Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25 • Hacker News Board

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#131

Post by bestnameever » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:15 PM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #107

jspaetzel wrote: post #37

I'm not sure if you guys actually even looked at what these requests were but most of them are irrelevant and rightly so... obsolete/irrelevant features. To choose one particular example that stood out to me from the first page with 198 stars: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1140 I wont even get started on how much information this is lacking for it to be actually executed. The point being that mos…

Good job cherry picking that ticket! Also right in your comment "first page with 198 stars", let me direct you to the title of this post "Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25". 198 !>= 500, if YOU ACTUALLY EVEN LOOKED at what these requests are you would see a number of them are VERY relevant: * iCal .ics support ( https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1257 ) * Phone burnin…

I also wouldn't be surprised if they have switched phones and are no longer experiencing the issue. For instance the phone burning battery while idle was made obsolete over a year ago and no comments have been made in the last year either. Maybe it should be marked as obsolete.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#132

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:20 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #128

TillE wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you think "open" means. You're still free to fork Android and do what you want with it. Google's negligence in fixing a variety of issues doesn't change that one bit.

You aren't really free to fork it at all. Forking the SDK is explicitly not allowed, but the killer is if you want to make one device which carries the Google Apps you have to agree that all Android devices you make will. (i.e. you are forced to bundle Google Play Services on all devices). This is why Amazon do what they do and it remains a separate ecosystem.

I seem to recall that there is some fairly stringent marketing elements involved as well. If you carry the Google apps, you can't put them deeper than one level below the launcher or something.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#133

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:28 PM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #107

jspaetzel wrote: post #37

I'm not sure if you guys actually even looked at what these requests were but most of them are irrelevant and rightly so... obsolete/irrelevant features. To choose one particular example that stood out to me from the first page with 198 stars: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1140 I wont even get started on how much information this is lacking for it to be actually executed. The point being that mos…

Good job cherry picking that ticket! Also right in your comment "first page with 198 stars", let me direct you to the title of this post "Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25". 198 !>= 500, if YOU ACTUALLY EVEN LOOKED at what these requests are you would see a number of them are VERY relevant: * iCal .ics support ( https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1257 ) * Phone burnin…

Sadly the battery issue is painfully generic, and the built in battery UI hopelessly inaccurate.

I have experienced that the UI claimed that Play services were eating battery. But when i brought up a good old top report and looked at CPU time i find that Facebook was blocking the CPU from reaching sleep state.

killed the Facebook process and the problem went away rapidly.

And recently i have seen Plume having a similar issue. I can actually observe the CPU time rising when it is nowhere to be found outside of the top readout (no entry in the task switcher etc). But checking the Android battery readout i see nothing about Plume being a battery hog.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#134

Post by joshstrange » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:33 PM UTC

digi_owl wrote: post #133

joshstrange wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good job cherry picking that ticket! Also right in your comment "first page with 198 stars", let me direct you to the title of this post "Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25". 198 !>= 500, if YOU ACTUALLY EVEN LOOKED at what these requests are you would see a number of them are VERY relevant: * iCal .ics support ( https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1257 ) * Phone burnin…

Sadly the battery issue is painfully generic, and the built in battery UI hopelessly inaccurate. I have experienced that the UI claimed that Play services were eating battery. But when i brought up a good old top report and looked at CPU time i find that Facebook was blocking the CPU from reaching sleep state. killed the Facebook process and the problem went away rapidly. And recently i have seen Plume having a simil…

I think that's the real problem. A tool designed to help you determine what is chewing up your battery seems to be fundamentally broken and is not being addressed.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#135

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:36 PM UTC

hga wrote: post #27

gcb0 wrote: post #3

all my bugs from android 2.3 (still heavily used in the us and out) up to android 4.2 were closed as obsolete. several are somewhat fixed on 5.0 (most by removing the feature) but nothing about support even nexus devices from 2.5 years ago. 3 were security ones confirmed by a few comments. I've been getting obsolete emails on my low profile bugs since November all the way to Dec 25... Google just gave up. i think nob…

Echoes of Jamie Zawinski "Cascade of Attention-Deficit Teenagers" software development model? ( http://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html ) Not quite the same thing, but Google and company sure look to believe they have better things to do....

For me it seems that Google is trying to apply their web methodology (frequent small changes) to the mobile world, and running head first into the issue of not controlling the deployments (OEMs and carriers do).

But thanks for the CADT link, seems to sum up the line between old school nix and the more recent something-X attitudes.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#136

Post by bestnameever » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:37 PM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #124

gst wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last device sold by Google that now runs an Android release of 4.2 or earlier was (afaik) the Nexus S - which was released in 2010. I think it's reasonable to stop support for a particular device after something like 4 years. Yes, there are other 3rd party manufacturers that sold devices based on such outdated versions up until recently. But why should it be Google's task to provide updates for these devices? Tha…

That depends on whether you see Google's role in the Android ecosystem as primarily an OS vendor or as a hardware vendor. In the latter view, your position certainly seems plausible. However, if one sees Google as an OS vendor, then, considering that 60% of Android phones are running 4.2 or older (according to https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html ), supporting somewhat older phones would seem to…

They do support them as much as they are able to through play services.

The fact remains is that many of those phones are unlikely to receive updates through 5.0.. How are you supposed to support them if the hardware vendors are unwilling to update them?

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#137

Post by digi_owl » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:39 PM UTC

ben1040 wrote: post #109

chambo622 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small correction, the GNex was updated through 4.3.

The poster may have had the Verizon model; it never got 4.3. They just abandoned it at 4.2.

And that may be one reason for Google going full steam with Project Ara. Limit the carrier meddling to a replaceable mobile radio module.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#138

Post by mbesto » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:42 PM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #83

moca wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Among major companies, Apple did a better job with supporting old devices. Google Nexus devices become completely out of date after 2 years (too slow to run latest software, and too hard to get hardware repair support). Software wise, Apple could have done a better job as the newer version of iOS is indeed bloated and doesn't run well on old devices. On the other side, Microsoft did great job on supporting Windows XP…

The primary reason Microsoft ever attained and kept its business is backwards and broad compatibility.

Only difference now is the rate of new technology adoption is 10x what it used to be.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#139

Post by mbesto » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:46 PM UTC

Bud wrote: post #85

ksk wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason people complain is because iOS updates are a horrible kind of bait and switch. You update the OS because you think its awesome, but are unable to downgrade when you find that in reality, its slow and bloated. The most infuriating thing in all of this is that my iPhone 4S is STILL a fast device. The CPU hasn't shrunk since the time I bought it. Apple has decided that I am unworthy of restoring my phone to t…

Most of the criticisms of brand-new OS updates being "slow and bloated" are from extremely impatient users (or professional clickbait critics) who don't even have the good sense to wait a few hours or a day or two for the processes that can make major upgrades a bit sluggish on ALL devices to complete, such as rebuilding databases, the fact that OS updates often result in dozens or even hundreds of app updates that h…

> The facts say, very loudly, that Apple supports its older devices MUCH better and for much longer than any competitor. It's not even close.

Which facts? These? http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/09/ios-8-on-the-iphone-4s-...

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#140

Post by maffyoo » Sat, Dec 27, 2014, 11:54 PM UTC

mfisher87 wrote: post #11

cryptoz wrote: post #6

Google's handling of Android bugs is unpleasant and difficult to swallow. The QA seems minimal and little or no attention is paid to user filed bugs. The barometer on the Nexus 5 is still broken after a year+ of software updates. Infuriating. The bug with hundreds of stars is marked obsolete! The barometer is still broken. I'd like to debug and fix it but other things have priority, and I don't feel confident that if…

Most major companies, to me, seem to be following Apple's example and forcing a shorter support lifecycle for each device, expecting users to simply replace their "obsolete" device with the newest one.

where on earth did this comment originate. I have a iPad2 which was "born" in 2011, show me any equivalent tablet appliance that is still running the latest OS ... ? i hate these sort of bile loaded responses, stay with the article and drop the hardly clothed bias. We are all consumers, don't let the marketeers trick you into thinking you have to choose one over the other. Poor device update support remains much more of a problem for google and android than it ever did for apple regardless of what your favoured tech Inc. is ..