My conspiracy theory on the borked multitasking

[crackberrytraitor]

So I installed the C9 Alpha 3 Rom, and overclocked the CPU to 1.8ghz. Multitasking works perfect and if the battery life is worse I haven't noticed, which honestly shocks me with the CPU vamped up. 3D games work just fine too, without effecting free RAM so I don't think the theory about video RAM holds water either. The only think I can think of is that sense is a ridiculous system hog that basically totally gums up the phone. If you have the know how, clean that crap off your phone just as fast as you can. Just a heads up, the video recorder doesn't work yet, still in beta.

 

[nuprotocol]

I hate it when people try to use the "It's just a phone" argument. I mean, you're right. It's just a phone. And technically, having a phone/smartphone is a luxury. We should be happy we can even make a phone call with it.
But here's the truth, it's "more than a phone" for some people. Our society has advanced to the point where these phones are being used more extensively by people in various fields. Some of us use it for grown up stuff (not just for playing angry birds). Do some people get over-heated? Sure. But we have no right to call their issues invalid (or exaggerated).
Now, the multitasking issue isn't being exaggerated. It's a valid issue. When a phone is being marketed as a high end "Android Phone", there are certain levels of expectations from an android phone. When I buy an android phone, I know I'm not gonna get the best battery life or smoothest buttery UI, I'm aware of that and i can live with that. But the last thing i expect is to get an android phone with bastardized multitasking. Now, I've heard people say "You're not buying an android phone, you're buying a 'Sense' phone". Well, in that case, why is "Android" being listed on the box? It's almost like false advertising, if you ask me. You're right, having to wait 3 secs for a webpage (you just saw 1 min ago) to re-reload isn't the end of the world. But is that what we've come to? having to settle for bad designs. We pay a lot of money for these devices, and we're not asking for perfection, just basic functionality (for a modern day smartphone). You know you have a problem when an iphone can [fake] multitask better than an android phone! I can live with bugs in a phone. But deliberate omission, that's what I have a problem with.

Some may say "If you don't like it, go return it". True. But it's not always that black & white. Some people (like myself), etf'ed our previous contracts and switched to AT&T (and signed 2 years of our life), specifically because of this phone. So, "returning" it won't undo that.
You may say, "Why did you buy the phone, without testing it first?". Well, I played with the demo, three times, and didn't notice this issue. I guess I wasn't really checking to see if it multitasks, because I figured that was a given. Stupid me. I guess that's why a lot of reviewers (and users) didn't catch it initially. And for some users who've caught it, they don't mind "managing" it. That's fine.
I guess from now on, before I buy a new android phone, I need to double check to see if it multitasks 'properly'. While I'm at it, I might as well check if it makes phone calls too. You never know. It might have been designed to aggressively kill phone calls after 10mins to conserve battery!
Where do you draw the line? Do we now have to check "everything" in a phone? Do phone reviewers (and users) now need to start checking every phone for every basic functionality?
Do android phones now need to start listing all their [basic] features on the box?

I ask because, this might be bigger than "multitasking". If HTC gets a pass on this, then what else is everyone gonna be doing? I'm psyched about the GS3, but now I'm wondering if Samsung has secretly crippled any basic android functionality, which may go undetected until a few beta testers (i.e. unlucky users) find out

Oh well, it's just a phone. Whatever...

amen and +1 x100. Thanks for posting your response. The HOX is an awesome phone and everything about it rocks except for the multitasking. We all know its just a freaking phone, but we didnt expect something native to android to be so borked.

My evo4g, 3D, Vivid, Droid, Droid x2, all of these phones handled it fine. The HOX cant even switch from one app and come right back w/o reloading. This does lower productivity for the phone, bc not all pages or apps come to where u leff off.

The issue is very real, but like me, I believe we deal with it bc the phone is great and we'll have roms soon thatll resolve this. But dont come on this thread trollin about its just a phone and you never seen this issue. You must use your HOX for calls only.

 

[sniffs]

I also disagree when people say "You bought a Sense phone"..

I bought an Android phone running ICS that happens to have a thick layered UI integrated into ICS.

There is no HTC/Sense marketplace.. it runs Android apps. If I buy a Toyota Supra and put a body kit on it, it's STILL A SUPRA.

HTC basically couldn't get memory optimization under control for whatever reason, maybe to get it to market quicker, or maybe because they just don't care. At this point, the higher ups at HTC say it's working as intended because they don't want to admit they biffed up.

Sense won't be on my phone forever.. when I get tired of it, and there's a working AOKP.. I'll be installing that instead.

 

[Distorted Loop]

I'm running the LeeDroid Sense based ROM. It's pared down Sense a but there still are some MT issues. When I was running ARHD and killed off most of Sense, the phone behaved perfectly fine.

The best thing you can do is get a third party launcher like Nova, then freeze or delete the Sense launcher and anything Sense you don't want with Titanium.

I love AOKP, but don't want to give up the nifty HTC camera software.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[npaladin-2000]

But dont come on this thread trollin about its just a phone and you never seen this issue. You must use your HOX for calls only.

1. It's just a phone.
2. I never see this issue
3. I hardly ever use my HOX for calls


What we have is a couple of very vocal people who appear to either A: have an issue with the design choices of the UI, or B: have installed software that is killing their apps, and either don't realize it or would prefer to blame someone else. Guys, if you hate the device THAT much, go exchange it, sell it, pay full price for something else if it's so horrible. But this is getting old.

 

[Distorted Loop]

Then stop reading the thread. If people want to moan a little what's it to you? Moaning that people are moaning is just a bit ironic, don't you think?



Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[crackberrytraitor]

I'm running the LeeDroid Sense based ROM. It's pared down Sense a but there still are some MT issues. When I was running ARHD and killed off most of Sense, the phone behaved perfectly fine.

The best thing you can do is get a third party launcher like Nova, then freeze or delete the Sense launcher and anything Sense you don't want with Titanium.

I love AOKP, but don't want to give up the nifty HTC camera software.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Camera's really not bad with C9 Alpha 3. Almost wondering if the dev modded the sense camera app or something. Only issue I have is lack of video recording.

 

[npaladin-2000]

Then stop reading the thread. If people want to moan a little what's it to you? Moaning that people are moaning is just a bit ironic, don't you think?



Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Not when the moaning is to the point of being self-inflicted.

"Oh I hate my device, the multitasking sucks, it's the worst thing in the world!"

"So why don't you go get another device if you hate this one so bad?"

"Why would I do that?"

"To keep from giving yourself ulcers and us headaches!"

 

[snoopgoat]

.... I never see this issue....

What we have is a couple of very vocal people who appear to either A: have an issue with the design choices of the UI, or B: have installed software that is killing their apps, and either don't realize it or would prefer to blame someone else...

Dude. If we installed something that was killing our apps, don't you think we'd know? Are we that stupid? This is not an issue of "blaming others for our problems".
When you claim to have never seen this issue, I'm inclined to believe:
a) you received a special unit from HTC
b) don't pay attention
c) in denial (or lying)
d) don't actually know what the issue is
e) you've noticed it, but think it's "normal".


Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[npaladin-2000]

I'm a systems administrator for a software company. One of the "systems" I administrate is the mail system, so I'm intimately involved with all of our mobile device provisioning. I do pay attention and know the platform quite well thank you. And I got my unit from an AT&T store, not from HTC.

I'd strongly advise you eBay your device and get something else. You obviously hate it.

 

[StoneRyno]

I'm not sure it's just this device. My one biggest negative for android is the reload problem. If I loaded a page in the browser stock or 3rd party when I return to that browser the page should already be loaded and instantly on my screen. It should not be loading it again from cache or from the URL. It doesn't do that on my PC or on webOS, but it does that on android because some programmers thought it was a good idea to kill apps or parts of the apps content you want to keep open. The browser is not the only app afflicted with this problem. Mint doesn't remain open at all. I discovered this since I need to switch between it and a couple other things when working with my finances and after tapping home and going to my other app(s) and then tapping on mint I'm back at the original view and have to navigate to where I was at before switching away. There are other examples as well that I can't recall offhand as they are for apps I use far less. I'm using a samsung epic (the one with the HW KB). There is plenty of RAM to run the few apps at a time I need to have remain running so it is a design problem and not a lack of RAM.

 

[snoopgoat]

...
I'd strongly advise you eBay your device and get something else. You obviously hate it.

Yep. I'm gonna do that. You know anyone looking to buy one?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[crackberrytraitor]

Yep. I'm gonna do that. You know anyone looking to buy one?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

Mail it to me and I'll root it, unlock it, OC it to 1.8ghz and flash it with CM9. Gimme 50 bucks for my trouble. It'll cost you less than ebaying/buying an S3.

 

[npaladin-2000]

Yep. I'm gonna do that. You know anyone looking to buy one?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

Tempting, but I usually like my alternate phone to be different from my primary.

 

[snoopgoat]

Mail it to me and I'll root it, unlock it, OC it to 1.8ghz and flash it with CM9. Gimme 50 bucks for my trouble. It'll cost you less than ebaying/buying an S3.

Is CM9 working perfectly on the HOX?

 

[anon(819941)]

Very good answers, npaladin2000

Anyways, whoever spoke of "it?s just a phone"?... I know I didn?t and my argument wasn?t even close. What I am saying is that, judging from what I am reading, the extent of the problem is:

1.- That people see app refreshes
2.- That returning to an open application may not take the user exactly where s/he left off.

...So what? Is that such big a deal that justifies all the whining, demeaning and insulting?

All I am saying is that things should be put into perspective and if this is indeed a problem (again, I don?t have it and it appears I am not alone), then I think it shoud be put in context with all the phone has to offer, not just "the phone sucks and HTC sucks even more".

I have seen a number of descriptions of this problem and a number of ways to reproduce it. I have tried all I have found and have never been able to, not once. Every time I return to an open application, it is exactly where I left it, be it a game, the stock web browser or other apps like Pocket, etc. When I bring one app from the background, it does take the blink of an eye to paint it after the animation finishes, but if that is a problem, well, I would stress my initial argument even further.

That said, I have ALWAYS had issues with multitasking, in every environment I have worked with, perhaps with the exception of Unix/Linux command line. Filling in a web form to come back later and see that I lost my input? You name the OS, I have seen it. How about exception handling errors, crashes, freezes, etc?... I don?t know, reading some of the comments in here, it feels like people are seeing errors for the first time on the One X while their (sensibly more expensive) PCs never failed once?...

People, this is a very advanced device which is way more than a phone and yes, it is expensive... So? If anybody can point me to a faultless operating system, even if it is 10 times as expensive and 10 times as old as Android, they deserve a prize. With that, I don?t mean we have to go with anything HTC throws at us, of course not, but I kinda get the feeling that this issue is probably not that significant if we can?t even reproduce it consistently among a few enthusiasts.

If one thing is true for sure is that nothing is perfect. The behavior around multitasking in a SGS3 or an iPhone4S may be more like what some people here want to see, but in turn they will get other things that are not as good. From there on, anybody?s free to waste money as they please, of course.

 

[crackberrytraitor]

Is CM9 working perfectly on the HOX?

Everything but video recording, and that should be fixed in the next week or two. Already on the 3rd revision.

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[snoopgoat]

Everything but video recording, and that should be fixed in the next week or two...

Nice. I'll check it out. I can live without the camcorder functionality (for now). How's the menu button thingy handled? Are the buttons re-mapped? I may have a couple other questions for you, since I'm an android noob (ex-webOS user). PM okay?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[crxssi]

You know, the way everyone is talking, they'd better not hope this is an ICS thing, or it'll show up on the GS3 too.

It's not an ICS thing, because I have been running ICS on my stock, Nexus Xoom tablet for several months and it doesn't behave like the One X/Evo LTE.

 

[crxssi]

Another setting that might help is changing the Background Process Limit in the Developer Options settings screen. By default it is set to "Standard Limit" but the UI allows you to choose between 0 and 4. I am not sure exactly how changing this value impacts the multitasking, but perhaps someone smarter than me knows. Personally, I didn't notice much of a difference. I'm trying to use Firefox now as my default browser to see if that makes any difference

That option either makes no difference or makes multitasking *worse*. It is a special developer option for testing software and has zero value for normal users or regular use.