Help WTF - How Could They Make This Any Poorer?

[droidx_fan]

I finally gave up on the 2.3.1.5 upgrade working the bugs out and did a factory reset. Synced with App Brain, backed up various apps (such as touchdown) to the SD, did everything I thought I was supposed to do in order to make the restore work. What a major freaking joke!

The only backup to the SD that worked was the SMS Backup and Restore, it did in fact work flawlessly. Touchdown, not at all nor any of the others such as Folder Organizer. Said they couldn't find the backup file even though they were clearly on the SD Card. I aslo had the automatic backup set in the privacy settings along with automatic restore.

Many of the Apps did not reload automatically. Even numerous purchased apps didn't automatically show up on App Brain or on the market. Had to go to Gmail and track down each one that was purchased, search for it and then reinstall.

Bottom line, I probably have 5 hours plus into this deal and still a number more to go to restore the phone.

Love Verizon Network, DroidX as a phone to call with is superb but frankly, Android sucks big time. It is simply unfathomable to me that people earning a living could design something so poorly. I did several upgrades with the iPhone and there was never a single hitch. Of course, I never had to do a factory reset either, it just worked. I wish I had some of the koolaid all the Android lovers are drinking, in fact, a whole pitcher. I drop this POS in it and then go buy something that actually works for me instead of me working for it.

 

[Tumeg]

I finally gave up on the 2.3.1.5 upgrade working the bugs out and did a factory reset. Synced with App Brain, backed up various apps (such as touchdown) to the SD, did everything I thought I was supposed to do in order to make the restore work. What a major freaking joke!

The only backup to the SD that worked was the SMS Backup and Restore, it did in fact work flawlessly. Touchdown, not at all nor any of the others such as Folder Organizer. Said they couldn't find the backup file even though they were clearly on the SD Card. I aslo had the automatic backup set in the privacy settings along with automatic restore.

Many of the Apps did not reload automatically. Even numerous purchased apps didn't automatically show up on App Brain or on the market. Had to go to Gmail and track down each one that was purchased, search for it and then reinstall.

Bottom line, I probably have 5 hours plus into this deal and still a number more to go to restore the phone.

Love Verizon Network, DroidX as a phone to call with is superb but frankly, Android sucks big time. It is simply unfathomable to me that people earning a living could design something so poorly. I did several upgrades with the iPhone and there was never a single hitch. Of course, I never had to do a factory reset either, it just worked. I wish I had some of the koolaid all the Android lovers are drinking, in fact, a whole pitcher. I drop this POS in it and then go buy something that actually works for me instead of me working for it.

I'm completely in the same boat.
I am having SO many problems with my Droid X (hardware and OS wise), that just won't get resolved. Everything keeps "force closing" and every so often my phone will just restart or freeze. I did a factory reset and used my phone for a few days downloading\using as few apps as possible, to see if my problem was from an app. The problems persisted.

I am currently waiting for my 3rd replacement [I have gotten the phone replaced only due to problems with the phone itself.] - on each one so far, I have had the same problems in the OS, but different problems with the hardware of the phone.

I hope this Verizon iPhone is true, and will come soon.

EDIT: I will admit - if the Android OS ran smoothly [as advertised], I would be willing to put up with Motorola's TERRIBLE quality-control. The two combined, are just making it all a nightmare.
I have had to "start from scratch" 5 times on this phone, with only owning it for 5 weeks. Each time, I invest HOURS of my time restoring everything.
In preparation for my next replacement, I have purchased "MyBackup Pro" which supposedly backs up all of my apps, settings, data, etc. to the SD so I can simply restore it all in one go, when I get my replacement - I PRAY that this works.

 

[tom108]

titanium backup is a nice way to backup and restore your apps. i have never had any problems with my apps restoring from the market or from TB. i am not saying i have not heard of your problem but i have not experienced it at all and i flash new roms quite frequently. I have to do restores each time. it never takes me more that about 30 minutes at the most to have my phone set back the way i had it.

if i were you i would take some time to look into the many backup options that are around to make restoring easy.

 

[droidx_fan]

titanium backup is a nice way to backup and restore your apps. i have never had any problems with my apps restoring from the market or from TB. i am not saying i have not heard of your problem but i have not experienced it at all and i flash new roms quite frequently. I have to do restores each time. it never takes me more that about 30 minutes at the most to have my phone set back the way i had it.

if i were you i would take some time to look into the many backup options that are around to make restoring easy.

Unless I'm missing something, you have to root the phone to use Titanium Backup. It simply seems strange to me that one would have to put so much effort into a mass produced device in order to get it to work correctly.

 

[cbaty08]

Unless I'm missing something, you have to root the phone to use Titanium Backup. It simply seems strange to me that one would have to put so much effort into a mass produced device in order to get it to work correctly.

SO MUCH EFFORT? Really, to root a phone?

1. Download universal Androot
2. Put it on phones SD card
3. Install apk from SD card to phone
4. Run the apk to root phone (one-click)
... and done

I find it pitiful that people come in here wanting to use a phone for more than what was advertized or what it came preloaded with, without putting in a little elbow grease.

If you ever need help there is plenty of that around here if you ever need it.

AND.. I might say that you are in a small boat in feeling the way you do about android/the X.... MANY users here are very happy... users that know way more about this phone/OS than you....

 

[ekyle]

Runs fine for me after a cache wipe and hard reset. Worked fine before the 2.2 update too. Unrooted.

 

[droidx_fan]

SO MUCH EFFORT? Really, to root a phone?

1. Download universal Androot
2. Put it on phones SD card
3. Install apk from SD card to phone
4. Run the apk to root phone (one-click)
... and done

I find it pitiful that people come in here wanting to use a phone for more than what was advertized or what it came preloaded with, without putting in a little elbow grease.

If you ever need help there is plenty of that around here if you ever need it.

AND.. I might say that you are in a small boat in feeling the way you do about android/the X.... MANY users here are very happy... users that know way more about this phone/OS than you....

Perhaps you're a mind reader and can tell me what more I'm asking the phone to do than was advertised? Not lock up? Not take 10 seconds to react when a button is clicked? Not require that the battery be pulled once or twice a day to reboot the system? To just work? So you, in your pompous, arrogant wisdom decide, above Verizon and Motorola, that I should have to void my warranty by tinkering with the phone? Wow, you are one omnipotent dude, really!


And small boat? Perhaps you should read through this forum. If you consider the Titanic small, then perhaps you're right. Most people won't even voice their frustrations when people like you try to shout them down when they complain. But enough certainly have voiced complaints and described problems that even you should recognize it.

 

[droidx_fan]

And just for the helluva it, I thought I'd take your advice and root before I run over this POS phone and go back to get something that actually works.

So I logged into xda developers, went through all the steps and the phone won't download the file for Androot.

You say, just download it to your computer and then install it that way? Well guess what sweetiepie, since the freaking Froyo update, this POS won't link with the computer via USB!

Thanks for the help, it was invaluable.

 

[bbuck002]

@droidx_fan...sorry you are experiencing the problems you are...if you are using appbrain to backup and restore your apps, it tricked me at first too... i've learned that when you factory reset or receive a replacement phone and dl appbrain, it creates a new backup file on their website. In order to undo this, go to appbrain.com (preferably from a desktop), log in (i think it just requires your gmail login/pass), look in the top left of the screen and you should see a list of devices, you should have one for everytime you reset then reinstalled appbrain (i don't know why the devs have it make a new file everytime you initially log in after a redownload of appbrain), click on the different devices in the list to find the one with all your apps listed and merge that file with the newest one, go to your device and resync. then appbrain will let you reinstall all your apps from your phone... i know this is a long description (i wanted to be thorough), but it never takes more than about 15 minutes to reinstall my apps and I probably have about 25-30 installed. if you have any questions/problems going thru this, please just contact me...

@tumeg and really anyone that does a data backup then factory reset, if you are backing up all your phones data, doing a reset, then reinstalling that backed up data, you are returning your phone to the state that it was in before the factory reset and effectively wasting that time...I would only recommend backing up contacts (gmail does this pretty much automatically) and apps (recommend appbrain, see above procedure), save your sms messages if you really want to by backing up to sd card, but if you are having problems with the OS, it is most likely being caused by corrupted data on your phone. if you are backing up this corrupted data and reinstalling it on a factory reset you are not gaining anything. honestly my X is running MUCH, MUCH smoother since not backing up data...and i didn't lose anything other than some game data that isn't anything I just can't start over...

good luck with your devices, wish i could help more, and i have to say that i agree that most people probably do not have many issues with this phone, if you compare the number of people on the forums with issues (here and others) to the number of DX's in use i think the second number would greatly outweigh the first...remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease...

 

[SniperofFear]

It's not so much an Android problem as much as it is just Motorola problem.

 

[Tumeg]

@tumeg and really anyone that does a data backup then factory reset, if you are backing up all your phones data, doing a reset, then reinstalling that backed up data, you are returning your phone to the state that it was in before the factory reset and effectively wasting that time...I would only recommend backing up contacts (gmail does this pretty much automatically) and apps (recommend appbrain, see above procedure), save your sms messages if you really want to by backing up to sd card, but if you are having problems with the OS, it is most likely being caused by corrupted data on your phone. if you are backing up this corrupted data and reinstalling it on a factory reset you are not gaining anything. honestly my X is running MUCH, MUCH smoother since not backing up data...and i didn't lose anything other than some game data that isn't anything I just can't start over...

Thanks for your response;
I used Appbrain for all of my previous resets, and absolutely HATED having to basically re-install each app, even though they were all right there for me. With MyBackup Pro, I can back up the APK's to my SD, then just restore them to the internal memory and boom - they are right there, [supposedly] instantly. I'll see how this works, once my replacement comes in.
I should have been more specific when I said "data" - In the MyBackup Pro app you can back up "Data" and select what exactly is backed up. I am backing up my call logs, text messages, bookmarks, user dictionary, and my Smart Keyboard Pro settings. So the system settings are not backing up...
However, since my last post I decided to go through my 125 apps and delete the ones I really don't NEED or even USE. I am now down to 79, and the phone is running MUCH smoother (as expected). So I either had a corrupted app that was causing all of my problems (When I first got the phone, I traced a random auto-restart problem back to an app), or I got rid of some apps that required something to be running in the background, causing my phone to slow down dramatically.

But so far, my only problem is still with the in-ear speaker (I suffer from that "buzzing" problem that many people have reported). My replacement was suppose to be here yesterday, but I guess FedEx isn't as strict with their overnight packages, as UPS is.

 

[Roze]

Hi, I just want to remind everyone here about the AndroidForums rules. Please do not bicker with each other and attack fellow members. If you have a comment or opinion on something, then state them. Insulting members is not allow. This will be the only warning given. If you don't like a post, please use the

button for a Moderator to look at. I've edited posts with rude comments or meant to stir trouble.

Thank you,
-Roze-

 

[droidx_fan]

bbuck, thanks for your response, there are some very helpful ideas there. I appreciate it.

 

[droidx_fan]

bbuck, I went to appbrain.com on my pc. Signed in. Unfortunately, there is no list of devices whatsoever. I did a sync on appbrain a couple of minutes before I did the factory reset. I have to say, not surprising, par for the course in my experience with the DroidX.

 

[bbuck002]

sorry, i just looked at it again and it is not a device list, but an app list...heres a picture, its circled in red

 

[droidx_fan]

bbuck, that worked! Oddly enough, one list had one name and the other list had an entirely different name. If not for that, I'd have picked it up when I checked the other day.

Thanks for the help though, I was able to recover a few apps that previously was missing.

 

[bbuck002]

glad i could help...i know that 2.2 update has screwed with our phones, but i've found other really good advice on fixes here...and to me it's part of the fun of having these devices, so long as it properly functions as a phone cuz its the only one i have and thats the main function...i mean i've never gone into a relationship with any computer that i didn't understand that i was going to have my work cut out for me to make things run the way i think that it should...

again goodluck, and i'm glad i could help you out...

 

[droidx_fan]

glad i could help...i know that 2.2 update has screwed with our phones, but i've found other really good advice on fixes here...and to me it's part of the fun of having these devices, so long as it properly functions as a phone cuz its the only one i have and thats the main function...i mean i've never gone into a relationship with any computer that i didn't understand that i was going to have my work cut out for me to make things run the way i think that it should...

again goodluck, and i'm glad i could help you out...

bbuck, my idea of fun is playing golf, hanging out with friends, playing pool, watching NFL football, etc.. LOL I understand that any hi tech device is going to require some time investment to get it fine tuned to my needs. But I don't feel a mass produced device for consumers, such as a cell phone, should have as many bugs and problems as the DroidX so obviously does. That is just piss poor implementation by the OS Developer, Motorola and Verizon.

 

[crboone]

@droidx_fan...sorry you are experiencing the problems you are...if you are using appbrain to backup and restore your apps, it tricked me at first too... i've learned that when you factory reset or receive a replacement phone and dl appbrain, it creates a new backup file on their website. In order to undo this, go to appbrain.com (preferably from a desktop), log in (i think it just requires your gmail login/pass), look in the top left of the screen and you should see a list of devices, you should have one for everytime you reset then reinstalled appbrain (i don't know why the devs have it make a new file everytime you initially log in after a redownload of appbrain), click on the different devices in the list to find the one with all your apps listed and merge that file with the newest one, go to your device and resync. then appbrain will let you reinstall all your apps from your phone... i know this is a long description (i wanted to be thorough), but it never takes more than about 15 minutes to reinstall my apps and I probably have about 25-30 installed. if you have any questions/problems going thru this, please just contact me...

@tumeg and really anyone that does a data backup then factory reset, if you are backing up all your phones data, doing a reset, then reinstalling that backed up data, you are returning your phone to the state that it was in before the factory reset and effectively wasting that time...I would only recommend backing up contacts (gmail does this pretty much automatically) and apps (recommend appbrain, see above procedure), save your sms messages if you really want to by backing up to sd card, but if you are having problems with the OS, it is most likely being caused by corrupted data on your phone. if you are backing up this corrupted data and reinstalling it on a factory reset you are not gaining anything. honestly my X is running MUCH, MUCH smoother since not backing up data...and i didn't lose anything other than some game data that isn't anything I just can't start over...

good luck with your devices, wish i could help more, and i have to say that i agree that most people probably do not have many issues with this phone, if you compare the number of people on the forums with issues (here and others) to the number of DX's in use i think the second number would greatly outweigh the first...remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease...

This post has been a HUGE help. I just did a factory reset and couldn't figure out how to reinstall everything from Appbrain. After all the problems I've had, I'm going to try not rooting this time. (I hardly did anything with root other than using SetCPU, Titanium and AutoKiller, so I don't think that wrecked anything.) I hate to say it, but I'm feeling the same way about the X now as the OP. There could be more people having issues that post on this kind of a forum, though.

That said -- who knows that some app(s) aren't causing issues? I guess it's entirely possible it's not even the fault of the phone.


~

 

[bobomatic]

sorry if this has been said, but i dont have time right now to read all the post.. the 2.2 sbf file is out. this will let you start all over clean. as far as your apps, i would write them all down (or most of them) do the SBF... then reinstall the ones you cant live with out via the market..dont use a restore to put the apps back on.. going the SBF route is pretty easy..

 

[Outlaw71]

bbuck, my idea of fun is playing golf, hanging out with friends, playing pool, watching NFL football, etc.. LOL I understand that any hi tech device is going to require some time investment to get it fine tuned to my needs. But I don't feel a mass produced device for consumers, such as a cell phone, should have as many bugs and problems as the DroidX so obviously does. That is just piss poor implementation by the OS Developer, Motorola and Verizon.

I'm struggling to figure out what is stopping you from gong back to the iPhone? You've been complaining about the Droid X (even though your handle is.... 'droidx_fan'???) for quite some time. In that time, there have been quite a few Droid X owners who've switched over to another phone, even though they really liked the phone. You obviously do not. So what is keeping you here, seriously?

I've had my own frustrations with the phone from time to time. Including a similar experience to the one you had. When I did my factory reset I didn't have my AppBrain account set up correctly and I had a whole host of apps that I had to hunt down and redownload off of the market as well. I'd say I was at it at least 5 hours, maybe even longer. Was I pulling my hair out? Oh yeah, I had a self inflicted mohawk after that episode.

But I looked at it in this way, I had not done my homework well enough before doing the reset. I could have gone on an epic rant about Android and blamed them for all my problems as well, but when I'm wrong I'm the first to admit it, and I was the primary reason for my screw-up, not Motorola, Android or Verizon. Might be a different story with your situation, I can't say either way because I wasn't there. But this isn't the first time I've heard the words, "it should just work" coming out of you. But I'm sticking to my guns when I say that Android doesn't 'just work' like perhaps another (Apple) OS does. So if that's what you're wanting, then you really should get it. We won't be mad if you do.

Of all the things I've heard people rave about as far as the Android OS goes, it 'just working' isn't one of them. That isn't an inherent trait of this OS. Love it or leave it, if that's what you're after, then you're in the wrong place. Rooting really is the key to getting the most out of Android IMO. That's why I truely believe the OEM's should not have the lock downs in place that they have. I just recently had another episode where I somehow accidentally did a factory reset to my phone. If it wasn't for having multiple back-ups on it, I would have been right back where I was (and you were) before with the long process of getting it back to where I had it. But I'd learned my lesson from before and had it backed up in several locations. A strategy that worked very nicely as I had my phone 100% back to the state I'd accidentally taken it out of, in about 10 minutes... WAY better than the 5+ hours I'd spent on it the first time around.

So you don't like Android, so be it. Android is no more for everybody than Apple or Windows is, that's just a fact of life. You can slam it all you want to, I don't think you're going to convince the entire planet, which is rapidly launching it to the number 1 OS across the globe, that it sucks. It might suck for you, I won't argue with you on that point, but it doesn't suck for me and it doesn't suck for a whole lot of other people (obviously), so spare us if you would please.

And don't take this as a 'ANDROID IS UNCRITISIZABLE' type post because I fully admit that there are flaws in the Android OS. But you won't find an OS anywhere without flaws of some sort... that OS does not exist as of yet. Also, I get just as tired of people ragging on Apple or Blackberries as I do people ragging on Android, so don't take this too personally. I'm just of the opinion that if you're unhappy with something... be it your phone, your job, your car or your girl.... get rid of it and upgrade to something that makes you happier, period. Don't just stand around crying about how bad you have it because you have choices at your disposal. Unless your dad bought you that phone and told you you're going to be stuck with it until you graduate from high school or something then you don't have to keep it. Go get you the iPhone that you seem so fond of.

Why you haven't already is genuinly confusing to me?

 

[Outlaw71]

Oh yeah one more thing, all of the frustrations you're having with your Droid X... I had all those to the 100th power with my Motorola Q!!! Talk about hating a phone, oh yes I loathed that POS with a blistering passion. I went running back to Blackberry as fast as I humanly could.

So like I said before, don't let anything stop you from jumping ship if you're obviously this miserable.

 

[ekyle]

Oh yeah one more thing, all of the frustrations you're having with your Droid X... I had all those to the 100th power with my Motorola Q!!! Talk about hating a phone, oh yes I loathed that POS with a blistering passion. I went running back to Blackberry as fast as I humanly could.

So like I said before, don't let anything stop you from jumping ship if you're obviously this miserable.

The Q.......

 

[Deleted User]

Go get you the iPhone that you seem so fond of.

Why you haven't already is genuinly confusing to me?

This is pretty rampant from the more vocal anti-Android people that come and go here.

Most of them are looking for the bulletproof nature of iOS with the flexibility and openness of Android, and it's just not going to happen. You make your OS open and flexible and the consequence is that some things are going to break it.

People should buy phones that they are happy with. You interact with these things daily - they really shouldn't cause frustration and anger.

Unfortunately, this thread is a really important point in Android. There are no good recovery mechanisms unless you're rooted - which, frankly, you should not have to do to simply have a pleasant experience with your phone. Recovery is something that Apple did really, really right. Hold down the home button and power it up - boom, you're in bootloader. Plug your phone in and boom, iTunes says, "Gosh, that looks like a phone in recovery mode. Would you like me to recover it?" If you answer yes, it then says, "Gosh, it looks like you have a bunch of stuff that you used to have on there, would you like me to restore it?"

That's the way it should be. That creates a whole lot of forgiveness for flaky problems because they're so easy to fix.

 

[crboone]

sorry if this has been said, but i dont have time right now to read all the post.. the 2.2 sbf file is out. this will let you start all over clean. as far as your apps, i would write them all down (or most of them) do the SBF... then reinstall the ones you cant live with out via the market..dont use a restore to put the apps back on.. going the SBF route is pretty easy..

I'm just curious, what's the difference between SBF and resetting back to factory? I reset to factory and it's just like the phone came out of the box again (except that I still have Froyo).

I'm going to give this a shot and see if it helps.


EDIT: Nvm on the SBF vs factory reset. I see that I still have root.

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