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Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

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101–110 of 370 posts

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That point is so weird: Why offer a "performance update" 1.5 years after the end of security updates?

Given the sudden urgency and pulling the old software, I'm assuming they're trying to avoid aging batteries exploding.

But then they should indicate that. Which they don't.

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#102
I'm trying to figure out what the actual latest update is doing regarding the battery. I found an update to the kernel binary but it doesn't seem the source has been updated.

Can I submit a GPL request to Google to get the kernel source?

https://github.com/bmaupin/pixel4a-battery-research

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#104

Hi, (soon to be ex) Pixel 4a user here. Regardless of why this update has happened, the way Google have went about this update is sketchy at best, and deceitful at worst. To be plain: this phone has been EOL for 1½ years now. This update has appeared out of the blue and specifically decimates the battery + charging capabilities. My most charitable view is that Google have found a major fault with the Pixel 4a battery…

Unless your Pixel 4a is from Verizon (locked), keep it.

Unlock the bootloader, then install LineageOS, MindTheGapps, and Magisk.

Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at 80%.

That should solve your problems, and turn the updates back on. I don't think there is a way to make Google Pay work in this configuration, which is a drawback.

I can put all the URLs here if you ask.

Edit:

https://lineageos.org/

[I did not remember that Lineage hosts gapps images]

https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps/

[IIRC, the APK is renamed to a ZIP and flashed with recovery, then name it back and install the app]

https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/tag/v28.1

https://magiskmanager.com/

https://github.com/VR-25/acc/releases/tag/v2023.10.16

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#105
post #24
post #3

Am I the only one that had the immediate thought of "this seems intentional" when they read that they're offering the credit for a newer pixel?

Most believe that they're trying to prevent safety issues with overheating batteries. This update prevents the battery from being charged too much or too little.

If it is just that, they should have written so. Because what they wrote was that some devices may be affected from this optimization. Nothing general. And if this is really an issue, all those that now change to Lineage or Graphe will be an even bigger issue soon. Because in that case, Google knew, and did not say so.

* Send from my now charging 4a

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#106

Hi, (soon to be ex) Pixel 4a user here. Regardless of why this update has happened, the way Google have went about this update is sketchy at best, and deceitful at worst. To be plain: this phone has been EOL for 1½ years now. This update has appeared out of the blue and specifically decimates the battery + charging capabilities. My most charitable view is that Google have found a major fault with the Pixel 4a battery…

I am still on a 4a. I really hate how in subsequent generations, they faithfully cloned Apple's design decisions of removing ports and making the device gigantic. "For customers who are dissatisfied with iphones, Our product is a slightly different iphone-like device." I mean come on now, what the hell... About twice a decade google makes a good phone and the others are just iphone knockoffs

Also the OS is copying Apple, making it worse.

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#107
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This attitude (and the word "problematic") is so tiring. What is the actual problem with running it as your daily driver? What specific vulnerability are you actually concerned about? Unless there's something like an arbitrary code execution bug in one of the networking/radio stacks, "there aren't updates" is a statement with approximately zero useful information.

OK, let me google it for you: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-43096 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4377... https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4377... https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-49747 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-49748 These are just the RCE bugs without user interaction that were fixed with the January up…

Just curious, does current LineageOS close these CVEs?

I know they pull firmware from disparate devices when possible.

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The software industry has known how to do this for a very long time, but some companies refuse to do it. You maintain a "sustaining" branch just for security and other legitimately urgent fixes, and a main branch for everything else. Users are nudged more strongly to apply the sustaining fixes and the main update branch should be optional. We have immensely powerful version control and branching at developers' dispos…

But it isn't this simple, because you wouldn't need a single "maintaining" branch. You would need one for each feature release that the user may stop at. So if you release the feature branch every 3 months after a few years you will have a dozen maintaining branches to backport fixes to, and in which to carefully test that the fix actually works. The problem is linearly worse if you release the feature branch more of…

This was, I believe, the problem that Microsoft wanted to resolve with their gradual burndown of WSUS - a lot of shops (including one I used to work at) would selectively roll out updates based on whether they thought they were relevant, resulting in an explosion of configurations that Microsoft had absolutely never tested against, and naturally, a lot of breakage.

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#109
post #104

Hi, (soon to be ex) Pixel 4a user here. Regardless of why this update has happened, the way Google have went about this update is sketchy at best, and deceitful at worst. To be plain: this phone has been EOL for 1½ years now. This update has appeared out of the blue and specifically decimates the battery + charging capabilities. My most charitable view is that Google have found a major fault with the Pixel 4a battery…

Unless your Pixel 4a is from Verizon (locked), keep it. Unlock the bootloader, then install LineageOS, MindTheGapps, and Magisk. Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at 80%. That should solve your problems, and turn the updates back on. I don't think there is a way to make Google Pay work in this configuration, which is a drawback. I can put all…

>Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at 80%.

That will reduce future wear, but won't suddenly make the battery better. If anything it'll make the battery even worse, at least in the short term.

Re: Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update

#110
post #107
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, let me google it for you: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-43096 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4377... https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4377... https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-49747 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-49748 These are just the RCE bugs without user interaction that were fixed with the January up…

Just curious, does current LineageOS close these CVEs? I know they pull firmware from disparate devices when possible.

I didn't check each one explicitly, but it looks promising

https://review.lineageos.org/q/gatt_sr.cc

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