It’s been around three weeks since Jelly Bean was released on the HTC EVO 4G LTE, and the number of bugs keep stacking up while the people who say that they experience none of them have grown fewer and fewer.
While not all of the bugs that came with the update were the direct fault of Sprint or HTC, and their collective desire to make an unrooted phone as incapable of doing anything neat as possible, most of the issues have been Sprint’s.
So, here’s my current list of what we’ve found wrong with Jelly Bean for the HTC EVO 4G LTE:
- Google Navigation fails for random accounts.
- Camera sounds cannot be disabled.*
- Writes to /system don’t stick.*
- Proximity sensor issues for approx 30% of users.*
- WiFi issues with DLNA enabled in some circumstances.*
- Extremely slow WiFi in some instances.
- Power Saver options won’t go away.*
- When leaving or entering WiFi, voice typing fails.
- Occasionally, WiFi will still show as connected, even when miles away, essentially disabling data.
- Incorrect SMS/MMS timestamp when roaming.*
- Off center numbers on calculator.*
- Dropbox gallery FCs.*
- Night mode is back.*
- Extremely low quality MMS messages.*
- Over-zealous task killer cripples multitasking.*
- Task killer kills widgets, launcher, forces reloads.*
- Possible introduction of new CIQ-like logger apps.*
- MHL-HDMI issues.
- Audio-out doesn’t recognize some adapters.*
- Update killed FoxFi WiFi tether.*
- No longer able to set font size in Gmail.
- Contact high resolution images not syncing properly.
- HTC Hub app missing.
- Make More Space app only shows internal space.
- Face Unlock/recognition extremely slow.
- Music recognition in Google Now crashes.
- Connection optimizer kills WiFi tethering based on power states.
- No ability to make a custom launcher stick as the default through a reboot.
- Swype has no Mic button.
- Large power drain jumps reported (batteries dead when reporting 20%).
- Power saver can stick on, which disables haptic feedback.
- Location services will occasionally stick to a different town.
- 4×1 People widget gone.
- Flashlight app missing.
- Text message delays in sending.
- Phone numbers from web/calendar do not dial.
- Battery life worse for some, better for others.
That’s what I’ve seen andfound, and has been reported here so far. There are rumors coming up from the stores than an update is coming soon to fix many of the bugs, but as far as I know, there’s no official timeframe on that, and that leaves many non-root users out for weeks with buggy equipment.
I’d say for those who haven’t, that’s yet another reason to root.
What bugs have you found that aren’t listed here, and how will this affect your choice the next time you see that a system update is available?
Great (extensive) list. I’ve noticed probably 75% of them.
I have experienced most of these as well myself. However, I don’t think the off-centered calculator numbers is a “bug.” I think it’s just a weird design move by HTC. They were like this on ICS too.
I have been getting an android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly every 5-10 seconds since Jan 1. Are others experiencing this?
try turning off facebook sync. Heard there’s an issue. But don’t know.
android.process.acore error is most likely due to having a FB contact (sync’d automatically) that has a Feb 29 birthday. Since there is no Feb 29 in 2013, Sense does not know how to resolve so it gives the vague error message.
HTC has just issued a fix for this… it has not been pushed yet, but can manually be downloaded via the HTC support website and installed.
http://www.htc.com/www/support/content.aspx?id=191316
See my response to Lee below…
or above…
I am still waiting for Foxfi to catch up…. unless anyone knows of a workaround?
Root your phone
What is the best way to do that as of now? I have not been rooted since evo 4g…haven’t needed to.
Should I get jb first?
unlock via htcdev, flash a recovery, flash supersu binary, boot, install supersu from the market… I’ll update the root guide next week on that
thats crazy ishh! im got about half of them problems.. im done with HTC after this phone.. sucks cause i really love there phones..
It’s not just the EVO 4G LTE, the 3D experiences several of those for the ICS update as well
And I would want to upgrade to JellyBean for what reason? I’m still running Stock with Goodies ROM 2.28, Ice cream sandwich.
Google Now cards, voice typing, new LTE radios which are useful if you’re in LTE land, lot of reasons to update and go to a ROM that has most of the problems fixed.
Guess it’s me I have no problem with the way it works…
The 4X1 music widget is gone too. Do they test any of this trash before they release it? Oh and I don’t think I like the new keyboard. I miss the button to hide the keyboard and what was the purpose of moving the button to switch to numbers from the right to the left side?
I’m sick of hearing people complain about not being able to turn off the shutter sound as a bug. Companies are deliberately doing this for privacy issues. In some countries, it’s the law that it has to make a sound.
Its not the law in the US, and if you want to take a picture of a sleeping baby or your friend at Shakespeare in the Park it’s really freaking annoying.
Anyone who wants to use it for nefarious purposes can disable the speaker well enough to use it, and video can be taken without multiple fake snapshot sounds and screenies captured out of it, so it is an annoying useless feature
I’m sorry but I’m scared to root my phone (evo 4g lte) which i got in the mail today. But you said the shutter sound was fixed? Mine still on, how can I fix?
First, I love this blog and the writers’ POV overall. While I applaud your effort to create a list of functional grievances on the new Jelly Bean update, I would caution those who refer to them as “bugs.” Many of these changes/omissions are simply choices HTC/Sprint have made about the way they want their product to work. Many of us in the enthusiast community disagree with those choices, which is why we spend so much time combing through ROMs and Mods to perfect our personal experiences. Of course there are some legitimate bugs in the update, which you have appropriately identified.
Normally, I would just say that “bugs” is an issue of semantics. But in the case of popular technology, opinions are often formed based on hearsay, and people have a tendency to trust publications such as Good and Evo implicitly. Calling these choices “bugs” makes our beloved HTC appear inept, rather than merely imperfect. In our world of search engine optimized text, it’s damaging to HTC’s brand to be so inaccurate. I believe I’m correct in saying that many of us want HTC to keep making amazing hardware, and to continue listening to users as they incorporate or exclude features from future phones. Let’s not fan the flames.
pick out the ones you consider not bugs, I’ll make a section and call them “gripes”
Also HTC seems to respond when the flames are fanned, and sit around when they’re not. Had the flames not been fanned with the CIQ debacle I can guarantee it would still be on there
Forget fanning the flames! Pore gas on it and watch this damn phone burn! HTC wanted to simplify and streamline their product line. The advantage of this was to save money and get services (updates) to their products in a an expeditious manner. We as consumers had to make a lot of noise just to get the update out of htc. I have owned the Evo line since it conception. The first Evo was a beast of epic proportions. HTC made sure that it got the attention and service that it deserved. Apple was intimidated. But as time went on it seems HTC has rested on their laurels and pushed products out faster than they can service. So yes, fan the flames, the squeakiest wheel gets the grease. Calousness on their part is costing them customers and Samsung is reaping the benefits of HTC’s mistakes, hence the shuffling of executives that have lost sight of the streamlined game plan.
Can add disk drive mode does not work under Linux. It worked perfectly fine under ICS.
Also, I don’t know if it’s because I have a SanDisk 64 gb sdxc card and the LTE only officially supports 32 gb, but when I connect my phone to a Windows PC using HTC Sync Manager as my USB connection type, some files/folders do not show up in Windows explorer. They do when changing the connection type to disk drive.
Just a recap: I’m having severe proximity sensor issues which I had when I first got the phone but then the previous update fixed it, however it’s back with the Jelly Bean update. The little red proximity sensor dot stays on all the time after a call unless you put the phone on speaker before hanging up. I want to break my phone as sometimes if it’s dark my phone will not turn back on so that I can end my call or put someone on speaker or even answer another incoming call, ARG! It works better in super bright rooms but it worked fine before the update.
My battery life is worse than before and I have almost all of the Google apps disabled except maps. The power saver always kicks on automatically when your battery gets low, which is more than annoying and there is no way to disable it.
The 4X1 people widget is now gone and there is no way to make the other two fit to it’s old size. I don’t want to waste a whole or half a screen on people link access.
The background wallpaper no longer moves when you swipe between each home-screen like it used to. So the image always stays static in the background and old wallpapers which were made to scroll are messed up.
The new “Battery Use” power options are horrible. There is no real way to tell which apps are using your battery as the percentages don’t equal 100% and they removed the most important one, “Screen” which allowed you to see how long your screen has been on for?! They also removed standby usage option which would allow you to see how long your phone had no signal. So they basically handicapped the “Usage” power options and made them completely useless.
The HTC Hub is gone along with the tons of ringtones, sounds, themes, etc. How are users supposed to download the flashlight and other HTC apps like the different calculators, word of the day, stopwatch, battery widget, etc? They forced us to use HTC Hub and now they remove it permanently? WTF?! The new update is so eclectic with many greens left over from previous sense versions mixed with the new blue color scheme. Ugly.
Many times since I updated my text messages refuse to send or send much later or never. Even with perfect signal I still have issues. Offline Google voice typing never seems to kick in when I have a crappy signal or no signal. The only way I could get it to work was by disabling 3G and WiFi? So what good is it?
Typing always brings up a keyboard notification in the shade that keeps asking me which keyboard I want to use (input method), HTC Sense or Google Voice typing and it never goes away. Every time I start to type it pops up and then goes away when I’m done typing.
The new sense keyboard a lot of the time misses words and spellings forcing me to go back and do it. The smiles are huge and there is no way to make them normal sized. And sometimes the mic icon on the default sense keyboard disappears and you can no longer do voice typing?! Only a reset I’ve found brings it back? This is extremely annoying! Not to mention some people are having sever keyboard distortion in which the keyboard is unrecognizable and unusable!
The new voice-mail app is horrid and too bright. They constantly try to get you to accidentally click the monthly subscription to their transcription service. I want the old voice-mail app back. There is also a bug in which the screen goes black when listening to a message and all you can do is exit to get back to where you were?
Various other bugs and issues include: You can no longer mute the phone while taking pictures for the shutter sound even when the phone is in silent mode. WiFi doesn’t work for some, I personally haven’t had this one. Many Bluetooth functions are now broken and no longer working as they did before the update such as controlling your phone from another device via Bluetooth (car, etc). I can no longer view my SD card as a drive when I have my USB cable connected which makes it annoying to transfer files and such. I’ve had some touch screen issues with the screen not recognizing touches similar to the folder touch bugs many have had in which the screen doesn’t detect the correct position for onscreen item selections. Adobe Flash Player can no longer be updated and it doesn’t even appear in the market anymore? The USB Debugging notification is persistent when a USB cable is connected even if the option is off!
This will be my last HTC phone as this amount of bugs in a final release is crazy bad. I love my EVO but these issues are just too plaguing and serious. And I bet we don’t see an update to any of these for at least a few months if not LONGER!
Aside from wall paper not scrolling (not a bug) and some other “changes” to the phone (like or dislike is personal) I have no issues. Seems odd?
Man, I traded in the EVO LTE and got a GS3 due to the non-removable battery. And I’m glad I did. I really dodged a bullet there! I’ve had JB on my GS3 for at least a month with no problems.
I had the Evo 3D before this and got very frustrated waiting on ICS. I don’t think I’ll go with HTC anymore. It’s too bad because I like their phones but their support (along with Sprints) is horrible. Any company that forces you to root to get a working phone is not to be trusted.
My biggest gripe is the voice dial from my jawbone. I used to be able to press the button and say call john smith at work and it would dial. Now, I have to wait until a very quiet voice gives me instructions how to proceed by “Say call followed by a name or number” and then most of the time it doesn’t hear me or gives the wrong options and then just quits. Very frustrating while driving because I have to grab the phone and call manually, (and the kids are learning new words).
No problems this way
I have a few of the smaller bugs, might wait to see how htc fixes them, if not, I’ll just hop on CM. After my contract is up, I’m going nexus line..
I don’t know if the flashlight thing is really a bug. That was just an extra app that you had to install through HTC’s app store, which it seems like they’ve done away with. It was never a feature natively baked into Sense on this particular EVO.
I classify it as so – it’s a feature they list with the phone in some advertising. It’s not available after the update. Therefor it rendered the advertising false – so while not a bug in the traditional sense, it does render things meh
Yeah I’m backing up all my stuff now, thinking I’ll be on CM10 tonight or tomorrow
When I try and open a “.xlsx ” document from Gmail it defaults to Polaris Office and opens the doc for a split second only to close it and send me right back to gmail.. Im extremely disappointed in this rushed to market update.
Why was it rushed to market you say ?
Think about it with all the people bashing HTC for Not having an update they noticed sales decline , while GS3′s in most instances had JB update and it also brought Multi-tasking that makes the evo LTE look like a Nokia 5160. HTC figured “We better get this out just to shut people up ,automobile manufactures do it all the time, they know about the recall but it isnt cost effective to fix it till the Millions of vehicles on the road.
HTC your becoming the used car dealers of mobile world .
I’ve Experienced Some of Them But MeanBan Is More Stable Now, But has Anyone Had Bluetooth Problems? Mines Messes Up Alot When Connected To My InDash That’s what I Hate Most Since I’m In My Car All The Time Diving Around
the mms is awful, but i also read that its sprints new policy to have all smartphones camera shutter noise permanently on to protect others privacy. They don’t want you taking pictures secretly without everyone knowing. This is especially bad with my galaxy note as the shutter noise is twice as loud. Sprint needs to remember we need privacy too, it scares my pets to even try and take pictures of them because the stupid shutter noise. You can just google sprint shutter noise or galaxy note shutter noise to see the whole discussion.
plus if you’re trying to invade someone’s privacy you can just download any other app that doesn’t include the noise…
I guess the question is, will there be a patch update for those not willing to root?
I just (5:19pm) received a phone call From HTC letting me know that they know about the issues I’m experiencing and they are in the middle of working on a patched update. (no ETA but he was optimistic) Good news I guess!
My gripes not listed above:
1) charge only option when usb charging
2) camera settings – small file (resolution) is now 2048×1536! Thats too large. I am unable to send multiplepics via text/email. File reaches max threshold quicker.
I just revived a phone call From HTC letting me know that they know about the issues I’m experiencing (Proximity sensor,MHL freak-out, powersaver, no haptic feedback… a few others) and that they are in the middle of working on a fixed update. (no ETA but he was optimistic) I was pleasantly surprised to get this call after initially being angry for receiving a canned email in response to my complaint.
I have had lots of problems with the update but the most annoying for me is the Bluetooth bugs. I used to be able to listen to my voice mails automatically through my bluetooth car radio as you would a phone call. you just hit play and the radio mutes and plays the message but now I have to switch the radio over to bluetooth audio input to hear them and if im not on that input I cant even hear the message on the phone or radio unless I disable bluetooth or turn off the radio. I also have people saying they the sound quality off the call on there end is really bad so bad I usually have to switch over to the phone.
Having pretty much the same bugs (calling them issues is not no longer an option for me) but the ones that BUG me theosy is how quick the battery is draining, how it keeps trying to switch to WiFi even of the WiFi is locked and I don’t have the key, and now when I use the phone I have to push the power button in order to light up the sreen so I can press the red end call button. So much for unit or acceptance testing before releasing an upgrade or in this case a downgrade!
Turn off connections manager. Failing that select the network and choose forget
A lot of these are not “bugs”.
Flashlight app missing – not a bug
HTC hub missing – not a bug (you, of all people know they discontinued this app, right?)
Swype mic missing – not a bug
etc… etc…
You do know that just because a feature you wanted wasn’t included doesn’t mean its a “bug”, right?
A lot of these are legitimate bugs, but don’t lengthen your list with petty grumblings!!!
The most annoying thing for me is when I connect my phone to a pc. Sometimes I just want to charge it. I don’t want to use it as a hard drive or anything. It’s bad on my work pc. I got a cheapo $1 cable and use it for just charging at work. Since I can say I only want to charge and I’ll change it when I want, then my work pc tries to connect to the phone all the time. Since it’s a work pc I can’t install anything so I get about 8 popups for the phone when I connect it. Plus sometimes it will disconnect then reconnect and I get the popups again.
With any software, you can test the hell of it and go through all types of scenarios. However, you cannot test all scenarios until you have users actually use the software or program. There should be an update to fix the bugs.
Most of these are things that were discovered by average users within a day. They could have been found and corrected simply by utilizing the resources available to them (the root crowd).
When a company puts something out there and ignores a group that would very much like to help, it’s all the company’s fault when they fail miserably. HTC has been fighting independent development on their phones for a long long time.
I couldn’t have said it any better Paul. The sheer number of issues was astounding! I mean it was much worse than the ringtone bug from the last update which disabled personalized tones. HTC needs to get with it, Samsung is on fire right now updating even their two years old phones with Jelly Bean and then you have HTC releasing a bugged version to their whole customer base?! WTF?! I installed a beta of Jelly Bean on my cousins SGS2 and not one bug! The proximity sensor bug is probably the largest of this recent update and makes the phone hard to use, which would make many users never buy another HTC phone, EVER! It’s like releasing as car with faulty brakes and not issuing a recall for months! Car companies can’t get away with it, so why do we tolerate it from phone manufacturers?
I’ve been emailing sprint all day long and I seem to be getting somewhere. They’ve been asking for my account info and that reps from Sprint will be contacting me.
I’m so glad I didnt update, had some down time at work today and came so close to doing so. It’s sucks that the update so many people wanted came with this huge list of bugs.
I know the flashlight missing isn’t a bug but I had it before and with the update it’s gone and no more HTC Hub. My only big problem is When leaving or entering WiFi, voice typing fails. I get off work and change from wifi to 3G and I can never talk the google voice won’t work and when I get off work and am driving and phone is in the dock I need to speak.
My boyfriends phone when it’s dark mine lights up bright his barely lights up and his screen stayed black the other day and he kept messing with the power button and finally got it to reboot and come back on. But you would think there would be an update to fix the bugs by now.
Am I just missing it or has the 2×1 stock music widget also disappeared? I’ve experienced about 90% of the issues you stated and its disappointing
Sorry, 4×2 music widget
Checked again, its there. but the 4×1 I think it is, is gone
My flashlight that I downloaded from the HTC hub is still there after updating. I just hate the proximity sensor issues and my missing 4×1 music widget. I also hate that I can’t use foxfi but that was Sprint’s doing.
Spoke with Sprint yesterday. They told me that HTC and Sprint both know of the Jellybean update and are working on it. An update with will be available OTA but they don’t know when.
My notification sound for my SMS used to play as long as I wanted it too before the update – since the update, the notification now lasts literally about 2 seconds.
Really hate my voicemail not playing messages on my Ford radio! I would think Ford should be really upset too. I found out I can still access the old voicemail by dialing my phone number but it is a real pain in the ads.
Really hate my voicemail not playing messages on my Ford radio! I would think Ford should be really upset too. I found out I can still access the old voicemail by dialing my phone number but it is a real pain in the ass.
As far as im concerned….just fix the stinkin p-sensor and voicemail issue. And make it fast….this is definatly unacceptable! By the way, I called sprint with the issues I was having and they asked me if I wanted to uprade to an Iphone. He said that thier operating system is pretty solid….lol. Not good…sprint!
After I reboot my phone the volume is set higher than it was before the restart. I noticed it, of course, because calls and notifications are super loud after I restart my phone. Looking at the volume level it appears the volume hasn’t changed, but if I hit the volume up key once the level indicator jumps almost all the way to the highest volume. Anybody else experience this?
What are the pros & cons of rooting a phone…I heard that sometimes if u root ur device that it can brick (basically turns ur phone into a useless paper weight) so if anyone can help me decide on whether or not to root mine, or not…I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you,
Jimb⊙¿⊙
Pro: get to do whatever you want. back up, flash ROMs, etc.
Con: have to return it to stock if you want to do warranty work, requires knowing what to do, you potentially could brick the phone if you use an exploit to root it but most likely wouldn’t by using the HTCDev (factory) methods.
Something I wrote on that can be found here: http://www.goodandevo.net/2011/10/why-i-rooted-my-htc-evo-4g-evo-3d.html
Basically it’s like a car. Modify it to the point where something you do blows it up, it’s your fault. Change out the air filter and it blows up, not your fault