And now for the airing of the grievances!

[mikeb33]

So I have had my Evo for nearly a week. I just came from Verizon and bought 4 android phones in one day. I bought the platinum case & holster from BB. While I like it a lot, there are some things I do not, especially for telephone use. I am not just here to bitch, but maybe some of these can be resolved but I just don't know how. Maybe one of you do.

1) When using a bluetooth earpiece(which I do all day at work), voicemail won't work and I must listen through the phones earpiece. Quite annoying as I am driving along and want to listen to messages. Apparently it plays through the music player so my stereo headphones work, but that's not what I am using all day long.

2) If I answer a call by pressing the "answer" button on the phone, the audio doesn't got to my earpiece. You must answer using the blue tooth earpiece button if you intend to talk that way.

3) When calling someone else, if another call comes in before the first picks up, it goes right to voice mail and you never know you missed a call unless you see a number next to the voice mail tab on the homepage.

4) Although I set my screen timeout to 10 minutes, when in a call, it blanks out almost instantly. Sometimes I need to dial an extension or something else and I have to hit the top button and the keys button to do it. Very annoying since since it was just on seconds ago.

5) I get poor signal at home. I called about an Airave, and some people have told me they got one free, they will not give me one. They say that policy is for people who have been a customer for 6 months or more. I said I won't be here that long without the Airave. The policy is backwards. The Customer Service Rep reminded me I have 30 days to return the phones(4). I thought they were trying to get new and keep existing customers?

6) It won't pickup my home wireless G wifi, in the same area my laptop does.

SERENITY NOW!

 

[EarlyMon]

4) Although I set my screen timeout to 10 minutes, when in a call, it blanks out almost instantly. Sometimes I need to dial an extension or something else and I have to hit the top button and the keys button to do it. Very annoying since since it was just on seconds ago.

SERENITY NOW!

There's an app called Screen On to keep the screen live during calls. It worked for a little while for me, then stopped - maybe after it updated, I wasn't paying attention. I've written the dev about it, so maybe that will cure soon - you might keep an eye on it.

Meanwhile - I've downloaded No Lock and I use that. It frees you from that annoying swipe to open by using just the volume keys to open and go live. I decided to use that after I once accidentally got as far as the power-down dialog when all I was trying to do was get to the keypad quickly enough.

 

[hook3m]

So I have had my Evo for nearly a week. I just came from Verizon and bought 4 android phones in one day. I bought the platinum case & holster from BB. While I like it a lot, there are some things I do not, especially for telephone use. I am not just here to bitch, but maybe some of these can be resolved but I just don't know how. Maybe one of you do.

1) When using a bluetooth earpiece(which I do all day at work), voicemail won't work and I must listen through the phones earpiece. Quite annoying as I am driving along and want to listen to messages. Apparently it plays through the music player so my stereo headphones work, but that's not what I am using all day long.

2) If I answer a call by pressing the "answer" button on the phone, the audio doesn't got to my earpiece. You must answer using the blue tooth earpiece button if you intend to talk that way.

3) When calling someone else, if another call comes in before the first picks up, it goes right to voice mail and you never know you missed a call unless you see a number next to the voice mail tab on the homepage.

4) Although I set my screen timeout to 10 minutes, when in a call, it blanks out almost instantly. Sometimes I need to dial an extension or something else and I have to hit the top button and the keys button to do it. Very annoying since since it was just on seconds ago.

5) I get poor signal at home. I called about an Airave, and some people have told me they got one free, they will not give me one. They say that policy is for people who have been a customer for 6 months or more. I said I won't be here that long without the Airave. The policy is backwards. The Customer Service Rep reminded me I have 30 days to return the phones(4). I thought they were trying to get new and keep existing customers?

6) It won't pickup my home wireless G wifi, in the same area my laptop does.

SERENITY NOW!

As for #1, call your voiciemail instead of using visual voicemail. It will come through Bluetooth.

 

[NeoteriX]

5) I get poor signal at home. I called about an Airave, and some people have told me they got one free, they will not give me one. They say that policy is for people who have been a customer for 6 months or more. I said I won't be here that long without the Airave. The policy is backwards. The Customer Service Rep reminded me I have 30 days to return the phones(4). I thought they were trying to get new and keep existing customers?

You can't force a shoe to fit -- as nice as the Evo is, reception at home should be at the top of your priority list. The Airrave isn't a perfect solution, it's an imperfect band-aid (no 3G, call handoffs are fraught with issues) for certain customers that may be locked into Sprint for work reasons, maybe have been long time sprint customers that moved somewhere new, existing customers have located somewhere for a long-temporary stay, etc.

Trying to keep a new customer that just doesn't get great reception at home, the most if not 2nd most critical place, is not in your or Sprint's best interest -- even with the Airrave. It's not a cure-all for bad reception, and you won't be happy with it.

If you are blessed with the luxury of the freedom to switch carriers, you should first identify which works best at home, and then go from there. T-Mobile has the Nexus 1 and will be getting the Samsung G soon; Verizon is getting the Droid X and Droid 2 very soon as well. You'll be much happier.

 

[evojoel]

Yep. Where I live, Verizon has pretty good signal most anywhere. I have Sprint as do a few of my neighbors, and their phones don't work well in their apartments.

 

[sikclown]

I can't answer the first two because I don't use a Bluetooth headset but I believe I have read elsewhere that increased Bluetooth support is coming in 2.2. As for number 3.. The only times I have had that happen is if they are calling exactly when I first press call and it is trying to connect to the number. Number 4 is a feature called proximity sensor... When you put the phone to your ear a sensor turns the screen off so you don't accidentally press something with your face. When you pull the phone away from your ear wait a second or two and the screen will come back on. Number 5... Just pay the 5 bucks per month for the Airave... In 6 months tell them about your issue again and I am pretty sure they will give it to you for free and credit back the 30 dollars you spent. As for Number 6... How far away is the router? Download WiFi analyzer from the market and check to see if you have a better channel to run off of. A laptop is always going to have a more powerful wifi antenna.... What brand and model router is it? What mode is it running in? Mixed mode or g only?

 

[Bagua]

#5

Ask till you get to the 3rd tier operator in Customer Service, keep pushing till you get the answer you want or a discount at least, remember it's your money.

#6

Power off your router wait 15 seconds then see if you get a signal. I had the same problem no signal for my Evo but everything else worked, pc's, touch and iPads . I turned the router off as a last ditch effort and then powered on again, the Evo connected no problem and is working fine now.

 

[jamesdean]

#2, what blue tooth device are you using? I use the Samsung WEP350 and have the same problem. It worked fine on the Droid and Incredible.

I called HTC yesterday and was told it was a compatibility problem and to change headsets.

Wondering if that is the case or will all BT headsests work this way in the EVO.

 

[mikeb33]

There's an app called Screen On to keep the screen live during calls. It worked for a little while for me, then stopped - maybe after it updated, I wasn't paying attention. I've written the dev about it, so maybe that will cure soon - you might keep an eye on it.

Meanwhile - I've downloaded No Lock and I use that. It frees you from that annoying swipe to open by using just the volume keys to open and go live. I decided to use that after I once accidentally got as far as the power-down dialog when all I was trying to do was get to the keypad quickly enough.

GREAT ADVICE! I downloaded no lock and love it. I did screen on too and it seems so far to only turn off when I hold it to my ear, where before it seemed to turn of anytime during a call.

#2, what blue tooth device are you using? I use the Samsung WEP350 and have the same problem. It worked fine on the Droid and Incredible.

I called HTC yesterday and was told it was a compatibility problem and to change headsets.

Wondering if that is the case or will all BT headsests work this way in the EVO.

It seems they use the music player to play visual voicemail. Just like you can't play tunes through a normal blue tooth earpiece, you can't play visual voice mail. I can't imagine any single earpiece will work.

If you are blessed with the luxury of the freedom to switch carriers, you should first identify which works best at home, and then go from there. T-Mobile has the Nexus 1 and will be getting the Samsung G soon; Verizon is getting the Droid X and Droid 2 very soon as well. You'll be much happier.

I just came from Verizon and did have decent signal quality. BUT I was at $300/month for 1 smart phone, 3 regular and an aircard for my laptop. With Sprint I am at $170 for 4 smart phones. I haven't decided about the aircard yet. Besides I didn't like the Moto Droid and the incredible had worse signal at home than any other Verizon phone I had or my EVO.

 

[jamesdean]

GREAT ADVICE! I downloaded no lock and love it. I did screen on too and it seems so far to only turn off when I hold it to my ear, where before it seemed to turn of anytime during a call.

It seems they use the music player to play visual voicemail. Just like you can't play tunes through a normal blue tooth earpiece, you can't play visual voice mail. I can't imagine any single earpiece will work.

I just came from Verizon and did have decent signal quality. BUT I was at $300/month for 1 smart phone, 3 regular and an aircard for my laptop. With Sprint I am at $170 for 4 smart phones. I haven't decided about the aircard yet. Besides I didn't like the Moto Droid and the incredible had worse signal at home than any other Verizon phone I had or my EVO.

You don't need an aircard. Use PDAnet and tether.

 

[kkwus74]

visual voicemail DOES work thru my jawbone icon headset.........

 

[dandm4life]

you could try flashing a verizon prl.

 

[jamesdean]

you could try flashing a verizon prl.

That's an interesting idea. How would you flash just a PRL?

 

[mikeb33]

You can't force a shoe to fit -- as nice as the Evo is, reception at home should be at the top of your priority list. The Airrave isn't a perfect solution, it's an imperfect band-aid (no 3G, call handoffs are fraught with issues) for certain customers that may be locked into Sprint for work reasons, maybe have been long time sprint customers that moved somewhere new, existing customers have located somewhere for a long-temporary stay, etc.
.

Does the airrave work for texting?