Windows Phone 8 Hit With Random Reboot Bug

HTC Windows Phone 8 and Nokia Lumia 920 owners have taken to forums looking for answers to a vexing reboot problem. Pages worth of complaints have sprung up on Microsoft and Nokia's forums web sites, as well as that of WPCentral.

The problem, which has the device rebooting at random several times per day, seems to affect the HTC 8X more than the Lumia 920. Some users report as many as four to five reboots every 24 hours. For the record, I have had an HTC 8X on hand for several weeks now and have not experienced this issue at all.

Based on the forum posts, some users are seeing the reboot problem when using Bluetooth; others report trouble when using the native Facebook application. Yet others claim the reboot problem relates to the HTC Hub application, and some believe it is related to the NFC functions of their device.

Some device owners who've deleted the Facebook app claim that their devices no longer reboot.

So far, HTC and Microsoft have remained mum on the user complaints, but Nokia has acknowledged the issue. Nokia said it has received "reports of a small number of people experiencing this unusual performance on their Nokia Lumia 920." Nokia believes the problem can be traced back to applications and not the device's operating system.

"We are investigating but suspect some apps may be at the root of the issue when left running in the background," said Nokia. "While we learn more, we advise people when finished with an application to navigate away using the back button to ensure it is no longer active."

In the WP8 operating system, when you use the Start button rather than the back button to exit an application, it leaves the application running in the background. This means it is available for multitasking. A long press of the Start button brings up the list of recently used (and still active) applications that can resume instantly. Using the back button closes an application and makes it unavailable for instant resume. The fewer apps left running in the background leaves more system resources available to handle the current tasks.

Have you experienced any trouble with your HTC Windows Phone 8X or Nokia Lumia 920? The devices have been on sale since November 9.

Upgrading isn't the easy decision that Win 7 was. We take a close look at Server 2012, changes to mobility and security, and more in the new Here Comes Windows 8 issue of InformationWeek. Also in this issue: Why you should have the difficult conversations about the value of OS and PC upgrades before discussing Windows 8. (Free registration required.)