Help Problems Since Upgrading to ICS

[flipflop104]

I'm a UK user on the o2 network and my phone isn't/wasn't rooted (although I'd like to have a go sometime) and am pretty new to smartphones/android (this is my first one and I got it back in September)

Since installing ICS from kies my phone is dead slow to respond (eg. when I try to open messages it hangs for a few seconds before I can see the convos) - never had that problem with gingerbread - was always instant opening without any hanging/lag at all.

It also seems to eat the battery like mad and then takes ages to recharge - battery used to last a good day and half and now I'm lucky if it lasts 24hours. And then where it used to take 2 or so hours to do a full recharge, now it takes about 5 or 6 hours.

And there always seems to be loads of apps in the background running and if I open task manager and "clear memory" (20 odd apps are closed!!) and then immediately go to the home screen and then imediately back into task manager there are more apps open despite me doing nothing apart from navigating to the home screen and then back to task manager.

And the other main thing I've noticed (and the most frustrating and annoying) is that when I access facebook (I don't use the facebook app for Android - never have and don't want to - just use the web browser on the phone), when I scroll up on down it's really jumpy, not smooth like it used to be, and once I get a bit down the page it just stops and hangs and that's it no amount of swiping my finger up or down or across to screen does anything at all. ARGHHHH And I have to clear memory and start again but then it just hangs again at the same point.

Other than that I do like ICS BUT these things are such niggles for me that I really would prefer to go back to Gingerbread - is this possible and if so, how?

TIA

 

[Russell Ng]

You can downgrade ICS by flashing the right kernel, or at least that's what I read. Wait awhile and definitely there would be someone who can give you exact instructions.

For now, have you try a factory reset and to wipe the cache? That usually clears up a lot of issues. Also read that the battery tends to sort itself out after a weeks use or so. So maybe you can try this first and stick with ICS for a little while longer.

Cheers

 

[wrighty.uk.gor]

When i upgraded my asus transformer to ics it was nothing but laggy FC ing all the time and just nasty to use.

After i did a factory reset on it and reinstalled all my apps from the market etc worked like a charm again.

 

[flipflop104]

Will I lose everything again if I do a factory reset?

 

[Quboid]

When you clear memory through the task manager, it also kills your homescreen widgets so they will reload. I presume there's several system processes which are also killed and which restart either immediately or when you go to your homescreen. How many apps does it close if you Clear Memory a second time after only going to the homescreen?

When I upgraded to ICS (I'm running that Polish release which has a few problems of its own) I found the GPS was loading every hour or so. I don't know what was using it. I disabled GPS (simply from the notification pull-down) it stopped and I've re-enabled GPS without it restarting. That helped battery life a bit but it's still shorter than it was with Gingerbread, probably about 80% as long.

Have you had any problems with swiping? In some apps, most notably ADW.Launcher Ex where swiping between homescreens or app-list pages is unreliable. I think I've heard of other people having problems with swiping but I'm not sure.

 

[wrighty.uk.gor]

Will I lose everything again if I do a factory reset?

Not sure if you lose what on the internal mem to tell truth i would say yes, on my transformer I lost every thing.

 

[Russell Ng]

Factory reset means you go back to a phone out of the box, so you lose all settings, contacts, downloaded apps... etc.

So you definitely need to backup whatever you can before factory reset.

 

[noddle]

With my ICS I seem to have trouble with some apps freezing and when I update some apps say "Insufficient storage available" or "Package file is invalid". But with some app I can seem to update these from google play online.

 

[flipflop104]

When you clear memory through the task manager, it also kills your homescreen widgets so they will reload. I presume there's several system processes which are also killed and which restart either immediately or when you go to your homescreen. How many apps does it close if you Clear Memory a second time after only going to the homescreen?

When I upgraded to ICS (I'm running that Polish release which has a few problems of its own) I found the GPS was loading every hour or so. I don't know what was using it. I disabled GPS (simply from the notification pull-down) it stopped and I've re-enabled GPS without it restarting. That helped battery life a bit but it's still shorter than it was with Gingerbread, probably about 80% as long.

Have you had any problems with swiping? In some apps, most notably ADW.Launcher Ex where swiping between homescreens or app-list pages is unreliable. I think I've heard of other people having problems with swiping but I'm not sure.

The first time I clear through task manager it will close about 21 apps. And then when I immediately go back in (after only navigating to the home screen) it then usually closes between 5 and 8 apps. I haven't set up the phone exactly as I like it (which includes removing some widgets - I'm assuming widgets are the things on the home screens like weather, etc) so I might try removing them and then trying the task manager thing?

I don't have GPS autmatically switched on - I only switch it on when I want to use it.

Don't seem to have a prob with swiping. I did notice last night that when texting, the keyboard freezes. I can carry on typing the letters and it fills them in once it's caught up with itself and not frozen but still another pain

 

[flipflop104]

Factory reset means you go back to a phone out of the box, so you lose all settings, contacts, downloaded apps... etc.

So you definitely need to backup whatever you can before factory reset.

Yes I wouldn't dream of doing it without backing up but it's still a pain getting everything back to my personal preferences.

 

[Quboid]

Those 5 - 8 apps will be things like the widgets (yes, the home screen things). That's fine, these won't affect the running; when I first got Android I was a bit afraid of them wasting battery but their usage really is minimal.

I'm glad you don't have problems swiping, that means when the official ICS update for my handset is out, it probably won't be affected. I'm using a hacked, rooted version now so a few issues are to be expected.

I'll probably do a wipe when that update comes out, I've had this handset for nearly a year now. Things like contacts are backed up on Google. I'm most worried about my Angry Birds progress.

 

[flipflop104]

Those 5 - 8 apps will be things like the widgets (yes, the home screen things). That's fine, these won't affect the running; when I first got Android I was a bit afraid of them wasting battery but their usage really is minimal.

I'm glad you don't have problems swiping, that means when the official ICS update for my handset is out, it probably won't be affected. I'm using a hacked, rooted version now so a few issues are to be expected.

I'll probably do a wipe when that update comes out, I've had this handset for nearly a year now. Things like contacts are backed up on Google. I'm most worried about my Angry Birds progress.

Well I've done a factory reset and it seems to be running a little better although still having the issues with the widgets still runnning and I've deleted them all except music/game/readers/social hubs, maps, market and one that is like an electronic photo frame but still has 9 or so apps running once I clear task manager then go home then go back to task manager. Will they def not affect the battery? It really bugs me though cos I don't really like the idea of things running that *I* don't want running - is there anyway I can tell which they are and kill them (rooting I guess??)

Yes it's my angry birds progress that I've lost and had to start all over again lol but GRRRRR lol

 

[Quboid]

A badly written widget could waste battery, but I'm confident the ones built in and reputable ones on the Play market (good star rating, thousands of downloads) are fine. There will also be background processes but these are important and are also fine.

Try letting the battery completely decharge (from 100% to 0%) a couple of times, this will reset the battery readings and make sure your phone is getting the right readings.

 

[flipflop104]

I spoke too soon. It's doing the faacebook thing again where I scroll half way down then it becomes jumpy and then just freezes then goes blank and I get nothing. GRRRRRR