topic Re: Sola ICS Update - observations.. in XPERIA archive

Sola ICS Update - observations..

neo_kalyan — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:03:17 GMT

Updated my Xperia Sola to ICS today afternoon. Below are my observations.

What I liked:

1. The new interface is good. Nice refresh with notifications and task manager. Most of the enhancements are of ICS.

2. Walkman player has a slightly changed UI but I didn't notice anything to be excited about. But The inclusion of visualisations is good though it is a bit slow now. The player could have been better with good use of touch controls instead of going through the menu button every time.

3. Battery Percentage in the notification bar.

4. Merging of similar apps (Clock - Alarm - Stopwatch - Timer). The look and feel of alarms is changed and looks good. Previously, tapping on the time above would show a clock display mode which also had the slideshow of pictures which is removed in ICS update. Now, tapping on the clock takes us to the time and date settings. Somehow I liked the look of the older clock display. The clock mode is activated by a separate button at the bottom (portrait) top right (landscape). Now, the wallpaper is shown in the background and the font of the clock is very thin which does not go well with all wallpapers. There is no slideshow option now.

5. Calendar, Mail etc are changed from black theme to white theme.

6. Movies app shows good DVD cover like icons of videos. (Still doesn't play avi files)

7. Chrome is installed by default.

8. I don't understand why Sony keeps including pregnency apps with every firmware update

9. The response of the light sensor seems to have decreased. But the flickering of the screen still exists.

10. The music output from the earphones has improved. But I am now getting the crackling sound for some songs when played through the loud speaker. I believe this is a software issue as I didn't have this issue before in Gingerbread. Some users have complained about this before in GB too. Now, I'm getting the crackling only in xLoud mode.

11. Inclusion of glove mode is good. Note that you have to switch on the glove mode from Settings > Display, then lock the phone and unlock with your glove on. Then only the glove mode works. You can also use the floating touch in this mode.

12. Wifi works good for me.

13. Ability to change the volume on screen, once activated through the hard keys.

Issues not addressed:

1. I feel that the network though not dropping, but is inconsistent.

2. The crackling sound in xLoud mode. (though this is new for me, it has been complained before)

3. The keyboard long press doesn't show the current key. Eg, If I long press 'e' by mistake while typing, the other phonetics are shown and not the normal 'e'. This is sometimes annoying as I would have to select one of the wrong character, then backspace it and then type the normal 'e'.

4. Touch screen issue while chargin seems ok for me. Someone please confirm.

5. Battery life seemed to decrease too quick but I have had wifi and was exploring all the options. Might get better once the mobile is being used.

6. Need to confirm about the earpiece volume.

7. The brightness widget still has only two settings (full or low). No medium level.

8. Only 5 homescreens allowed (could have been 7).

New issues

1. The power saver app is gone and I guess the Extended Power saver replaced it. But there are no options to configure what services are required to be turned off to save the power. Looked like a down step from the Power saver app. We had the customisability before and also an option to turn off wifi when the screen is off. This would be uncomfortable when we think that an app is being downloaded when the screen is off.

2. The OS appeared to be laggy and unresponsive at first. After I rebooted 1-2 times with soft reset (power + volume down until I feel 3 vibrations), the OS seemed smooth..

3. I have had some issues with calls like the ringtone was not audible and nothing was on the screen except the vibration and notification LED. I had experimented 2-3 times and after a restart, it was ok. Need to experiment while listening to music

4. Dead Trigger game shows black buildings at the mission selection screen and the screen operates in floating touch mode. (even with glove mode off). The game too picks up response from the floating touch and is causing trouble. When I quit and say OK in the dialog box, the buildings are returning to their usual detail. Can someone please confirm this behaviour? Even Temple run also does not respond erractic to the swipes.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

his1nightmare — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:41:47 GMT

Agreed.I also see good consumption of RAM in ICS.approx 98 MB free .Also when charging the touch response decreases.Flickering is there.Theyd ecreased the Voulme of loudspeaker when xLoud is on so no crackling sound..Not Good.Also Earpiece Volume is still a mess..too low.

I still liked the ICS of Sola but definately needs to work more on RAM management area.Ram manaement is really really poor.Have an observation adn then u will get to now.And yes there are hardly 5 apps installed and also did Full Phone Format...

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

yewchung7788 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:09:45 GMT

erm..so far mine have no issue ..but the battery ussage seems increase compare with GB

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

yewchung7788 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:30:21 GMT

one more issue here ..after i updated to ics ..my Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X cant play...it showing unexpected stop...hmm..not sure wat is the issue..it seems like the game is not compatible with ics..cz my fren using s3 having same issue

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

prady_1988 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 04:40:46 GMT

New Issue solution:

1. Please update Live manager, its been updated with Smart Connect, which has incorporated Power Saver like customizations.

3. Regarding the LED, if it doesnt work, try turning off the Extended Standby Mode.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

gautamr2590 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 06:20:18 GMT

I faced some issues..

1. Touchscreen issues while charging, less responsive. Struggled to pattern unlock my phone.

2. Random restart while listening to music.

3. Laggy OS.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

Solatude — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:14:36 GMT

guys do you know where the screenshoot button on ICS? it doesnt appear when i push and hold power button

thankss

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

ezio1 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:01:58 GMT

Glove mode works beautifully!

ICS works like a charm!

Unable to connect to wifi

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

neo_kalyan — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:22:57 GMT

you have to press the power button and volume down simultaneously for 2 seconds.

You should not press one after the other. this would take some practice.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

neo_kalyan — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:25:39 GMT

Also the lock screen now has either slide to lock / pattern lock / pin / password. we cannot have the option to open camera directly when we have pattern or pin security enabled.

Atleast they could have included different patterns for different applications.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

ecxzqute — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 03:39:39 GMT

glove mode is fine, but the problem that i have found is that the enhancement of floating touch greatly affected gaming experience. e.g. when playing temple run swipe command for jump is misinterpreted by floating touch to slide down..

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

yewchung7788 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:35:07 GMT

yes..i facing this issue also while i playing game..eternity hero..and so on..and i found out ics xperia sola is not supporting tom clancy hawks...its always show stop....

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

prady_1988 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:40:15 GMT

Turn off Glove Mode while playing games

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

yewchung7788 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:44:52 GMT

is already turn off..it still same

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

indre1 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 05:40:23 GMT

Could someone please check if pin security still allows timeout? Currently when I lock my screen and try to unlock, GB doesn't ask for my pin again unless 15 minutes have passed.

I know that Xperia Arc had this feature on GB, but it was removed from ICS. And Exchange forces me to use PIN security.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

MVS — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 06:23:22 GMT

I don't know whether you had this slowness when unlocking the screen, when i updated my sola to ICS the "glove mode" was enabled by default and because of that the phone was slow to respond to the various touch commands such as opening of the messages and various other appliactions. Because of the "Glove Mode" ON my phone was very slow in response to the touch events. I have disabled the glove mode now and my phone seems to work fine now. Can anyone please confirm me on this part (by enabling the glove mode the phone seems to work very slow).

I also agree to your point about the battery draining much faster than it did with GB.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

hendra2392 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 07:59:05 GMT

Had a really BAD experience with the update. After delaying for such a long time, I was expecting a smooth and bug-free update. But I have been having tons of problem with ICS.

1. Not being able to find the wifi. Everything worked fine with GB, started having problem with the ICS. Don't blame the channel stuff, it used to work before.

2. Touchscreen going crazy. Had the same problem with GB, but the update made it worse. I can't use the phone at all when it is charging. Tried all kind of power source and charger, same problem.

3. Laggy. Enough said.

4. Battery life. Battery life noticably shorter than GB, but i dont really mind this, i have been charging the phone 4 times a day anyway.

Come on, Sony, just because this device is not getting that much media attention with its update doesn't mean that you can slack on this update.

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

Adarsh — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:05:07 GMT

i updated my sola today morning... Everything is working fine... good improvement on music... But there is an issue with wifi... Wifi doesn't connect correctly... If i am near to the router it works fine... if i come two steps away from router it says no range... Please fix this issue... Except that ICS is excellent...

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

Supratik — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:21:12 GMT

I used ics and found it a lot worse than gb, ,,, as u will see we cant change colour of cosmic flow from theme menu in flowing condition as earlier,if i change it shows no flow just a wallpaper...

And also if u select 1 theme of cosmic flow from theme menu it shows frozen wallpaper,and then if we go to wallpaper and select diffrent colour of cosmic flow than selected earlier,the screen shows flow of one colour and low part of other colour....

Re: Sola ICS Update - observations..

Adarsh — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:30:33 GMT

Even battery gets drained very fast compared to GB... Is there any way to reduce the battery drain... any one please help...