ICS GN (Love/Hate) RANT!!!

[ohiomoto]

I'm not 100% sold on ICS yet. I guess it's to be expected, but I keep running into little bugs. Things like Bluetooth being connected and working for phone calls but music not being transmitted. I have to reboot or toggle in and out of airplane mode to get it working again. Then on my way to work today I get a phone call which stops Pandora, when I hang up, it opens Music instead of simply resuming Pandora. I kill the music app and Pandora restarts. I wasn't using Music at all. Why did the phone open it? Also had another random reboot again while using the Navigation app. I think that makes 5 total. Still having poor signal in one area around my house where my Palm would stream data without any issues. Furthermore, I don't care for the UI and how ICS handles multitasking. To top it all off, we've seen a couple of reports of cracked screens. One was caused by having the phone in the front pocket...too much torsion on the phone. Oh and less than stellar battery life...

Every time I use webOS on my tablet or old phone (still using my Palm as my alarm clock and for music, emails once in a while on wifi) I realize how good the webOS really is. It multitasks circles around ICS with grace and ease. It kind of pisses me off that people put webOS down and claim Android is better. I'm finding that while Android is more powerful, it's also more buggy. To be fair, if webOS did as much as ICS it would probably have more bugs and I guess ICS should improve, but I expected more.

I'm not sure how I feel right now. I got my GN for $170, not bad. The $170 and 2yr contract isn't really that big of a deal to me. I have other lines I can upgrade if I need too in the not so distant future. I can't see going back to the Palm, the screen is too small and I hate the keyboard now more than ever. Plus I could never get GPS on the Palm to work consistently. (Navigation on the GN works great for me when the phone doesn't randomly reboot while using it. One of the things I absolutely love about the GN.) I could go back to the Fascinate I picked up used to try out ICS before got the GN, but it's not like I'm saving much by doing that so I may as well just stick with the GN.

I feel a little confused with my feelings about this phone. I love so much about it, but I'm sort of angry at the same time. Maybe I'm angry because webOS failed and this is what I'm stuck with? Maybe I really want a GN that runs webOS with all of the power of ICS? Maybe I should give the iPhone a chance? Maybe I want an iPhone5? Maybe I should give Google a chance improve ICS? I just have this bad feeling deep inside me about the GN for some reason. I afraid it will be like the GPS issues I had with the Palm. Something I thought would improve but never did. I don't want to live with a buggy phone. I want a better UI. Maybe it will come with updates and I'll be happy. Or maybe I'll be disappointed yet again.

Sorry, end rant. Now flame away if you must. LOL

 

[Premium1]

It is a brand new os it is going to have bugs. It will get updates to fix the bugs. IOS5 had a ton of bugs and has gotten updates and well webos was pretty buggy and never got any real updates to help that so it kind of speaks for itself why it didnt make it...(and yes I have used webos, ios and android)

 

[EggoEspada]

This is the kind of thing that comes with being an early adapter. Yes, the software has bugs and a few of those are a real annoyance, but fixes are surely to come very soon for most of these issues. If you really feel it wont improve or you are just unwilling to stick it out, you should try something else. Windows Phone and the iPhone are great devices with a stellar experience. So you have options if you don't want to hold onto the Galaxy Nexus and ICS. Two years is a long time to have a phone and if you're having feelings of doubt with this phone, it may not be the device for you. Don't stick with something for what it might be, rather than for what it is.

 

[ohiomoto]

@ Premium1,

Funny thing is that outside of the horrid GPS performance on my Palm Pre Plus, I didn't find webOS to be very buggy at all. Maybe not as pack full of features or a bit left "unfinished", but not buggy. Actually everything was pretty consistent for me. It either worked or it didn't. Even the performance was decent once overclocked. Not the greatest hardware for sure, but using the Fascinate and Galaxy Nexus have proved to me that Palm at least got the radios right. I got better service with the Palm than either of our Fascinates (my wife has one too) or the Galaxy Nexus. Still, the Nexus is so nice compared to the other phone we've had. Like I said, this phone has me feeling different emotions at once. On one hand I can't see returning it. On the other hand I'm expecting to end up disappointed and I'm not even sure why I feel that way.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. I really needed to vent. I figured it would make me feel better. LOL

@EggoEspada,

Thanks, I looked hard at the Windows phone before ICS came out. Figured I was in for another Palm experience (which the more I look back the better if was for me.) Plus I wasn't really feeling the whole Microsoft thing. (I'm a Linux user. I actually sent my last two laptops back to have Windows removed to get my license tax refunded. It's not that I hate Microsoft, I just doen't want to be forced to pay them for something I don't intend to use.) Never liked how closed Apple was so I didn't give the iPhone much thought. Besides I find iOS kind of boring.

So ICS was the obvious choice.

 

[Premium1]

Also did you try buying a pre3 off somewhere like ebay or something to get your webos fix?

 

[youngzayiles]

@ Premium1,

Funny thing is that outside of the horrid GPS performance on my Palm Pre Plus, I didn't find webOS to be very buggy at all. Maybe not as pack full of features or a bit left "unfinished", but not buggy. Actually everything was pretty consistent for me. It either worked or it didn't. Even the performance was decent once overclocked. Not the greatest hardware for sure, but using the Fascinate and Galaxy Nexus have proved to me that Palm at least got the radios right. I got better service with the Palm than either of our Fascinates (my wife has one too) or the Galaxy Nexus. Still, the Nexus is so nice compared to the other phone we've had. Like I said, this phone has me feeling different emotions at once. On one hand I can't see returning it. On the other hand I'm expecting to end up disappointed and I'm not even sure why I feel that way.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. I really needed to vent. I figured it would make me feel better. LOL

@EggoEspada,

Thanks, I looked hard at the Windows phone before ICS came out. Figured I was in for another Palm experience (which the more I look back the better if was for me.) Plus I wasn't really feeling the whole Microsoft thing. (I'm a Linux user. I actually sent my last two laptops back to have Windows removed to get my license tax refunded. It's not that I hate Microsoft, I just doen't want to be forced to pay them for something I don't intend to use.) Never liked how closed Apple was so I didn't give the iPhone much thought. Besides I find iOS kind of boring.

So ICS was the obvious choice.

I found web os to be very buggy in some areas. Too many cards, when I only had one card open etc.. I had the first palm pre and loved the notifications and true multitasking but thats about it.. You just have to know bugs will come with the territory. I expected web os to have them considering it was a new os but alot of stuff they never fixed. I think ICS has some issues as well but I believe they will be fixed fast. 4.0.3 is already on the way and we only had the phone a few weeks.. I noticed you said performance was great once overclocked.. So out the box it wasent? Have you tried rooting? Not saying you should have to root but overclocking isnt exactly a out the box experience either.. Most had to go through Preware or whatever to be happy with their pre.. I will say its alot easier to hack a pre though.

 

[VickMackey#AC]

Sounds more like the ravings of a bitter, disappointed webos fanboy than someone who is truly disappointed in the phone. Let if go man, webos is dead. It's time to move on.

 

[ohiomoto]

Sounds more like the ravings of a bitter, disappointed webos fanboy than someone who is truly disappointed in the phone. Let if go man, webos is dead. It's time to move on.

Given our exchange in the other thread and your signature, I would have to say that now you are just trolling.

I have moved on, but found out that it's not meeting my expectations. I have intentions of going back to the Pre Plus or purchasing a Verizon Pre 3 for $500 on eBay. I am a fan of webOS, but calling me a fanboy is insulting. My thread clearly states "RANT", if you don't like it, don't read it. If anyone is bitter towards webOS and is a (Android) fanboy, it would appear to be yourself. Look in the mirror.

Thanks

 

[VickMackey#AC]

Given our exchange in the other thread and your signature, I would have to say that now you are just trolling.

I have moved on, but found out that it's not meeting my expectations. I have intentions of going back to the Pre Plus or purchasing a Verizon Pre 3 for $500 on eBay. I am a fan of webOS, but calling me a fanboy is insulting. My thread clearly states "RANT", if you don't like it, don't read it. If anyone is bitter towards webOS and is a (Android) fanboy, it would appear to be yourself. Look in the mirror.

Thanks

Trolling? No. If anyone is trolling it's you, trashing ICS and the GN in two different threads by touting the now defunct webos as some great alternative. It's not just you though, it's on every comment or message board. It's a fact that webos was buggy, slow and unresponsive and that's why it failed. To see it hailed as some great alternative is nonsense. webos still can't do some basic functions of Gingerbread, hell even Froyo for that matter. It was never a true competitor.

 

[ohiomoto]

Actually, pointing out how a different OS handles smartphone functionality is not trolling. It's called discussion, not trashing. Furthermore no one ever said that webOS was an alternative to ICS.

As far as I can tell you don't even own a Galaxy Nexus, so stop trolling.

 

[kashabrown]

I appreciate your rant. I have noticed a few annoyances with this device. I must say though - my last android experience with droid x and froyo left a LOT to be desired - this is MUCH closer to what i want, but NOT quite it yet.

I am one who is also looking forward to a windows phone experience on LTE/Verizon - however, at this time, there aren't any choices. I got this device to hold me over until later in the year when I think the MS device will be ready for prime time on Big Red.

 

[CynicX]

OP. Have you tried an iPhone? I much prefer Android but have found ios to be pretty stable and very consistant in its operation. If you jailbreak it you can get a lot of the features ios so desperately lacks.

To continue I think if you give the GN more time it will be what you are hoping for. It took Google about 6 months to bring honeycomb up to my expectations and now I love it. Its a long wait but you'll learn alot on the way.

 

[tntdroid]

Given our exchange in the other thread and your signature, I would have to say that now you are just trolling.

I have moved on, but found out that it's not meeting my expectations. I have intentions of going back to the Pre Plus or purchasing a Verizon Pre 3 for $500 on eBay. I am a fan of webOS, but calling me a fanboy is insulting. My thread clearly states "RANT", if you don't like it, don't read it. If anyone is bitter towards webOS and is a (Android) fanboy, it would appear to be yourself. Look in the mirror.

Thanks

Ohio/vick let's both review the forum rules on trolling we don't call memebers trolls here. Debate is fun and we can all have our own opinions but no need to make it personal or attack each other. Let's move on here. Thank you.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[ohiomoto]

I found web os to be very buggy in some areas. Too many cards, when I only had one card open etc.. I had the first palm pre and loved the notifications and true multitasking but thats about it.. You just have to know bugs will come with the territory. I expected web os to have them considering it was a new os but alot of stuff they never fixed. I think ICS has some issues as well but I believe they will be fixed fast. 4.0.3 is already on the way and we only had the phone a few weeks.. I noticed you said performance was great once overclocked.. So out the box it wasent? Have you tried rooting? Not saying you should have to root but overclocking isnt exactly a out the box experience either.. Most had to go through Preware or whatever to be happy with their pre.. I will say its alot easier to hack a pre though.

Thanks for an honest, reasonable reply. I hope you are correct about the updates. That's partly why the GN was the only phone I considered when I decided it was time to move on from webOS. I want the nexus experience.

I agree with most of what you say about the Pre. I think the Pre Plus was a big step forward from what I read. It's what the first Pre should have been. After that Palm should have realized that people wanted iPhones and slabs. Other than the never quite working GPS, I never really experienced "bugs" but I would agree that there was a lot of functionality that was never added and a few things that you could say weren't finished. And yes I would say that the stock Pre Plus was sluggish. Once overclocked to 1000Mhz it ran pretty well

'm not claiming webOS is hands down better than ICS. I also stated that ICS has more power or maybe I should say more functionality than webOS. It's not that webOS is better. It's that I liked how webOS worked better and I'm still a little disappointing with the ICS user interface. Sure it's a lot prettier than the Froyo and now Gingerbread that's on my wife's Fascinate, but in my eyes it functions only marginally better. I sort of like it, but I wish I liked it better.

My Galaxy Nexus is rooted and unlocked. No ROMs, just wifi tether. I'm not disappointed with the hardware. It's a beautiful phone and I'm quite happy with the specs. I love the GPS performance. I love that it has a voice API even it it's not perfect. Then are some things that I wish I liked better. I doubt I'll return it, but I still have this nagging feeling that I'm never going to be as happy with it as I had hoped and I needed to rant.

 

[ohiomoto]

..
To continue I think if you give the GN more time it will be what you are hoping for. It took Google about 6 months to bring honeycomb up to my expectations and now I love it. Its a long wait but you'll learn alot on the way.

I agree. I'm just trying to come to grips with this before my return period expires in a couple of days. I keep thinking I could do this with the Fascinate on ICS, but I really do like the GN better. Thanks for the reply.

 

[ohiomoto]

I appreciate your rant. I have noticed a few annoyances with this device. I must say though - my last android experience with droid x and froyo left a LOT to be desired - this is MUCH closer to what i want, but NOT quite it yet.

I am one who is also looking forward to a windows phone experience on LTE/Verizon - however, at this time, there aren't any choices. I got this device to hold me over until later in the year when I think the MS device will be ready for prime time on Big Red.

Thanks. At least I'm not alone! LOL

 

[kashabrown]

No sir - you aren't.

Honestly - the hardware is very nice - the screen is great and certain parts of ICS are very well thought out and implemented. I think it will be improved too in the coming months. I just don't think it will be improved enough to make me absolutely love it.

The only smartphone interface I truly loved was the windows mobile 6.5 intinerations that all the "rom builders" were building roms for...I had my touch pro 2 set up with everything I could ever want right on my home screen - it was just very laggy and not enough RAM to run it properly.

I have two major pet peeves with ICS - one is that I want to be able to adjust the icons to ANY SIZE I WANT and space them EXACTLY where I want!! I don't understand why this is so difficult to understand or implement. I am one who wants ONE SCREEN with everything I use every day on it including my most used contacts, etc...

My other is "MARK ALL AS READ". I mean - CMON!! We can't put that into our gmail app?!?!!!

 

[jerrod6]

I am not really having too many problems with my phone however it has completely shut off two times while in one app...but...when I decided to get the phone I signed on to the fact that the version of ICS is 4.0. Any software, phone, PC, larger computer...or Itunes......that is running version X.0 of software is going to have problems. Basically the testers find some bugs, but the users are the ones that identify real world in use problems and then the vendor fixes them via version upgrades Think Windows 3.1....Yeah I used that at work. Nothing like windows 7 which I use now . Itunes 10.0 which is now at 10.5. There are more reasons it is at 10.5 than just new functionality.

So I knew there would be some rough spots in the operation and I know there will be updates to solve problems.

Many unhappy with 4g signal. For me the 4g signal in my house, outside and about town is faster than Wifi in my house which is kinda freaky because I wasn't expecting that...but no complaints about it either.

So I am happy. It is what I expected for a new release of a system. Ok with the hardware too and yes the screen consumes battery which..... well... due to it's size and intensity... is not surprising....we just need improved battery technology and we need improved LTE technology.

Not turning in the phone for something else.

 

[heggood]

It is a brand new os it is going to have bugs. It will get updates to fix the bugs. IOS5 had a ton of bugs and has gotten updates and well webos was pretty buggy and never got any real updates to help that so it kind of speaks for itself why it didnt make it...(and yes I have used webos, ios and android)

ICS is always going to have bugs. Just like Froyo, Gingerbread, and IOS5 still does, you just got to figure out which buggy OS makes you most happy. Good luck to ya!

 

[youngzayiles]

Thanks for an honest, reasonable reply. I hope you are correct about the updates. That's partly why the GN was the only phone I considered when I decided it was time to move on from webOS. I want the nexus experience.

I agree with most of what you say about the Pre. I think the Pre Plus was a big step forward from what I read. It's what the first Pre should have been. After that Palm should have realized that people wanted iPhones and slabs. Other than the never quite working GPS, I never really experienced "bugs" but I would agree that there was a lot of functionality that was never added and a few things that you could say weren't finished. And yes I would say that the stock Pre Plus was sluggish. Once overclocked to 1000Mhz it ran pretty well

'm not claiming webOS is hands down better than ICS. I also stated that ICS has more power or maybe I should say more functionality than webOS. It's not that webOS is better. It's that I liked how webOS worked better and I'm still a little disappointing with the ICS user interface. Sure it's a lot prettier than the Froyo and now Gingerbread that's on my wife's Fascinate, but in my eyes it functions only marginally better. I sort of like it, but I wish I liked it better.

My Galaxy Nexus is rooted and unlocked. No ROMs, just wifi tether. I'm not disappointed with the hardware. It's a beautiful phone and I'm quite happy with the specs. I love the GPS performance. I love that it has a voice API even it it's not perfect. Then are some things that I wish I liked better. I doubt I'll return it, but I still have this nagging feeling that I'm never going to be as happy with it as I had hoped and I needed to rant.

I believe you will be fine.. But just in case keep your nexus in pristine condition, which will alow you to sell it later for a great price. If android is just not for you I suggest a Iphone as weird as it may sound. Its boring as he11 because your ability to customize your phone is very limited. But your experience will be consistent and stable.. Remember that none of the platforms will have the multitasking webos offered. So that is something that will be non existent across the board.