The Android Update Trap - nelsonhadvaid
The Samsung Galaxy S Deuce was hypothetical to be St. David Petty's dream phone. He'd watched the smartphone market for a couple of geezerhood, and lastly pulled the spark on his first Mechanical man handset when AT&T launched the Galaxy S II last October. For the first few months, it was perfect.
Everything changed when AT&T delivered Android 2.3.6–a minor update that enclosed some tweaks to the interface, but little else–to Secondary's phone in Jan.
Abruptly, his phone wouldn't subterminal more than 6 hours on a charge, even with light use. Every bit Petty learned from fellow Android users online, a Wi-Fi bug was licking the Wandflower S Cardinal's battery life.
"It's at a luff where, if I have Badger State-Fi on, I ingest a battery whatchamacallit on the front screen, and I can watch the shelling drop, meet nonmoving here," Petty, an environmental researcher based in Indianapolis, told PCWorld.
Petty isn't alone in his problems, and the Beetleweed S II isn't the only Android phone burned by a bad update.
Present is a sampling of complaints we institute in various online forums about Android call Osmium updates gone wrong:
- Some HTC Droid Marvellous users encountered problems with Android 2.3.4, including battery drain, memory shortages, and deleted contacts.
- A John Major slowdown in 2D artwork plagued the original Motorola Droid afterwards an update to Android 2.1.
- An update for the Samsung Fascinate caused random shutdowns for some users.
- Some HTC Desire S users happening T-Mobile rumored signaling loss after an update to Mechanical man 2.3.5 with Sense 3.0.
- Users of HTC's Evo 4G reported internal memory leaks after updating to Android 2.3.
- Many overseas users of HTC's Unthinkable S had trouble receiving school tex messages in a timely manner with Humanoid 2.3.3.
- In a huge thread connected Google's support forums, users complain that voice look randomly starts up on its own with Android 2.3.3 and Android 2.3.4 on Samsung's Nexus S.
- Users of the unlocked Galaxy Link wealthy person according signal-red problems with Android 4.0.4.
PCWorld counted 13 instances where phone makers or wireless carriers hold suspended an update due to serious bugs. And that's only part of the supply. In many more cases, wireless carriers and phone makers are drawn-out to card problems after cathartic updates–or they don't comment them at every last, leaving their customers in the dark.
It's a bother that Petty came to know firsthand, as He tried to bring his phone's problem to Samsung's attention. After making cardinal calls to technical support representatives, both of whom said that they had ne'er heard of the Galaxy S II's battery issues (despite far-flung complaints in Android user forums), Petty mailed a letter to Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America.
"To have suffered this government issue for this long, not to mention receive it ignored or denied by abide, is intolerable," Petty wrote in his varsity letter, dated February 13, 2012. Sohn ne'er responded, and Samsung declined to comment for this story. (HTC, LG, and Motorola would not comment, either. Google declined an interview and secure to issue a prepared affirmation, but ne'er sent one despite several requests from PCWorld.)
Wherefore Mechanical man Update Problems Happen
No software program platform is totally bug-unhampered. Presumption the sheer add up of encipher involved, and the need to update that code to stay capitalist, glitches are predictable with any operating system. (Users of Apple's iPhone 3G, for instance, reported dull operation after updating to iOS 4, a trouble that took Apple much three months to fix. Some owners of the iPhone 4 have too complained about performance issues with iOS 5.)
Android, however, has two especial factors working against it. First, unlike iOS, which is designed for one kind of smartphone, Android must accommodate a encompassing variety of phone models, with potentially different projection screen sizes, screen resolutions, processors, Drive, storage capacities, and other specs.
Second, wireless carriers and earphone makers tend to modify Android with their own exploiter interfaces and software, complicating the proceeds. The companies enjoy much more latitude with Android than they do with the iPhone or with Windows Phone, so features found on single Android phone–such American Samoa Motorola's battery-saving Smart Actions or HTC's Sense widgets–may not embody present on another. Although such tweaks can ameliorate the user go through, they likewise put an additional onus on phone makers and wireless carriers to try to keep the software program running swimmingly.
PCWorld spoke with members of XDA-Developers, a community of hackers who modify the Humanoid software for their own phones–and World Health Organization often work to undo the damage that disobedient updates effort. Several of these developers say that when phone makers and wireless carriers tamper with Android, they adventure wreaking havoc on users' phones, even if those phones harbor't been stock-still or modified in any way.
"From what I have seen, and from speaking to past users and developers, a lot of the problems that users have come from the customizations that the carriers want to place into the ROM," says Mark Dietz, an XDA-Developers member who specializes in Samsung hardware. Carriers lean to preload their phones with software that users can't get rid of (called "bloatware"), A well arsenic other monitoring software that can introduce bugs, Dietz says.
Some other developer, who uses the screen name "attn1," agrees that companies' modifications to Android send away lead to more bugs. Phone makers are under pressure to develop and update their computer software quickly, says attn1 (who answered questions aside netmail simply declined to give a real name), and as a result the companies Crataegus oxycantha take shortcuts, such A exploitation deprecated Genus Apis or performing inadequate testing.
Fared Adib, Sprint's frailty president of product development–and the alone radio receiver carrier executive who agreed to an interview for this article–defended his company's examination appendage for Android phones. Each new software update is well-tried in a lab, and and so it goes out for field testing by about 1000 employees, Adib says. Sprint also rolls its updates out slowly, starting with about 10,000 users at a time, so that the carrier can put brake system connected an update if users report critical bugs.
Adib says that the amoun of Android devices on the commercialise can lead to a perception of to a greater extent problems with software updates, only he acknowledges that the carrier can't stop all bug from getting through. "It's about impossible for a carrier surgery for an OEM … to 100 percent test every use case of what we think the device volition see once it receives that update unsuccessful in the field," Adib says.
Unwrap the Damage
Acquiring a bad update might not live thusly tragic if wireless carriers firm problems quickly; but every bit many Humanoid enthusiasts know, waiting for new software releases give the sack be a examine of patience.
That's why Jimmy Bellerose of Kissimmee, Florida, squandered no time replacing his Samsung Fascinate connected Verizon Receiving set after a disastrous update to Humanoid 2.3 last December. "Battery life born, and the earphone would lock, so I would have to readjust IT," Bellerose says. "It would vibrate in my scoop, and I would think I had a content, but when I pulled it out, it clad it was resetting itself."
He arrogated that either Verizon's bloatware or Samsung's TouchWiz port was to blame. Bellerose then bought a Samsung Galaxy Link. He says he has had no problems therewith handset so far.
In many cases users can resist updating their phones, but at a Price: The phone May pester the user with notifications and reminders to download the latest software. Too, refusing an update means missing out connected new features–or, perhaps, other bug fixes–so staying with an used version of Android isn't of necessity the best option.
The challenges in updating Android are entwined with a broader issue for the Android weapons platform: Google, headphone makers, and radiocommunication armed service providers all deliver a hand in updating and testing Android phones. That way users might wait months to receive new software as IT works its way through and through the system. For instance, Android 4.0, nicknamed Icing Lick Sandwich, was released in December 2011–merely as of this committal to writing, only 3 percent of Android devices are running it.
Andy Dodd, another progressive XDA-Developers member, believes that wireless carriers are a John Major bottleneck for the upgrade process. Dodd, who has been following the Galaxy S II battery-drain issue closely, notes that Samsung has already delivered a fix for the carrier-unlocked international version of its phones, while the AT&T version stiff unpatched.
"Thither's zero sign that AT&T is even aware that there's a problem, because I see people just acquiring offered replacement batteries when they complain," Dodd says. Given that the Galaxy S 2's problems began months ago, AT&T is likely aware of the situation by now.
Eve when a job is identified, radio receiver carriers English hawthorn not deliver a pickle at once, as they run the phone finished to a greater extent testing. Sprint's Adib says that the newsboy can objurgate some problems in a day or cardinal, but others can contain weeks, particularly if a security issue is involved, or if just a fewer users are having problems. Another attack aircraft carrier source told PCWorld that some issues are so severe that they require a re-start of the entire testing process, which can last between 8 and 12 weeks. During the testing process, Google Crataegus laevigata issue its own updates, which likewise sets the process back.
"We evaluate the impact any software climb could throw on the customer experience. The testing process buns Be shorter or longer, depending along the device," AT&T spokesperson Emily Edmonds said in a statement.
In other words, be braced to hold a while.
What to Do When Updates Fail
If a bad update makes your Android experience unbearable, it can be hard to know where to turn. Some users air their grievances connected Google's official help forums, but that's non always the best place to troubleshoot, given that Google isn't responsible for what phone makers and wireless carriers do to the phones they deal.
Instead, you can seek solace in online forums such as XDA-Developers.com and AndroidForums.com, where users tend to be Thomas More technical school-savvy. Search those sites for the name of your headphone and the problems it's having, and you might find forum threads with manageable fixes–or at the real to the lowest degree, a shoes to commiserate. About wireless carriers keep an eye on forums and blogs, so the more people making noise, the better your chances of getting a fix.
Ultimately, your wireless carrier may be your best resource. In the US Government, carriers are usually the ones who deliver the updates, and if you visit a store, you may atomic number 4 able to get the phone reverted to an earlier interlingual rendition of Android, or obtain a replacement earpiece if all else fails. Reaching out to a company on Chitter might also supporte to call tending to your problems, but you're not likely to receive personalized sustenanc that way.
Course, enthusiast Humanoid users might suggest rooting a buggy phone to install entirely new firmware. But for average customers like David Petty, becoming a software hacker isn't a viable pick. "I'm a fairly decent technology somebody," Petty says, "but that's kind of where I check."
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/470159/the_android_update_trap.html
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