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Poll, Is fragmentation a real issue for android.

I am constantly seeing blogs about fragmentation and how it is poisoning the well for developers. I personal think it is a load of crap, but i thought i would ask the developers.
What do you guys think?
Is fragmentation an issue?

YES, it could be an issue if Google did nothing to fix it, but they are:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/

Not pretending to be an expert, or even a developer, but plenty of apps didn't cross well from various WinMo builds, or devices. WinMo fragmentation hasn't been trending. It's a rhetorical buzzword sustained by iPhanbois, imo.

bwhite82 said:
YES, it could be an issue if Google did nothing to fix it, but they are:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/29/exclusive-android-froyo-to-take-a-serious-shot-at-stemming-plat/
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Click to collapse
Yea I saw that too
It's just today we are suppose to be in fragmentation hell... It's just i don't see it.
Once in a while i will tell my friend with a Samsung Moment about an app, and for some reason he does not see it in the market, but this is few and far between.

I chose yes but I doubt it will kill android. It is annoying though to have a phone that is way behind because the maker of the custom UI is too lazy to do anything.

It did not kill the pc, or Windows for that matter. It will probably be gaming benefiting the most of future power increases.

Yeah, iFanboys are the most common people to critizise android for fragmentation - but they are not safe either.
Now with 2g, 3g, 3gs and ipad - and all having diffrent hardware in one way or another - they will also experience fragmentation. Esp. now that OS4 wont be feature-complete on 3g vs 3gs - and ipad wont get it until later.
Just because android got 3 res (320, 480 and 800) doesnt mean that it will be problems since 1.6 came out. Sure they need to fix/force vendors to upgrade handsets to latest android, so that people wont be left out - but since 1.6 that problem is much smaller, and there aint many handsets left out there with builds earlier then 1.6.

It's a problem.
Why do you think there are so many apps that are rated lowly on the market because of incompatibilities.
If there was only 1 phone and 1 version of android to code for, then bugs and compatibility would nearly be a thing of the past.

I think it's an issue, but a minor one. I'd rather them improve the OS rapidly and deal with not being able to use some apps, than sit with a stagnate OS but have more apps.
Like the other poster said though, they are going to try to fix it after 2.2 and work on making apps more compatible with all OS versions.
Hell, at least they realize it's a problem. Microsoft sure didn't give a ****, and doesn't now with 7 series.

Because of the "vendor delay" and the frequent Android releases, Android phones seem to have a 5-month lifecycle (my 1.5 Magic is 6 months old now, and I still can't use Donut/Eclair apps like Goggles, Maps w/ Buzz and many new apps that require 1.6+).
Access to applications is what makes most people buy smartphones. Remove or limit this, and people will switch to other vendors or platforms.
For people that root and switch custom roms, this doesn't seem like a big issue. But the majority of the users won't have access to all the new 1.6/2.1 apps being released on the market.

clamknuckle said:
I think it's an issue, but a minor one. I'd rather them improve the OS rapidly and deal with not being able to use some apps, than sit with a stagnate OS but have more apps.
Like the other poster said though, they are going to try to fix it after 2.2 and work on making apps more compatible with all OS versions.
Hell, at least they realize it's a problem. Microsoft sure didn't give a ****, and doesn't now with 7 series.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Clam*, you're right about them realizing it's a problem and working on it.
I believe they plan to have every phone running the same version of android, but with many add-ons available from the market.
This is surely a desirable route. Might it never happen? I haven't the slightest.
Alternatively a big pack of goodies you can get from online or preferrably the market that has all the addons depending on the sufficiency of phone hardware.
Hell, better yet! It could be part of the "first use tutorial" we all know and love
The first time the user turns on the phone after entering google info etc. they can check all the options they want and it will automatically download them from googles servers and set them up on the phone.
Very reminiscent of certain linux installations with addons from repositories.
OpenSuSE comes to mind.
Or to speed that process up, the phone retailer can install the addons specific for that phone.
Though it would still be nice to have the option to checkmark features at our own whim, allowing the system to discard the rest for example.
Of course if the addons were discarded or never installed by phone retailers in the first place they could still be downloaded from googles servers automatically.
**To Google Gods: It would be nice to have such options in the settings where we could enable and disable features and have them download or be discarded in the background**
There are so many methods out there to make fragmentation nothing more than a bygone.
I hope Google can turn this OS into what I've dreamed (figuratively) that it could be..
Ahh how I concieve ideas that will likely never occur..
Sorry.. i could write volumes about my futile ideas for the world, though I'm too hopeful and eager.
I'm sad to say..
"Such is our reality serving as the torrent thrusting back creative thought." -me

[Q] I dislike Lollipop - Can we talk about Cyanogenmod11?

After using lollipop for a while, I feel cut off. I used CM7 some years ago and it served me well on my old Ideos X5. So im thinking about giving CM11 a try, hoping to regain some features I do miss right now. Here's specifically what I miss and try to regain:
xposed Greenify module. Dramatically increased my battery life.
xposed xPrivacy module. I preffer to actively choose if and which data may be available to an app.
Buildin Audio Recording (Lollipop seems to have dropped this)
Buildin Photo widget (Lollipop seems to have dropped this). There are some available, but it feels bad to need to buy one if my system os used to have this feature.
GameCIH(Needs Dalvik). Cheating/Debugging tool for apps, mostly games.
What I definately do not want to miss(Does CM11 support these features?):
Immersive mode - For not accidently hitting that "Home-Button" when playing games.
Google Now. Very handy thing.
Updating capabillity or at least notifications on important updates being available. I do not want to have to visit a specific community regulary just in order to see if my phone has a major security/stabillity issue
Also, how's the stabillity of the hammerhead snapshots? Any hardware issues or mentionable glitches? I used CM7 years ago and was not very pleased, but that may not be representative. Are there downsides when it comes to everyday usage?

almost ALL cm based rom have immersive mode. And also, it has ALL of the features that you've mentioned above.
It worth it !

Stop comparing stuff to cm7 (which BTW, had more bloat than any other ROM). That was GB-based.
Instead of asking if feature X or Y is available today, just try it for yourself.

Android m permission control, is it worth an upgrade?

I've been looking at Android m since it came out.
However my oem will not be supporting the majority of my devices
(That's you Samsung 2 year support has me thinking of never buying your product new again).(Not that many others are much better).
So with the bugs that are ever present in custom Android roms and the developer never ending rush to the next update while the last aosp is not retail stable on most devices(come on Google wait two years and get the base or rock solid already before messing yet again with things).(I understand developers want to play with new features and new devices, but so many people have a 2 y old very capable device that just needs security updates). I have been reluctant to update from 4.4 that most of my devices run solid on.
How much more security has Android m brought to the table?
Is the permission manager worth the update from 4.4 or 5.1 ?
With all the new apps supporting permission denial without crashing going benefit the older os with permission blockers or xprivacy running?
Is the permission paranoid user better off waiting until the last minute to update to miss the worst of the bugs left to squash or just jump in now and live with them?
What is your opinion?

Nope, the permission manager isn't worth the update.
System apps crash when you restrict them too much, even if you restrict permissions they don't need to work properly, which wasn't the case in pre Marsh Mellow ROMs.
Oh well, they crash if you restrict them through the built-in permission management system bla bla, but they probably won't if you restrict them with third part apps...
Plus, at least on the phone I'm currently working on (but I guess it must be the same on all Mesh Mallow phones), the permission system became very dishonest, to say the least.
When you install a new app you don't see all the permissions you are about to grant but only the categories (remember the last changes in the play sore?), which tricks you into wrongly believing that the app doesn't have too many perms. Once installed you can't review neither the permissions nor the categories, pfuut, gone with the wind...
All this "security" hype about Ma Shallow isn't really about security but about making you feel that thanks to google and its well known abnegation you are secure and that you don't need anything more to protect you further.
There's nothing worse than a false sense of security...
What else to say?
The auto start manager, well done, except that third part apps offered it since the days of ICS, if not GB, and that a script can take care of that stuff without even installing anything.
All in all if security is your thing don't bother, moreover than xposed doesn't work on some Mesh Hollow ROM, leaving you without any other alternatives but to secure your ROM on your own.
It's of course doable if you know how, but it'll take time and a lot of decompilation/recompilation/testing.
New features?
Boah, 2-3 gimmicks as usual, fancy colors animations widgets I don't know what bling bling yo yo, not worth the money unless you really need a new phone.
Security patches?
Boah again, they made everybody paranoid with stagefright and the like but hey, do you really think you'll get hit?
What are the chances, unless you download cracked apps or are naive enough to let anyone touch your phone without the screenlock on?
I'd say more or less the same than meeting Santa Claus in person, do you believe in Santa?
I personally don't but still, those vulnerabilities are good for business, it makes the Santa crowd buy newer and more "secure" phones, cool...

Question Internal Storage Inaccessible after updating to One UI 5/ Android 13 Update (Canada). Please Help!

We received a notification to update to One UI 5/Android 13 with baseband S908WVLU2BVK1. Seeing as we never had any issue with any update, my wife updated the device AND then the problem started.
Problem: Immediately after the update, OneDrive started crashing which was odd. Then my wife complained that she can't see the images in Gallery and she can't download Whatsapp messages. I tried checking storage using X-plore file manager and I can't see any mounted storage. Trying to update apps in google store results in "Not enough space" message.
If I go into the Settings > Storage section, all I see are 0 B everywhere. Calls, and receiving & sending messages in WhatsApp/SMs app works fine too. All apps that needs to store on internal user storage can't do it because its not there.
I am attaching some images if they can be of any help to anyone. If you have any cmds to do over ADB, please do let me know. I have used ADB years ago, and I hope nothing much's changed since then.

Try clearing system cache.
Try in safe mode.
I hope all your critical data was backed up redundantly on hdds... before this happen.
If worse comes to desperate factory reset.
If that doesn't work you can probably roll it back to the last working version if the bootloader wasn't upgraded too.
Go to the Samsung members forum (Google search it) and see who else has this issue and if they have a fix.
Rule #1 - if an OS is fast, stable and fulfilling its mission, let it be! I'm still running Pie on my stock N10+; current load is over 2.5 yo, last update was 3 years ago. Still fast, stable with minimal maintenance. Security is not an issue.
That's what Android is capable of... or should be.

blackhawk said:
I'm still running Pie on my stock N10+; current load is over 2.5 yo, last update was 3 years ago. Still fast, stable with minimal maintenance. Security is not an issue.
That's what Android is capable of... or should be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I reach this mental state Mate?
I'm a flashaholic, and I need even the tiny weeny apps updated to the latest.
Hell, I wish I could be like you.

JazonX said:
How do I reach this mental state Mate?
I'm a flashaholic, and I need even the tiny weeny apps updated to the latest.
Hell, I wish I could be like you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, don't get me started It's easy to be like me over time. Android's are (or were) the easiest OS to use. Almost crash and burn proof. Didn't like where Samsung or Google was going with their products so I dug in with the best Note they ever made and Android 9/10. I'm good for another 2-3+ years as is. The newer Samsung's are less capable, have worse form factor, get worse SOT, have less memory (I have a 1.5tb dual drive device in my hand) and are only marginally faster by milliseconds doing most tasks. Not much bang for the buck even after 3 years. Not buying Samsung's marketing hype.
I had a S4+ running on Kitkat. The last cirmware update for Kitkat blocked the ability to use quick root. That's all it did. No rollback. The Lollipop update completely screws up the S4+, the playlist and contacts format is altered from line to awkward squares although an Edge running on Lollipop retains the line format. Really?
Thanks for that garbage Samsung. Samsung claimed to S4+ lacked the resources to support the line format on Lollipop; it uses less resource than the grid pattern does. Samsung lied to me.
Lesson learned, the hard way.
Then I heard the endless Google scare hype about how one needs to upgrade from 9 to 10, then 11, then 12 and each one was worse then the one before with cpu cycle sucking scoped storage being fully active on 11 and up. Google has wanted to kill expandable storage and force you to use inferior cloud storage. Just like MS they want control through cloud apps. It's an old ploy. Didn't buy the vaccine hype or Google's security scare hype. I use/do what works.
I have 2 N10+'s the newest one is running on 10. The Pie variant is more capable though, far less system apps (about 100) and a very stable platform. This 3yo N10+ is the most stable and longest lived load I ever had with only minimal maintenance. My free 6 yo copy of WPS Office (the ony free none cloud office app that can write Windows Office files) runs on both 9 and 10. I know 11 would not load it, security you know. I simply firewall block WPS Office to neutralize it, but it remains 100% functional.
Security simply isn't an issue with just a few modifications and common sense. I go everywhere on the internet but vet all apps but don't allow updates (apps that pass Playstore can latter download their payload as an update evading Playstore security). I firewall block all apps that don't need internet access and monitor those that do. Karma Firewall's logging feature is fully active on Pie but 10 blocks it. I also disable wifi since I don't need it and bt when not in use, 2 potential vectors for hackers. I hawk the download folder daily for anything I didn't authorize and vet everything before it leaves the download folder. All email is kept in the cloud, I rarely download anything from there especially jpegs and png's. Another vector plugged. I back out of bad websites, close the browser if needed and if needed I will delete the cache or even browser data. Brave browser is my primary browser and it's pretty much bulletproof, so far. No social media or shopping apps are ever installed, they are malware.
No OS can protect you completely if you do stupid things. My critical data is redundantly backed up so even if my SD card (used as a data drive) gets wiped by malware I can recreate it. Pie and 10 are impervious to the worst partition worming rootkits so a factory reset will kill them. If I can't eliminate malware within 2 hours, factory reset. So far that hasn't happened.
You get the idea; upgrades/updates do more damage and waste more of your time than malware. As long as the firmware and software are fulfilling their mission I leave it alone. It's almost all play time rather than chasing down loose ends and finding work arounds (if they even exist). Spent a lot of time optimizing this system and it runs like a bat out of hell. Upgrades are nothing but trouble for me.

2x post.

What's really at stake if rooting an older phone?

My phone is 5 years old, and hasn't had any OTA updates in years and its got no warranty. Apparently my older version of Android 8, isn't recognized as much and I'm starting to encounter more and more Play store apps that want a newer version of android and refuse to load. Hence I had to learn how to sideload stuff which is really annoying.
After a quick google search I learned you can root your phone and there is an Android 11 image called Lineage OS 18.1 ... which sounds pretty sweet. BUT after additional searches, I'm reading so many cons about rooting a phone. If bricking it isn't a concern, and I don't have a warrantee to void. What's at risk? I was probably going to buy a new phone anyways but now I'm intregued with this rooting process and wondiering if it might buy me time on a older phone that still works amazingly well. Why replace it if it still works, it just needs new software.
Questions: If I install Lineage OS 18.1 successfully...
Will the Play Store and Apps continue to update, or will I stop receiving notifications regarding available updates? Or am I forever stuck with sideloading?
If I don't install G Apps is this bad? I don't use stock Google Apps, I've opted to use the Microsoft equivalent like Outlook for email and calendar... or do I still need to install Google Apps to gain the ability to layer Microsoft products on top?
Why is there so much negative talk about malware infection with rooted phones? If I'm not downloading and installing apps constantly, the risk would still be no more threatening than it is now correct?
Are there any apps that would realize the phone is rooted and refuse to run? Some searches told me that security apps may not like a rooted phone. Does rooting it affect Microsoft Authenticator app?
Lastly, if I only want to pick and choose specific G Apps - can you install only the ones you need? or do they come all bundled together?
Thanks in advance,

What's really at stake if rooting an older phone?​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ii is easy to answer:
Pro: Complete Control Over Your Device​
One of the most significant benefits of rooting your Android device is the ability to have complete control over it. You can remove any pre-installed apps that you don’t need, customize the look and feel of your device, and control every aspect of its performance. With rooting, the possibilities are endless, and you can make your device truly your own.
Con: Risk of Bricking Your Device​One of the most significant risks of rooting your Android device is the potential to brick it. Bricking is when your device becomes completely unusable due to a software malfunction. If you’re not careful, you can render your device useless. However, if you follow the instructions carefully and take the proper precautions, you can minimize the risk of bricking your device.

Speed up older Android hardware with a custom ROM​
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Click to collapse
Installing a custom ROM ( or a 3rd-party OS ) allows your device to live a second life, provided you can stomach the somewhat lengthy process. Custom ROMs become especially useful once your smartphone’s manufacturer stops delivering software and feature updates. Most ROMs are also based on vanilla Android ( AOSP ), which means you get a lighter and faster experience than default manufacturer skins.
Having said that, it’s worth noting that custom ROMs are completely unofficial. Some work perfectly, while others may exhibit bugs and instability - you’ll need to do some due diligence for your specific device model. But don’t worry, here is a guide on how to install Lineage OS, one of the most popular custom ROMs.