Hi guys,
It seems that after receiving the new OTA update I ran into some issues.
My problem is that after installing the update my phone started to occasionally refuse to unlock the screen after pressing the power button.
If I connect the charger the screen unlocks but otherwise I have no option to unlock it.
I did a Factory restore (of course I lost every bit of apps I had installed - even tough I had the Backup settings activated-) and it seems that I'm seeing the same problem a few times a day.
Has anyone encountered this issue?
The phone is bought from Vodafone and original software installed.
Haven't rooted or S-off it.
Thanks
if ur phone is s-on and have same issue like s-off phones thats actually good news..seems that HTC messed up something...maybe is good advice for u to give phone to repair service if is s-on and see what thay can say about that.
I actually had that bug BEFORE the update, but not after. Instead of that, HTC Locations stopped working after the update and still is refusing to start even after factory resets and reinstall.
I have tried to contact HTC through their website to ask wheter something can be done about the issue, but the "Email Us" form doesn't seem to be sending anything after pressing submit and the "Chat with Us" form just shows blank white... I tried them on IE, FF and on my phone but they all show the same kind of behaviour.
It's really beginning to get irritating...
Clearly a software issue if it really happened after the OTA.
Wiping your Cache, Dalvik-cache partitions along with your Data (Factory Reset) should be able to refresh your phone as a "brand-new" one. That is if you can.
Stock recovery has an option to wipe Data and Cache.
If these still doesn't work, shove it to HTC's arses.,
Just kidding..
Send it for repair or maybe show it first to them.
some more bug.
-> live wallpaper sometime hang.
Starting yesterday I disabled the new feature "Trace keyboard" and since then the phone unlocked everytime.
Has anyone else kept this option activated and working ok?
2.3.5 OTA suxxxxs
Hi All,
I got OTA 2.3.5 Sense 3.0 on last Friday.
Since I have the screen problem = after a call sometimes I cannot unlock the screen with power button. If connect to the charger it's unlock and after the
power button works again. My phone is S-ON, fully original.
And I have 2 friends, they have Desire S and got this update too,
and after it the problem appear on their phones too.
So I think something wrong with new OTA update.
And I also notice the TTS Service, don't work too, it's always
halted.
(I made a factory reset and my friends too, but we have this problem too)
Any idea?
Everybody "got" this bug with OTA?
Bye,
Istvan from Hungary.
Wait for fix from HTC. They messed up something.
~Swaypovano sa Desire S BRE!~
I was finally able to get in touch with HTC regarding the Locations bug. The service agent said that he has never heard of such a problem before. His advice was that I should try the factory reset once more without the SIM card and without logging in to my Google account. I did that but the Locations still won't work. Only advice after this was to send my phone in for service... I'm really not happy with sending it in just to get an app (that was broken by their own update) to work again. I'm also pretty sure there was something wrong with the update to begin with considering all the new bugs being surfaced all the time.
This is really frustrating...
Would the people that have updated please tell wheter their Locations works perfectly? And if so, where are you from?
Bmw_m6 said:
Hi All,
I got OTA 2.3.5 Sense 3.0 on last Friday.
Since I have the screen problem = after a call sometimes I cannot unlock the screen with power button. If connect to the charger it's unlock and after the
power button works again. My phone is S-ON, fully original.
And I have 2 friends, they have Desire S and got this update too,
and after it the problem appear on their phones too.
So I think something wrong with new OTA update.
And I also notice the TTS Service, don't work too, it's always
halted.
(I made a factory reset and my friends too, but we have this problem too)
Any idea?
Everybody "got" this bug with OTA?
Bye,
Istvan from Hungary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to disable the "Trace keyboard" feature. I did that and it seems that for the last ~18 hours I didn't encountered the unlock bug once.
Trace keyboard...
My "Trace keyboard" was off and the problem also present.
I tried to switch on, it hasn't any effect to the problem.
I hope the HTC will soon cede to this OTA full with bugs...
But as I known them, they not soo fast.....
Since the OTA update my Desire S crashes about once a day, and after it reboots it tells me it has recoverd from an error and asks me if i want to send the report to HTC. Seeing as how it reboots without any problems, and it works perfectly except the crash once a day, i suspect it has something to do with the flashing to 2.3.5.
Should i try a factory reset, or could there be another solution (seeing as how i really want to avoid a factory reset).
Oh and I have not rooted or S-OFF'ed my DS before the OTA update, so it's totally stock (as it has been since I got it)
I was able to fix the bug with Locations not starting up by changing my phone's language to English, then starting Locations, then changing the language back to Finnish again and voilá, it worked. One less problem for me.
I think that the Locations bug is limited to Nordic language versions (or even only to Finnish versions).
Hello
After update i have also the issue with the screen impossible to re-activate by power button after call is ended.
howto reproduce the issue: it happens only when screen is locked by security lock (PIN) and I receive a call. I pick up the call, screen is automatically turned off during call. After the call is finished, I'm unable to get the screen active again by pressing the power button!
Only working workaround is to attach phone to charger or connect to USB. Then the screen is activated and I can unlock it by PIN and working normally...
I need to have security lock enabled to be able to sync corporate email ( this is the security policy enforced by corporate Exchange server).
Ferro
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
This new OTA update looks more like a beta testing for many users still haven't got it and those who got it are complaining about bugs.
Some are affected by power button bug and others experience difficulties unlocking their phones.
What makes the situation even more strange is HTC not announcing the update.
Sent from my HTC Desire S
hamedunix said:
This new OTA update looks more like a beta testing for many users still haven't got it and those who got it are complaining about bugs.
Some are affected by power button bug and others experience difficulties unlocking their phones.
What makes the situation even more strange is HTC not announcing the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure you're right. HTC must have got a whole load of their people committed on new phones, others working on the recent security issues, so updates to our DS must be fairly low-priority. It smacks of the way that Microsoft beta-tested new OSes (perhaps still do) - Deploy many different public beta versions, don't bother actually reading the feedback but just simply measure how many complaints come in on each version. Finally, make official the version that got the fewest complaints.
I wouldn't be surprised if it goes quiet again for a week or so now.
The reply from HTC regarding the power bug:
Thank you very much for your cooperation and please be informed that we will get into this issue and we will try to determine what could cause these problems and what can be the solution. Please be patient with us because the investigation process itself it may take between 2 weeks and 4 weeks.
Have a nice day!
Disappointing
Hello,
After investigating further on my issue about "unable to resume screen by power button after call is finished" I described in my previous post I found it is most probably not related to OTA update but to HW problem...
I found my Proximity sensor is possibly dead. How the phone behaves (regarding screen on/off) during making or pick-up the phone is non standard. I also tried several android apps that are checking all sensors available on the phone and I see activity from all sensors except Proximity .
Talked also with HTC support... I'm going to sent my DS to HTC service center
Wish all getting the OTA update to enjoy it - I will certainly do so after I get my phone is repaired.
cheers
Ferro.
Pressing the power button during call or afterwards should light up the display.
At least that's what happened with the previous software version.
I'm still convinced HTC messed something in the update.
I have the exact same issue.
Has there been any work arounds how to fix this problem.
Mine's is on O2, never been rooted. Just stock.
If all fail looks like I will have to wipe phone and start again
A couple of times now, when I'm out and about I lose my cellular data connection. It just stops working. In the past on other devices when this has happened a reboot will usually fix it. But on my Atrix 2, when I reboot the phone comes one with Airplane Mode enabled (please note that I did not turn on Airplane mode). If I try to turn Airplane Mode off, it will just sit and say "Enabling wireless connections" but never actually turn them on. I have to actually do a battery pull to fix this problem. The first time it happened I went and got a new SIM card (as mine was pretty old), and it just happened to me again this afternoon. I'm past my 30 day return policy (bought the phone at Best Buy) so I can't return it.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? Anyone have any ideas on what might be causing this?
Just to reiterate, I did not turn on Airplane Mode, the phone powers on with it enabled and then won't actually turn off Airplane Mode when I tell it to.
i have the same problem too. After it happens couple times, i find out it might be the problem from the at&t address book issue which cause the phone cant read the sim for some reason (as it result, airplane mode keep enable). I also believe it is because the phone has been unlocked so the at&t address book crash. Is your phone unlocked?
Well, i am not quite sure it work on ur phone, but here is how i do it usually.
Way 1- plugin another sim card(sometimes i dun even need to do it), load the at&t address book, it will force the phone to load sim card cause of the contact from sim (then it should work right after that or after reboot)
Way 2- pull the battery for 1 day, it will work after that(but this is kinda dumb)
Hope this can help you XD.
athris said:
i have the same problem too. After it happens couple times, i find out it might be the problem from the at&t address book issue which cause the phone cant read the sim for some reason (as it result, airplane mode keep enable). I also believe it is because the phone has been unlocked so the at&t address book crash. Is your phone unlocked?
Well, i am not quite sure it work on ur phone, but here is how i do it usually.
Way 1- plugin another sim card(sometimes i dun even need to do it), load the at&t address book, it will force the phone to load sim card cause of the contact from sim (then it should work right after that or after reboot)
Way 2- pull the battery for 1 day, it will work after that(but this is kinda dumb)
Hope this can help you XD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is not unlocked. I could see the AT&T Address book thing contributing, I've NEVER had that thing work right, and thus I don't even have it set up on my phone (it's on there in my Accounts, but it's not configured that I know of because i do my contact syncing through Google).
Battery pull definitely solves the problem, at least temporarily. The only other SIM I have is the old one they took out when they replaced the SIM after this happened the first time. I also don't store any contacts on my sim (again use google for that), so I don't know if doing a SIM swap would solve the problem in a more permanent way since I've basically already done that.
I tried battery pull, but it doesn't work sometimes. The reason i run at&t address book because it would force the phone to detect the sim again(cause of the contact). Lucky it doesn't always happen. hoping Motorola can fix this issue on next update.
**I just think about it, it might be some stupid mistake from motorola that overwrite the memory about the phone status section.
have you guys tried factory resetting it?
I tried to reset but it doesn't help at all
Sent from my MB865 using XDA App
how about freezing or removing the apps from att?
athris said:
I tried battery pull, but it doesn't work sometimes. The reason i run at&t address book because it would force the phone to detect the sim again(cause of the contact). Lucky it doesn't always happen. hoping Motorola can fix this issue on next update.
**I just think about it, it might be some stupid mistake from motorola that overwrite the memory about the phone status section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm i guess this would help.. https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/506301
look for the number 6 post.
pilboyz said:
hmmm i guess this would help.. https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/506301
look for the number 6 post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I did this just yesterday, I'll give it a week or so and see if the issue happens again after setting my contact storage to my Google account.
mkoby said:
Hmm, I did this just yesterday, I'll give it a week or so and see if the issue happens again after setting my contact storage to my Google account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok just inform us what happens.
I have and identical problem.
My phone would turn with the Airplane mode ON and I can't deactivate it, or even if it shows I can, it's not in the menu and I won't get any signal.
I can't recall If it happened because of a change but I doubt so.
I tried factory reset / cache / dalvik, also flashing numerous rom from neutrino to cm7 to cm9 and even MIUI (which worked the first time I flashed it for a day and then same error).
And It will also occasionnaly reboot If I try too hard checking for networks and such.
Any help ?
Device is locked and never been rooted. Took the 5.1.1 update and apps like Netflix and HBO GO fail unerringly after 1-5 minutes of streaming.
Somethings...
-Neither app actually crashes to the desktop. It crashes to the apps main menu.
-Both apps attempt to "redraw" (3-4 times in quick succession) after the player fails, then I can usually reload the video.
I have...
-Cleared data/cache
-uninstall/reinstall the apps
-did a full factory reset
ANY thoughts would be really appreciated. Not having much like finding any resolution here. Thx in advance
I have the same problem. I have flashed the latest firmware with Kies and Odin to make sure there were not issues and still Netflix stops playing as does Youtube, Plex etc...
I have spent around 8 hours trying to find a fix to no avail. I made sure that Display > Smart screen options were disabled. In developer options I checked Force GPU rendering and Turn off hardware overlays. I also tried and unending list of other settings to no avail. Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks Chris
Khazaad said:
Device is locked and never been rooted. Took the 5.1.1 update and apps like Netflix and HBO GO fail unerringly after 1-5 minutes of streaming.
Somethings...
-Neither app actually crashes to the desktop. It crashes to the apps main menu.
-Both apps attempt to "redraw" (3-4 times in quick succession) after the player fails, then I can usually reload the video.
I have...
-Cleared data/cache
-uninstall/reinstall the apps
-did a full factory reset
ANY thoughts would be really appreciated. Not having much like finding any resolution here. Thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go in to About Device in Settings. Does your status show "custom?" If it does, remove your SD card and transfer the files on it to your PC. Reformat the card on your Note and afterwards put the files back on it. There's a strange SD card glitch that occasionally causes the system status to show custom when it's not.
BarryH_GEG said:
Go in to About Device in Settings. Does your status show "custom?" If it does, remove your SD card and transfer the files on it to your PC. Reformat the card on your Note and afterwards put the files back on it. There's a strange SD card glitch that occasionally causes the system status to show custom when it's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No my Device Status is Official. I tried using a different launcher "Google Now" hoping that a more simple launcher might clear things up but no luck. Netflix stops playing after a couple of minutes and youtube pauses. I want to be clear Netflix does not crash it just goes back to the menu where I can hit play again.
This fixed my tablet!
I may have found a fix. At least this fixed the issue for me.
The Back Story: (for you to compare similarities in device errors)
I have been having the same which started after the update. and my tablet has never been rooted either. I chatted with Samsung several times. They acted like this has never happened before and they kept saying it might be a bad wifi antenna. Which sounded like BS since I was able to surf the web and even watch youtube through chrome no problem. If I tried to watch videos on youtube, netflix, vudu it would reset as you mentioned. I even noticed that when I was using Polaris word it would erase everthying I had written randonmly. Samsung also tried to say it could be the app itself. Which I instantly doubted since the apps are made by different companies. I did the factory reset. I even took the tablet to Best Buy to have them do a system re-flash with no luck. I almost sent the tablet to samsung to have them try to fix it, but I had a feeling it was something easy to fix and I could save myself money.
THE FIX:........ I have no clue why this worked. If anyone knows why it worked I sure wouldn't mind hearing your thought!
1. Pop the sim card out.
2. Try playing videos on your apps. (Be sure to check a couple apps) It worked like a charm for me. I dont think I had to reboot to get it to work, but the fix stays after a reboot.
3. What you do not want to do is put the sim card back in because you will have the issue again.
- If you do put the card back in dont worry. You can simply remove it again and it will work again.
One thing to keep in mind.....I stopped my subscription on my verizon data plan. So it doesn't matter to me if the sim card is in. So If you still use Verizon Data plan and this fix worked then you should contact Verizon and let them know whats going on. Maybe you just need a new Sim Card. Like I said I don't know why it worked, but it did. I had data turned off completely so my device shouldn't have been trying to use anything other than wifi.
Please let me know if this works for you as well!
Thanks are always welcome!
****Please keep in mind that anything you try is done so by your own free will and I am in no way liable. ***
Khazaad said:
Device is locked and never been rooted. Took the 5.1.1 update and apps like Netflix and HBO GO fail unerringly after 1-5 minutes of streaming.
Somethings...
-Neither app actually crashes to the desktop. It crashes to the apps main menu.
-Both apps attempt to "redraw" (3-4 times in quick succession) after the player fails, then I can usually reload the video.
I have...
-Cleared data/cache
-uninstall/reinstall the apps
-did a full factory reset
ANY thoughts would be really appreciated. Not having much like finding any resolution here. Thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ceblume83 said:
I may have found a fix. At least this fixed the issue for me.
The Back Story: (for you to compare similarities in device errors)
I have been having the same which started after the update. and my tablet has never been rooted either. I chatted with Samsung several times. They acted like this has never happened before and they kept saying it might be a bad wifi antenna. Which sounded like BS since I was able to surf the web and even watch youtube through chrome no problem. If I tried to watch videos on youtube, netflix, vudu it would reset as you mentioned. I even noticed that when I was using Polaris word it would erase everthying I had written randonmly. Samsung also tried to say it could be the app itself. Which I instantly doubted since the apps are made by different companies. I did the factory reset. I even took the tablet to Best Buy to have them do a system re-flash with no luck. I almost sent the tablet to samsung to have them try to fix it, but I had a feeling it was something easy to fix and I could save myself money.
THE FIX:........ I have no clue why this worked. If anyone knows why it worked I sure wouldn't mind hearing your thought!
1. Pop the sim card out.
2. Try playing videos on your apps. (Be sure to check a couple apps) It worked like a charm for me. I dont think I had to reboot to get it to work, but the fix stays after a reboot.
3. What you do not want to do is put the sim card back in because you will have the issue again.
- If you do put the card back in dont worry. You can simply remove it again and it will work again.
One thing to keep in mind.....I stopped my subscription on my verizon data plan. So it doesn't matter to me if the sim card is in. So If you still use Verizon Data plan and this fix worked then you should contact Verizon and let them know whats going on. Maybe you just need a new Sim Card. Like I said I don't know why it worked, but it did. I had data turned off completely so my device shouldn't have been trying to use anything other than wifi.
Please let me know if this works for you as well!
Thanks are always welcome!
****Please keep in mind that anything you try is done so by your own free will and I am in no way liable. ***
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It Worked!!!
Thanks very much for the suggestion. As it turns out the tablet came to me with a sim card in it. I never intended on using it with Verizon so I did not look. Once I removed the inactive sim card everything worked great.
Thanks again I really appreciate the help.
As I am sure all Alcatel Idol 3 owners noticed by now, Alcatel have, over the last year or so, released on Google Play "updates" for most of their builtin software - the launcher, file manager, radio player, photo gallery, calendar and more - with what is, if I can be blunt - malware, updates whose only intention is to show you ads and notifications (whereas the original applications, obviously, did not have ads) which you have no way of disabling, and who knows what else.
I avoided this crap by "uninstalling" the updated applications and getting back the preinstalled versions.
BUT, today I started getting on all my Alcatel Idol phones (I have 3 of them!), OTA Android update. And I'm worried what would happen if I click it. Will I get the "updated" (malicious) versions of all the builtin applications with no way to revert them?
Does anyone have an experience with the new OTA update that came out yesterday? Can you tell me if after the update, the "joy launcher", "file manager", etc., are decent versions or the crappy versions which show ads?
P.S. Alcatel, you guys are idiots. I love your phones, and in the past bought 5 of them, but I'll *never* buy another phone from you because of this malware issue.
i have been wondering the same thing, i was scared to even touch the notification to see if it is a large upgrade or just 1 or 2 megabytes, in case touching it forces me to download it. please note, i have no idea if the OTA is any good, but i'm going to continue this post to vent about alcatel idol 3.
i was a bit annoyed with the last system upgrade, which started flashing the screen on and off periodically when any notifications were left active... for me, i always leave some notifications going, so that i don't forget about them or just want to leave them up even if i never take any action with them...
so i'm sure this takes a toll on my battery, since the screen will be flashing on and off for a few minutes before it stops.
i was shocked when a few months ago (or even a year?) apps started sending ads to the notification bar, from reading some posts i figured out you not only had to stop auto-updates in the play store, but also go into the updates app and disable them there. i didn't even know ads on a stock system were a thing, until i saw my dad's BLU $50 phone and realized that's how they make a decent phone $50.
since my idol 3 4.7" was relatively cheap at $180, i could see how they might need to put ads, but if i got a brand new alcatel phone at over $400, i'd be even more furious, do they put ads on their brand new phones?
i see a lot of cheap phones on amazon now listed having versions with "lockscreen offers and ads" including idol 5s
as long as the ads aren't malicious, and if you can just block notifications in android (i dunno if they somehow disable that) then it's sort of worth saving the money
anyway, i've had my idol 3 4.7" for just about 2 years, it's still fine, but i guess i'm starting to think about getting something else. i'd love to get another small phone, right before this i had an xperia z1 compact which i loved but the the battery started failing and bloating after less than a year and a half, so i'm kind of thinking i should never spend over $200 for a phone again (that one was $350)
my android history has been
nexus one $529
galaxy nexus $435.50
xperia z1 compact $350
idol 3 4.7" $180
i've been looking at nokia's new androids lately, or some kind of honor maybe
but my idol 3 4.7" is still working fine pretty much
i just remembered one other thing i hated about the marshmallow updated, which is the adopted SD card storage...
from what i understand if your phone dies, everything that was on the SD card can never be read again, because it works only when plugged into your phone. i mean i guess that's good for security, but it should be optional. it'd be nice to just be able to take that SD card to a new phone and just have everything that was there on it again.
i just noticed someone's post about "semi-adopted" SD card, which i guess means making 2 partitions, which kinda makes sense, but it would be nice if android offered that as a preset option. i had just gotten an SD card a few weeks before the marshmallow update came out and moving apps to SD for apps that supported it, worked fine.
anyway, i don't think and kinda hope no one read this, i'm not sure why i wrote this
I know that feeling, bros
Actually, I managed to uninstall built-in apps using adb shell, which was described in the discussion about Debloater (the app itself did not work after Marshmallow update):
Code:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
(this uninstalls system apps for the current user, so that they cannot be launched, do not notify about their updates in Google Play, and this works without root)
nyh said:
BUT, today I started getting on all my Alcatel Idol phones (I have 3 of them!), OTA Android update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear nyh, what is your region and phone model (like, 6045K or 6039Y or with other letter in the end)? Here in Belarus (Eastern Europe), my 6045Y does not notify of any update (current system version 6.0.1-010 20).
Mankann said:
Dear nyh, what is your region and phone model (like, 6045K or 6039Y or with other letter in the end)? Here in Belarus (Eastern Europe), my 6045Y does not notify of any update (current system version 6.0.1-010 20).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the 4.7" model 6039S, and three more phones of the 5.5" model, I don't remember now their model number.
What I'm running now appears to be Android 6.0.1 build number "1BGD-UED2". I don't know how this relates to your number. I noticed the "update" program tells me the new version is "0100020" which is suspiciously close to the number you said, maybe it's the same. With your version, does "uninstalling" the "Joy Launcher" (and other) applications to get back to the preinstalled one, gets you a decent version, or one with ads?
nyh said:
I noticed the "update" program tells me the new version is "0100020" which is suspiciously close to the number you said, maybe it's the same. With your version, does "uninstalling" the "Joy Launcher" (and other) applications to get back to the preinstalled one, gets you a decent version, or one with ads?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I understand now. It seems that your phone wants to update to the version that removes fastboot commands (so I suggest you triple-think and triple-check before upgrading).
"Uninstalling" system apps does not revert them to preinstalled versions, it makes them completely unavailable until hard reset (they are only listed in Settings labeled with "Disabled for current user" and cannot be run). If you decide to do this, you should first install some alternative apps (like Nova Launcher, Google Calendar etc), or else you won't be able to boot and use your phone.
I have the Idol 3 5.5 6045l(USA) Android 6.0.1 Build number 7VGE-UEE1.
I am reluctant to install the OTA I have pending:
______________________________
System update available
010 01 (471.5 MB)
New in this version
Version 7VGS-UES6 includes a security update that fixes Android major security flaw.
Update info:
- Netflix service
- Gameloft games
- UE improvements& bug fixes
______________________________
I am baffled that Alcatel would include Netflix & Gameloft with a major security fix.
After the adware riddled system app updates(that I've reverted to original) I will wait for more information before updating.
I love my phone and was considering buying a back-up or an Idol 4s especially as it seems that the front-facing speakers have been dropped from Alcatel's 2018 lineup.
But the bond of trust concerning system & app updates has been broken.
[Not sure whether one will be able to revert adware riddled system apps after the update]
That's real bad
Maybe this "security update" is resolving BlueBorne vulnerability (actually I wrote Alcatel about this, and they told me not to have bluetooth on all the time, wait patiently and install an antivirus which of course I did not do). But Netflix or Gameloft as system (priv-)apps is a no way (I struggled with TWO hidden Facebook services preinstalled on my phone until I found a method to "remove" them, which I described above).
If such an update comes to me (it may take days, weeks or months before it reaches all regions), and if no one installs it, I will do it and report here
I was stupid and sleepy and didn't fully check the update notes in depth when I saw it pop-up yesterday, I figured the majority of it was for security and maybe a couple of quality of life improvements like a new lock screen, even the entry about the Netflix app just sounded to me like they were fixing a problem people might have been having with it. suddenly I have and Netflix app I didn't want, a news app, some sort of Alcatel store front and two space wasting games (or at least one game and some gameloft "50 free games thing I have no use for).
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled, but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen. I've managed to quiet it down by canceling its access and whatever permissions I could. The fact that it restarts itself after a few seconds is just as irritating even before the reports that it actually may make my phone operate worse. I haven't experienced anything yet aside from the Google Play store crashing once while trying to figure out how to get rid of the update, but that was shortly after doing the factory reset and it's only been a day.
Whats mroe annoying is this now part of their most recent update on Idol 3. It's now impossible to revert or kill this as it's all baked in, not even factory reset will remove it. The new file manager app restarts at every turn, even after Force stop and will not allow you to disable it, and it seems to resist methods of hiding it from the user. I'm still seeking ways of getting rid of it that dont require rooting my phone but at this point it seems like the only possible answer, which is a shame because I was fine not rooting android, this was a really nice phone until they ruined it with this garbage. I know I'm pretty much screwed because My computer doesn't always seem to respond properly to Android stuff for some reason so any attempt to root will probably result in me bricking the thing, and even if I could root I'm not certain I'm comfortable with my phone being that open with other applications like this roaming around not to mention the questions of whether any of my desired apps will respond poorly to my doing it. But I wanted to at least add my voice to the rest that are complaining about this and telling Alcatel this is the last product of their's I'll ever own.
@PN04
Thank you for your very detailed report. Sorry to hear of the predicament you are now in. It goes without saying that I - thanks to you - will not be updating.
PN04 said:
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled, but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen.
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Click to collapse
have you held down on a notification and hit the (i) and then block notifications?
does it somehow disregard that? that was a new feature added in marshmallow
zxcvb2 said:
have you held down on a notification and hit the (i) and then block notifications?
does it somehow disregard that? that was a new feature added in marshmallow
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Click to collapse
I have, it takes you to the app notification section where you can reduce it's priority, stop it from peeking and "hide sensitive content" (not sure what that last one means but I turned them all off anyway). As far as I can tell it's teeth are pulled as long as I don't actually start the app or give it any permissions when it asks, but the fact that constantly force stopping it only gets rid of the menu bar on my lock screen for a few seconds and that little stupid broom icon is constantly showing in my bar at the top means it's still an ugly scar on an otherwise nice phone. also App memory usage claims it's used 27 mb in the last 3 hours and I havent' even touched it.
I'll probably be studying up on rooting this weekend.
ichmoimeyo said:
@PN04
Thank you for your very detailed report. Sorry to hear of the predicament you are now in. It goes without saying that I - thanks to you - will not be updating.
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Click to collapse
Same here, no update for me either thanks to PN04's findings. I have managed to silence the Update app by uninstalling updates on the app and then turning off auto update and notifications. So far so good, no nagging messages about the update. Considering my latest security patch is from Nov 2016, I was not expecting to get any more anyway.
Shame on you Alcatel for ruining an otherwise perfect phone! Maybe i can get one more year on this one. The Xperia XZ1 Compact is looking more and more attractive, apart from the price (native Wifi calling, VoLTE and band 12 on TMO US, stuff that this phone didn't have and start to become more important for me).
Glad it helped. I guess I can take some measure of comfort in that at least.
The result of the upgrade.
nyh said:
Does anyone have an experience with the new OTA update that came out yesterday? Can you tell me if after the update, the "joy launcher", "file manager", etc., are decent versions or the crappy versions which show ads?
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So, I was surprised nobody came up to talk about their experience with the upgrade, so I took a risk and updated two of my Alcatel Idol 3 phones (mine and my son's) to the new update. Like in the old movie, I have good news, bad news, and ugly news:
The bad news was that the application content of the update was just as lousy as I feared it would be. It has the evil file manager and a bunch of other crap applications which spew notifications all the time, spontaneously install applications you never wanted to install, and so on. The strangest thing is that the update claims to add Netflix support, but actually uninstalled the Netflix app that I already had installed, which was very annoying (I had to re-install Netflix, re-download my downloads, and tell Netflix that I don't have the "old" device any more so it will let me download on the "new" one).
Also, the last on the bad list: after using the new system for two days, I haven't found a single thing to be better than the old system. This update doesn't upgrade Android - it's still exactly the same release 6.0.1 as it was before. The "patch level" is listed as November 2017, so maybe it has some security improvements, but I can't really tell.
The good news is that with some considerable effort, I was able to get rid of all of the crap (at least, everything I found so far). There is a new application called "Apps" which installs random crap. You can't uninstall it, but you can "disable" it and it never runs again. The evil file manager you can't uninstall (or disable), but its menu has an option to not send notifications, and then it doesn't. Then I went to the list of applications and uninstalled (luckily, that's possible) a bunch of games and other crap that Alcatel installed for me. If Alcatel had a better track record, I might actually enjoy trying out the new games they installed for me, but as it stands, I was worried about what might happen if I run them - I prefered to uninstall them. Anyway, after doing all that (sorry I don't have more detailed instructions), I am running with the updated Android for two days, and I haven't seen another ad, unexplained notification, or unsolicited application being installed. Hallelujah!
The ugly news is that after two days, I'm starting to worry that this version is less stable than the previous one. In two days I had to reboot my phone at least three times, once it hung during taking a video, once when Netflix suddenly couldn't find my downloaded content, and once when another app suddenly couldn't use the SD card (and a reboot solved these problems). I can't say I never had to reboot my phone, but this seems to be more frequent than I used to do it. I'm not sure this a real new problem or just a string of bad luck - only time will tell.
Mankann said:
Ah, I understand now. It seems that your phone wants to update to the version that removes fastboot commands (so I suggest you triple-think and triple-check before upgrading).
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What is "fastboot commands", and why should I be worried if they are removed?
Mankann said:
"Uninstalling" system apps does not revert them to preinstalled versions, it makes them completely unavailable until hard reset (they are only listed in Settings labeled with "Disabled for current user" and cannot be run). If you decide to do this, you should first install some alternative apps (like Nova Launcher, Google Calendar etc), or else you won't be able to boot and use your phone.
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Click to collapse
This is not my experience... In the Google Play app. For most applications, "Uninstall" lets you really uninstall an app. But for built-in applications, when you "Uninstall" it asks you if you really want to revert to the pre-installed version, and that is actually what happens. This is why I did on my Alcatel Idol 3 for a year before this latest update. In application tray, when you long-press an application, it lets you "uninstall" regular applications, but for built-in application, the uninstall operation is simply missing. I never found any way to do what you describe - "disable for current user". Somebody above suggested this can be done through adb, but I never saw a way to do this in Alcatel's normal UI.
I wrote above my experience from the upgrade, which you can read, but I have two small comments about your experience:
PN04 said:
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled,
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Click to collapse
It's hilarious (or more accurately, sad) how people who already had Netflix installed (like me), their installation got deleted - but for people who never had Netflix, it got installed and made unremovable. Great job Alcatel!
PN04 said:
but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen. I've managed to quiet it down by canceling its access and whatever permissions I could. The fact that it restarts itself after a few seconds is just as irritating even before the reports that it actually may make my phone operate worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I did to solve this was to reduce its permissions and more importantly, go into the file manager, go into its "settings", and ask it to stop its notifications. Luckily, it worked, and I never heard from the filemanager again. I don't know if it continues to do evil stuff in the background. It appears it is still running (my app info tells me it has used memory in the last 3 hours), but using "0%" CPU.
PN04 said:
this was a really nice phone until they ruined it with this garbage.
I wanted to at least add my voice to the rest that are complaining about this and telling Alcatel this is the last product of their's I'll ever own.
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Click to collapse
Yes, I wonder if someone in TCL lost their marbles with these adware updates... As I said, I bought *five* of these phones - for me, my wife (two phones), mother-in-law and son, and I would have continued to recommend their phones if it weren't for the tricks they started to pull off last year.
nyh said:
What is "fastboot commands", and why should I be worried if they are removed?
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Click to collapse
One of the Alcatel's OTA updates (IIRC, it was from Lollipop to Marshmallow) removed the ability to send fastboot commands to the phone, so that it became very hard to unlock bootloader and install root or custom ROMs. Actually it was already discussed here many times.
nyh said:
Somebody above suggested this can be done through adb, but I never saw a way to do this in Alcatel's normal UI.
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Click to collapse
You can either use adb shell or you can use shell directly on your phone via apps such as Terminal Emulator (Google Play, F-Droid). Of course you cannot do this within "normal" GUI, because it is designed not-to-be-able-to-break-things
I work from home/am self employed so most of the time so my phone doesn't get outside except for a few occasions a week otherwise it's usually connected to the home wifi so that I don't waste data. But this weekend I had to run a few errands and in a single hour outing using mobile data, I force quit the file manager maybe 26 times as opposed to 5 - 8 times just connected to wifi so I feel like it's constantly trying to ping servers unless you restrict it to mobile data. I also noticed that number dropped by half to maybe 3 or 4 times in the house when I had a few apps like AIMP or one of the games I do play on it to pass time idling in the background. As I said before I did cancel every permission I could find for it and it still manages to crawl out of the grave every so often but maybe those apps had a high enough priority level so having them active an in memory pushes it down the list.... Literally while typing this just now I was charging the phone and got the signal that the battery was full, woke it up to check if file Manager was running, saw nothing on the lock screen, unplugged it and File manager popped up again.
This update is a cancer. I haven't had to restart yet, but I've definitely noticed a few more app crashes. The loss of Fastboot might explain why my first attempt to hide the offenders with ADB failed. after installing every thing , switching to developer mode and connecting it to my computer the phone just refused to show up in the program (again, this might still be a computer issue because I've had trouble with minor developer tools in the past). I may not be an Android developer like some people on this side but feel like I fiollowed the instructions correctly. I get the feeling this is bad news. We might not be able to even get a different rom installed on it at this point.
Is it possible someone has an older version of the firmware that can be reinstalled over top of this some how? ugh, I really can't afford to have to buy a new phone right now.
PN04 said:
This update is a cancer
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Click to collapse
I agree. People, please try to avoid this update. If you can find a way to stop the "update" process from notifying you, great, if you don't, learn to leave with them - it's better than doing the update.
After another day experience with this update, I figured out that:
1. The "Google Play Services" processes takes 30% of the CPU all the time, and causes my battery to run out after 6 or so hours. This was not the case before the update. I can't figure out what is calling the "Google Play Services". I see the evil "File Manager" running, but it's not taking up CPU, and nothing else takes CPU except the "Google Play Services".
2. Every once in a while - several times each day (!) - something "hangs" in the OS, and applications start to hang: sometimes they can't start, sometimes they can't read their data (!?), sometimes they can't connect to the network (!?), and other bizarre phenomena. Rebooting the phone solves the problem, and I've been doing this several times each day now. Before that I rarely had to reboot the phone (maybe once a week).
Avoid this update. Like the plague. Shame on Alcatel / TCL.
Mankann said:
Code:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
(this uninstalls system apps for the current user, so that they cannot be launched, do not notify about their updates in Google Play, and this works without root)
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Click to collapse
Doesn't work for me:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.jrdcom.filemanager
Error: java.lang.SecurityException: Package null does not belong to 10096