Android OS horribly crippled?

[heviarti]

So what's the deal with this? I've been using an android for probably six months now, and I've noticed some really broken stuff. Copy and paste is almost unusable, text entry fields that outstrip the screen size behave strangely, it's nearly impossible to place the cursor.... these are all very simple things that don't work properly. Storage is hinky at best, and any time I go out of mass storage mode it can take several mount/remount cycles for my gallery contents to update, the boot time is atrocious.... am I the only one noticing this?

 

[dan330]

you need a laptop

 

[Liamo_210]

What phone to you have and what version of android are you running?

 

[heviarti]

I have a laptop. That still doesn't fix any of the broken stuff on my phone.

 

[valorian]

Copy paste is no issue at all for me on my phone. I do it all the time with no issues. Not sure what you mean by "text entry field outstrip the screen". I usually zoom into the text entry fields to better paste content. again with cursor place. No big deal to pinch zoom to get a proper cursor placement if needed.

If you can give clearer example of the issues you are having and tell us what phone you have we may be able to help. Posting rants like this does nothing.

 

[Liamo_210]

I have a laptop. That still doesn't fix any of the broken stuff on my phone.

It really depends on what phone and version of the os you are running as well the last 3 android versions have improved it by leaps and bounds and well your problems could be explainable if you are running outdated software on an outdated device

 

[fdbryant3]

So what's the deal with this? I've been using an android for probably six months now, and I've noticed some really broken stuff. Copy and paste is almost unusable, text entry fields that outstrip the screen size behave strangely, it's nearly impossible to place the cursor.... these are all very simple things that don't work properly. Storage is hinky at best, and any time I go out of mass storage mode it can take several mount/remount cycles for my gallery contents to update, the boot time is atrocious.... am I the only one noticing this?

Since most people do not seem to have these problems and Android is growing in marketshare, I would suggest that no Android is not horribly crippled.

My advice start with answering the above question as to which device you have and what version of Android is it running.

 

[Kaiser17]

Its not Android, its your phone.. when it comes to Android it matters on the phone if you will have a good experience or not.. its not the OS, get a better phone and you'll see how well Android runs.

 

[Liamo_210]

Its not Android, its your phone.. when it comes to Android it matters on the phone if you will have a good experience or not.. its not the OS, get a better phone and you'll see how well Android runs.

It could be both if he has a really old phone that's running something like froyo or an earlier version. As android was not as polished as it is now back then.

 

[El Presidente]

heviarti, if you let us know what device you own, we might be able to help sort some of your issues.

 

[heviarti]

I'm running an LG Optimus Zip I bought new in August. It's running android 2.3.4, and yeah, it's pretty broken.

Text entry fields especially under Vbulletin will not activate in a size equal to or lesser than the screen. When the text outstrips the size of the entry field port, it bounces to the top with every carriage return, and does not return to the proper line until ten characters are typed. If you happen to get out of the text entry field, good luck getting back to the bottom. In almost any text entry field in the browser the little triangles that appear to notify you of the shift mode do not display.

How about the fact the browser wants to re-download an image which is being viewed, rather than saving it from the ram? This doubles data usage, in the cases the download doesn't fail (for no obvious reason).

 

[El Presidente]

I'm guessing those issues are phone specific? I can't really say I ever recall having problems like that on my devices.

Have you tried a different browser as opposed to the one that comes with the phone? What about a different keyboard?

 

[jefboyardee]

It could be both if he has a really old phone that's running something like froyo or an earlier version. As android was not as polished as it is now back then.

You hurt my Optimus’ feelings, but it’ll keep behaving and copying and pasting like it was supposed to.

 

[NeXuS4]

As someone who has worked for a company that sells the phone in question I can personally attest to the fact that the optimus zip is an unmitigated piece of garbage. OP probably bought it at Walmart thinking he was getting a good deal on a straight talk phone.

 

[NEMESIS007]

It's probably your phone or outdated OS. 2.3.4. is ancient now. I am on 4.2.1 and I have not experienced any of what you mentioned. Without a doubt, Android has come a long way and earlier versions has had their fair share of issues. Try to update to 4.2.1 and then report back to us. Good luck!

 

[heviarti]

Keyboard is a slider; it's pretty well the most that can be expected of a keyboard. I have seen a copy of Firefox for android, but according to google play I can't install it (reason not explained).

Until they started offering the iphone, this was pretty well the best they had to offer.

As far as I know I don't have any option for upgrade. I've definitelyseen any type of message that a software update was available for anything other than applications.

 

[SulkyAndroid17]

Keyboard is a slider; it's pretty well the most that can be expected of a keyboard. I have seen a copy of Firefox for android, but according to google play I can't install it (reason not explained).

Until they started offering the iphone, this was pretty well the best they had to offer.

As far as I know I don't have any option for upgrade. I've definitelyseen any type of message that a software update was available for anything other than applications.

Your phone is basically an Optimus S/V with an overclocked processor and keyboard. So, unfortunately in this smartphone world, you are outdated. I have a friend who has the same phone. It's not as bad as some of you make it out to be. Not worth $149.99 anymore but it's okay.

The reason Firefox won't install is because of your processor. You have an armv6. Firefox is for armv7 and up. You can try Firefox Beta. It may work better.

 

[heviarti]

Outdated doesn't necessarily answer why the software was released if it behaves so badly. I'm really curious who it is I grab by the stacking swivel and explain that there are major bugs.

I don't see why the device you run it on should make a difference as to whethe the basic functions work; if I install Linux on a brand new machine or a 2.8 ghz lga775 I expect the same results at a different speed.

That being said this phone cost $180.

 

[mikedt]

Outdated doesn't necessarily answer why the software was released if it behaves so badly. I'm really curious who it is I grab by the stacking swivel and explain that there are major bugs.

You could try writing to...
For the attention of CEO Koo Bon-Moo,
LG Corporation,
LG Twin Towers,
20 Yeouido-dong,
Yeongdeungpo-gu,
Seoul 150-721,
SOUTH KOREA

Tell him you think the phone is a lemon, with the reasons why, and what is LG going to do about it.

I'm serious, if you can't get satisfaction out of a company due to a bad product or poor service, go straight to the top. Write to the CEO at their head office, don't email or phone. You may not get a reply from the CEO personally, but all these corporations do have a head office PR department. Who knows, you might get a brand new top of the range LG phone out of it, and maybe compensation as well.

I don't see why the device you run it on should make a difference as to whethe the basic functions work; if I install Linux on a brand new machine or a 2.8 ghz lga775 I expect the same results at a different speed.

Probably depends on what GNU/Linux OS you install. A crap one or a good one? If the software is flawed, it's not going to be good on a top-end machine.

 

[lightsleeper23]

It actually does make a difference what device the software is on. The same version can behave drastically different from phone to phone depending on what the manufacturer has done to it. Only nexus devices have a truly pure android os.

 

[SulkyAndroid17]

Outdated doesn't necessarily answer why the software was released if it behaves so badly. I'm really curious who it is I grab by the stacking swivel and explain that there are major bugs.

I don't see why the device you run it on should make a difference as to whethe the basic functions work; if I install Linux on a brand new machine or a 2.8 ghz lga775 I expect the same results at a different speed.

That being said this phone cost $180.

Linux is a kernel not an operating system. Android is Linux and it works similar to what you stated above. However, unlike it's desktop cousins, Android is not as quite as flexible. Your phone's system is compiled for your phone and your phone only. There is no universal binary for android that can be installed on any phone. This is both a strength and a weakness.

Lg makes so many devices that it can't possibly catch all the glitches and errors. Conversely, this is why iPhone, Xbox, and PS3 appear so stable and smooth. All their time is spent on a single platform where they squeeze all the power they can.

If you compare your phone to the Optimus Q and then the S you'll see your running on hardware from late 2010. So don't hold your breath on Lg to do anything. If you want to update your device then you'll need to find a 3rd party ROM. It can be a night and day difference in performance on devices like these.

Also, have you tried a simple factory reset to solve your problems?

 

[El Presidente]

If you can't get the Firefox Beta to work, look at Boat Browser or Boat Browser Mini, both are pretty lightweight and should run well on your device.

 

[alicemenezes]

That's a lot of problems. All that stuff works completely fine on my phone. Probably a problem with your phone or you need to re install the OS or upgrade.

 

[Stuntman]

Keyboard is a slider; it's pretty well the most that can be expected of a keyboard. I have seen a copy of Firefox for android, but according to google play I can't install it (reason not explained).

Until they started offering the iphone, this was pretty well the best they had to offer.

As far as I know I don't have any option for upgrade. I've definitelyseen any type of message that a software update was available for anything other than applications.

Outdated doesn't necessarily answer why the software was released if it behaves so badly. I'm really curious who it is I grab by the stacking swivel and explain that there are major bugs.

I don't see why the device you run it on should make a difference as to whethe the basic functions work; if I install Linux on a brand new machine or a 2.8 ghz lga775 I expect the same results at a different speed.

That being said this phone cost $180.

There are many differences between different phones that run Android. Android needs to be modified to be able to run on each phone. Many companies make many different models of phones. You can expect that their flagship models (which yours isn't) is going to work better than other models.

Much to my chagrin, it seems that keyboard sliders are going out of style. HTC had already announced last year, that they are no longer going to invest much in phones with physical keyboards. I think other manufacturers are doing the same or have already done so. My wife's Galaxy Q was also a keyboard phone and I found it to be a rather poor phone with more issues than higher end phones I have used.

Sorry, I wish I had better news for you. Different Android phones vary in quality and yours is likely not a high quality phone.

 

[heviarti]

That's a lot of problems. All that stuff works completely fine on my phone. Probably a problem with your phone or you need to re install the OS or upgrade.

I've noticed this on two separate phones. After all, I found out about this carrier from a friend. I have taken the time to duplicate the bugs on another unit.

That being said, I've run Slackware linux on x86, sparc, and Alpha over the last 15 years.

I don't think an aftermarket ROM is going to help, I believe I am disallowed that as well as as tethering or rooting the phone by the User Agreement. I do sort of wish they offered the Sony Xperia. Unfortunately the only way I could get the Xperia is the GSM model, which will suck in this area because AT&T and T-mobile's service suck. It's not as if I'm unwilling to upgrade, it's primarily a question of availability of an acceptable device.