Getting Right Fed Up With Android/Google

[brykins]

Got to admit, much as I am loving my Desire, Android simply IS NOT READY for the average Joe. My son has a T-Mobile pulse and for the second time, his Gmail, contacts and calendar stopped syncing. No reason, just stopped.

Search and found "solution" of clearing some data in the Application settings. Re-started Gmail and it's prompts to set up the Google account. Enter correct details and after a couple of minutes get the "Can't establish a reliable data connection error". Even though it's on WiFi and can browse, Facebook, etc.

Have searched and searched and tried all the suggestions. Tried doing it without WiFi, without sim card and everything. Only solution that worked last time (and the only one that seems to work for everyone) is the factory reset option.

So my son now loses all his sms messages, saved games/high scores, settings, etc and has to go through the whole rigmarole of re-installing everything and setting it all up.

It shouldn't be this way.

 

[srmccoy]

Stuff doesn't "just happen." Something is causing the issue, and I doubt it's a problem with the Android OS.

It could be an Application conflict. You say the factory reset solves the issue temporarily. I'm guessing your son then re-installs all of his old apps and games. This means the phone gets put right back into the same state it was in before, thus the problem. Best bet is to do the reset and add apps back slowly. Keep adding 1-2 every few days and wait for the problem to start again. This helps you narrow down the issue.

Good luck!

 

[brykins]

Sorry, and not wishing to sound offensive or grumpy, but I am technically minded enough to in principle agree with your view. BUT he's not added anything recently AND these things DO suddenly happen (second instance of this, can't even recall how many times he's ended up with the "download unsuccessful" error message when trying to download from the Market, requiring me to clear market cache, etc, to get things moving again.

Even if it IS an app conflict, it still SHOULDN'T happen. What it means is that I can't ever recommend and Android phone to anyone who's not capable of resetting and re-installing when there's a problem that a quick Google can't solve. I teach IT to charity and voluntary organisations and one of the sections of the course is mobile technology, data and how to get the best from it and Android *ought* to be top of my list for flexibility and openness and cost. But I simply can't push it right now.

And BECAUSE I love my Desire and the whole Android *thing*, that upsets me. I'm seriously not trolling though - I just get very frustrated at seeing what could be SO great, falling down at small hurdles.

 

[srmccoy]

Run the phone for awhile after a reset with no apps or games. Don't install anything and see if the issue happens. Only then can you say it isn't an app conflict.

App conflicts do happen, because Android is an open system and apps aren't approved by a 3rd party. If you want a perfect utopia where software conflicts can't happen you need to go iPhone. The issue with software conflicts isn't Google's fault, it's the developers. One line of bad code in one app can cause issues.

 

[Mortus]

My question would be does this issue that seems common on more than one phone, or just specific one? It may well be an issue with the phone and/or specific manufacturers or carriers tweaks rather than Android its self.

 

[Isthmus]

sound slike the issue is with the phone you chose or the service provider. it is definitely not google, as I've had a droid for 7 months now and it has worked flawlessly the entire time. Consider placing blame in the correct place.

 

[colnago]

Even if it IS an app conflict, it still SHOULDN'T happen. What it means is that I can't ever recommend and Android phone to anyone who's not capable of resetting and re-installing when there's a problem that a quick Google can't solve...

But keep in mind, many of the apps in the Market are uploaded "by the community", and not scrutinized by anyone. There's no telling what kind of testing was done, if at all, prior to the software being made available, nor how well the app is coded.

 

[Mortus]

sound slike the issue is with the phone you chose or the service provider. it is definitely not google, as I've had a droid for 7 months now and it has worked flawlessly the entire time. Consider placing blame in the correct place.

This is what I was thinking as well. I have done much reading on my Milestone before and after purchase. Though it has its issues the one described by the OP is not one of them. If this was a Google issue all phones should be effected.

My thoughts are that this can fall under 3 causes:

The phone has a fault or design flaw.

The manufacturers implimentation of Android has a bug.

Finally,

The carriers implimentation of Android has a bug.

This becomes apparent if its limited to a specific phone, manufacturer or carrier.

 

[Astridax93]

Yes I know this will be difficult to diagnose, I am fully aware of how difficult hardware/software issues can be to debug. It took me several weeks to pinpoint the source of DPC Latency on my computer. Narrowed it down to sound, and just by chance disable the Dolby Headphone option, and it disappeared instantly. You probably will have to test no apps, then one or a couple of apps added at a time, then and only then can you narrow down, by process of elimination.