I have a question about Android.

[Randell]

If Android is based on a Linux which is a very stable kernel/OS, why is Android so unstable?

 

[AntimonyER]

Is it, unstable? I don't really see that. Can you elaborate on what you mean?

 

[ayaznoor]

what makes you say its unstable? out of the box, not at all!

 

[Randell]

Linux doesn't crash but Android does. For example, when I turn on my Wifi my phone resets. When I run many apps simultaneously, it resets. These things don't happen to Linux.

 

[AntimonyER]

Are you running a custom ROM? What phone do you have?

I would say that Android itself is very stable. However OEM skins, and poorly coded apps can turn even the most rock solid OS into a basket case.

Also sometimes wires do get crossed, I would try a factory reset, or if you are running a custom recovery, clear cache and dalvik cache.

 

[ayaznoor]

Linux doesn't crash but Android does. For example, when I turn on my Wifi my phone resets. When I run many apps simultaneously, it resets. These things don't happen to Linux.

wow! something's seriously wrong with your phone, unfortunately.

 

[Shinji01]

yeah... android is very stable for me so far. So i think it might be something to do with your phone.

 

[chanchan05]

Linux doesn't crash but Android does. For example, when I turn on my Wifi my phone resets. When I run many apps simultaneously, it resets. These things don't happen to Linux.

That sounds like a case of your phone being unstable, not Android being unstable. None of those things you describe ever happened to me.

 

[Randell]

Well there's been similar complaints from people using high-end phones with the same OS. One complained that his DroidRAZR reboots randomly especially when he turns on his Wifi. It's not the phone. It's the OS.

 

[chrlswltrs]

Well there's been similar complaints from people using high-end phones with the same OS. One complained that his DroidRAZR reboots randomly especially when he turns on his Wifi. It's not the phone. It's the OS.

It isn't Android though. It is IMO probably because MOTO messed something up when they altered Android by adding MOTOblur (or whatever they call it now). This is one of the many reasons I hate OEM skins, they give Android a bad reputation.

 

[lunatic59]

Well there's been similar complaints from people using high-end phones with the same OS. One complained that his DroidRAZR reboots randomly especially when he turns on his Wifi. It's not the phone. It's the OS.

First, could you let us know which phone you have and the Android version you are running? It could pinpoint a specific bug or design flaw. There have been handsets that have had issues, but you must understand that this is definitely not the norm. Just like any manufactured product there can be some bad ones in the bunch. And some will show the same symptoms across brands.

I don't think it's logical to lay this at the feet of the OS when it's not a common problem. It could be a hardware fault or a combination of certain services being run in combination. Or, it could be as chrlswltrs suggests, a poorly implemented customization by the manufacturer or carrier.

We'd certainly be willing to help you troubleshoot, or if you'd rather just vent, that's okay too.

 

[chanchan05]

Well there's been similar complaints from people using high-end phones with the same OS. One complained that his DroidRAZR reboots randomly especially when he turns on his Wifi. It's not the phone. It's the OS.

More specifically, its the phone's firmware, not the OS. If it was the OS, then there would be a larger number of complaints. Android on a Motorola phone is not the same as Android on say an HTC phone. Google releases the Android source code, and Motorola tweaks it to make their own version, and other companies do the same thing. Android on HTC is not the same as Android on a Samsung or a Motorola. So basically, recurrent bugs on one model from one manufacturer means that the OS is only unstable for that particular model, and for that particular update only.

Your argument is like, arguing that some cars consume more gas than others, therefore the car engine designs are flawed because every car should consume the same amount of gas. The same way each car model has a different engine is the same way each differnt model has its own custom Android ROM.

 

[!on]

it's fun being told my phone is unstable, like they know... following me home at night, fiddling with my phone while I sleep .

Seriously though, all early smartphones have been unstable up to a certain point, usually down to lack of memory & other low specs. Todays smartphones have specs to rival pre-2000 computers. I have tried a few brands of early smartphones & certain brands did suffer. I'm talking before 2008 or 2009. Why on earth, with all this fierce competition, would we build phones that are unstable? I have a custom rom that was in development from higher end smartphone which is very stable on mine.

It has also become apparent that some of our phones are actually specced very conservatively when they can perform much better if we feel the need (see comments above).