A Few Peeves with Mobile Data in Android Lollipop [Tech Tuesday]
“Mobile data is off” screen pops up when phone turns on and mobile data is off – thank you, but I am using wifi…
Having recently received the new Android operating system, Lollipop, on my Samsung Note 4 (cf. “Five Favorable Features of the Samsung Note 4”), there are, of course, some differences in how the operating system works in contrast to its predecessor, Kit Kat. However, one aspect that has been quite noticeable is mobile data, particularly turning it on and off.
In truth, I have three peeves I would like to share about it (and that I hope the Android team is able to remedy):
- Upon starting up the phone, having had it (and the mobile data) off, it pops up a screen informing me that “Mobile data is off” and continues: “Mobile data connection is turned off. Unless you use Wi-Fi, you will no longer be able to use the Internet, Email or other apps that require data connection.” Okay, I get that, perhaps, for some users, they need this notification, since they will be confused as to why they are receiving no data. However, for most people, we can easily see that the mobile data is shut off. And, amongst those, I would imagine that most would have desired that the mobile data be turned off. It’s annoying to have this screen pop up every time. Is there not a reason that they can’t just have a way of turning this screen off?
Sometimes, mobile data turns on without my pressing it
- The second peeve has seemed peculiar to me and it is something I have never experienced with any of my previous Android devices: sometimes, the mobile data will turn on without my having turned it on. Although I haven’t yet narrowed it down, I would surmise that there is a particular app that turns it on without my having done so. This is especially frustrating if I’m trying to mind the use of mobile data or battery.
Turning on touch sensitivity can help when turning mobile data on/off
- The final peeve is not specific to mobile data, but occurs for me most frequently with it: when pressing the mobile data button to turn it on/off in the quick settings menu, not only does it not turn it on/off, but it also closes the quick settings menu. This is quite frustrating, since one has to opening it up again and trying to turn it on/off again. One thing that has helped (although it hasn’t totally remedied it) has been to turn on the touch sensitivity setting, although the problem hasn’t totally vanished.
Okay, I’ll throw in a little bonus peeve (albeit unrelated to mobile data): Android Lollipop has not gotten rid of the Location consent screen it introduced to Android Kit Kat (although at least it doesn’t have two), nor has it offered an option to no longer see it. If we’re turning on location services, yes, we want to utilize the location services and have them be involved with apps we’re running. One wonders how Android thinks of its users’ intelligence.
