Can not send pics from phone.

[Demache]

I'm going to see this out with my FCC complaint first--I question the legality of breaking a feature and refusing to fix it. As I commented before, if it's ok to do it with a simple feature, what's to stop a manufacturer from slimming down the majority of a phone's features at EOL to force the user to buy a new phone?

I also think it's questionably legal that you can buy a phone with a specific set of features, and once they have your money, the company can decide to render some of those features inoperable at a later time--I certainly didn't intend to buy a phone that's not capable of picture messaging, as that's a feature I use often.

If that goes nowhere, and complaints with Verizon afterwords go nowhere (I'm very patient. I fought Sears for 3 months when an in-home service contract I paid for "wasn't in the system" when I finally needed it), then yeah, I'll root the phone. But I'll definitely exhaust all the noise I can make, first.

To be honest, your probably not going to get too far. Having bugs caused by updates in discontinued phones is not entirely uncommon. My Nokia E63 had an update that broke the equalizer in the music player about a year ago. As far as I know, it hasn't had an update since. That phone isn't necessarily discontinued, but I haven't seen any updates for it. My RAZR V3 actually had loads of issues. Those probably won't ever be fixed, not that I care though.

But good luck. You can at least hope for Verizon getting you a new phone.

 

[Thedarksunlight]

Hi everyone. I have also noticed this issue recently and I believe the root cause is not from 2.1 but it was from the patch that Verizon shot out about a month ago to fix bugs.

I remember clearly taking a picture and sending it to my sisters Motorola Droid with no problem with 2.1, but since that patch this has become a issue. I know someone who tried to send a photo from their Droid x and the same thing happened with making the photo into a slideshow.

HTC has a bad rap sheet for minor errors. I assume that these bugs are not at all near their top priority as most will just download a 3rd party app to send texts. I personally enjoy using stock apps due to the feeling of using a legitimate app by the manufacturer rather than some 3rd party dev. In reality this minor issue is not a big deal and if its really bothering you, download the 3rd party app which most likely is better then stock anyway

 

[Joe_Evaristo]

To be honest, your probably not going to get too far. Having bugs caused by updates in discontinued phones is not entirely uncommon. My Nokia E63 had an update that broke the equalizer in the music player about a year ago. As far as I know, it hasn't had an update since. That phone isn't necessarily discontinued, but I haven't seen any updates for it. My RAZR V3 actually had loads of issues. Those probably won't ever be fixed, not that I care though.

But good luck. You can at least hope for Verizon getting you a new phone.

Unless the E63 was sold as a media device, it sucks, but I don't think it's quite comparable--MMS is a core feature, it's one of the basic capabilities expected of a cell phone. A music player is an extra feature, but unless the phone was touted as a media phone, it's not a core feature. Of course, they should fix it, I do think there should be a certain level of obligation to do so since they broke it, but unlike MMS, it's not a core feature.

As for the RAZR...honestly, I must say I'm surprised their issues haven't been fixed. I constantly hear how terrible that phone is (and was, since the first), and I'd have expected Motorola to have done something about that reputation by now. Even ignoring any possible legal issues (ya know, if we were talking about cars, there wouldn't even be a question involved), that's just plain a bad business move.

And, thanks. I hope something will come of it, even if it's the removal of the "mandatory" label for MR4 and getting a refurb that doesn't have it.

Hi everyone. I have also noticed this issue recently and I believe the root cause is not from 2.1 but it was from the patch that Verizon shot out about a month ago to fix bugs.

I remember clearly taking a picture and sending it to my sisters Motorola Droid with no problem with 2.1, but since that patch this has become a issue. I know someone who tried to send a photo from their Droid x and the same thing happened with making the photo into a slideshow.

HTC has a bad rap sheet for minor errors. I assume that these bugs are not at all near their top priority as most will just download a 3rd party app to send texts. I personally enjoy using stock apps due to the feeling of using a legitimate app by the manufacturer rather than some 3rd party dev. In reality this minor issue is not a big deal and if its really bothering you, download the 3rd party app which most likely is better then stock anyway

That's correct, the change didn't happen in 2.1. It began with HTC's July maintenance update, which is called MR4: that's what broke picture message functionality. When HTC's support reps tried to get out of fixing it by claiming Google made the change in 2.1, I took a picture of my phone (http://www.admiraljoe.com/mmsbroken.jpg -- If you look closely at the date stamp, you can see the first is after the OTA to 2.1 in June, and the second is after the July maintenance patch, MR4) to demonstrate that the change occurred in MR4. After a month, they still refuse to support the problem.

It's actually not that minor of an issue--yes, the display as a slideshow is minor in that it's just a nuisance, but the new functionality also prevents the phone from sending pictures to phones that HTC has labeled as, "too old." To go from trading pictures with someone daily to not being able to at all is certainly not minor, it renders a core feature completely useless.

I'd also point out that not everyone finds the 3rd party apps appealing--I myself tried them before this problem and have found them to be inadequate. The stock app was better. The 3rd party ones function "better" in that they can send actual picture messages, but I find them difficult to read regardless of how I customize them (and I spent a couple hours trying!).

Additionally, it's really not valid for a company to say, "use a third party app" as a way to get out of fixing something they broke. I'd say that upsets me a lot more than the phone's problem.

 

[Demache]

Unless the E63 was sold as a media device, it sucks, but I don't think it's quite comparable--MMS is a core feature, it's one of the basic capabilities expected of a cell phone. A music player is an extra feature, but unless the phone was touted as a media phone, it's not a core feature. Of course, they should fix it, I do think there should be a certain level of obligation to do so since they broke it, but unlike MMS, it's not a core feature.

As for the RAZR...honestly, I must say I'm surprised their issues haven't been fixed. I constantly hear how terrible that phone is (and was, since the first), and I'd have expected Motorola to have done something about that reputation by now. Even ignoring any possible legal issues (ya know, if we were talking about cars, there wouldn't even be a question involved), that's just plain a bad business move.

And, thanks. I hope something will come of it, even if it's the removal of the "mandatory" label for MR4 and getting a refurb that doesn't have it.

The E63 isn't a media phone. So your right in that regard. They aren't necessarily obligated to fix it. But I just wanted to point that out that sometimes they break random things and don't fix them. It didn't necessarily go unnoticed as there was huge outcry against it in the Nokia support forums though.

Its the original RAZR, so its pretty much crap in every way possible. If a picture is larger than 640 x 480, it crashes when you open it. MMS on that thing would probably be a nightmare if I had MMS it at the time.

I'm confused about how people aren't receiving pictures because slideshows though. Nobody I know has had this problem when I send pictures to them. Well, maybe I should say nobody in family with an Eris since they aren't rooted. Some of their contacts have pretty old Verizon RAZR's and LG Flip-phones (with camera's!). And they haven't said they haven't had issues with others getting them. Although my sister also thinks the slideshow thing is annoying.

 

[Thedarksunlight]

That's correct, the change didn't happen in 2.1. It began with HTC's July maintenance update, which is called MR4: that's what broke picture message functionality. When HTC's support reps tried to get out of fixing it by claiming Google made the change in 2.1, I took a picture of my phone (http://www.admiraljoe.com/mmsbroken.jpg -- If you look closely at the date stamp, you can see the first is after the OTA to 2.1 in June, and the second is after the July maintenance patch, MR4) to demonstrate that the change occurred in MR4. After a month, they still refuse to support the problem.

It's actually not that minor of an issue--yes, the display as a slideshow is minor in that it's just a nuisance, but the new functionality also prevents the phone from sending pictures to phones that HTC has labeled as, "too old." To go from trading pictures with someone daily to not being able to at all is certainly not minor, it renders a core feature completely useless.

I'd also point out that not everyone finds the 3rd party apps appealing--I myself tried them before this problem and have found them to be inadequate. The stock app was better. The 3rd party ones function "better" in that they can send actual picture messages, but I find them difficult to read regardless of how I customize them (and I spent a couple hours trying!).

Additionally, it's really not valid for a company to say, "use a third party app" as a way to get out of fixing something they broke. I'd say that upsets me a lot more than the phone's problem.

I agree with you even though I believe it is not a major issue considering you can choose from the 3rd party app which allows you to do what the stock app does not. But From the standpoint of the consumer which loves their eris, it comes off as horrible business practice and HTC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such cheap solutions for something which they should personally fix. My issue to use the 3rd party apps would be the the fact that there is no widget( at least from the last time I checked) for handcent sms. I would easily switch if the 3rd party app provided a bad ass widget such as the stock app.

 

[VonKannick]

My understanding of the slideshow problem is that if you send to a phone that supports it, it works fine, but if you send to one that does not, it is not received correctly, or maybe not at all.

 

[Joe_Evaristo]

The E63 isn't a media phone. So your right in that regard. They aren't necessarily obligated to fix it. But I just wanted to point that out that sometimes they break random things and don't fix them. It didn't necessarily go unnoticed as there was huge outcry against it in the Nokia support forums though.

Its the original RAZR, so its pretty much crap in every way possible. If a picture is larger than 640 x 480, it crashes when you open it. MMS on that thing would probably be a nightmare if I had MMS it at the time.

I'm confused about how people aren't receiving pictures because slideshows though. Nobody I know has had this problem when I send pictures to them. Well, maybe I should say nobody in family with an Eris since they aren't rooted. Some of their contacts have pretty old Verizon RAZR's and LG Flip-phones (with camera's!). And they haven't said they haven't had issues with others getting them. Although my sister also thinks the slideshow thing is annoying.

Ah, ok. Makes sense. You'd think these companies would realize that if they break their customers phones, the customers aren't going to come back to them. More so if they're asked to fix it and refuse--if they'd said, "oops, our bad, we'll see what we can do," I'd probably consider them again. Instead I'm telling friends this story and showing them HTC's BBB rating when they say it's time for an upgrade. You'd think they'd realize that bad business practices like this have consequences.

The one person I've specifically been unable to send pictures to has an LG EnV--either the 1st, or EnV2, I don't recall. He hasn't had any recent updates, and nothing changed on his phone; it was right after I got MR4 that he couldn't get pictures from me. I can get pictures from him, but I can't send any to him.

I can't imagine anyone would be fond of slideshows. Why would anyone want a picture to close on its own? In my group of friends, it's certainly a regular occurrence to get a picture from someone, and then show it to each other by passing the phone around--with a slideshow, you have to keep going back into it. I question the intelligence of any coder who thought this was a bright idea, and the manager who said "ok." You'd think if they actually used phones, they'd know better.

I agree with you even though I believe it is not a major issue considering you can choose from the 3rd party app which allows you to do what the stock app does not. But From the standpoint of the consumer which loves their eris, it comes off as horrible business practice and HTC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such cheap solutions for something which they should personally fix. My issue to use the 3rd party apps would be the the fact that there is no widget( at least from the last time I checked) for handcent sms. I would easily switch if the 3rd party app provided a bad ass widget such as the stock app.

Ah. I don't use the widget for that--I don't particularly want e-mail or texts "out in the open" like that. Though my problem is more with the look of the 3rd party apps. I found Chomp (and Handcent's default style) to be hard to follow--I found the bubbles to be distracting, and I didn't want to keep looking from the left of the phone to the right just to follow a conversation.

I tried setting Handcent to the Android style, but really, it was an eye-sore. I didn't like having sent and received messages different colors--again, I found it distracting to have "stuff" going on in the background. But when set to the same color, there's no divider between messages--and no way to set a divider, either. I've also found the spacing within the messages to be rather poor, they all seem to run into one another and it gives me a headache trying to read texts that way. I spent a couple hours messing with font size and other settings, and I never found a style that worked for me.

My understanding of the slideshow problem is that if you send to a phone that supports it, it works fine, but if you send to one that does not, it is not received correctly, or maybe not at all.

That's my understanding as well. My mom--on AT&T--gets them fine. But one of my friends has an LG EnV and he doesn't get pictures from me at all anymore.