Has HTC's One X been eating too many Apples?

by Alistair Lowe on 18 May 2012, 10:14

Tags: HTC (TPE:2498)

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As one of the primary alternatives to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III, all eyes are on the HTC One X as one of the devices representing the crème de la crème of Android smartphones.

Under this heavy scrutiny, users on the xda-developers forums noted that their One X devices seemed a little over-aggressive when it came to the termination of background tasks, removing tasks entirely from cache when inactive for around 30 seconds. After HTC was questioned, the firm came back with the following statement:

"HTC is aware of some questions in the enthusiast community about how the HTC One X handles multitasking and memory management for background apps. We value the community's input and are always looking for ways to enhance customers' experience with our devices. That said, multitasking is operating normally according to our custom memory management specifications which balance core ICS features with a consistent HTC Sense experience."

More or less confirming that the firm has indeed implemented custom memory management in Sense 4. HTC is sacrificing usability for a superior battery life, a trick typically played by Apple on its iPhone, only, with Apple openly admitting its intent, the iOS multi-tasking API is built around maintaining usability in an aggressive memory management environment, whereas Android, at its core, is not designed to be managed in such a manner, creating a different experience, with tasks being frequently closed, with web browsers, mail and any other application losing its state each time it's reopened.

Until HTC comes to its 'sense's, users unhappy with the multi-tasking vs battery trade-off can look to Custom ROMs as a solution.



HEXUS Forums :: 17 Comments

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Storm in a teacup.

If anything the 1.29 update has made the phone even more responsive and quicker to do anything I use the phone for including making calls. Any applications I use such as iplayer, FB, twitter, IMDB and a few others all load instantly when needed.

If HTC want to fix anything, they should look at the live wallpaper issues when you transition from 1 page to another as the jumping and stuttering is woeful.
I bought this phone for my better half and its brilliant best phone we've ever used. I don't have a problem with sense, if HTC's own memory management is more aggressive to keep the UI less laggy then all the better. I believe the stock memeory management should be more aggressive, as that would then remove the need for task killers. Roll on 2GB phones!
From what I gather the issue doesn't affect all users (depends on network etc). Try opening a web-browser and navigating somewhere, close it and a minute or so later try opening it again and see if you're still where you left it. I also appreciate UI responsiveness, but I've been both impressed and happy with that just on my Galaxy S II since Android 4.0 with no sacrifice in multi-tasking. The idea of losing app states in 30 seconds on the other-hand is very unappealing for my use of the device.
Lee @ SCAN;2453621
If HTC want to fix anything, they should look at the live wallpaper issues when you transition from 1 page to another as the jumping and stuttering is woeful.
Easy to fix - don't use Live Wallpapers!. I've got an old phone still, LW can drag it down to a crawl, so I don't use 'em.
Scribe
From what I gather the issue doesn't affect all users (depends on network etc). Try opening a web-browser and navigating somewhere, close it and a minute or so later try opening it again and see if you're still where you left it. I also appreciate UI responsiveness, but I've been both impressed and happy with that just on my Galaxy S II since Android 4.0 with no sacrifice in multi-tasking. The idea of losing app states in 30 seconds on the other-hand is very unappealing for my use of the device.
There's been a lot of debate on this in the “S3 v's HOX” threads - some folks taking the view that it's no big deal; others that it can sometimes trip ‘em up - but if it makes Sense run better then so be it; and finally a group for whom it IS a big deal - e.g. losing game progress to answer a text message - not necessarily a deal-breaker, but certainly a source of some annoyance.

There’s also been some suggestions that this has been done ONLY to boost Sense - in which case wouldn't HTC be better advised to look at optimising Sense to run better without having to shed tasks? This sounds like a “sticking plaster” solution to me.

Interestingly enough, there's also been some suggestions that the HOX “is the phone that Apple would design, if they did Android phones”, which kind of nicely echoes the title of this piece! ;) (No axe to grind with HTC myself, never owned one of their devices - will probably be going to Asus or Samsung for this years phone).
Scribe
Try opening a web-browser and navigating somewhere, close it and a minute or so later try opening it again and see if you're still where you left it.

You mean like your browsers at home on your PC? Oh wait, no it also refreshes back to home once closed….

Wonder how Chrome browser works, does it allow the option to open from last page?

There is an awful lot of HTC bashing over such simple things with this new handset. Almost like people are only interested in the minor negatives and turning them into massive issues. Maybe people are just jealous of HTC for beating Samsung to releasing a phone of this spec.

But either way, the HTC One X is one brilliant phone, well engineered and well put together. Sense is still the bench mark that other overlays generally copy.

If it wasn't for HTC, its unlikely Google or Android would be where it is today.