Archives for April 2017

Cruft for Phones

the Tendency of PC's to accumulate "cruft" has been well documented see "State of Decay" Verity Stob's now venerable index to gauge PC decrepitude. Phones too can cruft. My Nexus 5 never achieved pristine levels of cruft, and now may have gone to 11.

Cruft Force 0. Virgin. Description: This level in now is only obtainable by kids on their first phone or by creating a new google account. As soon as the first run wizard hooks to your existing cloud account its too late, the infection has begun. The only way to experience this is to cancel the wizard. Default apps, in their correct locations

Cruft Force 1. New. Description: First week of ownership, Email accounts hooked up, calendar synced all is well, single homescreen with only the apps you use on it. storage has music folder, a downloads folder that's about it. No file browser, 

Cruft Force 2. Comfortable. Description: This is about where I come in, I immediately customize something, all intentions of tidiness are gone, despite swearing not too ES now horribly bloated explorer is on it, app count is way up, sdcard has folders full of offline maps. "other sources is permanently on, usb debugging is on

BBC iPlayer Radio some time hangs (probably because its no supposed to run in Australia), other wise all is good.

Cruft Force 3. Lived-in. Description: One time in seven app store cannot connect, rooted, adblocked, some websites will only open in chrome.

Directory count in sdCard up to 17, some of them have windows DLL's in them which is a worry.

Cruft Force 4. Middle-aged. Description: Use of the Flash in camera causes the phone to power off until usb cable connected. Its been a month or more since in was necessary to go to the Play store, 3 music players are installed , one for radio shows, one for music one for audio books. Changing ring tones in only possible using a file browser, Google Sky Map appears to have moved to the Andromeda galaxy. Permanently.

Cruft Force 5. Worn out. Description: Some time after bootup, always get a dialog "com.apk.google.x4368 has stopped" What is x4368? Nobody knows? Although one can manually remove/disable this in apps, it always reappears two or three reboots later. Once a week phone will announce its intention to install updates, reboot and fail. Custom recovery has gone, screen cracked (ran over with lawn mower)

Cruft Force 6. Limping. Description: 2 USB leads are required, one will make it charge one will allow files to be copied, but won't charge phone - however the file lists in ES Explorer and File Transfer have now diverged. No rational explanation exists for this its possible the sdcard in in the wrong trouser of time. (this really happened!)

Copying files is now achieved using "USB tethering" and typing \\192.168.42.129@8081\sdcard windows explorer or send to Bluetooth.

Cruft Force 7. Wounded. Description: 4 Calender's now exist, one apparently showing current and changing appointments from a parallel continuum, one where I never moved to Australia, this is the only one that actually Syncs. Screen has been replaced repair job has broken the proximity sensor, screen therefor blanks in all calls, hang up by power button enabled, If you wish to call a "press #" phone system one must sit in the car and use bluetooth hands free.

Cruft Force 8. Decrepit. Description: Phone will only boot on second attempt, just sits at the animated blobs, phone is now Android 7, however 6 is the highest version available on the nexus 5. Searching in Google Music is no longer possible, changing tracks by bluetooth only.4 different fitness apps are installed? by Whom? Not bloody me! Google photos has vanished (thank the heavens) to be replaced by the old Gallery app Yay!, phone has to be held carefully, or the microphone doesn't work (some of you may have noticed this) 

5 home screens now exist, some with apps that are not in the apps draw. How?

Successful connections to the USB are very rare. "Charging Slowly" appears even with a 2 amp charger. Wireless charge range has reduced so will no longer work though the case.

Cruft Force 9. Putrefaction. Description: Has to be rebooted daily. Digitizer has stopped detecting the bottom of the screen where home button is, software fix telling it to ignore broken digitizer had also failed, free rotate app installed to allow home button to be rotated to the top of the screen which works. Normal fixes such as using ADB to clear darvik cache no longer seem to work. Wiping an reinstalling OS no longer wipes files and settings? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? Levering the back off and wobbling things is normal part of operation.

Cruft Force 10. Expiry. Description:  Ring tone randomly disappears making it silent which is tricky as screen no longer lights up when calls come in and has to be switched on by hand before you can answer. Directory count in sdcard up to 93, screen broken again, this time dropped due to 30 knot pitchpole wrist injury. Setting alarm requires special app. Use of Flash or HDR will brick the phone, USB port no longer functions at all, wireless charge is only possible with utlra precise placement on pad, the phone never gets to full charge battery saver mode is now "normal" mode. Exposure to temperatures in excess of 30 degrees powers phone down (I live in the Tropics). Reports connected to wifi networks that aren't there, and won't connect to ones that are. Icon count in the top bar is up to about 12, one warns of snow - IN DARWIN! "airplane" mode icon is on, but appears to improve connectivity.

Cruft Force 11. [Classified]. Description:  Normal folk don't reach this level, I'm keeping my Nexus 5.11 as a spare - she'll be right, so long as I type gently I can still get it to charge over wireless. So long as the AC's on at any rate. 

Ok I admit I bought another broken nexus 5 to repair mine. In the end I just used that. I've rooted it, set it up, ad blocked it, its new to me and at Cruft 2 on day one....