Help OTA 4.0.4 update. (caution s-off/root user. Ringtone issue)

[Granite1]

Anyone have any idea when they will get around to fixing all the bugs they created with the last update? I'm starting to wish I'd kept my old phone this is ridicules to have the flagship phone with all these problems.

I haven't heard anything about the next update yet. It won't be too aweful long.
All things considered, our updates have been really fast so far. The OG evo waited forever for updates after it got Froyo.

 

[dpullen]

I have been using Handcent for the past 2 days. It seems to have the same problems with slow messages. I'm beginning to think this problem is more fundamental...

For anyone experiencing the slow text messages issue, try this - it helped me.

Back up your messages to your SD card, delete all messages, then restore them from SD.

 

[Kevin C]

Anyone have any idea when they will get around to fixing all the bugs they created with the last update? I'm starting to wish I'd kept my old phone this is ridicules to have the flagship phone with all these problems.

I have not noticed any bugs...what are you talking about?

 

[AHWagner]

For anyone experiencing the slow text messages issue, try this - it helped me.

Back up your messages to your SD card, delete all messages, then restore them from SD.

Trying this out now.. I'll check back in a bit to see if it fixed it.

EDIT: Didn't work. Still have the same issue.

 

[AHWagner]

I've noticed that it is also slow when accessing 'People'. It'll take forever for everyone to show up. On average, with the stock messaging app and/or the People app, it takes about 20 seconds before things load. That's the average time.. sometimes it can take longer.

Would it happen to be an app causing this or a slow/bad SD card?

 

[PyroSporker]

I've noticed that it is also slow when accessing 'People'. It'll take forever for everyone to show up. On average, with the stock messaging app and/or the People app, it takes about 20 seconds before things load. That's the average time.. sometimes it can take longer.

Would it happen to be an app causing this or a slow/bad SD card?

Sounds like you need to experiment

Sorry, there is many things that could be a factor here so it is hard to narrow down to one thing. These are some ideas to get you rolling.

Since you mentioned it, try running without your SD card and see if there is any change? Contacts/People data should be cached in internal storage unless you moved data to the microSD or are running some advanced root setup with different storage options. (stock back ups go to the microSD but are just storage, not active running files)

Try booting into safe mode and it will disable all third party applications (I think - they are not listed in the app drawer. Unclear if they could be still running in memory behind the scenes.) Fast Boot off, re-boot, and when you get to the white 'HTC Quietly Brilliant' screen hold vol. down for a while until you feel it vibrate feedback. It will say Safe mode in the lower left corner of the screen if you did it right.

Could it be a Google/Gmail Sync thing?

Do you have ALOT of contacts, or ALOT of old Messages hanging around?

How about alot of linked contacts? Is it loading alot of extra contact info like Facebook updates or Tweets or something? Calendar information (Birthdays, appointments)? Gallery folders?

Do alot of your contacts have contact photos attached to them? Maybe it is taking a while to load up all the pictures attached with contacts?

 

[EarlyMon]

I've noticed that it is also slow when accessing 'People'. It'll take forever for everyone to show up. On average, with the stock messaging app and/or the People app, it takes about 20 seconds before things load. That's the average time.. sometimes it can take longer.

Would it happen to be an app causing this or a slow/bad SD card?

I'm guessing that you have photos with your contacts?

Are they linked to high res photos on your sd card?

 

[AHWagner]

Sounds like you need to experiment

Sorry, there is many things that could be a factor here so it is hard to narrow down to one thing. These are some ideas to get you rolling.

Since you mentioned it, try running without your SD card and see if there is any change? Contacts/People data should be cached in internal storage unless you moved data to the microSD or are running some advanced root setup with different storage options. (stock back ups go to the microSD but are just storage, not active running files)

Try booting into safe mode and it will disable all third party applications (I think - they are not listed in the app drawer. Unclear if they could be still running in memory behind the scenes.) Fast Boot off, re-boot, and when you get to the white 'HTC Quietly Brilliant' screen hold vol. down for a while until you feel it vibrate feedback. It will say Safe mode in the lower left corner of the screen if you did it right.

Could it be a Google/Gmail Sync thing?

Do you have ALOT of contacts, or ALOT of old Messages hanging around?

How about alot of linked contacts? Is it loading alot of extra contact info like Facebook updates or Tweets or something? Calendar information (Birthdays, appointments)? Gallery folders?

Do alot of your contacts have contact photos attached to them? Maybe it is taking a while to load up all the pictures attached with contacts?

-No root done. I have messages set to go to SD card.
-Sync is only set for Chrome, Contacts, Gmail, Google Photos, Internet, Tasks, and Wallet (all under my Google account). Twitter and Firefox Sync is set to sync also.
-I have 200 contacts with maybe about 50% of them with contact photos set. The ones with contact photos set are linked to their Facebook.

I'm guessing that you have photos with your contacts?

Are they linked to high res photos on your sd card?

Yes, about half of the 200 contacts have contact photos linked, via their Facebook current photo.

 

[EarlyMon]

Then I suspect that it's the Facebook linking and a resolution change in the photos causing the slow loading.

 

[AHWagner]

Great. It happend just one day where it began to be slow.

Edit: I've noticed also when I hit the Send button to send a text, it'll send but take forever (20 or so seconds) before it'll show up in the conversation log. I'm not fully convinced it's the contact photos. they load instantly when accessing my text messages and conversations. It's the conversations and texts that show up delayed/stuck on loading for 20+ seconds.

 

[Tigger 1]

I have not noticed any bugs...what are you talking about?

My main problem is the only ringtone that will play when anyone calls is the default tone even though I have tones assigned to people. Everything worked fine before the update and it's quite annoying to have to look at the phone to know who's calling.

 

[CyreneK]

The update to fix that was pushed through today. Check your phone for updates.

 

[AHWagner]

The update to fix that was pushed through today. Check your phone for updates.

Confirmed, I got the update for the Ringtone Fix update also.

 

[Rxpert83]

Really? New OTA? Can any of you boot to your hboot for me please

 

[CheriePie]

Then I suspect that it's the Facebook linking and a resolution change in the photos causing the slow loading.

I've confirmed that the slow loading of Contacts (which affects the Messaging app, People app, and and anything else that does contact lookup) is indeed related to Facebook Contact syncing. Once I reset my Contacts file and removed all Facebook data, everything was back to normal again.

Note that all of my contacts are stored in my gmail account so if you're going to follow the process I'm outlining below, make sure your contacts are either synced to your gmail or you made a backup from within the app.

- Disable Facebook Contact syncing of contacts (from Facebook settings or Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Facebook -> UNCHECK Sync Contacts/Sync Live Feed).
- Disable Google Contact syncing (Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Google -> UNCHECK Sync Contacts)
- Clear data of your contacts file. (Manage apps (All tab) -> Contacts Storage -> Force stop/Clear cache/Clear data)
- Restart device (to make sure all temp files are properly cleared)
- Launch Contacts and verify it's empty (except for the single My Profile which auto creates) and then exit it immediately
- Accounts & sync. Turn Google Contact Syncing back ON. (Leave Facebook syncing off for now.)

Voila! Once I did the above, speed of all the apps accessing my Contacts file was back to normal, and my Contacts file itself shrunk down from 37 MB to 6.5 MB!


PS - I haven't turned Facebook syncing back on just now since it's possible that turning it back on would slow everything down again. I'm not sure. For now, I prefer to just leave FB Contact syncing off until I have more time to play with it again.

 

[dpullen]

The ota update fixes the problems for me as well. Much better!

 

[STEVEN-H]

A big thanks to HTC for fixing ringtone assignments in a relative short time! Working great!

 

[AHWagner]

I've confirmed that the slow loading of Contacts (which affects the Messaging app, People app, and and anything else that does contact lookup) is indeed related to Facebook Contact syncing. Once I reset my Contacts file and removed all Facebook data, everything was back to normal again.

Note that all of my contacts are stored in my gmail account so if you're going to follow the process I'm outlining below, make sure your contacts are either synced to your gmail or you made a backup from within the app.

- Disable Facebook Contact syncing of contacts (from Facebook settings or Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Facebook -> UNCHECK Sync Contacts/Sync Live Feed).
- Disable Google Contact syncing (Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Google -> UNCHECK Sync Contacts)
- Clear data of your contacts file. (Manage apps (All tab) -> Contacts Storage -> Force stop/Clear cache/Clear data)
- Restart device (to make sure all temp files are properly cleared)
- Launch Contacts and verify it's empty (except for the single My Profile which auto creates) and then exit it immediately
- Accounts & sync. Turn Google Contact Syncing back ON. (Leave Facebook syncing off for now.)

Voila! Once I did the above, speed of all the apps accessing my Contacts file was back to normal, and my Contacts file itself shrunk down from 37 MB to 6.5 MB!


PS - I haven't turned Facebook syncing back on just now since it's possible that turning it back on would slow everything down again. I'm not sure. For now, I prefer to just leave FB Contact syncing off until I have more time to play with it again.

I'm trying this out now, though my Facebook Contacts Sync was already unchecked (in fact, everything on the Facebook section was unchecked). But did everything else as well.. will see if this fixes it.

 

[dpullen]

The ota update fixes the problems for me as well. Much better!

Correction...the update MOSTLY fixes the issue for me. It's much less frequent, but I have seen messages and contacts open slowly.

Still, vastly improved...

 

[AHWagner]

I'm trying this out now, though my Facebook Contacts Sync was already unchecked (in fact, everything on the Facebook section was unchecked). But did everything else as well.. will see if this fixes it.

To update; This has seemed to work now. Afterwards, so far, I have not ran into the slow loading/delaying that was an issue before.

 

[PyroSporker]

To update; This has seemed to work now. Afterwards, so far, I have not ran into the slow loading/delaying that was an issue before.

Did you notice a drastic Contact file size reduction like CheriePie mentioned?

The next best step I see is to report it to HTC with details and see what they come up with.

With some helpful feedback and consistent data they might be able to investigate and better program how the phone interacts with 3rd party sources in regards to optional contact data?
There should be a way for users that want that extra functionality to have it without sacrificing the performance of their normal phone use. - When one needs to go into the phonebook/dialer to make a quick call or just send a simple text message, one should not have to wait for it to [allegedly] download/load Facebook information that is unnecessary to the current task. At the same time, if one does want to see Facebook/Twitter/etc. updates within a contact card one should still be able to get those quickly and easily when wanted or pertinent to the task at hand. I'm not sure how they can accomplish this, but if we put the ball in their court then it is up to them to figure that out for us. Reporting/data collection essential part of the process towards making things better for everyone and progressing software wise.

If you want to go a step further you could do some more experimenting and add back Facebook data for one contact at a time? Maybe you can find a data capacity threshold or contact quantity for when the slowdown starts to happen?

Is the People application load time in anyway dependent on the current network speed? If you have slow network speeds do contacts load slower than if you have average/good speed?
Is there an active demanding sync, or is it passive and load from memory until scheduled sync? Maybe there is a better way to save the data and load it quicker - multiplying even a short load time by 100 contact's social network data could create a nice hiccup.

One other idea I had to try might be to set up a secondary test phonebook for only Facebook linked contacts, or limit the phonebook to not actively display people with Facebook link-ups. If they are not part of the phone book being currently listed, long shot, but possibly the optional data will not be loaded until you switch to the other phonebook?

I know, I'm spit-balling here, but maybe it will help some of you other brilliant minds think of something.

 

[AHWagner]

Did you notice a drastic Contact file size reduction like CheriePie mentioned?

The next best step I see is to report it to HTC with details and see what they come up with.

With some helpful feedback and consistent data they might be able to investigate and better program how the phone interacts with 3rd party sources in regards to optional contact data?
There should be a way for users that want that extra functionality to have it without sacrificing the performance of their normal phone use. - When one needs to go into the phonebook/dialer to make a quick call or just send a simple text message, one should not have to wait for it to [allegedly] download/load Facebook information that is unnecessary to the current task. At the same time, if one does want to see Facebook/Twitter/etc. updates within a contact card one should still be able to get those quickly and easily when wanted or pertinent to the task at hand. I'm not sure how they can accomplish this, but if we put the ball in their court then it is up to them to figure that out for us. Reporting/data collection essential part of the process towards making things better for everyone and progressing software wise.

If you want to go a step further you could do some more experimenting and add back Facebook data for one contact at a time? Maybe you can find a data capacity threshold or contact quantity for when the slowdown starts to happen?

Is the People application load time in anyway dependent on the current network speed? If you have slow network speeds do contacts load slower than if you have average/good speed?
Is there an active demanding sync, or is it passive and load from memory until scheduled sync? Maybe there is a better way to save the data and load it quicker - multiplying even a short load time by 100 contact's social network data could create a nice hiccup.

One other idea I had to try might be to set up a secondary test phonebook for only Facebook linked contacts, or limit the phonebook to not actively display people with Facebook link-ups. If they are not part of the phone book being currently listed, long shot, but possibly the optional data will not be loaded until you switch to the other phonebook?

I know, I'm spit-balling here, but maybe it will help some of you other brilliant minds think of something.

Went from 50MB down to uner 4MB. I plan on re-adding Facebook contact photos eventually, just to see if it slows back down again. Also, the whole time it did not matter if I was using 4G LTE or my wifi (which is fast cable) at my house. I saw no difference depending on what network I was connected to. For everything else you suggested, I'll have to experiment once I can find time to actually sit down and play with it more indepth.. but as of right now, what CheriePie suggested worked out perfectly on fixing this problem.

 

[indyfsufan]

Confirmed, I got the update for the Ringtone Fix update also.

I just did the update tonight and still goes to default ringtone. Is there a place to download the new update?

 

[Rose4uKy]

I just opened people and mine had a black screen and didn't open right away like normal. I do not have FB contacts synced but I think I have data to sync. My main thing is Handcent whenever I open it and I also use Yahoo Messenger but Handcent is worse I get a black screen and it takes too long to open. Yahoo Messenger just had an update and I keep getting not responding send error report and I went under apps to see if I could just uninstall the update and it wasn't there. And sometimes here lately I'll dial a number and hit call and nothing happens. All this started after the update we got.

At first we thought the speaktoit assistant widget was messing us up and slowing us down so we deleted it and it helped for a bit but then stuff went back to they way it was. So I'm wondering if I should delete my contacts and re sync them in my people. I don't have FB synced cause I don't like seeing everyone of my friends but I did go to FB for several of my friends that are in my contacts and I picked a picture and made it there picture for when they call me. Maybe another update will come out to fix stuff.

 

[dr g]

I am getting long pauses and occasional timeouts opening messaging (Handcent or native app) as well. I have been too busy to really delve into what the problem is. Canceling out and going home then reopening sometimes helps. Also cache clearing and rebooting.