The 'My Smartphone Sucks' Thread

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SleepyHe4d

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Jan 20, 2008
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Bad form, sir. How old is your iPhone 4? Right. DarkED is the first person I've seen complaining about such poor battery life. My Atrix stays on 24/7, I unplug it from the charger at about 8am and don't plug it back in until after 7pm and I still have over 50% battery life. It's honestly better than my wife's iPhone 4 that way (hers runs down to about 30% after being "on" all day long).

Well played, you guys just blame it on Dark having a bad apple. :p

I'll never buy another iphone. iPhone 5 is only supposed to be mediocre at best, so I don't give a crap about it tbh. Plus the Android OS is so much better imo once I got used to it. I love my Atrix, and I'm completely happy with it. I don't have any phone call quality issues or anything that you are having DarkED, so I think it may be that actually phone itself. I certainly don't get nearly as many dropped calls as I did with my iPhone though. Which is great.

Another funny thing, the Android is even more limiting than the iOS in all the ways that matter. When I was trying to help out with using the Evo, the photo gallery and a bunch of other built in stuff was implemented terribly. I don't know though, maybe that is fixable. :p

That is bs about the iPhone 5 though, it will be just as good as all the other top of the line dual core phones coming out later on. Even better because of the better screen and battery. Only thing people don't like is the iOS and Apple name, I don't like Apple either, but the smartphone stuff they've got going for them is the best anyone has. Biggest appstore, original implementation, smooth and seamless OS, ect. (lol android ripoff) :hmm:
 

BillyBadAss

Strong Cock of The North
May 25, 1999
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I plan on picking up the iphone5 in June. I am interested in Android, but it still seems a bit immature yet. From what I understand people are uploading all kinds of malware into the appstore and it's going unchecked. I am usually smart enough to dodge that stuff, but why even bother if there isn't anything that's really must have there in the first place. Maybe the phone after next I will get a Droid, but we will have to see.
 

Sir_Brizz

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Feb 3, 2000
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Well played, you guys just blame it on Dark having a bad apple. :p

Another funny thing, the Android is even more limiting than the iOS in all the ways that matter. When I was trying to help out with using the Evo, the photo gallery and a bunch of other built in stuff was implemented terribly. I don't know though, maybe that is fixable. :p
Well if someone was whining about the iPhone battery (which is really fine, my wife's iPhone 4 lasts all day. What is wrong with that?) wouldn't you say that you haven't heard of any legitimate problems with it? We have the same phone he does for more than "a few days" and our batteries aren't crying and dying that quickly.

Also, the EVO isn't the best example of an Android phone. Plus if it's using HTC's crappy Sense launcher... well, it's crappy. I can't understand why all these companies remove the stock Android launcher, it is so much better than any of them.

That said, the Gallery on my phone and my friends Nexus One work exactly the same way as the Photos app on the iPhone :con: It shows a grid of images, you select one, you can flip through them...

I mean, I have my complaints. The iPhone is obviously doing a few things better, but overall the Android experience is FAR better than my iPhone was. And, frankly, the Android experience only stands to get better and better.

BBA: I hope you're not expecting iPhone 5 this June since Apple already announced there won't be a new iPhone this June :)
 

SleepyHe4d

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Jan 20, 2008
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BBA: I hope you're not expecting iPhone 5 this June since Apple already announced there won't be a new iPhone this June :)

Really? I heard a rumor that supposedly came from an insider that it will be released sometime this year. Maybe Q3-Q4?
 
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Selerox

COR AD COR LOQVITVR
Nov 12, 1999
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Tough as old nails.

I was tempted by a smartphone of some description when I updated my phone a while back, but in the end I just couldn't justify the extra crap. As useful as apps might be in some situations, I went the opposite direction and stuck with my usual "black box" mentality. So I got a Samsung Solid instead.

It does just what I want and no more. It's also tough enough to survive work and me dropping it in a pint or something ;)
 

DarkED

The Great Oppression
Mar 19, 2006
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I have an Atrix that I got about 2 weeks ago and I love it. I haven't had any trouble with call quality and my battery stays pretty well charged. I have, of course, rooted it, which some people say improves the battery life quite a bit. I also only have a handful of widgets on. I'm using GOLauncher EX. Much better than MotoPoop.

My biggest complaints are:

1) The camera in indoor/night shooting can get pretty grainy. However in heavy light/outdoors situations it is WAY better than my iPhone 3GS was.

2) The headphone jack doesn't seem to really work with any of the headsets I currently have. I think I'm going to go for the Motorola HD10 bluetooth headset. It supposedly works on all kinds of devices and I'm sick of the wired headset game (I have at least a dozen from different phones).

3) The locked bootloader is really freaking annoying. However, with root and a different launcher I'm at least happy with what my phone can do (sideloading, mobile hotspot, etc).

I'm honestly never going back to Apple. Maybe the memory is too fresh in my mind but I REALLY hate their environment and culture. I love the fact that I can develop for my Atrix at home on Windows or Linux, at work on Windows or Linux or Mac... There is just so much that the iPhone is lacking in order to create a cultivated walled garden that it drives me absolutely bonkers. Knowing what to expect when I know so much better is out there is really just not worth it to me.

BTW, when your Atrix battery gets weak you can buy a new one. :p

All of those points are true, but a few things.

1. Mine is rooted as well. The battery life actually seemed to decrease after rooting. I used the GladRoot method that does it the correct way, unlike SuperOneClick that leaves a big Busybox mess behind.

2. If you're using mobile hotspot 'illegally' with a modified APN profile -- AT&T knows. They called me out on it last week and said that if I tether again they will drop my grandfathered unlimited 4G plan and force me onto the 4GB DataPro. Needless to say, I restored the phone to stock and stopped tethering. Just be careful.

3. The locked bootloader isn't so much of a detractor to me. I'd have liked the option to run Cyanogen or similar on the device, but the stock ROM is fine, especially if you're (as you said) using a third-party launcher. Personally I use ADW.

Advanced Task Killer is more likely to hurt your battery life that to help it.

I thought the opposite was true? Doesn't having more tasks idling in the background use more battery?

Not only this but maybe you got a defunct one. I have been streaming Pandora Radio from my phone (not over Wifi, but over the H+) for the past few weeks with my Atrix. I start it up at about 7:30am and it plays until 5pm, non-stop. I have 15% battery life left at the end of the day. And then I can talk for about 20 mins before it shuts off. Sideloading is easy as pie too. I've done quite a bit of it, and it couldn't be simpler really. I have that Beautiful Widgets and weather turned on, which I know also uses up battery life, but still, at the end of the day I do have some life left, even after streaming pandora all day long. So as far as the battery goes, I don't know why you have issues with it. I did the OTA update which actually improved the battery too.

Maybe you can trade yours in for another Atrix and see if that helps at all? I know not every phone is perfect right out of the box. We had to return an iphone because the damn thing wouldn't stay on for more than 5 hours.

I'll never buy another iphone. iPhone 5 is only supposed to be mediocre at best, so I don't give a crap about it tbh. Plus the Android OS is so much better imo once I got used to it. I love my Atrix, and I'm completely happy with it. I don't have any phone call quality issues or anything that you are having DarkED, so I think it may be that actually phone itself. I certainly don't get nearly as many dropped calls as I did with my iPhone though. Which is great.

This is entirely possible, and I know that at least in the case of the poor call quality, people are saying it only affects some Atrix's, not all. Maybe I'll reset the phone to defaults (it's rooted) and get AT&T to give me another one.

I actually just got switched to an Aria, and am loving it. Its an older, budget phone, but its been wiped and is running Cyanogen mod 7 nightly 52, and everything works.

Currently love streaming my entire mp3 catalog at work with audiogalaxy, and also got my hands on a navionics app that supplies contoured maps of lakes for my fishing habits. I've wanted a handheld gps unit for awhile as the tracking is very useful for the type of fishing I do, and instead of $150+ for the unit plus a $30 chip with the maps, I paid $15 and get the entire feature set I'm after. My only gripe is that I haven't found a good setup to play the NES/SNES/Genesis emulators. They run fine, but the control schemes just don't seem to work well on a touch screen.

When I was considering whether or not I should trade my Atrix for another phone, I gave the Aria and the Inspire some consideration. Neither of them have decent battery life.

Bad form, sir. How old is your iPhone 4? Right. DarkED is the first person I've seen complaining about such poor battery life. My Atrix stays on 24/7, I unplug it from the charger at about 8am and don't plug it back in until after 7pm and I still have over 50% battery life. It's honestly better than my wife's iPhone 4 that way (hers runs down to about 30% after being "on" all day long).

My 3GS phone battery was starting to get weak. I needed to plug it in around 3pm to make sure I'd have enough battery to last me until I got to a charger. Unfortunately, the iPhone battery is WYSIWYG. No replacing that guy. So when battery life gets bad, get used to it or buy a new one.

Well, I do know that my iPhone 3G got excellent battery life, at least for the first year or so. I could go without charging it for days.

Well if someone was whining about the iPhone battery (which is really fine, my wife's iPhone 4 lasts all day. What is wrong with that?) wouldn't you say that you haven't heard of any legitimate problems with it? We have the same phone he does for more than "a few days" and our batteries aren't crying and dying that quickly.

Also, the EVO isn't the best example of an Android phone. Plus if it's using HTC's crappy Sense launcher... well, it's crappy. I can't understand why all these companies remove the stock Android launcher, it is so much better than any of them.

That said, the Gallery on my phone and my friends Nexus One work exactly the same way as the Photos app on the iPhone :con: It shows a grid of images, you select one, you can flip through them...

I mean, I have my complaints. The iPhone is obviously doing a few things better, but overall the Android experience is FAR better than my iPhone was. And, frankly, the Android experience only stands to get better and better.

BBA: I hope you're not expecting iPhone 5 this June since Apple already announced there won't be a new iPhone this June :)

To be fair, I have had my Atrix more than a few days. I'm actually on day 20. I have restored the phone back to factory default multiple times trying to solve the battery life issues to no avail. For the first day or two, battery life is excellent. After that, though, it's piss-poor. Maybe it's the battery profile that needs to be wiped instead?

With that said, I love the phone and I love Android so far. Don't forget that I also have a Nook Color tablet running Cyanogen. In any case, I'll see about getting a replacement from AT&T before my 30 is up.
 

Sir_Brizz

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Feb 3, 2000
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1. Mine is rooted as well. The battery life actually seemed to decrease after rooting. I used the GladRoot method that does it the correct way, unlike SuperOneClick that leaves a big Busybox mess behind.
I don't know about GladRoot. I was tempted to do that but you have to reflash the 1.26 SBF in order to root it that way and I really don't know the consequences of doing that. A few days ago a new root method came out for 1.57 called GladBreak. That is what I used to root. Rooting isn't a big deal to me, I just wanted sideloading enabled. Apparently that setting will live across updates, so I may not even root again after this.
2. If you're using mobile hotspot 'illegally' with a modified APN profile -- AT&T knows. They called me out on it last week and said that if I tether again they will drop my grandfathered unlimited 4G plan and force me onto the 4GB DataPro. Needless to say, I restored the phone to stock and stopped tethering. Just be careful.
It depends on what you're hotspotting with. The only way they can tell what you're doing is by monitoring your throughput. I have used it with my iPhone for downloading updates a few times and they haven't said anything to me, of course I'm on the 2gb plan. I didn't care to get back my unlimited.
When I was considering whether or not I should trade my Atrix for another phone, I gave the Aria and the Inspire some consideration. Neither of them have decent battery life.
The Aria is a budget phone. It has a small battery and a small screen, so of course it wouldn't have great battery life. The Inspire should have better battery life, but, afaik, Sense is a more massive battery hog than Blur is.
Well, I do know that my iPhone 3G got excellent battery life, at least for the first year or so. I could go without charging it for days.
I'm not really complaining. My 3GS battery lasted all day, and, ultimately, that is all I really care about. I never could go for "days" without charging it, though. It was always getting toward 20% by the time I got home from work.

The last phone I had that would last for days was the Motorola SLVR I had several years ago. I could literally not charge that for 14 days before I needed to plug it in.
To be fair, I have had my Atrix more than a few days. I'm actually on day 20. I have restored the phone back to factory default multiple times trying to solve the battery life issues to no avail. For the first day or two, battery life is excellent. After that, though, it's piss-poor. Maybe it's the battery profile that needs to be wiped instead?

With that said, I love the phone and I love Android so far. Don't forget that I also have a Nook Color tablet running Cyanogen. In any case, I'll see about getting a replacement from AT&T before my 30 is up.
Dunno. I'm on day 13 myself, and I haven't had any battery problems or call quality problems.
 

DarkED

The Great Oppression
Mar 19, 2006
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Right behind you.
www.nodanites.com
It depends on what you're hotspotting with. The only way they can tell what you're doing is by monitoring your throughput. I have used it with my iPhone for downloading updates a few times and they haven't said anything to me, of course I'm on the 2gb plan. I didn't care to get back my unlimited.

It's not about what you're hotspotting with or how much data you use. AT&T has a new detection system in place that can detect clients connected to any AT&T device. For example, they knew which IP my Nook Color had been using when hotspotting, and they even knew that it was a Nook Color. AT&T apparently has a new department as well, it's called Tether Monitoring. I was transferred to someone in that department and she gave me the skinny on the new system they are using.
 

Sir_Brizz

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I dunno, maybe it is a new thing. I'm not really dying to use the tethering, but it is nice to have.
 

BillyBadAss

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It's not about what you're hotspotting with or how much data you use. AT&T has a new detection system in place that can detect clients connected to any AT&T device. For example, they knew which IP my Nook Color had been using when hotspotting, and they even knew that it was a Nook Color. AT&T apparently has a new department as well, it's called Tether Monitoring. I was transferred to someone in that department and she gave me the skinny on the new system they are using.

Why not just use VPN then to hide your traffic.
 

haarg

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I thought the opposite was true? Doesn't having more tasks idling in the background use more battery?
Nope. The situation was different in older versions of Android, but the built in memory management will do a much better job than ATK. When ATK kills a task, it usually will get restarted immediately, which ends up hurting your battery life.

Watchdog can actually help with this, as it monitors for excess processor usage and can notify you when it sees it.
 
Nope. The situation was different in older versions of Android, but the built in memory management will do a much better job than ATK. When ATK kills a task, it usually will get restarted immediately, which ends up hurting your battery life.

Watchdog can actually help with this, as it monitors for excess processor usage and can notify you when it sees it.

After the searching around that I did, I have also come to this conclusion. Many reports on how bad a ATK can be for your phone and how it will drain your battery. I was going to download one because you look at the title and think "oh hell yeah, this will really help speed up phone and save battery". But when in reality, it does the opposite. I'm not sure why they bothered to make this software, maybe for older versions of phones? dunno.

I did a little test today, just to make sure. I started Pandora radio via H+ signal (not wifi connected) at 9:30am. It auto-shut off the software at 5:17pm. This includes 4 phone calls, all under 2 mins talk time for each call. When I checked the phone, I had 10% battery left. enough to call someone or stay on stand by for an hour or so.
 

Sir_Brizz

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I'm pretty sure that ATK was made for pre-2.0 phones. GOLauncher has a "Running programs" tab in the app menu. I just go in there occasionally and close everything. Usually after I've run a few games or something.
 

Iron Archer

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Mar 23, 2000
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the way I explain ATK to customers is that it's playing "whack-a-mole" with the apps and just gives your phone one more thing to do and that they're better off letting the OS manage memory as it's designed to. Most of my peers actually tell people it might help their battery life but I've been telling most Droid customers I come into contact with to uninstall it. I work for vzw tech support btw.
 

haarg

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The only real use I can see for ATK on modern versions of Android is that it has a simpler interface than the built in controls for killing misbehaving apps.