Why do you hate Sense?

[gman16000]

battery drain and overall slowness. plus, it cannot be uninstalled without rooting and rom-ing. put it on fine but allow me to easily remove without voiding my warranty. choice is king.

 

[Va1ha11a]

I like the dark blue and black theme of default better than sense 4.0's white. Also, I like stock ics's dialer better

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Dear Phil,
I'm glad you like the HTC One X. I really am. I'm also deeply saddened that you can't handle others not liking Sense. This whining you've done since your review released is tiring to read. I've owned 2 Samsung phones (epic 4g and galaxy nexus lte) and I've owned 2 HTC phones (HTC hero and Thunderbolt). I've flipped-flopped between the 2 manufacturers. I hated the Epic while I owned it (since then my dad has gotten one and it isn't that bad anymore). I hated touchwiz so much I decided I'd jump to HTC again.... but only because of the top notch hacking community HTC was known for. TeamBAMF made the thunderbolt usable with sense, but there was something that kept drawing me back to Vanilla (ran it so long on my hero, I didn't know how much I hated the bloat). Ran cm7 all the way until Samsung released the Gnex on Verizon. I absolutely love this phone. Does it have bugs, sure. But so far its been the only android device I have used where function out of the box has preventing me from loading a custom ROM. Plus, my previous employer didn't allow custom kernels to use their exchange server... which wasn't going to fly with me on the Thunderbolt. I am happy with my service with Verizon and I'm happy with my nexus. Need I remind you that carriers play an important role? I haven't heard of a peep of a vzw one series phone.


Please stop with this nonsense...

Signed, one of the highest posted people in your forums and a daily reader... go out and get some exercise and step away from the keyboard...


Typed from my galaxy nexus.

 

[KSDroid01]

I lived with and loved my OG Droid for two years, so I have plenty of experience with vanilla Android. I've had my Rezound with Sense 3.6 for 4 months, and I LOVE it. I'll go back and play with my Droid from time to time, and as disloyal as it makes me feel, it's kinda....well, boring. Those who complain about lag must have been burned by older hardware, because my experience has been: zero lag, stutter, slowdowns. I believe the hardware has finally caught up with the software. The camera app is just amazing, I think the detail and color of the UI is amazing. The Sense music app lockscreen widget is beautiful, the clock widget choices are fantastic, I love the weather widget. You get the picture.

 

[Johnly]

Sense rocks, much better than a naked Google OS. The new X dock on sense takes care of that gawd awful disk.....love it. They took Google and made it ten times better like motor and blur. Sammy wiz also trumps Google. Waiting for devils to kill it with the dev phone, but they aren't paid, and that is a fragility...:-$

 

[harold42483]

Dear Phil,

What i hate is someone trying to cram stuff in my face. I'm glad you like the One X but androidcentral is beginning to look like sense-central. I mean how many articles and or forum post can we read about you trying to get everyone to jump on the sense bandwagon. I had sense and it slows everything down. I mean my evo 3d isnt even a year old and it lags really hard. I think I'm ready to try vanilla android and ICS looks absolutely amazing. I for one love the phone app on the nexus. And i think the sense phone app is ugy and tired. But thats just my two cents..

Sent from my Motorola Xoom running ICS

 

[uansari1]

One of the first comments you get in regards to an HTC phone these days is something like "Ah, it's a Sense phone. I'll pass." Or "I hate Sense."

That's a cop-out. It's OK to not like Sense, but I wanna know *what* you don't like. Just a blanket "Sense sucks" doesn't tell me anything.

So, with the understanding that most people haven't used Sense 4 yet, what is it you don't like? Be specific.

Phil, I completely see your point. I happen to feel that Sense UI is probably preferable for most consumers, as it may be easier to use than Vanilla in many instances. However, I personally don't like ANY UI/UX on top of Vanilla Android because (1) I don't need or want the manufacturer's "help" in using my phone or making it flashier (which usually means it will perform slower), and (2) I'm a purist when it comes to two things...phones and cars. I don't buy an auto transmission BMW and put chrome spinners on it... I buy a manual and leave it stock, to enjoy it the way BMW envisioned it. That's why I stick to Nexus devices and even the ROMs I flash are unthemed AOSP based, i.e. Peter's Bugless Beast.

 

[BigDinCA]

DAMN! The haters came out in force to-night! Seriously, though, why all the hate on Phil? I guess people think there's too much talk of the HTC One series coming out. I remember the GSII launch and that was all we heard for a loooong time. Same with the Galaxy Nexus. And it's the same thing here, for the same reasons: this isn't just a couple of phones - it's the entire lineup, for arguably the 2nd biggest Android manufacturer, for the entire year. The individual carriers will have their own small variations, but this is it. And Sense 4.0 integrating with ICS is a huge part of it.

What I find funny is everyone totally bashing Sense (or TouchWix or MotoBlur for that matter) and how it has ruined their phones or their experience with Android time and again. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I wonder why people would buy a phone that has Sense (which they hate) when there are Nexus phones out there that are pure Android (which they claim is all they want). If that's all you want then get it. If you buy an HTC phone you get Sense and you know that going in. If you want vanilla Android on HTC hardware then root the phone. There's a solution for everyone.

Signed,
A guy who doesn't even have a hundred posts but still reads the site every day and doesn't mind Sense, but doesn't think it's the second coming either. Also Phil, no need to exercise - just get to New York and get us the real skinny on the new EVO.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

You --------------> the point. You missed it entirely. I don't care if you like sense or not. Stop crying when the majority doesn't ( no phil, it wasn't even close to 50/50 on the homepage poll).

 

[xonex]

Everyone should wait to try sense 4.0 with ics before writing it off on previous version experience.
Its amazing compared to the HTC of old and I'm finding it really hard to put the one x down.
Screen is taking 61% of my battery. Lol

 

[Droid800]

This is easy:

Because it isn't as good as stock Android 4.0.

 

[blackjaguar25]

This is easy:

Because it isn't as good as stock Android 4.0.

But why?

 

[xonex]

But why?

Because he bought a nexus.

 

[BigDinCA]

You --------------> the point. You missed it entirely. I don't care if you like sense or not. Stop crying when the majority doesn't ( no phil, it wasn't even close to 50/50 on the homepage poll).

Oh! I see what you did there, with me missing the point. That was neat.

Except I didn't miss the point at all. You were assuming I was replying to your post specifically. I wasn't. If I were, I would have quoted it in mine. Although I don't have thousands of posts here (this will be #51), this isn't my first time on a forum. I was responding to various things I have read on this thread, and others, today. More specifically than your post, I was referring to some of what harold42483 had said regarding this being an HTC One X and Sense 4.0 love-fest. I guess at the end of the day you decided not to read and YOU apparently missed MY point.

The only comment I made that dealt with your post was the sign-off. I thought it ironic that you would want the editor of the site you visit every day to NOT write for the site you visit every day. I was merely talking about Sense. You never really talked about Sense, other than you've had a couple of HTC phones. You apparently love your Galaxy F'n Nexus as well. That's great. But it seems that you haven't been reading all of this Sense conversation. Phil actually commented previously that he wasn't really much of a Sense fan, but as soon as he made mention of actually liking this new version a little bit people came crawling out of the woodwork to bash it. So he posed a simple question: Why do you hate Sense? I haven't seen anything he's said that would lead me to believe he was whining. The only exception may have been when he re-stated that just saying "Sense sucks" is a cop-out. You know, sorta' like what you did. There are lots of posts on this thread where people give some very specific, and good, reasons why Sense isn't all that. You, my good man, did not.

Apparently, though, I'm crying about it now. Apparently it's not about liking Sense or not (isn't this thread specifically about HTC Sense?) I don't mind the vanilla Android experience. If I have to choose an OEM UI it would be Sense, hands down. It's not perfect by any means, but I (my opinion here) find it to be a great UI. Despite your ramblings to the contrary, a lot of other people do as well. I know you just mentioned a poll not being close to 50/50, but I swear I can't find that poll. I did look. The only thing I found even close to that was the HTC One X vs. Galaxy Nexus poll which was running about 52% to 48% in favor of the One X. If I am missing something there please let me know. I do know that I see lots of custom ROMs w/ some version of Sense and not many with TouchWiz or Motoblur. I take that as some sort of indicator as to what the devs feel is the better and more popular UI. It goes without saying that the majority of the ROMs are UI free, though, and I get that.

The point of my post was simple: some people (I don't know if you would be one of those people or not) are complaining about every version of Sense they have been stuck with on their phones. I just wonder why they would continue to buy HTC if they hate Sense. Here's an example: I DO NOT like Sammy's TouchWiz. At all. I suppose I can go into detail on one of those threads in the forums sometime. Suffice it to say, I don't buy Samsung phones. If the hardware was so great I just had to have it I would buy it, deal w/ the UI for awhile and just root it when the time came. I certainly wouldn't piss and moan about the UI I had no intention of keeping on it because I already know that I hate it and am buying the device in spite of it.

A couple more examples: vegans shouldn't buy beef, diabetics shouldn't eat sugar cubes and compulsive gamblers shouldn't move to Las Vegas.

 

[Droid800]

But why?

Its bloated, incoherent, messy, and everything has the HTC stamp of crap on it.

If HTC sold a OneX variant with stock ICS, I would gladly pay my etf and lose my unlimited data to jump ship to att for it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[xonex]

Its bloated, incoherent, messy, and everything has the HTC stamp of crap on it.

If HTC sold a OneX variant with stock ICS, I would gladly pay my etf and lose my unlimited data to jump ship to att for it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

You're basing your opinion on previous sense versions.
You haven't used a sense 4.0 phone running ics so you really have no valid opinion other than old news that everybody knew about previous sense versions. Yes they were horrible but can we move on, this is the one x forum.

Go play with one and you'll be pleasantly surprised how much improved it is.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

You sir, are incorrect.

I'm not buying it because it won't be on Verizon so it isn't even an option to buy. I already have a nexus running 4.0.4 without root. Why go backwards?

Also. When I read the post with the one x vs gnex there wasn't a poll with numbers yet (Jerry is really bad at posting the polls for the late night polls). Just the comments. And those comments are still very one-sided for the gnex. If 5000+ people like the one x, where are they?

I don't care if you like the one x. Go buy it and enjoy it. I'm was more commenting on all the crying in general when someone doesn't like a particular UI. I personally like sense over any of the others. I liked the multi-language support on the auto-correct so I could text in English and Spanish without getting weird changes.

My past experience with Sense has been bad overall though. Laggy as hell when compared to stock. Laggier when you start to load up a bunch of apps. Battery life on the bolt is unbearable. Its already bulky so the options for better life aren't favorable. With the one x, if the battery life sucks, you're screwed. I'll keep my lte device that's sleek and with a big enough stock battery to get me through the work day.

 

[jtwildman1]

I've owned a phone with sense and hate is a pretty strong word! It is a different experience from stock, but that doesn't make it bad. I loved some of the widgets available, some of the best around. My only complaints with sense were the overall size and sometimes lag it caused with the phone. The contact storage on the phone dialer was really the only thing I " hated" about sense. It just wasn't easy to look up and store contacts. Android stock was really simple in this aspect and probably should have been left alone. I think most will either like or "hate" it, but it does everyone a disservice to not give an explanation as to why..I've noticed this a lot with gnex owners, yet they will brag about running a custom ROM that is basically some developer's skinned product..makes a ton sense!


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[DG788]

One of the first comments you get in regards to an HTC phone these days is something like "Ah, it's a Sense phone. I'll pass." Or "I hate Sense."

That's a cop-out. It's OK to not like Sense, but I wanna know *what* you don't like. Just a blanket "Sense sucks" doesn't tell me anything.

So, with the understanding that most people haven't used Sense 4 yet, what is it you don't like? Be specific.

Well, coming from a N1 to a HTC Sensation 4g, At first I was surprised by how much I didnt hate sense. Now as I get to see the u.i. after some mileage Im back to wishing for stock android. I am not rooted (I plan on it to get stock ICS, but Im a noob in root).

My biggest issue with sense is for some god awful reason about 6-10 times a day when I hit the home button from an app, a white screen with the HTC logo in green appears. It goes away then a loading wheel pop up appears. The whole process takes about 30 seconds and is infuriating. Its almost like Sense is rebooting because it had crashed while playing temple run or whatever else I was doing. Its happened while using multiple apps and the phone is only 3 weeks old.

Another thing I do not like about sense is the app drawer. I do not like that is segmented. Give me one continuous scroll and Ill be happy. I do not like the gallery app in sense 3.6. It will not sync with my picasa images. I have since found a .apk that does not rrequire root of the old nexus one 3d gallery. I love that gallery.

Sense does a lot of things intuitively, but I also am one for major customization. I did a lot to customize the Nexus 1 without root.

I LOVE the ability to use the sense weather as live wallpaper, but as time wears on I believe I will get fed up with Sense and go stock or with cyanogen.

I will however admit that it is by far the best manufacture UI. I may not be in love with Sense, but I would choose it a thousand times before I picked up a motoblur or Touchwiz phone without the intention of root.

 

[BigDinCA]

You sir, are incorrect. ....

Not so much. I wasn't telling you to buy (or not buy) the One X. You are on Verizon. This was a conversation about Sense. Verizon sells HTC phones. With Sense. So getting a phone with Sense would be an option, albeit one that you probably wouldn't take. And that's ok. I imagine that the new One-series phones will be available soon on Verizon as well, specifically in the form of the LTE Dinc (http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-droid-incredible-4g-appears-verizon-internal-screen) so even talking about getting a new One-series on Verizon isn't out of the question, in general.

FWIW, I get what it is you don't like about Sense. I haven't had all of the same issues, but the lag was very problematic on the OG EVO. Not so much with the 3D. I know some guys that have/had the Tbolt and they complained about the battery life as well. Constantly. I always understood that to be the 4G and not Sense but never really got into it since I didn't have that phone or use that carrier. I wouldn't mind getting a G'nex on Sprint, but I am getting a little disenchanted with the Nexus experience. They are not getting updates immediately as everyone loves to claim and the fact that Verizon got an exclusive on the G'nex here is not what many of us thought the philosophy of the Nexus was supposed to be. It's basically just another high-end phone now. If you're running 4.0.4 it's because you rooted and flashed, not because it was pushed to the device yet. I can always go Sense free with a thousand different ROMs out there.

And I only brought up the poll because I thought that was the one that you referenced. But I couldn't actually find the poll that you referenced. I didn't mean to ramble on last night, but I was just up waiting to see the disappointing pics of the new EVO and had some time to kill. Now that I've seen them I think it's about time I shoot myself.:'(