17 replies to this topic

[Kokirii]

I don't know much about smart phones.  When my dumb phone broke I decided to get a smart phone but wasn't up for a contract renewal, so I just bought a used HTC Thunderbolt on eBay.  The OS seems very slow, especially compared to my wife's iPhone.  Every task, even the simplest like opening the phone dialer to make a call, takes significantly more time than it seems like it should.  It has 4g but the internet functions are usually so slow that I don't even want to use it unless WiFi is available.  

 

For some reason my phone is on 4.0.4 (ice cream sandwich?) but it says that there are no update available, even though I think the most recent is 4.4.2 (KitKat).  

 

Any have any idea what might be causing these issues, or what I might be able to do to speed up the OS performance?  Would finding out why I can't upgrade to KitKat be the best option, or should I maybe root it and load a custom ROM? 

Edited by Kokirii, 09 May 2014 - 06:32 AM.

[Tom]

The HTC Thunderbolt is a little light on the specs, and would probably be even slower if it were possible to install KitKat on it.

[Nollog]

The way android works is google make a base version, then the phone manufacturers layer their crap on top of it to make more money from it, and then offer that as an update.

xda-developers.com has a load of stuff.
And hey look, it's an XDA, not a iphone, fancy that.
If you put in your phone model they have seperate forums for each phone with 9001 threads on different things there.

[3Dude]

The phones processor is a single core Snapdragon S2 MSM8655... Its just that slow.

Id highly suggest looking up ways to revert your os version to 2.something more freindly for single cores.

[xile6]

get another phone.

 

that was one of the ones that had problems and it was pretty much crap.

 

My friend had one and it had a procressor problem and it would crash alot.

 

My phones has always work great and blown iphones out the water.

 

s2 < htc one m7 < note 3 (current phone)

[TheDoctor_13]

The way android works is google make a base version, then the phone manufacturers layer their crap on top of it to make more money from it, and then offer that as an update.

It's a bit more complicated than that, ok a lot more.

Yeah you did choose kinda a bad phone... And the KitKat or even Jellybean I believe isn't available, HTC just wanted to forget about it. If you want to keep it, custom rom, kernal, all of it. Or you can also just do a factory reset.

You should just upgrade your phone though. Here are sine good options for cheep (no contract), though you can get it on a contract when your eligable.
Moto X - $349.99 (Does do sales a lot)
Moto G - $179.00 (Best bang for a buck)

Nexus 5 - $349/$399

Or even look into the Blu and Oppo series, their smaller brands but they have good cheap phones. I wouldn't suggest buying the years old phones from HTC or Samsung or any for that matter than you find online on ebay/craiglist as most arn't good. However if you insist I can probably find some good cheaper $80-200.

[Bill Cipher]

I don't know much about smart phones.  When my dumb phone broke I decided to get a smart phone but wasn't up for a contract renewal, so I just bought a used HTC Thunderbolt on eBay.  The OS seems very slow, especially compared to my wife's iPhone.  Every task, even the simplest like opening the phone dialer to make a call, takes significantly more time than it seems like it should.  It has 4g but the internet functions are usually so slow that I don't even want to use it unless WiFi is available.  

 

For some reason my phone is on 4.0.4 (ice cream sandwich?) but it says that there are no update available, even though I think the most recent is 4.4.2 (KitKat).  

 

Any have any idea what might be causing these issues, or what I might be able to do to speed up the OS performance?  Would finding out why I can't upgrade to KitKat be the best option, or should I maybe root it and load a custom ROM? 

 

Let me try to break it down easily.

 

Android is not iOS. A better analogy for Android would be Windows, but with more...crap on top. Basically, each Smartphone Maker(HTC,Oppo,LG,Samsung,Sony,etc) is given a base version of Android. The core is the same. However, each company adds their own skin, replaces apps, etc, making the OS their own. As such, while the newest version of the OS is 4.4.2 KitKat, you can't get it because HTC doesn't support your phone up to that point. The only phones guarenteed to get updates nowdays, be it custom ROMs or offical Firmware, are the Nexus Lines and the flagships for two years. Seeing as the Thunderbolt is well...from 2011, you're out of luck for OEM Updates. The lag you're seeing is mostly due to the Single Core and the fact that it's an HTC non-

 

Your best bet would probably be to try and search for a Custom ROM(Which if you can, go for 4.4.X, as contrary to what Nollog says 4.4.X actually decreased RAM usage by quite a bit on phones so it can function on 512Mb of RAM, something your phone should be able to do) or to see if you can pick up another more recent used phone. Sorry

Edited by Doctor Strange, 10 May 2014 - 01:45 PM.

[Nollog]

It's a bit more complicated than that, ok a lot more.

I disagree

[TheDoctor_13]

I disagree

Google shows off the new update at an event like I/O, when we see it, the OEM's get it. Then the OEM's talk to chip manufactorers to see if they can make the drivers for the new update. Once thats done, they modify it with their skin and features, and make sure it all works. Then the update gets passed to the carriers and if they disaprove the OEMS have to change what the carriers wanted, and try again. Then the carreir sets a soak-test where a few people are selected to test the upgrade and see how it works in the real issue, if the bugs arn't that major, it wont have a effect on the release, then the carriers set it off to go throughout the next few weeks. Or in verizons case, hold the update forever.

[Nollog]

Google shows off the new update at an event like I/O, when we see it, the OEM's get it. Then the OEM's talk to android publishers to decide what they want to push for what price

Sounds more like it to me.

[TheDoctor_13]

Sounds more like it to me.

Android publishers? Sure some make deals with app devs to have that app come pre-installed, though that mostly is carriers. Sounds like you have a bad experience with bloatware. Luckily my phones have always been quite light, especially my Moto X.

[Nollog]

Android publishers? Sure some make deals with app devs to have that app come pre-installed, though that mostly is carriers. Sounds like you have a bad experience with bloatware. Luckily my phones have always been quite light, especially my Moto X.

I class everything as bloat really, I replaced the boot screen with nyancat just so the annoying loud noise my service provider decided to add didn't happen.

[Kokirii]

Thanks for all the help, guys.  I understand the situation a lot better now.  Unfortunately I don't think I can afford to buy a new phone when I'm not up for contract renewal, but that should be coming around by the end of the summer.  I guess for now I'll just put up with the slowness and try to educate myself better about different phone types for the future.  

It's a bit more complicated than that, ok a lot more.

Yeah you did choose kinda a bad phone... And the KitKat or even Jellybean I believe isn't available, HTC just wanted to forget about it. If you want to keep it, custom rom, kernal, all of it. Or you can also just do a factory reset.

You should just upgrade your phone though. Here are sine good options for cheep (no contract), though you can get it on a contract when your eligable.
Moto X - $349.99 (Does do sales a lot)
Moto G - $179.00 (Best bang for a buck)

Nexus 5 - $349/$399

Or even look into the Blu and Oppo series, their smaller brands but they have good cheap phones. I wouldn't suggest buying the years old phones from HTC or Samsung or any for that matter than you find online on ebay/craiglist as most arn't good. However if you insist I can probably find some good cheaper $80-200.

 

 

So I looked up the Moto G on Amazon and it says it's "Unlocked Global GSM."  I'm going to be traveling in Central America this summer in areas that have GSM networks.  Does that mean I could get the Moto G and just buy a sim card from a provider down there to get it to work?  

[TheDoctor_13]

Thanks for all the help, guys.  I understand the situation a lot better now.  Unfortunately I don't think I can afford to buy a new phone when I'm not up for contract renewal, but that should be coming around by the end of the summer.  I guess for now I'll just put up with the slowness and try to educate myself better about different phone types for the future.  

 

So I looked up the Moto G on Amazon and it says it's "Unlocked Global GSM."  I'm going to be traveling in Central America this summer in areas that have GSM networks.  Does that mean I could get the Moto G and just buy a sim card from a provider down there to get it to work?  

Yes. Believe so, I'm not so good with global stuff. Try a factory reset or deleting apps / stuff you don't need, or even rooting and using SetCPU could help to. Without root, go into your developer settings and change the transistions to .5

[grahamf]

I disagree

I disagree with your disagreement.

 

Google makes Android and sets the version numbers, but that is it. they may work with specific carriers to ensure compatblity with certain phnes (such as the flagship nexus line), but generally it's up to the manufacturer and whomever they contract out to write the drivers for the specific hardware of each handset and ensure that the system runs well enough that the consumer doesn't return it within 14 days. Then they have to (as in, the choose to despite no needing to) add manufacturer-specific customizations that in many cases include completely rewriting the interface. Then it goes to the carrier, who perform their own testing to ensure that consumers won't blame the carrier for problems with their phone. And sometimes they will add their own apps, which can be as little as a account self-serve utility or apps to access carrier-specific features (such as TV).

 

And that's just to get the phone into customers' hands. Then whenever Google releases an update, the manufacturers and carriers have to test and (usually) rewrite code all over again to push to the device. This is a very expensive process, which they do not make any money by doing. So they would rather you purchase the latest phone whenever there's an update you need, but they will sometimes attempt to update the devices of the most vocal (and paying) customers. Lower cost devices usually get brushed under the rug after a couple months, but sometimes there are exceptions. Not to mention that quite often the lower end devices were barely optimized enough to run properly, and new features will sometimes be unable to work at all on their hardware.

 

Partially why I like my Blackberry. there's a lot less confusion in the upgrade process, and if there's an upcoming update I can install it irregardless of weather Blackberry or my carrier has made it available or not.

[YoshiGamer9]

Get a new phone XD (something like a nexus, I hear they're great off contract)

[Kokirii]

So since my Thunderbolt seems to have better processor/ram specs than my wife's iPhone 4, why does her phone seem to run so much more smoothly?  

[TheDoctor_13]

So since my Thunderbolt seems to have better processor/ram specs than my wife's iPhone 4, why does her phone seem to run so much more smoothly?  

Optimization. It is the key. Apple has always used lower specs, but they run better because of 2 things. 1) Their OS is less intensive (Minus iOS7). and 2) They optimize the software for the hardware, something many android OEMS have ignored, and just kept pushing for better specs.

Motorola and Xiaomi are the only ones that seem to optimize for the hardware. Motorola came out with their new Moto E and Moto G 4G today. Moto E only cost &#36;120 or so [no contract] so thats a pretty cheap, and it looks plenty fast for that price range.

 

Also now that the latest version, Android 4.4 KitKat, supports lower specs, and is faster.

Edited by TheDoctor13, 13 May 2014 - 03:11 PM.