I always understood these as explained here.
Firefox OS was really stable in the 2.0-2.2 nightly channel but recently after the 2.5 updates, the OS barely usable.
Is this because the smoke tests are failing, but the updates are still pushed anyway? Or is something else the reason for this kind of instability?
I’ve reached to a point that I’ve finally given up and decided to get an Android (though I really don’t want to)
I am using the Flame phone on the nightly-latest channel (I update the OS 2 times per day) since 1 month now and it’s super stable for me! I use it everyday as my daily driver and I never had any issues with the update process or any resets. It has bugs indeed, but that is expected.
So, what makes you say that after the 2.5 updates the OS is barely usable?
We really need a lot more information about what device and what build you are running on. The last Flame smoketest that was run on Friday showed the following results: 11/25/2015 Full Flash FlameKK Master - Smoke Test Results - 54/54 tests passed, no existing blockers.
Lots of us in QA run the builds daily and not seeing instability, but you will definitely have to be more specific about what exactly you are seeing.
I use the Flame (2.6) device as my primary phone with the nightly-test
update channel. I get 2 updates per day and I cannot see any instability at
all.
Could you please explain us what do you mean by saying it’s barely usable?
Best regards,
Gabriela
QA Mozilla Hispano Team Responsible
Sorry about the delay in responding.
I wanted to report a bug and then come back here. I couldn’t get enough evidence for the occurrence of my problem.
It’s not just me, some of my friends from my regional community have been facing the same issue until they switched over.
There’s this weird thing where the screen keeps simulating touch events in random points on the screen at random times. I found this bug that was RESOLVED FIXED. That was in the center of the screen alone. I’ve had it in many points. I thought this was due to my use of the device (I use it extensively since it is my primary device), but I confirmed it was a bug when my friends reported that they were facing the same issues for months.
The bug disappears after an OTA or a restart (for a while), but it comes back again. I’ve flashed different builds to see whether it was a build issue. Everything under 2.0 doesn’t have this issue. Some builds of 2.2 is fine as well. Some other builds of 2.2 and up have failed me. The most disturbing part is that I can’t predict when the bug happens or when it’ll disappear. Sometimes this happens when I need to use my phone in an emergency. It hurts when people ask me to get a better phone and that Firefox OS sucks. 
I’m on the nightly channel (build ID : 20151023030241). The one that is supposed to pass the smoke tests and be the most stable for the flame.
I could be wrong. Or maybe I’m judging too much. I really wanted to use Firefox OS as my primary device. Even if I get a new device, I’ll make sure it is compatible with Firefox OS (has a well-maintained port).
PS : I’ll file a bug the next time it happens and then put it back in the Bugs discovered while Foxfooding thread.
I have been updating daily since september and I have never encountered your issue or any either stability issue. The bug that you mentioned is from 2014 and after almost 2 years no one else encountered it anymore (we are many that use Flame or Sony devices and are updating daily here).
So what you say here is very extreme, to say the least, which makes me think that maybe your device has a hardware problem.
The first thing you and your friends should do when you encounter a problem is to immediately file a bug and provide all the logging. Also please try to make a video of the problem to fully capture the behaviour.
I’ve been using my Flame as my primary device since February and I’ve always loved the device. I really want to continue using it, but this weird bug has been hurting my feelings a lot.
I know. I also noticed that it was RESOLVED FIXED after dispatching replacement devices. I just mentioned that I found it in my search. I was surprised why no one (at least my friends) reported it yet. I just wanted to find the issue and cc myself to it, but I couldn’t (because there wasn’t any bugs).
I thought the same at first, but when many friends reported the same issue, I ruled that out. It isn’t the same spots. Everything is random. The spots, the timings.
This is why I didn’t want to respond here for your first comment, but when the comments flowed in, I decided to tell you guys first.
For sure, I’ll file a bug with a video the next time this happens.
Hi shine,
I use the flame as my primary phone too. Maybe you could try setting the
update channel to nightly-test? I did, I receive 2 daily updates, I don’t
have any issues.
Best regards,
Gabriela
QA Mozilla Hispano Team Responsible
As recommended by Naoki, please use nightly-latest. There is no difference between nightly-latest and nightly-test!
I’m on nightly. Not even nightly-latest or nightly-test. 
That’s a very old build and maybe the reason of your issues!
Try changing!
Nightly-test is a QA stage channel. I would not recommend using
Nightly-test.
One of the things to keep in mind is that even if a bug is marked fixed you
have to compare it with the build hashes.
ie you would need to go to the repo and see which hash your build is using
and which hash the patch is in. If the patch is in later than the build
hash, then the fix is not in your build.
Here’s the bug that I was talking about : Bug 1234791
Please switch to nightly-latest and use the latest build!
For the Flame that is 20151222150206 and this is version 2.6!
I don’t want to be updating 2 times a day. My internet bandwidth is limited. That’s the reason why I haven’t switched to nightly-latest yet.
Also, just so that I know, is switching the channel as easy as renaming the update channel field in the Device Information section in the Settings?
You can check for updates whenever you want. Daily updates aren’t mandatory.
Renaming the update channel is enough indeed.
I’m going to give that a shot. I’m not any hopeful really. I’m very hopeful after every OTA I get, but this bug never stops to irritate me. 
If this still happens with the latest build from nightly-latest, then I’m pretty sure your phone is a dud with a hardware problem.
I tried changing the update channel to ‘nightly-latest’; I got an update, I downloaded it, but it won’t install. I left it on for 3 separate nights (start the update before I go to sleep), but it never completes. It stays in the ‘System Update’ screen for hours (even when I wake up). That’s not desired, is it?
What do I do from here?
As explained here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Phone_guide/Flame/Updating_your_Flame make sure you have this as a starting base: Base image v18D_nightly_v4