

Ever missed an SMS on your Android? Here's why. (long-standing bug) - sssparkkk
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4991

======
frankdenbow
Related: I've had all of my SMS messages deleted 3 times on my HTC Incredible
from this bug: <http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5669>

~~~
nl
That's a bad bug.

But I have to say that comment [1] might be going a bit far comparing the loss
of some SMSes to the burning of the library of Alexandrina

[1] <http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5669#c415>

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sssparkkk
tl;dr version: having the 'low space' warning on your Android phone results in
the rejection of SMS messages. Even when there's actually e.g. >10mb of
storage available. The bug has been present since 2009 and appears not to have
been fixed yet by Google.

~~~
jrockway
_appears not to have been fixed yet by Google_

Or by anyone whining on the bug tracker who say this issue is ruining their
life.

~~~
DrJokepu
I really don't think that the "if you're not happy about a bug, fix it or shut
up" mentality in open source projects is very helpful. Obviously solving
issues like this is considerably more difficult and time consuming than
complaining about them and many people complaining about them don't have the
time and/or skills to solve them. However, they are real, existing issues that
bother users and not complaining about them will not make them magically go
away. This, over time, can lead to the alienation of the users and can
seriously hurt the project.

~~~
dfox
In my opinion this mentality is more helpful than spamming bug tracker with
"YOU SUCK FOR NOT FIXING THIS!!111eleven!" which seems especially common with
Android's bugs. I even assume that such comments actually hamper fixing of
respective bugs.

~~~
viraptor
Just treat it as "+1 I'm affected too". Could be written better, but it at
least shows the number of people affected / annoyed by specific bug.

~~~
VMG
The problem is that nobody from google seems to read these bug reports.

~~~
MichaelApproved
No, the problem is google doesn't make enough money off android to devote more
resources to the project. Droid has more technical issues (supporting more
platforms) than iPhone but generates less profit. That formula inevitably
leads to less development resources and a worse product.

~~~
HelloBeautiful
Right, and Symbian is the best mobile platform because Nokia has invested the
most 'development resources' in it.

Also if you add all the open source developers of things like the Linux
kernel, Android has way more ppl working ot it compared to iOS.

Just the term 'developer resources' shows you know very little about software
development.

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Roritharr
This is one of the examples where I'm concerned about my own professionality
because i can't grasp why Google would overlook such an error for such a long
time.

Maybe there is a reason but my feeble mind can't bend around it?

~~~
hollerith
Well, uh, the organization Google and its employees keep buzzing along whether
or not the problem gets fixed because although Android is a significant part
of Google's long-term _strategy_ , Android is not a significant part of
Google's current _revenue_ stream.

For all the hate Apple has been getting over the last year here, Apple's
_incentive_ structure is more closely aligned with the people who buy and use
their hardware than most tech companies' incentives are aligned with their
users, so if the organization can remain rational, it should serve their
interests fairly well in the long term, which I guess is an argument for
buying an iPhone _provided_ you are a typical iPhone buyer, e.g., not someone
used to the freedoms one gets by knowing how to program, communicating
regularly with programmers and using open-source software.

~~~
metageek
In July of last year Google announced that Android had made them over a
billion dollars in Q2.

~~~
blub
Since they don't sell Android to consumers, that billion was made of licensing
fees from Hardware makers + ads + Android market revenue. These will bring in
revenue even if SMS doesn't work and SMS is not essential for them.

~~~
reitzensteinm
I'm not sure I see your point. While this bug alone will not be enough to hurt
Android adoption, enough quality issues stacked up certainly will.

The buffer that they are given because of manufacturer QA and patching will
only go so far.

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TillE
I encountered this recently. Really exceptionally poor engineering for a
communication device.

My solution: flash Cyanogen ROM, force all apps to install to the SD card. No
more concerns about running out of internal memory.

~~~
gulbrandr
> Really exceptionally poor engineering for a communication device.

I disagree. You can not judge their entire engineering based on this
particular bug. From my little experience developing an Android application, I
have to say that they have done a pretty good job in the engineering/API
design part.

~~~
TillE
I didn't mean the whole of Android was a pile of crap. I've developed Android
apps as well, and yes, the API is pretty decent and in some cases very clever
and innovative.

That doesn't make neglecting a longstanding, rather critical bug any less
embarrassing. I mean, it's bad enough that it exists in the first place. But
we've now gone 4-5 major versions without a fix.

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bherms
They should probably fix this. Last week, the girl I've been dating, who I'm
incidentally crazy about, admitted via text she was in love with me...

... I never replied because I didn't get the message.

She definitely felt awkward for a while when I saw her, wondering why I had
chosen to just ignore that specific text.

~~~
sssparkkk
I'm often amazed by how quickly things get messed up if a single message is
dropped from a conversation. People really expect communication channels like
these to never fail.

~~~
dreeves
My co-hacker and I have a solution for IM conversations that we love:
<http://yootles.com/nims>

------
ghc
Thanks for posting this! Now I finally know why some important texts from
business associates never arrived.

I really can't believe this bug made it through to production. Why would
carriers accept software with this kind of bug? I know I was blaming my
carrier the whole time, and I bet others have been too.

------
jsight
Does the iPhone have a public bug database so we can search for issues?

~~~
olivercameron
Yes, it's called Open Radar: <http://openradar.appspot.com>.

------
ig1
What older Nokia phones used to do is refuse to accept the sms from the
carrier, so it ended up getting queued/retried for a few days. I'm not sure
why Android can't do the same.

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temptemptemp13
The developer side of SMS messaging isn't pretty either. If you give
sendTextMessage a bad phone number - NullPointerException, if you give it too
long of a message - NullPointerException.
[http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/gsm...](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/gsm/SmsManager.html)

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imrehg
Could there be a common root to this issue, and that the phone stop syncing
emails when the "low storage" warning comes on? No more incoming or outgoing
emails, not even the manual "come on darn phone get my message" button does
it. For me the warning kicks in around 14.85 MB (hit it so many times).

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djcdjc
Oh so many moons ago I had a similar defect to fix on a phone I was working
on. The defect was causing a type approval failure and we had to fix it before
the phone was going to be type approved.

Type approval must be a walk over these days as long as you have a flash UI.

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RK
I find it interesting that if someones sends an SMS and it is rejected, the
sender is not necessarily notified.

Most of the time I have SMS disabled on my phone (except for Google Voice). If
someone on T-mobile (my carrier) sends me an SMS, they will get an error
message, but people on other networks have no way of knowing that the SMS
failed. Fortunately, most of my friends know that I prefer IM and the
incorrigible texters have my GV number, but on occasion someone will try to
SMS my actual phone number.

------
andrewfurman
If you have an android phone and aren't using Google Voice, you are truly
missing out.

~~~
mfontani
Not everybody is in the USA :(

~~~
HelloBeautiful
What is stopping you from telling some Goolge form you are from USA? Many
companies offer free US numbers over VOIP, that you can use during
registration.

~~~
MHordecki
For starters, GV provides USA phone numbers, so all your friends would
suddenly face substantial roaming charges.

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shimi
That's the fun about Android, its a real mass market open OS and all the bugs
are visible!!! Too bad its not for everyone to fix (or maybe its actually
good?)

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tsuyoshi
So... don't ignore the low space warning. Delete something.

~~~
sssparkkk
No. Don't silently reject SMS messages when I have megabytes of storage
available. Let me know I'm missing something.

------
zrgiu
Because of the high quality of iOS and it's large market reach, Android
development had to be rushed a great deal. This caused most of the programming
power to go towards developing base features (android 1.x - 2.x) or
implementing tablet features when the iPad arrived, and almost no resources
were left for developers support (the emulators are awfully slow, severe lack
of animations framework, etc...) and for bug fixing. Once things start to
settle down, bugs will start to get fixed.

~~~
lukasb
"Once things start to settle down"

Ah right, when Apple stops innovating, then?

