After 2.1 & OTA Updates

[Wiskid]

Alright, I have been doing each OTA update as it has been available. Here are the details of my current setup:

Settings>About Phone>Software Information

Firmware: 2.1-update1
Baseband: 2.42.01.04.27
Kernel: 2.6.29-bc0d2cff
Build: 2.27.651.6 CL169236
Software: 2.27.651.6
PRI: 2.20_003
PRL: 60666

Obviously, everything is stock... I am using Handcent, Opera, and the default of everything else.

Pro's from (what seems to be from) OTA Updates:

-Switching from home screen to home screen is snappier and more responsive.
-Switching from app-to-app using a long press on the home button seems faster
-Dialer lag is noticeably lessened.
-Landscape typing is not as laggy (though, still slight lag)
-Battery life is absolutely amazing... 6 am to 12 noon in an office with bad service (constant searching for towers) still have over 90% battery life. I can go a whole day and stay above 50%. I toggle 3G on and off, only when I need it. Use WiFi when I'm home.
-I have not had a random reboot since OTA's, although my uncle has had several (his reboots could be related to a bad unit or bad widget tho...)
-Pinch to zoom on the home screen actually works... even though I don't use it.

Potential con's from OTA Updates:

-Sometimes the HTC favorite people widget does not call out on first click. (this also happened sometimes with 1.5 and pre-OTA updates)
-Occasionally text messages take a while to send out. For instance, sending a text can sometimes take 2-3 minutes for someone to receive it. Takes about 20-30 seconds for me to receive texts. This test was done with someone in the same room. Could be a Handcent issue.

Again, these are MY findings with the OTA updates. I have no desire to root anymore after these OTA's.

For those of you who have been keeping up-to-date with these OTA's, give me your feedback.

 

[LBPHeretic]

Thank you for doing this mini review. This type of information is valuable to people like me who want to weigh the pros and cons before taking the plunge and performing the update.

By the way, I see your PRL is 60666 now. Is that really the current PRL? I just updated my PRL a week or two ago and it was 60665. I did the same with my wife's Sprint Palm Pre and it was the same PRL as well.

 

[Wiskid]

Thank you for doing this mini review. This type of information is valuable to people like me who want to weigh the pros and cons before taking the plunge and performing the update.

By the way, I see your PRL is 60666 now. Is that really the current PRL? I just updated my PRL a week or two ago and it was 60665. I did the same with my wife's Sprint Palm Pre and it was the same PRL as well.

No problem! I hope it helps others as well. I would suggest doing the updates. You can always re-install the original 2.1 RUU, if you wanna root.

Yep, PRL really is 60666. After each of the OTA's I always do a Profile and PRL update. IDK if it helps or not, but I figure it cant hurt anything, lol.

 

[DonB]

I also updated my PRL this morning and it updated to 60666 also, I just forgot to post it today, I also finally update to the .6 tonight as I was tired of the lag and my phone rebooting out of no where, if this update doesn't solve the issue of lag and reboots, I have decided I will ROOT next, will keep you all updated

 

[LBPHeretic]

By any chance, does this OTA update increase the speed of loading the SMS app? That seems to be really slow especially after a few days of not rebooting my Sprint HTC Hero.

The SMS app and the keyboard lag were the two main complaints I had with slowness after I updated to Android 2.1. Additionally, does this have any effect on the stock HTC email app? I keep getting notification sounds every time it checks for new email and there is unread email already in my inbox. If this OTA update fixes that, then 100% of my issues would be gone.

 

[DonB]

By any chance, does this OTA update increase the speed of loading the SMS app? That seems to be really slow especially after a few days of not rebooting my Sprint HTC Hero.

The SMS app and the keyboard lag were the two main complaints I had with slowness after I updated to Android 2.1. Additionally, does this have any effect on the stock HTC email app? I keep getting notification sounds every time it checks for new email and there is unread email already in my inbox. If this OTA update fixes that, then 100% of my issues would be gone.

I am not sure as I just updated, I figured, worst case scenario, I could always put the .5 update back and then either, root or keep the .5 update, so if it is better I will report back, mind you I did not have much issues with Texting, but I mainly use Handscent, my main issues were Reboots and Phone lag

 

[Wiskid]

By any chance, does this OTA update increase the speed of loading the SMS app? That seems to be really slow especially after a few days of not rebooting my Sprint HTC Hero.

The SMS app and the keyboard lag were the two main complaints I had with slowness after I updated to Android 2.1. Additionally, does this have any effect on the stock HTC email app? I keep getting notification sounds every time it checks for new email and there is unread email already in my inbox. If this OTA update fixes that, then 100% of my issues would be gone.

I just tried, and it took roughly a 7 count to open up. But I have a couple of rather lengthy conversations right now. The STOCK "Messages" app opens very quickly, even with these large conversation. I'm considering switching back to the stock app. Handcent seems to be causing me some problems of late.

Also... My phone has now been off the charger for 12 hours, and still has 72% battery remaining. How does this compare to the rest of you?

 

[DonB]

I just tried, and it took roughly a 7 count to open up. But I have a couple of rather lengthy conversations right now. The STOCK "Messages" app opens very quickly, even with these large conversation. I'm considering switching back to the stock app. Handcent seems to be causing me some problems of late.

Also... My phone has now been off the charger for 12 hours, and still has 72% battery remaining. How does this compare to the rest of you?

Actually when I first updated to 2.1 .5 update the battery was really bad, but a couple of weeks later I started getting better battery life, so mine has been good so far, but I will let you know on the .6 update in a couple of days

 

[Wiskid]

Actually when I first updated to 2.1 .5 update the battery was really bad, but a couple of weeks later I started getting better battery life, so mine has been good so far, but I will let you know on the .6 update in a couple of days

Mine was also terrible after the initial .5 update. I noticed the big difference after the .6 update.

 

[LBPHeretic]

My Sprint HTC Hero actually had decent battery life way back when it was rocking Android 1.5. I never really had a complaint about it. When I upgraded to Android 2.1 it got even better. In fact, in the last month it feels like my battery life has still continued to improve and I have not done anything with settings to get this increase in battery life. I routinely get two days to two and a half days of battery life between charges with moderate use of my Sprint HTC Hero. If I use it very heavily I may only get a day to a day and a half of battery life, but that is still admirable for a smartphone that can do so much!

Off topic: Hey, this is my one hundredth post!

 

[DonB]

My Sprint HTC Hero actually had decent battery life way back when it was rocking Android 1.5. I never really had a complaint about it. When I upgraded to Android 2.1 it got even better. In fact, in the last month it feels like my battery life has still continued to improve and I have not done anything with settings to get this increase in battery life. I routinely get two days to two and a half days of battery life between charges with moderate use of my Sprint HTC Hero. If I use it very heavily I may only get a day to a day and a half of battery life, but that is still admirable for a smartphone that can do so much!

Off topic: Hey, this is my one hundredth post!

Congrats on getting your 100 and on your way to becoming a post Whore, LOL

 

[glen4cindy]

I just tried, and it took roughly a 7 count to open up. But I have a couple of rather lengthy conversations right now. The STOCK "Messages" app opens very quickly, even with these large conversation. I'm considering switching back to the stock app. Handcent seems to be causing me some problems of late.

Also... My phone has now been off the charger for 12 hours, and still has 72% battery remaining. How does this compare to the rest of you?

12 hrs 34 min off charge with 46% battery. Moderate phone use today. Not much voice, but, did use web some, GPS on, and WiFi some.

 

[jrdatrackstar]

For those who have had better battery life... what are your sync settings like? I have auto sync on for everything. Some days I can go for the entire day and have like 50% percent left( I work in a place where I keep evdo so idk why my battery usage stats say cell phone standby the highest drain source) and other days my phone will drop like 20% in like an hour of sleeping: I have the new 2.1 power control widget with GPS on and brightness set to the second click setting, along with the auto sync button selected.

Also, the keyboard lag is still somewhat there in messaging (although much better), but typing this message took like 10 mins in landscape due to lag (maybe the broswrr running plug-ins is what hurts things). I had the Hero when 1.5 was on it and although 2.1 helps things and makes the phone better, I still have the lag iasues I hated that led me to sell my first hero. I don't want to root because I think it will still lag even with a root because of the processor, and stock is nice enough for me.

 

[Wiskid]

For those who have had better battery life... what are your sync settings like? I have auto sync on for everything. Some days I can go for the entire day and have like 50% percent left( I work in a place where I keep evdo so idk why my battery usage stats say cell phone standby the highest drain source) and other days my phone will drop like 20% in like an hour of sleeping.

I have most everything set to manual sync. If I need updated weather, I look out a window. If I need a Facebook update, I go to the site. If I need anything else updated, I do it manually. Although, my HTC clock widget, the one with the weather, updates whenever I make a connection to WiFi or 3G.

 

[jrdatrackstar]

Also, the Pandora app makes my phone lag so bad that its crazy. Does having screen animations set to everything make a difference? I noticed the phone speeds up a little but not enough to where the lag is gone enough to justify disabling one of the things I really like about the hero.

 

[scottmbolt]

For those who have had better battery life... what are your sync settings like? I have auto sync on for everything. Some days I can go for the entire day and have like 50% percent left( I work in a place where I keep evdo so idk why my battery usage stats say cell phone standby the highest drain source) and other days my phone will drop like 20% in like an hour of sleeping: I have the new 2.1 power control widget with GPS on and brightness set to the second click setting, along with the auto sync button selected.

Also, the keyboard lag is still somewhat there in messaging (although much better), but typing this message took like 10 mins in landscape due to lag (maybe the broswrr running plug-ins is what hurts things). I had the Hero when 1.5 was on it and although 2.1 helps things and makes the phone better, I still have the lag iasues I hated that led me to sell my first hero. I don't want to root because I think it will still lag even with a root because of the processor, and stock is nice enough for me.

My keyboard lag = still there post-update. Its unacceptable, and so annoying that, at times, when I am trying to type a message I just want to throw the damn phone through the wall!

 

[jrdatrackstar]

My keyboard lag = still there post-update. Its unacceptable, and so annoying that, at times, when I am trying to type a message I just want to throw the damn phone through the wall!

Are you talking about when you type in forums in the browser? When I am typing messages and stuff it still lags, but it's not as bad as it was with 1.5 and really isnt' too bad for me (this is in landscape keyboard. Portrait it doesn't lag at all in text messages and email). I have the .6 version of Android 2.1 and it is stock.

I am going to disable everything thing that auto syncs except Gmail and see if that improves my battery life. Also, does the GPS icon being on on the power bar cause more battery drain too?

 

[LBPHeretic]

The portrait keyboard lags for me right now and I have not performed the OTA update yet. The landscape keyboard lags ever more.

I guess I am just going to break down and do the update. If it is not satisfactory I can always redo the original Android 2.1 update (version .5). Has anyone else experienced issues with a low internal memory message after the OTA update? That was really the only thing holding me back.

 

[jrdatrackstar]

Well...took my phone off the charger today at around 2:15 and uninstalled the HTC battery widget (heard that causes more battery drain). I used Google Maps Navigation for around 4 mins, used a few apps, and browsed the web. It said my awake time was around 3 1/2 hours of usage, and I just came home 15 mins ago with 50% left. Does this sound like good battery life? The only thing I had auto-syncing was Craigsnotifica (because an update was pushed that said the app uses less battery for the auto-sync updates) and Gmail. I disabled Facebook, Twitter, and Weather auto-syncing.

Also, there is a bug in the battery usage menu where it shows the most usage being used by Google Maps (like 50% usage) and in the details it shows I only used it for like 4 mins. Same thing with the camera. I am doing a re-install and then a hard reset immediately after to see if it clears this bug up and increases battery life.

 

[LBPHeretic]

I have been using the HTC Battery widget since Android 1.5 and have never suffered abnormal battery drain from it. I reinstalled it after I upgraded to Android 2.1 and it is still not draining the battery quickly. I agree that your battery usage does seem a bit high though. To be honest, I have all my auto-syncing set to on and I am getting really good battery life from my Sprint HTC Hero.

I would think Google Maps COULD use the most battery in 4 minutes time if you had the GPS radio turned on. Using the GPS radio in any application that requires it really taxes the battery. This happens to me if I use the camera app for even just a minute or two. I think the camera app, since the Android 2.1 update, causes excessive battery drain.

 

[Wiskid]

Well...took my phone off the charger today at around 2:15 and uninstalled the HTC battery widget (heard that causes more battery drain). I used Google Maps Navigation for around 4 mins, used a few apps, and browsed the web. It said my awake time was around 3 1/2 hours of usage, and I just came home 15 mins ago with 50% left. Does this sound like good battery life? The only thing I had auto-syncing was Craigsnotifica (because an update was pushed that said the app uses less battery for the auto-sync updates) and Gmail. I disabled Facebook, Twitter, and Weather auto-syncing.

Also, there is a bug in the battery usage menu where it shows the most usage being used by Google Maps (like 50% usage) and in the details it shows I only used it for like 4 mins. Same thing with the camera. I am doing a re-install and then a hard reset immediately after to see if it clears this bug up and increases battery life.

If you have Geo Tagging on in your camera settings, this could be why its showing Maps being a large portion of the drain. Geo tagging is what pin points the GPS coordinates where the pic was taken. I'm fairly sure the camera app uses Google Maps to do the geo tagging. I could be wrong, though.

That awake time sounds really high. Is that 3.5 hours from 2:15 until 6:45? If so, there is def. an app that is keeping your phone awake when the screen is off. You can use Spare Parts to find out which app is keeping your phone awake. I usually get maybe 3.5 hours of awake time from 6 am til 9-10 pm. And I consider that to be fairy heavy usage.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

If I need updated weather, I look out a window.

This made me laugh so hard!! Smartphones are awesome but good grief there's no substitute for looking out the window

 

[jrdatrackstar]

I have been using the HTC Battery widget since Android 1.5 and have never suffered abnormal battery drain from it. I reinstalled it after I upgraded to Android 2.1 and it is still not draining the battery quickly. I agree that your battery usage does seem a bit high though. To be honest, I have all my auto-syncing set to on and I am getting really good battery life from my Sprint HTC Hero.

I would think Google Maps COULD use the most battery in 4 minutes time if you had the GPS radio turned on. Using the GPS radio in any application that requires it really taxes the battery. This happens to me if I use the camera app for even just a minute or two. I think the camera app, since the Android 2.1 update, causes excessive battery drain.

See, sometimes when I left my auto-sync settings on the battery life would still be ok. What are your settings like? The awake time was 3 1/2 hours because I would probably say I really was on the phone that much and it was awake. It doesn't have the percentage next to the usage times anymore so I can't tell if it's 100% or not.

Another thing.....on my one of my homescreens I have Pandora, YouTube, and Facebook widgets. To my knowledge, these don't update unless you load the homescreen, so I don't think this should be the culprit for battery drain.

Also, according to the usage menu, most of my drain comes from cell phone stand-by and phone idle. I don't understand why these would be so high and cause so much drain?

 

[Wiskid]

See, sometimes when I left my auto-sync settings on the battery life would still be ok. What are your settings like? The awake time was 3 1/2 hours because I would probably say I really was on the phone that much and it was awake. It doesn't have the percentage next to the usage times anymore so I can't tell if it's 100% or not.

Another thing.....on my one of my homescreens I have Pandora, YouTube, and Facebook widgets. To my knowledge, these don't update unless you load the homescreen, so I don't think this should be the culprit for battery drain.

Also, according to the usage menu, most of my drain comes from cell phone stand-by and phone idle. I don't understand why these would be so high and cause so much drain?

Well, if you were using the phone for 3.5 hours, then your battery life seems normal. I think you are correct about your pandora, youtube, and FB widgets. I'm pretty sure that the "Phone Stand-by" and "phone idle" drainage comes from having a poor signal, or when roaming. The phone is constantly trying to search for a Sprint tower (this is what I think, idk for sure).

 

[LBPHeretic]

Phone Standby and Phone Idle can also just mean you have not been using your Sprint HTC Hero much lately. If you set your handset down for a few hours, then these two will dominate the battery usage.

Phone Standby and Phone Idle tend to be the top two on my Sprint HTC Hero if I have left it alone for a few hours to concentrate on work or whatever. It is not the handset constantly searching for a signal either because the Time Without Signal percentage is always at 0%.