Hate My Droid 2 but want to love it.

[tiaanita]

I ordered my Droid 2 online the day they first came out. It has been nothing but problems ever since. Please help me make lemonade out of my lemon!

Here are my issues (I started keeping a log after the first couple of months):

1. Email: recurring issue with "failure to send" emails that stay in outbox forever. Occasionally, I get a warning that the email didn't send but what good is that warning if there is nothing you can do about. The outbox shows the unsent email but my only option is to delete and there is no way to resend it.

2. Ringtone just mysterious changed to a new tone all on its own.

3. Google Calendar issues: events mysteriously appear and disappear at will.

4. Poor battery life....complete drainage after 10 to 12 hours.(I have learned to live with this...now keep bluetooth and wi-fi off most of the time.)

5. Stopped syncing emails until reboot.

6. From “Recent” Call list...when I select a person to recall...phone will dial a totally different number!!!

7. When I send a TXT message, it will immdediately display the previous recipient and not the preson I just sent the txt to. Ongoing 1/30

8. Would not call out to any number until reboot. 1/22

9. While using google maps, phone locked up completely until reboot. 1/29

10. Had to turn off “Show Suggestions” on Device Keyboard menu because the cursor was hidden by the suggestions and I couldn't see what I was typing. Wouldn't even let me scroll down to the cursor. ARGH!

11. Reply email lost/deleted when keyboard is opened.

12. Occasionally, it will not play .mp3 files and have to reboot.


Do I have a lemon or what? Thanks!

 

[smokiedabong]

Sounds to me like a perfectly functional Motorola phone , I don't think you have a lemon .

 

[chained22]

Sounds to me like a perfectly functional Motorola phone , I don't think you have a lemon .

Nice sarcasm, lol. And, dude sent it in and get a new one and take your log in with you. From what it sound to me is that thing is really messed up.

 

[pool_shark]

Yeah, yours sounds like a bad one.

Try a hard reset, if that doesn't fix a majority of your issues, take it into a store.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

Shark has it right. Do a factory hard reset. If that doesn't fix it, contact Verizon. You really should do the FHR yourself because that is probably the first thing Verizon will do (or have you do) and wouldn't it suck if they fixed it that easily!!

1. Turn the Droid 2 off. If it’s frozen and you cannot turn it off, pull and replace the battery.
2. Open the keyboard and press the X key while pressing and holding Power. The device will power on. Keep holding the buttons downuntil a yellow triangle appears.
3. Press the Search key on the keyboard (magnifying glass).
4. Use the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons on the side of the phone to select the Wipe data factory reset option. Use the Camera key to confirm it.
5. Tap wipe data/factory reset then tap OK.
6. Highlight reboot system now is highlighted then tap OK.

BTW, here's my list of Battery tips (covers phones other than D2). However the tip about using only the Gmail app will probably help you with you email issues: Battery Life

Here's my tips:

1. (Doesn’t apply to all phones) Go to settings/wireless & networks/mobile networks/Enable always-on data. Uncheck always on data. Your phone will still receive email, text, & phone calls as before as well as internet usage but your battery will last a lot longer.

2. Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail. Go to the Google Gmail inbox on your computer and log into the Gmail account. On the top right of the screen is an option called Settings. In there is an option to have the Gmail program poll your regular, non-Gmail accounts (From the inbox; Settings/Accounts & Import/ Check mail using POP3). Provide the email address and the password. The Google Gmail program will then poll your other accounts on a frequency from 1-5 minutes and push the email immediately to your phone. The polling frequency is determined by each account's activity - more emails = faster polling. This saves battery power because on the android OS pop3 accounts are polled at a frequency of 1-30 minutes and that really eats battery. Because the phone goes and checks those accounts for mail whether there is mail there or not.

3. If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop!

4. Use wifi any time it is available. It uses a lot less power than 3G and it is much faster.

5. If there are widgets that automatically update (facebook, weather, etc.) change their update frequency in their settings menu. Set them to 30mins or 1 hour.

6. Oh, almost forgot, get the extended battery from Verizon.

7. Turn off the GPS unless you are actually using it. There are some background apps that can burn a lot of power via a live gps.

8. The Power Control Widget is a good tool for easily turning on and off some of these features (gps, wifi, screen brightness, etc.).

9. From the home screen do the following: menu/settings/About Phone/Battery Use. This graph will show the 10 biggest power users on the phone. It should always be Screen as the top user and the android os, android system, phone standby and phone idle should be the other top users. If there is an app listed you should determine if it’s an app you actually use a lot or do you have a rogue app that needs to be uninstalled.

10. Get Screebl. It will turn your phone off anytime you are not actively using it.

11. If you have either a task killer or an anti-virus app installed, you should uninstall.

12. Go to data>system>and delete batterystats.bin after you've charged your phone to 100%. This will help with battery meter accuracy.

13. D2G - go in to settings, wireless and networks, mobile network and change the network type from global to CDMA only. The d2g is locked out from using the local GSM networks in the US. You don't need global radio turned on in the US just overseas. Go into Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Network Mode > and turn off the default setting of Global and turn on CDMA. This assumes you are in the US.

 

[phrozen087]

Don't know how adventurous you are with your phone but running the stock moto firmware I had a fairly decent chunk of the problems you listed. I ran Fission for a few months which worked great and am now running Liberty as my rom (which works even better). Aside from a few very minor hiccups maybe once every few days now I have virtually no issues.

Like I said, you didn't mention if you are ok with rooting/romming, but if you are maybe either SBFing the phone or a putting on a new ROM may help you out. Lots of information about doing both in the D2 forums.

 

[tiaanita]

Thanks for all the suggestions

Thanks all!

BayouFlyFisher: executed the hard reset. Already had problem #6 occur within minutes of the reset. Thanks for the gmail scheme! Never thought of that and the gmail client is so much better than the pop3! Will give some of your other suggestions a try too!

phrozen087: That fact that I've never heard of "rom, rooting, or romming" would lead me to believe that I'm not that adventurous. But, if desperation sets in, I may give that a try.

For now, I will just sit tight and see how the hard reset works out and then my last resort will be to take it into a verizon store.