[Q] Desire S worth it even with problems? - HTC Desire S

I am looking into buying a new HTC Desire S and have been reading the forum and am disappointed to see so many threads indicating problems with bricked desire s, fried chips etc.
How often do these problems arise? Is the build quality consistently bad? Any other opinions from users both satisfied and unhappy with with their devices?
The other phone i am considering is the SAMSUNG NEXUS S I9023 but the only concerns I have there is that it does not have the gorilla glass display (and that i haven't fully researched it yet). How important and nice is the glass display really?
I am currently using an Xperia X1 so most things will be a big improvement but want to make the best choice.

There do seem to be a few with this prob of bricking but a consistent factor in that is pulling the battery and immediately replacing it. If you do have to pullthe battery as a last resort leave it for 30 secs or so before replacing.
Also it must be remembered how many Ds there are out there and how many have no problems.
Personally I have found no faults with mine.Build quality is generally good ,ok battery cover could be better ,but it is not bad.
This is a really good versatile phone ,if you want to root it its relatively easy to do and there are plenty of Roms for it,but even as stock it's pretty damned impressive.
If you go through forums you will find faults and problems with every phone ever made !
Ps
Re the display I find it's very good,I don't watch a lot of movies or game on the phone,but what I want it to do it does well.

^ +1 to that.
I've had no problems with mine (bought SIM free and unlocked in the UK) since I got it back in May. I do keep mine in a sturdy case with screen protector fitted though, so can't really say one way or another about the gorilla glass and other reported issues of paint coming off. Gorilla glass is only scratch resistant, not scratch proof. Many have managed it with a single grain of sand. Mostly it seems to be people who use pouches. Get a bit of sand in there, and as you drag the phone in and out the pouch, the sand is dragged across the screen.
Case-mate screen protectors (when correctly applied) are nearly indistinguishable from a bare screen. They feel as smooth as the glass they cover, which is a failing of the cheap "5 for £10" deals you see. Use the cheap ones to get your application technique down!
The fried chip is an issue with early models. HTC are aware and no doubt the later models have been fixed (you'd hope.) To avoid the scenario that breaks them, simply avoid hitting the 'update all' button in the Marketplace. Update apps one at a time. If your phone does freeze up, use the three-finger-technique before a battery pull. Hold down both up & down volume buttons, then hold the power button. That'll reboot the phone.
A fantastic phone. And very good XDA community support for it too.

Most of the time the problems are self-inflicted for instance the battery pull. Just treat the phone with care and everything should be fine. Name me one phone that doesn't have some problems. There might be a slight negative but don't let that small ~5% outweigh the plethora of benefits and joy this phone brings.
Not only that you have this fantastic community to come to when **** ****s up. Getting this phone will be a choice you won't regret, trust me.

Consider it in perspective - you are reading posts from a few people who, yes, are experiencing issues of some kind or wish to improve performance.
The vast majority who don't perceive any problems don't post in the forums!
I've used several different smartphones in the past (mostly the old windows mobile) and I've been generally delighted at robust performance and build quality of my Desire S. You may read about badly fitted screen glass, creaky battery covers etc; I have not experienced any of those.
- Steve

I have had my ds in about 6months, and I have never had any big problems with it. Have had about 3 different roms on it,and no flash problems. So if you ask me, just go for it!

I have had a Desire S for about a month now and haven't noticed anything terrible.
Previous to this I had a Desire which unfortunately I lost / got stolen. Compared to the Desire, it is a nicer phone in general however there are a few negatives which come with it.
I noticed (maybe I never used my old desire in the same way) that when I run it as a sat nav it gets pretty warm. Although this heat within the design tolerance you don't expect it.
With Sense UI it tended to crash and reboot once every few days - which isn't awful but at the same time it's not exactly great! I am now using a custom ROM (I did this with my Desire also) and have found it to be a much more pleasant experience.
The ROMs seem to be more buggy than those found on the Desire but they haven't had such a long time to be developed, so it is to be expected.
I hope I haven't added confusion to your thoughts, I'm only giving the experience I have taken from it so far.
Also I would love to report bugs to the ROM developers in the developer section however I do not have the power to do so as I haven't posted enough, so if anyone is watching I get power? I have wanted to previously (a few months ago) but haven't ever got round to coming into these forums to allow me to give bugs. Quite an annoying feature of the forums...

I've been using this phone from 6 months and simply love the build quality, one of the main reasons I opted for HTC over the other manufacturers. And since I have rooted the device, been enjoying the great variety of ROM's available on this forum.
Only issue I have had till date is the low sound of the speakerphone and lack of native 3g video calling support.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

With the exception of the Batteries, I've not had any real problems with the Desire S. Hell, even the Battery issues can be resolved either by replacing the battery (in the case of a faulty battery) or replacing the Stock ROM (which, let's face it, is the reason people are here in the first place).

HTC have the best build quality and the battery is so good ( for me ).

I've had my Desire S about a month now and have had no problems. After rooting, custom ROMs, overclocking etc, still no problems. It really depends what you put on it, and how you treat it. Be careful to read certain posts before attempting any roots, custom ROMing etc.

My DSS has been through quite a lot, starting with ARX S-OFF + CWMR. Upon that, I've flashed a new radio and tried quite a few custom ROMs and also switched back to a stock ROM a few times. Now I have successfully restored everything back to stock since it needs to be sent in for repair to have defect hardware replaced. My impression is that the DSS is quite durable.

I am bit dissapointed not only by the Desire S who keeps rebooting for unknown reason after a couple of months but also the android is lacking some basic features.
Like a (proxy)profile per Wifi network, good and stable sync features with MS office suite
to name a few.
I am sometimes wondering if I would have bought the thing if I knew al this I know now. I guess not.

I have mine over 6 months now, and no problems so far except for a faulty app that made it reboot once or twice a week. The build quality is excelent and the battery can go from 2 days in normal use to 4 days in 'contension mode' (calls, texting, a couple of photos and very little use of data connection and gps).
I'm very pleased so far although it is my first smartphone

I am now 11 days on a stock ROM without feeling the need to restart the phone for one reason or another. That it's a record for me speaks to how I feel about it. Not going to rant here, do a search for my other posts if you're interested. Folk here say my experience is not at all typical so, as they say, YMMV. Good luck

My issue is sweaty fingers when holding it. The aluminum back is annoying ill go for the nexus s
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

sayeed91 said:
My issue is sweaty fingers when holding it. The aluminum back is annoying ill go for the nexus s
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 always afraid, that something inside might get wet...
...via Tapatalk

Well I got mine mid April. Disregarded all bulls*** negative waves around the forum (which was depresively poor at the time, may I say, due to lack of exploit for rooting).
Of course my unit developed a sqeaky battery cover within 24 hrs, and had a sizeable gap between the screen and the upper part of the body. Sent it to HTC, got it back a week later with the following commentaries: "... The quality issues you complained about are not considered manufacturing defects..., blah, blah, blah".
So I fixed the loose battery cover by getting myself a casemate, used a little black silicone paste for the gap, and am very happy with my device. Rooted, tried almost every ROM out there, but am coming back to Virtuosity, especially because I happen to like Sense. Had I wanted Google stock, I would have got myself a nexus S.
For those out there, rooted and complaining about battery life in Sense ROM's, do a battery stats wipe in CWMRecovery and then a couple of full discharge/charge cycles, or check out neolojik's post about battery optimization for cyanogen rom's.
The phone has been off the charger since 06.30, did like 20 min of calls, have data and all the Google sync crap on, browsed the net for 50 min, have been on WiFi for the past hour, and still have 53% juice left. So just be patient and read the meaningfull posts, because the answers are all here, thanks to this great community of users.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App

Mine is 1 month and 10 days old I'm Happy about it and no such big problems at all except for the Battery becoz of the FOTA update it made it drain so fast., so now I decided to S-OFF it and ROOT Installed a Custom ROM VU 2.37 and I'ts doing Good again so for me Worth It!

Great phone, but my power button no longer works. I'm getting by with workarounds (eg. volume rocker to switch on), but it's not going to be good when I decide to move on and sell it. I've asked around and it'll cost about AU$120 to fix, and apparently it's somewhat common with HTC phones.
But as I said, it's still a great phone and it's relatively rare that you'll encounter a problem.
Sent from my Desire S using XDA App

Related

Thoughts on the Captivate

I have owned an iPhone since the day it was released and I was generally happy with the device. I of course was VERY interested in the Android OS once it was released on the G1. However I thought the G1 was clunky and just not all together there. Once Android hit 2.1 I went out and sold my iPhone 3Gs for a Nexus one. Loved that phone to death except for the fact that the screen sucks in the daylight. It was completely unreadable in dense sunlight. Once the iPhone 4 dropped I switched to it due to the amazing specs and awesome app store games (Angry birds lol) but I soo realized that I missed Android. I didn't want to go back to the Nexus One due to screen brightness issues in the day light. The Captivate was my obvious choice due to its similar spec sheet and Super AMOLED screen. However after several weeks with the device I have some griped I need to express.
1st I will say that Samsung has made some nice additions to the UI with the Mail app and the Contacts app not sure if this is seen on other devices or not. Also the stock camera app is the most excellent most feature packed camera app ive ever used. That being said the battery life is complete ****. I have no gadgets running, my screen is mostly at half brightness and yet I am lucky to get a complete day out of the battery. I doubt there are any extended batteries out there but I'm not entirely sure I even want to bother making such a slim and sleek phone more bulky.
I do at time find that the stock 2.1 is sluggish at times and I am hoping that a 2.2 update will resolve that.
I am well aware of the GPS issues that have plagued this device and I can honestly say it frustrates me that this has gone unresolved up until this point. I have had two Captivates thus far and both have major GPS location issues.
The stock recovery rom is obviously crippled. The Clockwork Recovery rom is nice but I need to know how I can install it permanently because the Nandroid backups are worthless if there is no way to for sure boot to Clockwork recovery if for some reason the OS gets bricked.
My last and final issue with this phone is the fact that it has no LED noticfication light nor is there a trackball or clear way to adjust the cursor when selecting or editing text. My hope was for google to drop a Nexus 2 but I seriously doubt that will happen.
All in all The Captivate provides a great Android Experience and I really hope to see a Froyo update soon.
Please feel free to respond to me as I would love to hear what others think.
Thanks everyone.
Captivate is my very first smartphone.I really love this phone.
Many of my friends have iPhones and i even got a chance to use the iPhone 4. Frankly, i got bored in 10 mins. Be as beautiful as it is , i cant just keep admiring it and feel happy the way it looks, bcoz there's nothing much i can do with it. Combined with the fact that i have to listen to crap on the way i need to hold my phone after paying for it i was definitely sure it was not the iPhone (I am on ATT so the high end phone choices are pretty limited. I dont consider blackberry as a phone. I think is more of a mini-keyboard in a pocket.)
But with android its a completely different story. It is like a linux machine in my pocket. Google Android OS is the main reason i bought a Captivate.
Since i am on ATT, i was waiting for a high end android phone to be released and it was samsung captivate (i wudve bought any high end android phone ATT released it with). I went for the captivate and have absolutely no regrets. I was not ready for the HTC aria as i wanted a high end phone.
Comping to the points you mentioned.
1. Why is everyone expecting everything in a phone to be perfect!!! There is no perfect phone.
2. Battery Life : This device has a 4 inch screen. Obviously we shud understand tht the display in any device sucks most of the battery. So when u know u r buying a 4 inch screen dont expect it to run till eternity.
Its no surprise that evo 4G has an even worse battery life!
(I am surprised that there are so many comparisons between phones like Nexus one, iphone4, captivate etc... Compare battery life with phones having the same screen dimensions otherwise the comparison is worthless. I challenge APPLE to make a phone with 4 inch screen and retain the same retina display and same battery life.. Does anyone think thats possible?)
3. Regarding GPS i am pretty sure its a software problem and can be fixed!! I fixed it the way mentioned in the Sticky section link and the GPS work perfect!!
4. The remaining sluggishness etc is again a software issue. Everbody has to realize that with an android phone you have the most Customizable phone in your hands. So its left upto you to modify the phone the way you want it!
Finally, i am extremely satisfied with my Captivate. It has its share of problems, and sluggishness etc , but some things we can live with (definitely this phone may not be as beautiful/good finishing as an iPhone4, but then it can do the very basic function of a Phone :: make and receive calls.)
Finally the FROYO is definitely gonna make things better.
Cheers
==============
itzz(AN)dRoiD
The only thing that I can really speak to is the battery life.
Haven't used the GPS much at all and don't really notice the sluggishness coming from a Blackjack II.
But I can easily get a day out of a charge....if not more if I stopped using this to replace my laptop lol.
I've been unplugged since 3am. Did some light emailing...Facebook checking...gtalk chatting..xda viewing, etc. Fully charged at 3am before work and used since and I'm only at 63%.
One thing that can help is keeping brightness all the way down. I only turn it up when I'm outside in the sun.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
im satisfied w/ my Captivate minus the ****ty battery life and bad GPS lol
The Captivate is my first smart phone. As such, I can't compare it to other phones, but I feel qualified to comment regardless.
The battery hasn't been a problem for me, as I'm not constantly using it during the day for texting/watching videos/etc. However, I have noticed that it drains quickly when you do watch a lot of video. But I went in expecting this, so it's not a big problem for me. If it gets to be that big a problem, I'll buy an extra battery (a cheap shot, but anyway) or pack a charger.
The GPS issues bugged me a lot to start with, but for whatever reason it's become less of a problem over time. I don't know why, but it's seemed to have become more reliable over the past week or so. Still, it is slow to locate, and I expect it to be patched in the near future. However, to get rid of it over that one issue is a bit much in my book.
The lack of a notification light doesn't bother me simply because I'm not used to having one in the first place. Besides, it warbles at me when something new arrives, so it's not a total loss. I can see where it would be useful, as when in a meeting, but you can't exactly start tooling around on your phone at those times, either, so, to quote Clara Peller, "where's the beef?"
I hear a lot of folks complaining over the lag in the phone, whether it's due to Eclair or TouchWiz or bad ley lines or whatever. I experience these from time to time, and I find that Advanced Task Killer usually takes care of the issue. I wish multitasking was handled better, and that there was a built-in way to terminate apps and services you don't need. But it's not been enough of an issue for me to bother with rooting and wiping data and risk doing something stupid and wind up with a black plastic brick for my trouble. I, too, look forward to the Froyo update and the goodness it promises to bring with it, not the least of which is greater speed and reduction of lag...not just for this phone, but the advancement of the platform as a whole.
While I have more-or-less disagreed with the OP on most of his complaints, I must also disagree with the one who said, "why is everyone expecting everything in a phone to be perfect". Anything for which I pay $200 should meet my expectations. See the GPS issue: I think it'd be foolish of me to return the phone based on that complaint, but that's because I use it primarily as a phone and not a GPS receiver. If it's a deal-breaker for someone else, I certainly wouldn't hold it against them. Their standards are not my standards, and so long as it remains a personal standard, more power to them.
The only reason I would have returned mine would have been to go to Walmart and get the same phone for $148 instead of $199, but the savings wouldn't have been worth the hassle of backing up and restoring everything. Besides, I did get it ahead of street date, and you have to pay for little pleasures sometimes

I Havent even received the phone yet and im already contemplating returning it

Hi,
So.. Reading all these posts about this phone Im already contemplating returning it even though it hasnt arrived yet.
The main reason is the LCD bleeding mentioned by everyone. All the other battery inconsistencies, reboots, shutting down, wifi, whatever are all software and will be updated and fixed after all this is a new phone and as early adopters its part of the risk. BUT..... The LCD is a hardware issue, they purchased defective LCD screens and now they are going to have to sell all the units already manufactured before they make a batch with better LCDs.
Therefore, If I put so much money down on a phone, I dont mind the software bugs which can be fixed, I do mind hardware problems.
That being said I havent even received my phone yet but it does seem like returning it and waiting for the sensation would be a safer bet dont u think?
johnnyp500 said:
Hi,
So.. Reading all these posts about this phone Im already contemplating returning it even though it hasnt arrived yet.
The main reason is the LCD bleeding mentioned by everyone. All the other battery inconsistencies, reboots, shutting down, wifi, whatever are all software and will be updated and fixed after all this is a new phone and as early adopters its part of the risk. BUT..... The LCD is a hardware issue, they purchased defective LCD screens and now they are going to have to sell all the units already manufactured before they make a batch with better LCDs.
Therefore, If I put so much money down on a phone, I dont mind the software bugs which can be fixed, I do mind hardware problems.
That being said I havent even received my phone yet but it does seem like returning it and waiting for the sensation would be a safer bet dont u think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your into rooting and customizing the sensation might have a locked bootloader. also your phone might not have those issues. you could be sending back a perfect or close to perfect device. this is the first batch so you have to expect the worst. you can always return if you have issues.
This is going to be my first android phone so what is rooting and locked bootloader?
johnnyp500 said:
This is going to be my first android phone so what is rooting and locked bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh okay. rooting is like jailbreaking a iphone. it opens your phone up to bigger and better things. a bootloader is basically security. without being able to unlock that you wont be able to use custom roms, and tweaks to make the phone better than what it is.
When do we know the second batch of phones hit the stores?
bighulk666 said:
When do we know the second batch of phones hit the stores?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love to know that too since i returned mine a couple days ago and am waiting to get another one
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1062748 This poster said they received their phone and it was manufactured 4/29/11 and have not had a single bad issue thus far and everything is working better than before. Mine have been manufactured in early April, so perhaps this is an indication of a fixed batch of sorts.
See my thread of love thread. Manufacturer date of 4/6.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
IMO this phone rocks... As suggested by @ScooterG check out his thread about "thread of love". And another thing sometimes internet and blogs hipe things. Most of the ppl use their phones for 2-3 yrs and they see no problems in it. I know some ppl who still do not know what is FLASH and why some websites do not work with iPhone?? But only advice i would give you is, don ever trust everything you read. Try it yourself... Once you get the phone check things out like battery, reboot issue, freezing issue, lcd bleeding. If you think that ur phone is not good enough, return it.
One more thing i wanna tell you is, about LCD bleeding i agree that some ppl have really bad issues, but as far as the regular use is concerned minor lcd bleeding is unnoticeable. PPL check lcd bleeding by going in the dark room and opening black wallpapers or some app on their phones, now tell me one thing are you ever going to keep looking at black screen on your phone??? NO. You are going to watch videos, play games and do regular stuff. So use your phone like you are going to use for daily use and see if you encounter any problems.
About the Sensation and Galaxy s II, I loved both the phones, but then I realised that I want to root my phones and install custom ROMs on it. I don't think any of these 2 phones will be as easy to root and install custom ROMs on them as G2X. On top of that updates come fast for stock android phones for sure...
This is all my point of view. Read and think. Decide on your own.
I read all the good, bad, and ugly here before buying my G2x (replaced my beloved Nokia N900). Oddly, I had just the opposite reaction than you did. All the chatter here gave me a huge amount of confidence that whatever I didn't like about the G2x -- I could change with a little root magic and some apps.
And so I did. I'm very pleased.
I was a religious crackberry user(used iphone 1st gen and 3g too), then switched to a hd2(first unofficial android phone running gingerbread), then g2 now with the g2x. Be honest with you, the lcd bleeding is not noticable. I'm very happy with it so far.
The LCD bleeding is pretty minor. You really have to be in a completely black room with the screen showing black to notice it.
There are some extreme cases but I think they are rare, even for here.
I suspect the battery issues are a result of what people are installing or doing on their phone. From what I've read, "I've exchanged it 5 times and they all have battery issues"... tells me they are installing an app that eats battery or they are leaving games running in the background or something.
We do know the battery driver is wonky but the developers are working on a fix.
My phone lasts from 8am-midnight on my normal usage which consists of:
Several phones calls, frequently texting, playing WordFeud and Kingdoms Live (both online games) several times throughout the day, Push Exchange email (I get like 80-100 emails a day), I usually look up my horoscope once a day, I also have Push Gmail emails going, and Twitter, Facebook, and a weather widget that updates every 15minutes.
I also use google maps + gps, Google Voice Search, etc. periodically throughout the day also.
That's a ****load of usage ^ I would love to know how your getting that. I'm texting and idling my phone and I don't even get my phone to have that much usage

[Q] If i don't Rom and Root. Is it worth for me to buy Sensation?

I just read a lot of comment in the website and forum (in my country) that if you buy Sensation and use it with stock rom. You should buy Desire S or the phones with only one-core CPU. Cuz it's slow and performs not much difference from one-core CPU. I like Sensation but if i don't rom and root it. Is it worth for me to buy Sensation? or save the money and buy desire S
Any idea ?
Personally I think that the phone is worth every penny either way... If you do root your device then yes you have access to other roms they some of the increase your perform... Some look pretty... And well some can do both... If you decide that rooting isnt the way to go then you still have full use of Android
root or not root, phone is worth every penny. I was like you, trying to decide between desire s and sensation, but I figured, if I was going to upgrade, I might as well go dual core since that is where the future is going (multi-cores). Plus the screen is so much larger than that of the desire s. Oh, I am fully stock and only S-OFF. With this phone, I never felt the need to flash custom rom's. But thats just me
Thanks for all comments. i think i gonna buy Sensation ^^"
You wont be sorry
Sent from my Sensation using xda premium
matepark said:
I just read a lot of comment in the website and forum (in my country) that if you buy Sensation and use it with stock rom. You should buy Desire S or the phones with only one-core CPU. Cuz it's slow and performs not much difference from one-core CPU. I like Sensation but if i don't rom and root it. Is it worth for me to buy Sensation? or save the money and buy desire S
Any idea ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I would say steer clear of the Sensation, as its basically a piece of sh*t. The screen size is fantastic, but the phone has so many faults its hard to recommend it. The main problems with a stock Sensation are:
1) SENSE! Sense is probably to worst piece of software ever written. It totally ruins the Android experience, AND its bloated and drains your battery. I honestly cant say enough about how bad sense is, its truly that bad. If you want "eye candy" then go buy a crappy iphone. If you want a good experience wait for 6 weeks and get the new Nexus which runs pure stock Android, OR get a Sensation and root it.
2) Horrible build quality! Be it dead pixels, or the infamous 'dust under the screen' manufacturing defect, this phone has it all. Buyer beware, if you get one be prepared to send it back to the carrier or HTC multiple times.
3) Battery life! This is mostly due to Sense, but even still the battery life on this phone (out of the box) is abysmal. If you ever plan on being away from a charger/power outlet for more than about 7 or 8 hours you should assume your phone will be dead.
4) Its ugly as hell! This beast needs to be shot and put out of its misery. The front of the phone looks nice, but HTC really dropped the ball on the back. If you havent seen one I suggest you do. The back of this phone is a hideous grey and black swirly pattern, AND its not grippy at all. What happened to a nice solid color, or even brushed aluminum?? Bad move HTC, bad move...
5) The back cover is awful! For those who dont know, in order to remove the battery you must literally remove the back half of the phone. This was the first time I had ever seen a design like this and its very cumbersome. Its not a simple battery cover, its almost like you are taking the entire phone apart. In addition to being annoying, each time you open it you expose all the internal workings of the device to the elements (dust, water, pet hair, etc).
In summary, this phone in its stock form is garbage and not worth the money. In order to make it even slightly bearable to use you must root it and install an alternate ROM. You should ask yourself if you think getting a phone you need to root is worthwhile, since there will be some really nice phones coming out before Xmas that are plain vanilla Android that will be MILES ahead of the Sensation. I regret purchasing this phone and I wish I had stuck with my G2. If you are still considering a Sensation I urge you to wait about a month. In all likelihood the Sensation will be free or very low cost (on contract) by then as they rush to get rid of the inventory. Good luck with your decision!
webmaster said:
Personally I would say steer clear of the Sensation, as its basically a piece of sh*t. The screen size is fantastic, but the phone has so many faults its hard to recommend it. The main problems with a stock Sensation are:
1) SENSE! Sense is probably to worst piece of software ever written. It totally ruins the Android experience, AND its bloated and drains your battery. I honestly cant say enough about how bad sense is, its truly that bad. If you want "eye candy" then go buy a crappy iphone. If you want a good experience wait for 6 weeks and get the new Nexus which runs pure stock Android, OR get a Sensation and root it.
2) Horrible build quality! Be it dead pixels, or the infamous 'dust under the screen' manufacturing defect, this phone has it all. Buyer beware, if you get one be prepared to send it back to the carrier or HTC multiple times.
3) Battery life! This is mostly due to Sense, but even still the battery life on this phone (out of the box) is abysmal. If you ever plan on being away from a charger/power outlet for more than about 7 or 8 hours you should assume your phone will be dead.
4) Its ugly as hell! This beast needs to be shot and put out of its misery. The front of the phone looks nice, but HTC really dropped the ball on the back. If you havent seen one I suggest you do. The back of this phone is a hideous grey and black swirly pattern, AND its not grippy at all. What happened to a nice solid color, or even brushed aluminum?? Bad move HTC, bad move...
5) The back cover is awful! For those who dont know, in order to remove the battery you must literally remove the back half of the phone. This was the first time I had ever seen a design like this and its very cumbersome. Its not a simple battery cover, its almost like you are taking the entire phone apart. In addition to being annoying, each time you open it you expose all the internal workings of the device to the elements (dust, water, pet hair, etc).
In summary, this phone in its stock form is garbage and not worth the money. In order to make it even slightly bearable to use you must root it and install an alternate ROM. You should ask yourself if you think getting a phone you need to root is worthwhile, since there will be some really nice phones coming out before Xmas that are plain vanilla Android that will be MILES ahead of the Sensation. I regret purchasing this phone and I wish I had stuck with my G2. If you are still considering a Sensation I urge you to wait about a month. In all likelihood the Sensation will be free or very low cost (on contract) by then as they rush to get rid of the inventory. Good luck with your decision!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you got a really, really, faulty unit. I am happy to report that I did not experience any of the negative things you experienced with your sensation. Mine has been bug free. Screen is responsive. Lock screen unlocks with one swipe only. No dust under the screen. No dead pixels. I love the back design although I would have preferred a two tone instead of three. The back cover design is actually a good thing as you can replace it if it gets damaged and it will be like brand new. the only problem I have is a spec of light on the bottom right corner of the phone, but tpu case solved that, although you have to look really hard for it to see it.
I would definitely say it is worth it. I am completely stock with s off and i don't have a need to flash any roms
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk
It's worth it either way for a state-of-the-art HTC device!
The battery lasts a day with little use (very little).
Still a cool phone.. needs ROM and root for better battery life for sure.
I had much better battery life with my HD2 + hyperdroid CM7 (Especially this month's release).
opinions are like arseholes (assholes for US readers ) - everyone has one.
@matepark, only you know what you need, what style you like etc.
all you will get here are people's personal views about their likes/experiences with the device, and while that is handy, you need to work out what you need.
now for my opinion - it's clearly the best HTC phone I've ever had. even as stock it's fast and reliable. but who knows what they might release tomorrow.....
webmaster said:
Personally I would say steer clear of the Sensation, as its basically a piece of sh*t. The screen size is fantastic, but the phone has so many faults its hard to recommend it. The main problems with a stock Sensation are:
1) SENSE! Sense is probably to worst piece of software ever written. It totally ruins the Android experience, AND its bloated and drains your battery. I honestly cant say enough about how bad sense is, its truly that bad. If you want "eye candy" then go buy a crappy iphone. If you want a good experience wait for 6 weeks and get the new Nexus which runs pure stock Android, OR get a Sensation and root it.
2) Horrible build quality! Be it dead pixels, or the infamous 'dust under the screen' manufacturing defect, this phone has it all. Buyer beware, if you get one be prepared to send it back to the carrier or HTC multiple times.
3) Battery life! This is mostly due to Sense, but even still the battery life on this phone (out of the box) is abysmal. If you ever plan on being away from a charger/power outlet for more than about 7 or 8 hours you should assume your phone will be dead.
4) Its ugly as hell! This beast needs to be shot and put out of its misery. The front of the phone looks nice, but HTC really dropped the ball on the back. If you havent seen one I suggest you do. The back of this phone is a hideous grey and black swirly pattern, AND its not grippy at all. What happened to a nice solid color, or even brushed aluminum?? Bad move HTC, bad move...
5) The back cover is awful! For those who dont know, in order to remove the battery you must literally remove the back half of the phone. This was the first time I had ever seen a design like this and its very cumbersome. Its not a simple battery cover, its almost like you are taking the entire phone apart. In addition to being annoying, each time you open it you expose all the internal workings of the device to the elements (dust, water, pet hair, etc).
In summary, this phone in its stock form is garbage and not worth the money. In order to make it even slightly bearable to use you must root it and install an alternate ROM. You should ask yourself if you think getting a phone you need to root is worthwhile, since there will be some really nice phones coming out before Xmas that are plain vanilla Android that will be MILES ahead of the Sensation. I regret purchasing this phone and I wish I had stuck with my G2. If you are still considering a Sensation I urge you to wait about a month. In all likelihood the Sensation will be free or very low cost (on contract) by then as they rush to get rid of the inventory. Good luck with your decision!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL man, during reading your post I had the feeling you cannot mean it seriously
I personally haven´t single problem with Sensation. Yes, the battery life could be better, but I bought the 1900 mAh Anker battery and with Juice Defender I can reach easily 60 hours on single charge. Oh, and on the stock rom I experienced random restarts but now with the hard work of awesome devs the phone is flying without single hiccup.
Don´t be afraid rooting, it´s pretty simple. But if you won´t root I think that HTC will take care of this phone with their updates anyway.
i would say it's totally worth it to get it. but it all depends on your tastes. i am not rooted but still have a lot of customizations (made a post about it in the theme section). as far as battery life, i get 14-16 hours on the stock battery without juice defender, just using the built in task killer. i don't have blue tooth on at all, but gps, wifi, and 4g are on all the time. just got my 1900 seidio battery last night, so i expect to get around 20 hours on it, which is perfect for me. good luck with your decision. i was on the fence trying to decide whether to wait for the ruby or not, but decided to go with the sensation and couldn't be happier.
Mine was stock for 6 whole days, liked it very much,I did get a few random restarts,but with the boot time it did not bother me at all. I was also sucking battery in just under 5 hours heavy use. I conditioned the battery with 2 cycles and see a huge improvement. After root no reboots, battery still doing well,on stock Rom. Stock sense is great imo, would not have rooted if I could stand bloatware,or if I had come from something other than HD2. All in all, great stock, nice keyboard, nice with the sense. Could not be happier, much better than I expected for $100. Good luck deciding.
Sent via my sensational beast.
brusko1972 said:
I think you got a really, really, faulty unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish that was the case, but it seems to be very prevalent with this POS device. Check out the following thread with over 50,000 views.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1114612
I cant not stress how disappointed I am in HTC for releasing this phone. I have been a long time HTC fan, and in fact I used to import the original HTC WinMo phones into the US long before they were available here. Perhaps they rushed this to market for some reason that we arent aware of, but whatever the reason the Sensation is an "Epic Fail".
To the original OP. Although some people reported having problem with their unit, doesn't mean that you will encounter the same thing. There are more people who are happy with their fault free sensations than people with faulty units. If you do decide to get the phone and encounter a problem, you can always return it for replacement or warranty fix. Just my own opinion basing on owning a sensation for 3 months now without major problems, I highly recommend getting the sensation.
I must ask, and I love my Sensation, but how are you people getting 20+ hours out of your phones? Do they sit on a table?
I have the anker battery and use JD. I'm lucky to get 13 hours . I use WiFi, no GPS, and actually put in about 4 hours of web usage, 100 or so texts, and maybe 30 minutes of talk time .
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
delvryboy said:
I must ask, and I love my Sensation, but how are you people getting 20+ hours out of your phones? Do they sit on a table?
I have the anker battery and use JD. I'm lucky to get 13 hours . I use WiFi, no GPS, and actually put in about 4 hours of web usage, 100 or so texts, and maybe 30 minutes of talk time .
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the 4 hours of web usage is the most draining part. I get a day at least depending on usage. If i surf the web with my phone, I get less than a day. The battery also does not last a day if I watch a 2 hour movie. I think the display consumes the battery more than anything else. I could be wrong.
webmaster said:
1) SENSE! Sense is probably to worst piece of software ever written. It totally ruins the Android experience, AND its bloated and drains your battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speak for yourself. I know a lot of people (including myself) who prefer Sense over vanilla Android UI.
webmaster said:
2) Horrible build quality! Be it dead pixels, or the infamous 'dust under the screen' manufacturing defect, this phone has it all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No such problems here, brah.
webmaster said:
3) Battery life! This is mostly due to Sense, but even still the battery life on this phone (out of the box) is abysmal. If you ever plan on being away from a charger/power outlet for more than about 7 or 8 hours you should assume your phone will be dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I average to about 14 hours (with synchronization to 5 email accounts, FB, Google+, Flickr, etc) with about 100 text messages sent/received and about an hour's worth of calls.
webmaster said:
4) Its ugly as hell! This beast needs to be shot and put out of its misery. The front of the phone looks nice, but HTC really dropped the ball on the back. If you havent seen one I suggest you do. The back of this phone is a hideous grey and black swirly pattern, AND its not grippy at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks are subjective.
webmaster said:
5) The back cover is awful! For those who dont know, in order to remove the battery you must literally remove the back half of the phone. This was the first time I had ever seen a design like this and its very cumbersome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The aluminum frame makes for a more solid build. How often do you remove the casing anyway?

Just bought a Sensation - advice and tips?

I've had the G2 for a year now, I'm not due for an upgrade with Tmo until this time next year but I've been thinking about getting a better, faster phone for a little while now. Since I'm not purchasing through tmo I decided to surf ebay for a good deal and I narrowed my choice down to the sensation as the best quality for the money and just scored one for $275. Seemed like a good deal since most of them tend to go for over $300, was it?
It hasn't been delivered yet, but I've got a few questions for you all:
1. I have 30 days to return it. What issues should I look for?
2. Seems many have issues with the lack of battery, what is a realistic expectation for hours of use?
3. I've been using a version of CM on my G2 (mexdroid, best G2 rom I've found yet) and was wondering if there are any specific "favorite" cm7 based rom's here? I've tried a couple different Sense roms and never really liked any of them.
Any other tips or pieces of vital information y'all can give me would be great. This was a tough choice for me as there seem to be a lot of people who have issues with the sensation, but I'm hoping they are the loud minority. Thanks all for the help ahead of time, hope to become a regular on here as I don't plan on getting another phone for at least another year.
Well if it's new you shouldn't root it otherwise you may not be able to return it
If not... check out the link in my sig. Root, unlock, custom ROM, overclock in 10 mins
Its used but the eBay vendor offers a 30 day return policy. I definitely plan on rooting it but like I said I'd like to try out a cyanogen based from. I will definitely give yours a try though thank you for the link.
Dust under screen
Overheating
**** battery (doesn't matter if you're going to root though)
Bad quality speaker
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Gtj94 said:
Dust under screen
Overheating
**** battery (doesn't matter if you're going to root though)
Bad quality speaker
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe plus checking out the reception of wifi/gps/mobile signal
that should be about it..
anyway for battery can consider anker
I was just reading about the newest update that started yesterday? It shouldn't make a difference that I bought this phone used and not through Tmobile, should it?
If you're into Cyanogenmod, you may want to look elsewhere. I love CM, I do, but the official CM rom is still in it's alpha stages, and while it runs "good", it doesn't feel like the 1.2Ghz dual core it's suppose to be. There's one or two CM-based roms. One is called HyperSensation, and it's really lightweight and fast, but again, it's based off an alpha.
There's still great development going on, and we're guaranteed ICS from either HTC or the devs (crossing fingers for CM9 nightlies), but if you're a CM faithful, this might not be your phone.
Edit: Also, you'll need either an Anker or Chichitec 1900 mAh battery, you'll have a hard time without it.
Got my Sensation XE 2 weeks ago and compared to my good old Hero I had before, I really like it. You'll definitely benefit from rooting it. Installing a custom ROM is worth it, but personally I would stick to Sense 3.0, runs better imo.
Gtj94 said:
Dust under screen
Overheating
**** battery (doesn't matter if you're going to root though)
Bad quality speaker
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with this poster and add these few things.
* (My experience) screen protectors don't fit snugly due to cured glass.
* A bit laggy
* My volume rocker fell off after 3monts and had to get the whole back replaced.
* Battery sucks, but if you (fork over more loot to) buy a higher capacity one it works fine.
My advice is to either get the Amaze or just wait until march/april when they will be rolling out an Ice Cream Sandwich phone for HTC. And to be fair, the phone is a "nice" phone, but it is not the best phone in its class spec wise.
Steve, while I appreciate the suggestion it's to late as I've already purc
hased the sensation. Honestly looking at the specs and in store the amaze didn't seem all that different. The only real improvement I saw is the camera button and that's not a very big deal to me. As for ics I thought sensation is on the list of phones getting it?
Mine has been good for me and the price at 275 is decent -if your into cm7 well as stated before its still alpha and it looks like they are more focus on CM9 at this time to bad your not a big fan of sense as there are many good builds running sense with great battery life-the phone is barely 6 months old here so there is much to come and yes it is on the list to get an OTA of the ICS
DUST under the screen and the power button issue are all I have faced I would check it before I do anything with a black background under sunlight to see if the are any specs in it
Mexdroid kicks ass for sure I have a friend running that on his nothing like that over here sad to say
For the money, that seems like a great deal. And you should get the OTA update as long as it's a valid ROM. I have flashed through about 6 different ROM's for the Sensation and settled on the InsertCoins one. Quick and easy, but still has Sense goodies I tend to like. Rooting it is EZ, and hardware should keep it viable for a while. You should enjoy this device!
Actuallly...
kingston73 said:
Steve, while I appreciate the suggestion it's to late as I've already purc
hased the sensation. Honestly looking at the specs and in store the amaze didn't seem all that different. The only real improvement I saw is the camera button and that's not a very big deal to me. As for ics I thought sensation is on the list of phones getting it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are very big differences, spec wise with the phones. the top three are:
1. the Amaze has 16 gig memory on board whereas the Sensation only comes with 8 gig card. If you listen to music and watch movies like me that is huge.
2. the Amaze has a full gig of RAM whereas the Sensation only has 768. The standard for most high end smartphones is 1 gig and it does make a difference speed wise.
3. Last, but definitely not least, since most complaints about phones have to do with battery life, the Amaze has almost 200 more mA than the Sensation.
You can scratch my original reasons, those were just the tip of the iceberg, these are the reasons why I would steer people away from the phone.
HOWEVER, you already got it so its water under the bridge, enjoy my friend. Just wanted to clarify.
With regards to ICS, yes, from my understanding the Sensation will get it in four to five months. However, by that time, HTC and other companies will already have phones that will be made with it. I have an upgrade due to me in march so I will hold out and wait to see what the offerings are come June. I am sure that the ICS upgrade will work fine on the sensation, but if the are getting rid of buttons and overhauling the whole thing then I want the full experience.
Vibrant to Sensation
Prior to my Sensation I had a Samsung Vibrant rooted with CM7. Once I arrived on the Sensation forum it was evident the Sense Roms were by far the most used.
I have been using Android Revolution HD 4.1.8 Sense 3.5 (the latest) and I have never looked back. I recommend that you at least try one of these great Roms from a fantastic developer.
Good luck in whatever you choose. You have purchased a very nice phone.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1269428
This is a decent one to start with... Some problems with gps (it takes a while to lock) and it is actually no longer supported by the developer... However, i still use it often, and its pretty slick. I would at least check it out if I were you.
Well, I've had my sensation for a day now, so far so good. Even though it's used it has a perfect screen, believe me I examined it thoroughly and couldn't find anything wrong with it. How long does the "dust under screen" issue generally take?
Also, so far so good as far as power button goes but it is going to take some time to get used to not having a trackpad to wake the phone. The speaker is equivalent if not a little better than my G2's, and compared to my OC'd G2 (usually had it around 1.4) it's faster in stock form.
I haven't rooted it yet, I'm going to use it for a month before I do that. From what I've read it seems most of you generally OC it to around 1.5?
I have a case on the way, it is definitely skinnier than the G2 and my big clumsy hands have a little trouble holding on to it so the case will be a definite improvement. For those of you who have a case on, have you noticed any decline in signal strength or gps?
As for my update question earlier, I shouldn't have worried. Within 10 minutes of putting my sim card in and turning it on I received the update to 1.50 (the latest one, right?) and it successfully installed with no issues. I still need to read up on what that update brought with it, but was one of the things a newer radio?
Sense is growing on me, for the past week I've been using my G2 with a sense 2.1 rom, so I haven't ruled that out for a DD for my sensation. I'm going to try out several different ones but I'll probably start out with Revolution and maybe Hypernosense and go from there.
Appreciate all the help, you and the G2 people are pretty nice. Seems like some of the forums have some angry people in them, it'd be an interesting sociological study to see the personalities and ages of various people matched with various phones.
advice: return it
i don't mean to be a party pooper, but return it while you can. get the SG2. i have one HTC sensation and the screen doesn't work anymore.it just turns on and that's about it. the Volume, another chapter entirely. works when it feels like. i have tried the ground contact thing, no luck. its a horrible phone. basically wasted £275 on it.
it hasnt worked well for one single day. its one issue after another. After 4 months, basically a brick with bright light in front
While I appreciate the thought, I'm going to be keeping it until/unless I run into any issues. As far as getting the sg2 goes, if I'd wanted to spend another $150 I could get one but that's a lot of money, at least for me. I did only get 8 hours of use out of the sensation today with stock battery, but I bought an Anker 1900 so I'll see what improvement that gives me in the next few days.
kingston73 said:
While I appreciate the thought, I'm going to be keeping it until/unless I run into any issues. As far as getting the sg2 goes, if I'd wanted to spend another $150 I could get one but that's a lot of money, at least for me. I did only get 8 hours of use out of the sensation today with stock battery, but I bought an Anker 1900 so I'll see what improvement that gives me in the next few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't mind it dude, the phone works well for me, has no dust or other issues, AHD Rom, MX video player works, calls are nice n clear, backstab hd works and music sounds good on my bose mie2 headphones.
Battery can be better, but I have a dock and 2 extra Anker batts off ebay for 30quid.
Well, welcome to the Sensation.
Re: a couple of things from your last post
The dust under the screen thing doesn't have to happen if you buy a case that covers the volume rocker. I use a plain jane Incipio case and it's served me well. No dust under the screen and since it's a little stiff it buffers the power button a little... hence the double press issue just doesn't happen to me unless I take the case off. Plus it's made of this odd rubbery compound stuff, so it bounces off of the floor nicely.
A lot of people OC to 1.5. Or you could do the complete opposite, dump the laggy Sense launcher and just underclock instead. I run my Sensation at 972 MHz with DX Launcher as default and it's great. Helps a lot with battery life for daily use.
1.50 update does not contain a new radio AFAIK.
When you're ready, look into custom kernels and undervolt as far as your phone can handle. Your battery will love you for it.

First ten days with HTC One S

I received my phone from Orange Spain. The phone itself is very nice, quick and smooth and everything you have read about it in general review is correct. It is a very good phone and I am happy with it. BUT here are the things I don't like:
1. Micro oxydation is very nice looking although it smells a little like dirty hair. And, unfortunately, like it has been reported I have a small edge chipped. I don't know yet if I will return it for that.
2. The default browser is new and some HTML5 games are incompatible with it or play very slow. Android is still behind Apple iOS Safari Browser and this is very bad since I work for a mobile game network. I suspect this is not a problem of the phone but the ICS browser.
3. I have installed the Chrome browser and it crashes almost everytime I use it. Not only Chrome crashes but the whole phone. The phone freezes and the only way to reboot it is to maintain the power button pressed for a while.
4. Camera is fantastic. I tested a few times and worked very well. But the first time I really used it I could take the first picture then the screen became black. I mean, everything I should see through the camera stayed black. The buttons and menu were visible but I couldn't use them. I shut down the app and reload it with same problem. I had to reboot the phone to fix it.
I have one app (Live TV from Lyric) with a shortcut on the homescreen. Everytime I reboot, the icon disappear from the homescreen and is replaced with the Android robot icon. I have to replace the icon every time I boot. The app doesn't disappear, only the shortcut.
5. Maybe this is the most important problem. Reception is not very good and many times I loose the GSM signal totally, then it comes back. My HTC Desire had better recepción. 3G and HSDP is veery slow when reception is weak (2 bars or under)
The doubts I had:
- When I read reviews about this phone I had my doubts about the screen resolution and pentile technology. This is bull****. The screen is great and more than enough for a high end phone.
- Battery and autonomy. I don't care about having a non removable battery. All my previous ones had removable battery and I never used a spare. The autonomy of this phone is good and much better than my Desire. I can keep it running with a lot of use during a full day and probably two days on light use.
- Non removable memory. It is advertised to have 16GB user memory but the reality is way different: I have "only" 10GB available and I feel ripped off. Although I know I will probably never use so much memory (I don't store music or movies).
Conclusion: I would probably buy this phone again even after knowing the limitations. But I hope some software fixes will come.
I haven't bought one yet but i'm the same as you having doubts about the S's screen. I have viewed the S and X side by side in a shop and obviously the X's panel is much better to look at, but in my opinion it's the only thing the X has going for it over the S.
The per-core performance of the S is better, it's easier to hold and use, feels better built, the battery lasts at least as long if not longer and it's cheaper. I don't really care about NFC and the better front facing camera on the X as I'll never use them (apart from maybe the mirror app!)
The X seems laggy to me even though it really shouldn't. I know it has a fair few more pixels to push around but the GPU is marginally better than the S so should breeze through. This is especially noticable on the world clock... tap the globe to make it full screen and spin/zoom it. The S is super smooth and the X is very choppy in comparison.
So in all I think I can deal with the pentile matrix... I just don't want to buy it and have HTC announce a One S "2" in a few months with a 720p display!
kadison;
that shouldn't be a concern. because at any given time there will be coming better and better phones
- so don't worry that this one will get outdated, because it's not. Just look at the Desire HD or the Galaxy S2 (which people still buying btw)
I'm superhappy with this phone, although I can't wait for the xda development to start working on replacements to Sense 4.0
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA
kadison said:
I haven't bought one yet but i'm the same as you having doubts about the S's screen. I have viewed the S and X side by side in a shop and obviously the X's panel is much better to look at, but in my opinion it's the only thing the X has going for it over the S.
The per-core performance of the S is better, it's easier to hold and use, feels better built, the battery lasts at least as long if not longer and it's cheaper. I don't really care about NFC and the better front facing camera on the X as I'll never use them (apart from maybe the mirror app!)
The X seems laggy to me even though it really shouldn't. I know it has a fair few more pixels to push around but the GPU is marginally better than the S so should breeze through. This is especially noticable on the world clock... tap the globe to make it full screen and spin/zoom it. The S is super smooth and the X is very choppy in comparison.
So in all I think I can deal with the pentile matrix... I just don't want to buy it and have HTC announce a One S "2" in a few months with a 720p display!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not many people will continuously look at a One X and a One S screen.
AMOLED displays have been impressive on my friend's Windows 7 device, and since I'm coming from a device from less than 200 PPI, it should be a great screen.
Been disappointed with my first few days with it. It seems to suffer from constant crashes where the phone reboots itself.
I've tried stock and some custom roms but am still getting random reboots.
paulpenny said:
Been disappointed with my first few days with it. It seems to suffer from constant crashes where the phone reboots itself.
I've tried stock and some custom roms but am still getting random reboots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you getting Crashes and Random reboots before you Rooted and started flashing other ROMS? or do you think it might be because you are flashing different ROMS that might have some minor bugs here and there?
jmercil said:
Were you getting Crashes and Random reboots before you Rooted and started flashing other ROMS? or do you think it might be because you are flashing different ROMS that might have some minor bugs here and there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about the original poster but this happens with my One S with the stock ROM. It seems to maybe happen when I'm at a wifi connection boundary (maybe?) but a couple times a week, I'll either:
1) notice the phone rebooting as it's just sitting idle on my desk
2) hear the "I just crashed and am rebooting" sound from the phone in my pocket
3) go to use it and notice the notification bar icon telling me it just recovered from a crash.
I'm sending the crash data to HTC every time, hoping they're prioritizing the fix because though it has never crashed on me like this while I'm using it (which is weird...), it's starting to get annoying.
I have not had a single random reboot, using WIP CM9.
jipi said:
1. Micro oxydation is very nice looking although it smells a little like dirty hair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really regret smelling it now lol.
Agree about the display, reviews were making a big deal put of the pentile display but it's a non issue for me. Only issue I've had, coming off an iPhone 4, has been the size of the phone. Maybe I just have small hands but not finding it too comfortable to use with one hand.
Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2
My girlfriend had the One X and i have the One S. I can definitely notice the difference with the pentile matrix on my phone especially with small writing and horizontal lines. (the edge of the messaging icon for example looks like a dotted line) but honestly it's only noticeable if im using the phone in bed and using it really close to my face. The One X is crisper looking but it's a little washed out compared to the One S's screen. The blacks on my screen are way darker compared to the X.
I've had my One S for just over a week now and have yet to see any rebooting or crashing. The phone has been fantastic so far except that i get absolutely terrible reception. I had a Desire before this phone and in places where i used to get full bars i can now maybe get one, if it's not in emergency mode. The signal bounces around from really good to really bad (mostly hovering around -107dbm) which is not good at all. I took the phone back and got it replaced as well as the sim card and i still have issues.
Overall i really like it, but i think i might have to take it back and get something else that can keep good reception.
Ive got my phone for about 4 days now, and its the best investment ive made in the past few years
I allready worked on a few Android devices ( Root etc etc ) but newer owned one myself, so the first thing I did was Unlocking, Rooting and flashing LeeDroid´s Firmware onto it.
And the phone is fantastic.
Far beyond what I expected.
The Battery life is great, my friends are allready pissed because their iPhone cant take so long OnScreen-Times
I really hope that there will be [S-OFF] and the Kernel Source available soon
FixedTheFernBack said:
I've had my One S for just over a week now and have yet to see any rebooting or crashing. The phone has been fantastic so far except that i get absolutely terrible reception. I had a Desire before this phone and in places where i used to get full bars i can now maybe get one, if it's not in emergency mode. The signal bounces around from really good to really bad (mostly hovering around -107dbm) which is not good at all. I took the phone back and got it replaced as well as the sim card and i still have issues.
Overall i really like it, but i think i might have to take it back and get something else that can keep good reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with the phone for 6 weeks now (bought it in Switzerland unbranded) and agree with you so much.
I'm thinking of sending it to Greece for "repair" although I'm not sure they can make the network reception and data connection loss disappear unless a new firmware is out, which I can update myself, if there will be (I'm on 1.78 currently).
Unfortunately, unlike you, I cannot anymore return it for a refund
I had Desire which was magnificent and am so depressed with this phone in terms of its reception! Other than that, it's magnificent as well!!!
jipi said:
3. I have installed the Chrome browser and it crashes almost everytime I use it. Not only Chrome crashes but the whole phone. The phone freezes and the only way to reboot it is to maintain the power button pressed for a while.
robably never use so much memory (I don't store music or movies).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have crash too. for example it crashes with this and this
It is a common or just a few devices have this problem?
This phone got no problems.
Got my One S a week ago. The black one. Was using a Desire before that. Here are my findings:
* Size: It is a bit unwieldy. The fact that the entire front side responds to touch doesn't make it easier to hold. I probably have to grow into it.
It feels like the chances of dropping it are higher and the results of dropping it are worse.
* Power button: A bit hard to reach and hard to press. On the Desire we have 'trackpad to wake'. I miss that.
* Reception: I don't know about actual signal, but the bars in the notification area jump back and forth pretty much between 1 and 4.
* Battery: About a full day. Of course since the device is new, I play with it more than normal. Really too soon to tell. I remember on the Desire the battery life was a bit disappointing in the beginning, but became better with time. (Better calibration? Better kernels & ROMs?)
* Body: The weight, the thinness, the shape, damn this is a marvelous piece of engineering! The MAO aluminium feels fantastic.
I don't use a case and I don't plan to. No point (for me) to hide its beauty in order to retain it. Maybe a screen protector, not sure yet. No chipping or scratching (yet?). Dropped it once, from about 1 meter, on wooden floor (not on concrete). [SH24TW]
* General performace: It just screams.
* Screen: Bigger, brighter, more pixels, yummm! (I realize that this is a counterpoint to "It is a bit unwieldy".) I am personally not bothered by pentile matrix layout
* WiFi is better: Stronger signal, faster joining, better speed, less latency.
* GPS: Was already pretty good on the Desire, but on the One S it is even better. Stronger signal, better accuracy, GLONASS.
* Camera. I'm just blown away with the awesomness of the camera.
I am very impressed so far.
-Jobo
My experience so far (have had it for 10 days now):
-Phone looks amazing - miles ahead of pretty much everything else out there. Makes my Sensation feel like a brick. That said, I agree with some that the gray finish is quite slippery and it can be hard to get a good grip. Build quality is fine, no creaks or anything.
-The non-removable battery and lack of SD slot are non-issues. Battery life is good so far and I've never used more than 5GB on my previous phones so 16GB should be more than enough.
-Screen looks great. PenTile is not a problem for me.
-Sense 4 is very nice both aesthetically and functionally, better than 3.6 and certainly at least as good as stock ICS (I have tried all three for extended periods on my Sensation as well, so they were all on an even footing).
-Very happy with the performance. No random reboots, crashes, or major bugs so far. Only issues I have are 1) Wi-Fi randomly disconnecting and then immediately re-connecting and 2) in areas with weak "4G" reception the signal will spike between no bars and full bars occasionally. Hopefully the OTA will fix these.
-Camera is excellent. Haven't had much chance to play with it but it's really, really fast and the quality is very good.
Overall, very satisfied.
Couple of weeks in.
I got 2 of these phones during the week of release, and so far i haven't got a bad word to say about it.
Reception has been superb. Not a single crash or reboot. Rooted straight away and have used several ROMs before settling with one I like. Not wanting to repeat what others have said, but i'm very happy with this phone.
My wife on the other hand, has done nothing but moan about reception issues. Although I think that says more about her, than it does the One S.
Meedmo said:
I got 2 of these phones during the week of release, and so far i haven't got a bad word to say about it.
Reception has been superb. Not a single crash or reboot. Rooted straight away and have used several ROMs before settling with one I like. Not wanting to repeat what others have said, but i'm very happy with this phone.
My wife on the other hand, has done nothing but moan about reception issues. Although I think that says more about her, than it does the One S.
Click to expand...
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I've tried extensively to convert my iPhone using wife to an Android device. I bought her a Galaxy Nexus, she said it wasn't comfortable in one hand. I got her the SGS2, she had the same complaint. Purchased the Amaze, she said the screen was too washed out (?) and Sense 3.0 wasn't her "cup of tea". I gave her a G2X for the hell of it, which she liked, but ultimately, wanted her iPhone 4 back. So, after hell and high water trying to find her the "perfect" Android device, she's back to her iPhone 4. I told her that I didn't want her to feel pressured just because I'm an Android user, and she said that the main reason she wanted her iPhone back was to facetime with her family in Canada, which I can't argue with.
So about a month later, I purchased the One S. She instantly was in shock by the gorgeous hardware design. She asked if she could use it for a few days to see if she can make the switch. So, after using it for a week (she wouldn't give it back to me), she said that she couldn't believe how vibrant the screen was (the regular consumer who has no idea what pentile is will not notice this "flaw", and that's speaking strictly from the end user who see's the screen for what it is, 4.3 inches of pure beauty), how quick and easy Sense 4 was to use, and how well it fit in her pocket. So by that point, I wanted my phone back, (I switched between an Amaze and SGS2 temporarily), and ultimately, ended up purchasing one for her. Without my knowledge, she went and got a complete guard on the entirety of the phone, as well as a white skull candy case. She's kept it in perfect condition (learns from the best =) and has officially (at least for now) retired her iPhone.
Since most of her friends are iUsers, she can boast about being the only one with common sense to use what she believes is a superior device (which it is, in our opinion). I've dealt with her whiny friends who have asked me, "why did you let her buy a droid?!" My answer is, it isn't a droid, a droid is a phone made by Motorola, first off, and second, because it's just better for her personal use, and in many ways, then the iPhone itself. They then proceed to balk on about how the iPhone just "works" etc. etc., but after they got a glimpse of the One S, she was actually able to convert a longtime iPhone user into purchasing a white Galaxy S2 for Sprint! Two down, a worlds to go, but no less, it's encouraging.
The real test begins when the "New iPhone" is released, we'll see then how she reacts. But for now, I feel as though this phone has really done well for HTC and transcended a lot of the "complications" iUsers have when trying to convert to Android. The One S has such good touch sensitivity, that it compares to that of the iPhone, where as I've noticed using the Galaxy Nexus and SGS2 that the sensitivity of touch wasn't as prevalent as these HTC devices. It's likely just perception, but it's something I've noticed.

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