Not a Sensation Fan Anymore

[biggbrother2]

I have been using this phone for nearly 4 months. At first, the novelty of having a dual core phone overshadowed how poorly this phone actually performs. This is the worst performing dual core phone I have even seen.

On a daily basis the phone infuriates me. It's clear that HTC didn;t install enough memory in this phone. It's constantly loading Sense when switching from a session of YouTube, or Flash video in the browser. And it seems to happen at the worst times when you NEED to make a phone call and have to sit through the stupid "Loading" box.

At times, the memory issues because so bad that the phone runs like molasses, with the Apps drawer crawling up the screen when pressed and apps taking forever to load. How can this phone be dual core? Heaven forbid you have half a dozen apps in the Market that need updating and press "Update All". The phone becomes unusable, barely able to to anything else. Killing all apps with the Sense taskiller barely helps. Rebooting helps for a while, and pressing "reboot phone" from the power down menu merely shots the phone down. I also have a problem where screen shots are being constantly taken while pressing the Home button.

I also have reception issues that appear and disappear. I will go from having 4 bars of 4G to no data signal at all, to no cell signal at all. Suddenly, 2 minutes later it will go to 4 bars again. The same happens with WiFI. I use the phone in the same areas of my house as my Nexus One yet the Sensation will suddenly completely loose WiFi reception, and then gain it back at full strength.

Although the camera can be faster than other smartphones, it gets bogged down by the same processor/memory issues as all the other functions of the phone. For the first 2 months I was so enamored at HTC Sense that I was blind to the day to day sluggishness of the skin. Now, with lots of day to day use, I can literally say that HTC Sense is impeding me from actually enjoying the phone because it simply is not working with a quality dual core processor or enough memory on the Sensation.

I am so hoping thh Nexus Prime drops for T-Mobile. Please Google.. don't wed it to Verizon!!

 

[211]

Either root it or take it back. Sounds like an isolated incident. My biggest complaint about this phone from day one was the battery life which improved tremendously after installing a new rom. Never had an issue with speed or performance.
Others have been pretty sucessful getting a replacement when the phone acts buggy.

Have you tried a factory reset? I'd probably do that first if you haven't thrown the phone through T-Mobiles store-front window already.

 

[elvisgp]

Verizon needs it too. But don't worry, I'm sure the nexus prime will come to T-Mobile

sent from my Droid X, which also eats iPhones.

 

[nox]

That Nexus Prime looks like a good phone.

The Sensation hasn't really had any issues with me, though, I am rooted, so I have a couple bloat apps removed and working to my liking. You should give it a shot if you haven't already. As for the wifi/signal loss, yeah it's pretty bad at times. I cover the top part of my phone to watch a video and next thing I know, the damn video has stopped halfway through!

 

[drewatco]

I haven't had any issues with my Sensation. It works like a dream. By far the best phone I've ever had.

 

[itrustme618]

I have been using this phone for nearly 4 months. At first, the novelty of having a dual core phone overshadowed how poorly this phone actually performs. This is the worst performing dual core phone I have even seen.

On a daily basis the phone infuriates me. It's clear that HTC didn;t install enough memory in this phone. It's constantly loading Sense when switching from a session of YouTube, or Flash video in the browser. And it seems to happen at the worst times when you NEED to make a phone call and have to sit through the stupid "Loading" box.

At times, the memory issues because so bad that the phone runs like molasses, with the Apps drawer crawling up the screen when pressed and apps taking forever to load. How can this phone be dual core? Heaven forbid you have half a dozen apps in the Market that need updating and press "Update All". The phone becomes unusable, barely able to to anything else. Killing all apps with the Sense taskiller barely helps. Rebooting helps for a while, and pressing "reboot phone" from the power down menu merely shots the phone down. I also have a problem where screen shots are being constantly taken while pressing the Home button.

I also have reception issues that appear and disappear. I will go from having 4 bars of 4G to no data signal at all, to no cell signal at all. Suddenly, 2 minutes later it will go to 4 bars again. The same happens with WiFI. I use the phone in the same areas of my house as my Nexus One yet the Sensation will suddenly completely loose WiFi reception, and then gain it back at full strength.

Although the camera can be faster than other smartphones, it gets bogged down by the same processor/memory issues as all the other functions of the phone. For the first 2 months I was so enamored at HTC Sense that I was blind to the day to day sluggishness of the skin. Now, with lots of day to day use, I can literally say that HTC Sense is impeding me from actually enjoying the phone because it simply is not working with a quality dual core processor or enough memory on the Sensation.

I am so hoping thh Nexus Prime drops for T-Mobile. Please Google.. don't wed it to Verizon!!

i feel the same exact way . Im experiencing the same performance from my sensation. its by far the worst dual core phone out. my nexus s outperforms this phone in every way except the browser.

 

[Impulses]

I don't think I've seen the Sense launcher reload more than once on my EVO 3D... And it's loaded with apps, heck even the browser rarely gets closed in the background (unless I'm writing a long email in Gmail, that always seems to do it, more so than games even). I've purposely kept my EVO 3D stock for a few months to see how it behaves with all bloat and the Sense launcher, even tho I prefer ADW (and usually root to freeze the Sense launcher and run more optimized ROMs); gotta say I've been impressed. I can't imagine the extra memory on the 3D makes that much of a difference, I usually have 150MB free anyway.

 

[ma3loom]

Yeah definitely sounds like a lemon. I've had mine going on 3 months (I forget when it came out now) and no complaints. I quickly added a 1900 mah battery to compensate for the battery life and I'm fairly satisfied with the results. Coming from a Blackberry an Android was a huge step for me, especially with battery life. All I can say I'm loving the phone and especially now with the Samsung Galaxy 2 out, I love it more. Turns out the SG2 didn't fare as well as its brothern in AT&T which got a better build somehow.

Oh well, sensational it is.

 

[seanwilliams78]

I agree to a point.

I came from a Blackberry as well, so this was leaps and bounds better. Still, I had many issues:
- Couldn't play a video for more than 2 mins before the audio dropped
- Full "Faux-G" signal drops to nothing, then to 2G, then back to "Faux-G"
- Phone and apps are useless at 2G connections; they are so slow, they just pop up error messages about not being able to connect to the network/network seems slow at the moment/etc

I've just rooted the phone so I'll see what this does. Even with all of the quirks though, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a device that pushes the envelope technically that DOESN'T have it's idiosyncrasies. It's still a solid phone, and it gives my GF's iPhone 3GS a royal smackdown.

 

[Mingneh]

I'm really sorry to hear that my fellow droid user! You should really send that bloody black-sheep-of-a phone back to the store you purchased it. It very much sounds liek an isolated case!

To me there are three complaints after i switched to this phone
1)It has no apple appstore(Missed the games and nth else)
2)In Singapore, almost all handphone accessories are for Iphones
3)People doubt my intelligence when i attempt to persuade that of the good of a droid phone. Damn!

 

[fasst27]

Have you done a factory reset? I know you shouldn't have to do it, but it could help. I've done it on my phone and I saw improvement. It was annoying to reinstall every app back, but that only costed time. Might be worth trying.

 

[biggbrother2]

I have not done a reset, and quite frankly I don't think I should have to do a reset. Am I going to have to do a reset every few months just to keep the phone running right? Like I said, I do not believe the phone is defective.

When I pull the Notification shade down and go to Quick Settings, it says Total Memory is 563MB, with 476MB USED, and 87.12MB FREE. Is this normal?

It seems to me that Sense runs out of memory. And as I said, it generally happens after browsing websites for a while, or text messaging alot, and/or switching between the two constantly. The Sensation is a horrendous multi-tasker which has always been Android's strength!

It is obvious that the Sense launcher is flawed because when I see the dreaded green HTC letters and the loading box after pressing Home, I can press and hold HOME and still at least be able to switch to my most 8 recent apps. So it's obvious that Android is still working efficiently underneath, but Sense is hogging all the resources.

Another issue is the Camera. Many times when taking a photo with the Flash, I get a sort of brownish/tannish hue to the photo almost as if the camera is too fast for the flash. Sometimes I have to take a photo 2-3 times so it will come out clear.

And the biggest issue must be battery life. I can't believe thatr reviewers were mentioning that the Sensation has excellent Stand-By mode. I find that the batter will drain in less tha 8-10 hours regardless if you use it or not, even with auto-sync off. Many times I will use the phone for about 20 minutes in 3-5 hours and the batter will already be at 40%. And the "What's Using the Battery Screen" Will simply indicate "Diaplay" as using 80%.

This phone has not been well thought out...

 

[seanwilliams78]

Wait...you haven't even done a reset? What's the use in suggesting fixes for your issues if you're too stubborn to actually do anything about them?

Honestly, it sounds like your problems are minor, the solutions are out there, and you're just crucifying the phone because you like to whine.

I suggest you go get yourself an iPhone and be done with it. But be warned...you might have to reset your iPhone too. Gosh, I guess the iPhone "wasn't well thought out" either, huh?

Read first! Common iPhone problems, iPhone tips, and Discussions of Interest - MacRumors Forums

iPhone 4 Problems

iPhone 4g problems: iPhone 4 reception and activation issues - by Lynette Alice - Helium

ANY high tech device is going to have quirks. If you are not capable or willing to deal with them, get rid of the cell phone and go back to your land line. And let the rest of us enjoy our devices, because mine has NONE of the issues you described - simply because I took the time to address them.

 

[biggbrother2]

I should not have to do a factory reset and erase all my personal data every few months just so my phone can run like it is supposed to.

 

[recDNA]

I have been using this phone for nearly 4 months. At first, the novelty of having a dual core phone overshadowed how poorly this phone actually performs. This is the worst performing dual core phone I have even seen.

On a daily basis the phone infuriates me. It's clear that HTC didn;t install enough memory in this phone. It's constantly loading Sense when switching from a session of YouTube, or Flash video in the browser. And it seems to happen at the worst times when you NEED to make a phone call and have to sit through the stupid "Loading" box.

At times, the memory issues because so bad that the phone runs like molasses, with the Apps drawer crawling up the screen when pressed and apps taking forever to load. How can this phone be dual core? Heaven forbid you have half a dozen apps in the Market that need updating and press "Update All". The phone becomes unusable, barely able to to anything else. Killing all apps with the Sense taskiller barely helps. Rebooting helps for a while, and pressing "reboot phone" from the power down menu merely shots the phone down. I also have a problem where screen shots are being constantly taken while pressing the Home button.

I also have reception issues that appear and disappear. I will go from having 4 bars of 4G to no data signal at all, to no cell signal at all. Suddenly, 2 minutes later it will go to 4 bars again. The same happens with WiFI. I use the phone in the same areas of my house as my Nexus One yet the Sensation will suddenly completely loose WiFi reception, and then gain it back at full strength.

Although the camera can be faster than other smartphones, it gets bogged down by the same processor/memory issues as all the other functions of the phone. For the first 2 months I was so enamored at HTC Sense that I was blind to the day to day sluggishness of the skin. Now, with lots of day to day use, I can literally say that HTC Sense is impeding me from actually enjoying the phone because it simply is not working with a quality dual core processor or enough memory on the Sensation.

I am so hoping thh Nexus Prime drops for T-Mobile. Please Google.. don't wed it to Verizon!!

Same issues here with tbolt. Its great when everything works though.

 

[seanwilliams78]

I should not have to do a factory reset and erase all my personal data every few months just so my phone can run like it is supposed to.

That's awesome that you feel that way. Here's a list of things you should stay away from because they will often require resets:

PC's
Mac's
Tablets
Smartphones
iPhones
iPods
Any vehicle 1994 and up (OBDI and up) with a Check Engine Light
Amusement park rides
Aircraft

...there's probably more, but all of the above will require regular "resets" throughout their service lives.

Go get a rotary phone.

 

[dancing-bass]

That's awesome that you feel that way. Here's a list of things you should stay away from because they will often require resets:

PC's
Mac's
Tablets
Smartphones
iPhones
iPods
Any vehicle 1994 and up (OBDI and up) with a Check Engine Light
Amusement park rides
Aircraft

...there's probably more, but all of the above will require regular "resets" throughout their service lives.

Go get a rotary phone.

Well said. The OP should be glad he never had to deal with early Blackberry phones. Daily (sometimes multiple times) battery pulls. Pull battery out, wait a minute or more, insert battery, and wait 3-10 minutes for the reboot to complete.... yep, My BB usually survives with once-a-day battery pulls. Not always though.

Oh yeah and weekly backups JUST IN CASE it craps out and you have to re-install the OS.

Frankly I'd take his Sensation, root it, and be done with the troubles. And ship him my old Pearl and see how he likes using it

 

[joe767]

I agree with Miguel, my phone is doing exactly what he said. I'm not rooted so I will do the factory reset. It's a pain having to do a reset every few months. The phone was great when I got it, but now I can't even make a call after the phone has been on for more than a day. Hopefully the factory reset might help or I might have to root my phone. One of th main reason for getting this phone and sold my nexus s was sense 3.0, now I'm not sure it was a great idea. I'll report back after the factory reset.

 

[wicketr]

My phone reboots Sense nearly every time i leave the Android Market. I don't get it.

Mine shows 477 used and 83MB free at the moment.

I realize i could start all over, but i think HTC could fix this bug. Re-installing things is just a work around.

 

[reroshaggy]

Seriously I had the phone for about four months now Andrade not seen any of the aforementioned issues except on rare occasions sense having to take a second. Seriously sounds like hardware failure not a brand failure.