ICS observations/suggestions/complaints

[ICON32181]

Just a heads-up: I will be posting this on a few forums, to reach as many people as possible. So if you read this more than once, I'm sorry. Though they'll have the same title, so you should be able to avoid reading it again.
Alright, so I have noticed a few things, and have a suggestion or two. These can also be seen as complaints, but I wanna get them out there.
　
First off, no more News widget? What's up with that? I know I can go get 'Google reader' or the like, but it was easier to just have a widget that gave me the news.

I also miss the "Task Manager" app that existed on Gingerbread, but I suppose I can live without it.

　
The following observations are thanks to an app called "System Panel", which I'm taking as gold, since it hasn't steered me wrong yet (to my knowledge):

I know this can't be remedied, and is how ICS works, but both cores are running constantly. This was not the case while the phone still had Gingerbread. One went to 'sleep' when the workload wasn't heavy.

Hopefully this can be rectified, but while charging (both powered on and off), the battery indicator will say the phone is 100% charged, but System Panel says the phone is usually between 90 - 95% from what I've seen.
I try to kill all apps that I'm not using, but another thing I've noticed, and again assume is 'just how ICS works', is that it uses almost twice as much RAM as Gingerbread did. At least on my phone, ICS is using 400-500MB, where as GB was only using 200-300. I have not noticed any slow down, but I can only assume this doesn't help battery life.


Lastly, some requests.

I don't know if most people even realized this function existed, but the DROID # series up until ICS used to have a "quick launch" function. This involved the Search button + <any letter> (IE Gmail was Search + G). You could edit the quick launch in the Apps part of the Settings, but this ability no longer exists. Hopefully, Motorola can restore this with a minor update somewhere down the line, as it's a fantastic little that we have access to with our physical keyboards.

(Side note: Our phone, as well as the RAZR, and I assume other phones, has a 'double tap home' function that allows you to access one of a limited number of functions. You can set this up in Settings>Accessibility>Double Tap Home)

I saw on a message board somewhere that I believe the Galaxy S3 gives it's users the option to customize the lock screen. I'd really appreciate it with someone in the Motorola camp could give us the ability to do this as well (I know you can 'disable' some native apps for 3rd party ones you designated as default, but I don't feel overly safe doing this).

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Otherwise, I love this phone, and really hope Motorola can come through on some of my requests!

 

[Caveman419]

I have a couple of people that I work with that recieved the update to ICS. They are noticing that in order to answer a call, they first need to unlock the phone then answer it. Is there a way to remedy this? I am on a Galaxy Nexus and do not have this issue and my wife has a Razr and does not have this either. Any help would be great!!

 

[whitecollar]

First off, no more News widget? What's up with that? I know I can go get 'Google reader' or the like, but it was easier to just have a widget that gave me the news.

BuzzBox has a great news widget that goes with it

 

[SullyC]

I still reserve judgement, but one thing I did notice today is it seems that the GPS function only turns on when needed. If I go to Maps or GPS Status it turns on and the symbol apprears at the top left. It goes away when I shut down those programs. Anybody else notice this?
BTW, so far no issues with texting.

 

[tsahoney]

I am having the texting issues. Get maybe 10-15 characters and it freezes. Have to close it, start again, close it, shorten my text to 2 words, send. This is happening on EVERY text that is more than 2 or 3 words.
Also, is there a "charge only" option anywhere when you plug in a USB attached to your computer? I charge it on my work computer and can not have it trying to sync and throwing up red flags to IT.
Thanks in advance!

 

[tek85]

I am having the texting issues. Get maybe 10-15 characters and it freezes. Have to close it, start again, close it, shorten my text to 2 words, send. This is happening on EVERY text that is more than 2 or 3 words.
Also, is there a "charge only" option anywhere when you plug in a USB attached to your computer? I charge it on my work computer and can not have it trying to sync and throwing up red flags to IT.
Thanks in advance!

I've heard of texting issues, and so far the only one I've had is when using a character with an accent (ie

 

[Clementine_3]

I picked up a D4 on swappa, got it today so got ICS too.

A few questions:
1) How do you disable widget scrolling? It's driving me nuts on Simple Calendar!
2) Is there a way to force only 3G? I get crappy service at home and it's just switching back and forth, depending on what room I'm in. That's gonna kill the battery and a few times it has been with no signal. UGH.

I activated the phone, updated to ICS and did another factory reset right away. So far I am not having any problems, that I know of.

 

[tek85]

I picked up a D4 on swappa, got it today so got ICS too.

A few questions:
1) How do you disable widget scrolling? It's driving me nuts on Simple Calendar!
2) Is there a way to force only 3G? I get crappy service at home and it's just switching back and forth, depending on what room I'm in. That's gonna kill the battery and a few times it has been with no signal. UGH.

I activated the phone, updated to ICS and did another factory reset right away. So far I am not having any problems, that I know of.

Well, I know before ICS you could. Now if you go to settings > more... > mobile networks, you can change the type there. Don't know if that helps

 

[Clementine_3]

All I found there was Global, LTE/CDMA or GSM/UMTS. I selected LTE/CDMA of course but I'd like to force it to just 3G. It's set to default to global, just a heads up...

 

[tek85]

Grabbed this from another site for the RAZR, should work the same though.

Go to your phone dialer and type "*#*#4636#*#*" Go to Phone Information and scroll down to "Set Preferred Network Type" and select CDMA auto (PRL). This will keep your phone in 3G without use of any third party app.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX with ICS using Android Central Forums ]

 

[ICON32181]

I suggest the LTE On/Off App.

You'll be prompted this when you click on the app, but...scroll half way down to just under "set prefered network" and click the LTE/blah/blah, select CDMA (prl auto) (or something like that) and it'll only hunt down 3g for you. Just remember, if you want, to go back to LTE/etc/etc whenever you want/need 4g

 

[ICON32181]

Also, I have had no texting issues yet, though I use Handcent as my default. I don't believe I've tried anything with an accented letter yet either.

 

[ICON32181]

I still reserve judgement, but one thing I did notice today is it seems that the GPS function only turns on when needed. If I go to Maps or GPS Status it turns on and the symbol apprears at the top left. It goes away when I shut down those programs. Anybody else notice this?
BTW, so far no issues with texting.

Do you want/need the GPS on when its not needed? Cause GPS will eat your battery alive. I assume though that if you have it on, its running in the background, just not telling you, however I could be wrong.

 

[SullyC]

Do you want/need the GPS on when its not needed? Cause GPS will eat your battery alive. I assume though that if you have it on, its running in the background, just not telling you, however I could be wrong.

I know it will eat alot of battery but when I back out of a program that needs it, it stops and the symbol at the top stops. I don't seem to be using too much battery. Anybody else notice this?