Database Users

My experience with the HD2

I have the device for 5 days and i went through every little corner of it so i would like to share this with you and maybe help others make a decision to buy it or not.
Hardware:
1. Very good build quality. The rubber coding and the metal plate feels good.
2. Its incredibly thin!
3. The camera has sharp edges which scratches my desk. I always put the phone on top of the leather pouch that came with it so i don't scratch my desk.
4. The screen is impressive. Having a capacitive 4.3'' screen on a WM device is like being in haven.
5. The earpiece does a good job. Its better than my (sold) TP2, but not too loud (as some have reported).
6. The speaker is decent. Not too loud and not to quiet. Having a device so small i guess its impossible to put a better speaker.
7. The 3.5 mm jack entry is so enjoyable. I always struggled with charging and listening to the headphones at the same time. It was impossible on my previous phones without some big, ugly adapter.
8. Finally we have a standardized port for sync/charge. Unfortunately i can't find a microUSB cable anywhere. The only way to get them is to order them online.
Software:
1. HTC Sense is very well done. Having a 1GHz processor it moves along panels and menus very fast. When i took my TP2 in hand after playing with the HD2 i felt like trowing it away. Once you played with the HD2 you never go back.
2. HTC skinned most of the settings of WM which is a good thing and a bad thing. In some cases the skinned settings don't show every little option in that category so its annoying, but i managed to get a shortcut for the windows mobile settings in my start menu.
3. The facebook integration doesn't let me choose what i want to update for my contacts. On my TP2 i would get asked if i want to get the contact's photo and his birthday. Now it doesn't ask anything and if the contact doesn't have a facebook photo but it has an outlook photo (set by me) it deletes the photo. After getting back my contacts i stopped using the facebook integration. SOLVED
4. The twitter client is OK, but i expect an update from HTC in a future rom where lists are implemented. Otherwise its useless.
5. Doing pinch to zoom in Opera is a joy. Having a large screen, web browsing becomes a pleasure. Now i can say that i can always rely on my phone to do web browsing.
6. Google Maps and iGO 8 work fast and the GPS signal comes in about 10 seconds with the proper tweaks.
7. The FM Radio just doesn't work. I only get static and its not like i'm in the middle of a field. I'm in a 4 million people city.
8. The Audio Manager does a good job but there's a problem with the Audio Booster which doesn't stay on after the first song you play. There's a solution for that but its ugly. Once you start the audio booster don't press done, just leave it running by pressing the home button for example.
9. The camera takes very good pictures. I applied the super fine tweaks. I own a semi professional camera and i have some experience in that area and the pictures taken by the HD2 are pretty OK for a phone camera.
10. In regards to the SMS issue: i don't have it. The device already came with the GSM only selected as a band for sending text messages. The only downside is that i tried once to send an sms to 16 persons and i got around 5-6 undelivered messages. I know it has a limit but i applied the tweak to make the limit go to 50 but no result.
11. My Location works and doesn't work. It gets my location but when its time to get the weather it fails. It shows and error message that it cannot retrieve the weather. So i disabled it completely.
12. The unlock screen is useless. I always set my phone to turn off the display after 1 minute. Watching a movie resulted in a lock. I removed it and installed S2U2 which accepts exceptions and it works great on the HD2. It's like it was meant for this device.
13. HTC Album creates a rather large cache on the main storage resulting in a decrease in available MBs. That is not acceptable for me so someone from xda modified the exe file (changed the path of where the cache is stored) and i installed it and it works great so far. The cache is now in My Documents folder on the storage card.
14. I changed the icons in the start menu using the reSTART application and the iReflect icons found on xda. Now my start menu looks very clean and beautiful.
15. I can type really well on it. I just have to trust the keyboard. I'm not using XT9 cuz i don't have my language there but with the ABC mode i'm quite fast. Its not always perfect but that's to be expected anyhow. I make a lot more mistakes on my brother's iPhone than on the HD2 (and the iPhone keyboard is famous for its accuracy).
There is a downside to all of this: the battery life. It's a little disappointing. I feel like i use an iPhone now. I usually get a full day out of it with moderate use. I plan on buying a desktop cradle and a spare battery just in case.
I'm running the 1.48 version and judging by my experience so far i'm almost certain that there was a batch of phones that was bad, that's why some owners state problems with hardware or software.
If i missed something let me know, or if you have any questions fire away.

Very well written. There's one point I'd like to correct, though. You can set the contacts tab to show Outlook pics even with Facebook integration. Here's how:
1. Start editing the contact.
2. Tap on the contact picture icon on top right.
3. A list of available pics for the contact should come up. The second of which is your Outlook contact pic, if you have one saved. Tap it.
4. Voila
Now, can you please link the reSTART and ireflect icons? I'm curious and want to check them our. I did some searching, but the results returned are staggering.

iReflect icons: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533993
reSTART: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=186033&d=1242539721
PS: Thanks for the tip on the facebook integration. I'm now going through all my contacts and changing the photos.

Nice review, lorin.bute.
I have switched back to this device after 4 months iphone 3Gs usage. This device is the best I have ever used in the past 7 years. The screen reacts and the softwares run just as fast as iphone 3Gs but with rooms for my customization. Just looks forward to the upcoming WM6.5.3 to enhance this device, and most likely WM7 in 2010.

The battery life is indeed disappointing. Well HTC wanted it to be slimmer than the iphone.
A desktop cradle and a spare battery is a must i feel. We are all using a relatively new battery. Just imagine 6-12 months down, it may not even last a day. A cradle apart from showing off the phone also prevent from tripping the cable while charging.

Well, if a spare battery is a must for the HD2, then what do all the iPhone users do?
The iPhone has even worse battery life and you can't swap out the battery...

freyberry said:
Well, if a spare battery is a must for the HD2, then what do all the iPhone users do?
The iPhone has even worse battery life and you can't swap out the battery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use mobile chargers.
click it in the iphone and it starts charging. works perfectly.

Yes, I had one of those, too, for my iPhone 3G
That was more of a rhetorical question, but I can add that those chargers are less convenient to carry around than a second battery.
Just looks forward to the upcoming WM6.5.3 to enhance this device, and most likely WM7 in 2010.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=606932

freyberry said:
Well, if a spare battery is a must for the HD2, then what do all the iPhone users do?
The iPhone has even worse battery life and you can't swap out the battery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like what my friends do. They charge whenever possible, i see their phones wired most of the time in office.

EC05 - Your Thoughts

We don't have a thread yet discussing things that we like/don't like about the update to EC05. I am quite certain that Sprint ID will be a hot topic here, but we don't need to limit it to that.
What do you like and what don't you like? What has been fixed and what has not been fixed?
Personally, I am enjoying the Sprint ID because of some additional ringtones and wallpapers. The launcher works much like the stock Android launcher with the exception of the iD button replacing the browser button. I always activate the internet from an icon in a home screen anyways.
I have also noticed that the GPS seems to be very strong and accurate!!
In call volume seems to be louder (to me) as well.

I would probably enjoy Sprint ID if I could get any apps to show up in the app drawer for me. It's empty forcing me to stick with Touchwiz.

It seems to be much more stable. Gps works great. I've had no 3g data issues. No FCs, minus the xda app. I had to remove one bloatware file to get my adfree hosts file updated due to the /system partition having no memory left. The browser still has checkerboarding, but that's a minor thing for me, and the keyboard still does its thing. Otherwise a really good running stock ROM for me.
I did put launcher pro back on though. I've gotten too used to it.

Hardware keyboard sucks even more than it did before, which is impressive.
There's no longer a separate silent and vibrate ringer setting.
Those two are basically a killer. I guess I'll keep DI18 forever. :\

Orientation is slow as molasses. The terminal emulator yamaha_sensorcalibutil hack doesn't help at all. Will play with for a few days and probably go back to DI18 if i can't find a fix for orientation issue.

Sesquipedalian said:
Hardware keyboard sucks even more than it did before, which is impressive.
There's no longer a separate silent and vibrate ringer setting.
Those two are basically a killer. I guess I'll keep DI18 forever. :\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is amazing that they could make the keyboard worse isn't it? As for the silent option, that's been gone since the first froyo beta. Not sure why they got rid of it.. it was a nice feature. :-/

nebrando said:
We don't have a thread yet discussing things that we like/don't like about the update to EC05. I am quite certain that Sprint ID will be a hot topic here, but we don't need to limit it to that.
What do you like and what don't you like? What has been fixed and what has not been fixed?
Personally, I am enjoying the Sprint ID because of some additional ringtones and wallpapers. The launcher works much like the stock Android launcher with the exception of the iD button replacing the browser button. I always activate the internet from an icon in a home screen anyways.
I have also noticed that the GPS seems to be very strong and accurate!!
In call volume seems to be louder (to me) as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I have only been using it for about 10 minutes but I immediately tested the few things that I knew existed on EB13 for me.
1. Camera sports mode fixed
2. Video recording in low light fixed
3. Compass being screwed up fixed
4. 3g speeds faster for me
5. overall speed seems faster
6. Physical keyboard isn't missing keys for me DISCLAIMER: I am not a speed typer. I have only used the keyboard a few times since owning the Epic. However on EB13, and before, I could produce the letter skips pretty easily. Especially on double leTTers. I tested by typing 100 words as fast as I could and I did not have a single letter miss. But I did have a few spelling errors
Only two problems that I know of which I don't really care that much about
1. Browser checkerboarding
2. Playing audio from flash content over the web to bluetooth headphones stutters badly. Flash audio out of the speakers work fine. Had this problem on EB13 also.
If I run into anything else I will let you know.

LordLugard said:
Orientation is slow as molasses. The terminal emulator yamaha_sensorcalibutil hack doesn't help at all. Will play with for a few days and probably go back to DI18 if i can't find a fix for orientation issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My orientation and compass are flawless. I will keep an eye on it though to make sure I don't find a problem because I have only used it for about 20 minutes now.

So far, everything is running very smoothly and appears to be more responsive than my stock DI18. The only issue I have seen thus far is I disabled my Wi-Fi to look at the SprintID packs (you can only view these when using the data connection) and when I went to re-enable the Wi-Fi, I received an error. This corrected itself after I turned off my data (holding the power button and selecting the new data option) and then back on.
EDIT: Tried the BlueTooth, which worked great;However, when I turned it off and went to watch a YouTube video, the sound was only coming through the phones speaker and not the main speaker. It only started working again after a reboot. I believe I saw this in a thread a while back. Anyone else experiencing this yet?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Everything but the TWS bug has been fixed. Browser still checkerboards but not as bad.
3G and Gps have been vastly improved as well.
Overall its a very good update. Even Sprint ID is a pleasant surprise.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Sprint Id is a pleasant surprise to me too. I like the ESPN id with its wallpaper, ringtones and icons.

For those using sprint id, do you notice any performance or battery problems from using it? That is the main reason I am avoiding it. Wanted to wait until more data came in to see what peoples opinions were. If people could throw up some screen shots showing some differences that would be nice.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Nice Job
the orientation is amazing
seems as snappy as a custom ROM for me
but i did remove all sprints crap.
Any-who im waiting on a RC cm7 to be my daily ROM
until the nexus s 4g is released then i may jump on-that since its pure Google.
or its ported to the epic.
but overall Sammy did pretty good this time around.

LordLugard said:
Orientation is slow as molasses. The terminal emulator yamaha_sensorcalibutil hack doesn't help at all. Will play with for a few days and probably go back to DI18 if i can't find a fix for orientation issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the upside down calibration. I did it and rebootd and.my phones orientation is very fast. Hold the phone upside down against a counter and go into settings and hit calibrate
Sent From My Evo Killer!

byersbw said:
It is amazing that they could make the keyboard worse isn't it? As for the silent option, that's been gone since the first froyo beta. Not sure why they got rid of it.. it was a nice feature. :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, its still there. You just have to change it in the settings every time you want to change from vibrate to silent.
Sent from my always stock, froyo Epic

Seems generally good. No lag, most of the bugs fixed, only the TWS bug remains (which seems to be in the AOSP Android code, not created by Samsung). It's too early to tell but it seems that battery life may be average at best. I've been on Stock EB13 with Genocide 0.4a kernel (which is an OC/UV kernel) and I got used to 24+ hours battery life, I don't think I'll see that with full stock EC05.

The battery life has gotten significantly worst with EC05. The drain when the screen is off is significantly more. There is a lot of lag, even with calibrating upside down, with the screen orientation. I have the same set up as I did with stock EB and the camera fix and the battery life was a lot better. I may go back to that.

The good for me:
1- 3g speeds the best yet, had 1.3Mb down and 700k up while driving.
2- Everything seems much smoother and faster. I wiped my stock sd card before flashing ec05 and my sd tools results are better.
3- GPS and orientation speeds are flawless. (removed Sprint bloat)
4- Modem in general seems fixed. My wifi doesn't drop out every 10 minutes like it did on eb13, and I can stream radio on tunein radio again without it buffering every minute or so.
5- Sprint ID. It's more options and stuff for us to choose from. Some may hate that, but at least it's actually useful bloat from Sprint that I didn't remove.
Still haven't found an issue after several hours of use.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

cpcormier3 said:
The battery life has gotten significantly worst with EC05. The drain when the screen is off is significantly more. There is a lot of lag, even with calibrating upside down, with the screen orientation. I have the same set up as I did with stock EB and the camera fix and the battery life was a lot better. I may go back to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would give it a little time to judge the battery life on the update. I am pretty sure your usage has changed a bit due to the update brining something new and all the re-setup you probably had to do. In regards to lag - I have zero issues with that, it seems nice and fast to me - install spare parts from market and put animations to fast to get it even smoother. My GPS locked instantly inside my house which never happened before on any ROM (stock or custom). Screen rotation speed can be fixed by doing the yamaha calibration trick (need to root for that though) - I had to do this with every ROM including EB13 Samsung flash. I understand that to each his own, but I am definitely liking this update. They did a good job and now that I resolved my exchange server issue, I am really liking it. Good job Sprint/Sammy!

I still have the BT issue as the EB13,I have a Jabra A2DP headset,it doesn't see my headset after i turn it on,I had to turn off & on bt on the phone again for it to see my bt headset,I had this exact problem on EB13 but not DI18,sometimes no matter what i did,it just not seeing my bt headset anymore,had to delete and re-pair it again,very frustrating,beside this,i have no issues w/EC05.

10 things that I hate about Gingerbread!

I really wonder why there is none of such thread here!
Gingerbread unfortunately brought only bad things to my Nexus. I already forgot why I was so crazy about installing it.
What feature did it introduce again?
Okay the response is much better and everything seems faster...but with lots of bugs?
That screen off animation? Seriously?
Things that I hate now:
- Battery Time: this is bad, can't even run half a day with lot of usage, b
efore I could listen to mp3's one day, ie. more than 4 hours without any problems...now
- Camera: either Cam or Video, the application crashes after I take a photo or video and then I can not connect to it anymore
- Gallery: often crashes, especially if you have an online photo account connected
- unlock screen: I use a pattern, often there is no overlay of what pattern I drag, still the screen can be unlocked
- Market: even if automatic updates activated, it only updates if you open the market and go to the "my apps" tab
- 3G and Wifi: if you are connected to wifi more than 15 minutes and then disconnect from it you do not get any 3G, you have to go to airplane mode and back, this bug appeared ages ago and was fixed, now back again...tells you a lot about their merging control, ie. sucks
- notification led: you know...
- apps: there are a lot of apps running even though I never used them since restart (see it in a task killer app)
- gps: on a random bases it tries to lock even though no app that uses gps is running
- phone reboot: it even rebooted without any notice two times since I installed it
(- Contacts: I still can't enter a simple thing like a birthday on an expensive phone like this)
MOD EDIT: Borderline trolling removed. If you switch OSes, that's your own choice. No one here is stopping you.
Got any troubles? Tell here.

DarsVaeda said:
1. Battery Time
2. Market: even if automatic updates activated, it only updates if you open the market and go to the "my apps" tab
3. notification led: you know...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4. Blank keyboard- fixed by switching to another keyboard and back again, or a reset
5. Blank Launcher- fixed with reset
6. In the stock SMS app a long press>delete conversation doesn't always delete the selected conversation; sometimes you have to do it twice.
As far as battery goes, my display is still the thing that takes up the most battery (which is normal) but I had been experiencing severe declines in battery life. Does the switch to 32-bit color require more processing power and therefore battery?
I *#*#4636#*#*>phone information and saw it was set to WCDMA preferred. I remember playing with the option when froyo came out but didn't remember what it was set to (Maybe Gingerbread reset the option...?). I changed it to GSM PRL (Auto), and have experienced increases in battery life, as my phone isn't hunting for 3G all the time- it uses a service provided list of tower locations.
The LED REALLY bugs me.

Hate about Gingerbread
No trackball wake
Juice Defender Doesn't work (but Green Power does - works well but with less flexibility than JD)
Short battery life
Useless keyboard selection gimmicks

- Market: even if automatic updates activated, it only updates if you open the market and go to the "my apps" tab
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, glad to know mine isn't the only one that does this!!
On Froyo I would wake up in the morning to freshly updated apps that had updated automatically over night.
I have not had this happen a single time on Gingerbread, and nearly every time I go in to the market there are updates waiting.
What is the point of the automatic update feature when it doesn't work???

NexusDro said:
To be fair, the OP did mention about switching to Apple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GldRush98 said:
Well, glad to know mine isn't the only one that does this!!
On Froyo I would wake up in the morning to freshly updated apps that had updated automatically over night.
I have not had this happen a single time on Gingerbread, and nearly every time I go in to the market there are updates waiting.
What is the point of the automatic update feature when it doesn't work???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
auto update never worked for me, even in froyo.

-Battery with CM7 roms
-Trackball wake blocked in non-CM7 roms
-More difficult to mod themes like statusbar (before we just had to change a png and now we have to edit a bunch of files)
So in summary GB roms are still not stable and complete, they have either TB wake missing or poor battery life too

My annoying issues?
- 2 second mic mute after I answer a call
- stock launcher choking after a while
Less annoying ones:
- Market does not automatically update apps
- gps activations without an apparent reason

My annoyances
In no particular order:
The cursor select triangle not lining up with the cursor
Launcher unresponsive/vanishing
Lockscreen pattern not showing (as in the OP)
Phone randomly stays awake at night
GPS turns itself off
Not able to view an apps wakelock any more
USB mount screen shows 'turn off' even when it isn't mounted (UK issue)
USB debugging icon doesn't appear, or doesn't turn off depending on how you enabled it
Exchange push is just crap now, I swear it's getting worse by the day

DarsVaeda said:
- Battery Time: this is bad, can't even run half a day with lot of usage, b
efore I could listen to mp3's one day, ie. more than 4 hours without any problems...now
- Camera: either Cam or Video, the application crashes after I take a photo or video and then I can not connect to it anymore
- Gallery: often crashes, especially if you have an online photo account connected
- unlock screen: I use a pattern, often there is no overlay of what pattern I drag, still the screen can be unlocked
- Market: even if automatic updates activated, it only updates if you open the market and go to the "my apps" tab
- 3G and Wifi: if you are connected to wifi more than 15 minutes and then disconnect from it you do not get any 3G, you have to go to airplane mode and back, this bug appeared ages ago and was fixed, now back again...tells you a lot about their merging control, ie. sucks
- notification led: you know...
- apps: there are a lot of apps running even though I never used them since restart (see it in a task killer app)
- gps: on a random bases it tries to lock even though no app that uses gps is running
- phone reboot: it even rebooted without any notice two times since I installed it
(- Contacts: I still can't enter a simple thing like a birthday on an expensive phone like this)
I think there is more if I think about it.
Seriously thinking about switching back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I'm not a big Gingerbread lover at all, here are answers to some of the points:
Battery time is fine, at least in freshly installed ROMs it far exceeds what Froyo mastered.
Camera is your own problem - you didn't update radio, or your update went bad.
Gallery never crashed - again, your own problem (you get the feeling now, right?).
3G and WiFi - again, your own problem. No bug.
Apps - and why do you care? Isn't the "DO NOT USE TASK KILLER" thread clear enough? 150-200MB free RAM aren't self-explanatory?
Due to your comments, you might really consider switching to Apple. It would be beneficial both for you and for this forum.
Or you could back up user data, wipe, install new radio and bootloader, load fresh Gingerbread ROM (NOT CM7 or CM7-based), and have most of your points addressed.
Now, having said that, if you want a much better overall feel - install Froyo-based Desire port, or if you don't have any use for Hotspot - DesireHD port. I hate using barebone Android after some experience with it.

have you guys heard about Cyanogenmod ROM? I am using CM7 RC4 and I have no problems that anyone mentioned in this thread....

Maybe you haven't heard that your experience not necessarily represents anything.
For me (and another 2 guys that asked me to reinstall other ROM on their Nexus Ones), CM7 was a huge, awful pile of bugs. Starting with the ill-famous "wonk".
Plus, again, after having some SenseUI I don't really want to go back to plain Android, and wouldn't suggest it to anyone looking for a good overall experience.

I have an occasional problem with the application tray where it stutters, flashes and doesn't scroll properly. It seems to happen only after exiting certain apps, and needs the launcher to be force closed to fix.

xxlikquidxx said:
have you guys heard about Cyanogenmod ROM? I am using CM7 RC4 and I have no problems that anyone mentioned in this thread....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my experience too. Absolutely brilliant ROM.
Jack_R1 said:
..after having some SenseUI I don't really want to go back to plain Android, and wouldn't suggest it to anyone looking for a good overall experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just lost all credibility in my book...
I would suggest the OP decides what features he/she wants in a ROM and then try a few different ones out. There are plenty to cater to all tastes and i'm sure they'll be able to find one that works well for them.

1. exchange sync stops syncing without any reason. can't start a manual sync. only reboot of the phone helps for a short period of time. needs a fix very urgently.
2. TINY TINY notification icons...the worst idea google had for the GB update. i cannot see the difference between the gmail and exchange mail icon on normal usage in example.
There are some more points which i also mentioned in my blog about gingerbread for nexus one:
http://smartphoneblogging.com/2011/03/review-android-2-3-3-gingerbread-for-nexus-one/

Thread Cleaned
Let's play nicely in here and keep this on-topic. This is not the place to discuss other operating systems. This is about issues pertaining to the OTA Gingerbread updates.
Thanks,
Your loving moderator.

One bug and one annoying change:
- The instability of the launchers. I hope they address this.
- The inaccessible GPS toggle. Tasker can't access it and neither can the toggle widgets. Why did they change this?

my mms sometimes does not send if i configure 2 APNs (one for mobile data and one for mms), while i disable the one for mobile data...
it's working fine on Froyo and CM6 before

benjatt said:
- The inaccessible GPS toggle. Tasker can't access it and neither can the toggle widgets. Why did they change this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
QFT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Auto brightness adjustment no longer fades, now it just jump straight to the target brightness which is quite abrupt visually.
And of course... trackball wake is gone.

I concur with these points:
- Battery Time: this is bad, can't even run half a day
- Gallery: often crashes, especially if you have an online photo account connected
- Market: even if automatic updates activated, it only updates if you open the market and go to the "my apps" tab
- GPS: on a random bases it tries to lock even though no app that uses gps is running
- Creating shortcuts on desktop: sometimes you can't drag/drop icons to the desktop or to a different spot on the desktop.
- The cursor select triangle not lining up with the cursor
- Auto brightness adjustment no longer fades, now it just jump straight to full bright or full dim.
As for the people suggesting we update the radio and try different roms, while that is primarily what this board is about, it doesn't "solve" anything. This is a stock Nexus One with official everything. If it doesn't work then it doesn't work.

[Q] Did Acer ruin honeycomb?

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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

Android 10 stable UI lag

Hi,
I've noticed a UI lag when switching between apps or transitioning from an open app to home screen. This didn't happen in the Android 10 beta rom. Anybody have the same issue? I clean flashed the stable android 10.

I can confirm this issue in the stable release. But I would like to add that this lag was already in the beta release and is in my testing not app specific. I would clear the cache and make a reboot.

Go into developer options and disable the three animation types. Everything runs MUCH faster with them off.

Floridaplur said:
Go into developer options and disable the three animation types. Everything runs MUCH faster with them off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have, and while it does suppress animations, it actually feels less polished. And anyway, it does not resolve the UI lag which is really visible when using th app switcher. It's dropping below like 10fps. As if some gfx acceleration was disabled or the phone was completely overwhelmed

Anyone found a fix? I experience the lag every once in a while, though it's prevalent enough to be annoying.

I am having this literally every time i use the alt-tab like feature. Oneplus managed to **** up the one thing (butter smooth) Google has been bragging about for several versions ???

A simple fix would be toh format device once, as I have clean flashed and I don't face any lags

Dissable ram boost in system settings

fress said:
Dissable ram boost in system settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having random lag too. I'l try to disable RAM boost and is if it helps.

fress said:
Dissable ram boost in system settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesn't change a thing. (and am wondering it would. This feature is supposed to make smoothness (even) better, not worse)

Turn off auto brightness .. maybe it can help

I have been reading up on the A10 stable release posts and I saw a lot of people mentioning the issue that you are talking about here.
Many of them suggested a full format. So basically setting up your device as a new device.
I cannot confirm if this works for everyone but a lot of people are saying that after a fresh install they are not facing any issues.
All of the points mentioned above are just what I read from xda and op forum posts. I personally have not made the switch yet and probably wont be doing so soon.

Hey guys. I encountered the same problem on my Nokia 9. Not quite sure why this error doesn't get noticed by more people.
I think I fixed it for me though.
In my case it seemed that the OLED always on screen (which shows notifications and the time) was the problem in my case. It would always show that there are notifications even if there weren't any and that started adding up. So while the rest of my phone ran buttery smooth, the notification bar and lockscreen began looking like a Diashow. 2-5 fps sometimes. What I think is happening is that all these notifications are buggy and the always on screen can't get rid of them.
So my fix was turning that off and then restarting my phone. Since that everything runs smooth again.
If there is another thread I should post this to please tell me but I only found this one.
Hope it helped.

maxsak said:
Hey guys. I encountered the same problem on my Nokia 9. Not quite sure why this error doesn't get noticed by more people.
I think I fixed it for me though.
In my case it seemed that the OLED always on screen (which shows notifications and the time) was the problem in my case. It would always show that there are notifications even if there weren't any and that started adding up. So while the rest of my phone ran buttery smooth, the notification bar and lockscreen began looking like a Diashow. 2-5 fps sometimes. What I think is happening is that all these notifications are buggy and the always on screen can't get rid of them.
So my fix was turning that off and then restarting my phone. Since that everything runs smooth again.
If there is another thread I should post this to please tell me but I only found this one.
Hope it helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the issue is just : it's a ****show of awful coding, optimisation and non-existent testing. If manufacturers' programmers put in half the effort debugging their software we as "powerusers" at xda/reddit/... put twisting our brains in and out trying find correlating explanations and workarounds as to why we get UI lags or other absurd bugs (like 5GHz wifi not working anymore) on the 10th ****ing iteration of Android, we wouldn't have all of this. It all boils down to the general idea that because it is consumer grade product, quality check is just a non-subject. Apparent quality is just enough at product launch, and further updates (if they do get round to releasing them) can brake everything without manufacturers being held accountable.

The update showed up on my phone on the 25th, but, I'm NOT updating. 9 is too damn stable for me, & I don't see any "features" in 10 that will benefit me.

After reading all this i am not going to update to 10. Yet happy with 9.17.
Tmob unbranded dual sim op6t.

Narrowed down some parameters
I have the OnePlus 6, and have similar issues, that include swapping apps being slow, but not just the swapping of apps, any app that has typing in it, seems to DIE when I start typing. Maybe this is a google keyboard issue or something? I notice the issue most in the Microsoft Teams mobile app. It also tends to only happen when at least 2 apps are open, if it's on it's own, it seems to do fine.
This might just be coincidence but I went into dev settings and turned on "strict mode" and now I can't get it to lag like it previously did.
I just looked at my running services (dev options > running services) and saw that my Bluetooth was using 2.2GB of ram, and youtube was 1.7GB of that. I toggled bluetooth off, then back on and it reset this. I have not modified the strict mode setting above... still have not had any lag, will update this thread if I do get more lag.

MightySashiman said:
I think the issue is just : it's a ****show of awful coding, optimisation and non-existent testing. If manufacturers' programmers put in half the effort debugging their software we as "powerusers" at xda/reddit/... put twisting our brains in and out trying find correlating explanations and workarounds as to why we get UI lags or other absurd bugs (like 5GHz wifi not working anymore) on the 10th ****ing iteration of Android, we wouldn't have all of this. It all boils down to the general idea that because it is consumer grade product, quality check is just a non-subject. Apparent quality is just enough at product launch, and further updates (if they do get round to releasing them) can brake everything without manufacturers being held accountable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lagging issue I've seen many reporting in xda on the stock rom OOS 10.3.0. But 5GHz is working as expected. I can confirm it because I'm using 5GHz WiFI now and then

adondriel said:
I have the OnePlus 6, and have similar issues, that include swapping apps being slow, but not just the swapping of apps, any app that has typing in it, seems to DIE when I start typing. Maybe this is a google keyboard issue or something? I notice the issue most in the Microsoft Teams mobile app. It also tends to only happen when at least 2 apps are open, if it's on it's own, it seems to do fine.
This might just be coincidence but I went into dev settings and turned on "strict mode" and now I can't get it to lag like it previously did.
I just looked at my running services (dev options > running services) and saw that my Bluetooth was using 2.2GB of ram, and youtube was 1.7GB of that. I toggled bluetooth off, then back on and it reset this. I have not modified the strict mode setting above... still have not had any lag, will update this thread if I do get more lag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After a night/day of normal testing with this, where I would normally have issues, I have not had and of the lag I mentioned above. This seems to have fixed some things. So, I would suggest that you first check to see what running processes are using all the ram, and then turn on strict mode in dev settings, if that doesn't solve your issues. I also have Ram Boost option turned off.

I experience the FPS drop quite often after the update. It's especially noticable when scrolling pages, switching between apps, pulling down the upper panel. The slowness seems to disappear temporarily after closing all apps. But I can't say that some particular app causes the lag.
UPD: A simple test to recreate the problem. I push the square button to switch between apps. Start swiping finger left-right and watch the animation smoothness. After 5-10 seconds comes the wave of low FPS, which lasts for a couple of seconds. Then the process repeats. The slowness doesn't seem to depend on some exact apps that are open.
UPD2: Well, I've just found out that the problem isn't constant throughout the day. There must be some connection to applications running in the background or something like this.