FIVE weeks with the HTC ONE, NEW things i HATE. help?

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

you guys are right.

i definitely have good days and bad days with the phone. and i am only in my third week with an entirely new system...i think i was on blackberry for close to a decade. and, i have used apple computers for twice that. i have a lot to learn, obviously, and am not quite sure when a complaint should be directed toward htc or android. suffice it to say, they are one in the same in my limited experience.

swype is kick *** compared to thumb or index finger 'typing'. that, and the LED notification were the main reasons i chose android over iphone. i hope, someday, i will find typing to be the pleasure and ease it was on a blackberry keyboard. but i doubt that day will ever come. i do know my days of physical keyboards are behind me.

i will give handcent a shot. i read through the forums and handcent, go-sms and textra seemed to be most popular amongst htc one users. perhaps one day, like you, i will grow to appreciate the vibrating on my ear. but for now, i find it annoying. maybe i need an ear-guard. haha

persistent annoyance: managing my contacts. is there an app that is a huge improvement over the stock contacts app?? i find little things frustrating (again, compared to BB).

thanks again!

oh to cool jeff: from what i have read, rooting may be overkill for me. i don't want to spend any more time on my phone 'tweaking' and i think it might void my new tmobile jump plan (part of the plan involves returning your current device when you upgrade). or do i not have to root to add custom roms?

also, i am using nova launcher and am open to trying a different one if that will solve some of my issues. i think the other popular one i've read about is called ADW?

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

breaking news: my battery is kicking **** today!

i never use the power saver feature. and i have no 3rd party power management tools. but i did switch my screen from auto brightness to 50% last night. this has been my battery performance, so far, today (normal usage, no gaming or movie watching)...

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

really hating the phone this morning...

realized one of my two email accounts is no longer notifying me of new messages. it did work up until yesterday as far as i can tell. i made no changes to the account. started a new thread to hopefully solve the problem.

another thing i hate. with blackberry, you type 'mynumber' in a message and it inserts your number. are there any shortcuts like that for android?

also, my blackberry knew when i was in a form and needed to insert a number or email address and automatically switched the keyboard. my android doesn't seem to do it.

also, my email addresses are in my vcard in the phone. but when i go to send myself an email (to get a picture from my phone to computer for example), my contact info doesn't come up. i have to manually enter my own address every time.

any thoughts or suggestions?

thanks!

 

[kostnkost]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

really hating the phone this morning...

realized one of my two email accounts is no longer notifying me of new messages. it did work up until yesterday as far as i can tell. i made no changes to the account. started a new thread to hopefully solve the problem.

another thing i hate. with blackberry, you type 'mynumber' in a message and it inserts your number. are there any shortcuts like that for android?

also, my blackberry knew when i was in a form and needed to insert a number or email address and automatically switched the keyboard. my android doesn't seem to do it.

also, my email addresses are in my vcard in the phone. but when i go to send myself an email (to get a picture from my phone to computer for example), my contact info doesn't come up. i have to manually enter my own address every time.

any thoughts or suggestions?

thanks!

Is the account Gmail by any chance?

Sent from my HTCONE using AC Forums mobile app

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Is the account Gmail by any chance?

Sent from my HTCONE using AC Forums mobile app

no. one is through my personal website...the one that properly notifies me. and the other is my dot mac account (or me.com) which is my primary. maybe android is making me pay for using an apple mail account.

thank you!

 

[kostnkost]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

maybe android is making me pay for using an apple mail account.

thank you!

Maybe Apple is making you pay for using Android


Sent from my HTCONE using AC Forums mobile app

 

[cleveland216]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Again, BB 9930 convert here... still getting used to this One.

I'm here to report I have solved the horrible battery life... get rid of the BLOATWARE!!
1. Unlocked bootloader
2. Rooted
3. Used the ROM Cleaner to remove the bloatware

As a BB convert there was NO WAY I was gonna accept the poor battery life of the HTC One. One week in and the battery life drove me to look for a solution to the problem. I told myself if rooting was the answer then so be it. The One is a beautiful phone and Android is nice, but bloatware is real and there should be a better answer for getting rid of it.

Anyways I'm much happier now. I read somewhere that performing the steps above would work, and now I can confirm this. BTW does anyone know what Udove is? It is a process listed in the settings under Power, Usage, Android System. It, along with many other services, was listed in the Android system as a running process before I removed the bloatware. After the bloatware was removed I no longer see it. This is just an example of why I believe bloatware is a real problem.

 

[ab304945]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

thanks for all the help guys!

you were right SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl: street view was built in. no idea why i couldn't find it on sunday when i needed it.

i don't know why google won't recognize mom or mum either.

and yes playstore on the web where it is, of course, easier to read than on my 4.7 inch ONE screen.

daspoo: i've been meaning to try google's keyboard and will download it today.
EDIT: only been an hour or two, but can say i prefer g-key for typing but swift key has arrows which make fixing mistakes a lot easier. and swift key has that punctuation button i did not see in g. both seemed the same for swiping...need a hybrid!

nancybout: i am not in business, per se, but i certainly did like that aspect of blackberry most. with blackberry, you get **** done.

i have always said that i needed my phone to be a phone first, and easily send text and email second. eventually though you need a new phone just to keep up with the simple everyday apps like google maps. when the Q10 came out, i was so excited to finally have a new phone with all the apps i had been missing for years. of course the reality was i got a new phone with none of the apps i had been missing. no vine or instagram (yes, you can sideload but far from the same). so i jumped ship and got the best phone available at the time: the HTC ONE. i knew there would be growing pains, and overall i am extremely pleased with this device...i am sure i am not even scratching the surface of it's capabilities. but the more i read and hear 'there's an app for that' the more i wonder about the overall approach to phones and operating systems behind google (and apple). from what i can tell, people love their iphones because they don't have to think about them. people love android because they do get to think about them, and mold and shape them to their heart's content. sadly i am somewhere in between. i like to tweak things, and customize them to my specific taste. but i want the basics to be there first. the whole experience has almost driven me back to blackberry!

either way, i am committed to this phone for another six months before t-mo jump will allow me to make my first switch. i am sure i will continue to adapt to android's way of doing things. but i'd like to get out of this make my phone do the basics phase sooner than later.

thanks again y'all

Switching to android from iPhone or blackberry, is a bit of a learning curve. Just stick with it and it will grow on you

Posted via Android Central App

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

i don't think i can root my phone. as far as i understand it would void my warranty. and i believe i would have to return it to tmobile unrooted if and when i switch phones.

generally speaking, it sounds like one more argument against android. i don't want to constantly work on my phone just to make it work.

on the blackberry forum, people kept saying 'wait for the update' as if that would solve all of my Q10 problems. maybe it would. maybe rooting is the answer. but my fear is that rooting this phone would only lead to more problems and work.

is there a way to get rid of bloatware without rooting? i have selected a few apps with long press and chosen 'uninstall'. things i don't want on my phone like twitter (which i do use, but seldom and from the web).

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Switching to android from iPhone or blackberry, is a bit of a learning curve. Just stick with it and it will grow on you

Posted via Android Central App

this is true and what keeps me going. i knew that two things were true: physical keyboards are mostly dead; and, apps are thriving and multiplying.

i will miss my blackberry keyboard for a long time. but i don't miss feeling like i am carrying an archaic device while the world around me moves on.

 

[kostnkost]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Again, BB 9930 convert here... still getting used to this One.

I'm here to report I have solved the horrible battery life... get rid of the BLOATWARE!!
1. Unlocked bootloader
2. Rooted
3. Used the ROM Cleaner to remove the bloatware

As a BB convert there was NO WAY I was gonna accept the poor battery life of the HTC One. One week in and the battery life drove me to look for a solution to the problem. I told myself if rooting was the answer then so be it. The One is a beautiful phone and Android is nice, but bloatware is real and there should be a better answer for getting rid of it.

Anyways I'm much happier now. I read somewhere that performing the steps above would work, and now I can confirm this. BTW does anyone know what Udove is? It is a process listed in the settings under Power, Usage, Android System. It, along with many other services, was listed in the Android system as a running process before I removed the bloatware. After the bloatware was removed I no longer see it. This is just an example of why I believe bloatware is a real problem.

I'm curious how easy rooting this phone is? If it is as easy as installing a Hybrid OS on the BB9930, then I may just go for it.

 

[cleveland216]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

I'm curious how easy rooting this phone is? If it is as easy as installing a Hybrid OS on the BB9930, then I may just go for it.

I followed the guides from xda. The steps I used were specifically for Sprint. Everything I've owned I have rooted... except for my two BBs, 8330 and 9930! I will say that rooting is not for everyone.

But with that said, the guide was straightforward and easy to follow. For me it was worth it. But if you really want to know if it is something you really want to do then I'd suggest downloading the links involved in the guide and reading thru it first. After removing the bloatware I can now get thru a whole day and overnight with my phone and charging the phone in the morning. Before I rooted and removed the bloatware I had to charge my phone two or three times a day if I could not fully charge it to 100% each time

 

[justafew]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

please if you have any suggestions or solutions, i would love to hear them....

1. no unread message count for SMS text messages. i am using nova launcher and nova unread. this worked for a minute, i think, but hasn't worked for several days with stock messages app and textra. (i have uninstalled, re-installed, restarted and cleared defaults to no avail)

2. LED notifications stop after 5 minutes. this is literally the number one reason i bought this phone. coming from blackberry, i wanted a phone that worked for me not vice versa. and that persistent flashing red light on a BB let me see, without picking up the phone, when it needs my attention. 5 minutes makes this feature more or less useless to me.

3. no meaningful or effective way to sync to my apple computers. htc sync blows, i tossed it out after two days of watching the colored pinwheel. yes there are several apps for syncing to my computer, but i have mostly resorted to syncing with google. i don't love syncing to a cloud as i prefer to have my information stored locally.

4. no google street view. what's up with that? i believe there is a plug in or add on in the google store but last time i checked the reviews from htc one users were unfavorable.

5. keyboard. still can't type to save my life on this touchscreen. i am using swift key and i mostly use swipe. it definitely helps, but this is a far cry from my beloved qwerty keyboard. i know, i know, get used to it.

6. battery life seems mediocre at best. sunday was my first real day of putting the phone through it's paces. i was driving to an unfamiliar place, trying to use google maps. meanwhile i am getting texts from a model and make up artist asking me for addresses (i'm a photographer). i try to send them the address (vcard) via text and keep getting error messages. then without street view, i can't figure out if i am in the right place. and finally a couple of hours later, when we get to shooting my battery is completely dead. i believe it was somewhere in the 30 per cent range before all the <stuff> went down. drained rapidly when actually in use. kind of a bummer. i never ever worried about my blackberry. of course, the screen on this thing is much larger and the phone is much more capable.

7. google voice actions. it won't call my mom. when i say 'call mom' i get 'mum', 'mama' or 'mon'. my mom is not jamaican, and i have an excellent speaking voice.

8. google play store. i am new to this world of android and apps, but it seems they re-designed the app store recently. as a result, the ability to filter by device has gone missing. that was a huge determining factor for me when choosing what to add or not add to my phone.

i hate to do so much google bashing, but this is mostly what is pushing me over to apple...

i have 30 days to return the phone here in california. i was going to return it monday when t-mo announced the new 'jump!' plan over the weekend. i signed up and now have the opportunity to keep my HTC until the iphone 5S comes out. i intend to switch after my requisite first six months are up. by then, the iphone should've been out for a while. i am hoping not to have to, moving phones is a *****. but with no LED notifications, poor battery performance (compared to apple) and the myriad other issues i am having, it seems likely at this point. i have come up with this analogy to best describe my perception of android vs iphone after these two weeks of use and research. with iphone you get a good cake, fresh from the oven. it may not be exactly to your taste, but it's made by a competent chef. with android, you get all of the ingredients to make a great cake. you may succeed, or you may fail. but the phone out of the box is half-baked.

For the unread issue, I'm having the same issue using Nova and Textra. This must be an issue with Nova or Tesla Unread in not yet recognizing Textra. As soon as I delete Textra and get a text message, I once again get the unread number on the stock messaging app (assuming that I've re-enabled notification in the app). But it just doesn't work for Textra. I just use the colored icons that pop up in my notification as indicators instead. And with Textra, I can set the color of the icon to match the person (pink for my wife, blue for my brother) so I can see in the notification who it is w/o even having to pull down the notification window. If that doesn't work for you, you might either go back to the Stock Messaging app or consider using MissedIt! as the unread notification for Nova instead. It's not quite as good as it will give you the number for the number of notifications, but once you clear the notification window or open the app, the number resets back to 0 (even if you have items "unread").

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

For the unread issue, I'm having the same issue using Nova and Textra. This must be an issue with Nova or Tesla Unread in not yet recognizing Textra. As soon as I delete Textra and get a text message, I once again get the unread number on the stock messaging app (assuming that I've re-enabled notification in the app). But it just doesn't work for Textra. I just use the colored icons that pop up in my notification as indicators instead. And with Textra, I can set the color of the icon to match the person (pink for my wife, blue for my brother) so I can see in the notification who it is w/o even having to pull down the notification window. If that doesn't work for you, you might either go back to the Stock Messaging app or consider using MissedIt! as the unread notification for Nova instead. It's not quite as good as it will give you the number for the number of notifications, but once you clear the notification window or open the app, the number resets back to 0 (even if you have items "unread").

thanks for this! i've gotten used to it sadly. i thought i read that missedit doesn't work well with htc one. i'll check the app store again. i am new to android but hoping an update somewhere down the line will fix it. for now the notification bar works. i should change colors for people too...might save me from sending a text to the wrong woman i mean person.

 

[justafew]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

I have it and it appears to work just fine for Textra. I haven't tried it for many other apps. The main drawback is to use it for apps, you have to enable it in Accessibility. For some reason on the HTC One, this causes a problem on the lock screen and the slide to unlock becomes "touch to unlock". If you just touch the screen it unlocks versus having to drag an icon or slide across the screen. That applies to anything else you enable in Accessibility, like TalkBack, etc.

 

[robsawalker]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Regarding syncing with a MacBook, I use Google Play Music and it syncs all my music and podcasts that way. I use android file transfer or air droid for other stuff like films. If yu want to put really big files on (EG Bluray rips) you will need to use ADB.
For email I use gmail, I redirect my work email to gmail, I use google calendar.... I use NiLS widget for notifications and I'm running stock 4.2.2

Battery sucks the fat one though, this is true. People can say what they want about how great their battery is, but it isn't unless your phone lives in your pocket or the box you bought it in!

-R

 

[walterkurtz]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Regarding syncing with a MacBook, I use Google Play Music and it syncs all my music and podcasts that way. I use android file transfer or air droid for other stuff like films. If yu want to put really big files on (EG Bluray rips) you will need to use ADB.
For email I use gmail, I redirect my work email to gmail, I use google calendar.... I use NiLS widget for notifications and I'm running stock 4.2.2

Battery sucks the fat one though, this is true. People can say what they want about how great their battery is, but it isn't unless your phone lives in your pocket or the box you bought it in!

-R

i don't know. my battery seems pretty good now. makes me wonder if i returned the first HTC ONE, i tried a year ago, too soon. i gave it a week and returned it because the battery life was horrible. of course those first week(s) i've learned are spent on the phone A LOT installing apps and tweaking settings. not necessarily a good judge of battery. i am getting 14-16 hours a day now. but i also don't use my phone for anything other than talk, text, email, some web-research and navigation.

i have android file transfer and i have used bluetooth to send a file or two over to the phone. but i am scared to upload all 125GB of music to gmail. i don't use my phone as an ipod anyway.

nils looks cool but when my phone is set on PIN security, i don't want anything showing up on the screen. as long as i am a bachelor i will be wary of texts etc popping up on a phone. haha

there are definitely workarounds for those of us on macs. but it does make me wonder how easy it must be for iphone owners. i will more than likely jump ship when the 5S comes out. i am digging this phone. but i suspect an iphone, while lacking in customization, will provide ease of use and synchronicity. we'll see in 6 months....

thank you for the help!

 

[jrsharp70]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

please if you have any suggestions or solutions, i would love to hear them....

1. no unread message count for SMS text messages. i am using nova launcher and nova unread. this worked for a minute, i think, but hasn't worked for several days with stock messages app and textra. (i have uninstalled, re-installed, restarted and cleared defaults to no avail)

3. no meaningful or effective way to sync to my apple computers. htc sync blows, i tossed it out after two days of watching the colored pinwheel. yes there are several apps for syncing to my computer, but i have mostly resorted to syncing with google. i don't love syncing to a cloud as i prefer to have my information stored locally.

4. no google street view. what's up with that? i believe there is a plug in or add on in the google store but last time i checked the reviews from htc one users were unfavorable.

5. keyboard. still can't type to save my life on this touchscreen. i am using swift key and i mostly use swipe. it definitely helps, but this is a far cry from my beloved qwerty keyboard. i know, i know, get used to it.

6. battery life seems mediocre at best. sunday was my first real day of putting the phone through it's paces. i was driving to an unfamiliar place, trying to use google maps. meanwhile i am getting texts from a model and make up artist asking me for addresses (i'm a photographer). i try to send them the address (vcard) via text and keep getting error messages. then without street view, i can't figure out if i am in the right place. and finally a couple of hours later, when we get to shooting my battery is completely dead. i believe it was somewhere in the 30 per cent range before all the <stuff> went down. drained rapidly when actually in use. kind of a bummer. i never ever worried about my blackberry. of course, the screen on this thing is much larger and the phone is much more capable.

7. google voice actions. it won't call my mom. when i say 'call mom' i get 'mum', 'mama' or 'mon'. my mom is not jamaican, and i have an excellent speaking voice.

Now that you have been using the swift key keyboard for a week, is it getting better? After it has a while to learn from your habits, I think you will find that it predicts your next word with a high degree of accuracy.

Use sugar sync.

If you use AT&T, try the app that they have on the play store for messaging. I know that the Verizon messaging app is very good, it is what I use.

Go to your location settings and only select Google GPS. It will cut down on the number of processes that ping your location and drain battery. Also, there may be a Powersave mode. If not, keep the screen brightness down. The screen eats up the vast majority of your battery.

The Google voice commands as an option to learn from your speech. Try turning it on for a while and see if that helps.

If none of that works, there is always the new BlackBerry.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[usguyver]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Again, BB 9930 convert here... still getting used to this One.

I'm here to report I have solved the horrible battery life... get rid of the BLOATWARE!!
1. Unlocked bootloader
2. Rooted
3. Used the ROM Cleaner to remove the bloatware

As a BB convert there was NO WAY I was gonna accept the poor battery life of the HTC One. One week in and the battery life drove me to look for a solution to the problem. I told myself if rooting was the answer then so be it. The One is a beautiful phone and Android is nice, but bloatware is real and there should be a better answer for getting rid of it.

Anyways I'm much happier now. I read somewhere that performing the steps above would work, and now I can confirm this. BTW does anyone know what Udove is? It is a process listed in the settings under Power, Usage, Android System. It, along with many other services, was listed in the Android system as a running process before I removed the bloatware. After the bloatware was removed I no longer see it. This is just an example of why I believe bloatware is a real problem.

I have not have a y problems with the battery life on my one.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[joebingo]

Re: two weeks with the HTC ONE, things i HATE

Actually now it is almost impossible to text with this phone and drive(for me at least) than it was with my BB. This is definitely a good point though as you shouldnt be doing this anyways lol.

I woke up in hospital after being knocked off my bicycle by someone who was texting while driving. 2.5 years on and I still have no recollection of the accident. Or the week preceding it lol.

OP, all I can recommend is to give it some more time. There was a lot which annoyed me when I got my nexus 7, but ultimately it has convinced me to jump ship form iOS to an HTC One. If you can't get along with the keyboard, try swipe or a 3rd party app maybe?

Also, I've not had a problem with any of the apps I've donwloaded - o the One you shouldn't have to worry about device compatibility.