Why do I have to restart my smartphone once a week?

[bouv]

@Digital_is_the_new_Analog

Not to say this isn’t happening to you…but since this is the SDMB: Technically, text messages come over a separate channel from data. If you aren’t getting your text messages, it’s not because your data connection got dropped. That would be a reason you can’t surf the web or read e-mail. Of course, the SW on your phone could plumb them together in such a way that if data were unavailable, the text message interface would hang as well. As a side effect.

On Android phones, it’s possible to use third-party texting apps (Google Voice being the most popular) that do send texts over the data, not cell, connection.

It’s what I do…but yeah, if I’m in a 3G deadzone, I can’t receive texts…I can still send them, I just have to go into my normal texting app, not the Google Voice app…but since GV “takes over,” for lack of a better word, the incoming texts, there’s no way to get any response.

[Cell_Guy]

@Fubaya

Here is what T-mobile says about it, which is more or less what’s been said here. While a reboot never hurts, I imagine that’s probably their advice for phones across the board and probably does help quite a few. Not all phones are smart.

I take it you guys were never around any frustrated Linux admins who had to deal with the 2.4 kernel bug which required a reboot every 16 months.

No, but everyday I look in the mirror at a frustrated cell phone tech who has seen a battery pull/power cycle fix the buggiest of smartphones.

[andrewm]

I haven’t rebooted by iPhone 4 in 82 days, and my MacBook in 75.

[davidm]

My Windows phone reboots itself at random times and then hangs in the middle of the reboot, requiring a battery pull to get it started again.

[Digital_is_the_new_Analog]

@bouv

On Android phones, it’s possible to use third-party texting apps (Google Voice being the most popular) that do send texts over the data, not cell, connection.

It’s what I do…but yeah, if I’m in a 3G deadzone, I can’t receive texts…I can still send them, I just have to go into my normal texting app, not the Google Voice app…but since GV “takes over,” for lack of a better word, the incoming texts, there’s no way to get any response.

But you’re not really sending a text. You’re sending a data packet to a server, which sends a text on your behalf. It sure LOOKS like you’re sending a text…but I don’t think it’s what you’re doing from a protocol perspective.

Disclaimer: I’m a baseband guy, not a radio guy…so there may be some nuances in the spec that I’m not aware of.
-D/a