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Annoying bugs. Are all smartphones like this?

T

tigris

Newbie
After the OTA update to 2.1, really annoying bugs popped up, as other members have posted. (Silent phone issue, dialer lag from hell, calendar force close, camera won't run, music won't run, etc)

Seriously, the first two bugs is related to the primary function of a phone, which should be 100% reliable at all times. It is unacceptable to have a phone (smart or dumb) that is not reliable as a phone. Is it even legal? (for example, 911 purpose)
1.5 used to be better, but not 100% bug free. (unreliable alarm clock)

Anyway, Droid eris is my first smartphone. I was wondering if all smartphones are like this? My older phones didn't do much, but for the things it did, it did well. I understand the complexity and the flexibility that smartphones have to offer. And I do understand the difficulty to do all the things it does perfectly. I am sure the engineers are working hard.

I was just wondering if other smartphones, like the iPhone, sense-less Nexus One, or blackberries, are better in the bug/reliability department. I might consider it when getting my next phone.
 
The link doesn't seem to work. But if you are suggesting the factory reset, I did that after experiencing bugs after the OTA. The calendar bug is gone now, but other bugs still remain. Thanks.

My older free-after-contract samsung dumbphone was near perfect for the things it did. It made phone calls well. Maybe no "smartphone" is perfect... yet...
 
I would recommend taking a look at the 'All things Root' section. I debated for a long time about Rooting my phone, and at this time I am glad I did. The early leaks appear to be stuck at that point without must option. However, I got the OTA message and did a few checks and found that I can root and get about the same things as the OTA, as well as use other ROMs.

Just as an example, I have not see ANY of the issues you mentioned on the Sense-able 3.1 ROM. Nor did I see it on the 2.1 Root ROM.

As an added bonus, my Sense-able 3.1 system actually gets just under 48 hours of battery life, compared to my 1.5 stock of about 6-8 hours.

I think that in many cases Open Source developers, like those that make the ROMs, have better luck with fixing some issues then even the original manufacturer.

If you are questioning if you should REALLY root, this is the last question I have, how long do you plan on keeping this phone really? I figure for me it is about a year, and I am 6 months in. Any Updates that they come out with, most of the Moders will publish updates for their ROMs.
 
I'll look into rooting if other ROMs are more stable than official ones..

Is there anyone who had experience with other smartphones to tell if other they have more bugs or less bugs?
 
My last phone was my first SmartPhone. It was a Samsung Omnia. It had a lot of bugs and it took forever to get an official update. I used cutting edge ROMS from developers, so many things were fixed, but other bugs would be introduced.
 
In some respects, you probably want to have a buggy smartphone.

Sounds strange to hear someone say that, right?

But consider that the competitive market for phones has companies racing to release new models every six months - while simultaneously trying to furiously introduce new software so that their phones will be at least as sexy and feature- packed as their competitor's products.

The appearance of bugs is partly a consequence of the pace of new feature introductions - if things were so solid that you observed no bugs, then you probably would also be using relatively tired-looking "old school" software.

You are getting something along with those bugs - fantastic new capabilities.

I once worked for a software company that would monitor (internal testing) defect report rates as they approached their release deadlines. A surprising thing would be observed: as old bugs were corrected, new bugs would be introduced, and the defect report rate would either reach steady-state... or start to go up :( If you are a product manager in that situation, there are two alternatives: ship it, or die.

Sure, they could spend "an extra couple of months" trying to test and squash bugs - and they would be out of business shortly. Look at Palm. All the internet reviewers would be saying things like " this phone is so six months ago!" On average, consumers don't put their phones through rigorous multi-month acceptance testing trials - so the market rewards companies that respond to the way consumers behave with their dollars.

That's a good thing, I think; this little device I've just typed this message into is frankly the most amazing device I've owned in my life ... and there will be something even better available *shortly*.

eu1
 
The only smart phones I've ever had issues with are the Eris (especially after the update) and the blackberry storm (I hated that piece of junk). I thought perhaps it was just my Eris and I should get a new one but my brother, and parents are having the same issues with their Eris's. I couldn't handle it anymore so I now have the incredible which is everything I loved about the Eris + more and without the bugs (so far).
 
Jeep297 said:
The only smart phones I've ever had issues with are the Eris (especially after the update) and the blackberry storm (I hated that piece of junk). I thought perhaps it was just my Eris and I should get a new one but my brother, and parents are having the same issues with their Eris's. I couldn't handle it anymore so I now have the incredible which is everything I loved about the Eris + more and without the bugs (so far).
Click to expand...

And yet there are still plenty of bugs on the Inc. It is still considered a great phone and I'm glad you got one, but it needs to be noted that even that speedy Gonzalez has bugs.
 
tigris said:
I'll look into rooting if other ROMs are more stable than official ones..

Is there anyone who had experience with other smartphones to tell if other they have more bugs or less bugs?
Click to expand...

Yep. I had a Nokia E63 which uses Symbian S60 v3.1. There were always random bugs. I would rate it on the same level as the Eris. Great phone, but it always has these weird, random quirks. Like in the music player, if you adjust the volume, then try to fast forward, the song would stop playing and you lost your position in the song. Very annoying. They had a update that fixed that, but then the Equalizer stopped working.

When you buy a smartphone, you sacrifice some reliability and bugless-ness of a dumbphone, for more features and raw power. Your basically holding a small PC, and I'm sure your computer at home isn't flawless when it comes to bugs and such.
 
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