Droid marketplace's dirty little secret

[acousticshade]

OK, I love my droid eris, it's a great phone, BUT, it has crashed 4 or 5 times in the 2 months I've owned it. Every time it has happened, a hard reset was required to get my phone to even boot up. After reading numerous posts and talking to Verizon reps, I have the suspicion that apps or app upgrades are the cause.

Since the droid marketplace is an 'open' dumping ground (for lack of a better phrase), there are numerous apps that are probably causing problems, but in most cases, there is no way to figure out if there is a problem until it is too late (unless there is a comment on a particular app).

So it's downloader beware with no policing and no possible recourse for those of us who download a bad app. In other words, anarchy.

In my opinion, Google and android, in their quest to advertise XX thousand apps and suck in unsuspecting users, have either overlooked this or turned a blind eye. Bad news to us droid owners.

So, droid users, be careful. I would check to see if someone you know has had problems with an app before downloading it, unless you want to spend several hours resetting your phone. And Google/Android, the more times I have to reset my phone, the greater chance I will buy an iPhone next time around, even though I dislike that fruity red company.

[bje1982]

OK, I love my droid eris, it's a great phone, BUT, it has crashed 4 or 5 times in the 2 months I've owned it. Every time it has happened, a hard reset was required to get my phone to even boot up. After reading numerous posts and talking to Verizon reps, I have the suspicion that apps or app upgrades are the cause.

Since the droid marketplace is an 'open' dumping ground (for lack of a better phrase), there are numerous apps that are probably causing problems, but in most cases, there is no way to figure out if there is a problem until it is too late (unless there is a comment on a particular app).

So it's downloader beware with no policing and no possible recourse for those of us who download a bad app. In other words, anarchy.

In my opinion, Google and android, in their quest to advertise XX thousand apps and suck in unsuspecting users, have either overlooked this or turned a blind eye. Bad news to us droid owners.

So, droid users, be careful. I would check to see if someone you know has had problems with an app before downloading it, unless you want to spend several hours resetting your phone. And Google/Android, the more times I have to reset my phone, the greater chance I will buy an iPhone next time around, even though I dislike that fruity red company.

Im swithching to an Iphone for this reason as well. I actually wish my Dell computer would only allow me to download "Dell approved" software as well so I couldnt get any bad programs. This whole "open source" thing is overrated. I

[Anomander]

Not very many problems with my phone. I'm not always to selective when I download stuff. What I do though is download one or two things and if the phone starts bugging out then uninstall the recent downloads to figure out which one is the culprit.

For me it has been all about being able to customize my phone how I like it. With the iPhone you can not do that. Heck my wife was not totally thrilled with the idea of the Droid since she wanted an iPhone. Once she got it and started using it she realized she liked it better then the iPhone too.

[LoneWolfArcher]

OK, I love my droid eris, it's a great phone, BUT, it has crashed 4 or 5 times in the 2 months I've owned it. Every time it has happened, a hard reset was required to get my phone to even boot up. After reading numerous posts and talking to Verizon reps, I have the suspicion that apps or app upgrades are the cause.

Since the droid marketplace is an 'open' dumping ground (for lack of a better phrase), there are numerous apps that are probably causing problems, but in most cases, there is no way to figure out if there is a problem until it is too late (unless there is a comment on a particular app).

So it's downloader beware with no policing and no possible recourse for those of us who download a bad app. In other words, anarchy.

In my opinion, Google and android, in their quest to advertise XX thousand apps and suck in unsuspecting users, have either overlooked this or turned a blind eye. Bad news to us droid owners.

So, droid users, be careful. I would check to see if someone you know has had problems with an app before downloading it, unless you want to spend several hours resetting your phone. And Google/Android, the more times I have to reset my phone, the greater chance I will buy an iPhone next time around, even though I dislike that fruity red company.

Im swithching to an Iphone for this reason as well. I actually wish my Dell computer would only allow me to download "Dell approved" software as well so I couldnt get any bad programs. This whole "open source" thing is overrated. I

Wow. I think I'll take my technology without the fascism.

[denakisland]

I make it a point not to go in and download everything that I can. I read comments and see if others have had issues. I'm fairly selective in what I download and only recommend to others to do the same.
I wouldn't trade my android phone for nothing.

[aaf709]

One big problem is that you might have 2 apps each of which would be great if the other app wasn't in the phone. But because they are together, they don't play nice.

[cpjr]

For me it has been all about being able to customize my phone how I like it. With the iPhone you can not do that. Heck my wife was not totally thrilled with the idea of the Droid since she wanted an iPhone. Once she got it and started using it she realized she liked it better then the iPhone too.

Thats funny cause Ive got a droid, incredible and iphone.

I can customize the iphone more than ANY of the other two phones.

AND do it easier. People whine because the iphone isnt "open", and they say the droid is....

Well, you have to root the droid in order to "customize" it, just like you have to jailbreak the iphone. The big difference is in order to customize the UI of the Android OS, you have to code. Which 95% of the people that own a droid cant do...so they wait until someone else does it.

In order to customize the iphone's UI its almost merely a matter of directories and images.

Anways, I could go on....I LOVE BOTH phones, I use the iphone for personal and the Droid for work. So dont think Im an Apple fanboy......I own both and believe I have a much more unbiased opinion because of that reason....unlike most people who own a droid and have never used an iphone but bash it anyways. Same as an iphone owner bashing a droid when they have no experience with it.

In short....here are basically all the differences you get with Android and their so called "open" platform:

1. Can change your homescreen wallpaper on a stock OS.

2. Can change you icons (using something like bettercut).

3. Few applications that actually add nice functionality to the phone....which wouldnt be allowed in the Appstore.

4. A TON of horribly crappy apps due to the fact that nothing is policed in the Market. I think the Market lacks alot of good apps due to that fact.

[nagmier]

I had an iPhone and they crash as well... not to mention you can't change anything hardly... want a different sms tone for each contact... nope (at least not when I left a few months ago) you can't even ADD sms tones!!! Funny that SJ thinks android is just for porn considering I haven't and don't think I need to ever use a 3-5in screen for that... I'm sorry but I'd rather have the choice to use and view the things I want...
In Soviet Russia iPhone apps you!

oh and lets no forget there are a TON of App Store apps that are useless junk apps as well... how many iLighters do I need? Ultimately its your responsibility to choose what apps you need and android gives you that ability you just have to READ the comments on apps... I've passed up on several apps because the comments were bad only to find cheaper or even free apps with outstanding support and reputations...

[cpjr]

^I wouldnt say you cant hardly change anything....JUST because of sms tones, lol. However, yeah you can change those too.

It all bowls down to the user and what he/she wants. Neither phone is better than the other, just different.

[airborne3e9]

the android market may have lots of crappy apps but at least there isn't someone sitting at google deciding what apps are appropriate for me. Im a big boy i dont need apple deciding whats appropriate for me and whats not.