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New Droid Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System is Huge Leap Backwards

I loved my Droid Bionic up until two days ago when the phone prompted me to press OK to perform an update. I reasonably assumed this would be a background bug fix, but much to my dismay my phone now has a new operating system which has lots of problems such as:

More than doubles screen touches needed to access phone and other apps
Doubles screen touches to answer phone
Back button on phone dialer screen is smaller and no longer works well
Name of party is no longer listed when in conversation
Big blank face appears on phone screen
Phone search function does not start with letters entered. Instead it shows entries starting with letter A-Z that also contain the letters entered
Screen is now too dark to read in sunshine
Cannot adjust ring volume from first screen
Turning Settings On & Off no longer works very well
Time display is smaller & greys out after initial screen touch
No way to customize initial screen for apps most used
Speech recognition does not work very well anymore

Motorola says there is no way to go back to the old operating system once you have updated.

I think Motorola updates should include a WARNING about interface changes or updates. Any new operating system should allow user to switch between old style & new style interface just like Windows

They should only send out updates for background bugs and fixes. They could offer a notification about optional operating system updates with full description of what will be changed.

Comments

HighDesert

Actually, everyone else KNEW about this update to Ice Cream Sandwich, what it was, and have been anticipating it for months.

You're probably the only one who didn't.

And almost everyone is overjoyed about how much better it is than Gingerbread -- I sure am! :smileyhappy:

MarkWilliams

I have two of these hpones and I didn't know about it. I HATE it!!!

tikibar1

I disagree. I think the average cell phone user does not know about, nor care about, OS updates. Most do not follow blogs/forums ... I know several folks who have no earthly idea what ICS means or that their phone was getting it. And not everyone is happy with change, as can be readily seen in some of the posts on this forum. Some of the issues/concerns/problems could have been alleviated had folks known the update was coming and could have prepared accordingly. For those who follow these things and anxiously awaited the update, it's not that big of a deal, but for folks who weren't aware of how big the update was and what it involved, the past few days have been frustrating to an extent, I'm sure. Just my humble opinion.

TechTrail

Cannot understand how having a global search instead of a address book name search when looking up phone contacts is an improvement. Requires scrolling through pages of unnecessary hits

Or how doubling screen touches to perform tasks is an improvement.

Or how having a screen that is now hard to read in sunlight is better

Seems likely there are many more folks like me who do not appreciate these changes. Actually when I called tech support they told me they had already received lots of complaints on the day of release. Glad someone likes it, but I sincerely hope they quickly fix all the bugs they created

unknown

The upgrade to ICS is better than Gingerbread. And most people feel the same way. I have yet to encounter these "issues" the OP brings up. If indeed these issues are real I am sure there is a solution but the OP rather rank than to find a solution.

Jakeman1

I had my first experience with ICS on my sons Maxx. I tried it for a few days and LOVED it. I was so jealous that his phone had it and my Bionic was stuck on GB. When I finally got ICS, I was almost doing backflips. Sop far to date my Bionic with ICS has worked Flawlessly. All of the issues I had with GB are gone. No Data drops at all. If I had to do it all over again right now, I would hit the install button without hesitation.

ICS can do so much more then GB ever could and I disagree with the comments about double the clicking to answer calls etc... There are just as many clicks in the use of ICS as there were in GB. Besides being able to Disable Bloatware (a huge plus for any phone) the processor got a 20% boost in clock speed. Better Multi Tasking, easier navigation and the apps seem to work better on ICS.

jaymadd

Jakeman1 wrote:
I had my first experience with ICS on my sons Maxx. I tried it for a few days and LOVED it. I was so jealous that his phone had it and my Bionic was stuck on GB. When I finally got ICS, I was almost doing backflips. Sop far to date my Bionic with ICS has worked Flawlessly. All of the issues I had with GB are gone. No Data drops at all. If I had to do it all over again right now, I would hit the install button without hesitation.
ICS can do so much more then GB ever could and I disagree with the comments about double the clicking to answer calls etc... There are just as many clicks in the use of ICS as there were in GB. Besides being able to Disable Bloatware (a huge plus for any phone) the processor got a 20% boost in clock speed. Better Multi Tasking, easier navigation and the apps seem to work better on ICS.

I have to agree :smileyhappy:

tikibar1

I have to admit that after reading about all the changes that were being made with ICS and all the issues that people were reporting when updating other phones, I was hesitant about installing it since I seemed to be the only person on the planet who didn't have issues with their Bionic. I have to say that yes, there are a few things that I'm not happy about (for example, not having a wifi widget), but I have been pleasantly surprised ... I like it a lot more than I thought I would. The biggest issue so far is the learning curve ... lots of things got moved/renamed/removed and it took a while to find a few things. But right now I'm a happy camper.

smashogre

TechTrail - Once you've healed from being slammed for not know WTH I.C.S. was/is I've got a suggestion that helped many Razr/MAXX users:
Clear the dalvik (some people call it system)cache. You should be able to find a forum post telling you how or use Google. If that doesn't clean things up the next and most painful option is to do a factory data reset.

I think you'll enjoy I.C.S. once you get the kinks out.

tikibar1

what he said

scroll down a bit in this thread for instructions on how to clear your system cache:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/785940

tikibar1

There also is a 'how to' guide on your phone if you click on the Help Center app; has various info. re changes, tips, etc.

This also might help:

B33

You know whats Cool is When Download the User Guide on your Phone and Look at it That way Via Adobe Reader Done it a Few times Works Great..Especially when your in a Waiting Room waiting for 3 to 4 hours and Listening to someones Kid Scream and Holler.

djl1845

I have an LG Spectrum and was anxious for the update (once I discovered that it was available.....via forum discussion) and now that I have downloaded it I concur with all of the points made by TechTrail... Every single point is exactly what I am experiencing. My Live email account does not work properly AND for some reason it has 40 contacts vs a much larger number in my Contact file... Battery life is a joke... I'm lucky if I get 4 hours and I do NOT download movies, music, TV shows, etc etc.... On a positive note, my ICS download took less than 15 minutes... guess because I don't have a lot of info etc on my phone.

Does Verizon listen/read any of this stuff or are we just complaining out loud and sharing our frustrations??

Dkim1

I don't mean to be rude but are you foreal......i am a husband and father and have a demanding job and don't have time to read blogs or forums.....and most people don't have the time..... that's why we buy smartphones is to try to save time for more important things....notification would have been nice...a email, text, something......the only reason im in this forum now is because im pissed off, and hurricane Sandy.....

tikibar1

Yes, I'm for real and apparently you mis-read my post, or else you've confused mine with someone else's. I basically said what you just said, just in different words. Here's what I said:

I think the average cell phone user does not know about, nor care about, OS updates. Most do not follow blogs/forums ... I know several folks who have no earthly idea what ICS means or that their phone was getting it. And not everyone is happy with change, as can be readily seen in some of the posts on this forum. Some of the issues/concerns/problems could have been alleviated had folks known the update was coming and could have prepared accordingly. For those who follow these things and anxiously awaited the update, it's not that big of a deal, but for folks who weren't aware of how big the update was and what it involved, the past few days have been frustrating to an extent, I'm sure. Just my humble opinion.

lovie2000

Well I am very tech savvy and I didn't know anything about an update until it was downloading and installing on my phone.

I hate it.... after the installation.... my settings were reset. and now I can't access or find "CALL SETTINGs" and it is pissing me off....... I had non-contact calls set on restricted... this update removed it.... and now I don't have or can't find "CALL SETTINGS" to set it back.... I have been searching for 2 days now..... and it is not on my phone anymore....

So what now VERIZON.... why are features being removed?

vharpsftbl20

I am with you lovie. I had a handle on my Droid Bionic and loved it. Now I am ready to burn it up.

Tidbits

Open up your dialer and hit the menu button. There is your call settings.

Tidbits

Verizon has nothing to do with any of the changes. Google implemented a lot of the changes with ICS.

lovie2000

Like I said I am tech savvy..... and I tried that day 1 and "call restriction" settings are no longer on the phone..... that is what I meant not call settings...... sorry about that......

Tidbits

lovie2000 wrote:
Like I said I am tech savvy..... and I tried that day 1 and "call restriction" settings are no longer on the phone..... that is what I meant not call settings...... sorry about that......

That sounds like that's on Motorola for that one. That was their implementation and if you notice it was removed across the board on all their devices that got 4.0 update. Should try and contact them and double check. I haven't been to Motorola forums in a while so I am a bit out of the loop. It was part of "Motoblur" and Motorola has been stripping it down trying to go more towards stock which doesn't have that feature.

tkf

I agree - I certainly had heard about ICS but had no clue that is would just "appear" on my phone one day with no prior notice or helpful list of changes (perhaps just me, but I hung up on several callers that first day until I learned how to answer the phone and do other tasks with ICS "swipes"). I certainly don't have the time to spend in chat rooms and blogs - until I start having problems and need help! I'm not a "techie" and don't even pretend to know all the things my phone can do but I could manage it. Then came the auto update to ICS last month (mine happened just before turkey day travel). What a headache. I took the time to go through many of the videos etc from Motorola and thus I've figured much out, and "redone", many of the settings that got "reset", but continue to be frustrated when I find things / settings that apparently got "reset" with the update. (Example - Had to fix a couple of my email accts before they would work again, and just yesterday, after many "lost emails", I discovered that the setting on my cox email acct to "never delete from server" if deleted from phone had been "reset" to 'delete' thanks to the update and thus emails that I expected to find on my desktop where I could deal with them, were vanishing. Not a good thing at all. I've now gone thru the "trash" on my phone and had to forward the needed emails one-by-one to myself. Ugh!)

Would have been nice if there was some warning or list of changes (and what would be reset) provided prior to (or at least along with) the upgrade.

One thing I have noticed is that the battery doesn't seem to be lasting as long since the update. Used to easily get through an entire day, putting on the phone on the charger overnight while sleeping. Now it seems to run low by late afternoon/evening most days and I have to charge. What's up with that? Any suggestions? Does ICS keep apps running that used to shut down?

Can't hardly wait to see what may happen with the next system upgrade...

tikibar1

Yep, ICS was more a 'major overhaul' of the OS than an update. Your battery may be suffering since the update if your Bionic is always looking for a 4G signal. You can't turn 4G off like you could in GB; if it becomes an issue, you may want to download/install 'LTE On/OFF' from the Play Store. You also may have been using battery saving options before; those are now gone, at least as far as the way the settings were found/done. Now you have to use Smart Actions or tweak things manually. If you haven't already, you may want to search this forum for various threads about issues/remedies for the Bionic since the ICS update; there's several threads posted.

bjoyous

I used to love my Bionic, after the 'upgrade', I hate it. I am going to read through the previous posts to see if there are any useful suggestions to find the love again... :smileysad:

tkf

Hi. I found the videos on this site helpful to alleviate some of my frustrations over the upgrade - see the bottom under "Overview of Changes". http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/Android-4.0-Ice-Cream-Sandwich/119251,en_US,pd.html

Many of the videos give comparison between how it was and how it is now... Good luck!

I'm learning to like my Bionic again but do be warned, some of the custom settings you may have set up "before" are now gone (reverted to "default") and need to be redone. I've been gradually finding these and fix them. Wish there was a list of these to look for and fix rather than discovering them after being frustrated with "why isn't it working right..."

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