Motorola: Dodgy Android Apps Breaking Our Phones

[exfileme]

Motorola's CEO blames poor app development for the high number of phone returns.

Motorola: Dodgy Android Apps Breaking Our Phones : Read more

 

[jknouse]

And, most of those bad apps come from the wireless companies. lolz

 

[dan117]

It's because of motoblur...

 

[wcooper007]

Whats amazing is that verizon makes sure to install advanced task killer on all there phones and it actually causes the phone to run worse and chew up more battery than without it becuase Froyo and above all have outstanding built in app killers so if your running that crap on your new droid phone kill it remove it like the plague

 

[feeddagoat]

really, third party apps did it? Its not as if they didn't have a good stab at it themselves. The atrix is painful to use it made a blackberry curve 8520 feel slick. Maybe they should stop developing third party guff themselves and stick to stock android.

 

[TheKurrgan]

Uh.. Frankly most of motorola's problem is MOTOROLA! With the exception of the original droid, all of their phones have been slow. Its just the way they roll. Atrix is the case in point: Dual Core Tegra, 1GB Ram, and the device is far less smooth than its competitors that are not a Tegra, not dual core nor do they posses 1GB of ram.
Motorola blames google.. Well, ok sure.. stay on 2.2 and dont take advantage of the new process management in GB / Dual Core cpu much less the GPU but expect the older release to support your fancy new hardware you barely tested.
Also, Motorola's version of the Android system is pretty darn far from googles AOSP.
So, lets take stock..
Its googles fault because:
Motorola modds the crap out of their platform (Thats ok, thats what its all about, but geez)
Motorola FORCES BLUR and several other useless apps we CANT get rid of w/o root.
Motorola is woefully behind on updates typically.
Motorola releases their premier device before it was ready to be first to market and it suffered.
Google allows anyone to develop apps.
USERS install bogus stuff without thinking
USERS dont want to learn how to use stuff. (Get an iPhone if your that much of a tard)
So lets add it up on the fault counter:
Motorola 4, Google 1, users 2.
Sounds like Moto is deflecting just a little bit arent they?

 

[Guest]

exactly its that garbage addon UI Mptoblur that is messing things up.

 

[megamanx00]

Maybe if you stop installing crap like motoblur you wouldn't have that problem

 

[Guest]

Maybe if you'd know how to spell and use the English language ("there" as in "all there phones??) there would be more response. Blur is only partly at fault, I hear. Motorola is little diffferent from any other manufacturer in that making a buck is more important than the customer's pleasure.

 

[Jerky_san]

Yeah I frankly wish motoblur would fall off a cliff and die.. if I could get a nexus 2 for verizon I would of.. freaken hate how my android experience changed so greatly from the original droid. I don't use facebook or any of the other crap. When I click email on a droid X I can't change between my email accounts. I must first go to "Messaging" and then I can see all my accounts. But if you say view all accounts it includes your text messages in there as well. I wish I could just run stock android with no motoblur. When I tried my boss's atrix it was even worse with motoblur than mine..

 

[Guest]

Why doesn't Google (or the phone manufacturers) just come out with an "efficiency app" that will allow a user to evaluate their application portfolio - to include third-party integration with the handset OS, memory and battery usage - and then offer the best way to optimize the phone. If there are some apps on there that are poorly built that are causing problems, let me know so I can junk them (forcing the app developers to retool for efficiency). If there are apps that are draining memory and battery life for no reason, let me junk them. Basically, give us users a way to understand the problem apps and the ability to effectively vote for more efficiency. Then, as we the users make those "product returns", let these results be seen by others who are hunting for apps in the marketplace. Perhaps offer some kind of rating system that scores apps based on power consumption, memory usage, and overall integration with Android OS. Bottom line, no one should have had to return a bricked Droid X last week because they had some third-party apps that conflicted with the Gingerbread update to the point of locking up the device. Somehow this needs to be fixed before the experience pushes the pioneering and enterprising Android crowd over to Apple iOS.

 

[AndrewMD]

The problem is not Motorola, it is google themselves. Until they have a control system to filter out software and start standardizing a platform, many of the problems people are having with hardware will continue. The platform is fine for people that do not use it for business. I hear too many times where varies Android devices have failed to deliver the promise it advertises.

 

[captaincharisma]

this is what happens with open source. the apps were probably made by script kiddies or first year computer science students who can't program there way out of a paper bag

 

[captaincharisma]

[citation][nom]dan117[/nom]It's because of motoblur...[/citation]

and explain why that app is crap compared to half of the open source amateur apps for android?

 

[scrumworks]

Android: dodgy Motorola phones are breaking our apps.

 

[CTT]

[citation][nom]wcooper007[/nom]Whats amazing is that verizon makes sure to install advanced task killer on all there phones and it actually causes the phone to run worse and chew up more battery than without it becuase Froyo and above all have outstanding built in app killers so if your running that crap on your new droid phone kill it remove it like the plague[/citation]

I've seen some of this with my G2 on Tmobile. Ran advanced task killer for a while and the phone became unstable when I killed apps off. Using that app or not though, haven't had any issues with zombie apps at all on this phone (droid 2.3).

 

[djsting]

So...if open source is such a huge problem, why aren't other phones having the same problem?

[citation][nom]otacon72[/nom]The rest of us non-android users get along just fine with single core processors. But yeah...blame Motorola..lol "Open source" doesn't work because there's no QA department checking the quality of the apps. Dirty non efficient code abounds in Android apps.[/citation]

Just like with the Apple App Store, it's called ratings and comments. If you put out an App that bricks a phone, people are pretty quick to comment and give low marks. If I see 3 or 4 comments like "after installing, my *device* ran like crap" or "this program doesn't work at all!", I would certainly avoid that app. In fact, I have read those comments before...on the Apple App Store. Don't think just because it's Apple that everything is perfect. There are fail developers on every platform!

 

[razzb3d]

My crappy Galaxy mini runs GREAT with a shit-load of installed apps. My droid would run like crap after installing Astro file manager and Battery meter widget... And the Droid is 2x more expensive... On the other hand my sister's Motorola Flipout also runs great...

 

[englishperson]

boguseconomist, not very clever are you??? he used "their" in teh right context, maybe you should learnt the english language... go find a definition of their and tehre

 

[scuba dave]

Interesting.. My iphone doesn't have those problems ;P

But seriously, the problem is partial blame across the field. Motorola, and its crap arse bloatware and slow updates, google for letting any script kiddy write and upload to the market, and retarded users that don't realize what the hell they are doing is compounding the problems.

There is no easy fix to this as.. If Google tightens the reins, people will scream foul and act like they are Apple now. If Motorola eliminates their bloatware, or made better phones, they would be willingly giving up more control of the phones, making it harder to stop things like unauthorized tethering(what a shame right? >.>) and/or would be eating into their profits with the increased R&D, more expensive parts, reduced purchases(you just KNOW they love it when a phone breaks right outside of the warranty coverage..) which both of them are the exact reasons they do things the way they do now. And IF the users suddenly all became experts and installed nothing but authorized apps as well as well functioning, optimized apps.. Well.. There would be a much smaller venue on Android.. Which would be a much bigger pull towards Apple now wouldn't it? And that's just from an app perspective. From a manufacturer perspective.. The now "savvy" users would still be working with a severely fragmented platform, and as such would still be facing really stacked odds(against them unfort.. ). Not to mention new programmers would be(in a Saavy User and/or Constrictive Google situation) less pulled in, as alot of them which might have the potential for great programming might be discouraged from attempting and/or continueing to program, as their apps could be avoided/pulled.. And those who did continue to program, and find themselves continually having to fix alot of bugs and/or put out more optimizations, upgrades, etc, might start wanting to be paid for the time they are putting in, and as that seems to be disliked on Android..they would be losing valueable users/testers/feedback.. Not to mention the next person who would then come out with the next big thing in that field..which would be yet another program to learn to use.. Blah blah blah.. You get the point.. A never ending cycle..

So, as I said before: There is no easy fix to this as. The only thing I see, is a uni-lateral effort from all involved, which would probably be led by google, coupled with a severe change of public perception of what "Open Source" means to help fuel a market and environment where good programmers are praised, and paid, for their work,if they want to be paid, that is. Nothing stops a programmer other than their own free will.(except for possibly the attitude that seems to be thrown at them for (gasp!)wanting to be paid for their time and effort..

Android has the potential.. But it lacks unity. Until then, Apple(or whatever phone suits my needs as time progresses), unfortunately will continue to have my business.

Sorry for the wall/rant guys.. I tend to ramble...