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InfoQ Homepage News Android 4.2 December Bug Dissected

Android 4.2 December Bug Dissected

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If you are using phone powered with Android 4.2, then you will not be able to include an important event such as your birthday which falls on December. This is because Google has forgotten to include December in the date picker of People/Contacts app, which is part of the Android Open Source Project. The issue has been reported to the Android tracker via bug #39692 and has been acknowledged by Google.

If you have access to Android 4.2 phone then you will notice that the date spinner straight away skips to January after November while selecting the Month field. However, the bug has not affected Calendar app. 

Did Google deliberately rushed to release Android 4.2 to compete with Windows Phone 8 release?

A Software Quality Manager (who prefer not to be identified) based in San Fransisco, USA commented:

Android is a very fragmented OS. May phones still have only version 2.3 or 2.2 The manufacturers have to upgrade after getting code from google. Only google branded nexus get latest software. If you want latest software you almost have to buy a new phone. I have a new phone from office also android, it has version 4.1 so mine is not affected.

Raymond Wong

The newest version of Android is chock full of neat features including Photo Sphere, but one thing it's missing is the entire month of December. Google (GOOG) acknowledged on Monday there is a bug in Android 4.2 that only displays 11 months in a year.

Guardian Technology

Zero-index error in coding for month picker in 'Jelly Bean' means that you can't add birthdates in December to your contacts.

John Freml, Editor-in-chief at Pocketables

In my testing, it’s still possible to add December dates to your contacts through Google’s web interface, and these will show up properly when you view them on a device running Android 4.2.

David Beren

We know that with every new Android release, bugs are likely to be found we’re ok with that, but its kind of a funny blooper to recognize that December is missing.

Richard Devine @ Android Central

We've still got a Nexus 7 lying around with Android 4.1.2 on it, and indeed over there all is well.

Mike Epstein

The end of the year can a be a very lonely time for a smartphone.

Jim Boothe commented to Mike's post:

December isn't missing-it's just been condensed into a day, thus giving November 31 days rather than the usual 30.

Lakhyajyoti Saikia, Tech Blogger

Only a small percentage of Android users will be affected as very less number of people using devices runs on Android 4.2.

"Someone at Google doesn't seem to like Christmas, or more specifically, the entire month of December," says NDTV.

TechCruch reported as follows

Google is in the process of rolling out Android 4.2.1 to at least Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices (with Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus hardware likely to follow) as an over-the-air update, Android Central reports. The minor update brings a fix for an embarrassing omission on Google's part: The month of December.

The update is being rolled out gradually, as is generally the case with new versions of Android, so don't worry if you aren't seeing it yet.

Rainer Diabl commented on Android Google+

I feared I'd forget Christmas, so I reinstalled 4.1

Charlie Knox mentioned:

Don't forget christmas!

Livesh commented:

Can't believe all the people complaining about something free. Google choose to not charge for Android and this is the thanks it gets.

While Android team has been busy working on the release of an update, Rohit posted on the official code page a tricky solution

Just go to settings >> language & input
First temporarily change the language to Chinese or Japanese(my Fav)
Now go to contacts and enter the date to December
Later change the language back to your preferred language

I tried this & it works

As per reports coming in, Google has fixed the bug in the Android 4.2.1 as commented by one the users on the official bug tracker page

Just got 4.2.1 in my nexus 10 and confirmed December is back.

Simon mentions

Galaxy Nexus takju and yakju are now being updated to 4.2.1 as well. Yep, December is present.

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