More control is needed for the pre-installed apps on the Motorola Droid.
I am not the only person with these complaints, and I believe that the Verizon answers to some of these complaints to be lacking. I'm not saying that the Verizon answers are wrong, but in many cases they are providing an explanation that does not actually resolve the complaint, but rather tries to state that the complaint is not something to really complain about, and in nearly every case I believe the Verizon people are completely missing the point. Then, later, I see those same Verizon people stating that other apps (not pre-installed) that have the same behaviors as the pre-installed apps, well those other apps are poorly coded. Well, I say that the pre-installed applications ALSO are poorly coded. There are many, built-in, APPLICATIONS that should NOT autostart. Alarm Clock, Voice Dialer, Email and Corporate Calendar are just a few that I can think of right now. Each of these apps should, at the minimum, have menu settings that allow you to disable them completely. I do not, YET, have an Exchange server to hook my Corporate email into, so why in the heck do I need that application to continue to load?? The Alarm Clock, same issue. Look, when I want to turn on the Alarm Clock, I should be able to activate it, and then when I no longer want it, I should be able to have it not loading itself into memory. WHY do I need to PAY for a 3rd party application (Startup Auditor) to stop the unwanted, built-in, applications from running?? Further, and while I have not done this, yet, why do I need to ROOT my own phone in order to gain all the control possible?? Verizon, you may think it is okay that these apps are running, but have you ever heard the axiom, "the customer is always right"? Even if this comes down to just a matter of aesthetics, having people like how their phone runs and works is also important. Listen up Verizon and Google, instead of trying to justify why things are the way they are when people don't like it, why don't you instead figure out how to actually, at a minimum, provide people with a mechanism to actually control what they want running on their phone and when they want it running?? Maybe there are some people who do not want to receive any messages during work hours? Maybe people would like the browser to always open new windows with the page already zoomed in... Heck, when it comes to the browser, maybe we'd like more Firefox add-on like functionality (like Ad Block plus and NoScript!) I don't want the MARKET to check for updates on my apps until I want it to check (perhaps I would like it to wait until I am at home on my WIFI network.) It is this essential LACK OF CONTROL that is a problem and that needs to be addressed as much with the FREE, BUILT-IN, applications as much as it needs to be addressed with those apps in the marketplace. Every time one of those apps loads it uses power, unnecessarily. If I am using too many apps and those apps unload to free up space and then they reload, despite not wanting them, they use power, again, unnecessarily. The MARKET app and even other network based apps that I don't want running over the 3G network (unless I specifically trigger them) are using my bandwidth. I have WIFI at home, I should have the option to keep those apps offline until I am at a WIFI location where I can use that bandwidth and not my 3G bandwidth. And then there is just the simple matter of security. Every app that is running is a potential security hole, while there may not be any present known vulnerabilities with these apps, I am sure it is only a matter of time before some are found. I should be able to limit my exposure and future vulnerability by controlling what runs and when. And the final matter that it bothers me is the aesthetics point, and that has a security bend to it. When I use task killer to end applications, like some games and other apps which do not have a clean exit option, I see those other apps running. WHENEVER I look at the apps loaded, I should only see the applications I choose to load. I do not know if my phone has been compromised when I see applications running that I did not choose to load, because the OS is loading applications for no good reason and I have no ability to control that, which also means I have far less ability to determine when my phone has been compromised. I have now listed several ways by which I have been adversely affected by the built-in applications starting up when they are unwanted and unneeded. And worst of all, there really is no reason that every one of these problems cannot be quickly addressed and corrected. "Half of control during battle comes from the commander's avoiding useless expenditure of the physical resources of his men while taking action to break the hold of fear." Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall, The Soldier's Load and the Mobility of the Nation, 1980
