Bad Apps Killing the N97

I've felt that "bad apps" were at the heart of the N97's poor performance so I've steered clear of the typical freeware games or programs from less-than-reputable sources.

Still...I have to wonder if Accuweather and Facebook are the culprits with regard to the poor performance, especially the GPS.

Those of you who are having NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER (I can hear you breathing out there!), are you guys running Facebook or Accuweather?

Just collecting anecdotal data...I know the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it does give us something to consider.

My facebook is running continuously 😊

I don't have any problems whatsoever with phone performance, even though facebook takes up quite a lot of ram

rdcinhou wrote:I've felt that "bad apps" were at the heart of the N97's poor performance so I've steered clear of the typical freeware games or programs from less-than-reputable sources.

Still...I have to wonder if Accuweather and Facebook are the culprits with regard to the poor performance, especially the GPS.

Those of you who are having NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER (I can hear you breathing out there!), are you guys running Facebook or Accuweather?

Just collecting anecdotal data...I know the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it does give us something to consider.

My vodafone N97(firmware v12) works fine runs quite smoothly - GPS as always worked ok -I do not use either Facebook or accuweather -I do however have at least 31mb of ram free at any time.I also run openoffice ,ovi maps from C:- do not run any other widgets except email\short cuts on home screen.

Boothy

Accuweather was so unreliable I removed it and haven't had any problems since. While the app was installed (and I attempted to use it) my phone would sometimes "freeze" and more often than not I had to remove the battery. I've now got the "world traveler" app installed instead, which gives updated weather, although not to quite the same detail as accuweather attempted to give.
Facebook app?...I don't see the point in it because facebook has a mobile site that's easily accesible through a link on your home screen. I removed the pre-loaded app almost immediately on turning the N97 on for the first time. It's only people who feel they need to be constantly connected to facebook to get through the day that will miss the always-on widget updates if it's removed from the phone.

chongsparks wrote: It's only people who feel they need to be constantly connected to facebook to get through the day that will miss the always-on widget updates if it's removed from the phone.

well that's told me then :redface:

rdcinhou wrote:I've felt that "bad apps" were at the heart of the N97's poor performance so I've steered clear of the typical freeware games or programs from less-than-reputable sources.

Still...I have to wonder if Accuweather and Facebook are the culprits with regard to the poor performance, especially the GPS.

Those of you who are having NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER (I can hear you breathing out there!), are you guys running Facebook or Accuweather?

Just collecting anecdotal data...I know the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it does give us something to consider.

Don't use facebook but I do use Accuweather. I've had the odd glitch with the program, but it hasn't caused the phone to freeze entirely, just the app itself sometimes goes out to lunch.

There is a recent thread on the N97 forum on VF discussing it and I've modified one setting on my phone as suggested based on a posting therein.

Havn't actually thought to check if it works yet - so will have to see.

Regards
Neil

I have the Accuweather app running all the time, and so far since the three days I've had v20, everything seems fine.

I've been a bit hesitant though in loading any other programmes and apps on the phone and am trying to stick with just the main apps that came with the phone,so this time round,I haven't installed Opera but do have Joikuspot Premium running and also fring.

To be honest, I don't think i actually need Accuweather anyway, it just seems nice to have on the homescreen but have also got World Traveller but tend to use that more for currency exchange rates.

Don't really use Facebook so deleted that widget. With Accuweather running, the C drive is showing around 38mb free.

I have NewsBuzz, ComingNext (calendar) and Accuweather running with no problems at all on homescreen.

RAM usage for these three runs at about 6MB.

Like Notty, I have stopped using the Opera browser v10 as I found it was very RAM thirsty and caused some problems. Anyway, with v20 the built-in browser is much improved and works well with Google voice.

As I mentioned in a recent posting, we tend to load 3rd party app's on willy nilly without a thought sometimes as to how they will interact with the phones OS and then blame the N97 for crashing and poor performance.

The same can be said for themes on the phone that cause it to display incorrectly or freeze. One theme (no names mentioned) that I installed early on did just that and ground my handset to a halt. Shame, as it was a very nice theme but totally incompatible.

The number of postings I read where someone has installed 3rd party software/theme and then complain that they are either experiencing problems or that the N97 is rubbish are too numerous to mention.

If in doubt then by all means install the software/theme and run it for a few days to see how it interacts with the OS and, just as impotantly, other software.

well indeed corrupt apps can be a source of trouble but cmon peeps how many omnia hd users do you hear saying id better not load up my phone with apps it may not work properley

the same goes for 5800 owners

i dont think you can blame 3rd party apps for the n97s poor performane

i think its just the bad ram management and the bad firmware on the handset

i know there are corrupt apps out there that will cause damage but they are rare and are usaully of the cracked variety or from unknow 3rd party apps

just my opinion but i think blaming apps for the n97s performance is well off the mark when omnia hd users or 5800 owners dont say the same thing

ive had a 5800 loaded with 3rd party apps that needed signing etc , it was hacked and running new menu transistions etc and still performed better then the n97

just my 2 cents

have a good day

Well I've narrowed down one game that has been stopping my N97 reboot, just a silly mini golf game called "Pirates Cove" that I paid �1.50 for from OVI Store. A process of trial and error led to this discovery and a ton of hard resets. Now it seems to start up fine, hopefully!!!!

I remember back in the old days this problem existed for my classic Nokia 6600 with S60V1. There would have been some app that I installed and will stop it from booting.

However, there was a "Safe mode" that you can hold down the "Pencil" key when turning the phone on that will allow bypassing the start up applications to at least get you to the OS and allow you to uninstall it. (http://my-symbian.com/s60/faq/showquestion.php?fldAuto=32&faq=5)

Wonder if this also exist on S60V5 and more particularly, the N97?

My N97 doesn't seem to like the Nokia dictionary language packs. I installed a couple and it killed the phone leading to battery out 10 times or so to get it going. uninstalled them and now it boots again properly.

so bloody annoying. will have to get some new I think, but can't think of anything non Nokia I want. would like an N900 but do I want to give them another �500?

Well i figured out that some of the dodgy apps dont like the MASS MEMORY install. So i installed them in my external micro SD 8GB card and all's fine now 😊 ...
How many ever times you restart, comes back online without a hitch. Why dont u guys try it out......

vin_eme wrote:Well i figured out that some of the dodgy apps dont like the MASS MEMORY install. So i installed them in my external micro SD 8GB card and all's fine now 😊 ...
How many ever times you restart, comes back online without a hitch. Why dont u guys try it out......

Was thinking of trying the same myself. Then if the phone won't reboot I should just be able to take out the card to get it going. What apps have you been having problems with?

Well the only app which was giving me problem was Google maps...for some reason when u load it to MASS mem, and reboot..you get WSOD....then i tried installing on phone memory..it worked fine. Then i tried installing on external mem card..it went thru fine and no issues in rebooting...so next time something happens due to some other app, i am gonna load all my apps on external mem card. Atleast that way u can yank the mem card out when i c a WSOD...hope it works for you...😊

vin_eme wrote:Well the only app which was giving me problem was Google maps...for some reason when u load it to MASS mem, and reboot..you get WSOD....then i tried installing on phone memory..it worked fine. Then i tried installing on external mem card..it went thru fine and no issues in rebooting...so next time something happens due to some other app, i am gonna load all my apps on external mem card. Atleast that way u can yank the mem card out when i c a WSOD...hope it works for you...😊

Never had a problem with Google Maps myself, always had it on Mass Memory. For me it's been some of the OVI Store games. Strange that different apps affect different phones. Will stick on a few dodgy ones on Memory card and see what happens.

bchliu wrote:I remember back in the old days this problem existed for my classic Nokia 6600 with S60V1. There would have been some app that I installed and will stop it from booting.

However, there was a "Safe mode" that you can hold down the "Pencil" key when turning the phone on that will allow bypassing the start up applications to at least get you to the OS and allow you to uninstall it. (http://my-symbian.com/s60/faq/showquestion.php?fldAuto=32&faq=5)

Wonder if this also exist on S60V5 and more particularly, the N97?

On my E90 I use the Red Key at start up . It has the same effect like the Shift/Pencil key , including sound skip . You could try this .... ?

😊 Regards jApi NL

Well I've installed what I think are some dodgy apps on my micro sd instead of mass memory from OVi Store. after a reboot with the sd card inserted gives me the white screen as usual, but if I pop out the card and reboot it starts and then put the sd card back in and all apps are working and ready to go.

could be the way forward folks.

rdcinhou wrote:I've felt that "bad apps" were at the heart of the N97's poor performance so I've steered clear of the typical freeware games or programs from less-than-reputable sources.

Still...I have to wonder if Accuweather and Facebook are the culprits with regard to the poor performance, especially the GPS.

Those of you who are having NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER (I can hear you breathing out there!), are you guys running Facebook or Accuweather?

Just collecting anecdotal data...I know the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it does give us something to consider.

I had Accuweather, Facebook and ESPN football results all running live on the homescreen and never expereinced any performance problems.

Deffinately having an improved experience now I've installed my many 3rd party apps on my SD card. It hasn't really slowed things down, if it does hang on start, a simple removal of the card results in a clean reboot, where as there's no was to disconnect the mass memory in a similar situation. I've loaded my main reliable apps on mass memory like Gravity, Nimbuzz, World Traveller, Profimail, LCG Jukebox and other trusted apps.

Hopefully no more permanent hangs for me or the dreaded hard reset. Fingers crossed.

Had the WSOD problem with Pirate's Cove golf on v12.

Also had the same issue with the otherwise quite cool game Crazy Monkey Spin.

Not tried either on v20. Got a bit sick of installing apps one-by-one and rebooting to warrant the hassle to be honest! (not to mention the golf game was p*ss-poor and frequently crashed anyway...)

rdcinhou wrote:I've felt that "bad apps" were at the heart of the N97's poor performance so I've steered clear of the typical freeware games or programs from less-than-reputable sources.

Still...I have to wonder if Accuweather and Facebook are the culprits with regard to the poor performance, especially the GPS.

Those of you who are having NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER (I can hear you breathing out there!), are you guys running Facebook or Accuweather?

Just collecting anecdotal data...I know the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it does give us something to consider.

I notice that the impact of Accuweather on mine is mostly on the amount of free memory available; with it on, I usually have about 32-36MB available after a day's regular use whereas without it, I usually have about 40-43MB available.

Other than that, my N97 runs fine. I've had my N97 since mid-July and I have to say that I've not had a single reboot for poor performance.

Then again, I steer clear of a lot of the freeware available for it. Keylock clock, zreader, jabplite and ybrowser are the exceptions -- but these are bits of freeware that have been around for a while and have strong followings.

I've also PAID for my software like the full-feature QuickOffice suite. I suspect that some (take not, I said SOME) of those who are having problems are those who've installed cracked software/warez onto to their phones or who have hacked their C: drives to do whatever it is they want to do.

Seriously speaking, we can't install pirated software on our N97's and twiddle with Nokia's firmware and expect them to support it with smiles on their faces.

Had my 2nd N97 for about 6 weeks, lost my old one. This unit is a refurb, and to be honest its working pretty good. GPS good to about 20m, Camera Lens is a lot smoother action. Software wise I installed Nunlock, absolutely essential app if you use your 97 in a car holder. Nunlock worked perfectly until I installed Accuweather, then it stopped working all together. Uninstalled Accuweather, Nunlock worked perfectly. In my experience Accuweather just does not work properly, its constantly trying to get a fix on your location, and this ties up system resources, so its my opinion that Accuweather could be the cause of a lot of users problems. My only gripe with the N97 at the moment is the Kinetic Scrolling, seems worse since the update to v2.

aquamally wrote:My only gripe with the N97 at the moment is the Kinetic Scrolling, seems worse since the update to v2.

I don't believe there was "kinetic" scrolling prior to v20.

Wasn't it there in the browser?

My phone froze and crashed all the time and every morning I had to reboot it to get the Internet working. I suspected it was happening because of the shady accuweather app, so I uninstalled it completely yesterday. I will wait a few days to see if the phone is more stable.

gunj wrote:My phone froze and crashed all the time and every morning I had to reboot it to get the Internet working. I suspected it was happening because of the shady accuweather app, so I uninstalled it completely yesterday. I will wait a few days to see if the phone is more stable.

Unfortunately, uninstalling an app doesn't always clean everything up and may not undo or restore original settings in the phone.
If your phone is still crashing and needing regular reboots, you may need to consider a hard reset (without a Nokia Backup/Restore before or afterwards)

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