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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

#61

Post by starkparker »

sacckey wrote: post #33

This reminded me of when my Nexus 5X went into a boot loop.

This reminds me of when Google's last update to the 2012 wi-fi Nexus 7 botched its TRIM implementation, which made everyone think its shitty eMMC was to blame. I held onto mine sort of as a joke for more than a decade.

I only just found out a month ago that the Android update caused its performance to tank, then put LineageOS on it, and was shocked to find that 13-year-old tablet was not only still usable but actually kinda good.

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

#62

Post by OsrsNeedsf2P »

j1elo wrote: post #51

I'm (we all are) constantly reminded to update our phones to latest available updates, but sh*t like this is what teaches users to instead disable and ignore updates indefinitely, under the premise of "if it works don't touch it" (addendum: "... because most probably an update will break it") And here I am, ignoring updates on my Pixel 6a since October 2024 (there were reports of crashes or bricking, what a surprise)…

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 afterwards and saw hundreds of people with the same issue.

On Linux I can choose which "security" updates to install, and only install those. Why can't Windows and Android provide such a feature?

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

#64

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

j1elo wrote: post #51

I'm (we all are) constantly reminded to update our phones to latest available updates, but sh*t like this is what teaches users to instead disable and ignore updates indefinitely, under the premise of "if it works don't touch it" (addendum: "... because most probably an update will break it") And here I am, ignoring updates on my Pixel 6a since October 2024 (there were reports of crashes or bricking, what a surprise)…

I think security updates are mostly BS designed to make users voluntarily give up control. Almost nobody would ever be affected by these CVEs but the ceding of control affects everyone.

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

#65

Post by TonyTrapp »

OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #62
j1elo wrote: post #51

I'm (we all are) constantly reminded to update our phones to latest available updates, but sh*t like this is what teaches users to instead disable and ignore updates indefinitely, under the premise of "if it works don't touch it" (addendum: "... because most probably an update will break it") And here I am, ignoring updates on my Pixel 6a since October 2024 (there were reports of crashes or bricking, what a surprise)…

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…

Stuff like this is why I keep printing entrance tickets and the like. I don't want to end up in a situation where I have to trust software that is known to have new bugs every months to get into a place without any sort of backup.

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

#66

Post by sega_sai »

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).

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

#67

Post by kllrnohj »

OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #62
j1elo wrote: post #51

I'm (we all are) constantly reminded to update our phones to latest available updates, but sh*t like this is what teaches users to instead disable and ignore updates indefinitely, under the premise of "if it works don't touch it" (addendum: "... because most probably an update will break it") And here I am, ignoring updates on my Pixel 6a since October 2024 (there were reports of crashes or bricking, what a surprise)…

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.

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

#69

Post by alistairSH »

deng wrote: post #17
zimbatm wrote: post #10

This needs more coverage. Perfectly good phones are getting thrown out because of a software update.

Google ended security updates for the Pixel 4a in August 2023, so running this as your daily driver was already problematic. Fortunately, LineageOS officially supports the 4a, and v22 (aka Android 15) was just released for it.

Isn't that just 3 years after release? Is that normal for Google phones? Yikes.

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

#70

Post by nunez »

ianbooker wrote: post #26
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…

How is the photo quality? I love the pictures from the old 12MP sensor + Googles software, but I understand this is not in Lineage?

Loved the photos from my 4a when I had it many years ago.

Videos, on the other hand...

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