[Q] About to buy the Droid 3. - Motorola Droid 3

Hey everyone,
I'm about to buy the Droid 3, Bell version to work on the Rogers network. I have read there are issues with the speakers, random reboots, call quality issues? Have these issues been fixed? Should I avoid this phone or is it worth buying? I love Motorola. Would love to hear your experience with your Droid 3 since most of have had it since day one.
Thank you.

Had a problem with the headphone jack
The headphone jack stop working on my phone after a few weeks, couldn't return it or anything bought it off of craigslist. Wasn't a deal breaker for me though, got a pair of bluetooth head phones and been happy with it. Running the liberty rom with the sd card boost, and the phone flies.

Is the headset jack a known problem? I didn't read about that. Not a deal breaker for me because I use a BT headset as well. So everything is working great for you? Is the liberty rom better than steel droid?

Wirelessgirl said:
Is the headset jack a known problem? I didn't read about that. Not a deal breaker for me because I use a BT headset as well. So everything is working great for you? Is the liberty rom better than steel droid?
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I saw it on a few phones, but I don't think it is that common. I don't know about steel droid. I'm waiting on the bugs to work out enough to load hash's ICS rom.

Wirelessgirl said:
Hey everyone,
I'm about to buy the Droid 3, Bell version to work on the Rogers network. I have read there are issues with the speakers, random reboots, call quality issues? Have these issues been fixed? Should I avoid this phone or is it worth buying? I love Motorola. Would love to hear your experience with your Droid 3 since most of have had it since day one.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thespeaker issue is really quite minor, a garbled ringtone occasionally that fixes right away, I've never had a random reboot, I know others have but I believe its been fixed with the latest update. Never heard of call quality problems
Sent from my R800i using xda premium

Endoroid said:
Thespeaker issue is really quite minor, a garbled ringtone occasionally that fixes right away, I've never had a random reboot, I know others have but I believe its been fixed with the latest update. Never heard of call quality problems
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Thanks for posting. I see you're with Bell. How long have you had the phone for? How is it holding up so far? Also, were you able to root the phone? I want to get it and use it on the Rogers network.

Wirelessgirl said:
Thanks for posting. I see you're with Bell. How long have you had the phone for? How is it holding up so far? Also, were you able to root the phone? I want to get it and use it on the Rogers network.
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I've had it since shortly after release, when I first got it, on android 2.3.4 it was grabage, terrible battery life, issues with keyboard input so bad it was unusable, no dev for it. I was ready to sell it. Now that we have2.3.6 it an awesome phone. Between the software fixes and the ability to flash custom roms I have no issues with my phone. I love it. Rooting is no problem. Search for zergrush root method. Unlock for use on rogers is doable, I tried unlocking it for use when I travel in the states but had some problems getting a code but many others have sim unlocked theirs. I think its just persistance, if one place can't find the code, another will. I've heard a site called mobileincanada(I think) works well, I haven't tried it yet
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

I played around with the XT860 last night and the keyboard is too wide for me to use. I have small hands and found there's quite a bit of travel when trying to type a sentence. I really want an Android with a physical qwerty keyboard but there aren't that many choices out there. I did try the Droid Pro but found the keys were too low and hard to press on. Any suggestions?

Wirelessgirl said:
I played around with the XT860 last night and the keyboard is too wide for me to use. I have small hands and found there's quite a bit of travel when trying to type a sentence. I really want an Android with a physical qwerty keyboard but there aren't that many choices out there. I did try the Droid Pro but found the keys were too low and hard to press on. Any suggestions?
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Coming from a blackberry I found the same at first. Was hard to reach the middle keys but I'm used to it now
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Endoroid said:
Thespeaker issue is really quite minor, a garbled ringtone occasionally that fixes right away, I've never had a random reboot, I know others have but I believe its been fixed with the latest update. Never heard of call quality problems
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
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I originally had a lot of problems with my keyboard, there's some sort of plastic overlay for the keys that wasn't seated properly or something. Moto fixed it. Have you played around with the SG 2 at all and just the onscreen keyboard? In portrait it might be exactly what you're looking for though I would expect in landscape it would be too wide again because of the size of the phone, other than that the Dext has a lot smaller keyboard but it's 1/4 the phone but it's also a slider.

Endoroid said:
Coming from a blackberry I found the same at first. Was hard to reach the middle keys but I'm used to it now
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium
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I use a BlackBerry as my main device but I'm having a lot of problems with it. I was thinking about switching over to an Android as my main device and BlackBerry as my secondary device. But nothing beats the keyboard on the BlackBerry. It's so easy to type on them. Again the issue I have is the keyboard is a lot wider than the standard BlackBerry keyboard that I'm used to for so many years. There's no travel required when I'm typing on my BlackBerry. On the XT860 I find that I am reaching for a number of keys. I don't think this is a matter of getting used to. It's the fact that I have very small hands. For me to transition to a touchscreen keyboard is extremely hard at this time. I'm not saying it will never happen. But I don't know if I could live without a physical keyboard at this time.
Any other suggestions? Help me please! I love Android!

Willis111 said:
I originally had a lot of problems with my keyboard, there's some sort of plastic overlay for the keys that wasn't seated properly or something. Moto fixed it. Have you played around with the SG 2 at all and just the onscreen keyboard? In portrait it might be exactly what you're looking for though I would expect in landscape it would be too wide again because of the size of the phone, other than that the Dext has a lot smaller keyboard but it's 1/4 the phone but it's also a slider.
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Click to collapse
I played around with the SG 2 but I don't want to get a Samsung because they don't have an led notification light for alerts. As a BlackBerry user, I got so spoiled with the led notification light for alerts and it's a must have for me. So it's either Motorola, HTC, or Sony. Too bad the Galaxy Nexus is such a big phone.

Related

Weird things, bugs, and gripes.

I've had several annoying things happen since getting the phone, but overall it's been a great experience. Here's some of the things that are bugging me:
If I leave wifi on, bluetooth audio streaming skips for a second or two whenever a new wifi network is detected. Really annoying when I set up in my car.
The camera has a blueish, cooling tint, and nothing in the settings seems to fix it. I'm having to 'shop all my pictures to bring out the colors correctly.
If I take several pictures (more than 3) and then sleep the phone while the camera is still on, then unsleep, it goes bat****. I've had everything from total unresponsiveness, to green checkers, to complete green screen, and consistent repetitive, unending shutter noises.
The "Gorilla Glass" is scratching - I'm getting nicks and dings and tiny scratches from pocket change, whereas my friend's had a droid incredible for over a year and its screen is flawless. I'm thinking this either isn't Gorilla Glass or it's a bad batch. I'm debating returning it because of this, might just get a screen protector.
Bloatware, lack of root. I've been lazy and avoided installing a launcher (bleh, ok, installing adw now .) Still, I paid good money for this, I expect a little love in return. Foisting off this crap on me isn't a great way to build brand loyalty.
Battery Life varies dramatically. Some days I'll be out taking hundreds of pictures over 4-5 hours and only use 40% or so - other days, I'll take a few dozen and end up using 90% of the battery in less than 2 hours. Definitely some wonkiness behind the scenes.
I'm not unhappy with the phone, overall - it's responsive and the HD video and camera have both served me well. It's just not all that it should be. Root will solve everything except the Gorilla Glass issue.
Feel free to chip in on other problems - it'd be nice to have a focused discussion to reference things wrong with this phone, once we have root.
Gorilla Glass sucks... i have the same... after 2 weeks of keeping it safely in my pocket completly alone... I have scratches... one deep... and few small... the worst is that I can't give it back or exchange it... I live in Poland and bought it from Amazon... ;/
Motorola Sucks... even if I love it! It's my 12 Motorola... maybe the last one??
well i may be wrong but i dont think the droid 3 has gorilla glass... if you go to gorilla glass's website they list the phones that come with it and the only Motorola devices that come with it are the Droid x2 and the xoom.
mikenius said:
Motorola Sucks... even if I love it! It's my 12 Motorola... maybe the last one??
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Well i will agree Motorola does suck right now but.... they were just bought out by google so, google will start making Motorola phones. i have a feeling they will only get better now, and actually might be worth buying.
joshwest said:
well i may be wrong but i dont think the droid 3 has gorilla glass... if you go to gorilla glass's website they list the phones that come with it and the only Motorola devices that come with it are the Droid x2 and the xoom.
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Wrong.
10chars
I have to wonder about gorilla glass QC myself, my DINC looked like I had taken sand paper to it after about a month.
Maybe there's some sort of significant variance that has somehow escaped their notice. I've seen a droid incredible dropped on jagged rocks, gouged at with a pocket knife, poked with keys, and nothing happens, but I've treated my d3 like a baby and it's got a bunch of dings. Nothing that affects the usability, or that you can even see without tilting it to the light in the right angle, but it's definitely not living up to the GGlass hype.
The d3 specs show GGlass.
The screen on my D3 is flawless (no screen protector). I had an Inc before the D3 and didn't have a screen protector on that, either. Nothing could scratch my Inc, and I kept that in the same pocket as my keys. Same with my D3. I've had it for over a month a half now and it is still in perfect condition. Hell, it took getting punched (hard) with an emerald to scratch the glass on my Inc. lol
Yeah I haven't had any real problems either. I've only had 2 random reboots but that was because I was putting a lot of stress on the phone, like running androirc,pandora, and texting all at the same time xD
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA Premium App
I tend to get random reboots while running GPS. Also while in the car dock, the phone just goes wack sometimes. I first thought I didn't have car mode because it doesn't always activate when in the dock. Do you guys know how they trigger it in the D3? in the D1 it was with a magnet so no power was required but for the D3, no power generally means no car mode
I haven't had a problem with screen scratching but I'm paranoid and bought a screen protector off amazon
its called halo screen protectors and it applied really really ez. didn't get bubbles like my old D1. plus it doesn't scratch ez either
I hate screen protectors, none of them make the screen feel like the original. Which is why I go naked . I use a case though.
I've had no random reboots so far, 2 hard reboots as mentioned because I was putting too much stress on the phone
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA Premium App
Had 1 or 2 random reboots. One when unplugging.
Docking seems to be a combination of power and what seems to be an rfid chip in the docks (for the multimedia unit anyhow, it knows one dock from another and can perform different actions for each)
Docking is VERY slow to repond. My old Eris pulls up desk clock faster when docked by nearly 5 seconds. What's up with that Moto??
HATE how the unit unplugs and locks me out of a screen action while it tells me that it has been unplugged in this big green banner at the top. If you unplug to silence or answer an incomming call, you have to wait for the phone to finish telling you it was unplugged before it will answer/silence. Big gripe!
I agree, backup assistant is Pure BLOATED battery waste on this phone. Hate that I have to wait until root to get rid of it! Hint Hint Moto, THESE are the real reasons so many users want root...remember PCs in the 90s with all the useless crap that came with them?
DLNA service constantly runs and polls in the background, even if no accounts are setup. Giant battery drain!
Home screen redraws are off the charts often and slow! This really does have TWO 1Ghz processors, right?? Because it sure doesn't act like it performance wise.
LAG...after selecting camera, gallery, or app drawer. It lags enough that i actaully have time to think it didn't register the touch. Then as i reach to re-touch the launch, it finally starts to launch the selected app/function.
The white theme...give us back real GB dark theme. White is blinding at night, and is excessive on battery draw over a black background. At least let us chose the theme....?
Battery and Data Manager options stink, as does the manager service associated with it. Select no battery management, and the service still runs in the background. If you go into and out of a weak coverage area, the extended network data setting (enable data roaming) unchecks itself, causing loss of data until in home network or you recheck the box. Setting lost again after going to a weak coverage area again. Logcats verify it is the Moto Battery and Data manager service that controls this setting, not the network.
All the other NON-stoppable service bloat on this phone. Factory task killer you can't shut down? WTF happened Moto?
Lots of other little gripes and nit-picks regarding stock GB options masked or disabled by Motorola.
It isn't a terrible phone, but it also isn't terribly impressive either.
After all this time to get this Droid version right, I am totally UNDERwhelmed by this phone. Yes, it works...but not anywhere near as smoothly or fast or refined as the D1 did at its initial launch.
IMHO, this phone wasn't ready for launch when it was sold to customers.
I will see what root and the Devs can do for this phone, but this will officially be my last Moto device unless Google is somehow able to pull this kind of product quality out of the proverbial toilet.
All that, and we are still patiently waiting for bootloader unlock.
Only time will tell
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
I blame the Motorola skin(blur)
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
JRowe47 said:
I've had several annoying things happen since getting the phone, but overall it's been a great experience. Here's some of the things that are bugging me:
Bloatware, lack of root. I've been lazy and avoided installing a launcher (bleh, ok, installing adw now .) Still, I paid good money for this, I expect a little love in return. Foisting off this crap on me isn't a great way to build brand loyalty.
Battery Life varies dramatically. Some days I'll be out taking hundreds of pictures over 4-5 hours and only use 40% or so - other days, I'll take a few dozen and end up using 90% of the battery in less than 2 hours. Definitely some wonkiness behind the scenes.
I'm not unhappy with the phone, overall - it's responsive and the HD video and camera have both served me well. It's just not all that it should be. Root will solve everything except the Gorilla Glass issue.
Feel free to chip in on other problems - it'd be nice to have a focused discussion to reference things wrong with this phone, once we have root.
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Click to collapse
I agree about these items. The bloat is unreal! I thought sprint was bad until I just switched to verizon. I also have had similar battery issues, leaving me alarm-less this morning due to my phone shutting off (I totally thought 30% would get me through the night like it had the previous night). Anyway, with root incoming soon, should be smooth sailing and constant flashing muwaahahahhhhhhaaa. Thanks devs!
ROOTED! And let me say, this thing is much snapper without Borkup Assistant (pun intended) and DLNA. Just dumping those 2 items alone have made a huge difference!!
Can't wait for bootstrap and custom recovery so I can ditch Blur. Gingerbread works, the mess with this phone is Moto itself.
Now that we have root, it won't be long to fix what Moto broke. ;-D
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
When I have my phone charging for some reason the the touch screen isn't worth **** mainly scrolling when in an application or browser haven't seen to much about this anyone else experience this?
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
Gripe:
The vibration for the notifications sounds sick. It starts strong and then quickly fades. This is in contrast to my D1 that had a strong buzz for the entire duration (I think it is a second per buzz).
ajbattaglia83 said:
When I have my phone charging for some reason the the touch screen isn't worth **** mainly scrolling when in an application or browser haven't seen to much about this anyone else experience this?
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
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This was a big problem with the D1 if you were not using a correct charger.
Are you using a proper Motorola Droid charger?
Bobbar said:
This was a big problem with the D1 if you were not using a correct charger.
Are you using a proper Motorola Droid charger?
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Ohhh **** I never thought of that, that would explain it...
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
JRowe47 said:
[*]If I leave wifi on, bluetooth audio streaming skips for a second or two whenever a new wifi network is detected. Really annoying when I set up in my car.
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My Droid 3 and Droid 2 do this when I leave Wifi on and use Bluetooth to play music over my car's speakers (Ford Sync). I had a Droid X2 however for a couple of weeks and it did not suffer from this problem.

I love this phone but...

There is the awful hissing noise during calls. It happens when person I'm talking to speaks. Its getting annoying....anyone else having issues with this? You can really tell when on speakerphone.
Don't want to go back to the Evo LTE
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
Not with mine... Been great both phone and speakerphone...
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
Can we make this the official "I love this phone but..." thread. I think we really need to keep all these nit-picky things in one thread.
Sure....
Explicit.....you've has this phone for awhile...have you had this problem?
Just wondering if I should exchange it or not
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
champ052005 said:
Sure....
Explicit.....you've has this phone for awhile...have you had this problem?
Just wondering if I should exchange it or not
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
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To be honest, no. If it's a hissing sound you're hearing (which I haven't heard myself), I would take it back to Sprint and tell them about it. Then get a replacement. I'm sorry if I sounded like a DB, but it's just that the phone really isn't anywhere near a problem as some people make it out to be. People over the on the EVO 4G LTE boards are saying it's hardly and upgrade, I almost wanted to ball my fist around my One and punch a hole through my monitor.
eXplicit815 said:
To be honest, no. If it's a hissing sound you're hearing (which I haven't heard myself), I would take it back to Sprint and tell them about it. Then get a replacement. I'm sorry if I sounded like a DB, but it's just that the phone really isn't anywhere near a problem as some people make it out to be. People over the on the EVO 4G LTE boards are saying it's hardly and upgrade, I almost wanted to ball my fist around my One and punch a hole through my monitor.
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Click to collapse
Upgrade is an upgrade is an upgrade.... No matter which way you slice it. .
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
eXplicit815 said:
To be honest, no. If it's a hissing sound you're hearing (which I haven't heard myself), I would take it back to Sprint and tell them about it. Then get a replacement. I'm sorry if I sounded like a DB, but it's just that the phone really isn't anywhere near a problem as some people make it out to be. People over the on the EVO 4G LTE boards are saying it's hardly and upgrade, I almost wanted to ball my fist around my One and punch a hole through my monitor.
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Not at all did it sound like a db.
And I hear you man....a lot of nit picky stuff. This is by far the best phone I have owned. I compared the screen to my LTE...AND realized how much crisper the One is.
Just need the phone portion of the phone to function properly lol
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
sgt. slaughter said:
Upgrade is an upgrade is an upgrade.... No matter which way you slice it. .
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
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I agree, I just can't stand some people that act like the phone isn't as hyped up as it really is. This phone is HUGE for HTC, and everyone should really not nit-pick at not having a removable battery, or no SD card slot, or kick stand, or this and that. It's really all just trolling in my book.
---------- Post added at 10:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 PM ----------
champ052005 said:
Not at all did it sound like a db.
And I hear you man....a lot of nit picky stuff. This is by far the best phone I have owned. I compared the screen to my LTE...AND realized how much crisper the One is.
Just need the phone portion of the phone to function properly lol
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
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I agree. The core functionality of the phone should work 100%. Mine works as it should, so I'm not complaining. But like I said, Sprint should be told about it, and it should be replaced if it bothers you.
But the overheating feel is a little overbearing at times when I'm holding the device,especially if it's on the charger at the same time
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
I got this phone on release day and I haven't experienced anything close to what I've read from other people about the build quality. I've been totally satisfied with the phone and its feature set. There has been times my phone has gotten hot but it happened with the evo3d too. When devices use as much power as these things demand of course there will be some heat. But overall the phone is well built and works flawlessly for me
wranglerray said:
I got this phone on release day and I haven't experienced anything close to what I've read from other people about the build quality. I've been totally satisfied with the phone and its feature set. There has been times my phone has gotten hot but it happened with the evo3d too. When devices use as much power as these things demand of course there will be some heat. But overall the phone is well built and works flawlessly for me
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Click to collapse
Same here. And for the heat, I saw someone compare it to your PC or PS3. When I'm running games on my PS3 Slim is gets pretty hot. That's what it does.
raptoro07 said:
Same here. And for the heat, I saw someone compare it to your PC or PS3. When I'm running games on my PS3 Slim is gets pretty hot. That's what it does.
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True. When you compare it to other phones, it gets just as warm. The reason why you think it's really "hot" is bc it's aluminum, which is a good conductor. Keep in mind that when the phone is in cooler conditions, the internals will be much cooler than the insides of a plastic phone.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
champ052005 said:
True. When you compare it to other phones, it gets just as warm. The reason why you think it's really "hot" is bc it's aluminum, which is a good conductor. Keep in mind that when the phone is in cooler conditions, the internals will be much cooler than the insides of a plastic phone.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Right. And in the end I think it is a good thing. If the heat is dissipating through the metal case, the processor is staying cooler. Plus with my case on it I don't feel the heat as much now.
wranglerray said:
I got this phone on release day and I haven't experienced anything close to what I've read from other people about the build quality. I've been totally satisfied with the phone and its feature set. There has been times my phone has gotten hot but it happened with the evo3d too. When devices use as much power as these things demand of course there will be some heat. But overall the phone is well built and works flawlessly for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the people complaining are samsuck fanboys and don't even own the phone.
slayer69 said:
Most of the people complaining are samsuck fanboys and don't even own the phone.
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I 100 % agree with you. I just wish those people would stop trolling, it's going on for months.
Sent from my lair.
Mine had quite a bit of hissing on the first day I had it (launch day). A couple days later it was gone. Maybe Sprint did something on their end?
I think my biggest issue right now is that bluetooth audio is distorted when I stream to my car. It's pretty much unlistenable.
The only other thing I can think of is that when I'm using headphones to listen to music and one of my alarms goes off, after the alarm is dismissed the music goes up to the alarm's volume level. Pretty painful when that happened.
Minor Issues Experienced So Far:
- Long gaming sessions make the phone incredibly hot, almost too hot, but not quite
- Sometimes pressing / holding Home button doesn't open Google Now ... or do anything
- Kind of difficult to use with one hand sometimes due to it's length and fact that it's top heavy
- Camera 'over-focuses' at night - Takes good night shots but sometimes will get stuck in a 'focus loop' for a few seconds
- Trying to switch to Swype takes some doing - It's in the notification bar but not in the Language / KB settings
- Annoying that unlocking the bootloader (rooting) erases all user data with no option to not do that
- Annoying auto-brightness for screen - Placement for the sensor for a righty is right under hand
- Confusing Camera Settings for Scene Types: Normal, Night, HDR. Night setting makes WORSE photos than Normal setting AT night.
- I miss the Motorola / Samsung options. Night, Twilight, Backlit, Inside Dark, etc.
- Last volume before mute setting is actually fairly loud, have to use touch interface to dial it in right
- Micro-USB slot is 'upside-down' compared to most others which have small end on top.
- Little slippery without a case
- Touch doesn't work with gloves at all - vs. my previous Droid Charge which did
Moderate Issue:
- No LTE in my area (yet), 3G gets terribad reception indoors (could be a Sprint thing in general).
Even with these minor issues - most of which can and probably will be fixed with software updates - I still love this thing. It's just unbelievably fast. The fact that it boots in under 10 seconds, the fact that I can run any game (ShadowGun and Real Racing 3 look amazing), and load it in seconds, is awesome. The IR blaster is probably one of the features I have used the most. From controlling a bar TV to my home, it's incredibly convenient. I also have come to love BlinkFeed and just about everything else. This phone gets attention in public for the screen and the beautifully engineered design. I love it.
phimuskapsi said:
Minor Issues Experienced So Far:
- Long gaming sessions make the phone incredibly hot, almost too hot, but not quite
- Sometimes pressing / holding Home button doesn't open Google Now ... or do anything
- Kind of difficult to use with one hand sometimes due to it's length and fact that it's top heavy
- Camera 'over-focuses' at night - Takes good night shots but sometimes will get stuck in a 'focus loop' for a few seconds
- Trying to switch to Swype takes some doing - It's in the notification bar but not in the Language / KB settings
- Annoying that unlocking the bootloader (rooting) erases all user data with no option to not do that
- Annoying auto-brightness for screen - Placement for the sensor for a righty is right under hand
- Confusing Camera Settings for Scene Types: Normal, Night, HDR. Night setting makes WORSE photos than Normal setting AT night.
- I miss the Motorola / Samsung options. Night, Twilight, Backlit, Inside Dark, etc.
- Last volume before mute setting is actually fairly loud, have to use touch interface to dial it in right
- Micro-USB slot is 'upside-down' compared to most others which have small end on top.
- Little slippery without a case
- Touch doesn't work with gloves at all - vs. my previous Droid Charge which did
Moderate Issue:
- No LTE in my area (yet), 3G gets terribad reception indoors (could be a Sprint thing in general).
Even with these minor issues - most of which can and probably will be fixed with software updates - I still love this thing. It's just unbelievably fast. The fact that it boots in under 10 seconds, the fact that I can run any game (ShadowGun and Real Racing 3 look amazing), and load it in seconds, is awesome. The IR blaster is probably one of the features I have used the most. From controlling a bar TV to my home, it's incredibly convenient. I also have come to love BlinkFeed and just about everything else. This phone gets attention in public for the screen and the beautifully engineered design. I love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This must be your first HTC phone. My EVO 3D, EVO 4G LTE and my HTC One all have the USB port positioned the exact same way. I've never really handled a phone other than HTC phones, so I don't know if Samsung has it the other way, or any other manufacturers.
eXplicit815 said:
This must be your first HTC phone. My EVO 3D, EVO 4G LTE and my HTC One all have the USB port positioned the exact same way. I've never really handled a phone other than HTC phones, so I don't know if Samsung has it the other way, or any other manufacturers.
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Had a Droid X, and Droid Charge are like that for me.

Is the QWERTY worth it?

Recovering flashaholic, recently went back to original Galaxy Nexus so I could avoid renewing with Verizon, on an old grandfathered (true unlimited) plan.
Missing a QWERTY and looking at picking up a used Droid 4. What are your thoughts, is the radio stable for tethering?
DNak206 said:
Recovering flashaholic, recently went back to original Galaxy Nexus so I could avoid renewing with Verizon, on an old grandfathered (true unlimited) plan.
Missing a QWERTY and looking at picking up a used Droid 4. What are your thoughts, is the radio stable for tethering?
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Click to collapse
If you miss a qwerty you'll love the D4. Keyboard is great and CM11 has made me fall in love with my phone all over again. The only thing to really complain about is battery life. When I'm home on wifi I can make it through a day. Otherwise plan on charging it at least once during the day. Unless you pick up the extended battery that FINALLY came out about a month or so ago. Tethering has worked fine for me the few times I've used it.
Droid 4 - CM11
I just bought a used d-4 to replace my old d-4 mainly because i wore some of the keys off after 2.5 yrs. I could have used my upgrade for a fancy new device but I am sticking with the d-4 . Of course 2 weeks after I purchased it, the promise of a d-5 came out. But who knows how long we will really be waiting for the d-5. / extended battery??????? Whaaaaaat... I will have to check that out. My batt does last a full day with medium use.
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
ricpdjrr said:
I just bought a used d-4 to replace my old d-4 mainly because i wore some of the keys off after 2.5 yrs. I could have used my upgrade for a fancy new device but I am sticking with the d-4 . Of course 2 weeks after I purchased it, the promise of a d-5 came out. But who knows how long we will really be waiting for the d-5. / extended battery??????? Whaaaaaat... I will have to check that out. My batt does last a full day with medium use.
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the biggest reason my battery doesn't normally last a day is because I have such a crappy data connection at work. Always switching between 2 bars of 3G or 1 bar of 4G. See the thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541577 for more info and links regarding the extended battery.
kwyrt said:
I think the biggest reason my battery doesn't normally last a day is because I have such a crappy data connection at work. Always switching between 2 bars of 3G or 1 bar of 4G. See the thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541577 for more info and links regarding the extended battery.
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Click to collapse
Good info, thank you both! I'm assuming rooting and all that is simple enough, I would probably root and stick with STOCK unless CM11 is really worthwhile. Any major bugs/flaws w/ this guy?
I've been running stargos cm11 since release and honestly it is almost flawless. He has been constantly updating and fixing wakelocks, along with other minor issues. Stock is.... well I was happy to get rid of all the bloatware crap and have my phone run faster. As for rooting and such, extremely easy.
Sent from my XT894 using xda app-developers app
I LOVE QWERTY Phones. I bought a used Droid 4 recently because the keys were falling off my old droid 2 and I didn't want to lose my unlimited data plan with Verizon. I have been going between Stock/CM11 and now SlimKat using SafeStrap so you can essentially dual boot your phone and keep the Stock rom there to always load as a failsafe.
I had waited 3-4 months for the possibility of a droid 5, and then almost went for the new Nexus 5 phone but of course Google had to release it for every carrier EXCEPT Verizon. Lame.
My phone MUST have a QWERTY keyboard. Likewise, I probably won't upgrade for another several years, since QWERTY phones seem to be dead, nowadays. I'm sticking with my Droid 4 until the community gives up on it, or it explodes.
I absolutely believe that it's worth it. I can type with the same speed and precision as I can on a regular computer keyboard, and I prefer that over relying on auto-correct, auto-fill, word prediction, or many of the other replacements for letter-by-letter typing. How I type on a computer - syntax, spelling, lack of shorthand - is how I type on a phone, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. I'm of the mindset that phone manufacturers have sacrificed the keyboard for a slimmer phone, and come out with virtual keyboards that try to emulate what was already there in the past.
EDIT: I would like to point out that the custom ROMs aren't perfect. They can be used as daily drivers, but MMS is a hit-or-miss (working on some uptimes, and not working on other uptimes), GPS works at random, and you'll experience the Sleep of Death more than a few times. Typically, if you have Touch Sounds enabled on your phone, and you suddenly hear the sound "die", you do NOT want to turn off the phone's screen or do anything involving media playback - if you do, you won't be able to turn it back on without doing a hard reset. Just reset until the sound works, again - of course, then you'll need to make sure that MMS works with that specific reboot. A good way to test that would be to send an MMS to somebody; if it sends, it works. If not, you'll need to reset the phone until it does, keeping in mind the (common) sound bug, as well. GPS is the same; if it works on a specific uptime, it'll work for the duration of that uptime.
If you're willing to put up with these three rather annoying bugs, the features of the custom ROMs more than make up for it. I'd choose CyanogenMod over Stock any day of the week.

[Q] Common Droid 4 Problems

I currently have a Droid 3 and due to its many problems (random reboots, stuck with a black screen, keys not working properly) I am looking into replacing it. Since I want a phone with a physical keyboard I don't have much to choose from, so I am also looking at the Droid 4, especially because you can get them for ~€100 on Ebay now.
So my question is: are there any common problems like the ones I have on the Droid 3 also on the Droid 4?
Just one, the speaker sometimes stops working. I've repaired several (as easy as bend some metal pins of insert a piece of paper to use as a shim).
No problems worth mentioning other than that.
You should also consider the Photon Q 4G LTE. It's faster/snappier.
Dakkaron said:
I currently have a Droid 3 and due to its many problems (random reboots, stuck with a black screen, keys not working properly) I am looking into replacing it. Since I want a phone with a physical keyboard I don't have much to choose from, so I am also looking at the Droid 4, especially because you can get them for ~€100 on Ebay now.
So my question is: are there any common problems like the ones I have on the Droid 3 also on the Droid 4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the speaker issue... since I don't really talk on the phone much, I've been living with it. Now it's gotten to the point where I can barely hear thru it at all. I sent off for a replacement ($7 or so on amazon). I'm just about to replace it, but I'm having some crazy GPS issues. Like two map programs showed my off the coast of Ghana the other day. My husband's Droid Razr GPS finds him just fine sitting right next to me, on the same carrier.
I'm not finding anyone else with this issue, so it could be a fluke. I'm running some diagnostics now. Not quite sure if this is a deal-breaker yet. I really do love having a keyboard. I'd hate to go back to Blackberry For reference: I've had the Droid 4 for almost 2 years now and it's held up well. I rooted it almost right away and let it update to ICS. I have not updated to JB (there were keyboard issues back then with JB... it could be fixed now, but I just like ICS too much to bother lol)
I want to use the phone in Europe so the Photon Q would be a bit more work (it has a soldered-in SIM-card which needs to replaced by a SIM-holder).
I am also looking at the Samsung Stratosphere II and the Galaxy S Relay.
So no random reboots or lockups? That sounds great.
I just want to make sure since I won't be able to use any warranty for an US-phone in Europe. Sadly there are no half-decent Androids with a keyboard in Europe. The best there is is the S4 with the keyboard-attachment, but that combo is so incredibly thick...
In a house hold of four I also had four Droids. Except the speaker problem I never had any issues. Yeah sure an occasional reboot. But that's it. I still have Droid 4 as backup phone in case one of the Photon dies. But that will also be replaced by a spare Photon as soon as possible.

HTC One M8 complaint thread.

I figure I make one thread where we all can voice our possible dislikes with this phone without having to create multiple threads with different complaints.
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Why make a complaint thread?? If you don't like a phone get another one.
Sent from my 831C using xda app-developers app
I love this phone. But you know with every great new device there's something to complain about. So why not just talk about it? Like I would of loved the settings button to be on the bottom rather than pulling down the top bar.
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
not being able to use data while on a call is my only complaint. great phone other than that
smooth703 said:
not being able to use data while on a call is my only complaint. great phone other than that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's definitely sucks. Unfortunately that's something we going have to get use to.
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Complaints:
* The M8's screen is almost impossible to see when wearing polarized sunglasses. This problem is only when you hold the phone in portrait mode. In landscape mode it looks fine. This is a common problem with LCD screens, but there are steps HTC could have taken to eliminate it, such as using a 45 degree extinction angle, or using a compensating film.
* Button placement: I do not like M8's button placement. I find it hard to turn the phone on or off without inadvertently pressing one of the volume buttons. I greatly prefer M7's recessed volume rocker to M8's non-recessed rocker.
* THIS MAY BE FIXED WITH THE NEW RADIO FIRMWARE IN THE 1.54 UPDATE: My biggest complaint is the fact that the phone often takes over an hour to connect to LTE even when there is a STRONG signal.
My complaints:
1. The power button being on the top of such a large phone is pretty annoying. I came from the GS3, which had the lovely side power button. This is something that I will get used to though. It'd be nice if they made a gesture to lock the phone too.
2. Since the latest update, my mobile signal has been poor. Where I used to get LTE, I now get 3G only. My wifi signal is fantastic compared to the GS3, but the mobile internet is looking rough. If I don't see improvement, I may need to replace the phone to see if it can get better.
Everything else is just incredible. Even with these complaints, I freaking love this phone!
smooth703 said:
not being able to use data while on a call is my only complaint. great phone other than that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IDK, I can use call+data on 3/4G, it's just not supposed to be possible on spark, which I don't have in my area
hazmad said:
IDK, I can use call+data on 3/4G, it's just not supposed to be possible on spark, which I don't have in my area
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Click to collapse
i dont think we have spark in virginia still cant do both
hazmad said:
IDK, I can use call+data on 3/4G, it's just not supposed to be possible on spark, which I don't have in my area
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Click to collapse
No you can't.
Only way that's possible is if you're on wifi (obviously).
Here are mine, which I'm sure others have mentioned.
1) Size; I actually prefer the size of the M7 over this. It's hard to reach the power button as someone mentioned and the phone is very hard to hold without a case because it's slippery. It almost feels like I'm holding a gigantic EVO LTE. The m7 felt right in my hands. I was surprised because most of the reviews mentioned that it was easier to hold than the m7 due to the curved back. Using it with one hand is pretty tough because I'm so afraid I'm going to drop it.
2) The Gun Metal Gray definitely scratches very easy. I have a small scratch on the back of my phone already and I'm not quite sure how I got it since I baby my phone like my own kid. i was actually going to wait out for the silver version, but with Bestbuy price matching Amazon in conjunction with their $50 instant credit for people who registered their numbers, I felt like I needed to jump on it for $100.
3) Loss of data randomly (never happened on my M7); I understand there is only one antenna and Spark phones rely on CSFB and that it will eventually be fixed.
No other complaints other than those 3. Love the SD Card, Boomsound Speakers, Camera (Yes I do) and the amazing battery life. I no longer have to worry about running out of juice for the entire day.
m03sizlak said:
No you can't.
Only way that's possible is if you're on wifi (obviously).
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Click to collapse
Ya, you're right I can't do it on this phone, could do it on my old one though
Apparently unlocking the bootloader prevents you from redeeming the Google Drive bonus. I still bought the device so why no freebie?
Still glad to be s off though.
newalker91 said:
I'm very tempted to buy this phone on my upgrade but I know that I do not want to cover it up with a case. My hands are rather grippy on smooth surfaces so I find the gunmetal gray to have a perfect finish. What I want to know is how scuffable the finish is on this phone. I only ever keep it in an empty clean pocket or laying back-down on my desk which is usually clean. Will I have an issue with tiny scratches accumulating in the clearcoat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gotten a couple light scratches and I baby my phone. Not sure how I got them. Never had a problem on the back of the m7.
Anyone else's earpiece crackle during a call or when listening to music? I've been through 2 of them that have been that way. Not sure if its supposed to be this way or what. It's not on the bottom speaker, just the top one.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
I ****ing loathe the bootsound with a passion
Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
My Observations
I got this phone as a precursor to replace my 5S, if the iPhone 6 doesn't have a 5" screen. I've only had it one day so far my observations are:
The phone takes a long time to load web pages and play youtube videos
The placement of the buttons is a bit awkward.
The Knock feature doesn't work all the time, nor do the swipe to unlock.
I must've gotten a factory defect, the screen is starting to come off in the upper right hand corner where the front camera sits. How that happened? I couldn't tell you.
I have the Sprint Spark Icon in the notification bar (Spark is in Orlando) but the switch between networks is sometimes slow.
Sometimes to get rid of notifications, I have to reboot the phone. Some icons will stay in the notification area even after the app is closed or I clear it.
Coming over from iOS, not being able to quick scroll to the top of a page is frustrating to say the least. The only place that works is in Blinkfeed, which is pretty cool, IMO, thus far.
Twitter apps for Android suck (can't knock the phone for that though.)
I hate the loud beep you get in your ear when ending a call if you're wearing a Bluetooth.
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
My only gripe is the stupid HTC in a space not used for anything else. If we are dropping capacitive buttons, give us more screen in that spot... not a space for logo.
chemjb said:
I ****ing loathe the bootsound with a passion
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's wrong with it
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