Prolixium dot com: News >> Blog >> Android Bugs

If you follow me on Google+, you'll know that I'm a big Android fan but am starting to get annoyed with the constant OS bugs that plague platforms running vanilla Android (eg, Google's Nexus line of devices).

One of my recent posts had me wondering if I should ditch Android and switch to the iPhone. Ultimately, I'd lose too much (IPv6 on T-Mobile, certain apps, etc.), so I'm probably not going this route.

Anyway, here's a list of some recent bugs that continue to plague vanilla Android (more or less - I'm using the M2 build of CyanogenMod 10.1) running on my Nexus 4 along with the fixes or workarounds that I've found.

The Camera Stops Working

This is documented in issue 40996 and happens maybe once a week to me. All applications that use the camera freeze and require a kill.

I haven't really confirmed this yet, but the supposed fix is to switch to video mode and then switch back.

Mobile Data Stops Working

This only happens to me once a month so I haven't really been able to research it too much. Even though mobile data is enabled, a GNU/Linux interface (rmnet0, p2p1, etc.) is not created in the OS so applications cannot access the Internet. If the PDP context is just IPv4 or just IPv6, the behavior is a little bit different; the data connection connects for 3-4 seconds and then disconnects. It does this every 20-30 seconds or so. Most of the time bad network conditions (no service, very poor signal, etc.) trigger this condition.

The fix that I've found is to enter the testing screen (*#*#4636#*#*), go to Phone information, and select the "Select radio band" in the menu. The application crashes but then mobile data starts working again. It's weird.

Bluetooth Stops Working

Sometimes after switching Bluetooth on or off or enabling or disabling airplane mode, the Bluetooth subsystem stops working. I took a video of this behavior:

This is documented in issue 42255. This one is frustrating because Google fixed this in 4.2.1 but it came back in 4.2.2.

The only workaround I know of is to never disable Bluetooth and never use airplane mode (turn off the wireless radio in the Phone information screen after using *#*#4636#*#*).