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ICS General Impressions/Tips & Tricks

I'm running the .12 RUU now and for me it has been a bit snappier smoother running than the .10 leak.

Where did you get your copy from? I don't want to use any of those "limited speed" sites. I'll keep looking but a point in the right direction would be appreciated. In the meantime, was it just one file, or are two required like the OTA? I am hearing that the 7.1MB primer isn't needed when going from .10 to .12 but I haven't talked to anyone else who did it.

Also, have you noticed any feature changes, good or bad?
 
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"Honey my phone is broken after they gave me ICS!!! I think it's time to upgrade to a new bigger and badder HTC phone!!"
Free tip to get instant approval ... try this... Settings - Developer Options - check/select "Show Screen updates". :)

"Honey my phone is so slow. I really need that new quad core phone!!"
Free tip.... Settings - Developer options
... Window animation scale ... set to 10X
... Transition animation scale ... set to 10X :D

This is where my "epileptic seizure" comment was supposed to go.
 
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Those of you who performed factory resets:

Did your apps and/or other settings return to the phone from the cloud? I noticed when I went to settings > privacy, I had to select my account (gmail) for this feature to take effect. But I haven't tried a factory reset yet to verify what items restore.

My apps and settings weren't backed up in the cloud. I had to re-download everything and sign into my apps again. It's only a minor pain, but you can install apps from a pc (see my post above), and that makes it a little easier.

Sms and mms messages, call history, and settings don't get backed up. It's mostly contacts, I think, that get backed up.
 
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My apps and settings weren't backed up in the cloud. I had to re-download everything and sign into my apps again. It's only a minor pain, but you can install apps from a pc (see my post above), and that makes it a little easier.

Sms and mms messages, call history, and settings don't get backed up. It's mostly contacts, I think, that get backed up.


Contacts are backed up in a completely different place/way. What IBT means is if you use the 'supposed' backup settings option in Privacy menu will it actually remember your settings and/or app data. It says it will but like he said, you actually have to go to the privacy menu and tell it to back this stuff up.


@Olbriar - did you use the back up settings option in privacy menu? did it work?
 
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My ICS experience was brief. After not playing a great deal of my music library and eating battery like nobody's business I performed a factory reset tonight. I no more than started the setup process when I lost internet connection with an error stating I needed to insert my Sim card. Needless to say... I'll not be setting up the phone tonight.

Oddly enough, I bothered to look at my phone later and it was working. Must have been a glitch or the local tower was down. In any event... I'm up and running and a factory reset set things right.
Actually, this sounds like a bad SIM card, or worst-case scenario a bad connection to the SIM card inside the phone (ie. bad phone).

If this continues, I would call tech support and get a new SIM card and if all else fails get the unit replaces.
 
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Contacts are backed up in a completely different place/way. What IBT means is if you use the 'supposed' backup settings option in Privacy menu will it actually remember your settings and/or app data. It says it will but like he said, you actually have to go to the privacy menu and tell it to back this stuff up.


@Olbriar - did you use the back up settings option in privacy menu? did it work?

I thought I would give it a try.. yes. I had some settings saved but it did not save my downloaded apps. I had to hand retrieve those apps as per normal. I had a list compiled and all of that went quite smoothly. As with all changes, I did not want to install everything I had prior to ICS. The wipe of the phone was a good time to toss some of the less/never used apps that I've accumulated since getting the Rezound.

Actually, this sounds like a bad SIM card, or worst-case scenario a bad connection to the SIM card inside the phone (ie. bad phone).

If this continues, I would call tech support and get a new SIM card and if all else fails get the unit replaces.

I'm watching the SIM card problem closely. You might well be correct. I had net connectivity this morning when I went to work. At some point I lost the net. When I discovered the problem I was nearly out of battery.
I charged the phone on my return to the olbriar ranch and had the net when I powered up. Later I noticed I had lost the net again but just momentarily.
I've been solid for the past six hours.
 
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After a few days, I've come across another few minor glitches. FOr some reason, my Facebook authentication keeps failing at random points during the day and I have to sign back in. Also, every night for the last few nights, my phone disconnects from my wireless connection.

I did a factory reset & that's when both of these issues started. Any ideas?
 
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not sure if this has been mentioned before other than in the Verizon notes....
On any desktop page/panel, press and hold the red Home button on the lower left.... and we get to see or pick a recently accessed app... (must press/hold the Home button long enough:))
This is not new, Android has had this for some time although the way it is presented in ICS is much nicer than older versions.
 
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Where did you get your copy from? I don't want to use any of those "limited speed" sites. I'll keep looking but a point in the right direction would be appreciated. In the meantime, was it just one file, or are two required like the OTA? I am hearing that the 7.1MB primer isn't needed when going from .10 to .12 but I haven't talked to anyone else who did it.

Also, have you noticed any feature changes, good or bad?

I downloaded it from here:
ICS is live! - xda-developers

It is a single zip file but it is a zip inside of a zip so you need to unzip it and use the unzipped file.
I think the problem that I was having getting it to install at first was that I didn't unzip it before using it. I have read several posts recommending installing it twice so that's what I did.

As far as I can tell the features are the same as the .10 leak. It fixed my sd mounting problem and everything else seems the same but smoother.
 
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My battery life is significantly worse after the ICS upgrade. The phone is tearing through my extended battery in a day, and a factory reset hasn't helped anything (though the phone is silky smooth now).

I've given it two full charge cycles now, the second ending last night at 11:15 PM. The phone was off for that charge, and when it completed at 11:15, I turned on the phone and unplugged it, and then turned off wifi and the mobile networks to save battery overnight (something I've always done since my days with the Incredible).

When I woke up this morning, 6 hours and 50 minutes later, the battery had gone from 100% down to 83%--I've never experienced battery consumption like this before. Cell standby usage was at 41% and phone idle was at 40%.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to take this to Verizon and try to get it replaced, unless anybody has a better idea.
 

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Ok, so I have has this phone, but am quickly realizing I'm lost. I finally got the ics update this past week (whoo hoo) and am havin some issues. Mainly the battery. It drains a lot quicker and gets a lot hotter. Used to easily last a day, now I'm charging it in the morning and again during the day. I have read on other places that it is also happening to other people so they r being told to factory reset or something. Since I have never done this (I kno what it is tho, so I don't need caught up on any of the advantages/cons of it) I do have a couple questions. A) I do have my.contacts backed up, but is there a way to backup my music and pictures? I just backed them up on my computer, but was wondering if there was an easier way. B) is there a way.to backup my a? Iant to have to redownload every one :/ basically is there a way to backup everything on my phone, if not, what will b lost? Lastly, I'm an idiot and I can't even figure.out how to do the reset. Lol holding the power button just gives me restart and shut down. Help is greatly appreciated! I am loving ics by the way! Only problem is this dam battery!! Also, could it b because I have the extended battery? Doubtful because I have been using it fine before the update, but again, I do not kno :/ think it just needs a factory reboot.
 
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I had wireless turned off when I got home last night, and my home network is remembered in my phone. I got a notification this morning that wireless was automatically turned on because I was in range of a remembered network for a while. That's a new feature, right? You can turn off the setting under settings > Wi-Fi > menu > advanced, but I think the default is on.
 
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I had wireless turned off when I got home last night, and my home network is remembered in my phone. I got a notification this morning that wireless was automatically turned on because I was in range of a remembered network for a while. That's a new feature, right? You can turn off the setting under settings > Wi-Fi > menu > advanced, but I think the default is on.

I always forget to turn WiFi off when I leave my house. I downloaded Verizon WiFi Auto-on and it works pretty well for me. Turns out off when I go out and back on when I come home.
 
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No experience with Facebook sorry.

I hate to say it again but a factory reset would make a WORLD of difference. Make sure contacts are backed up with google, go to Menu>settings>privacy>back up to google to get settings/etc to get backed up as well and wipe the phone out.

Trust me, you won't regret it

Never did a factory reset before. If I follow your advice and make sure all my contacts are synced, the only other thing I have to do is go to Menu>settings>privacy>back up and that should take care of everything else?

Thank you
 
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My experience with the stock music player post ICS update was sketchy at best; would not play songs that previously worked (sorry I have no idea what types of files they were). Ended up doing a factory reset with sd wipe then re added all my music...all the songs work again!

I'm noticing a problem where I'll be listening to a song with the stock music app, then a notification will go off (new mail, new SMS, etc), and immediately afterwards - when the song comes back on -the music player jumps up in volume about 20%. Anyone else?
 
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Here's another interesting one... I have a yahoo imap account set up in the stock mail app. I like it a bit better than using the yahoo mail app. Since the update, I don't seem to be able to set it up to push... only poll every 15 minutes. The upshot of this is when I delete a new email in the inbox... it appears as a new email in the trash folder on the next 15 minute polling. So I have to deal with each email twice, essentially. If I set up an email account using the yahoo automatic setup option, it will set up a push account, but it doesn't see all my folders (I think they're called "smart folders" on the yahoo mail app). Thoughts or suggestions? (besides "just use the yahoo email app) Thanks.
 
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Contacts are backed up in a completely different place/way. What IBT means is if you use the 'supposed' backup settings option in Privacy menu will it actually remember your settings and/or app data. It says it will but like he said, you actually have to go to the privacy menu and tell it to back this stuff up.


@Olbriar - did you use the back up settings option in privacy menu? did it work?

As I posted in another thread, after a factory reset, I seem to have lost most of the stuff (like backed up data and settings from my apps) I backed up on my SD card, and I'm not sure why yet.

I had the backup apps and restore apps boxes both checked, and I have my Google account shown as the account to use. So far, I have seen no evidence that any of my settings OR data has been restored. Maybe the restore process hasn't happened yet. I wish I knew if it was working or not. And I wish there were a manual way of restoring these things.
 
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As I posted in another thread, after a factory reset, I seem to have lost most of the stuff (like backed up data and settings from my apps) I backed up on my SD card, and I'm not sure why yet.

I had the backup apps and restore apps boxes both checked, and I have my Google account shown as the account to use. So far, I have seen no evidence that any of my settings OR data has been restored. Maybe the restore process hasn't happened yet. I wish I knew if it was working or not. And I wish there were a manual way of restoring these things.

Does your phone run smoother now?
 
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WY... this won't help you now, but perhaps someone yet to do the upgrade. I made copies of several files in the "sdcard" folder (which we all now know is not the actual SD card) and put them in a file on the "ext_sd" (which IS the actual SD card). I copied much of the "Android" folder (which has a lot of data including settings for a lot of the apps), some from the "data" folder, some from the "DCIM" folder and many of the folders created by the various apps that I use (where they store their own settings). After doing the upgrade, I then pasted those folders back into the "sdcard" make sure not to replace any files when I got the warning asking if I wanted to replace an existing file with the same name. Most of my apps preserved their settings or I was able to use the apps "restore settings" or "restore from backup". Saved a whole lotta rebuilding time.
 
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As I posted in another thread, after a factory reset, I seem to have lost most of the stuff (like backed up data and settings from my apps) I backed up on my SD card, and I'm not sure why yet.

I had the backup apps and restore apps boxes both checked, and I have my Google account shown as the account to use. So far, I have seen no evidence that any of my settings OR data has been restored. Maybe the restore process hasn't happened yet. I wish I knew if it was working or not. And I wish there were a manual way of restoring these things.

I signed into my verizon account today to look at something else, and I had a message that seemed to know if I had factory reset my phone and it asked if I wanted to restore. Maybe check your verizon account?
 
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WY... this won't help you now, but perhaps someone yet to do the upgrade. I made copies of several files in the "sdcard" folder (which we all now know is not the actual SD card) and put them in a file on the "ext_sd" (which IS the actual SD card). I copied much of the "Android" folder (which has a lot of data including settings for a lot of the apps), some from the "data" folder, some from the "DCIM" folder and many of the folders created by the various apps that I use (where they store their own settings). After doing the upgrade, I then pasted those folders back into the "sdcard" make sure not to replace any files when I got the warning asking if I wanted to replace an existing file with the same name. Most of my apps preserved their settings or I was able to use the apps "restore settings" or "restore from backup". Saved a whole lotta rebuilding time.

You're right, it doesn't help me now :)

I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure that before the ICS update, the "sdcard" folder actually pointed to the SD card, and the "ext_sd" folder pointed to the interal storage. I'm pretty sure I did a bunch of experiments to verify this at one point, like the fact that "sdcard" had a capacity of 16GB and "ext_sd" had only 10GB.

Anyway, this seems to be reversed and that's why I was confused. Either that, or I somehow confused the two mightily. Anyway, I'm kind of paying for it now.
 
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I signed into my verizon account today to look at something else, and I had a message that seemed to know if I had factory reset my phone and it asked if I wanted to restore. Maybe check your verizon account?

amswink, that's great! I'll give that a try. Although I have a feeling that will mostly restore app settings and data, not some of the files that I lost. Fortunately, I have (slightly dated) backups for most of the things.
 
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