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Apps that crash Eris

zoltan

Newbie
Jan 6, 2010
21
0
Is anyone else irked by the proportion of apps that cause force-close on the Eris? About 1 in 3 (maybe more) seem to do this. I assume developers are writing code for 2.0 mostly by now, but still....I would think there'd be SOME level of back compatibility. It's not like I'm downloading obscure apps...these are typically highly rated apps found on the bigger review sights and AndroLib. For instance, just today, two WiFi apps and Shuffle both caused my Eris to crash. And apparently something else I haven't determined yet.

What are other's experiences/success rates with apps?

I'll append this post later with apps known to cause crashes. In fact, until the 2.0 upgrade, it might be a good idea for a sticky.
 
Valid question. Yes, I have.

Currently: Bar Code Scanner, Better Cut, Bloo, Dolphin, Bubble, FartDroid, FingerPaint, FxCamera, Ggole Sky Map, iheartradio, Mabilo Wallpapers, Magic 8-Ball, Metal Detector, Pandora, PDF Viewer, Photobucket, Pinball, Places Directory, Quickoffice, Robo Defense, ShopSavvy, Smart Monitor, Solitaire, Spare Parts, The Weather Channel, Twidroid, US Constitution, US National Debt, Where, and WiFinder.

Forgot Advanced Task Manager and Wavesecure.
 
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I have had no apps that crash on my phone, with the exception of Google Voice, which said that it crashed whenever the phone was restarted. I have since removed it.

My apps? Remember the Milk, Twidroid (I have also tried Seesmic and Swift, each with no crashes), Dolphin Browser, The Weather Channel, Locale, Advanced Task Killer, Amazon, Astro, Bank of America Mobile Banking, Barcode Scanner, Evernote, Find Starbucks, Lastpass, Flixster, PhoneFlicks, Google Scoreboard, Shazam, ShopSavvy, NPR News, Yelp, TripIt, USA Today, SMS Backup, Google MyTracks, and Sprite Backup. Oh and Mobile Defense and Open Table. I've had other apps on that I have removed.
 
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13 days ago we saw an OTA update from Verizon that caused ShopSavvy to crash or force close. Uninstalling and reinstalling ShopSavvy didn't fix the issue. More recently we learned that the OTA update seemed to affect other apps as well (as the this forum reveals). We reported the issue on our support portal here:

HTC Eris OTA = ShopSavvy Crash?

Engadget reported on the 'ultra-minor' update that caused all of the issues:

HTC Droid Eris gets an ultra-minor update -- Engadget

I have reached out to our contacts at Verizon and HTC, but I have not been able to get any sort of confirmation of the problem (i.e. they haven't acknowledged there is an issue) or timeline for resolution.

The Eris on Verizon is the same phone as the Hero on Sprint - we are not seeing the same issue on the Hero. But you can help. Here is the version data from one user:

Firmware: 1.5
Baseband: 2.32.40.11.09
Kernel: 2.6.27
Build: 1.17.605.1
Software: 1.17.605.1

Are you seeing the same thing? If you are on the Eris send your version data to us. If you are even more handy you could install the "log collector" application from market. Then start shopsavvy again and after it crashes - start the log collector and mail us the log data. (Just start the "Log Collector" app and it will prompt to send the collected log file to mail, bluetooth, or else). Email it to support@biggu.com


Valid question. Yes, I have.

Currently: Bar Code Scanner, Better Cut, Bloo, Dolphin, Bubble, FartDroid, FingerPaint, FxCamera, Ggole Sky Map, iheartradio, Mabilo Wallpapers, Magic 8-Ball, Metal Detector, Pandora, PDF Viewer, Photobucket, Pinball, Places Directory, Quickoffice, Robo Defense, ShopSavvy, Smart Monitor, Solitaire, Spare Parts, The Weather Channel, Twidroid, US Constitution, US National Debt, Where, and WiFinder.

Forgot Advanced Task Manager and Wavesecure.
 
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One time my Weather Channel app had a force close. I think I caused it by trying to do too much at once. Other than that, I've never had a force close.

My list includes:
CalWidget, WikiMobile, Google Sky, Spare Parts, Backgrounds, Linda File Manager, Radar Now, SportsTap, SMS Popup, The Weather Channel, Facebook for Android, Digital Clock Widget, Color Note, Flashlight
 
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The number of programs that crash my Eris in unreal and I have come to believe that it is the combination of applications on my phone that contribute to the problem. Within the first week I had crashed my phone after installing some programs...but the problem was that I had not turned the phone on and off for that week and had installed a good 10+ applications. Once I turned the phone on and off...I would get a bunch of force close messages and mobile service would not be enabled. Re-enabling the mobile would just make the crash messages start all over again. I work as a computer technician for a large fortune 500 company and immediately figured something must be up with one of the programs. I also came to this conclusion because when reading user comments on apps I would see comments like 'does not work on my G1, etc.'

I didn't know which app was the problem so I uninstalled all of them, turn the phone on and off, and everything worked again. It didn't take long until it started crashing again so I reset the entire phone to bring it back to the point where it was like it just came out of the box. Sure enough once I started re-adding programs it would happen again. Now when I install an application, I immediately turn my phone on and off to see if it will crash. The list of programs that fail on my HTC Eris includes top rated 5-star applications. I suspect that the HTC Sense UI may have something to do with the crashes as well but have not tried digging through directories looking for a crash log.

Here is the sequence that occurs with my phone after installing a program that crashes it.
  1. There is a little x next to the signal icon which is to the left of the battery icon. The bullseye connectivity icon is also missing.
  2. The lock screen on the phone will show the time and say 'No Service'.
  3. When I unlock the phone with a swipe, the 1st program that crashes states 'com.android.phone has unexpectedly stopped' and shows a force close button. The next message states com.google.process.gapps...etc., then process.com.htc.music.
  4. All of these will crash multiple times before I reach the home screen and can use the phone.
  5. If I try to renable mobile manually they all crash again.
  6. When I uninstall the application causing the conflict, power off the phone and then turn it back on, the problem is gone and phone works fine.
I have had so many applications crash my phone that I lost track of many of them...today I tried Handcent SMS and Chomp SMS and both crash my phone. Others have posted applications that crash their phones yet those same applications are working fine on mine which leads me to believe that conflicts between installed programs may be causing these problems. I am currently running with these programs installed and having no issues...

10001 Cocktails
Abduction!
Adv. English & Thesaurus
AK47
Albums
Aldiko
Amazon
Amazon MP3
AndExplorer
Assassin's Creed
Barcode Scanner
BattleSea
Beatdown Boxing
Block Breaker Deluxe
Browser
Bubble
Calculator
RealCalc
Calendar
Calorie Counter
Camcorder
Camera
Chess
Clock
CNET Scan & Shop
Compass
Cop Recorder
CPR-Choking
Currency
DailyStrip
Derek Jeter 2009
Devilry Huntress
Drinking Games
Ethereal Dialpad
Facebook
FartDroid
Flashlight
Footprints
Fox News
Free Dictionary
Full Metal Jacket Soundboard
FxCamera
Gmail
Google Maps
Google Sky Map
Google Talk
GPS Status
gStrings
Guitar Scales
Jewels
Key Ring
Labyrinth Lite
Listen
Lotto Picks
Magic 8-Ball
Magic Marker
Mail
Market
Maverick
Messages
Mortgage Calculator
MountUSB
Movie Finder
Music
MySpace
Notes
Pandora
PDF Viewer
Peep
People
Percent Calculator
Phone
PicSay
Pinball
Pkt Auctions eBay
Places Directory
Plox
Quickoffice
Quickpedia
Ringdroid
Robo Defense Free
Ruger SR9
Secret Box
Settings
Shazam
Shoot U!
SimpleTimer
Solitaire
Solo Lite
Spanish Verbs
Stocks
Stopwatch
Superpages Mobile
SuperYatzy
Synthesizer
Teeter
Tennis 2009 Wimbledon
TippinTime
TRAFFIC!
Tub Thumper
USA TODAY
Visual VM
Voice Dialer
Voice Recorder
Voice Search
Weather
Where
WiFinder
Wikimobile
Yellowbook
YouTube

This is a list of every program that shows up under All programs. We are the guinee pigs with the android app market. Unlike Apple, none of these programs are tested to be compatible with existing apps before being allowed in the store. I remember talking on the phone with Verizon about programs crashing the Eris when I did my hard reset and the rep I was talking with told me she has not heard of any problems. Meanwhile I am reading on the Verizon forums about lots of people having this problem...lol. :eek:
 
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You have too many programs install. Location service can't run, and you can't connect to the network. You can install about 10 or 12 too many apps. You wont' know it's too many UNTIL you reboot. Uninstall a bunch of apps, using a File manager, or Menu > Settings > Application > App management.

Mine does THIS EXACT BEHAVIOR when I have 100++ apps installed at once.

The big ones, like sound boards, and games (many which you have) take up your space REALLY QUICKLY.

Delete a bunch of those and your phone will come up just fine. I hard-resetted my phone last time, thinking that it was Verizon not letting my phone on the network.

That's way too many apps that take up too much space. I promise 100%.

If/once we have root, apps can be saved on SD card. For now, you're limited. Get rid of all of those apps that are 1mb+ that you don't use that much. if you play with them all the time, save them, but cut down somewhere. I use an SMS backup program and empty those out too. Every little bit of space helps.
 
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And Aloqa running in combination with any other heavily taxing apps have a tendency to freeze the phone.

If you start touching the screen and it's not responding, you have to WAIT! Don't touch it more.

My Eris's (I'm on my 3rd) all start spazzing out and pushing all kinds of buttons for 10-45 minutes straight if this happens. Even a soft reset for 5 minutes won't always fix it.

Programs just like Aloqa and SportsTap are why you need a task killer. Your phone will get locked up with resource hogs like these if you're not careful.

The only thing, for me, that force closes, is a program that I installed from my SD card that's not meant for my phone. Nothing is too bad. Sometimes Bloo, but rarely.
 
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GOOD GOD MAN!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek:

Why in the world do you have so many apps installed? I stopped counting after I reached 50 3rd party apps. The phone isn't a bottomless pit it will run out of space and cause all of the problems you described. You need to look at which apps you are using on a regular basis and ditch the rest. You can always reinstall one if you need it sometime, that is one of the beauties of the market. Clean it up and watch it fly.
 
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And Aloqa running in combination with any other heavily taxing apps have a tendency to freeze the phone.

If you start touching the screen and it's not responding, you have to WAIT! Don't touch it more.

My Eris's (I'm on my 3rd) all start spazzing out and pushing all kinds of buttons for 10-45 minutes straight if this happens. Even a soft reset for 5 minutes won't always fix it.

Programs just like Aloqa and SportsTap are why you need a task killer. Your phone will get locked up with resource hogs like these if you're not careful.

The only thing, for me, that force closes, is a program that I installed from my SD card that's not meant for my phone. Nothing is too bad. Sometimes Bloo, but rarely.

I don't have any problems with SportsTap and I obviously don't have a task killer. What are you seeing?
 
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SportsTap runs, virtually all of the time. It Taps out the battery, to use a play on words.

I was using the settings the best I could to minimize its resource use, but there are other apps and websites that I'd prefer. Maybe they've made it better since updating. I was just trying to give examples of resource hogs.


I have had Sports Tap since I got my phone. Although only recently I was dealing with lag on the keyboard, I uninstalled Sports Tap and I've been good all day. Until I find a sports app that doesn't kill my phone, I'll be using nhl.com, nfl.com and mlb.com. Too bad though. Sports Tap was a good app. Maybe there will be an update in the future...
 
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