ZTE Open C running Firefox OS v1.3 - Review - Firefox OS General

This is not so much a review, but mostly the bad points I had found when using the new OS.
I posted a while back about the Firefox OS running on a phone, and was very pleased to hear they released a phone for sale in the UK on Ebay. So I made the leap, I brought the phone
Firstly, I am very happy with this purchase! I fully knew it was a work in progress much like the first Android OS were, so I was expecting a few technical hitches, and so far I have only come across a few small glitches/features that I have trouble with.
#1 Copy & paste.
I could not find anywhere on the phone where you can mark text, copy and paste. This being one of the things I used most in all my smartphone experience was surprised not to have on the Firefox OS.
#2 No SIM inserted (Insert a SIM to enable usage)
For whatever reason, this message keeps popping up. It does not affect my data, nor the functionality of the phone but, when coming to view my (Usage) app. Nothing seems to work.
#3 When deleting an app, glitch
Sometimes the screen glitches and you are unable to swipe along the screens because the app is stuck on the last docking screen.
#4 Calendar app keeps loading even when I keep closing it.
I like to have all the apps closed so the battery can last longer. But this app is persistent! Not a problem but I thought I should point it out.
#5 Facebook app. Works like a browser...
To view settings / your own profile in the top left you have to quit the app completely if you have browsed more than one page previous to the main news feed.
#6 No screenshot functionality (unless there is an app?)
Usually, you'd hold the power button and there would be some kind of feature to take a screenshot of the screen but it appears it is not there on Firefox OS 1.3
#7 HARDWARE Issue.
This, honestly really threw me. The battery life on this phone is actually very bad indeed. I thought my Sony Xperia Pro with 1500mAh was bad. But this really takes the biscuit. The ZTE Open C has a Li-Ion 1400 mAh battery and when fully charged. A minute into using it, it drops down to 99%.
After 20 minutes of using it. It had dropped down to 88%.
1hr. 60%...
(Keeping in mind, I only use the browser and Facebook app with data on. I don't use WIFI)
Good points.
The operating system is very stable. It has not crashed in the 4 days of using it. It's surprisingly quick considering it only has 512mb of ram! Nice and easy menus. Market place is very nice, the apps are great! And quite alot on offer already!
Overall I look forward to some updates of this OS soon, and its been a nice insight to how an open source OS can compete with the big time companies!

Related

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.

I'm done with my N1. Back to WinMo for me.

This is not a troll posting. I swear...
I've had the AT&T flavored Nexus One since the day it was announced and I just can't suffer with it anymore. I'm running stock FRF91 with an unlocked bootloader. The only reason I unlocked the bootloader was so I could root and uninstall the apps that drained my battery or sucked resources that I never used - Twitter, Amazon-MP3, Genie-Widget, etc.
Pre-Froyo, it seemed pretty stable but the OS was very immature. Some things were just not well thought out. Activesync for example.
Post-Froyo: Turn on GPS, reboot. Talk on the phone for a long period of time, reboot. Charge the phone, reboot. Use Bluetooth, reboot. GPS is 100% useless now as after just a few minutes of use, the phone gets hot and reboots the phone. Hell, leave the phone in the sun in your car and it gets hot and reboots. Froyo offers some new features but some areas of the OS are still neglected and way behind where they should be. Can't move emails to a folder? Seriously? Can't undelete an email you accidentally deleted? That's just stupid. And there are a few other things that Windows Mobile had right for the last 10 years.
Yesterday alone, my phone rebooted several dozen times because I was trying to find a location with GPS and I was completely turned around with no idea where I was. I finally had to power off the phone, leave it off, and go ask someone at a gas station for directions. The phone reboots as soon as it gets hot and it appears everything makes the phone get hot.
Rip on Windows Mobile all you want, but I never once had a Windows Mobile device reboot on me and not do what it normally does. I'll throw CM6 on my N1 when it becomes final to see if things get better and I'll thrown on Gingerbread when that finally drops, but unless one of those solves the constant reboot issue, I'm done with Android. I've kept up with the Google forums and many, many, many people have the same issues I have so my N1 is obviously not an isolated case.
There are a lot of things I do like about Android so I'm not bashing Android. I like Android enough that if my phone didn't reboot constantly it'd be my primary platform moving forward.
/rant
-Mc
I've had my N1 since the day after they were released and it has never rebooted spontaneously. Your phone is a lemon.
Try calling HTC?
vzontini said:
I've had my N1 since the day after they were released and it has never rebooted spontaneously. Your phone is a lemon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, the only time my phone gets hot is when I leave it in my landscaping truck while I'm mowing, but I think any phone would have problems when it's 112 degrees outside and probably 140 in the truck.
Sounds like a bad phone. The only time my N1 rebooted was when I had an experimental rom on it.
Sounds like something is just borked, I use my phone all day it only reboots because I want to go into recovery.
Are yur using custom recovery? Wipe the cache and dalvik-cache.
Same as the above poster, mine never rebooted spontaneously even when hitting over 40C degrees. Only does so when I'm running some cutting-edge alpha kernels/ROMs, and then very rarely.
I was thinking it was specific to my device as well. I then googled "Nexus One overheating" and was overwhelmed by the number of people with the same issue. I also own over a dozen HTC devices, I've had ZERO problems with any of them. I've wiped my cache quite a few times. I've even wiped the phone and started fresh.
I've googled every specific issue I have had and found many others complaining about the same thing. Overheating/locking up the device when charging overnight - check. Rebooting/overheating when using GPS - check.
Lately, I've been uninstalling anything that runs in the background that isn't an essential part of the OS. Makes no difference. When I first got my N1, I used the GPS and Car Home app to drive an 8 hour trip. Not a single problem. The very first time I tried to use Car Home after going to Froyo it rebooted after just a few minutes and it's been that way since. I found MANY posts that confirmed this on Google's forums.
Personally, I think my device is fine. I suppose it's always possible that an app is causing the reboots. For example, the Weather Channel app is always running and that's not the most beautifully coded app I've ever seen...
Any suggestions, keep 'em coming. I'm not thrilled with Windows Mobile 7 yet.
Here's my installed apps (I love that program BTW). If you see anything as a possible suspect, let me know:
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (v10.1.92.8)
andLess (v1.2.3)
Android Agenda Widget (v1.3.5)
AT&T myWireless Mobile (v6.0)
Audalyzer (v1.14)
Barcode Scanner (v3.4)
BlueRSS (v3.0.4)
Chrome to Phone (v2.0.0)
eBay (v1.1.2.3)
eBuddy (v1.8.1)
Ethereal Dialpad (v2.5.2)
FCC Test (v1.0.7)
Flashlight (v2)
FREEdi Video Download Helper (v1.3.1)
FrostWire (v0.3.7)
Google Translate (v1.1.1)
GPS Status (v3.2)
gStrings (v1.0.5)
HistoryEraser (v2.1.1)
HTC_IME mod (vv.27)
JScreenFix (v2.0)
Keyboard Calibration (v2.10)
Linda Manager (v1.5.12)
Listen (v1.1.3)
Log Collector (v1.1.0)
Music Junk (v3.0.4)
My Battery Status (v2.0.8)
MyAppsList (v1.4 BETA)
Network Info II (v0.3.4)
Note Pad (v1)
OSMonitor (v1.1.6)
Pandora (v1.3)
Penguin (v1.2.0)
RealCalc (v1.4.1)
Scanner Radio (v1.9.2)
Secrets (v1.9.2)
Shazam (v2.0.2-B70005)
Shopper (v1.12)
Solo Lite (v1.25)
Terminal Emulator (v1.0.12)
Tetronimo (v1.5.1)
The Weather Channel (v2.3.17)
Titanium Backup (v3.4.2)
Trapster (v1.6.3)
Tricorder (v5.11)
TTS Service Extended (v2.0)
Universal Androot (v1.5.3)
Voice Recorder (v2.0.7)
Wifi Analyzer (v2.4.8)
WiimoteController (v0.3b)
XDA (v1.2.1)
Device Summary
Device: HTC Nexus One
Android Version: 2.2
Build: FRF91
List Generated By: MyAppsList (market://search?q=com.boots.MyAppsList)
By the sound of it, it's not an app. The phone should be able to take a good amount of heat and not reboot - the only time I got it to reboot was under direct sunlight in a car, it was probably hitting 50 degrees Celsius. If yours reboots every time you do anything - it's time to nandroid, take out the battery and clean the battery contacts really well (on the battery and the phone, using alcohol), flash a bone stock FRF91 or something really close to it, try to repeat the things that made it reboot (shouldn't be very difficult), and if the reboots continue - then I'm sorry, but you have a lemon. And if they don't - change to your favorite ROM and start incrementally installing stuff in small packs, until your testing shows reboots again. Defining anything other than Google account (like Exchange account) is also considered "installing something".
E-Mail quirks are taken care of by E-Mail clients. Exchange server push might be draining the hell out of your battery and heating your phone, check the relevant thread. I really hope you find the problem in SW, but it doesn't look very much like it.
P.S. There are so many ways to get a WinMo phone stuck (my wife has one, I regularly practice using the reset button when doing something with the system) it's not even funny.
thanks for the tips. I'll give them a shot. I read in a couple different threads that HTC has been sending replacement batteries to those with overheating issues. I have a hard time believing it's the battery but what do I know?
One thing I forgot to add about WinMo, I soft reset my device every morning on the way to work. Just a habit I got into with Windows.
-Mc
Yeah sounds like you got a faulty device. If the above suggestions don't work, call HTC and they should do a swap for you
went to the Google "Device Troubleshooter" support page: http://google.com/support/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=185837
Step 1: What are you having an issue with?
selected: A hardware problem I'm having with the Nexus One
Step 2: A hardware problem i’m having with the Nexus One
selected: My device overheats
Then it said this:
It is normal for your phone to get warm after an extended period of continual usage, such as a long phone conversation. If your phone becomes so warm that you cannot hold it comfortably, please try removing the battery and waiting until the phone cools off before replacing it.
If your phone overheats to the point of shutting itself off repeatedly, there may be a hardware defect with your phone's battery. Please visit our warranty information page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I called support (open 7 days a week - nice) and they are shipping out a new battery tomorrow and if that doesn't work, I'll send it in for repair. Didn't want to replace it because it was engraved.
I really hope this fixes it. I do like Android and I love the community work. iOS blows and Windows Mobile 7 just doesn't have me wanting one.
I'll update this thread when the new battery arrives and if necessary, after the repair work...
I used to have the same problem, but i don't think it was rom specific for me. I had a black case on my phone and my car mount was a black universal one mounted on my windshield. I would use GPS nav and play music at the same time and sometimes make phone calls and it would reboot pretty frequently. Through SetCPU i noticed that the temp was somewhere between 45-50degrees C. only way i was able to use my phone was to remove the battery and stick it in my AC vent along with the phone itself.
So since then i got myself a AC mounted carmount and no longer use my case and its been fine ever since. When ever it gets hot in my car i usually have AC on and the phoen gets cooled by it also. Average temp was around 15-18degrees C while i was using GPS/Music/Calls.
lulz, sounds like your phone had a hardware issue if it was rebooting all the time like that.
I have had my phone on for literally weeks at a time with out a reboot. Android is rock solid stable.
Way to not get your issue fixed and go back to a dead mobile OS that was never developed properly in the first place. Good luck with that champ.
My phone could stab me in the balls all day long and I still wouldn't revert to the current winmo.
McHale said:
This is not a troll posting. I swear...
I've had the AT&T flavored Nexus One since the day it was announced and I just can't suffer with it anymore. I'm running stock FRF91 with an unlocked bootloader. The only reason I unlocked the bootloader was so I could root and uninstall the apps that drained my battery or sucked resources that I never used - Twitter, Amazon-MP3, Genie-Widget, etc.
Pre-Froyo, it seemed pretty stable but the OS was very immature. Some things were just not well thought out. Activesync for example.
Post-Froyo: Turn on GPS, reboot. Talk on the phone for a long period of time, reboot. Charge the phone, reboot. Use Bluetooth, reboot. GPS is 100% useless now as after just a few minutes of use, the phone gets hot and reboots the phone. Hell, leave the phone in the sun in your car and it gets hot and reboots. Froyo offers some new features but some areas of the OS are still neglected and way behind where they should be. Can't move emails to a folder? Seriously? Can't undelete an email you accidentally deleted? That's just stupid. And there are a few other things that Windows Mobile had right for the last 10 years.
Yesterday alone, my phone rebooted several dozen times because I was trying to find a location with GPS and I was completely turned around with no idea where I was. I finally had to power off the phone, leave it off, and go ask someone at a gas station for directions. The phone reboots as soon as it gets hot and it appears everything makes the phone get hot.
Rip on Windows Mobile all you want, but I never once had a Windows Mobile device reboot on me and not do what it normally does. I'll throw CM6 on my N1 when it becomes final to see if things get better and I'll thrown on Gingerbread when that finally drops, but unless one of those solves the constant reboot issue, I'm done with Android. I've kept up with the Google forums and many, many, many people have the same issues I have so my N1 is obviously not an isolated case.
There are a lot of things I do like about Android so I'm not bashing Android. I like Android enough that if my phone didn't reboot constantly it'd be my primary platform moving forward.
/rant
-Mc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone is defective. I've NEVER experienced a spontaneous reboot.
uansari1 said:
Your phone is defective. I've NEVER experienced a spontaneous reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here** (only when I played with different kernels )
GldRush98 said:
Way to not get your issue fixed and go back to a dead mobile OS that was never developed properly in the first place. Good luck with that champ.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're not much of a reader, are you?
JCopernicus said:
My phone could stab me in the balls all day long and I still wouldn't revert to the current winmo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fact: Windows Mobile still does several things much better than Android. And those things are important to me on my primary device.
I get what you're saying though. Despite a few issues, Android is dominating everything in it's wake. But instead of Android spending so much time with new flashy features, they should focus their attention getting the basics right first. Their contact and email handling B L O W S. How about proper email folder handling and a basic undelete function...
I agree with the rest. To be honest, I didn't get my Nexus new, it has had two users before me. It came with Cyanogen Mod, and to be honest I find it gives better battery life and performance compared to the stock OS. If I were you I'd try it out once you get the Nexus back.
I use ROM manager to download and install ROMs, give it a try.

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.

Impressions after a week...

A lot of us have had the device for at least week now so it would be a good time to post impressions after a bit more hands on time. I’ll start...
10 days in I’m still glad I got it but there are plenty of things that could be improved. I’ve been on HTC phones (Desire, Desire Z) before this running at different times standard HTC Sense ROMs as well as various versions of Cyanogen Mod and AOSP based ROMs. My views after 2 weeks of use:
* Loving the fact that Samsung appears to be treating this almost like a developer phone (ala Nexus) in terms of open bootloader, availability of source code etc. I’ve said my goodbyes to HTC precisely because of this.
* Based on the frequency of updates Samsung also appears to be focused on addressing issues. They are one if the first out of the gates for Gingerbread updates to their existing devices so I’m hoping they continue to focus on delivering on the latest versions of Android.
* Touchwiz is not as invasive as HTC’s Sense. It improves on stock android in many ways. My first Samsung phone so I can’t really speak of improvements over previous versions of Samsung ROMs but so far I don’t hate TouchWiz but I do find that they seem to take a lot of inspiration from Apple even when the standard Android implementation is better in some cases (I didn’t hate HTC Sense either but I did find it too far from stock for my liking). Having said that there are some totally brain dead decisions that Samsung appear to have taken which I just don’t get:
1) Default home screen on the left instead of the middle. Why copy Apple on this one when Android’s default makes so much more sense. I love having frequently used apps with a swipe to the right and an agenda widget on the left so I can get to both with a single swipe. Now I have to pick one.
2) Fixed icons at the bottom. I understand Phone and Apps being fixed but not messaging and contacts. I’d like to change those - hell, even Apple lets you change those. *** NEVERMIND *** See posts below. It CAN be edited.
3) Lock screen - talk about making something worse - this one takes the cake. Thank god for widget locker.
4) Dialer logs - I don’t want my SMS messages to show up on my phone dialer logs. There is no option to just view all calls without the rest of the stuff cluttering it up. (Yes I know I can switch to Dialer One but apart from this one major issue I actually like the default Samsung dialer).
* Wireless - Everything wireless about this phone has issues. May be a function of how thin it is but my experience so far:
1) Phone - Much improved after the latest firmware updates but data connection can take a while to latch on when moving out of WiFi coverage and sometimes just drops out for 5-10 minutes at a time for no apparent reason (even when the phone shows five bars in a strong signal area).
2) Bluetooth - The headset I have is not working well at all. Quality seems fine but every few seconds drops out or gets noisy for a second or so. The same headset works perfectly well with the HTC devices as well as with an iPhone.
3) GPS - Sometimes flawless but lock time is definitely a lot slower than the HTC devices. It also has a tendancy to lose lock a lot easier than the HTC devices. Other times it jumps around all over the place before getting a lock. Lots of weird behaviour here.
4) WiFi - Where other phones get weak coverage this one gets none. If you have strong WiFi signals everywhere you use the device this is not an issue. 5 Ghz also performs significantly worse than 2 Ghz.
* Battery life - It appears this phone has only 2 gears. A low gear for phone / SMS / push mail / browsing where battery life is excellent but then kicks into hyper-turbo mode if you use Flash video, games or anything taxing where it burns through battery life in no time. You can easily get through a whole day with power to spare if you stick to only the basic activities but best to use everything else while plugged in.
The reality is even with all these issues, I couldn’t give this device up. The power and speed coupled with the slim form factor and gorgeous screen are just too damn impressive and all the problems pale in significance. I might have had buyers remorse if the HTC Sensation was coming with an open bootloader and a slimmer profile but at the moment I don’t see anything that compares. I’m just hoping Samsung can fix some of the problems I’ve listed in software.
Regarding fixed items at the bottom: you can edit them from within the applications screen.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
2) Fixed icons at the bottom. I understand Phone and Apps being fixed but not messaging and contacts. I’d like to change those - hell, even Apple lets you change those.
You can change those - Go to app drawer-> menu -> edit -> and drop the app you wants.
EleCtrOx666 said:
You can change those - Go to app drawer-> menu -> edit -> and drop the app you wants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works! Thanks
Interesting thoughts indeed.... I hope there is some help out there ^^
Here's a solution for 1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13825680#post13825680
Nice honest and informative post. Most of the issues will hopefully be fixable once we start getting some custom ROMs I'm hoping. Or hopefully fixes direct from Samsung in regards to GPS, WiFi, and 3G. I guess time will tell.
gstar_raw said:
Nice honest and informative post. Most of the issues will hopefully be fixable once we start getting some custom ROMs I'm hoping. Or hopefully fixes direct from Samsung in regards to GPS, WiFi, and 3G. I guess time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very puzzling that Sammy would have issues in key connectivity areas on such a high profile phone. Wonder if they''re all antenna related? As you say, hopefully not, and it's all solvable with SW.
Homescreen order
C'mon guys - it's not that hard to reorder your homescreens...
Just pinch zoom (helicopter mode) longpress & drag.....
Hope this helps you...
---
Regards,
Ian.
EleCtrOx666 said:
Here's a solution for 1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13825680#post13825680
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Will try it.
BatterBits said:
C'mon guys - it's not that hard to reorder your homescreens...
Just pinch zoom (helicopter mode) click & drag.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Abra_Cadabra said:
Thanks! Will try it.
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the old TW, it allowed users to change the default home screen. I have no idea what happened to the new TW
Abra_Cadabra said:
Thanks! Will try it.
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doh!
Sorry, Didn't quite catch that - I understand now where you're coming from.
<note to self - dont respond to posts you haven't read properly>
---
Regards,
Ian
After my first day with this phone I switched to the the ADW Launcher, Samsung really didn't think the TouchWiz launcher through - not only the default homescreen being on the left, but also the fact that Apps in the drawer aren't sorted alphabetically.
I used to own the Samsung Galaxy Vibrant. It's disturbing that Samsung is still not getting the GPS working right!
briansj said:
I used to own the Samsung Galaxy Vibrant. It's disturbing that Samsung is still not getting the GPS working right!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My gps works like a charm
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I'm on the latest firmware but it's still pretty buggy...
I've tried switching to launcher pro but I still get crash reboots and loss of sound.
Last night I entered the pin and the phone just reboots.
I also loose the clicks on the pin screen. When this happens you have to reboot go get audio back...I tried playing an mp4 video with no sound when it was in this state and it just said unable to play. Of course it worked fine after a reboot...
So pretty buggy at the moment
mine has no bugs or what so ever, after 2 weeks of used i can never compare it to other phones performance either android or iOS,i used both before but this one is simply way above them..
no built in stock music widget was a dissapointment for me as well as the horrible lock screen style and the lag during wakeup..apart from that this phone is really amazing..but touchwiz needs some serious thought...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Agreed that this phone is as speedy and steady as the HTC Desire and iPhone 4 that I have owned. The trick to all these phones is that if you play around too much with settings,tweaks,launchers you are likely to get problems.

7 days with CyanogenMod 7

This is work in progress and I will update it for 7 days. Original posting can be found here
I'm sure you have heard someone telling you would spend way too much time with your smart phone. As if one could spend time with or without a tool. My phone, besides some rare occasions, is always with or near me. Yet it doesn't mean I spend time with it! I spend time with people, and I might spend my time spending time with using my smart phone to write an email. An if I spend time adjusting it to my needs or the latest desire aroused reading some blogs, so what? I do this for the sake of communication!
How come nobody understands that find difference in concept?
Day 1
25/05/2011, 11 a.m.:
Been checking my emails on the go twice, surfing on xda forum, chatting with the HTC support, writing an email to a friend, again checking my mails but also the market updates - what a pain to see there are no updates available for my installed apps. I check if it is not Sunday. No it’s not Sunday!
I discover how handy Evernotes can be. Copied an address out of the chat conversation and send it straight off to Evernotes. Must admit it was a little fight until I had marked the exact text line I wanted to have copied as it did not recognize it on its own. It would have blown me away had it read my thoughts.
I’m really thinking about one of those tables all the time. I’m kind of pissed somehow about the unfortunate fact there is no real handwriting recognition function on phones or tablets yet that really works - would be mind-blowing! I read the HTC Flyer does make advanced use of the stylus pen for note-taking somehow. I’ve seen some handwritten notes and compared them to the scribbling I am producing this very moment on real paper and there doesn’t seem to be that much of a difference.
However, I will have to type that later and I question this concept of me thoroughly doing it without giving up after a couple of minutes.
I’ve had way too many thoughts die due to the lack of an adequate and effective tool to digitalize my thoughts. I’m way much more impressed by my analogue brain-eye-arm-paper-to-key motion sequence I’ve happily produced as I realize I have really typed and added almost everything I wanted to say.
25/05/2011, 5.51 p.m.:
I wonder if I should give cyanogen latest night builds #87 a try again and get rid of my perfectly working Android Revolution ROM setup. I’m downloading, charging and backing up my phone for every eventuality...
Day 2
26/05/2011, 5.33 a.m.:
I have CyanogenMod Nightly Build #87 setup & running. Will see how it gets through the day. Fingers crossed the battery will not drain exaustingly.
26/05/2011,5.45p.m.:
In the mood for taking some screenshots and willing to do a brief review of my cyanogenmod 7 experiences...
Day 4
28/05/20011, 7.55.a.m.:
Can't hardly believe I haven't changed that much. Phone is working pretty fine, except there seems to be a problem between Fullscreen Caller ID and the call recorder that came with the modified kernel I flashed yesterday. I just won't use FSCI, instead, when I make a phone call it will try to use both the default dialer as well as the full screen dialer as the same time. The result is devastating: it will dial the number twice.
Day 6
30/05/2011, 1.53 p.m.:
Left home at 7.30 pm, battery went down to 51% by 12 a.m. and 32% by 2 p.m., whilst all I did were a few twitter & google mail updates, no phone calls, watching videos or other heavy-consuming processes.
Seems like the un-official CM7 nightly ROM I have flashed (Chezbell-cm7-20110529) is a battery killer! SetCPU is enabled, with a powersave governor profile activated when display is off, undervolted –25mA script running and I am nevertheless more than half-way out of battery within not even 7 hours – not really a full working-day yet!
Feeling unhappy and unsatisfied, after that the phone had been running so smoothly during the weekends ( some heavy 3G and EDGE-surfing in bad reception areas, gps navigation etc etc without a problem and far less battery drain). Phone was way more responsive with CM7 #87. Will switch to LORDmodUE 2.1 kernel tonight and see if it helps.
Day 7
31/05/2011, 3.13 p.m.:
I did it! I ruined it all! My sd card is totally erased! Holy frigging s’#!§t! What happened I still can’t recall exactly but I guess in any case I should learn to be more careful and most important: read and think before I act! I flashed a kernel while surfing the xda on my way home and now I don’t even find that stupid thread.
I guess it is a good point to stop my documentation now and draw my conclusions of my 7 days with cyanogenmod nightlies now.

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