LR 4.4 Import Issues - Missed a Cure?

Question

Hello Everyone,
Since upgrading to 4.4, I have experienced a number of new issues. 4.3 was solid as a rock in comparison.  4.4 is causing me to need to manually terminate and/or restart the application numerous times daily, sometimes numerous times hourly.  It clearly needed more bake time.
I am posting this thread because, after reading numerous similar posts (I find I'm hardly alone) and hundreds of responses, it is not clear to me there are any solid solutions.  If there are, and I missed them, I am hoping someone will simply point me toward the appropriate URL.
My primary issue surrounds Import.
The Import function has been repeatedly (not just once or twice, but interiminably):
Hanging, becoming unresponsive after telling it to execute the Import.  This is frequently noticed immediately, at file #1.
Incredibly slow, eventually grinding to a halt after a handful of files.
Sources are dropped. Initially all sources are listed. Then, especially with sources (e.g. card reader, smartphone) having > 100 files, the source simply is removed from the listing.  You can toggle the arrow on other sources (e.g. to expand file folders), but nothing happens other than the arrow toggling up/down.
Only solution, restart (frequently requiring manual process termination) and try again.  I have seen discussions regarding smartphones. It was never an issue with 4.3.  With 4.4, my iPhone 4S will populate the preview grid, but after about 2 minutes, it disappears and the grid goes blank.
Importing large number of files (regardless of source) will populate the grid but frequently have the exclamation mark with a number of the preview images.  Only solution I've found, delete effected files from catalog, then reimport.
Modifying import settings, such as my copyright or related info, will terminate LR altogether, about 30% of the time.  This happened to a number of us at a LR training class this past weekend (different machines, OSes).
Importing 764 JPG from my iPhone (while writing this) has been going about :30 and is 1/3 (indicated) complete.  We're at the point of about 1 image imported ever ~5 seconds, reinforced by the entire grid object being refreshed each time.  I would consider importing a handful of files at a time, but if I do much more than select the iPhone as source and hit Import as soon as the grid populates, the source is lost, and everything starts over.
One instance of an 'insufficient memory' error.
There are other niggling issues but Import is a major mess.  From what I've read (and, again, I see I'm not alone), these issues are common for both Windows and Mac, newer PCs and older, and in all manner of mixed environments.
My own situation is a Windows 7 Ultimate, Dell E6400, 4GB RAM, LR 4.4.  In all cases I am reading my cards via the built-in card readers.  Primary cameras are a Canon SX260 (JPG only) and Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D shooting (almost always) RAW (.MRW).  My content is solely pictures, no video.
With regard to the smartphone discussion, I have experienced these problems with the laptop docked, undocked, with or without smartphone attached.
The only relief I have found is, when working with a memory card having >100 images (not many, in the grand scheme), to copy files to a local hard drive, then import from there.  The impression I have, is that the speed allows quicker execution, getting ahead of any resource contention issues.  Purely a gut feel thing based on observed behavior. Nonetheless importing from HD rather than SD does work better.
Clearly 4.4's Import has issues. Any word of a service patch or 4.5?

Answer 1

Uninstall 4.4 and re-install 4.3 is the normal process for downgrading.
Others don't necessarily have the problems you're seeing, so to me it's less likely a fundamental flaw of LR 4.4 that wasn't tested well enough, and more likely a hardware or driver issues that LR 4.4 is bringing to light. 
It may be that LR 4.4 is using different USB libraries or different OS-level functions to interact with the removable devices, perhaps to resolve other issues reported in previous versions, so something working differently wouldn't be unexpected.  It is less expected that whatever LR 4.4 is doing would cause problems on a particular computer, though.  It might be wise to figure out what is wrong on your system when LR 4.4 is in use, but obviously you also need to have a functioning workflow as well. 
For experimentation, I think it is possible to have both LR 4.3 and LR 4.4 installed at the same time, if your rename the LR 4.4 program folder to something completely different before doing the install for LR 4.3, and then rename it back when you're done.
You also might want to try the beta for Lightroom 5 at Adobe Labs http://labs.adobe.com/ to see if it works any better and report any issues to the LR5-beta specific discussion forum (not here).