RIM chief: buggy smartphones the 'new reality'
CEO comes clean
A Research In Motion (RIM) executive has admitted that malfunctioning smartphones are now par for the course, thanks in part to the complexity and high-volume production of devices like the BlackBerry Storm.
Jim Balsillie, RIM's co-CEO, said that software glitches on smartphones are now part of the “new reality” as firms rush device development in order to meet important sales days, such as Black Friday in North America, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The Storm is already a source of frustration for some users, with many online reports having already cited users suffering from a range of bugs, including frozen applications.
But help could be around the corner, for Storm owners at least. Last week, an unofficial firmware update – version 4.7.0.90 – was leaked online. It’s said to provide some respite from frozen applications.
However, early reports have also claimed the update’s more focused on adding new features to the phone. For example, an on-screen keyboard in portrait mode and tweaks to the phone’s GUI. ®
COMMENTS
wow, news alert...
I worked in mobiles for 7 years until end 2006. there were several reasons I left the industry, but as a system test engineer for protocol stacks (whose job ended up in china, I might add) the quality of the software going out of the door made me wince.
i mean, it was pathetic. actual protocol stacks going out the door with known bugs in. as for the rest of the phones, well, worse.
nokia are particularly awful for putting out half finished firmware, but SE are just as bad. it's the major reason I'm using a p990: the thing sat in a drawer for 2 months after I bought it and i checked SE fora for news on better firmware. now it's good and i've been using it solidly for 20 months.
i knew blackberry was on a downward curve after using my wife's one: fonts all over the place, badly drawn dialogs-how can companies expect to get away with this stuff?
the whole mobile phone industry has gone insane trying to pack too much in too fast without properly testing it, and the project management which co-ordinates it all is almost always pathetic with a lack of joined-up thinking.
now, I work for a tetra radio company: mission-critical devices which, first and foremost, have to work: and which have lifecycles measured in years.
and it feels so good to work for a company that makes quality digital comms devices.
the mobile industry should stop, take stock and back off.
Just Phones?!
Seems to me that the mobiles are only following the computer industries lead of writing crap and rushing it to market even though they knew it was still buggy (any flavour windoze comes to mind).
Mine's the one with the long antenna!
Quality Assurance is Dead
What a pitiful admission. Had to rush it out the door so we did so even though we knew it
was substandard and bug filled. Makes you want to rush out and buy one. Would you trust
their next product to be any better. I think not.
RE: Blame.
Bollocks, pure and utter bollocks. I've had several buggy phones, and by time you have bought the phone, or been locked into your new contract the telco's don't care, and say deal with it. I bought a samsung u600 once with my renewed contract from Tmobile, loved the phone, hated the firmware - it crashed constantly, you couldn't turn off the full sms tone after SENDING messages (very annoying in office), and worst of all it was branded tmobile everywhere. I updated it, voiding the warranty, using the generic firmware floating around the net, only to find the official firmware was just as crap. Eventually (few months) I gave up, bought a second hand N95.... which was buggy again, but I then flashed with latest firmware released by Nokia, which didn't void the warranty this time, and it was perfect, didn't have a single crash, battery life was improved, menus and application stability was improved, gps locking was great... so I stuck with that phone for about 18 months until I shifted from tmobile and their crappy custom firmware's, and to o2.... ok, so I went for an iPhone (I was getting the £35 unlimited data contract anyway) so I just got that out of interest.
Phone works fine, most stable phone I've had from initial firmware, but I'm missing the missing features I got in older phones, such as streaming music over bluetooth (saved me money on cd's in the car, as it is bluetooth unit with ability to control music player on the phone), and being able to pass images over bluetooth.... oh, and being able to spell in proper english.... every time I type in realise it tries to correct me, the cheeky b*stards.... I selected English, not merkin!!
Paris - because once upon a time I considered getting the Sidekick... and tmobile laughing at me in store when I asked about it, and them not selling it at the time in uk was possibly the best thing they ever did for me...
It's an ...........
iPhone Killer isn't it?
I've had an iPhone for a couple of years and, for my use, wouldn't touch any other make. For me (stupid as I am) simplicity is the key. If there are any bugs I don't know about them because they've never affected me. I agree wholeheartedly with Ian Davies.
It seems to me that other manufacturers still haven't cottoned-on to what makes (for me and probably for most people) a good mobile phone ... it's the WAY it works. I hope other manufacturers do eventually make something with the ease of use of an iPhone because competition is good for the industry. But they haven't yet.
