4.2.2/Sense 5 Initial Reactions

[dachillefx]

I miss that convenience as well. Thought I was the only one missing that feature in the notifications drag down.

 

[dachillefx]

I also noticed that the android system was hogging 70-80% of battery. Battery seems hard to tell if better or not. I don't think standby is as good.

 

[victek]

I also noticed that the android system was hogging 70-80% of battery. Battery seems hard to tell if better or not. I don't think standby is as good.

Very likely a process is preventing the phone from sleeping. Install the free "Wake Lock Detector". This will show you exactly what is going on.

 

[victek]

Thanks for the suggestion. I switched to Textra. It is blazing fast and works great! I dunno if it's a byproduct of the bug, but the stock messages app was slow and unresponsive after the update.

Have you ever tried Go SMS? It seems to work well enough, but I wonder how Textra compares? Does the vendor try to "up sell" through Textra, eg themes, or other products?

 

[Skipdawg]

Overall like it. But my notification sounds are gone. Now they all have the same one. And now the options are piss poor ones. May have to look into one of the apps with sounds now. But so far that is the only thing that comes up as a con for me. All else pros for me so far that I have found.

 

[equest]

Thanks for the suggestion. I switched to Textra. It is blazing fast and works great! I dunno if it's a byproduct of the bug, but the stock messages app was slow and unresponsive after the update.

Yeah, I'm using Testra too after trying other message apps. This one is fast & smooth! But still I hate the battery life on the new Sense. It's worse!

 

[victek]

Regarding the new lock screen I see there's a weather widget. Is it possible to either configure or remove it?

 

[Smidgeons]

I am usually the person that has a handful of apps to be able to personalize the look of my phone in specific ways. When I first bought my DNA I absolutely loved the aesthetic and the functionality of being able to create different scenes, etc. That being said, as much as a lot of these changes are all nice and fun for sheer entertainment purposes, the functionality and aesthetic that drew me to this phone are gone. It doesn't even look like the same phone. And with it's limited storage space, downloads apps to personalize it is not very appealing either. My wife and my brother are saying the same things. I love the idea of a few new options of personalization but to completely take away the options that you had before is a bomb for me on this phone. I'm thinking I just want to revert back to the old sense...

 

[Cam501]

My biggest complaint is with text messaging. I like the text bubbles better by far. Blinkfeed is ok, I have it on now but might turn it off cause I almost never click on any of the highlights. One issue I am having that started a month or two before the update is that the weather forecast no longer auto updates. I had that problem with my old dinc towards the end as well.

 

[hilmar2k]

Regarding the new lock screen I see there's a weather widget. Is it possible to either configure or remove it?

It pulls location settings from the Weather Clock or Weather widget. Sync is controlled via Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Weather.

 

[CrackedLCD]

Another oddity… I got the first phone call in about six weeks this afternoon and was surprised to see that GO Launcher disappeared while a call was incoming. The phone seems to temporarily revert to the Sense 5 design while ringing. Instead of a black background "popup" call info hovers over the home screen wallpaper. What really caught my eye was the notification bar was transparent, a feature that doesn't work in GO Launcher. It's quite jarring. (Luckily I only ever get calls about once a month!)

 

[mwl1119]

Regarding the new lock screen I see there's a weather widget. Is it possible to either configure or remove it?

Install cover. You will thank me.

 

[CrackedLCD]

A pleasant discovery: it appears they fixed the issue where the phone forced the data and wifi connections to sleep between midnight and 5 or 6 am after a few minutes of inactivity.

There has always been a "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" option but it only worked during "waking hours". This has been a headache for me since I'm a night owl and I was occasionally missing notifications unless I turned my display on every few minutes to check.

 

[victek]

It pulls location settings from the Weather Clock or Weather widget. Sync is controlled via Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Weather.

Enabling "sync" for weather worked, thanks!

 

[TrueMetalGeek]

I just did the update on the DNA which my wife now uses.

This is the update.

http://support.verizonwireless.com/dam/support/pdf/system_update/droid-dna.pdf

I thought BLINKFEED would be kinda cool as it is similar to the live tiles of windows phone but my wife made me disable that after 15 minutes.

Unlike us, she don't like change and the fun of learning new things.

I got my daughter a windows phone yesterday and she loves it.
She scoffed change as well until she got it in her hands.
Makes me kinda want one again.

 

[doneve141]

I got a firmware update a couple of days ago, then last night another. I didn't install it until this morning. I agree with a lot of what I read here. The phone is very responsive but its like they took all the rounded smooth edges and sharpened them up. I liked the round smooth appearance. I liked horizontal scrolling, don't like vertical. It is like a new phone in a lot of respects. Most of my widgets were there but I don't like the look of the new ones so I have been doing some rearranging.
The last big firmware update caused me battery drain problems that were only fixed by a factory data wipe. I am waiting to see how this one does. robdroid33 I feel your pain from my last experience. I just updated this morning so I too am waiting to see what happens.
I'm sure I'll get used to the changes. I already use Handsent and I was a fan of the Swipe keyboard. The trace option has always been good enough. Time will tell if I like the new keyboard, so far I can't tell a difference.

 

[victek]

I'm noticing that since the update Swype is no longer my default and I can't figure out how to set it. There is nothing in the Keyboard and Language Settings for selecting the input method and making a long press in text box doesn't do anything. Can someone help?

 

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

So...um, I'm rooted and well while I'm on a rom that runs sense 5 and 4.2 I'm tempted to revert back to my rooted but stock state and get the update. I just don't know if there will be much of a difference or advantage to doing so? Anyone come from rooted and take the update for a spin and like it?

 

[Bearcats]

When I got the mini-upgrade my battery usage went from 36+ hours to less than 12. Yes, I am not a power user.

HTCDM is a nasty offending service and will keep your phone awake and will chew battery non-stop. When I stop the service the phone sleeps and I get battery life back.

On that note: How can I offiically decline this upgrade. I see no advantages to it with the way I use my phone and wish to remain at the level I am at. That stupid HTCDM service keeps launching and is associated with upgrading. I can't disable it and really want to. It wont let you defer more than a day. If you do a back arrow versus Defer or Cancel it will go away for a while but eventually return.

 

[victek]

When I got the mini-upgrade my battery usage went from 36+ hours to less than 12. Yes, I am not a power user.

HTCDM is a nasty offending service and will keep your phone awake and will chew battery non-stop. When I stop the service the phone sleeps and I get battery life back.

For what it's worth I was having a problem with the phone not sleeping (confirmed using Wake Lock Detector) and since the big upgrade to 4.2.2 the problem has gone away.

 

[Cam501]

After having had the update for a good while now, I can safely say battery life is a bit worse, especially in low signal areas. I get poor reception at work and post update it uses more battery looking for a signal than before the update. If I don't charge my phone at work I'm about 10-12% lower at the end of the day on equal usage. I've also turned off blink feed and still HATE that the stock messaging app doesn't have the bubbles anymore. With regards to the comments on scrolling, I liked the horizontal scroll better through apps and wish you could still circle around from the home screen. My last issue is that the new keyboard no longer has the arrows for moving precisely back and forth any number of spaces amongst whatever you have typed.

 

[Misato]

Some of the notification sounds are gone, including what I used to use. Anyone know which ones are gone now and where I could find them?

Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the one I used, so not so easy as to just name one and try and find that.

 

[Skipdawg]

Some of the notification sounds are gone, including what I used to use. Anyone know which ones are gone now and where I could find them?

Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the one I used, so not so easy as to just name one and try and find that.

Yea same thing here. I just went with all new sounds. Hope KitKat dose not kill them again. Took a week to get use to the new sounds. LOL

 

[Misato]

Yea same thing here. I just went with all new sounds. Hope KitKat dose not kill them again. Took a week to get use to the new sounds. LOL

I already keep a backup of my ringtone and the email notification I'm used to, I just never thought to do the same for the noise my timer makes. I just hope I can find a copy somewhere to use

 

[Misato]

Contrary to some of the others, I actually like most of the new sounds. Most of the older sounds stayed behind for me, probably because I had copied them manually along with my own custom tones from my old Gingerbread phone.

You have all the old notification sounds? There any way you can share them somewhere? None of the new ones do it for me on the timer (which I actually use every day.)