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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

#231

Post by sangnoir »

aquasync wrote: post #164
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…

Thanks for the info! My pixel has already applied the update unfortunately - any ideas if switching to lineageos is still helpful in that case? They’re not offering the free battery replacement in Aus otherwise I’d do that - hard to be sure that getting a new battery in a local repair shop wouldn’t be similarly affected by the new limits (presumably some sort of blacklist on serial numbers?).

Installing Lineage should help battery life. @marcan[1] dissected the new update and puts the blames an overlay in the new kernel that changed the charge voltage.

1. https://social.treehouse.systems/@marcan/113914172433692339

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

#232

Post by zer0x4d »

wolpoli wrote: post #214
zer0x4d wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol this was the most blown out of proportion "gate" ever and a nothing burger really. The issue wasn't what Apple did, as it is a very common practice in the industry and I bet almost every other manufacturer did it too. The issue was that they didn't notify the user.

Could you tell me what companies did the same thing in the mobile phone industry? Did those companies notify the user?

I can guarantee you every Pixel, Samsung, or Huawei phone had similar functionality built in but was never scrutinized.

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

#233

Post by drowsspa »

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…

And then you can't access bank or government apps anymore... I used to root my phone, it's not worth it anymore

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

#234

Post by josephcsible »

deng wrote: post #12

You can revert this if you unlock your bootloader: https://xdaforums.com/t/undo-the-january-2025-update-without... (EDIT: Just to be clear, and which is also mentioned in that post: unlocking the bootloader will reset the device. If your device is already unlocked though, you will be able to keep the data.) Of course, I would just advise to switch to LineageOS directly, since Google has stopped providing security upd…

Be careful about doing that. Google announced that starting tomorrow, they're going to be remotely wiping all Pixel 4a's that aren't running the new update: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pixel4a/comments/1id6zw8/attention_...

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

#235

Post by chasil »

drowsspa wrote: post #233
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…

And then you can't access bank or government apps anymore... I used to root my phone, it's not worth it anymore

The Wells Fargo app runs on my Oneplus 5/Lineage. It is not rooted (with Magisk), but root adb is offered in developer settings.

Cisco Duo also runs on this device.

This will be a decision for the app vendor, but I'd rather get monthly updates than maintain a locked bootloader.

Uber has done some strange things.

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

#236

Post by Zak »

toast0 wrote: post #219
rolfvandekrol wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pixel 8a is fairly similar in size. Headphone jacks in phones are (sadly) gone forever i'm afraid.

> Headphone jacks in phones are (sadly) gone forever i'm afraid. Maybe from Google phones, for now? Possibly on smaller phones. But Best Buy sells 7 models with 5g and a headphone jack. There's almost certainly more if you shop a retailer with more variety, using Best Buy because they have decent filtering. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?_dyncharset=UTF-...

GSMArena has a great parametric search: https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3

Unfortunately, unlockable bootloader isn't one of the parameters available, and I consider it essential.

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

#237

Post by chasil »

sangnoir wrote: post #231
aquasync wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the info! My pixel has already applied the update unfortunately - any ideas if switching to lineageos is still helpful in that case? They’re not offering the free battery replacement in Aus otherwise I’d do that - hard to be sure that getting a new battery in a local repair shop wouldn’t be similarly affected by the new limits (presumably some sort of blacklist on serial numbers?).

Installing Lineage should help battery life. @marcan[1] dissected the new update and puts the blames an overlay in the new kernel that changed the charge voltage. 1. https://social.treehouse.systems/@marcan/113914172433692339

"So... this was built by a random engineer on their personal machine."

How did this random engineer command that all previous firmware images be taken offline?

Alternate ROMs look much safer right now.

Should this be submitted to HN separately?

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

#238

Post by chasil »

sangnoir wrote: post #231
aquasync wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the info! My pixel has already applied the update unfortunately - any ideas if switching to lineageos is still helpful in that case? They’re not offering the free battery replacement in Aus otherwise I’d do that - hard to be sure that getting a new battery in a local repair shop wouldn’t be similarly affected by the new limits (presumably some sort of blacklist on serial numbers?).

Installing Lineage should help battery life. @marcan[1] dissected the new update and puts the blames an overlay in the new kernel that changed the charge voltage. 1. https://social.treehouse.systems/@marcan/113914172433692339

What the hey, let's do it...

Random Google engineer on personal machine trashes Pixel 4a batteries in GPL violation

https://social.treehouse.systems/@marcan/113914172433692339

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

#239

Post by a2128 »

deng wrote: post #97
ndriscoll wrote: post #71

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…

It seems to me that at this point for the normal person, the biggest security issue is not that some hacker will hack their phone to steal their data and render their device unusable, but rather that Google will

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

#240

Post by ikr678 »

brailsafe wrote: post #207
JudasGoat wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 4a went from 3 day battery life to less than a day, immediately after the "update".

This seems surprisingly high to me, unless you're constantly on extreme power saving mode. I liked the 4a and still have it in a drawer, but replaced it partly because I couldn't order a new screen and the battery life was frustratingly terrible after a while

It doesnt have to be on powersaving- just by leaving wifi and bluetooth off I would regularly get 3 days on a charge.

Data is cheap where I live, but also I dont use my phone to stream music/video.

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