File this under anecdotal, but we’re getting a few complaints that the recent GDR2 OS update for Windows Phone on the HTC 8X (mostly unbranded) is causing the device to lock up, irrecoverably.
From our forums, member Serdard notes “While listening to music, I got a message on WhatsApp and when I tried to open it, my phone froze”. Normally, if a Windows Phone device locks up either a simple battery pull or key combination (down volume + power) will restart the device. However, in this instance such a method is not working (plus you can’t do a battery pull on an 8X).
Others have chimed in in the thread noting the same thing, with the device freezing and not being able to be restarted (Update: it seems to occur specifically when playing music). There’s a secondary thread also started on the same topic with the similar results. Not even a full battery drain helps.
Outside of those handful of complaints, we haven’t been flooded with tips on this, meaning this does look fairly isolated and is not widespread. Having said that, there are now numerous people with a completely useless and broken 8X, with no known way to recover.
The HTC 8X was released last November as part of the Windows Phone 8 launch and received mostly positive reviews. However, stability issues did cause some delays (more so with the 8S) from HTC and we’ve even have a pre-release device “bricked” due to a bad over-the-air update (Portico).
We recently reported that T-Mobile US is due to push out the GDR2 update for its HTC 8X devices tomorrow, July 22nd. The update, which brings FM Radio, Data Sense (for some) and other numerous enhancements, also brings HTC’s fix for deletion of temporary files. While not a massive update, it does bring along with it some nice additions.
Have you experienced any issues like the above with GDR2 and the HTC 8X? Sound off in comments.
Source: Windows Phone Central Forums 1, 2; Thanks, Shaikh A. and SLO Eclipse, for the tip
