For Sprint/HTC: List of known software defects

[dvdqnoc]

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Dear Sprint admins, PLEASE continue to visit this thread as new issues that are being discovered will be added! Thank you!

Dear Sprint/HTC:

Us Sprint HTC Hero users within the first week of the device's release have discovered some critical software issues/bugs that need to be addressed fast. These software issues take a lot away from the enjoyement of what can be a truly awesome phone. We see potential and have great hopes for the Sprint HTC Hero and it's Sense UI software, but I for one am starting to lose bits of that hope and am in dire need of a software update!

The following are some of the significant issues that have been brought up recently and need to be fixed (in no particular order):

• Text/dialier related battery issue: Sending an SMS text message via the stock Message app triggers something in the Dialer app that keeps the phone from going to sleep mode from that point forward, dramatically draining the battery.

• Data connection is lost and can't be regained without rebooting phone: The phone loses data connection, and the Ev. icon on the status bar disappears. You cannot connect to the internet via data network. Data network never regains on its own without having to reboot the phone. Then data network is later lost again, requiring user to reboot and repeat.

• Headphone/headset issue: The Hero seems to have trouble differentiating between whether it is a headphone or a headset that is plugged into the 3.5 mm jack. This is a reason why many people are experience mono audio output rather than stereo through their headphones.

• 3.5 mm jack does not work if phone is booted up with headphones plugged in: If you turn the phone on with headphones already plugged into the 3.5 mm jack, the phone does not recognized that they are plugged in and continue to not recognize even after the headphones are taken out and plugged back in.

• 3.5 mm jack does not work after unplugging headphones in order to answer a phonecall: If you are listening to media with your headphones and someone calls you, if you unlug your headphones in order to answer the call, the phone will not recognize anything plugged into the 3.5 mm jack from that point forward.

• Notification bar drag-down option not working: Sometimes, just randomly, the notification bar drag-down stops working. You try and try to pull down the notification bar on the top of the screen but it just doesnt pull down, no matter how much or how firmly you try to drag down. It never starts working again until after a reboot.

• HTC weather app/widget not updating: Several people are reporting that the HTC weather widget/app is not updating even when it is set to auto-update. Thus, people are seeing on their phone the weather of several hours previous to when they are actually looking at the phone.

• SMS/MMS not working: some are reporting that they are not recieving SMS texts or MMS messages properly.

• Reported HTC clock widget/app bug: some are reporting that the HTC clock widget/app is telling the wrong time (like an hour behind or something). This seems to be a big issue that use their Hero's as alarm clocks as the alarm fails to go off at the right time.

• Brightness issues: some are reporting that auto-brightness does a horrible job doing what its supposed to. I personally disabled auto-brightness, but once in a while my phone dims randomly and does not brighten back up unless slept and reawakened (no, this is not due to idleness because it remained dim as I navigated in the phone).

• Network display bug: phone displays EvDO Rev. 0 instead of Rev. A

• Various complaints about MMS failure: Many people are claiming that they are receiving (or someone is not recieving their) MMS messages. I personally don't really use MMS so I wouldn't know...

• Alarm volume randomly changes on its own: This I have actually experienced myself: the Alarm volume (i.e. volume used to control alarm clock volume) changess randomly by itself. I would put it up to max on one point, then later changes to silent, then later to half way - all on its own. This is even while being careful not to kill the Clock app with a task manager or anything that might be related to Clock/sound.

• Camera takes very blurry pictures unless super-careful: Yes, if you let the camera focus and click the trackball and wait several seconds, the resulting picture will be clear. But most real life situations, that is difficult to do - such as taking pictures of a moving pet or running child - and the slightest movement cause enormous amounts of blurriness in the pictures. Phone must be faster at capturing the picture. (Possible fix in Donut 1.6?)

• Calendar problem: People are claiming that the Hero Calendar is having trouble keeping track of days/times of events and appointments. The phone alerts the user of an event at the wrong time, and sometimes wrong day, despite showing the correct day in the actual Calendar app itself. Also, when synced with Outlook, the calendar records the wrong time/date for events.
• • From user "los1223" (condensed): I sync my Hero with Outlook 2007 SP2.  When I go into the People app, it shows the birthday or anniversary as a day early.  For example, if someone's birthday is Nov 20, it will show as Nov 19.  When I bring up the full calendar app or large widget it shows on the correct date, but the small calendar widget on my home screen shows it as a day early.  Also, in time zone settings it shows Pacific Time as GMT: -7 when it's actually -8.  This leads me to believe that the problem lies here somewhere.  I also have the most recent version of HTC Sync that was released 10/16/09.

• Search button does not work in "all apps" page: If you click the search button (physical button with hourglass image) while on the "all apps" page (the page you see when you click the up arrow on bottom-left corner of main home view) hoping to search for a specific app from the list of all apps, you are instead given the voice search option which searches the internet for whatever you type in. It does not let you search for a specific app as you would like.

• Android Market does NOT notify when updates for apps are available: When apps you have installed have new updates available, the Market does not give you any kind of notification - even though you have selected the option to notify you (Market>My Downloads>Menu>Notifications).

EDIT///

Will from Sprint has given us a response concerning the software issues we have mentioned above:

wengla02 wrote:

Hi!

Will here.

We've logged the listed defects, and we're glad to see you're finding workarounds for some of them (the mono/stereo, for instance).

Some we're not able to duplicate (brightness, loss of data requiring a reboot) but we've sent it into the testing lab for further research.

Some we've identified the error and have fixes in development (Rev0 display when in RevA coverage).

Will you get a new system update today?  No.

Will HTC and Sprint release an update soon?  Yes.  But I can't define 'soon'.  When we have more information, we'll post it.  We are listening and we are working to make this phone the best possible.

I do ask you to relax a bit; flooding the forums with "OMG it's been five whole dayz!!11!!!111!!!one!" makes it harder for everyone to find information, navigate the forum and have the best experience with the phone and our forums.

Thank you for helping out!

Will -- just a service rep.  With a keyboard.

PLEASE continue to post any more problems that you guys discover here on this thread!

And a note to Sprint: we will be listing all the problems here on this thread for you to evaluate and decide of a fix is necessary and possible.

Message was edited by: dvdqnoc

[juafran]

100% Agree!!!!!!!!

Also, another bug with the Hero is that once the screen is blocked the phone requests the Google account to unlock the phone. But, even though account is given the phone does not unlock.

SPRINT/GOOGLE/HTC Anyone!!!!!!!! please act fast

[vita10gy]

I turned off the auto brightness thing too.

As a software developer I find some of this stuff especially troubling. Nothing is perfect, I know, but some freaky bug in the messenger causing the battery to drain could be overlooked. (Though it's troublesome they didn't notice the battery going so fast, but I think that's just because the battery always goes fast. I switched to chompSms right away, and when I saw the battery fix thread I was all excited, only to find out that was the fix and apparently 8 hours of standby/light usage is really all I can expect.)

The headphone issues on the other hand, are troubling to me. I mean, we aren't talking some crazy to trackdown bug here, it's like they never even tried it, and it makes me worry about what other surprises we have waiting for us. No one tried a pair of headphones? No one ever had the headphones in and turned the phone on?

Part of me wants this all fixed asap, if for no other reason, to show they are aware, and care. The other part of me worries that rushing out a fix will only lead to more problems, since they apparently don't actually test things.

[mmayer54]

It's 12:16pm (noontime) and my battery is already 2/3rds drained. I've used the device very little since I got up at 2am and I do NOT have Wi-Fi enabled. Is there a FIX for this issue or is my Hero defective?

[vita10gy]

33% Remaining after 10 hours actaully sounds pretty good, by my standards.

I don't know if this is a bug or not, but does anyone elses phone just go through a whole "you know it's about to start ringing" blinking freakout for 2-3 seconds before it actually rings?

[mmayer54]

NOT 10 hours of USE. Maybe a total of 45min to 1 hour of actual calling and/or browsing.

Probably 9 hours of "idle time" with the screen off.  1/4 drain? Maybe  But definitely NOT 2/3rds for that little bit of actual use.   

[vita10gy]

Yeah, like I said, I think that's better than most, if anything.

[Geniuz650]

I completely agree that an update needs to be released immediately. But that's certainly not going to happen as Sprint takes forever to release an update. The battery does drain relatively quickly and something needs to be done very soon. NOT 2010! The update should not take that long to do c'mon. It should be released this month.

[the_real_newman]

i will give sprint about a month to release an update, i want it sooner but that seems like sufficient time. If it doesnt get released im rooting and flashing the cyanogen rom onto my hero.

[mmayer54]

I just don't understand it. Virtually all the reviews of the device have rated the battery life as very good-to-excellent. I also thought I  saw somewhere, where they have a firmware update already, designed to address the battery issue. If there is one, I'm sure my phone can use it.

Message was edited by: mmayer54

Message was edited by: mmayer54

[cd28rc]

Ok, Clocks are 4 to 5 hours ahead, batt does drain fast, intermintent light flicker, MMS would not open and then hours later opened..

its all new and I just see that they pushed this out on the US Network to make people happy... Not sure but I will say I see the problems and I'm new to this "smartphone" thing... So, hey guys GET WITH IT PLEASE... If we see this, what is everyone else thinking, ie AT&T, T-Mobile, Verision.... I know the Iphone had its problems BUT, REALLY.... And on CNet this HTC Hero made Gadgit of the year... Go to CNET.COM and read all about the great awards that HTC has won...

WE could use some HELP with these ISSUES!!!!

Thanks, from a 20yr Sprint Customer...

cd28rc

[vita10gy]

mmayer54 wrote:

I just don't understand it. Virtually all the reviews of the device have rated the battery life as very good-to-excellent. I also thought I  saw somewhere, where they have a firmware update already, designed to address the battery issue. If there is one, I'm sure my phone can use it.

Message was edited by: mmayer54

Message was edited by: mmayer54

You have to keep in mind those reviewers are comparing it to its counter parts.

If every other smartphone got 2 hours of standby then one that got 3 hours would be excellent.

It sounds to me like you get 12-15 hours off a charger with light usage. I'm not exactly sure what you were expecting, but that sounds pretty good to me. (Not to mention on par with, or exceeding, the reported time of the reviews I watched.)

Message was edited by: vita10gy

Message was edited by: vita10gy