Impressions of Gingerbread Update

I have been a user of Verizon now for a couple of years, migrated from Alltel. There were some issues with Verizon early on and I lost a couple of hundred dollars and many hours due to support calls...not a great start. Since that time, things have been a bit better and I've been happy with my Fascinate. Now, Gingerbread comes out, I did not seek out this update, nor had I planned to download it, my Fascinate was operating properly and I had no issues. Verizon did not give me the option to update, they took it upon themselves to allow this to happen automatically. How can you push a major OS update without giving the users the opportunity to either receive, or reject it? I would have rejected it, I was aware of the update and after looking through many, many complaints in early December, I decided that I would rather leave well enough alone, but Verizon seems to have made the choice for me. Before the update, I had a quick, responsive phone that surfed the web well and had a reasonable battery life. Since the automatic update, I now have a sluggish phone, that is often an unresponsive, unpredictable, quirky, battery sucking, {word filter avoidance}
. I have had to pull the battery so many times now, that it is becoming as routine as checking my email. The phone freezes, locks up when I attempt to use the camera, doesn't sync with my computer and generally stinks. I know that I can attempt a hard reset, dump all of my apps, spend countless hours checking for solutions on the internet, waste more time speaking with tech support (to hear all of the prior), or I could hack it. I prefer not to do any of these things, nor should I have to. I want and expect a properly functioning phone, the one that I had before the forced, automatic update. Verizon...I don't know if you people have pushed this unstable update intentionally to upset Fascinate owners to the point of purchasing a new phone, or what. Until this point, there was no reason for me to upgrade, the Fascinate was a great phone with very few issues and there hasn't been any other phones in your lineup that would cause me to upgrade, well except for the Samsung Fascinate II, but...oh, that's right... you opted to not carry that one. This is the first time that I have been compelled to post to these boards and I've got to say, I'm extremely ticked that I feel that I have to. Very disappointing Verizon, very disappointing.

Accepted answers

Smokie11

If you actually take the time read thru the solutions that have been found, most post update problems seem to be related to either Browser Settings or Menu Settings that were altered or changed by the update. Telling people to do a Factory Reset for almost every problem is a lazy/shotgun approach. Kinda like going to the doctor with a thorn in your fingertip and the doctor recommending removal of your finger.

If this forums reason for existing was truly to help it's members it would allow setting up polls and have stickies with known problems and proven solutions to be gathered and made available at a quick glance. Right now it works like this: Fascinate owner says " help, my phone is doing this ------" and Verizon employee replies " My resources indicate if you do a Factory Reset it might help you" and doing this assures you of one thing only: you lost everything that made your phone unique to you.

All comments

Smokie11

I am sorry that your update went so badly and also that it took place without your consent. I updated my phone about 2 weeks ago and it went well, a couple of minor glitches; all resolved. However I am intrigued by your statement that your phone downloaded and installed Gigerbread without any input from you, I have not installed the update on my wife's phone until I have more information on possible problems.

My wife has only one cellular phone and it is her only communication means. she has poor health so I can't risk her phone suddenly taking a dump, I have my work phone and Fascinate so at least while I am out on the road I have 2 means of communication. I would appreciate if a Verizon employee were to explain why some folks phones are being updated without their permission and my 2 phones require that I mannually update (as they should) the phone. Thank you.

calpolykdogg

I have been having similar problems to the ones you are having after updating to Gingerbread. Battery pulls have become the norm as well as being tethered to my charger for fear of my phone dying when I leave my desk. VERIZON, if you are listening to your customers, fix these issues.

AntonioC_VZW

Hi calpolykdogg,

I am sorry to learn that you have encountered some technical issues with your phone after the latest software update. I feel your pain; I'd be frustrated if my phone didn't work properly after an update.

I checked my resources and I see that a Factory Reset has resolved most post update issues for other customers. I recommend doing a Factory Reset as it may resolve your phone's concerns as well.

Please keep in mind that performing a hard reset will remove all data including the Google account, system data, application data, application settings, and downloaded applications.

We do listen to our customers; be assured that all software updates are developed with the genuine intention to improve your phone's performance.

KevanG

Calpolykdogg,

If you can hang in there for a couple of more days...hold off on the factory reset. I have no idea as to why, but my phone has been responding much better on its own over the past 3-4 days, still not right, but much better than before. I have not altered any of the settings, I have not removed any of my applications and I most certianly have not done a factory reset, which all-to-often, seems to be the favored "fix-all." I was going to try some remedies that I found around the web, but it looks like I won't have to, hopefully, you don't either. Good Luck

KevanG

I just wanted to add...There is one thing that I did that I forgot to mention. I was having serious issues with web browsing on my phone and I turned off the SWYPE feature. So far my phone has been up for 160 hrs plus with no serious issues. I don't know if this was causing the issues, but as I mentioned earlier, it is behaving much better as of late.

Smokie11

KevanG

Edited below.

KevanG

NuDroidUsrr,

Thank you for the reply, hopefully our experience and possible solution will help others that are still pulling their hair out.

-Smokie11, all I can say is, 'Amen.' Since I posted this thread, the only thing that a Verizon Rep did was to change an abrieviation that I used, with 'word filter avoidance', within 2 1/2 hours after posting and another Rep responded that we should just do a factory reset. It has been 11 days since the original post and this is all that has been offered. I don't know if they figure that there are so many other users posting solutions to their problems on the web that they don't need to be bothered with supporting their products, or if they just don't know the answers. Either way, it seems kind of crazy that we pay over $125.00 a month for this. Maybe someone at Verizon will look over what you wrote and a little light will come on...maybe.