Droid X Gingerbread woes

[rockymtnhigh]

Well, my Droid X started getting the "system update" ready to install, which I put off for a few days, as I read about it. Eventually I downloaded the pre-rooted version, and flashed it last night with Koush's bootstrap. the install was easy, the new OS is extremely fast, BUT it drains battery like mad. I'll be lucky to get five hours with this thing. Plus, Big Red has blocked wireless tether and barnacle from working. Thinking very seriously of SBFing back to Froyo.

Kind of a bummer as the phone has never been faster, and the new blur launch drawer is actually kind of nice, but I need this thing to work properly, and want my wireless tether back.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[JAG72]

Can't you just redownload wireless tehter or did they block the application from even running on the phone?

 

[Juan]

Can't you just redownload wireless tehter or did they block the application from even running on the phone?

nope its not the application thats blocked. You get a message saying "You must Buy Mobile broadband" when u try to connect to a website via a tether

 

[Juan]

I have to toggle "airplane mode" whenever i take it from a Dock to get the 3G connection to work

 

[DodgerKing]

I read Gingerbread was supposed to improve battery life

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I read Gingerbread was supposed to improve battery life

I am hopeful that all I needed to do was recalibrate the battery, which I just did - by deleting the battery stats bin file (through an app I downloaded called Battery Calibration). I had to charge it to 100%, unplug, run battery calibration, and now I will just wait to see what happens.

As far as Wireless tether, I think it is a lost cause until one of the modders finds a way to get around it. Neither Wireless tether or Barnacle work anymore. I believe that PDANet will still work, but I haven't tried it, and it is a USB tether; which is useless for me to tether to the iPad or Galaxy Tab when I am travelling. I understand why they did it, but I don't have to like it.

 

[Hall]

I read Gingerbread was supposed to improve battery life

Not in my experience... of course, my phone is 1-1/2 years old and on the original battery... I have a charger available at work, in the car, and at home !! With heavier than normal usage, say a lot of SMS, 6-8 hours can be the limit !

 

[JamesJ]

Gingerbread seems to be messing up a lot of phones....Thunderbolts getting into a reboot of death cycle, nooks doing the same...evo's also struggling as well....I have to say I am not impressed nor happy as Ramy and I have been talking about the latest update (not gingerbread just foryo update) has KILLED our battery life, and if gingerbread makes it worse which seems to be the trend then I am wont even get 3-4 hours...its to the point where the frustrations for me and the thunderbolt make me want to get rid of the phone even though I love everything else about it.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Ok, so after googling for solutions, I downloaded Battery Calibration, I charged my phone to 100%, then clicked the calibrate button, which deleted a bin file for battery stats. They then said to stay unplugged until it drains.

SO.... I am now 10 hours in, and while I used the phone on and off throughout the day, I used it for about 90 minutes pretty heavy while my kid was at diving practice. I am now at 60% of battery.

IF this pattern holds, then I should be in good shape.

That said, I also tweaked settings, turning off the obnoxious button lights (downloaded a program called adjBrightness), and I used the Battery Mode feature of Gingerbread for Max BAttery Saver, which slowed down syncing). I will try it tomorrow with normal settings, but all I really care is my phone lasting through the day. Plus probably 25 text messages received.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Gingerbread seems to be messing up a lot of phones....Thunderbolts getting into a reboot of death cycle, nooks doing the same...evo's also struggling as well....I have to say I am not impressed nor happy as Ramy and I have been talking about the latest update (not gingerbread just foryo update) has KILLED our battery life, and if gingerbread makes it worse which seems to be the trend then I am wont even get 3-4 hours...its to the point where the frustrations for me and the thunderbolt make me want to get rid of the phone even though I love everything else about it.

Try what I did James. It has made a huge difference in just a day!

 

[Steve Mehs]

After trying 3 times unsuccessfully last night to load the Fresh ROM, I downloaded a ROM that is basically the stock ROM for the Evo, includes Gingerbread 2.3.3, Sense and all the latest updates. I am getting phenomenal battery life. My phones been unplugged for 12 hours now, I’ve made a few calls, sent a few texts, installed most of the apps I had beforehand and recustomized everything. Also, streamed Sirius XM for about 45 minutes and watch two shorter videos on YouTube in high quality. All with wifi and GPS enabled and the screen brightness at close to max. Battery is now at 33% right now. Too add some more fun facts, my signal is horrible at home, earlier I was roaming, and right now I’m at -107db, never been above -100 today. Normally my battery would have be dead as a doornail hours ago.

And wow is this sucker fast now! Takes about 3 seconds to power off, and 2 seconds to go from completely off to fully booted up. In fact everything is faster and slicker, feels like I have a new phone! Gingerbread as been good to me so far. Even got wireless tether to work, which I have no use for, but I was never able to get it to work before on other ROMs with Froyo. Too bad this thing is a lame duck and hopefully in 19 more days I’ll be rid of it.

 

[LostBoyinVA]

Gingerbread seems to be messing up a lot of phones....Thunderbolts getting into a reboot of death cycle, nooks doing the same...evo's also struggling as well....

The Thunderbolt is not on Gingerbread. The reported problems with the Tunderbolt are from and OTA for Froyo.

 

[Rey]

i've been on gingerbread for awhile now with no issues.plus i purchased a battery dirt cheap from ebay that claims to have 2000mah. apparently it does because it was 9pm last night and my evo was at 60%. during the work week i use it a good amount. email, internet,calls,texts and play a game or two during lunch,wifi and gps on. i'll still have 20% battery by 8pm after being on since 5:30 am. i am also using a kernel from tiamat that uses sbc. i've been using kernels with sbc for awhile now with no issues whatsoever. but i do charge it with the phone on instead of off.

 

[Ronnie-]

i've been on gingerbread for awhile now with no issues.plus i purchased a battery dirt cheap from ebay that claims to have 2000mah. apparently it does because it was 9pm last night and my evo was at 60%. during the work week i use it a good amount. email, internet,calls,texts and play a game or two during lunch,wifi and gps on. i'll still have 20% battery by 8pm after being on since 5:30 am. i am also using a kernel from tiamat that uses sbc. i've been using kernels with sbc for awhile now with no issues whatsoever. but i do charge it with the phone on instead of off.

Wow, you are special.....must be sprint....

 

[JamesJ]

the gingerbread build with gingerbread radio bricked some peoples thunderbolts (see xda), also other people are reporting terrible battery life...Evos I have seen in the past, must be the newest build that is playing nicely....also NOOK has people reporting that their systems have the same stuff as the thunderbolt....so while yes thunderbolt isnt officialy on gingerbread, there are gingerbread builds leaked...

 

[Rey]

Wow, you are special.....must be sprint....

Jerky boy. LMAO

 

[Ramy]

Gingerbread seems to be messing up a lot of phones....Thunderbolts getting into a reboot of death cycle, nooks doing the same...evo's also struggling as well....I have to say I am not impressed nor happy as Ramy and I have been talking about the latest update (not gingerbread just foryo update) has KILLED our battery life, and if gingerbread makes it worse which seems to be the trend then I am wont even get 3-4 hours...its to the point where the frustrations for me and the thunderbolt make me want to get rid of the phone even though I love everything else about it.

Yep, on 4G my phone might last 4-5 hours tops. On 3G I can go the whole day on light usage and almost the whole day on very heavy usage.
They better do something quick or I am going to go off on a Verizon rep.

 

[Juan]

there is a workaround for the tethering issue....Tip: DROIDX and 2 Gingerbread Wireless Tether Work-Around (Updated) - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The workaround did not work for me, and for many users based on reviews at Droid-Life. Nice try, but no cigar. Indeed, I had to reboot after trying to tether, as it would no longer let me browse the web, and would not shut off the tether app.

The battery issues I had were COMPLETELY solved by the Battery Calibration app. While I had the phone on maximum saver mode, it lasted almost 2 days without dying. I charged it last night and today I ran it on NORMAL mode, and I am ten hours in, and still around 70 percent. If anything, I would now say that the battery life has improved dramatically.

So, four days in to Gingerbread, and I would say my phone has NEVER been faster. This thing is lightning fast, has solid battery life, and a few nice enhancements (I am using the Motoblur app drawer with Launcher Pro), and one annoyance - the Tether block. OH, and one more thing, the camera button never worked on my Droid X - not sure when it went south, but it just would never work. Now, it is working again. Something with the rooted froyo I had maybe, but I am glad that problem is gone.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Need to test this out, but I found a comment that said to uninstall WiFi Tether before installing the new one. I think I will uninstall both and see if it makes a difference. Sure would be nice to get this feature back. Then I'd be pretty much thrilled with my phone.