Is Android Inherently Unstable?

[Hardcase]

I've had five different Android devices going back to the original Droid and through my ASUS tablet. Every version has been laggy, buggy and crashed.

Last night, my phone, Droid Bionic, reset itself while I was checking e-mail. This morning my ASUS had to be reset because it was locked up and only would show a black screen.

If it was just my phone, then I would blame the equipment manufacturer. But, it is every device. After a time, they bog down, lag, crash and generally act untoward.

I don't customize, root or otherwise hack my devices. I leave them as the manufacturers intended. Motorola and ASUS have kept them upgraded to the latest version of OS.

I watch my IPhone friends easily flip through pictures, text and make calls and a twinge of jealously hits me. I struggle to even make a call as the contact list disappears and literally takes several minutes to reappear. My texts often don't go through or send some time much later. Pictures are slow to load and then are not easily sped through.

So, I ask, is Android inherently unstable?

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk HD

 

[mightyfacundo]

I don't think so. Quick question, have you done a factory reset after accepting an update? My Asus 300 was super laggy after it updated to 4.2, but after a factory reset, it's running much better. Yes, it still has just a little lag, but I think it has more to do with Asus and the Tegra chip than the OS. My DNA runs super smooth with no noticeable lag (I recognize that people have different standards for what constitutes lag, so I qualify it with "noticeable" since I don't see any). My Bolt would also show more lag after accepting an update until I did a factory reset, and then it would return to running like it always had. Another factor to consider is RAM usage. My wife's OG Droid became virtually unusable because all of the Google system apps and the downloaded apps were being updated and started using more RAM, causing the phone to basically freeze up. I know Android does a good job of utilizing the available RAM, but there comes a point when the OS can only do so much.

I know that doing a factory reset is a pain, but if you haven't done one, I highly recommend it. I think you'll see big performance gains with your Asus and Bionic.

 

[patruns]

I can honestly say I have suffered none of what you describe in any of my Android devices. Occasionally something will take a little longer to load than usual but not to any degree that I consider it a problem. One thing I do that I recommend everyone do on any device with any O/S is shut it down once a day even if it is just for a reboot. I turn my devices off at night as I do not need them on. My computer at work gets restarted every night when I leave. This clears out anything left running in the background that may no longer be needed or that may start to slow things down.

 

[mightyfacundo]

One thing I do that I recommend everyone do on any device with any O/S is shut it down once a day even if it is just for a reboot. I turn my devices off at night as I do not need them on. This clears out anything left running in the background that may no longer be needed or that may start to slow things down.

Yep, I do this as well. Good call.

 

[Hardcase]

I have done several factory resets. It helps for a bit, but not for long. It is BS to have to do a factory reset, reinstall and re log into all my programs. I understand when I get a new phone that is necessary, but wiping a phone should not be standard maintenance. As for shutting down, the regular crashes and resets would seem to qualify as shutting down. I use multiple batteries on my phone, so it is turned off and the battery swapped with some regularity. I will try to remember to turn off my tablet more often.

One problem is that too many programs run all the time. On my tablet it has the ASUS Task Manager which shows the operations running. It is not unusual for there to be more than 15 programs running. Some are clearly necessary, like e-mail. Others are games that I like but which self launch in the background. I just did a kill of programs and there are now 11 tasks running. And, it isn't the same apps. Some are common, but it can be a different mix all the time. It is like the whole OS is loaded with spam. I wouldn't mind but they bog down the system.

 

[garublador]

My understanding of Android is that it purposely loads programs it thinks you'll use into RAM to make opening them faster. It will use that RAM for something else if needed, though. So you'll rarely see a lot of unused RAM. It's a more efficient way to use RAM.

Do you kill lots of tasks on your devices often? I had some stability issues in Gingerbread but haven't seen anything anywhere near as bad as you're describing in ICS on either my Galaxy 2 7.0 Tablet or Galaxy S4 phone. The only thing that crashes on my Tablet is Netflix and I've only had my phone go down once or twice and that was right after I got it in May.

 

[mightyfacundo]

I have done several factory resets. It helps for a bit, but not for long. It is BS to have to do a factory reset, reinstall and re log into all my programs. I understand when I get a new phone that is necessary, but wiping a phone should not be standard maintenance. As for shutting down, the regular crashes and resets would seem to qualify as shutting down. I use multiple batteries on my phone, so it is turned off and the battery swapped with some regularity. I will try to remember to turn off my tablet more often.

One problem is that too many programs run all the time. On my tablet it has the ASUS Task Manager which shows the operations running. It is not unusual for there to be more than 15 programs running. Some are clearly necessary, like e-mail. Others are games that I like but which self launch in the background. I just did a kill of programs and there are now 11 tasks running. And, it isn't the same apps. Some are common, but it can be a different mix all the time. It is like the whole OS is loaded with spam. I wouldn't mind but they bog down the system.

I agree that doing a factory reset can be a huge PITA. When I looked into the lag on my 300 a while back, I read that Asus used inferior I/O schedulers which caused lag, and that it gets worse with the more storage space you're using. Right now, I have 21.89 GB available out of the 27.15 GB total, and I no longer have to wait 3-5 minutes when I turn it on to use it. Before my most recent factory rest about 2 months ago, I was using about 15 GB's of storage. I can't tell you for certain that getting rid of a bunch of big games is why my tablet runs better, but it might be something you can try.... unless you're already not using a ton of storage.

In addition to this, I really believe that the Tegra 3 does a horrible job handling multi-tasking, so that when processes are running in the background, it bogs down the system. I have an Acer a100 (Tegra 2) 7" tablet as well with the storage almost maxed, and it runs with very little lag at all. Needless to say, but my next tablet will have a Snapdragon Processor so that it can hopefully be as smooth as my DNA.

 

[patruns]

One problem is that too many programs run all the time.

Yes, this is a common problem and I do not believe that Google does enough when approving apps to minimize this. I have Facebook (as an example) with all notifications turned off. In that sense, there is no reason for Facebook to run on start up or relaunch after closing (or force closing). We should be able to choose the permissions during installation or change them later.

 

[TheLibertarian]

Software is never 100% stable, from Android to iOS to MyFordTouch.

Computer software has glitches and bugs, it's the nature of the game.

 

[anon(5780458)]

Always remember the 3 'U's of random Android phones:

• Unstable
• Unresponsive
• Unreliable

It is not even remotely as reliable or stable as a gigantic desktop OS like Windows which runs on MILLIONS of different hardware configurations. It's pathetic.

 

[zorak950]

I've been using Android since 2.2, and I haven't ever thought it was notably unstable, unresponsive, or unreliable. Sure I get the occasional problem, but no more than I do using Windows, or I recall back when I had an iPod Touch. The thing about Android, though, is because it's open you have to be discerning. Any company can release hardware of any quality that runs it, and anyone can publish apps of any quality or function (including malicious ones) that run on it. You have to be willing and able to understand the device and its software to get the most out of Android. The other mobile OSes, particularly iOS, are harder to mess up.

 

[nubwaxer]

i returned my moto G4 16gb because random screens would appear followed by others in quick succession. was it a mistake to mount an sd as internal? i returned it and got the 32 gb model and only installed kaspersky internet security but i've gotten the same problem. it's my first ever smartphone and im disappointed with what is otherwise a great device that runs almost pure android 6.