New Features, Issues and Updates for Verizon Update

[treythompson]

Just thought I'd make a post to discuss new features, old/current bugs, etc... with the new software release from Verizon. Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. ActiveSync (Direct Push) Updates - this appears to be a good update. As far as I can tell, using this -vs- SMS real time updates saves battery and online time by keeping a "heartbeat" open with the Exchange Server. Authentication is simpler and the transfer of the information seems a little quicker.
2. SMS to Email - I've noticed that you can now send SMS messages to an email address as well.
3. Online Global Address List lookup - You can now easily lookup people in your Global Address List on Exchange Server
4. Memory Management - I haven't noticed a huge difference here. I will say that overall, the phone "appears" to be functioning a little better. However, this may be the "placebo" effect in that I know they say they have made memory management improvements. I have no thirt party Apps running (like today screen managers, or other PIMs), and after a Soft Reset, I have 14.76MB free, which is more than I had previously. I think I had 12.5MB free.

That's about all I've noticed. Other "bugs" like the call waiting/multiple calls not properly dropping, etc... all appear to still be there.

[kevinmg]

Originally Posted by treythompson

Just thought I'd make a post to discuss new features, old/current bugs, etc... with the new software release from Verizon. Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. ActiveSync (Direct Push) Updates - this appears to be a good update. As far as I can tell, using this -vs- SMS real time updates saves battery and online time by keeping a "heartbeat" open with the Exchange Server. Authentication is simpler and the transfer of the information seems a little quicker.
2. SMS to Email - I've noticed that you can now send SMS messages to an email address as well.
3. Online Global Address List lookup - You can now easily lookup people in your Global Address List on Exchange Server
4. Memory Management - I haven't noticed a huge difference here. I will say that overall, the phone "appears" to be functioning a little better. However, this may be the "placebo" effect in that I know they say they have made memory management improvements. I have no thirt party Apps running (like today screen managers, or other PIMs), and after a Soft Reset, I have 14.76MB free, which is more than I had previously. I think I had 12.5MB free.

That's about all I've noticed. Other "bugs" like the call waiting/multiple calls not properly dropping, etc... all appear to still be there.

1. I agree, this seems to work great. I have heard reports that you can't really 'turn it off' though. I'm curious to see what happens when you tell AS to only grab new data every ___ minutes. I might have to play around with that, because I do travel to 1x areas every now and then, and don't want to miss calls just to get an email instantly.
2. Yeah, I noticed that as well - personally, I can't see the advantage for me...but I'm sure there's a reason
3. Doesn't apply to me.
4. I've noticed that it is significatly improved for me. My phone was hovering between 3-6MB free with no apps running prior to the update. Now, I'm usually between 6-12MB. BUT, I have noticed that it does continue to creep down as the time goes on...so it seems to me like they've half fixed it.

I would agree that the other 'bugs' are still in place.

[kwitkowski]

Did anyone notice that the updater was gone by Saturday?

Everything seems to work OK for me after the update for me with two minor exceptions.

The bluetooth icon is stuck on now (even though I have it disabled), and the Location Pricacy switch was set to 'Location ON' (I had had both of these 'Off' before the update, which I believe is (was?) the default.

Still, nothing that I'd recall the update for...

[kevinmg]

Originally Posted by kwitkowski

Did anyone notice that the updater was gone by Saturday?

There were a couple of issues that probably led to the halting....

1) using the built-in Windows XP unzip utility, the files would unzip with the .msi file containing mangled characters. this came from them trying to use the copyright and trademark symbols in the installer name.

2) there are reports of the phone being unrecoverable if the updater didn't successfully complete....meaning, users were forced to call VZW and get a replacement phone. I'm sure they weren't too happy about that.

Mine went in well, and it's definitely improved - not perfect, but improved. I also did a hard-reset just before the update to make sure I would have the best chance of it working properly.

[treythompson]

Chris,
I've got my downloaded copy of the .ZIP file, would it be OK to post it here? Or, would that be taboo...? I'm sure there are others that would like the update. I installed it for a customer today.