Reliability of Android OS

subbass

subbass

subbass

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In no way I'm bashing Android. I know since this is basically the Android sub forum so I know there are people who will defend Android like their own :p I've been using an Android OS for over a year and think it's great mobile OS; much better than iOS in terms of functionality and customisation.

One of the major downers to me from MY experience is the reliability of it. I've had my fair share of problems on it.

Off the top of my head:

  • Programs force close (don't pretend you've never had it before ;))
  • Apps do not download at all.
  • Apps doesn;t install. In two different cases: First, some just stuck at 100% after download and have to cancel and restart download again to kick start it; Second, apps just fail with "Installation Unsuccessful" and "Package File is Invalid". Had to try so many things to get it to half work. ADB command crap, delete cache and everything just to install something. Some Googling suggests Google "fixed" this....not sure.
  • Phone resetted when opening an app (rare but still)
  • Had phone turned off by itself which I didn't know till an hour later, although could be just my phone however.
  • "Damaged" SD card. Usually happens when you first turn on the phone. Files recovered using Linux and working fine. Nothing wrong with the SD card. Huge post on Google site if you google it.

Sure the majority can be resolved, but the constant googling to resolve problems is quite an annoyance when things like that should just work. I'm not particularly keen on wasting my evenings and weekends resolving phone issues.

Mainly to long time Android users, how are your experiences with Android so far? Any issues you have had? Would you use an Android handset as a work phone?
 
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And what phone do you have?

Yes some apps do have problems, they do get fixed as well.

Yes on Some devices running some roms there are some occasions when those apps/devices will crash, this is usually down to the customisations the maufacturer has put on their devices.

I have seen these issue sin the past and all of them have always been resolved after some basic knowledge build up after rooting and understanding how app and app data is stored on the device and on the SD card.

It shouldn't happen out of the box but manufacturers like Motorolla and Samsung are well know for bundling their own customisations that slow down the devices and worse. It doesn't help that network branded phones often have rubbish plonked on too.

I've been using Android since pretty much it came about.
 
Been using Android since 1.0 on the G1 and never had 2,3 or 5 ever, only had 6 with one particular sd card. 4 maybe happened once or twice. And in 2.2 I rarely get a force close, and when I do it's always something in the background.

I'm trying to think of problems now... As it stands with 2.2 at the moment it's pretty fast, stable and we'll supported. 13 days uptime on my desire hd at the moment and it's as stable as it was when it was booted.
 
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subbass said:
Mainly to long time Android users, how are your experiences with Android so far? Any issues you have had? Would you use an Android handset as a work phone?
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HTC Magic - had it coming up to 1.5years, i have to say its been a bit of a love hate relationship, the phone has never just worked (in that sence i'm jealous of iphone users), theres always something not quite right, either be it random reboots or poor battery life when sync is enabled (i've yet to track this to a particular app) or just bad performance.
If i was you average normal user i wouldn't touch another android phone, luckily i can blame most of its shortcomings down on the hardware or cyanogen never being just right. I just hope my next Android phone will be a less painful experience.
 
I have had occasional issues with force-crashes, but put this down to using custom roms(Using a Moto Dext) Overall it's still worth it.
I wouldn't say no to an iPhone, but they are out of my budget.
 
Khaaan! said:
And what phone do you have?
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I have the the good ol Hero :D My first android phone. A dinosaur phone by todays standards but it's more than capable for my needs. I don't play games that much :)...and can't anyway :p

LizardKing said:
HTC Magic - had it coming up to 1.5years, i have to say its been a bit of a love hate relationship, the phone has never just worked (in that sence i'm jealous of iphone users), theres always something not quite right, either be it random reboots or poor battery life when sync is enabled (i've yet to track this to a particular app) or just bad performance.
If i was you average normal user i wouldn't touch another android phone, luckily i can blame most of its shortcomings down on the hardware or cyanogen never being just right. I just hope my next Android phone will be a less painful experience.
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Same way I feel but there's nothing better out there :D Win7 has potential, but it's still early days and I'm not willing to jump ship just yet.
Yes, I've rarely heard anyone's iphone that I know not working or fails to do what's suppose to do.
 
I went from a magic to a DHD, it was like going from a playstation one to a PS3.
Android had come on in leaps and bounds since the Magic was released, so have the handsets.
 
The Hero is your problem, not Android.

Its awful now compared to the new phones. The iPhone does have problems with applications and things, not as many, but they are still there.
 
Robboftw said:
The Hero is your problem, not Android.

Its awful now compared to the new phones. The iPhone does have problems with applications and things, not as many, but they are still there.
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I know it's old in a market that has advanced so fast but it doesn't' automatically make it a bad device just because it has been superseded by a few new ones. I'm sure all the people who have had technical issues are using old phones :rolleyes: So no one has had problems or little issues here and there with the Desire, ever?

Besides, I never said I had all the problems that I listed yesterday did I? It was over the course of a year or so since I've owned it. I got the Hero in '09 and I did experience force close (just 1 example) with the HTC modules (or whatever they are called) during the few months I had it.

I didn't say iPhones are problem free either, so I don't know why you brought that up :D I don't own an iPhone so I have no bias towards Apple products.
 
Well, it seems that you have had a large number of problems with your phone which makes you view it as 'unreliable'. Of course the issues you have described can and do happen on newer phones, but they will be more potent on a phone such as the Hero. The Hero has other problems too, that aren't age related.

I brought the iPhone up because I dont think Android is quite as reliable as iOS (though most of the problems are down to user error, not the software itself), largely because of the way it operates which is more complicated.
 
I have a desire and have had problems 1 and 2/3. 1 is because I had so many texts it was slowing my phone down incredibly, ~25,000 texts stored, and now that I've deleted them, it's fine. 2 may have also been related to that, as I've not had that problem since, but then I haven't downloaded many apps since, so I don't know. However the problem is easily resolved by canceling the download again and restarting it, takes all of 3 seconds.
 
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