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Android Phones More Prone To Hardware Problems

Posted by Soulskill on from the that-button-doesn't-work-on-mine-either dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "A nearly year-long study conducted by WDS on 600,000 support calls has found that Android phones are more susceptible to hardware faults than other types of devices. '14 percent of all technical support calls for Android devices could be traced to a hardware fault, versus 3.7 percent for RIM BlackBerry, 8 percent for iPhones and 9 percent for Windows Phone 7 devices.' WDS attributed the gap in hardware faults to the disparity in OEMs that manufacture Android devices."

18 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Of course - its by design! by GooberToo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Android runs on the full gambit of available phone devices. That means on the low end, crappy hardware is there by design. Crappy hardware, by design, driven by cost considerations, are going to have less reliable hardware and less QA.

    Basically the story says, "Shit happens. Sometimes free market economics create products which are far from ideal." Is anyone really surprised. Next story. I mean, that's really all that needs to be said. Duh.

    1. Re:Of course - its by design! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Android runs on the full gambit of available phone devices.

      I hate to do this, but please, use the phrase correctly. The word in bold should be "gamut", as in "the full gamut".

      Examples

      (What is a partial gambit? You offer your bishop but your opponent hasn't captured it yet?)

    2. Re:Of course - its by design! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I suspect that it may be slightly more than low end, crappy hardware:

      Some(by no means all, sadly) of the cheap dumbphones are both cheap and nigh-immortal, because nobody gives a damn what CPU they are using or how many UberMarks they get on some benchmarking suit that wouldn't fit in the onboard storage anyway. This means that, while they certainly don't use fancy parts, they are polished and solid designs.

      The Android low end is extra unfortunate because it suffers from cheapskate-itis and much of the hardware gets churned and replaced by a different design all the time.

    3. Re:Of course - its by design! by dswskinner · · Score: 2

      A study paid for by Apple that puts RIM in a much better light? that must be Apple innovating again.

  2. The other way to read this... by tdyer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is that 96.4% of all rim support calls are for the terrible software.

  3. Garbage headline by cabraverde · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WDS did not disclose how many support calls in general technicians fielded for each platform

    So without saying that android phones are more or less reliable in general, what they are really saying is:

    Android phones less prone to software problems.

    1. Re:Garbage headline by hey! · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mod up Parent! If that's not insightful, hell if I know what is!

      Not to disagree about GP post's insightfulness, but I am concerned about your difficulty in being able identifying insightful ideas without its aid. Let me toss a few out:

      • the laws of thermodyamics
      • the biggest homophobes are the people most insecure about their own sexuality
      • the origin of various species by the operation of natural selection upon random genetic variations
      • George Lucas should have quit making Star Wars movies after "Return of the Jedi". Maybe before.
      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  4. In other news by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Insightful

    14 percent of all technical support calls for Android devices could be traced to a hardware fault, versus 3.7 percent for RIM BlackBerry, 8 percent for iPhones and 9 percent for Windows Phone 7 devices.'

    In other news: '86% of all technical support calls for Android devices could be traced to a software issue, versus 96.3 percent for RIM BlackBerry, 92 percent for iPhones and 91 percent for Windows Phone 7 devices.'

    Shows how bad Android is doesn't it....

    1. Re:In other news by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 2

      Could it mean there were more "real" problems with Android vs. more "I'm a dumbass and can't RTFM" problems with other platforms?

    2. Re:In other news by rbrausse · · Score: 3, Informative

      the author explains his study a little bit in TFAcomments.

      the focus of the study was something like "how many support calls will end in an (expansive) hardware replacement".

    3. Re:In other news by ArsonSmith · · Score: 2

      I take it to mean that Android manufactures are more willing to replace a faulty phone than iPhone or rim. They are just better at convincing you that your phone is fine and working as expected, "just hold it different to get better reception"

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  5. Misleading by jonescb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Keep in mind that this is 14% of _support calls_. Using the same logic as the summary, you could say that Android phones have fewer software issues than other phones because only 86% of calls are related to software. That is assuming there isn't a third option in support calls.

    The article even states this, they don't have shipment numbers for devices so they don't have data for the phones that don't require support. Their sample is only phones that people are having problems with in the first place.

  6. Nearly year long ? by Pop69 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought WP7 devices had only been available for about 6 months ?

  7. Did someone fail statistics? by andymadigan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    TFA deson't make any sense. The ratio of technical support that ends up being hardware tells us nothing about the hardware fault rate. It could simply be that people are less likely to have other problems with the phone, or that the users are more technical on average and more likely to be able to solve a non-hardware problem on their own.

    For instance, let's say:

    Device A: 2 million sold, 1 million support calls, 100K hardware calls

    Device B: 4 million sold, 1 million support calls, 150K hardware calls

    Device A: "10%"
    Device B: "15%"

    But really, the failure rate for A would be 5% whereas the rate for B would be 3.75%.

    In short, the article's author is an idiot.

    --
    The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
  8. Slanted by whisper_jeff · · Score: 2

    I'm an Apple fanboy but even I can see through my Apple coloured glasses and recognize that this is entirely slanted. Comparing phones made by Apple (one manufacturer) and RIM (one manufacturer) to Android phones (how many manufacturers?...) is entirely unfair. I'd like to see how HTC does. How about Samsung. Compare manufacturers to manufacturers. Apples to apples, if you pardon the pun. The might as well compare Apple's and RIM's phones to American automobiles for all the value the information provides...

  9. Re:moving parts by Shitfucker · · Score: 2

    Not exactly. It's more like saying Windows PCs are more prone to hardware problems than Macs. With the iPhone and Blackberries, you have devices from one manufacturer with a relatively high standard of quality control. Windows Phone isn't so rigid, but still, the companies currently manufacturing Windows Phone devices are on the relatively high-end.

    With Android, pretty much any schmuck can sell a cheap tablet with a resistive touch screen running the OS - you only need Google's approval to ship with the market and their proprietary apps preinstalled. I didn't catch in the article whether this study only included Android handset manufacturers like Motorola and Samsung, or if it also included manufacturers like, say, Augen. It would make more sense to compare Google-approved devices to Windows Phone 7 handsets, or HTC phones to the iPhone, for example.

  10. Re:stats need another dimension by jmpeax · · Score: 2

    But if it turns out that HTC comes out to 2% and Moto is at 25% then I'd say that it's not the OS, but the manuf. that's the problem.

    How could it be the OS? This is about hardware faults, and in fact has nothing to do with Android.

    --
    Amnesty International
  11. Re:Trolled again! by Wovel · · Score: 2

    This story is bizarre and flawed. The app story was pretty good and highlights a real problem for Android...