Official HTC ROM 2.73.405.5 Update - Impressions

[Gibb]

Ok, now that it's finally available (in Europe at least)..

you can post your impressions of the new update in here!

Upgrade instructions can be found here:
ROM Upgrade for HTC Hero_2.73.405.5

So.. is it really much faster?

 

[prepbgg]

1. HTC need to streamline and professionalise the update process a great deal if they expect 'ordinary' users to be able to do it.
- they need to integrate into the process a full backup and restore or introduce some other means of ensuring that all calibration, settings, data and apps are preserved.
- there needs to be a lot more handholding during the process. I'm a fairly experienced computer user and several times (especially during the installation of HTC Sync) I was left wondering exactly what to do next.
- if turning off anti-virus is important there need to be more precise instructions as to how to do this: as I say I'm fairly experienced but, although I thought I had turned Norton Internet Security anti-virus off, when I went to turn it back on again later it was already on.
- also, surely, users need to be warned to disconnect from the internet (and told how) while AV is off and reminded to turn AV back on at the end of the process.
- these are just a few thoughts that occurred to me.

2. Second impression is a question: was it worth it?
- the Hero wasn't particularly slow before the update and isn't (to me) noticeably quicker afterwards. Perhaps the extent of the 'lag' problem varied according to how early your model was (I was on build 1.76.405.6). Perhaps some apps (or combinations of apps) slowed the machine down more than others.
- the WiFi disconnection problem doesn't seem to have been solved: within hours of upgrading my Hero lost its WiFi connection in a place where my laptop never does.

 

[batooee]

At first I was very pleased with the update, the phone was much faster. Now I find the phone crashes, which never happened before. It just doesnt feel as solid anymore (if that makes sense?

I do now question whether i should have updated, as I would rather have a stable slightly laggy phone, than one that crashes and is now a little unpredictable

 

[DereksDontRun]

spotted the update and installed it, noticed a few problems so found this site on google...

before the update my Hero seemed "good to ok" - generally good but became very sluggish at times (to the degree the 10min snooze took nearly an hour to buzz once - certainly a surprised as I stepped out of the house in the morning). Also know i missed 1 txt which i thought was a one-off, but now worried after reading the post about missing sms's on the hero here.

updated, using MyBackup app to save contacts/settings - everything seemed to be successful.

noticed it's a bit quicker, but not had a good "play" but, worryingly, within 10mins of restarting it after the backup restore i got a "process android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly" error. No idea what triggered it, think it was just on the home screen at the time.

Also noticed my location is no longer being found... anyone else with this problem? Not had a chance to go outside to try gps but the rough location from the mobile networks doesn't seem to do anything (whether turned on or off through "My Location settings") - neither Google Maps nor the weather app (stand alone or built into the default clock) seem to play ball.

This evening I'm thinking of doing a factory reset again and backup from my home-pc's contacts instead of the MyBackup to see if that helps.

 

[batooee]

Im getting the same "process android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly" error. Very annoying!

 

[whytey]

Did the upgrade about 24 hours ago:

Fixed:

• Can access HTTPS sites on GPRS/3G now
• Much quicker Home screens (but no weather animations)
• BT to my car has been reliable so far but this could be a latent issue waiting to occur again.

Unsure:

• Trackball flashing for notifications. The ball would continue to flash for long after I had read the text/mail/chat that caused it to flash.

Not Fixed:

• Annoyng WiFi issue whereby I am connected but can't surf the web via home WiFi AP (or others I have tried). Seems to be an ongoing and yet to be diagnosed issue.
• LED flashes when I get Gmail Talk message or new Gmail mail, but not for other incoming events.

With regards to the upgrade process, I was quite pleased at how easy it was to setup my phone after updating the ROM. Just added my account details, downloaded the couple of apps I wanted and setup my Scenes. The biggest pain was getting a Windows XP machine, since I am a linux boy!

I will add to the above lists if I remember any other (non-)fixes.

Cheers,
Whytey

 

[Alsybub]

Did the upgrade about 24 hours ago:

Fixed:

• Can access HTTPS sites on GPRS/3G now
• Much quicker Home screens (but no weather animations)
• BT to my car has been reliable so far but this could be a latent issue waiting to occur again.

Unsure:

• Trackball flashing for notifications. The ball would continue to flash for long after I had read the text/mail/chat that caused it to flash.

Not Fixed:

• Annoyng WiFi issue whereby I am connected but can't surf the web via home WiFi AP (or others I have tried). Seems to be an ongoing and yet to be diagnosed issue.
• LED flashes when I get Gmail Talk message or new Gmail mail, but not for other incoming events.

With regards to the upgrade process, I was quite pleased at how easy it was to setup my phone after updating the ROM. Just added my account details, downloaded the couple of apps I wanted and setup my Scenes. The biggest pain was getting a Windows XP machine, since I am a linux boy!

I will add to the above lists if I remember any other (non-)fixes.

Cheers,
Whytey

Always good to have Windows installed on another drive

 

[garbageman]

Seems to me that all the problems occur when one restores settings from backup after flashing the updated rom. And most of the problems appear to have something to do with the branded heros under contract. I bought mine simfree and haven't had any problems so far, just noticed a slightly increase in response speed after updating and no more lag. Everything is workig exactly as it supposed to work. Didn't restore any backup except the contacts.

 

[keithwright]

I have a white unbranded Hero and the same 'acore' error is happening to me,
It is annoying and pops up on a random basis. From the little research i have done it seems that it could be caused by Facebook and contact integration. One post suggest just leaving the phone alone and it will sort itself out after a couple of days, so i am trying that out to first before i take it any further.

If anyone else is experiencing this and has a better explanation it would be greatly appreciated if you could share your knowledge

...apart from that i think the update is great, to me everything seems that much more solid - screens snap from one to the other. What use to annoy me was how slow scrolling through contacts was and that has disappeared completely

 

[hoppy1986]

I have a white unbranded Hero and the same 'acore' error is happening to me,
It is annoying and pops up on a random basis. From the little research i have done it seems that it could be caused by Facebook and contact integration. One post suggest just leaving the phone alone and it will sort itself out after a couple of days, so i am trying that out to first before i take it any further.

If anyone else is experiencing this and has a better explanation it would be greatly appreciated if you could share your knowledge

...apart from that i think the update is great, to me everything seems that much more solid - screens snap from one to the other. What use to annoy me was how slow scrolling through contacts was and that has disappeared completely

i havnt got an explanation but i can confirm that after a couple of days it goes away, i see that error message about 5 times after i updated. now (2 days later) i havnt seen it.

 

[DereksDontRun]

I have a white unbranded Hero and the same 'acore' error is happening to me,

like you I have the white unbranded version (not that i imagine the colour has anything to do with it).

the acore process error I've seen on mine, after further probing, seems to appear when it's trying to auto-sync the Google contacts or calender. Noticed that when i received the error i gained a little exclamation mark next to the sync circle in the middle of the notification bar. I turned off the Google auto sync and not seen the error since - but admit i dont have it linked to my Facebook (yet).

 

[DereksDontRun]

i havnt got an explanation but i can confirm that after a couple of days it goes away, i see that error message about 5 times after i updated. now (2 days later) i havnt seen it.

if it goes away after a couple days, could it be that if it's linked to syncing Google contacts (or callender) that after a couple days it's finally managed it and thus why you dont have it appearing again?

Presumably adding a few contacts to your phone would cause it to try and sync again after a while - does this trigger the error to appear again?

 

[Nips]

I upgrade the firmware the other day using a thread on here, is it worth me upgrading this using HTC update or shall i just leave it as it is?

 

[hoppy1986]

I upgrade the firmware the other day using a thread on here, is it worth me upgrading this using HTC update or shall i just leave it as it is?

well u have voided your waranty now so i dont see why you need to do the official update.

i was so close to using the leaked rom but i decided not to on advice of a friend.

you wanna hope your handest doesnt break or htc will charge you for a repair.

 

[hoppy1986]

if it goes away after a couple days, could it be that if it's linked to syncing Google contacts (or callender) that after a couple days it's finally managed it and thus why you dont have it appearing again?

Presumably adding a few contacts to your phone would cause it to try and sync again after a while - does this trigger the error to appear again?

possibly i dont know. im new to this whole, google android thing. never even had a google account till i got my hero lol

as for adding contacts to trigger the error, its worth a try to identify the problem

 

[Nips]

well u have voided your waranty now so i dont see why you need to do the official update.

i was so close to using the leaked rom but i decided not to on advice of a friend.

you wanna hope your handest doesnt break or htc will charge you for a repair.

Cant' you delete the firmware to factory then reinstalled the download from HTC?

 

[batooee]

after some probing Ive also found my problems relate to the auto-sync of Contacts. After turning it off everything seems fine. When I turn it back on I get the red exclamation mark...and a force close error.

 

[hoppy1986]

Cant' you delete the firmware to factory then reinstalled the download from HTC?

it doesnt matter htc will know youve rooted the handset

by all means try

i did a factory reset after updating the rom, and it didnt go back to the old rom so.....

 

[hoppy1986]

after some probing Ive also found my problems relate to the auto-sync of Contacts. After turning it off everything seems fine. When I turn it back on I get the red exclamation mark...and a force close error.

ouch!

 

[Nips]

it doesnt matter htc will know youve rooted the handset

by all means try

i did a factory reset after updating the rom, and it didnt go back to the old rom so.....

ok, same with mine after a factory reset, im not bothered about HTC knowing im more bothered about updates in the future, if HTC release a new ROM tomorrow does it mean that i cannot upgrade because i haven't got the official ROM update?

 

[hoppy1986]

ok, same with mine after a factory reset, im not bothered about HTC knowing im more bothered about updates in the future, if HTC release a new ROM tomorrow does it mean that i cannot upgrade because i haven't got the official ROM update?

as this rom was leaked before the official one came out im sure it will happen in the future so i wouldnt worry

 

[valos1479]

before the firmware update the phone would piss me off alot ..its a great phone but if u text alot ...the lag was getting pretty nutty ...sometimes

after the update its a whole new phone at least for me i can have as many texts open as i want with no hickups...everything stays very smooth ...i love it ...

 

[indieboy]

I'm on Orange with an HTC HERO.

Brilliant phone.

Found it was getting a little buggy and slow, to the point where it was embarrassing to show an iPhone user your phone!

After the update, I have found the phone to be a little quicker between pages and menu. Also opening apps are a little faster.

Also I've notice my reception has picked up a bit. I was on 3 before with a Nokia N95 8GB and found I had better reception at home, work and my partners on 3 than with Orange. Now I'm finding I actually get coverage!

The only thing that I can say bad about the update is the music player. I use MP3s (haven't had a change to convert them to anything smaller yet adn I dont use itunes to use the ACC versions) I find my music stutters or lags during the song and/or changing tracks. And it's not like I have anything else running in the background and being on the tube with no signal shouldn't interfere either!

The Camera upgrade is a little cool, being able to touch where you want the camera to focus but I have to admit the performance is still poor, low light shots are horrible and the camera is slow to take a picture. I loved taking shots on my N95 but starting to come to the conclusion it will never be the same on my Hero.

Can anyone tell me what am I missing from Orange? The update was generic and wiped everything but I have no idea what I'm missing. Was there a radio app on this?

One last thing, could anyone help me to understand what Rooting the handset is or does? Does that void warranty? Does it speed up the handset?

sorry if I seem a newbie but Symbian to Android is gonna take a little getting use to!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Slug]

One last thing, could anyone help me to understand what Rooting the handset is or does?

What Can I Do With Root?

 

[Jseven]

Having the unbranded Hero on AT&T is amazing. Having it after the update is FANTASTIC.

I originally did the Nordic Update to the 2.7 ROM. It was fast and all. It still felt a bit of. Assuming it was what the Nordic Users were reporting. Some menus were fast others weren't. When switching to the application list it took about one second for the speed to kick in. Not much of a problem, but still annoying.

The Europe update came out. And While I am not sure what exactly is different it certainly feels different. All menus snap instantly. I have had no slow downs. The phone seems to be on par if not faster than other phones (especially after the learning curve of getting to the same place with so many options). The sense UI just seems to give me more information in one click then the "faster" iPhone 3GS. Before I get off topic let me list some minor improvements I've noticed in just the 2.7 ROMS.

- The Haptic FeedBack seems to have a deeper feeling. Not longer, but the press feels great.
- No lag when opening menus
-Better WiFi signal representation.( Received 1 more bar in the same place I use my phone
-Better Flash Response in the Browser

Over all not a huge difference. I did get one hiccup where the weather widget looped in the updating screen. Fixed it by removing it and adding it again. Still working.