Months-old SMS bug still plaguing Android users

This bug should really hurt sales of Android phones to teens now that it's being publicized. It appears that Google has been unable to fix a months-old SMS bug, that randomly sends SMS messages to the wrong contact in your Address Book.

Tiger Woods should probably stay away from Android phones too. Can you imagine if the bug sent an SMS meant for Rachel Uchitel to Elin Nordegren instead (although in the long run, she found out anyway).

At any rate, ZDNet notes that the bug was first noted in June of this year. The bug is only given a priority of Medium, which would seem to be too low, considering how people use SMS messages nowadays.

It seems to be more prevalent if users have Facebook and/or Twitter SMS notifications enabled. The bug even exists on custom ROMs from Cyanogen and other unofficial sources, meaning it's a core Android bug.

One commenter in the bug thread said:

To list this issue as “medium” is a gross understatement. This is much worse than iphone’s drop call problem.

It's much worse than the iPhone's dropped call problem, to many, because SMS has become more used than voice calling to communicate between mobile phone users.

Another comment:

I have always been a big fan of Google Android phones. Sure the user interface may not be as polished as the iPhone. I admit the Exchange support might not be as tightly integrated as it is on the Blackberry. But, I’m a geek and I’m willing to put up with some annoyances as a trade-off for speed and flexibility and customization. And I’m not alone. Market researchers Canalys and NPD Group both recently published reports stating Android was running on > 40% of all smart phones in the United States. It would seem Android is destined for dominance.

Except somewhere along the way, Google seems to have forgotten first and foremost Android phones need to be phones. And that is why I’m seriously considering making the move to Blackberry or Windows Phone 7.

We have not experienced the issue ourselves, but the only 100 percent sure workaround for those who are seeing the issue would be to use some IM client, and one that works across multiple IM platforms. Some have changed their usage away from SMS and to IM, anyway, as there's no extra charge for IM.

However, although Google has been trying to fix this since June, it still persists, even with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). According to a ZDNet poll, only 10 percent of respondents have been affected by the bug, but that's at least 10 percent too many.