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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

#81

Post by Suppafly »

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…

>My least charitable view (and immediate reaction) is that they're purposely ruining a viable budget phone to make more sales.

My wife was using a pixel 4 until last year and upgraded to a 7, I took her old phone and switched it over to my info and used it for like 2 days before it got a random update and refused to ever work again. Her 7 just got an update a couple of days ago and the battery went dead and it refused to boot until it'd been plugged in for an hour and then would only boot into recovery mode before finally returning to normal. I think google just has something really screwed up with their update process.

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

#83

Post by coldpie »

hysan wrote: post #80
coldpie wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Assuming Android, install Firefox with uBlock Origin, and hide the Chrome and App Store launchers someplace deep?

It’s not an ad thing. It was an OS level accessibility feature dealing with text sizing and other reading related settings.

Sorry, I should have quoted your post. I was responding to this portion:

> now I’m trying to think of what I can do to secure their devices if they’re not going to update

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

#84

Post by Suppafly »

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…

>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.

I had that happen like a year ago while I was getting ready to go to a concert in another state. Luckily I was able to call my wife have her login to my gmail and forward my digital tickets to someone else in my party.

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

#85

Post by Suppafly »

TonyTrapp wrote: post #65
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…

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.

>Stuff like this is why I keep printing entrance tickets and the like.

I almost got completely screwed by my pixel updating right before a concert while I was already out of town. Luckily my wife was able to login to my computer and forward the tickets to someone else that I was with, but it was a close call because she was walking out the door to do something herself when I managed to get ahold of her.

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

#86

Post by kevincox »

ryandrake wrote: post #79
hysan wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was visiting my parents for the holidays and came across this exact mindset. I usually push them to update for security, but I learned that they stopped doing that this year. Apparently some update broke/removed/changed an accessibility feature on their phone in a way that I couldn’t figure out how to revert. My mom had updated her phone first so only she was affected. My dad now refuses to update his phone and bot…

The software industry has known how to do this for a very long time, but some companies refuse to do it. You maintain a "sustaining" branch just for security and other legitimately urgent fixes, and a main branch for everything else. Users are nudged more strongly to apply the sustaining fixes and the main update branch should be optional. We have immensely powerful version control and branching at developers' dispos…

But it isn't this simple, because you wouldn't need a single "maintaining" branch. You would need one for each feature release that the user may stop at.

So if you release the feature branch every 3 months after a few years you will have a dozen maintaining branches to backport fixes to, and in which to carefully test that the fix actually works. The problem is linearly worse if you release the feature branch more often.

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

#88

Post by eldaisfish »

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…

Nonsense like this is why I personally will never buy a google hardware product ever again.

It is also why it is so difficult to recommend an android phone because of google being an advert company first.

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

#89

Post by catlikesshrimp »

kevincox wrote: post #86
ryandrake wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The software industry has known how to do this for a very long time, but some companies refuse to do it. You maintain a "sustaining" branch just for security and other legitimately urgent fixes, and a main branch for everything else. Users are nudged more strongly to apply the sustaining fixes and the main update branch should be optional. We have immensely powerful version control and branching at developers' dispos…

But it isn't this simple, because you wouldn't need a single "maintaining" branch. You would need one for each feature release that the user may stop at. So if you release the feature branch every 3 months after a few years you will have a dozen maintaining branches to backport fixes to, and in which to carefully test that the fix actually works. The problem is linearly worse if you release the feature branch more of…

Or give the user the choice when first powering on the device.

Select: Base version that will only receive security updates. No changes in features. OR All updates

Edit: By "Base version" I mean the first software version for that device.

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

#90

Post by clircle »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #87

As soon as they dropped the Nexus line, things went downhill fast. IMO the nexus 5 was peak android.

Concur, switched to iPhone around this time, as Android just started to feel like a knock off iOS rather than an alternative.
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