I wanted to start by saying thanks to everyone here. I've been reading this site off and on since I got my bionic (after switching from the original droid, which thanks to this site, I rooted and use as a wifi music server attached to my stereo). I do find I'm checking it a lot more often since the switch to JB.
The bottom line is I've had so many problems from a device that was running seamlessly for my usage under ICS. It's currently unrooted (never has been) and I've done the clear cache and FDR since the "up"grade to JB. I thought I'd mention some of the issues I still have to see if anyone has ideas on the source(s) or how to fix. Some of these may be issues with the apps or other devices.
(1) In my experience the battery drain is still much worse than ICS. I briefly tried google now but it destroyed my battery life (and was slow on voice search) so I disabled it. I'm not even sure why the drain is greater now.
(2) My biggest complaint is the loss of the long press voice search. It was probably my most often used feature. Google now isn't a good replacement due to the overhead in load time and battery usage. I was able to add the icon to my main homescreen as a fix. I guess there's no way to re-enable the long press?
(3) I use chrome and noticed that all pages seem to run a lot slower under JB than ICS. Here I'm not sure if this is due to JB or chrome. I also noticed that the navigation bar auto hides itself and I'd rather it be there all the time. My guess is this is a chrome feature but I can't figure out how to change it (if I can)
(4) Handcent sms seems to have some issues. It's always had problems syncing fb photos but it's worse now. I think this might be due to contacts issues.
(5) Contacts issues. Not really a JB issue. This is the biggest problem with having to do an FDR. I have 4 google accounts plus fb and others. I thought I had it all solved on my computer but after this I'm back to multiple unjoined contacts for many of my contacts. If anyone has ever figured out an easy fix for this, I;d love to hear it.
(6) I use the Motorola T505 for hands free operation in my car. My biggest issue right now is that it will sync with my phone and play music but I can't seem to get it to work for calls. They always go to speaker phone instead of the device. Does anyone else have this problem? I've tried all the settings I can find. It's strange because a call will come in while I'm playing music through bluetooth and then the call still goes to the phone speaker. And I've given up on voice dialing about two updates ago.
(7) Swype. I loved the interface (size, keyboard layout, usage). Since the update it is horrible. It seems to autotype the wrong word all the time. It also doesn't work in some apps by not spacing between words. Manually adding a space sort of works but (a) you have to remember to tap space and (b) it then capitalizes every word.
Seriously, I wish I never updated to JB or had the option to go back. In general, I find it to be more sluggish under most apps.
Oh, and I have one unrelated issue to ask about that I've have for awhile now. I have a screen "flicker." It's not really a flicker but more of a set of microlines that waver up and down the display constantly. It isn't always present and is much worse on lighter screens (I switched my wallpaper to solid dark black). I've tried using different display settings (light v dark, constant v auto) and it still there. If it's really bad, then turning off and on the display will usually improve it. I'm thinking it might be a hardware problem and haven't found anything about it on the web. Has anyone encountered this? While it is somewhat annoying it's manageable and I'm reluctant to look into a replacement because I'm sure it isn't under warranty and I don't want to upgrade and lose my unlimited data.
Sorry for the long post. If anyone has advice for any of my issues I'd love to hear it.
The bottom line is I've had so many problems from a device that was running seamlessly for my usage under ICS. It's currently unrooted (never has been) and I've done the clear cache and FDR since the "up"grade to JB. I thought I'd mention some of the issues I still have to see if anyone has ideas on the source(s) or how to fix. Some of these may be issues with the apps or other devices.
(1) In my experience the battery drain is still much worse than ICS. I briefly tried google now but it destroyed my battery life (and was slow on voice search) so I disabled it. I'm not even sure why the drain is greater now.
(2) My biggest complaint is the loss of the long press voice search. It was probably my most often used feature. Google now isn't a good replacement due to the overhead in load time and battery usage. I was able to add the icon to my main homescreen as a fix. I guess there's no way to re-enable the long press?
(3) I use chrome and noticed that all pages seem to run a lot slower under JB than ICS. Here I'm not sure if this is due to JB or chrome. I also noticed that the navigation bar auto hides itself and I'd rather it be there all the time. My guess is this is a chrome feature but I can't figure out how to change it (if I can)
(4) Handcent sms seems to have some issues. It's always had problems syncing fb photos but it's worse now. I think this might be due to contacts issues.
(5) Contacts issues. Not really a JB issue. This is the biggest problem with having to do an FDR. I have 4 google accounts plus fb and others. I thought I had it all solved on my computer but after this I'm back to multiple unjoined contacts for many of my contacts. If anyone has ever figured out an easy fix for this, I;d love to hear it.
(6) I use the Motorola T505 for hands free operation in my car. My biggest issue right now is that it will sync with my phone and play music but I can't seem to get it to work for calls. They always go to speaker phone instead of the device. Does anyone else have this problem? I've tried all the settings I can find. It's strange because a call will come in while I'm playing music through bluetooth and then the call still goes to the phone speaker. And I've given up on voice dialing about two updates ago.
(7) Swype. I loved the interface (size, keyboard layout, usage). Since the update it is horrible. It seems to autotype the wrong word all the time. It also doesn't work in some apps by not spacing between words. Manually adding a space sort of works but (a) you have to remember to tap space and (b) it then capitalizes every word.
Seriously, I wish I never updated to JB or had the option to go back. In general, I find it to be more sluggish under most apps.
Oh, and I have one unrelated issue to ask about that I've have for awhile now. I have a screen "flicker." It's not really a flicker but more of a set of microlines that waver up and down the display constantly. It isn't always present and is much worse on lighter screens (I switched my wallpaper to solid dark black). I've tried using different display settings (light v dark, constant v auto) and it still there. If it's really bad, then turning off and on the display will usually improve it. I'm thinking it might be a hardware problem and haven't found anything about it on the web. Has anyone encountered this? While it is somewhat annoying it's manageable and I'm reluctant to look into a replacement because I'm sure it isn't under warranty and I don't want to upgrade and lose my unlimited data.
Sorry for the long post. If anyone has advice for any of my issues I'd love to hear it.
