Help So Many Problems

[msqueenbee]

I have been using this model for almost a year. It has been replaced at least 5 times. (Not due to physical or liquid damages, it is immaculate). It is currently running Android 2.2.1. Every time this has been replaced with another handset I have had the same problems.

1. The first handset's microphone went out after about a month of use.

2. The phone reboots randomly, almost always in the middle of a call. (I just read on this forum to try electrical tape on the battery. I have not done that yet)

3. Very frequently the phone freezes up and I have to reboot.

4. Very frequently the touchscreen becomes completely unresponsive, then after a few minutes catches up all at once.

5. The camera has a ton of issues... it will sometimes flip the image I am trying to capture upside down and there is no way to get it right-side up without rebooting the phone. Also, I take pictures and either they don't actually take OR they take, look fine, but then when I review them in the gallery they are nothing but a block of solid color.

6. The phone is very slow to move from application to application, and even just from screen to screen.

7. The screen sleeps randomly, and in the middle of activity.

8. I am not sure if this could be the phone or if it's just the service: When I have full 3G signal it will have a very long delay to connect to the internet, sometimes not connecting at all. Also while having a full signal I will be unable to make calls or send texts messages. Many times I find text messages in my threads that have never sent, they they all send at once when I reboot the phone.

I am just incredibly unhappy with this phone, T-Mobile and Motorola refuse to find a reasonable solution to my problems, so I am hoping someone can help me make these problems tolerable until I can switch cell providers.

Thank you in advance

 

[scrannel]

OK... Some of the issues you describe could be caused by a glitch that is apparently specific to the t-mo usa version, 2.2.1. It causes some phones to have memory faults (causing lagging and all sorts of shit). The solution seems to be to simply turn ON debugging. (Menu > settings > applications > development, turn ON debugging). Try this first.

Rebooting... try the electrical tape, worth a shot.

Other things to check: is your SD card compatible with the Defy. Supposedly Defy will not support anything over a class 10. Also, make sure you have formatted the SD card on the phone. Some cards just won't work and cause all kinds of problems.

SIM card. Is it a new card? Came with the phone or are you using an old one? I was having crazy connection issues then upgraded to a current (uicc) Sim. Solved.

It is possible to have good data connection and no voice/text connection. When you're in a wifi environment do you use wifi-calling? Does it work?

If my phone has to "hunt" for a 3G reception, it will sometimes get laggy and behave weirdly. So, when I'm in a so-so reception area, having this issue, I shut down 3G and run edge w/o issue.

 

[!on]

Like scrannel said it could mostly be software related, 2.2.1 is not the latest so I would just go in a t-mo shop & get them to update it, which is free & easy for them to do (you are their customer so they should do this).

I think there is (was?) a common fault with earpiece that seems to be sorted after repair. I've thrown hissy fits over other faulty phones but as I really like this one I wanted it repaired. It just depends on how much you like it I guess (probably not much after your experience), but I would still try changing the rom either yourself or in the shop as these things *should* disappear with a fresh rom. I take it you've tried resetting the device?

I agree on the point of 3g take up being slow, I use a 3g toggle & it takes up to a minute to come back on.

 

[scrannel]

!on,

I believe 2.2.1 is as far as it goes for the t-mo usa version. At least I haven't seen anything else. We have wifi-calling integrated which may be why. I have noticed that with (nearly?) all developer ROMs wifi-calling gets removed.

 

[!on]

Aaah that's a shame. I would think there might be the 2.2.2 OTA update at some point though, no?

No we don't get wifi calling in the UK. I'm just going by past experience with a laggy phone so I flash it to Froyo it seems OK (well, I'm still on 2.2.1 nandroid because it has some apps that I needed).

Still can't see why a t-mo shop can't flash a current rom to see if that sorts it.

 

[Gundam168]

Does GPS reception also suck like it does on the Defy+?

This is a comparison between my newly bought Defy+ vs my 2.5 year old $150 Huawei Ideos phone:

 

[scrannel]

Are you trying to show the maps are not the same? Are you using GPS or GPS + Cellular? People have reported poor GPS reception on Defy (and other Android phones BTW). All I know is comparing my Google Maps (which I don't always trust) with my Co-pilot off line maps, they are now basically identical. When I first got my phone (2010) Google Maps was very inaccurate. In Boston, for example, I would be off by two miles. But, using GPS with Co-Pilot I was spot on. So, I couldn't blame the GPS.

 

[Gundam168]

Are you trying to show the maps are not the same? Are you using GPS or GPS + Cellular? People have reported poor GPS reception on Defy (and other Android phones BTW). All I know is comparing my Google Maps (which I don't always trust) with my Co-pilot off line maps, they are now basically identical. When I first got my phone (2010) Google Maps was very inaccurate. In Boston, for example, I would be off by two miles. But, using GPS with Co-Pilot I was spot on. So, I couldn't blame the GPS.

The maps are the same using the same GPS tracking application, Endomondo. Both phones were side by side tracking at the same time. The 528MHz Ideos tracked very close to the street while the Defy+ was all over deviating from the streets like a wild drunk (yellow circles).

 

[scrannel]

The maps are the same using the same GPS tracking application, Endomondo. Both phones were side by side tracking at the same time. The 528MHz Ideos tracked very close to the street while the Defy+ was all over deviating from the streets like a wild drunk (yellow circles).

"Sports Tracker"? Again, I have found cell tower "GPS" to be less accurate than stand alone (real) GPS. From what I understand Endomondo is an onliine app but have no idea if it uses cell towers for navigation. You might compare the two phones using "Maps" with data turned off and just GPS.

 

[Gundam168]

"Sports Tracker"? Again, I have found cell tower "GPS" to be less accurate than stand alone (real) GPS. From what I understand Endomondo is an onliine app but have no idea if it uses cell towers for navigation. You might compare the two phones using "Maps" with data turned off and just GPS.

Endomondo doesn't use cell towers. It can work on either aGPS or just networkless GPS. I don't use network data whenever I use the Endomondo app. I only use data when I upload the finished track to my Endomondo account.

 

[scrannel]

Endomondo doesn't use cell towers. It can work on either aGPS or just networkless GPS. I don't use network data whenever I use the Endomondo app. I only use data when I upload the finished track to my Endomondo account.

Thanks. Trying to understand how this works. Are you saying you download maps to your SD card and then use them? Where does it get its maps? Your picture looks like google maps. Does it just over-lay a saved track onto google maps? Anyway, you might simply try "Maps" on GPS and then compare.

 

[Gundam168]

Thanks. Trying to understand how this works. Are you saying you download maps to your SD card and then use them? Where does it get its maps? Your picture looks like google maps. Does it just over-lay a saved track onto google maps? Anyway, you might simply try "Maps" on GPS and then compare.

The pictures are screenshots of my Endomondo online account showing uploaded tracks from the mobilephones. When you are using Endomondo on a mobile device, there i no map on the device. The application just records the tracks made by the moving device through it's changing GPS coordinate positions. Once it's uploaded, it is overlayed on Endomondo's geographical map.

The data is in the form of a .gpx file which you can overlay on any map including but not limited to Google Earth.

 

[scrannel]

Again... I would try a different GPS application to see if it's still "OFF". My Defy, with the applications I have, is very good.

 

[HalfAnAndroid]

Ok. With all these problems, probably, the only fix is to get RSD Lite and flash an SBF, like the default (stock) Froyo ROM. Even if you have the stock ROM, flashing a new one will help, and even if it doesn't work, it can't do any harm, can it.