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

androidcentral.com

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

#131

Post by chasil »

beretguy wrote: post #123
chasil wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I can put all the URLs here if you ask. I'm not who you replied to but can you please do? I've been wanting to make a LineageOS device for a while but was being cheap (and it wasn't high enough priority). But maybe now there will be a lot of cheap Pixel 4a on eBay in the near future and I'll go for it.

Just be careful that you do not get anything sold by Verizon, as these unfortunates do not allow bootloader unlocking.

I also remember some rumor that all Pixels must access WiFi before they will allow bootloader unlocking in the developer options.

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

#132

Post by zargon »

Does/will GrapheneOS ship this new firmware? My Pixel 4a needed a new battery. I ordered the kit from ifixit, but was worried about possibly breaking the screen during replacement and being without a phone. So I bought a used iPhone XS to try out Apple-land. My plan was to put GrapheneOS on the Pixel 4a and decide eventually if my next phone would be a new Pixel with GrapheneOS or a new iPhone.

Since then this whole debacle has unfolded. GrapheneOS's installation instructions say that it updates the phone's firmware to the latest early in the installation process. GrapheneOS's releases page has a "2025012701" release for Pixel 4a. But the release notes don't have any mention of Pixel 4a since version 2023100300. I'm trying to figure out if GrapheneOS has actually updated their Pixel 4a image since then, and whether it would install the battery breaking firmware.

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

#134

Post by conaclos »

chasil wrote: post #104
OliveMate wrote: post #75

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%.

If we install LineageOS, should we worry about Google's firmware update? Then why bother with all these steps?

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

#135

Post by chasil »

gruez wrote: post #109
chasil wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Installing Lineage by itself will drastically reduce power consumption on many devices, as vendor bloat is wiped. A net gain is possible, even with ACC 80% in place.

With a Pixel, there is less bloat, so it is less of a factor with this particular device. However, you don't get the full suite of Chrome/Maps/Gmail/Drive/Photos/etc. installed by default, and what you have not installed will not drain your battery.

In any case, one would hope that Google's safeguards are equaled by ACC.

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

#136

Post by homebrewer »

lynndotpy wrote: post #122
kristopolous wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I feel this a lot. Android's used to differentiate themselves from iPhones by having useful technical features at a competitive price. I used to be die-hard pro-Android, but now I can find very few reasons to buy one. Now the Android UI is sparse and wobbly, Androids lost call recording, sideloading is limited, and they raised their prices to cost as much as iPhones. Meanwhile, iPhones got call recording, they opened…

This comment equates Android with Google phones for some reason. The complaints have nothing to do with Android — side loading is light years ahead of Apple (and third party application stores can finally automatically update applications). Call recording works fine on my friend's Xiaomi 14T (I think) that he bought just a couple of weeks ago, and it works fine on my own device that's on latest Lineage (Android 15). There's lots of choice in UI depending on which vendor you're going with; I'm fine with stock Lineage (i.e. stock Android). There's lots of choice price wise (even the homeless have smartphones these days), while the cheapest iPhone costs about two median monthly salaries here.

Just don't buy anything from Google, they've always screwed something up.

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

#137

Post by spencerflem »

lynndotpy wrote: post #122
kristopolous wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I feel this a lot. Android's used to differentiate themselves from iPhones by having useful technical features at a competitive price. I used to be die-hard pro-Android, but now I can find very few reasons to buy one. Now the Android UI is sparse and wobbly, Androids lost call recording, sideloading is limited, and they raised their prices to cost as much as iPhones. Meanwhile, iPhones got call recording, they opened…

Same- I stick with them out of spite, since I refuse to use a device that doesn't allow replacing the OS or installing your own software ("sideloading")

But they're pretty clearly worse as phones and I'll go to my grave mad about the headphone jack.

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

#138

Post by KORraN »

ptspts wrote: post #82

Is it possible to decline this update on the UI of an internet-connected Pixel 4a? Mine has already updated, and I'm wondering if I had a chance to say no.

I'm getting prompts to restart in order to update. So far (~2 weeks), I was able to dismiss them.

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

#139

Post by AnthonyMouse »

kllrnohj wrote: post #67
OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google 4a user here. They pushed an update while I was on a ski trip in Korea - I updated an hour before getting on my bus and.. the application launcher started crashing on unlock. I couldn't open any apps. Thankfully, I was able to get into the settings and switch to Lawnchair without a working "desktop UI", but without a second application launcher I would have been totally screwed. I checked the Play Store afterw…

> Why can't Windows and Android provide such a feature? Windows does. Android "can't" because the OS is a partition image with libraries not intended to be updated piecemeal, not a collection of loosely related external projects like Linux is.

Nothing actually requires Android to be that way. They chose poorly but every new release is an opportunity to fix it.

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

#140

Post by burningChrome »

chasil wrote: post #104
OliveMate wrote: post #75

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…

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

Unless you have researched this and are comfortable doing these things, this is not something that's easy to do. I bricked my OnePlus Nord100 not once, but TWICE trying to install Ubuntu Touch.

It happened because the Nord100 shipped with a more current Android version (11.xx) and Ubuntu can only be installed over two very specific versions (10.xx) on the Nord. I bricked it once thinking it could be installed over the 11 version. Then I had to figure out how to reflash the phone back to the 10 version, then run the UBports installer.

I was lucky because I bought the Nord100 for like $50 on ebay so it wasn't a big deal if I wasn't able to unbrick the phone, but if you do this to a more expensive phone, the consequences are a lot more expensive.

I love Lineage OS and have it running on a Pixel 4XL, but my experience flashing and re-flashing the phone several times, and all the work I went into just to get UT running on that phone, really dampened my enthusiasm to ever do this again.

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