Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency • Hacker News Board

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#271

Post by mips_r4300i » Sun, Oct 01, 2023, 5:46 PM UTC

nneonneo wrote: post #6

This article is about an incident from just last month, but the fact that there are 20+ failure reports over just Feb 2022-Jan 2023 ( https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_compi... ), across multiple Pixel models, is insane. There’s something seriously wrong here.

My pixel 4a was unable to place a simple 800 call last week, even after rebooting twice.

I was manually entering the number on the dial pad, and the call would never initiate.

Finally, I created a dummy contact with the number and then it finally worked.

I now have a phone that isn't a phone.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#272

Post by Aerbil313 » Mon, Oct 02, 2023, 4:12 AM UTC

bufio wrote: post #218

exabrial wrote: post #71

When I had a Pixel4, I witnessed a car accident in which someone got hurt quite substantially. Hard as a tried, the process of dialing 911 failed multiple times; the phone app simply crashed and left me with a blank screen or the home screen. I put a complaint in with my carrier but nothing was ever done. And of course Google could give 0 fucks with their customer support. A few months later, I needed to call 911 for…

Software is a mess.

It will get mature like any other industry, however I cannot see how that happens before another century or two. The field's unfulfilled potential is just too big.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#273

Post by Typhon » Mon, Oct 02, 2023, 6:50 AM UTC

TheHappyOddish wrote: post #268

clnq wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My colleague once told me that the reason telecom providers took so long with Android software updates was because they had to verify that the phone meets regulatory requirements after the update. One of these requirements was being able to dial 112 (Europe's 911) very thoroughly. There was a legally prescribed process (by BNetzA, IIRC) for doing that in Germany. After a quick Google search, it seems like there is so…

> 112 (Europe's 911) Small point, but many (most?) countries support 112, and it's definitely worth knowing as "911" likely won't work outside of the US.

Dialing 911 in the EU can redirect you to 112, though I don't know how that redirection works. It's worth knowing the local emergency numbers in any case

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#274

Post by prmoustache » Mon, Oct 02, 2023, 8:53 AM UTC

TheHappyOddish wrote: post #267

prmoustache wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, how many times in your life do you call 911? I am in my forties and I maybe used my local equivalent 3 times and in every occurence someone else could have made the call. And I've only used my mobile phone since my late 20's, it is not like I buy smartphones for emergency purposes.

> it is not like I buy smartphones for emergency purposes How strange. That's the main reason I expect most people (especially on HN) would own a mobile phone at all. The ability to be contactable/make contact in an emergency is the greatest value it holds, surely?

Well I got my first mobile phone for emergency purposes, but not to call emergency services. I did it to receive nagios alerts at the time.

Now I only have a smartphone because it is more convenient than a landline one, that it serves multiple purposes (navigation system, music player, compact camera, voice recorder, web browser, wallet...) and because banks in europe are making it a requirement if you don't want to go in line to their office or an ATM for basic things.

It is not like it would serve much for emergency purposes because I rarely have any cell coverage when I would need it the most[1]

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#275

Post by aners_xyz » Mon, Oct 02, 2023, 4:02 PM UTC

yolovoe wrote: post #77

I used to have a Pixel 2 XL and then later a Pixel 5a. Went through them really fast as the hardware was pretty bad and the phone would just decide to stop turning on at some point. Same thing happened to a relative I gave a Pixel 5a. Phone didn't last a year. Don't get me started on the Pixel buds. I got tired of contacting customer support for replacements. That's when I decided not to buy hardware from Google agai…

Got gifted a pair of pixel buds gen 2. I liked them. Accidentally sent them through a wash cycle killing the left one. Eventually straight up lost the left one. Thought nothing of it until I changed phones and realized a hardware limitation meant you needed both to pair to a new device. Dumb but I needed a new one anyways so…

I contacted support after not seeing spares were being sold. They gave me an 25$ store credit… Ended up selling the case and working earbud and getting a different brand.

Recently changed phones and them pulling the headphone jack from the A series after the 5 was a non-starter for me. I still use wired headphones and plug my aux into my car and other places :/ kinda mind boggling