-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Major Flaw With the Evo - Do This!
- Thread starter Emrys
- Start date
-
- Tags
- htc evo 4g
I disagree a bit.. The openness of Android helps to compound the issue.
There are so many rogue apps out there, hacks, roms etc that when I problem crops up it is so hard to diagnose the problem.
There is a list in the apple forums of bugs that will match the bugs and problems that android devices have..
This is why Apple keeps a closed systems and monitors its app market..
Not excusing HTC or Android, quality and easy of use should be top priority for both of them, but it is just harder to do as these devices are massed produced and there are countless ways for users to modify them..
There were a few articles that pointed out the IPhone external antenna was a bad idea with research and info to back it up..
The external antenna was tried twice before and failed but apple still rolled it out..
Hell apple knew about the problem before the phone launched
I wonder if we're all using the same phone. I ran two tests today. On the way to work, I turned on Pandora, started playing a song, and then went to Maps. I told it to route me to work. During the route calculation, Pandora stopped, so after the route was done I went back to Pandora and started the song playing. Results:
30 minute commute, and everything worked perfectly. Music played, when the GPS spoke it muted the music, and then music started up again after the verbal directions were done. I tried it both with Maps in the foreground and with Pandora in the foreground. The GPS never skipped a beat.
In the middle of the day I went to a different site, so my commute home was bout 50 minutes. This time, I turned on the music player and told the GPS to route me home. Again, everything worked perfectly. The only thing I noticed was that the synthesized voice seemed to be more distorted than usual. And it may have been more distorted with Maps in the background than in the foreground. Not sure if this was my imagination, or if the extra load of the music player caused the voice synthesis app to not get quite enough CPU cycles.
If you're having troubles, do you have maps visible in the foreground, or the music player in the foreground? Like most OSs, I'm sure Android gives a higher priority to the foreground app, so make sure maps is visible.
Now then, I acknowledge that I wasn't using the speaker, I plugged it in to the aux input jack in my car. I can't imagine listening to music via the built-in speaker, however. The sound quality from the built-in speaker in every phone sucks. No one who cares even the slightest about music would listen this way, so I consider this a non-issue. If you're so tone deaf you listen to music this way, then you have my sympathy.
But for the sake of science, I'll give it a try with the speaker next week.
30 minute commute, and everything worked perfectly. Music played, when the GPS spoke it muted the music, and then music started up again after the verbal directions were done. I tried it both with Maps in the foreground and with Pandora in the foreground. The GPS never skipped a beat.
In the middle of the day I went to a different site, so my commute home was bout 50 minutes. This time, I turned on the music player and told the GPS to route me home. Again, everything worked perfectly. The only thing I noticed was that the synthesized voice seemed to be more distorted than usual. And it may have been more distorted with Maps in the background than in the foreground. Not sure if this was my imagination, or if the extra load of the music player caused the voice synthesis app to not get quite enough CPU cycles.
If you're having troubles, do you have maps visible in the foreground, or the music player in the foreground? Like most OSs, I'm sure Android gives a higher priority to the foreground app, so make sure maps is visible.
Now then, I acknowledge that I wasn't using the speaker, I plugged it in to the aux input jack in my car. I can't imagine listening to music via the built-in speaker, however. The sound quality from the built-in speaker in every phone sucks. No one who cares even the slightest about music would listen this way, so I consider this a non-issue. If you're so tone deaf you listen to music this way, then you have my sympathy.
But for the sake of science, I'll give it a try with the speaker next week.
slschmidt76
Member
No flaw with mine....I stream music, surf the web and all with no problem on my gps??? Not sure whats wrong with yours.
A major flaw? Hardly. The biggest flaw here is the idea that listening to music through the tinny, 1/2 diameter speaker is a logical thing to do.
wase4711
Android Expert
I Think the flaw I have is worse than this one..
when I am using slacker radio, and listening through headphones or my BOSE external speaker, the HTC or Mixzing media player will start playing music at the same time, so I get to hear 2 songs at once!
Should I sue HTC, Google, Bose, or Slacker Radio over this?
Its annoying, but, hey, when you live on the bleeding edge with new devices like this, you gotta expect some weird things to happen. So many folks on the net think that a cell phone should be made like a nuclear reactor, and never have ANY flaws whatsoever, and if they do, the manufacturer should be sued, rot in hell, and pay us each a million dollars..
News Flash; we pay 199 dollars for these things, and, they will NEVER be perfect all the time for everyone..
Deal with it, or, go back to your Motorola Star Tac phone..
when I am using slacker radio, and listening through headphones or my BOSE external speaker, the HTC or Mixzing media player will start playing music at the same time, so I get to hear 2 songs at once!
Should I sue HTC, Google, Bose, or Slacker Radio over this?
Its annoying, but, hey, when you live on the bleeding edge with new devices like this, you gotta expect some weird things to happen. So many folks on the net think that a cell phone should be made like a nuclear reactor, and never have ANY flaws whatsoever, and if they do, the manufacturer should be sued, rot in hell, and pay us each a million dollars..
News Flash; we pay 199 dollars for these things, and, they will NEVER be perfect all the time for everyone..
Deal with it, or, go back to your Motorola Star Tac phone..
Wifi-Naught Odin
Member
I punch in a nav point with google navigation then que up music off the sd with the stock "Music" app all the time when on the road. I play it over the car stereo because google nav auto-mutes the tunes so you can hear your turn prompts.
What the op described did happen to me once already.
One song into a trip, I noticed I wasn't gettin turn by turn. I switched back to google nav and something had mysteriously killed the nav app. Had to pull over and re-load my destination. Was a real pain.
Not complaining though cuz it's =>free navigation<=
Do that on your iphone!
What the op described did happen to me once already.
One song into a trip, I noticed I wasn't gettin turn by turn. I switched back to google nav and something had mysteriously killed the nav app. Had to pull over and re-load my destination. Was a real pain.
Not complaining though cuz it's =>free navigation<=
Do that on your iphone!
crashmann
Lurker
I was curious about the built in speaker interfering with the GPS, so I tried it on the way home tonight. First I started Google Maps and set it to navigate my way home. Then I launched the music player with MP3 files on the SD Card. I turned up the volume so I could hear the tinny built in speaker.
I had the map open so I could follow the route it plotted. The music muted when the navigator was giving instructions, then came back up.
After a few minutes the GPS did lose its signal.
I held the phone under the windshield to see if it would resync with the GPS satellites, but no luck. I paused the music, and it locked onto the satellites immediately.
After restarting the music, it lost sync again. So, I tried turning down the volume of the music, and at 60% it could maintain GPS lock, but any higher and it would go out again.
After repeating the symptoms, I couldn't take the tinny music any more, so I plugged in the 1/8" cable into my stereo aux input, and the GPS worked fine the rest of the way home.
Perhaps the speaker magnet is interfering with the GPS receiver when it has to play at a louder volume?
I had the map open so I could follow the route it plotted. The music muted when the navigator was giving instructions, then came back up.
After a few minutes the GPS did lose its signal.
I held the phone under the windshield to see if it would resync with the GPS satellites, but no luck. I paused the music, and it locked onto the satellites immediately.
After restarting the music, it lost sync again. So, I tried turning down the volume of the music, and at 60% it could maintain GPS lock, but any higher and it would go out again.
After repeating the symptoms, I couldn't take the tinny music any more, so I plugged in the 1/8" cable into my stereo aux input, and the GPS worked fine the rest of the way home.
Perhaps the speaker magnet is interfering with the GPS receiver when it has to play at a louder volume?
jlbattagli
Newbie
For the sake of the OP, I tested this on my phone (Rev. 003, stock Sense UI, all OTA updates). I tested while stationary in my house, still had a good GPS signal, stock Maps app showed my location pretty much dead on. Stayed that way when I started the stock music app *with headphones on* - no problem. As soon as I unjacked the headphones, the Maps app started bouncing my location around, between roughly a quarter mile off to over a mile off (oddly, it was one or the other of these, nowhere in between, at least during the few minutes I tested). As soon as I jacked the headphones back in, everything returned to normal. I tried the same test using the stock music player and the Sprint Navigation app, and did NOT have this problem. However, when I switched to Pandora radio, Sprint Navigation started acting up as well. This is using wi-fi and GPS, as I am at home; will test again using 3G and GPS.
jlbattagli
Newbie
OK - tried the above tests again with wi-fi off. Had no problems with either Maps or Sprint Navigation while streaming Pandora over 3G. But strangely, I also had no problems with the stock music app playing MP3s off of my SD card (same as above test). Don't know why the radio in use would make a difference, but it seems to be the case. Although I did notice that the Maps app seemed to take longer to zero in on my location than Sprint Navigation did. So to confuse things even further, at least on my phone/setup, wi-fi seems to add to the problem. I would have to leave the house in order to have the wi-fi on but not receiving a signal, while using 3G, and I'm to lazy to do that right now. Maybe in the morning.
Also, I'm expecting a set of Bluetooth headphones to arrive tomorrow; I'm curious to see what effect they will have on GPS, if any. Like many of the above posters, I don't use the phone's speaker while navigating in my car, but I do plan on using the Bluetooth headset.
On a related note, I did notice that both Pandora and the stock music player would stop playing every time I unplugged the headphones - I had to hit play again every time. Haven't used either of the players enough to know if this is a standard occurrence or not (is it a feature or a bug?
).
So it definitely seems that there is a bug in the works somewhere; whether it's major or not I guess is up to the individual.
Also, I'm expecting a set of Bluetooth headphones to arrive tomorrow; I'm curious to see what effect they will have on GPS, if any. Like many of the above posters, I don't use the phone's speaker while navigating in my car, but I do plan on using the Bluetooth headset.
On a related note, I did notice that both Pandora and the stock music player would stop playing every time I unplugged the headphones - I had to hit play again every time. Haven't used either of the players enough to know if this is a standard occurrence or not (is it a feature or a bug?
).So it definitely seems that there is a bug in the works somewhere; whether it's major or not I guess is up to the individual.
crashmann
Lurker
On a related note, I did notice that both Pandora and the stock music player would stop playing every time I unplugged the headphones - I had to hit play again every time. Haven't used either of the players enough to know if this is a standard occurrence or not (is it a feature or a bug?
I think it's a feature that the music stops when you unplug the headphones. With my iPod Touch, it automatically stops when I unplug the headphones. This saves me the work of having to unlock the player, stop the music, then turn it off - very convenient!
Since the Evo has the same behavior, I consider it a feature
uniquenameEVO
Android Enthusiast
Just to be an ass, and try to duplicate the issue, I had nav, the media player, and pandora streaming all at once.
Over bluetooth to my SYNC, flawless, but annoying
I will never know if this is an issue using only the built in speaker as I would never use my phone like that.
Over bluetooth to my SYNC, flawless, but annoying
I will never know if this is an issue using only the built in speaker as I would never use my phone like that.
dr g
Android Enthusiast
I think it's a feature that the music stops when you unplug the headphones. With my iPod Touch, it automatically stops when I unplug the headphones. This saves me the work of having to unlock the player, stop the music, then turn it off - very convenient!
Since the Evo has the same behavior, I consider it a feature
It's definitely a feature, when you are listening with headphones there's a good chance you don't want to be playing music so others can hear it. Last thing you want is to unplug your headphones and blast everyone (as happened with my older devices).
D
Deleted User
Guest
I managed to replicate the problem in my car just now. I discovered that I lose the GPS signal whenever I am using the external speaker above a certain volume. My location on Google Maps would change dramatically and be incorrect.
I played music and turned the volume all the way down, and within two seconds my GPS location would be correct again. I was able to use the speaker with the volume set about three "notches" above no sound. My location still managed to update perfectly. Anything above that, however, and my location would freeze and not update. Eventually, it would become erratic again.
I tried this with the default music player as well as the Listen podcast app. I did not try a different GPS program (such as sprint navigation or a running program) yet.
I might try to make a video of this if I am able to produce it once more.
I played music and turned the volume all the way down, and within two seconds my GPS location would be correct again. I was able to use the speaker with the volume set about three "notches" above no sound. My location still managed to update perfectly. Anything above that, however, and my location would freeze and not update. Eventually, it would become erratic again.
I tried this with the default music player as well as the Listen podcast app. I did not try a different GPS program (such as sprint navigation or a running program) yet.
I might try to make a video of this if I am able to produce it once more.
spacemanzzzz
Newbie
WOW. I just want to thank the op for this post I have been trying to figure this out for the longest time and I never would have guessed it was the external speaker. I could have sworn it worked fine on my hero when I did both and I was getting furious that I wouldn't be able to use gps and pandora when i get my new car, which will have an aux port unlike my current one. Now that we know the problem I am once again 100% happy with my phone! Perhaps I can even use this excuse to get a new phone from Sprint or even a white one . Plz verify this problem is not on newer evos or if it is not hardware related by testing your new/white evos. Thanks
. Plz verify this problem is not on newer evos or if it is not hardware related by testing your new/white evos. ThanksThat problem is fixed by turning off wi-fi.
I heard BP was going to pump returned EVOs down the well to plug it.