is 2.1 lame?

nstallion · Apr 5, 2010

twjonesjr said:
what ultimately led to the decision to not allow more home screens and 3D app drawer for this update?

I know it was always rumored that those two features might be included but what held it up that they weren't included?

My guess would be that the Droid has half the RAM of the Nexus One.

Then again running a custom 2.1 ROM the Droid handles 7 homescreens and 3D app drawer just fine.

I used to like the 3D app drawer but it's just not as functional. With the way it moves, it's harder to slide down the list of apps and stop where you want.

slick_old · Apr 5, 2010

nstallion said:
I used to like the 3D app drawer but it's just not as functional. With the way it moves, it's harder to slide down the list of apps and stop where you want.

So true. When I was rooted, I had a STABLE 3D app drawer but it was harder to scroll through.

And isn't the lack of additional homescreens a non-issue since you can get helix from the market with up to 7 homescreens and it's 100% stable (not one FC on my phone). I know it sucks using up RAM with a third party app just to get additional homescreens but is it really that big of a deal? Helix can't be more than a few KB. Just as long as you completely clear ALL of your screens before you increase the number of screens, helix is as stable as it gets.

gotwillk · Apr 5, 2010

slick said:
I don't have this problem on my phone at all. I just checked to confirm. I went into the gallery and looked at some pics I took Saturday night and I made sure to do a double-tap zoom and a pinch zoom. Then, I went into the camera app and looked at the same picures. They look exactly the same to me.

I also looked at some picures that I downloaded from the web and the pictures look absolutely gorgeous, even zoomed in.

Truly, the gallery and the much-improved browser (no lag, smooth p2z, perfect anti-aliasing) are my two favorite features of the 2.1 update (even though I had them weeks before the update came as a result of being rooted).

hmm interesting...i was also rooted with 2.1 weeks ago. been having this problem since the first time i had the new 2.1 gallery, even way back when the apk was released. is it supposed to refresh the pic when zoomed in so it becomes sharp and clear? for some reason mine just stays blurry when zoomed.

nstallion · Apr 6, 2010

gotwillk said:
hmm interesting...i was also rooted with 2.1 weeks ago. been having this problem since the first time i had the new 2.1 gallery, even way back when the apk was released. is it supposed to refresh the pic when zoomed in so it becomes sharp and clear? for some reason mine just stays blurry when zoomed.

The concensus among a few forum members (including me) is that it re-renders the image at a lower resolution to fit your screen, and then when you zoom in from there it simply zooms in on that rerendered image. We think this is to increase the speed at which you can switch between images.

It's an interesting decision on Google's part. I'm not sure it was the right one but the gallery is really only meant for browsing snapshots, not looking at the images in detail.

I think where it really falls down is when trying to use part of high res image as your background. Because it rererenders the image at a lower resolution instead of using the original resolution, if you select only a portion of it as your background it looks pretty bad.

radikal · Apr 6, 2010

everyone made it a big deal! it really never was but they made it a HUGE deal... so yeah, thats why you find it to be slightly lame

kraze0g · Apr 6, 2010

just got my update n i noticed slowdown when using live wallpaper between scrreens and other tasks like scrolling thru widgets. also my battery is draining like crazy. no one else has this? im gonna have to turn off live wallpaper ...

slick_old · Apr 6, 2010

gotwillk said:
hmm interesting...i was also rooted with 2.1 weeks ago. been having this problem since the first time i had the new 2.1 gallery, even way back when the apk was released. is it supposed to refresh the pic when zoomed in so it becomes sharp and clear? for some reason mine just stays blurry when zoomed.

I think it depends on the picture. Yes, when I initially look at the picture in the gallery it is blurry but it becomes clear after about 2 seconds. And once I zoom, it remains clear and when I swipe to other pictures they are clear as well. It shouldn't be blurry when you zoom in or out. And like I said, pictures in the gallery should look exactly the same in the camera app. I looked at identical pictures in both the gallery and the camera app and they look identical when zooming in and out.

Maybe the 2.1 update did mess up your phone and many others'. I haven't had any problems with my Droid, but reading all of these posts and threads does make me think that maybe there is a quality control problem here. I don't know if it matters, but I did a full wipe and factory reset before manually installing 2.1. But, users shouldn't have to do these things before getting the OTA.

tjoebgen · Apr 6, 2010

sooper_droid12 said:
Check to see if you have Google Earth apk already in your phone. It just needs to be unpacked.

Just searched my SD and there is no reference to google earth in the root or in Android. I looked for any name that had google or earth in it.

tjoebgen · Apr 6, 2010

kraze0g said:
just got my update n i noticed slowdown when using live wallpaper between scrreens and other tasks like scrolling thru widgets. also my battery is draining like crazy. no one else has this? im gonna have to turn off live wallpaper ...

Which live wallpaper are you using. The NeuralNet one is reportedly a CPU hog. I've been using the Grass one and haven't noticed any drainage. I LOVE how this one changes based on the time of day - Sunset period is beautiful! I'm watching it go through Sunrise now. I can't wait until someone makes one that is geared to the local weather.

tjoebgen · Apr 6, 2010

baka said:
just wondering if anyone else thinks the ota to 2.1 is lame? other than the gallery, i cant find any of these other cool things that were supposed to be there. i still have only 3 home screens, no revised app launcher, no thumbnail navigation on homescreen, no live wallpapers, etc. other than the news and weather app/widget, i cant tell what has changed.

am i being a noob or does this update seem totally lame? i cant even figure out whats new. still feels like the same old 2.01 droid to me.

I think what the big deal about this update was one major thing: Nexus One. Looking around the various forum boards, most Droidies were complaining that Nexus had 2.1 before we did and there wasn't much info out there about us getting it soon.

Some of the core apps have seen some major improvements. Someone who has already found other apps to take their place may not notice much difference.

I'm glad that the browser has gotten better. I was using Dolphin (had tabbed browsing and pinch), but their last major update is butt-ugly and cumbersome. Now that regular browser has stepped up, I've gone back to it as default.

The Gallery certainly has more bling-factor to it now. I was using B&B Gallery to get the pinch. Now that Gallery has been vastly improved, I'll start using it again.

These are the only main apps I've seen discussed regarding the upgrade. Has anyone noticed if any other core apps were updated - significantly?

kevison · Apr 6, 2010

AndroidsOfTara said:
Except for a possible issue with 2D graphics performance, the 2.1 update for the Droid is most certainly not lame.

In addition to live wallpapers (which I don't use except to demonstrate the phone), vastly improved gallery, slightly improved music app, news & weather widget / app, pinch-zoom you get...

* improved battery life
* faster overall performance
* vastly improved web browsing experience (2.0 was decent, 2.01 a regression and 2.1 is excellent)
* the foundation for future Flash support

Really, what more do you want in a relatively minor update? I think some people just like to complain.

Im not sure how you see this.... I bought my motorola droid a little over a month ago and use it alot. When the update happened I thought to myself "nice hopefully this will smooth app responses"... it hasnt for me. In fact apps have been laggy although not all the time. As to improved battery life, the jury is still out on that for me. My main use for my droid is keeping up on email and a weather channel app that lets me know what the weather is so I can decide whether or not to ride my motorcycle. I dont have the desire or need to run much of anything else so its not like I have a lot of apps running to cause any lags. But it is kind of bad now. I am thinking of taking it back to get a blackberry storm 2 or palm pre plus. So For me the the update rates a resounding "blows"

F150FAN · Apr 6, 2010

I just got my OTA this morning. I honestly have not seen anything that really matters to me. The gallery is nice now with the 3D effect but the rest of the phone is slower now, more sluggish. The App drawer stutters when trying to scroll and it has to think about it harder. As far as the 2D rendering it is much worse now. I could Super Mario Bros. very easily and now it's rather choppy and irritating to play. The live wallpapers are neat but do slow down the phone a bit. I hope they fix this. After I received the update I even shutdown the phone and pulled the battery for about 5 minutes and rebooted and these things are still there. I am currently playing with an Eris and so far I really like Sense and the form factor of the phone. From what I have heard about the 2.1 leaks for the Eris the phone truly runs better and I may jump ship. Just my 2 cents.

takeshi · Apr 6, 2010

nelcatjar said:
There was such a big deal made out of this update, I don't see why. Very anti-climantic.

People blew it up into a big deal. I avoided the 2.1 threads entirely. I didn't buy into every single speculative thread about what was or wasn't included in 2.1 for the Droid and I certainly haven't been disappointed.

Just from the version numbering it should be obvious that going from 2.0.1 to 2.1 won't be a revolutionary change.

slick_old · Apr 6, 2010

Like I said, my Droid has been smoother than it's ever been since installing the 2.1 update. It's honestly just as smooth as my friend's iphone and I have tons of wigets, apps, and, of course, my device is multitasking. I guess every Droid is different.

slick_old · Apr 6, 2010

Also, I'm using helix. Maybe that has something to do with it?

gotwillk · Apr 6, 2010

nstallion said:
The concensus among a few forum members (including me) is that it re-renders the image at a lower resolution to fit your screen, and then when you zoom in from there it simply zooms in on that rerendered image. We think this is to increase the speed at which you can switch between images.

It's an interesting decision on Google's part. I'm not sure it was the right one but the gallery is really only meant for browsing snapshots, not looking at the images in detail.

I think where it really falls down is when trying to use part of high res image as your background. Because it rererenders the image at a lower resolution instead of using the original resolution, if you select only a portion of it as your background it looks pretty bad.

yea its absolutely terrible when setting a wallpaper. it zooms in even MORE on an already pixelated copy of the picture.

i mean i understand that the gallery is just for browsing pics on a small phone's screen but still. this shouldn't happen. also its highly annoying because i want to view my pics in their full pixeled glory. its supposed to be at 5mp and i expect it to be at 5mp. doesnt make sense that the pics view perfect in the camera app but not in gallery.

this sucks. so this seems like a random problem. happens for some and not for others. i wonder why.

jojo29 · Apr 6, 2010

Just wondering if there are any official patch notes out for this?

jojo29 · Apr 6, 2010

To the person having problems with pixelated pictures on both viewing and setting setting as wallpapers, it's either 1 of 2 things thats wrong:

1. The update truly did mess with your Droid, and with that, not sure what to advise you on what to do, as i have a buddy of mine that works at Verizon, that will "hook" me up, i.e i recently took my phone in to get the top power on/off button fixed as it had been getting stuck, i just wanted the button fixed, but, he was like, i ll just get you a brand new phone

It truly is all on who you know ll

2. The quality of your picture(s) is not that great. Some pictures look great zoomed out, but once zoomed in, start to get pixelated. I would try a high def background image in the vain of minimum 1600x1200 or even a 1920x1200 image and then trying it out...on my droid at least...wow is all i can say.

As for the update, im relatively impressed with all the new features and my droid does seem a bit "spiffier" <---if there is such a word lol Theres only two things tho:

1. Where is Google Earth at??
2. I would like to see official patch notes on this new release, where can i find them at?
3. i guess 3 things huh, whats the big fuss about having more than three homescreens? just cuz or is it really that neat a feature?

tjoebgen · Apr 6, 2010

with regards to having more home screens... again, since Nexus has 5, I think Droidies want at least 5

Also, for me it's a matter of organizing. The main apps menu is a pain since developers name things weird, so they sort badly. You could make Folders and store pertinent apps in each folder, but you can't rearrange anything in a folder. Extra screens lets me place my In The Car apps (maps, gps, traffic, etc.) in one screen, all of my News and Weather in another, all of my Entertainment in one, all of my communications in one, and still have a Main one with my most frequently used apps and clock/calendar/weather.

I am now a Helix convert

I tried those other ones out there and they didn't impress me. Helix doesn't try to replace my top status/notification bar, or clutter up anything else, it just gives me extra screens that are easy to manipulate (the double-tap is sweet) and you can rotate.

PittCaleb · Apr 6, 2010

I thought that 2.1 had more home screens. I still have only 3. I have so many folders on my home screens - so what is the best home screen alternative? Every time I read something I see 3 or 4 different ones highly recommended. Thoughts?

PittCaleb

Jim Dawson · Apr 6, 2010

I was perfectly happy with the Launcher 2.1 that I downloaded and installed. It gave me 5 screens that I had organized exactly like I wanted. It even included a wallpaper that I liked. I especially liked the dots you pressed to move from one screen to the next. Unfortunately, it won't work with the 2.1 update. I installed Helix and although it works, I don't like way you move from screen to screen. I have it set to 5 screens and my normal home screen is now screen 2, not the middle one. I went back to the normal home screen for now. Maybe I'll try it again some day.

gotwillk · Apr 6, 2010

jojo29 said:
To the person having problems with pixelated pictures on both viewing and setting setting as wallpapers, it's either 1 of 2 things thats wrong:

1. The update truly did mess with your Droid, and with that, not sure what to advise you on what to do, as i have a buddy of mine that works at Verizon, that will "hook" me up, i.e i recently took my phone in to get the top power on/off button fixed as it had been getting stuck, i just wanted the button fixed, but, he was like, i ll just get you a brand new phone It truly is all on who you know ll

2. The quality of your picture(s) is not that great. Some pictures look great zoomed out, but once zoomed in, start to get pixelated. I would try a high def background image in the vain of minimum 1600x1200 or even a 1920x1200 image and then trying it out...on my droid at least...wow is all i can say.

i've tried high res pics already because i take high res pics with the camera at full 5mp. i've also downloaded high res pics off the internet with same results. when i set a pic for wallpaper, the phone makes a lower quality version of the pic before i even set it as wallpaper. you can visibly see the difference.

jojo29 · Apr 6, 2010

@Gotwillk

I'd try and take it in to Verizon, could be a faulty droid after the update?

@People recommending Helix

I just have one question, as although im not too into the having more than 3 screens, i am into messing with my phone lol, so the question is, does Helix slowdown the phone significantly?

HOTHEAD · Apr 6, 2010

Video files now show up under just the SD file in the gallery. Is there a specific way to make a video folder like before the update? Also I have 2 folders called downloaded each has like less than 10 immages in them, what would be the difference?

blank · Apr 6, 2010

i kinda think its lame. i mean. there really isnt anything new.

i've been slowly getting all the apps updated with multi-touch included, dont really care about live wallpaper.

The new gallery app is nice, but i wish they updated the music app instead, and maybe created a equalizer.

I dunno, i guess its a good update, and probably would've been better if all the google apps didnt already update with multi-touch until after the 2.1 update, but i guess its cool.

phone does seem to run a bit more laggy though. maybe just need to reboot it.

Im still tryin to find new features.

Oh yeah, the new speech to text is nice.

i uninstalled Dolphin browser, and going back to default.

one less app is nice as well. It's weird using it. havent used it since like the first day or week that i had my phone. (November)

is 2.1 lame?

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