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Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

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Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#141

Post by ijhuygft776 »

jjulius wrote: post #61
lacoolj wrote: post #51

Title is super misleading. I have 3 different pixels, all different versions (4, 5a, 7a) and none of them are "unusable" after the update. I'm sure others are having issues, but this isn't something that's bricking everyone's phones.

FWIW, I'm a Pixel user (who drags his ass installing these updates, so I haven't updated yet) and I naturally assumed reading the headline that this didn't actually impact all Pixel phones. Reason being that we would've obviously heard a loud uproar if every Pixel phone was suddenly bricked.

> Reason being that we would've obviously heard a loud uproar if every Pixel phone was suddenly bricked.

Many people (most?) have more than one device... computer... etc.. either way, there are many other ways to contact someone.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#142

Post by rurp »

mataug wrote: post #137

As much as I don't like apple's walled garden, reliability and consistency are exteremly valuable for users like my mom who's currently a pixel user. I hate being worried about her calling from a neighbor's phone one day because her phone is unusable. I'm aware that this issue doesn't affect all pixels, but an issue like this affecting even 1% of devices is not okay. I'm holding on to hope that google hasn't agressiv…

It's not just breaking changes that are a problem, UX changes just for the heck of it can cause people a lot of frustration. Pretty much every major Android version moves or changes core functionality. Changing the UI without a functional reason is the sort of thing a lot of people in tech get excited about but most people outside of the industry loathe.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#143

Post by hbn »

channel_t wrote: post #125
newprint wrote: post #26

Pixel owner here. Lately my phone been very slow or acting out. That explains it. Last year or few years ago, Google released update that broke Bluetooth on Pixels. Google's team released the update, broke things, went out for extended Christmas break and fixed things a few months later. I'm not fan of the Apple phones and the fact that they cost a fortune, but I don't recall them putting out hardware breaking update…

While I can't say that I have noticed anything out of the ordinary yet on my Pixel 7, I will say that I have been a diehard Google phone user since the Nexus 4 days and have been really disappointed with how things have turned out with the more recent iterations of Google phones. Terrible battery life, bugs, poor quality fingerprint readers, questionable design decisions in general. The phones used to be a fairly rea…

I was also big into Android and the Google system starting in the same era, when the Nexus 4 was taking the nerd world by storm with its crazy value. And stuck with Google devices from it, to the Nexus 5, the Nexus 6P, the first Pixel, and the Pixel 3. But the constant cancelling of service, rebranding, overhauling, and feeling like I'm paying to be a perpetual beta tester I finally bought my first iPhone in 2020 when the 12 line came out (the 12 mini was incredibly enticing)

The one thing I thought I'd regret with switching from Android was the unlimited photo backups with Google Photos, and within a few months of my switch Google announced they were axing unlimited photo backups, even when you bought a Pixel. So they don't even have that to lure me back any more.

I still keep up with what's going on in the world of Android and it seems to only be news that gives me even less reason to switch back. They're trying to turn it more into iOS but with zero of the grace of Apple, and continue to have the corporate equivalent of ADHD with their lack of being able to focus and commit to a plan.

It's no surprise more and more people -- especially young people -- are switching to an iPhone. The iPhone keeps getting better and Android keeps getting worse. For the sake of all consumers, I hope they can continue to compete in the future, but as it is, I don't know who Android is for other than people who staunchly don't want to use an Apple product.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#144

Post by solarhess »

This happened to my Samsung S23 after the update too. The thing would black screen spontaneously following the update. At first it would respond to an hard-reboot, then repeatedly complain about Google Play Services crashing, and eventually black-screen again. After hard-rebooting it a few times it no longer even responds to the hard-reset key combo.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#145

Post by hbn »

jacquesm wrote: post #52
bitwize wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear a small company called Apple is making a viable alternative.

Apple is by no means perfect when it comes to updating devices. https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+ota+update+breaks+phon... There isn't a single manufacturer that consistently gets this right, only different shades of gray.

At the scale Apple operates at, if there's a widespread issue with the iPhone, it will be known. And not just reported about on tech nerd sites, it'll be on major news stations because it's potentially affecting your dad and many people you know. That's why bendgate and antennagate were such famous incidents.

If Apple was having hardware and software defects at the rate of recent Pixel phones scaled to the iPhone's marketshare, it would be massive news.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#146

Post by alemanek »

windowsrookie wrote: post #133
alemanek wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not IOS but MacOS Sonoma made my 2019 Intel MacBook Pro close to unusable. Constant kernel panics, usb ports not consistently recognizing devices, charging not working when powered on, wouldn’t recognize displays over HDMI. I had to roll back to Ventura and everything is fixed now. I am hoping to get another year or so before my next upgrade.

My 2018 15” MacBook Pro runs Sonoma without any issues. Only thing I notice is wake from sleep on battery seems to be a little slow. But maybe it just feels that way because of my M1 air.

Weird, yeah not sure why I had so many issues but it was an adventure to get all rolled back. Booting into recovery mode it had no issues charging or recognizing usb devices. So guessing something borked at the OS level.

Just a guess though. If I had a backup computer I would have tried to dig deeper. But atm just need a working machine.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#147

Post by graybeardhacker »

newprint wrote: post #26

Pixel owner here. Lately my phone been very slow or acting out. That explains it. Last year or few years ago, Google released update that broke Bluetooth on Pixels. Google's team released the update, broke things, went out for extended Christmas break and fixed things a few months later. I'm not fan of the Apple phones and the fact that they cost a fortune, but I don't recall them putting out hardware breaking update…

Apple literally just settled a lawsuit brought against them for intentionally slowing down phones to force users to upgrade.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#148

Post by lancesells »

rurp wrote: post #142
mataug wrote: post #137

As much as I don't like apple's walled garden, reliability and consistency are exteremly valuable for users like my mom who's currently a pixel user. I hate being worried about her calling from a neighbor's phone one day because her phone is unusable. I'm aware that this issue doesn't affect all pixels, but an issue like this affecting even 1% of devices is not okay. I'm holding on to hope that google hasn't agressiv…

It's not just breaking changes that are a problem, UX changes just for the heck of it can cause people a lot of frustration. Pretty much every major Android version moves or changes core functionality. Changing the UI without a functional reason is the sort of thing a lot of people in tech get excited about but most people outside of the industry loathe.

I feel Apple does this too. The main app I use is Music and it sure feels like the UI is worse and overly complicated these days. Not to mention uglier.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#149

Post by JeremyNT »

lacoolj wrote: post #51

Title is super misleading. I have 3 different pixels, all different versions (4, 5a, 7a) and none of them are "unusable" after the update. I'm sure others are having issues, but this isn't something that's bricking everyone's phones.

Totally agree, this headline is misleading and the article isn't useful. It's just blogspam for a reddit thread where some users report issues that coincide with receiving this update.

When you have an installed base as large as Google, some users are going to report problems after every update. These problems may not even have anything to do with the update contents, perhaps the update is what the user associates with the onset of their issues. It's entirely possible these "storage issues" are hardware and the i/o and reboot cycle of the update just caused it to manifest in a user visible way.

By all means I want users to hold Google accountable for mistakes but I feel like there's basically no information in this article beyond the speculation on reddit. The standard for HN should be higher than this IMO.

Re: Pixel owners report problems after installing January 2024 Google Play update

#150

Post by philistine »

channel_t wrote: post #125
newprint wrote: post #26

Pixel owner here. Lately my phone been very slow or acting out. That explains it. Last year or few years ago, Google released update that broke Bluetooth on Pixels. Google's team released the update, broke things, went out for extended Christmas break and fixed things a few months later. I'm not fan of the Apple phones and the fact that they cost a fortune, but I don't recall them putting out hardware breaking update…

While I can't say that I have noticed anything out of the ordinary yet on my Pixel 7, I will say that I have been a diehard Google phone user since the Nexus 4 days and have been really disappointed with how things have turned out with the more recent iterations of Google phones. Terrible battery life, bugs, poor quality fingerprint readers, questionable design decisions in general. The phones used to be a fairly rea…

I think you’re experiencing the fickleness of Google through their hardware.

Google is famous for killing products and constantly reinventing the wheel instead of committing to a solution.

Those software issues are seeping down to their hardware products. Of all the ginormous monopolists, it's the most likely to disappear.

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