[HTC One S] gibarian:
Touch Button Issue HTC One S - Communication campaign "Operation Rolling Thunder"

Hi all,

If you ended up on this thread, it probably means that like many others, including me, you have experienced the so-called "Home button issue" on your HTC One S. To sum it up very briefly, it happens mostly when you're on EDGE and the signal is weak: what then happens is that all the sudden, your phone simulates rapid presses of the Home Button, leading to your display switching constantly between the main Home screen and the "helicopter view" showing the 7 home screens. When it happens, the buttons become useless, and you cannot use your phone anymore. Needless to say it is a really annoying matter...

As you may know, there are many threads that report the issue in many different countries, which leads to believe that hundreds if not thousands of users are having the same issue... XDA has a very complete thread on the matter, which focuses on grouping people reports, hypothetical fixes, leads, ideas, comments etc. I strongly suggest you check it out if you haven't done so yet after you're done reading this post. Here's the link:

SneakyGhost's "report/troubleshooting" thread regarding Home button issue​

You will also find a link to a spreadsheet in this thread where you can write yourself in and describe your issue and its circumstances, thus helping people working on the issue to figure out a solution. Big thanks to SneakyGhost and ZoesDad for all the work! Remember to write your details in the sheet when you're through this post if you haven't done so yet. Here's the link:

SneakyGhost's spreadsheet for reporting the issue​

Now, if you followed up on this issue, you will soon notice that many users have reported the problem to HTC, starting some months ago. The results were nowhere near satisfying:

No reply at all to their complaints;

Automatic emails from customer support telling people to restart or factory reset their phones, even though they had explained that they had already tried this in their mails;

Requests to send their phones in for repair. After weeks, customers would get their phones returned, with the exact same issue still present;

Emails from HTC stating that they were (finally) aware of the issue and that a patch would be released in the coming days/weeks. That was months ago, nothing has happened as of yet...

Bottom line: Nothing happened, the matter is still not solved, and we are all still stuck with devices that can stop working at any given time if the signal starts going down. Inacceptable. Time to act!

​

Operation Rolling Thunder

Apparently, HTC needs a little "motivation" so solve this issue, so here is my suggestion (I discussed the idea with some people on SneakyGhost's thread, link to exact page here):

In order to make ourselves heard, we need to join in a combined effort to attract attention of HTC through the media. I therefore started posting negative reviews of the HTC One S on numerous websites that review or sell the product. On each of them, I left a comment reporting this issue and advising people not to buy the phone until the matter was resolved.

...And here is where I need your help: I ask you to take a little time off and start doing the same.

I will try to make it as easy and fast for you as possible.

The goal is to "spam" review and sales websites with so many negative reviews that the phone's average note will sink to the bottom. Thus, when people will check out the phone, they will see a quite good editor's note, but a very low users note. They will most probably then read users reviews and find out about the issue, which will lead them to delay their purchase or switch to another model or brand... They will talk/comment about it, and so on.

If enough people in various countries participate to the action, we will make quite some noise, and I am convinced that HTC will hear about it. Actually, my plan is to let them know asap that such an action is ongoing. I want them to be aware of this, and I believe we should regularly "invite" them to read our reviews on famous websites, and let them know that

we will not stop until the patch is released

. No promise of future upcoming patches will stop this action. The only way for them to stop us from spamming websites with unhappy comments will be the release of a patch that adresses the issue. Only then will we stop our action and edit our reviews/comments.

Operation Rolling Thunder: Phases

Phase One:

Leave posts/reviews/comments on famous review and/or sales websites

Send updates regularly to HTC about progress. If no patch after 1-2 weeks, proceed to phase two.

Phase Two:

Send emails to the carriers/tech supports of respective countries

Send regular updates to HTC about progress. If no patch after 1-2 weeks, proceed to phase three.

Phase Three:

Send emails to the media: bloggers, press...

Send regular updates to HTC about progress. If no patch by then... Improvise.

Now, I have already started with phase one on my own, and if you want things to change, I hereby invite you to join me in my effort to "motivate" our friends at HTC.

Remember to check out the two next posts. I wrote them to provide you with useful tools and advice, so that you can easily contribute to the action:

- Review templates in different languages

- Direct links to the product pages on famous websites for posting

- Some advice (my two cents)

Report your contributions:

After posting your reviews, don't forget to post your contribution through this form!

It will help us keep track of progress and maintain pressure on HTC!

You can check out the results at any given time in this spreadsheet!

(Many thanks to SneakyGhost for his advice and the idea of the sheet :good:)

Please keep this thread tidy:

Thank you for not postings rants, complaints or non-constructive comments on this thread. It is important, especially if we relay a link to this thread to the media/press at a later stage, that it remains factual. Posts are reserved for the following:

Your reports on where you posted reviews, in order to show involvement

Your suggestions on new links to websites to post reviews on

Constructive remarks.

Remember that this post is dedicated to the Home screen issue ONLY!

Don't forget to fill out the form when you are done posting your reviews! Here are the links to the form and to the spreadsheet!

Thank you in advance for your effort, may this campaign be successful... for all our sakes :highfive: