First time I've ever been disappointed in HTC

[pr0jektile]

Just this past June, I was looking to move away from the iPhone. Frankly, I bought the iPhone 4 when my iPod had gotten busted on a deployment. When I returned home, I needed a new phone, and a new iPod, so I decided to go with a 2-in-1 deal. I was overall content with the iPhone, but I have never been a big fan of apple products outside iPods/iTunes, which is probably more out of familiarity than true functionality. So, when I saw that the Windows phones were garnering some attention, I decided to upgrade [which in retrospect seems to be a downgrade] to the HTC Windows phone 8X, after all, an HTC was my first smart phone back when the Palm OS was still considered viable. I use the MS Office Suite at work, and I work remotely from home and on the road quite a bit. I figured the ability to sync with Office Products would be a real convenience, and I liked the general aesthetics of the phone.

The issues started about the first week I had this phone. I got stuck in a boot loop about 3 days into owning the phone, but it was while the phone was unplugged. I simply allowed the constant rebooting to kill the battery and plugged the phone into the wall. The phone charged itself and came back to life. I figured I must have just done something wrong, and just made it a point to not allow the phone to ever fully deplete the battery. From that point I had another couple of months of smooth sailing before another issue arose.

This time, my text messages were not being sent [after reading a few previous posts, this appears to be the result of a recent update issued by Verizon]. This has basically happened about once a week for about 3-4 hours per occurrence since this this issue first reared its ugly head. I try to send a text message and the phone just vibrates at me and says "can't send." Well, That's odd. I checked my signal, full signal bars and 4GLTE, hmmm. I tried resetting my phone, no-go.  After a couple of hours, my phone would allow me to send messages again (of course, not being a proactive device and sending the messages I'd already queued up for the preceding few hours, those were a lost cause.) Although this is an inconvenience, it wasn't a deal-breaker for me. I can survive a few hours without a text message, as a matter of fact, I find it a refreshing excuse to avoid people when I don't feel like being social. After all, I could still get emails out for important correspondence.

While frustrating, this issue wasn't enough to convince me to go through the hassle of trying to get into a store and get a replacement, or a different phone. Then, i started getting my calls dropped. Rather, the phone decided I had spoken long enough, and decided to turn itself off. It first occurred when I was talking with an old friend and catching up. About 10 minutes into the  phone call, the phone shut off. Now, I was about 25% battery at the beginning of the call. I figured the battery just died. I thought it was a little quick for that much juice to disappear, but hey, who knows? I turned the phone back on and much to my surprise, the battery was actually right about where it had been prior to the call. I called him back and the problem persisted another three times before I gave up on the call. THIS issue was very frustrating. I understand that there may be some glitches in all the bells and whistles on things, but this smart[phone] can't even function as a [phone].

These things were collectively trying my patience as it is, but this week was the final straw. I came home from work Tuesday evening and enjoyed my typical evening routine. Later than night I plugged my phone in, (which was really at about 60-70% battery life, by the way) One thing i CAN say good about this phone is the battery life is fantastic.  I woke up that morning, got ready for work, unplugged my phone, and got into my vehicle. Now I keep my phone in one of the little trays underneath my radio on the center console. I placed it there, and began my morning commute. about 15 minutes into my commute I wanted to call my wife, so I picked up my phone, and wallah, NOTHING.Well, that's strange, I could have sworn this thing charged all night long and was fully charged when I left the house 15 minutes ago. I spent a few hours on forums, trying various "resets" and "tricks," many of which appeared to be more like cheat codes for Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter than something that could ever actually help a smartphone turn on. I brought the phone home last night and threw it on the charger, to no avail. I've basically been stuck in a boot loop ever since. I've tried the car charger, the wall charger, different outlets, resets, and Mortal Kombat fatalities, and nothing is resurrecting my phone.

All things considered, I've been fairly patient with the performance of this device, which has been mediocre at best. This is simply the last straw. Verizon, HTC, or a collaboration between the two need to remedy this situation. I've had the phone for just over 5 months, and full functionality has been like winning the lottery since day one. I had to sign a two year contract for this [up]grade, and in doing so, there was an expectation that the phone would at least perform its basic functions throughout its entirety.

Best Regards,

Jeremy