Since the recent updates, I have voiced many frustrations over the bugs that were introduced into the phone... here on the forum, and repeatedly with Sprint customer service.

Well, last Thursday the phone suddenly started going crazy.  Both the wifi indicator and the cell strength indicators started toggling repeatedly between full bars and no bars, just constant.  Calls still drop, if they even connect.  Texts wont come in or go out.  NUMEROUS error messages popping up about unable to connect blah-blah, or network resources unavailable blah-blah, etc.  And the phone started randomly restarting, even in the middle of a phone call!

By Saturday morning, the charge light and backlight on the buttons started to flicker and dim, and eventually stopped working. Then the phone started freezing up... it would just lock up completely and only way to escape was to pull the battery.  The ear-speaker dropped to almost inaudible, so all calls had to be via speakerphone.  The touchscreen then started to stop responding.  Pressing the power button repeatedly sometimes worked, other times it required a battery pull again.  By the time I reached the Sprint store on Tuesday, the touchscreen was completely dead and thus the phone is unusable.

Sprint examined the phone for damages and confirmed that the phone has never been wet, nor abused.  They ordered an exchange unit, which will be REFURBISHED (totally unfair as my phone is maybe 6 months old)... and will cost me $35 because I don't have insurance.  Why am I responsible for a phone that obviously has manufacturing defects??  I paid the fee, because I am in desperate need of regaining my communications.  Well, they placed the order and wouldn't you know... exchange units for this model are completely back-ordered, and it may be WEEKS before I get one.  I was offered a cheap Nexus S or a Kyocera Echo as alternatives (also refurb), if I chose not to wait for an HTC.  WTF!!  Seriously??

This is my first HTC phone.  I chose HTC because everyone claimed they were the best.  I have been a Sprint customer for 6 years.  At this moment, I am seriously disgusted with BOTH companies.  I think I am now forced to visit AT&T tonight, and look into an iPhone.  And rest assured, my dis-satisfaction will be shared with everyone I know, everyone I do business with, and on every online forum I can find.

UPDATE:  The very nice representative at the Sprint store made a few calls yesterday and managed to get me a replacement phone shipped for today.  She deserves some serious recognition for being the only person through this ordeal who has had any motivation to keep me as a satisfied customer.

New phone is in my hands.  Gotta reload my apps and personal junk, and then we'll see :)

UPDATE: Replacement phone went 1 day before showing issues... again with the touchscreen. This is extremely frustrating.

Oh, and the replacement phone has the same issues with dropped calls and "Radio Interface Shortage" error messages. Guess that is def. either the update or the towers.

Brought the phone back to the Sprint store to request another exchange, and was informed that HTC has released another update.

They had the update installed on their display phone, and the unlock bar and home page were very different looking.

Picked up 2nd exchange replacement yesterday.  Was surprised to see that it didn't even ship with the .5 update.  Actually, I was kinda glad cause I got to see that it suffered badly from the "radio interface shortage" error also.  So that issue is network... or Gingerbread... or something.

Anyway, got the phone home only hours later, and realized that none of the back lighting works!  Slide open the keys and they dont light up.  And the 4 menu buttons (home, menu, back, search) dont light up either.  I know they are light-sensing, which is why I didn't notice earlier that they didnt work.  But even in total darkness, no backlight.  WTH.  I am so frustrated now.

I've been having nothing but issue upon issue as well with the Shift since the Gingerbread updates back in June or July. It's ridiculous that more issues keep popping up over time. Like my touch screen being entirely unresponsive without a reboot or the interface sticking while sliding between panels. Loading screens galore, signal issues, etc are making me want to pull my hair out and I can't get any help from Sprint and I can't afford to go without a phone for a few weeks while I send this one in to HTC for a replacement. What disgusts me the most about issues like this is we're paying 4 to 500+ dollars for these phones and if something breaks or they release a borked update we have to go without our phones while it gets fixed. In some cases like with the bad Gingerbread update it still isn't fixed for me at least. So companies like HTC end up less people wanting to even deal with a warranty repair since we can't be without our phones for 4 weeks.

Ugh....

How about this! My HTC EVO 4G while plugged into the Sprint supplied USB charger started making random calls to several contacts in my phone book after it had been charging for a few hours. To make things worse it was about 2AM EST. One of the contacts called back and I turned off the phone. Now when I am charging by USB I make sure the phone is off. Just glad I did not have 911 in my contact list. Try to explain that to a cop at your door at 2AM

Yesterday both mine and my wife's phone (also HTV Evo 4G) stopped taking messages and went right to voice mail. Checking voice mail indicated "no messages" Today the message indicator appeared and the messages were now in voice mail.several hours later?

Got to love cell phones! Maybe it's time to go back to land lines?..

 Hi @kmr732, that sounds like a crazy situation! Based on the description of the voicemail problem, and that it happened on two phones on the same network at the same time, my guess is that you experienced temporary network issues. However, if the random dialing is a recurring problem, there are definitely some troubleshooting steps that you can try.

   First, perform a soft reset. Just power it off and remove the battery for about a minute, and then put it back in and turn the phone on.

 Next, you can clear the cache from the Dialer  and Dialer Storage applications. Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Dialer > Clear cache > OK; do the same for Dialer Storage. You may also choose 'Clear data' on the same screen, but remember to back up any relevant information before taking this step, as it may delete your call history, speed dials and, sometimes, text messages.

 You can boot the phone into Safe Mode if clearing the cache and data do not correct this. Safe Mode prevents third-party applications from starting up, and will allow you to determine if the phone's strange behavior has an interfering app at its root. To enable this, restart the phone; as soon as it turns on, press and hold the Volume Down button, and keep holding until you see "Safe Mode" in the bottom corner. In safe mode, plug the phone into the USB charger and watch for the same symptoms. If the phone functions properly in Safe Mode, uninstall all third-party applications and re-install them one at a time, taking time between to watch for any issues. To exit Safe Mode, restart the phone as normal.

 Rarely, third party cases and skins, screen protectors, or even residue on the touchscreen can cause abnormal behavior. If using a case or screen protector try removing it to see if you experience the same issue, and double check that the screen is wiped clean with a soft, dry cloth.

 I hope this helps you, please come back and let us know!