Time to throw away phone?

[crcurrie]

I have a Motorola Droid 3 using Android 2.3 that has been having a number of problems the past few months. The two main ones are that the touchscreen will become unresponsive and that the phone process will take up to a few minutes to initiate a call. (These are not always simultaneous problems.) The only solution to either is to remove the battery and reboot -- and, increasingly, even that doesn't always solve it.

I did a factory reset several weeks ago which solved the problems for four or five days but they came back.

I called Motorola tech support and when I got to Level 2 the guy told me that Android phones normally get messed up past the point of repair after 2 or 3 years of use, and the only solution is to get a new phone.

True? Or are there other things I can try? Would getting a new battery help? Uninstalling apps like Facebook? Doing fancy things like rooting or switching roms that I know nothing about?

I'm not in a financial position to spend a few hundred dollars on a phone or get an expensive contract. I'd love to keep using my D3 on PagePlus.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Ollie]

I would try to root and ROM it to see if the glitches move over to the new rom. If they do then it is hardware. If they don't then it should be fixable by flashing the stock rom.

I saw a jellybean based rom for that phone over on XDA.

 

[crcurrie]

Thanks, that makes sense. Is there a paint-by-numbers guide somewhere for newbies like me to root and ROM a D3? I looked at XDA and that stuff is all geek to me ...

 

[mountainbikermark]

Try this first. It might help and if so it'll show it's something aftermarket that has been added.
Safe mode

Support Our Troops !!!
<><
Beast Mode 4

 

[crcurrie]

Try this first. It might help and if so it'll show it's something aftermarket that has been added.
Safe mode

Thanks, but I have Gingerbread, not Jelly Bean. I tried that method but it doesn't work on my phone. Is there a way to start on Safe Mode for Gingerbread?

 

[grenefroggie]

I called Motorola tech support and when I got to Level 2 the guy told me that Android phones normally get messed up past the point of repair after 2 or 3 years of use, and the only solution is to get a new phone.

True?

Kind of, sort of, but not really. A lot of Google apps that have been updated, for example GMail is 5.0, are likely not compatible with your version of Android. They sometimes turn off services for older apps completely, meaning if the app has to talk back to a server for X reason and there is no server there, it will fail.

The same most likely applies to Motorola. Because these phones are not updated with a current version of Android, the services for the apps may be terminated on Motorola's side.

As mentioned, a custom ROM typically would fix this as long as the phone is popular enough for devs to justify spending their time on maintaining the ROM. If the Droid 3 is still a popular phone, there could be a current ROM that will work with it.

 

[Sajo]

Thanks, but I have Gingerbread, not Jelly Bean. I tried that method but it doesn't work on my phone. Is there a way to start on Safe Mode for Gingerbread?

Yes....tap the power button. Then long press the Shut Down / Power Off option and you should see Reboot Into Safe Mode. Or something similar to that...its been a while since I had a Droid 3...but I used Safe Mode on mine several times.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[Sajo]

You mentioned in your original post that the problems went away for four or five days after a FDR, so it's possible that it's an app or setting and not faulty hardware. It could be faulty hardware, but you would think the problems would instantly appear again after a FDR if that were the case. Some where on your phone, in the main Settings is an option to "Back Up My Data". It is normally checked by default on a lot of phones. If that is checked before and / or after a FDR, then whatever was causing the issues may be downloaded right back onto the phone. I always uncheck that option before a FDR, and then manually add Play Store apps one or two at a time and see how the phone performs & reacts. @Ollie's suggestion for custom ROM's might breathe some new life into an older phone if you decide to go that route. @mountainbikermark's suggestion for Safe Mode is a good strating point to see if the issues you described are in the OS or pre-installed apps, or if a Play Store app is causing the issues. Once your phone is in Safe Mode, only the pre-installed apps will run, none of your Play Store apps will run (unless you manually open them). If the phone runs better in Safe Mode, more than likely a Play Store app is causing your issues. FYI: When you exit Safe Mode and reboot into normal mode, some apps will require you to re-enter your app password, that is normal.