It is only natural for various types of bug reports to do the rounds, immediately after the release of a major mobile software platform. Much had been documented about iOS 8 problems in September and October, and it seems that Android Lollipop has also run into troubled waters now.
This was always going to happen. After Apple Inc. released its much-vaunted iOS 8 platform on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, online forums had been abuzz with bugs and tech glitches in the new iOS platform. Android fanboys had not missed out on the opportunity to have a bit of a chuckle at the early flak that iOS 8 (and the disastrous iOS 8.0.1 update) faced. The shoe is now on the other foot though, with Android 5.0 Lollipop – released on October 15 – running into problems of its own. Here are some of the main bug reports and complaints about the latest version of Android:
- Problems in YouTube and video playback – Nexus 7 users who have upgraded to Lollipop have been complaining of this bug. After doing the upgrade, users have reported that interruptions in the playback – both in YouTube as well as the built-in video player of the device – have become more frequent than earlier. Clearing the YouTube cache is not being of much help, and doing a reboot is the only solution for now.
- App compatibility issues – Many applications that worked perfectly fine on the Jellybean and Kitkat platforms, have become unusable (or painfully slow) on Lollipop. According to reports at online Android app development forums, screen freezes and app crashes have become extremely common. In particular, the performance of Adobe Air-based apps has gone down after the upgrade (again, mostly on Nexus devices). Users trying to reinstall older applications have often been welcomed with a ‘505’ error message.
- Where has ‘Silent Mode’ gone? – Probably the most talked-about issue with Android 5.0 Lollipop at present. There is a rumor that Google has willingly taken ‘Silent Mode’ off its firmware, but that seems implausible – because: a) Silent Mode is a much sought-after feature, and b) Android tablets, like the new Nexus 9, still have this feature. Only phones have been hit by this anomaly, which suggests that the disappearance of ‘Silent Mode’ is definitely a bug.
- Instability of flashlight and camera app – Another common concern among the early adopters of the latest Android platform has been the so-called ‘flashlight bug’. It has been confirmed by leading mobile software analysts and app developers that using the flashlight toggle (via Quick Settings) along with the camera application can affect the stability of both – after a device has been upgraded. Once problems crop up in the flashlight, restarting the device becomes the only option.
- Problems in sending text messages – Be it the older Nexus 4 and 5, or the new Google Nexus 6 or even Moto X – almost all upgraded handsets powered by Vodafone have been hit by the ‘SMS bug’. People are being unable to send text messages to their contacts, after they have moved over to the new platform. Interestingly, some users have reported that this bug disappears when they downgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat. According to the official statement from Google, the bug has affected only Vodafone users from Netherlands. Complaints have, however, come in from India as well.
- Appearance of random apps – Even after all the cards have been swiped away. The revamped card-display system on Android 5.0 Lollipop had come in for much praise, but the sheen is gradually fading – thanks to this app-switcher issue. For users who have multiple cards open on their devices, chances of a recently-opened app coming up is the highest. Apart from Nexus users, this problem can be seen on upgraded Moto X handsets too. Doing a hard reboot is of no use, and mobile app developers feel that a bug-fix update might be released by Google soon.
- Wifi connectivity problems – For a platform that promises faster and more reliable web browsing features, this has come as a shocker. On Nexus smartphones as well as tablets, many early adopters of Android Lollipop are facing difficulties while connecting to the wi-fi networks at their homes/workplaces. Cases of weak signals and connection breaks have also been reported. The Google authorities are aware of the problem, and are working on a viable solution.
- Performance of mobile web browsers have been hit – On many of the devices that have been upgraded to Android 5.0, browser problems have also cropped up. Firefox has become slower than ever – but more remarkably, Google’s very own Chrome browser has become next to unusable. Opening YouTube videos via Google Chrome has become a tedious process. Coupled with the wi-fi bug, this issue has given the early adopters enough reasons for a grievance.
- Amazon Prime Instant Video is unrecognized – This is a relatively minor glitch, and would hopefully be rectified pretty soon. For the time being though, the unrecognized status of Amazon Prime Instant is creating confusion amongst users. In general too, live streaming/downloading of videos is proving to be a bit of a problem.
- Failures in installing Lollipop successfully – Let alone the bugs that come AFTER upgrading to Android L – there have been problems in the installation procedure too. Plenty of Nexus users have tried to upgrade, only to receive a ‘Error: Update Package Missing System.img’ message – following which the process is being automatically getting aborted. To counter this problem, users have been used to for the fastboot option for the upgrade. Whether that is a foolproof option remains to be seen.
- Problems in swipe gestures on keyboard – Another piece of frustration for Nexus 7 users in particular. As per reports, the phone keyboard becomes way slower after the upgrade. What’s more, trying to swipe the keyboard can either lead to no responses, or a screen freeze. Normal tapping gestures are working properly – but Android fans are eagerly looking forward for the new platform to support the keyboard better.
- Excessive battery drain – Well, at least this one cannot be exclusively pinned on Android 5.0 Lollipop. It was always expected that installing the new OS over the existing firmware would cause inordinately high battery consumption. Mobile app development experts recommend doing a full factory reset (from Settings → Backup & Reset), before doing the upgrade.
- Data loss during OTA update – If you thought you could avoid the entire ‘missing system.img’ mess by installing Lollipop over-the-air (OTA), here’s a bit of bad news. There have been several people who have already tried that – and most of them have ended up losing vital mobile data. There have been instances of devices becoming unresponsive during an OTA upgrade as well. If you simply have to check out the new Android platform now, at least remember to take a backup of all your phone data first.
- The status bar preview ticker has disappeared – It would be harsh to call this a ‘bug’ per se, but absence of the status bar ticker in Android 5.0 is not going to go down well with fans. Most people had loved the continuous notification-preview ticker, and it seems incomprehensible why Google would want to do away with it.
On devices upgraded to Android 5.0 Lollipop, long-pressing the ‘Power’ button displays only one option – to switch off the device. For users with rooted Android handsets, going for the OTA update can be rather complicated. Lollipop is easily the biggest Android update of recent times (at least since the launch of Ice Cream Sandwich), but the new platform is yet to become the ‘quantum leap’ it was billed to be.
Let’s wait and watch what bug fixes Google rolls out in the coming weeks.
Hussain Fakhruddin
CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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