone (I really want that Samsung Galaxy Note but it'll probably never happen).
While the Droid X is getting older, it seems like it's still a somewhat useful device overall so I'm really leaning towards getting this.
Any advice, info, or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Edit: the X came with a 16gb [not 2]card, btw...so make sure to ask for that if you can.
br0adband said:
I have a chance to get a Droid X in "mint" condition today for about $75 and I'm considering it, but I wanted to ask a few basic questions that I wanted to just consolidate into one post instead of dropping questions all over the place in various threads. I did spend a few hours doing thread research and reading here and HowardForums and the Rootzwiki (and Cyanogenmod as well) so here goes:
- I'm assuming the bootloader is still locked on the Droid X as I see/saw threads with people doing a petition (like that's gonna change anything), so what exactly does that mean for the Droid X overall - I see some custom ROMs available so I'm confused: I thought having a locked bootloader meant you couldn't have custom ROMs or, are they all running from the microSD card?
- for anyone that bought a Droid X and used the stock ROM(s) from Verizon, does using a custom ROM (if you do so) help the battery life at all, and to what degree (and how bad/good is/was the stock ROM battery life anyway?)?
- I saw mention of ICS in several instances, and also along with some ROMs but, there doesn't seem to be a full fledged ICS ROM available (or is Liberty just such a thing?) so, are the chances high that ICS will never be fully fleshed out for the Droid X? I think I saw mention that there's "some" ROM now with ICS features but isn't the full fledged build, and that the camera doesn't work at all... just hoping for clarification on this. If it's an issue of "at some point we'll have ICS working proper, completely" then I suppose it's worth taking a chance now.
- Last question: would people think that $75 for a Droid X in near "mint" condition (seller's comment, haven't actually held it in my hand yet), a memory card (unknown size but most likely the stock 2GB card), and the charger/USB card is a somewhat decent deal? I've gone through several HD2's over the years and run all sorts of OSes on it, and while it arguably is the best damned enthusiast phone ever created, I am currently on the lookout for something different - can't afford a brand new dual core monster phone (I really want that Samsung Galaxy Note but it'll probably never happen).
While the Droid X is getting older, it seems like it's still a somewhat useful device overall so I'm really leaning towards getting this.
Any advice, info, or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A locked bootloader means no custom kernels...
But with the 2nd-init this means next to nothing that is negative for us.
We can run CM7, MIUI, and ICS.
These are 2nd-init roms that don't use any of Motorola's framework.
EncounterICS is definitely a daily driver rom...if you don't mind missing out on your camera.
This is the stock ICS experience.
Cm7 is fantastic.
Everything works.
Miui is fantastic.
Everything works.
Liberty and the other roms are 1st-init...meaning they use blur framework...and varying amounts of blur features...depending on the rom.
Battery?
On 2nd-init...we're at about stock levels.
1st-init may get slightly better than stock.
The X gets pretty darn decent battery life anyway...I wouldn't worry about it.
Our ICS ports might not have a working camera for quite some time...
But I'm sure they'll get there.
Is it a good buy?
I'd say yes.
The X has these features missing from the current top-tier phones...
4G
NFC
Front facing camera
Dual core.
We can even spoof the market into letting us download dual core games...
And overclock and use Chainfire3D to run said games.
It's a surprisingly nice phone...
If we had an unlocked bootloader...we'd have a fully functional ICS already.
But that's something for the devs to work on...and it really has no effect on us aside from a longer wait.
Check my sig for DX specific rom/root/tuts if you end up getting it.
Sorry for jumping all over the place...writing this on my phone!

Came with 16GB originally, really? Damn that would be nice, but I won't find out till later today when I meet to get my hands on it. That would be awesome if it was one of the original ones but, I don't want to get my hopes up for it. Hell, Fry's carries 16GB microSD cards under $20 most every day now so it's not like it'll be a lot of money to get one.
No worries about the jumping all over the place - I've been online since 1977 (seriously, at a whopping 50 baud!) so I can keep up with disjointed thoughts and whatever.
As for the "missing features" on top tier phones, none of those are relevant to me at all, as weird as that might sound. I'm in Las Vegas and we're fairly blanketed here for 4G coverage but, I think that kind of speed (when it works) for cell/smart phones is still just a gimmick but that's just me.
So a solid CM7 ROM might be the best for me to get started I suppose. The owner texted me earlier to set the meeting time (another few hours) and confirmed she did reset the phone to factory condition which iirc means it's at the Android screen which means it's waiting to be activated - can you or anyone else confirm that the old 4-corner trick will bypass that activation so I can get into it and verify everything works? I probably won't bother with the actual activation anytime soon unless I find some good local pricing here in my area, but being able to demo the phone and make sure everything works is an absolute must.
And thanks for the response, the info was very helpful.

I'd agree with ya there.
We've yet to get 4G in my area...but even connecting to WiFi loading web pages takes about the same time...not like I'm downloading 3gig torrents on my phone.
But yes, 4-corners works.
Edit: Do an esn check too.
I think there are online tools to do so.
Or possibly calling Verizon if need be.
Calling ##program will bring I believe...or check behind the battery.
(I'm actually on a loaner right now...getting my phone repaired through Best Buy...so I can't verify this.)

So I got the Droid X, it's in great condition but certainly not "mint" (people always say that and I don't think most know what mint actually implies - it should practically untouched by human hands).
Anyway, that CheckESNFree.com site says this one is clean and ready for activation so that's a plus, if that site is dependable of course. Always have to worry that someone would be creating a database of ESNs/ESIDs/IMEIs for some dastardly and nefarious purposes!!!
It's definitely a LOT snappier than my HD2 (listed in my sig) but it's also a slightly better internal architecture than the HD2 was, of course. Everything seems to function fine, not sure where to start so I'll much with it for the evening and see what gives. Came with a very tiny HTC 5V USB adapter, the original Motorola USB cable, and a separate USB charger as well.
Oh, and it does have the 16GB microSD card in it too.

I'm the admin/founder/owner of CheckESNFree.com
I can assure you that we do NOT log/store/record ESNs in any way shape or form.
We process roughly 14,000 ESNs per day, and we have a huge following of supporters, including places such as ReCellular, Gazelle, and FastLaneWireless.

If your device is older I would avoid Pie

I don't know if I am just suffering from correlation is not causation but I feel like the memory usage of the Pie rom was what just caused my phone to boot loop and then green screen. I just decided to use a Pie rom last week and despite seeing information in the threads saying there were issues with memory usage and other stuff I thought I would dive in. I loved the rom, it was working perfectly for 2 days and I enjoyed it. Then all of a sudden it just started having wifi disconnect issues, crackling speakers and finally one time when I was changing the volume on the phone it just BAM... restarted and got stuck at the google screen. I wasn't able to get back into recovery so I tried reflashing that using the BLOD method. That worked long enough to get a stock rom on the phone. I thought maybe I could just use my device like that but now it started going into a green screen and it wouldn't even power up. It did lead me to find information about getting my phone replaced. I think thats the only positive to come out of this for me. Obviously YMMV and flash at your own risk... but in 10 years of flashing I have never had an experience like this. Even with WM devices. I have kept an eye on both the Pie threads in Android Development and I see similar comments to my experience... I just suggest caution to people like me... who might only know what you are doing based on guides.

TLDR - I tried both the pie roms that were available. I decided on the PixelPie Rom. My phone started bootlooping withing 2 days. I think its the maxed memory usage.
Update: I just got an email that LG has fixed the board and they are mailing my phone back. I was afraid they were going to turn me down for one reason or another. I should get the phone in 2 days. I did personally speak with an LG rep over the phone about it since they were mailing me the same phone back. She said she would not be able to opt for me to receive a new phone because that is always based off the determination of the person repairing the phone. She said that if I ever have any more issues with the phone it will be covered by warranty since I am in the system. I would just have to mail the phone in and go through the same annoyance.

LG was nice enough to fix my phone... They also repaired the cracked screen free of charge. I am happy... I am sticking with stock. lol

As I know, there's a way to incrase your RAM sending motherboard to China (or just buying new from Ali) to install up to 4Gb. Can't precisely tell the prise, but something around $100. In some cases that can be a nice way to give your phone the second life.

orcgoblinsupply said:
As I know, there's a way to incrase your RAM sending motherboard to China (or just buying new from Ali) to install up to 4Gb. Can't precisely tell the prise, but something around $100. In some cases that can be a nice way to give your phone the second life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I paid around $100 for mine like a half year ago. Works very smoothly with Pie.

My phone started having more issues after the warranty time started running out. The screen isn't working right, the phone is freezing up all the time, its also giving me memory errors. luckily this happened within the 90 days of extended warranty they gave me. Will they ever just completely replace my phone? sigh... heh