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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Google updates Android SMS bug status to "Critical"

By | January 4, 2011, 12:24pm PST

Summary: Following the negative press last week over an SMS bug in Android platform, Google has updated the status of the bug from “Medium” to “Critical.”

Following the negative press last week over an SMS bug in Android platform, Google has updated the status of the bug from “Medium” to “Critical.”

The Android bug relates to SMS messages, specifically SMS messages being composed with one recipient in mind but which ended up being set to a completely different person in the contacts list. This issue has been ongoing for six months.

For a flagship mobile OS capturing such a big market in such a short space of time, it’s taken Google a long time to officially acknowledge this critical issue, a move which could reflect badly on Google’s stewardship of the Android platform.

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Topics

Google Inc., Android, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, SMS, Bug Statu, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Networking

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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The question now becomes
matthew_maurice 4th Jan 2011
When a fix is available who will get it, and how long will it take? "Fragmentation" is thrown a lot in regards to Android, but cases like this will really illustrate some of the bigger chinks in Android's armor.
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1 year... or more...
i8thecat 5th Jan 2011
@matthew_maurice

Google already went to yearly updates for Roids due to hardware fragmentation. So you are looking at 1 year to have a bug patched, longer if your hardware isn't included in the anual patch. And with more fragmentation coming to market, the wait will get longer and longer... Gee, Arnt Roids swell (pun intended.. LOL)
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0 Votes
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So the timeline will be...
Bruizer 4th Jan 2011
1) A small team will investigate it.
2) Within 2 weeks, it will be reproducible on demand.
3) Within a week, a fix will be in the tree.
4) Within 20 weeks, all new phones shipping will have it pre-installed.
5) Within 50 weeks 30% of phones will have it installed.
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Awfully conservative timeline for android (nt)
ptcruisergt 4th Jan 2011
(nt)
0 Votes
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That SMS bug is already a year old...
i8thecat 5th Jan 2011
@Bruizer

That SMS bug is already a year old... So much for your timeline Bruizer...
0 Votes
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And still there is no ZDNet story on iOS alarm clock bug
NonZealot 4th Jan 2011
People have been late for work, missed appointment, lost real money and still not a single story about this on ZDNet. Every single other major news organization has covered this massive bug but ZDNet has obviously been asked by Apple to not cover this story. There is no other possible explanation.

On the other hand, there is a famous saying:
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
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I know, GOD please somebody switch the topic to something anti-Apple
Tigertank 4th Jan 2011
@NonZealot

Hurry!!!!
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
msalzberg Updated - 4th Jan 2011
@NonZealot

Thanks for the clarification. All this time I thought your error-filled posts were due to maliciousness.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
Loverock Davidson 4th Jan 2011
@NonZealot
Not to stick up for AKH because I don't think he's much of a blogger, but he did in fact report on this. Here is the link:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/iphone-users-hit-by-new-alarm-bug/10799?tag=content;search-results-rivers
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Thank you Loverock
NonZealot 4th Jan 2011
@Loverock Davidson
I appreciate the correction. Still interesting that it was AKH that reported on it instead of the Apple Core duo.

What I find even more interesting is that none of the many Apple zealots who responded to my posts with insults knew that AKH's post existed either.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
Loverock Davidson 4th Jan 2011
@NonZealot
It wasn't easy to find, had to go back to Jan. 1st where most people were probably hung over and couldn't be bothered with the internet so it got overlooked. But it is interesting that the Apple bloggers on here didn't report it.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
daikon 4th Jan 2011
@Loverock Davidson
@NonZealot

Get a room.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
Pete "athynz" Athens 4th Jan 2011
@Loverock Davidson I vaguely recall the article... I think there was a couple of articles on ZDNet about it.
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Still more lies?
Bruizer 5th Jan 2011
@NonZealot

AKH reported on it but a lie slamming every blogger for pro Apple bias is easier I guess.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
non-biased 11th Jan 2011
@NonZealot Not to discount that the alarm issue is an issue that needs to be looked at, they don't really fall within the same realm when it comes to issues. How many people did the alarm issue actually affect on Jan 1st versus how many people could the texting issue effect? The alarm issue is not one that is still continually affecting people each day while the texting issue is. Both need to be corrects.
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Maybe Android Apps need an approval process too.
Tigertank 4th Jan 2011
Is it impossible to consider an Android device for a business phone now? Can you imagine the consequences of your phone randomly sending vital company or project information to the wrong person; a competitor or client you're in negotiations with?

I guess companies will ban the use of Android for relaying important information that could be compromising. It is good this problem has been bumped up to critical. It should be #1 on the list.

Hopefully it will be corrected before too much vital information is compromised.
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Taken Google a long time to acknowledge this?
John Zern Updated - 4th Jan 2011
Well, yeah: if you're doing good, the last thing you want to do is tell everyone that the item that you're selling them is flawed. Apple knew about the antenna and other issues, yet they never went out of their way to point it out, just addressed it when they had enough of them sold.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
DeusXMachina 5th Jan 2011
@John Zern
Because it was NEVER an issue, either technologically OR economically, as evidenced by sales numbers for the iPhone 4, which continued unaffected by the SUPPOSED antenna issue. If you are positing malice on Apple's part (as well as omniscience, it would seem) these numbers are hard to make jibe.
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So that leaves all 3
Cylon Centurion 4th Jan 2011
With major bugs...

WP7 has the data bug, Apple can't seem to knick alarm clocks, and Android is playing Roulette with your messages.

plain
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
TrubbleMaker 4th Jan 2011
What data bug in WP7?

Sorry, it's been a while since I crawled out from under my rock... [:o)
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
PedroRa Updated - 4th Jan 2011
I was going to say: then it seems WP7 is the only choice left now without a serious issue but it seems there is the "data bug" (which I've read about now and also seems quite serious).

Maybe we should turn to smoke signals!
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
partman1969@... 5th Jan 2011
@NonZealot
....So the Alarms (fixed) didn't wake you during the holidays, when you were sleeping in with a hangover anyway and still your Android is passing trade secrets to customers and competitors. Seems like you have it worse. Get a life !!! Oh, and I am so glad I still answer a landline phone with a cord. I doubt it will ever have fragmented OS problems.
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
ITOdeed 5th Jan 2011
I love my BB. happy
0 Votes
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Just as much as people enjoy their Nokias???
i8thecat 5th Jan 2011
@ITOdeed

You might want to buy a spare BB (for parts) before the company completely goes under...
0 Votes
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
grassdogstudio 5th Jan 2011
Which version of Android suffers this problem?

I am currently using 1.5 because Motorola dropped the ball on the Cliq XT, but I haven't experienced this bug...
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RE: Google updates Android SMS bug status to
boothby 5th Jan 2011
Android still can't be considered for use as a business platform until they start taking Outlook integration and synchronization seriously.

1) Contacts: allow more than the current 255 characters in the notes field (extended contact notes are TRUNCATED without warning)

2) Allow TASKS to sync

3) Allow NOTES to sync

4) Allow ALL this to happen via Blue-Tooth (have I missed a memo? Is there some reason why we have to accept reduced functionality as technology supposedly ADVANCES???)
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Less creativity and more consolidatation of existing tools
kurgbe Updated - 6th Jan 2011
Google has a tendency to concentrate on new (bright) ideas/concepts forgetting about the basic functions. Bugs are not the exclusivity of Google but these guys don't seem to do anything to fix them. This is also true for Gmail, Gdoc, .

The one day a week free creativity of Google employers should be replaced by a one day of debugging !

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