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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

#291

Post by BoorishBears »

BoorishBears wrote: post #252
KORraN wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great comment, even though I'm concerned whether my Pixel is a ticking bomb now. The update has been downloaded to my device, but before installing it, I decided to check Reddit and found out the battery issues. Since then, I'm dismissing the update prompt, praying to not miss-click. The article got it wrong - even before the update has been published, Google already sent e-mail to registered users with a note that t…

Google products have consistently been timebombs. I recall the Nexus 7 which had storage that would grind to an unusable halt after a few years. They don't have the culture or the integration to properly support old devices the way Apple can. Everyone vilified Apple for CPU governers that extended device life by underclocking instead of browning out... this is the kind of behavior that would have deserved the backlas…

https://9to5google.com/2025/01/30/pixel-android-voluntary-ex...

> Google today announced a “voluntary exit program” for employees working in the Platforms & Devices group.

As if to make my point.

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

#292

Post by ikr678 »

compsciphd wrote: post #278
ikr678 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

wifi uses more power than cell data?

It seems to in my house - possibly the wifi signal is not strong enough where I leave my phone and it is constantly searching. I also find that on wifi data, apps constantly update and sync themselves - they don't do this on metered network data.

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

#293

Post by Zak »

toast0 wrote: post #259
Zak wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I like the parametric search, but searching a US retailer helps me focus on phones that are reasonable to source and use in the US. I could manage when GSM was two bands in the US, and usually two bands overseas and if you wanted a really neat phone you hoped it was quad band or at least tri band, because the really neat phones that were dual band were dual band on EU frequencies... now GSM Arena inevitably points me…

The GSMArena search does let you filter by bands, though I can imagine that getting tedious.

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

#294

Post by rjmorris »

josephcsible wrote: post #234
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_...

Google didn't announce anything. That's a message from a customer support rep to a single individual.

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

#295

Post by rjmorris »

OliveMate wrote: post #218
ChoGGi wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Dev options have a setting to not apply updates on reboot. I'm hoping that'll work if I forget.

I can say from experience that it doesn't. I get daily notifications & popups telling me that I'm X days out of date.

> I can say from experience that it doesn't.

No, I don't think you can say that. If you're getting daily notifications about being out of date, then you clearly haven't gotten the update yet. There are two possibilities: (1) You have rebooted. In this case, the dev option must have worked, because you rebooted and didn't get the update, exactly what the dev option promised. (2) You haven't rebooted. In this case, the dev option doesn't apply, because it specifically refers to what happens after you reboot.

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

#296

Post by rjmorris »

sega_sai wrote: post #66

I've updated a couple of weeks ago, but I already had a battery replaced last year, so I didn't notice anything untoward with the charge. I did however start to have a vertical green line on the screen that appears for a while, then disappears for a while. (it is possible the line is just a coincidence and an unrelated screen defect).

You were lucky. Lots of people who recently had their battery replaced (before the update was announced) were affected by this.

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

#297

Post by m463 »

kristopolous wrote: post #246
m463 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is something apple doesn't realize. They used to have a really good human factors/ui team. I remember Bruce Tognazzini and reading his blog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Tognazzini https://www.asktog.com/ I think I noticed around ios 7 things were getting bad. buttons didn't look like buttons, on-screen controls started being hidden, and form trumped function. Then like you said, ports disappeared…

Really I think technology lines can also suffer from Gramsci's interregnum.

interesting thought. (I had to look it up)

I wonder how you mean it. Is it that older products with good fundamentals are being replaced with younger quick-to-market technologies without those fundamentals, and different (possibly) wrong things get optimized?

Or is it experienced engineers with "well known" fundamentals are not involved in new products?

...

"Gramaci's Prison Notebooks that 'the crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear'"

"An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order."

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

#299

Post by terramars »

if this is due to that specific manufacturer having battery fires, i don't hate it as it seems like the battery replacement option is basically the same as a recall. completely different from a random bug causing it or an across-the-board EOL update. pixel longevity isn't great, but at least they're relatively easy to maintain and the device protection program is acceptable.
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