This is my wife's phone, its stock not rooted or anything. I used to like this phone but after the update its bogs down,...etc
Well, I thought I was immune to all these ongoing problems with what was once a working smartphone, now a really DUMBPHONE. I should not have to do a so-called 'FACTORY RESET' for a working product - that kind of stone-age approach to product design is characteristic of the software 'industry' however.
After the ICS update, I could 'disable' some of the built-in apps. Now, all that capability is long gone. And, 'Earth' simply says 'Earth has stopped' when run. There is no way - short of the draconian FR procedure - to fix this, that I can see. I have uninstalled, reinstalled, battery-pulled, SIM pulled, rebooted, etc etc till blue in face.
This is not a mature product (the phone, not the update), for which HTC and Verizon should be very ashamed. It is low-quality, trashy stuff best served out to unsuspecting suckers (like me). $300 for a 'smartphone', never again.
What crap.
EDIT: I wasn't going to respond to this post, I normally just let angry, "let off steam" posts go unless they ask a valid question or want help, but this post just rubbed me the wrong way, maybe it is because I am over tired from being on the 8th straight day of 16 hour work days with 3 more to go before a break, or maybe it's something else, I don't know, but I just couldn't ignore this today. I apologize in advance if I offend anyone.
Wow... anger issues much?
Why do you thing the Factory Reset option is there? The more modern technology is, the more its gets fiddled with and can potentially get messed up, if your phone was bone stock, and you never installed a single app or update to an app, I would bet the ICS update would be just fine... the issue is not with the base operating system, it is all the apps you installed that installed themselves for GINGERBREAD, not ICS...
The update was the equivalent of going from 32-bit Windows XP to 64-bit Windows 7, with an update and not a clean install (it is more complex than that, but the general concept is the same). If it was just Windows without any applications or other programs, it would probably be fine, it is all the extra stuff people install that messes everything up.
Call Verizon tech support, they will walk you through a Factory Reset... Stop at a Verizon store, they will do a Factory Reset... Go to a VZW Reseller, they will do a Factory Reset... Heck, call HTC's support and they will walk you through a Factory Reset as well. And if it was a Motorola, LG, Samsung, iPhone, Windows Phone, or whatever the result would be the same, bringing the phone back to known, good working state to show you that it is NOT the phone, hardware, firmware, factory updates, or other "official" manufacturer updates that are the problem, it's all the junk installed after it was removed from the box that is causing the issues.
If you want a phone that will not get messed up, ever... do not get a smartphone! All smartphones can potentially have issues that arise that requires a factory reset, Apple, Windows Phones, Nokia, Blackberry, or whatever, and 99% of the time the issue is NOT with the phone or it's firmware, it is with all the junk we install and try to use... The Factory Reset is actually a way to prove that the phone and the firmware are good, and brings the device back to a known good state, and it is the other stuff that is messing it up. Heck, even my old LG enV Touch and the original enV all had a Factory Reset option, although I never had to use them.
I would recommend doing the factory reset, in the long run you will be happier with your device.
EDIT: Thanks to MrSmith317 for editing my post, it was a little out of line.
