Help Samsung Vibrant *BUGS*

[happy0506]

Ok, so as a new Vibrant owner I want all the bugs worked out ASAP. I love this phone and I'm going to keep it. Yet it does have some issues, such as GPS.

If we just go onto forums and rant, then apply our own fix, such as the GPS fix that is out by XDA developers, then t-mobile will never know the volume of people that are negatively impacted by bugs.

To my surprise some T-Mobile tech support reps don't even know about so many problems that exist on their phones, because consumers don't call in.

When you call into tech support, a ticket is made, and if many of the same problems are reported, then we can expect a future over the air update to our problem.

So I ask all new Vibrant owners, pick up your Vibrant, Dial 611 right now, then say "technical support" and report all the problems with the phone. Such as GPS, and no signal bars, lag, freezing, whatever. This is the only way to expect a quick full update for everyones problems.

So Call! Don't assume T-mobile reads these forums or somehow reads your mind. CALL!

i agree and disagree with you.

i agree that everyone should call support. i've called twice and stopped into a store. both my calls, the tech support person said they would look into my problem further and me with a fix or update on the status of a fix. never received a call back. when i stopped into the store the rep said he would contact his samsung rep and get back to me in a couple of days. that was today, but i'm not holding my breathe that i'll ever hear from him. i wish that all the vibrant users would flood t-mo's support so they put more pressure on samsung to get their head out of their anal orifice.

i disagree that their tech support doesn't know about these issues. they have to know. these issues aren't isolated, they are wide spread systemic issues. it must be a corporate directive to deny everything to make each customer feel like they are crazy or their problem is extremely rare. their support did the same thing to me when i had tons of problems with a blackberry curve 3-4 yrs ago. then i talked to a low level rep at a store who said that he had seen the same problem "dozens of times." he either didn't get the marching orders from management because he was so low on the totem pole or just didn't care because he made minimum wage. they know!

also, the phone tech guy (advance support group) and the store manager i talked to both said they monitor their t-mo forums to learn about customer issues and get feedback. i found that amusing.

 

[kas21]

I am not sure if this is a bug or by design (or maybe I am not seeing an option somewhere?) but Notifications still play through the phone speaker when I have my headphones plugged in. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[nMIK-3]

I am not sure if this is a bug or by design (or maybe I am not seeing an option somewhere?) but Notifications still play through the phone speaker when I have my headphones plugged in. Has anyone else experienced this?

Are you have your headphones fully pluged in?
I am asking because the 3.5mm jack plug-in is kind of weird in the Vibrant.

 

[kas21]

Are you have your headphones fully pluged in?
I am asking because the 3.5mm jack plug-in is kind of weird in the Vibrant.

Yea, and I tried different headphones. Music comes through the headphones and not out the speaker, as do "system clicks"/taps. Notifications and the Phone ringing play through the headphones AND the speaker on the unit when headphones are plugged in.

 

[budney]

Yea, and I tried different headphones. Music comes through the headphones and not out the speaker, as do "system clicks"/taps. Notifications and the Phone ringing play through the headphones AND the speaker on the unit when headphones are plugged in.

It's the same on mine. I think it's by design, as I have had other devices do the same thing.

 

[mwl1119]

YouTube - SAMSUNG ARE LYING BASTARDS

 

[spiz]

YouTube - SAMSUNG ARE LYING BASTARDS

Lol some funny parts... but some of the same old used up baseless diatribe. The only true part was the GPS problem which will probably be fixed soon.

 

[galaxyS]

another bug... my twitter widget's arrow keys turn upside down or rumbles sometimes.. LOL

weird..

 

[jkcheng122]

Not sure if a bug or function, but I'm noticing when audible tone in dial pad is switched on I'm getting the audible selection sound whenever I type on the swype kb. I would hear the sound when I place finger on the first letter of the word I'm typing via swype.

 

[UrbanDoom]

go to internet options and uncheck plugins

 

[happy0506]

okay, i know buying the latest and greatest puts us in the early adopter category. as such, we should expect to deal with a few bugs. however, the issues with the vibrant seem to be excessive. two co-workers of mine have the droid incredible and i've asked them what issues they've run into. it pales in comparison to what us vibrant owners are dealing with. also, the issues like the gps are so blatantly obvious that samsung and tmobile had to know before releasing the phone. or, they did next to no testing in anything that resembles the real world.

another issue i have with the phone that hasn't gotten much attention is the lack of ability to change the calendar reminder ringtone. the default is quiet and short, i never hear it. makes my calendar almost useless. my old mytouch had a setting in the calendar to change it, the droid incredibles my co-workers have the setting to change it, and i went to a tmo store the other day and the 5 other android phones i played with all had the setting. why the heck would samsung take it out of this phone? just another example of bad quality control or a complete moron deciding to take this setting out.

is it just me or does it seem like the quality control testing in this phone was completely incompetent? did they rush this to market so fast to beat some other phone that they know is coming out soon to grab market share, ignoring the inadequacies and bugs to the most basic of functions on the phone?

 

[PlowRox]

WOW

here are a few of the issue's I have had/gotten with the vibrant:

1] with wifi on and no cell towers around i switched off the wifi thru the pull down notification bar and it appeared like it wasn't working, so i went into settings to do it and the notice said shutting down wifi... put phone to sleep [i really hate this feature BTW] and after driving a few miles i tried to wake up the phone and it wouldn't wake up, pulled battery and it was fine after..

2] i also have had the browser crash the phone with error screen "not kernal panic" user generated [or some such crap] again rebooting fixes

3] the "checkin" thing does not seem to do anything

4] i applied the gps patch haven't really used it much to see if it did any good...

yes i have called tmobile on the first two things very helpful but i have my doubts as to how much of this gets back to samsung.

 

[galaxyS]

my GPS is fine..

 

[Contraus]

my GPS is fine..

Is it really though? You might want to check on the accuracy. I thought mine was fine as well because it was locking very quickly and there was no blue circle around the blue dot/arrow. But when I actually checked to make sure it was telling me where I was correctly, it was about a quarter mile off. My GPS is locking very quickly, but it is anything but accurate.

 

[Contraus]

Anyone having text messaging issues? Using the standard text program that comes with the phone has been giving me a few issues. It has only happened a few times but when I select one thread it goes to a different thread. I have to close out of the messaging app completely to be able to select the thread I want. I actually hit reply to a message once and it sent the text to a totally different contact, but still showed up in the message thread for the person I intended it for. I didn't know that it had been sent to the wrong person until I got a text back from a very confused friend.

Suggestions? I'm thinking of installing a new text messaging app such as Handcent but I've heard it can be laggy. Anyone have it installed and can share thoughts?

I am having the same issue here. Just earlier today I tried to send a text to my fiance. I entered it in the thread with my fiance and I clicked "Send". Then all of a sudden, I get a text from my mother asking me what the hell I was talking about. The text somehow went to my mother, but it showed it in the thread with my fiance. This may seem like a minor bug to some people, but this pisses me off. Thank God I didn't say anything bad because my mom would have gotten the text instead of my fiance. What if I were to say something like, "Honey, when I get home I'm gonna take you on the washing machine." Samsung needs to fix this bug IMMEDIATELY. Also, the GPS sucks balls. What the hell is going on with the GPS??? It won't lock most of the time, and when it does, it's completely wrong.

 

[VegasTouch]

I didn't have an issue with the phone sms, but am using handcent anyways because it has a lot more options. Hasn't been laggy for me at all.

 

[konoplya]

what about rooting the phone? that may fix some of the issues such as screen brightness, etc. i don't have the phone yet, but was thinking of getting one, until i ran into a bunch of threads like this one. these issues are too much of a pain for me to deal with if i'm going to shell out a few hundred bucks for the phone. then some basic features that should be included in it are not, like the flash and a better camera.

 

[mvcampano]

I just got the Vibrant phone, I am having the same problem with the browser. I cannot view www.floridalottery.com or www.google.com for that matter. After they're 100% loaded, the browser closes and I am back on my cell desktop.

Hopefully, Samsung will fix this soon!

I am facing a very weird bug on the Vibrant.
Every time I visit ??????? ??? - ?????????, ?????????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??????????? from the build in browser once the webpage loads %100 the browser shuts down immediately. Like force to close.

I tried a couple of debugging but I had no luck loading the page. The same website loads perfectly on a Nexus One and on an HTC Incredible.

Can someone with Vibrant try to load this page and report here if the same problem appears?


edit:
Confirmed websites that crash the browser:

www.gizmodo.com
www.cbssports.com (parts of the website)
www.prasinanea.gr
www.sport-fm.gr

 

[mvcampano]

The same thing happened to me a couple of times (besides the browser problem I also have). All I can say is "I hope Samsung or Android fixes this problem soon!)

I am having the same issue here. Just earlier today I tried to send a text to my fiance. I entered it in the thread with my fiance and I clicked "Send". Then all of a sudden, I get a text from my mother asking me what the hell I was talking about. The text somehow went to my mother, but it showed it in the thread with my fiance. This may seem like a minor bug to some people, but this pisses me off. Thank God I didn't say anything bad because my mom would have gotten the text instead of my fiance. What if I were to say something like, "Honey, when I get home I'm gonna take you on the washing machine." Samsung needs to fix this bug IMMEDIATELY. Also, the GPS sucks balls. What the hell is going on with the GPS??? It won't lock most of the time, and when it does, it's completely wrong.

 

[jkcheng122]

I am not sure if this is a bug or by design (or maybe I am not seeing an option somewhere?) but Notifications still play through the phone speaker when I have my headphones plugged in. Has anyone else experienced this?

I need to check on headphones again, but what I'm noticing is when I use a 3.5mm cable to plug the phone into the AUX port in my car, I'm getting audio both out of car speakers as well as the phone speakers. Not just notifications either but the music I was playing as well (checked on both Pandora and MixZing, need to check default player also but I don't intend to use that as my music player). Phone speakers need to be off in this case. Am I missing some setting somewhere or is this a bug/design?

 

[jkcheng122]

I need to check on headphones again, but what I'm noticing is when I use a 3.5mm cable to plug the phone into the AUX port in my car, I'm getting audio both out of car speakers as well as the phone speakers. Not just notifications either but the music I was playing as well (checked on both Pandora and MixZing, need to check default player also but I don't intend to use that as my music player). Phone speakers need to be off in this case. Am I missing some setting somewhere or is this a bug/design?

Hmm the issue seems to be random. I made no changes to settings and it went away.

 

[detour]

To my surprise some T-Mobile tech support reps don't even know about so many problems that exist on their phones, because consumers don't call in.

When you call into tech support, a ticket is made, and if many of the same problems are reported, then we can expect a future over the air update to our problem.

So I ask all new Vibrant owners, pick up your Vibrant, Dial 611 right now, then say "technical support" and report all the problems with the phone. Such as GPS, and no signal bars, lag, freezing, whatever. This is the only way to expect a quick full update for everyones problems.

So Call! Don't assume T-mobile reads these forums or somehow reads your mind. CALL!

I love your pro-active spirit and you're correct that others need to be pro-active as well. However, as a former Android tech at T-Mobile I like to take a few minutes to explain how their system works.

Before any new release T-Mobile tech support employees are made aware of all known issues. There is a online database we use called Streamline to determine known issues. Some known issues are by design some are due to software. In either case almost all issues that are being mentioned in this thread are already listed.

I think the real question is why do manufactures and carriers release certain devices that have dozens of known issue? Why not try to correct the major ones prior to release. Personally I think it usually comes down to money.

When you call Android support at T-Mobile your issue is noted in your account. The tech will work with you to try to resolve it (btw even though I am not employed at T-Mobile now, people STOP calling Tech Support from your devices! We are not magicians, find another phone to call from). A trouble ticket is ONLY made when there is no Known Issue related to the problem you are having. Also, if you are not being given a TT number then no ticket had been created. It takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes for the tech to create a trouble ticket.

OTA fixes are painfully slow. They have to be tested over and over to be certain that the fix will not cause a different problem with the device. Personally I would not expect a fix for what I am reading here till the fall. Though I hope I'm wrong.

The only time a problem you call in with is even mentioned to a supervisor would be something extraordinary. Like you touch your home button and it turns off your coffee maker And even then for it to go beyond the techs supervisor would be extraordinary ... but at least we felt as if we tried by letting them know.

At T-Mobile we are trained to make you feel good about issues you are having that we know about. We will act surprised we will act upset we will act, why? Because every call is recorded and calls are randomly scored. Those scores determine many things about our status and bonuses as T-Mobile employees.

So once again I applaud the poster to who I am replying. I sincerely like pro-active people and a upbeat attitude. Most of the employees at T-Mobile truly do care .. I cared but like any huge company our ability to actually do much is limited to our policy. Always remember we are not only employees but customers too. We often use the high end phones and have the same issues you all have ...

I left about two months ago so I do not have much information on the Vibrant. I have used it and I think its an awesome device. It would be hard to find a better Android phone out at the moment aside from possibly the Nexus One.

 

[Tarzanman]

I just bought a Vibrant from a 3rd party today. No contract extension. No SD card, no accessories.

The phone started acting up about 2 hours after I got it. Random reboots, and some freezing. I went about my business as normal, installing apps and using the phone

A few hours later I read that a factory reset might help with the rebooting.

If anything, the rebooting has gotten worse.

I have had the phone less than 20 hours and its rebooted itself about 10 times already.

What is going on?

 

[S4A]

OK guys, its been almost three days with the device I can safety report the bugs I found so far.

Such a thread is much needed and if a moderator can stick it would be great.

All of you please feel free to post your comments and/or your additions.

Here we go:

1. The most important bug is the Java script handling in browser. This bug forces the browser to crash when visited popular webpages. See this thread here.
2. When Google Contact contains birthday entry but this entry only includes DAY and MONTH without the YEAR then this contact is not accessible from the phone.
3. In Taskbar the Bluetooth button opens the Bluetooth settings instead on Power ON/Off the Bluetooth as it should.
4. The battery indicator is wrong. I have 69% of battery and by looking the indicator looks like I am still on 90%!
5. If you set your SMS settings to NOT delete any SMS you will keep getting an annoying popup telling you to choose if you want to set automatic delete for SMS. Even if you choose NO you will get this notification every time you open messaging.
6. If I get a new email in my PC and read it. The phone checks for new messages after couple of minutes. It will download the message you previously read but it will notify you that you have a new email. You click on the new email and only to find out that it only contains the email you previously read. This applies to IMAP server. I am not using GMAIL and I am not sure if this bug is present there.
7. T-Mobiles Visual Voicemail is build-in the firmware. Even thought a newer version of this app is available in the market we cannot install it.
8. Clicking to Facebook notifications from both the Taskbar or from within the Contacts will open Facebook Mobile in browser and not the Facebook App.
9. The *#*#checkin#*#* does not work for me. The code is accepted but I am never getting a Checkin success message or any other error message.
10. The native Gallery app cannot display Facebook Albums. If I am not mistaken this function was available in the preproduction units (This is not a bug but a missing function)
11. SMS Delivery Reports create a new notification every time a message is delivered. (This is not a bug but it is really annoying, it feels its like 1999 all over again loool)

12. In Settings/Sound and Display/Silent mode you can see that it says: "All sounds except media and alarms are silenced" but if you check it your alarm is silenced too. Lot of people were late to their work.

13. The Vibrant's own Email application, the one which is used for Yahoo emails (as opposed to ones for Google or authentic Yahoo Mail app from the Market which both are fine) has hidden bug/"feature". If you force it to download your emails only manually (stopping automatic downloads in background to save your battery life) it still sucks 20% of your battery per 24 hours. Same waste of battery life is of course is in automatic regime which is harder to notice. If you kill the Email with Advanced Task Killer, things or change or not change much, it depends.

 

[Nexus1]

my guess is that someone tried rooting it and messed it up.