[HN Gopher] Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping use...
___________________________________________________________________
Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy
battery update
Author : bmaupin
Score : 225 points
Date : 2025-01-29 14:59 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.androidcentral.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.androidcentral.com)
| hengheng wrote:
| I'm typing this on a 3a XL that just refuses to die. Google's
| valuation of that device in the Store is the same, but they
| haven't switched it off. Guess I got lucky.
| rjbwork wrote:
| Am I the only one that had the immediate thought of "this seems
| intentional" when they read that they're offering the credit for
| a newer pixel?
| justinsaccount wrote:
| > Google has acknowledged the mess and offered compensation: a
| free battery replacement, $50 cash, or $100 credit toward a new
| Pixel.
| alt227 wrote:
| Yet when people have applied for this credit they either get
| no response, or told it will take several weeks (which is
| useless when they have just screwed your old phone)
| mottalli wrote:
| I applied for the $100 credit more than a week ago but it is at
| Google's discretion, and I've never heard back from them. Even
| if they offer the credit, I'm not interested anymore and I'll
| never use a Google Pixel again.
| Zak wrote:
| If a discount on a new Pixel was the only option, I'd suspect
| that. $50 cash is around 2/3 what a Pixel 4a goes for on Ebay.
| letwhile wrote:
| No, this is obviously an illegal scam.
| wonger_ wrote:
| Most believe that they're trying to prevent safety issues with
| overheating batteries. This update prevents the battery from
| being charged too much or too little.
| ComputerGuru wrote:
| Draining the battery from 100% to 0% in under an hour (as
| other commenters have mentioned) is the opposite of this, as
| that will necessarily dump a lot of heat.
| gertlex wrote:
| No, it's not actually draining the battery faster. It's
| setting low level limits on maximum and minimum charge
| levels. (and also the charge rate, further controlling heat
| issues)
|
| Some folks have hooked up devices between the phone and
| charge cable that do the coulomb counting (or similar), and
| (the one case I saw) showed that the phone is only taking
| in about 40% of the watt-hours that it was doing before the
| OTA update.
|
| From what I've seen, no one can point to any actual
| incidents with these phones being dangerously hot. But the
| google FAQ did have a "Yes you can still take the pixel 4a
| on flights", reminiscent of the samsung phone issue several
| years ago...
| traxys wrote:
| Could be that the new 100% and 0% are something like the
| old 80% and 20%
| patall wrote:
| If it is just that, they should have written so. Because what
| they wrote was that some devices may be affected from this
| optimization. Nothing general. And if this is really an
| issue, all those that now change to Lineage or Graphe will be
| an even bigger issue soon. Because in that case, Google knew,
| and did not say so.
|
| * Send from my now charging 4a
| mottalli wrote:
| I received the email from Google notifying me of this "battery
| performance update" for my Pixel 4A which actually _drains the
| battery faster_ , so it left me scratching my head wondering what
| a "performance update" is for Google.
|
| After the update, my battery was depleted at an alarming rate. I
| applied for the $100 voucher but I've never heard back from
| Google. So I decided to bite the bullet and moved to iPhone
| instead. Apple might not be the best, but this was the last straw
| for me.
| gertlex wrote:
| I'm a weirdo who carries two pixel 4as. I'm also waiting for a
| response regarding the $100 voucher on one of my phones... My
| other one I took in for the free battery replacement, and
| that's doing OK.
|
| But yeah, I was planning to go for a Pixel 9 or 9a (when that's
| been out for a while), but this forcing of the hand by google
| is absolute BS, and the alternatives are unsatisfactory.
| segasaturn wrote:
| I recently ordered a Fairphone 5, imported from the UK. Stock
| Android experience, replaceable battery, SD card slot,
| unlocked bootloader and modding is encouraged. Its basically
| what the Pixel (Nexus) line was originally supposed to be.
| alt227 wrote:
| You dont remember batterygate then?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate
| zer0x4d wrote:
| 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.
| jeromegv wrote:
| It was the opposite, slowing down the processor to preserve
| the battery (when a battery was quite old).
| tocs3 wrote:
| Would grapheneos (https://grapheneos.org/) help with this? I am
| using a pixel 4a as a "house phone" so it is plugged in all the
| time but I wonder if I should upgrade.
| gertlex wrote:
| In the sense that it was a perfectly good phone, and still
| works with e.g. various bank apps or whatever... and I got
| tired of jail-break/customization stuff of smart devices about
| a decade ago... the extra work to wipe everything and explore a
| new world of things that might turn out to be broken isn't what
| I'd consider a reasonable option. :/
| gausswho wrote:
| Things have come a long way. The GrapheneOS installation in
| particular is very straightforward. And most banks work just
| fine as apps, and if not via their website.
| sifar wrote:
| I use GrapheneOS on my pixel 4a ever since I got it a few
| years ago. Installation is straightforward and it is a best
| of both worlds - you can install and run android apps from
| the playstore in a sandbox.
| gertlex wrote:
| I have three... I should try this... but so many other
| projects :'(
| badmintonbaseba wrote:
| > Since this is a major release, the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5
| have not been ported to Android 14 QPR2 as part our initial
| release. We need to determine whether it makes sense to move
| these end-of-life devices to Android 14 QPR2 or keep them on a
| legacy extended support release branch based on the last
| Android 14 QPR1 release.
|
| https://grapheneos.org/releases#2024030600
| sifar wrote:
| I own a pixel 4a with grapheneOS - I received a couple of os
| updates in the last week, haven't run into this issue yet. Will
| see.
| nelblu wrote:
| I use pixel 3 with https://calyxos.org/ as a home phone to play
| music, record videos, pictures etc. Calyxos is still providing
| extended support for 4a, but microG doesn't work as well
| compared to sandboxed google play services on grapheneos (which
| i use on my 7a). So if google services are not too important go
| ahead with calyxos.
| unethical_ban wrote:
| Why don't they build a rollback "update" if they wiped the old
| firmware?
| izzydata wrote:
| First they have to wait for the maximum number of people to buy
| new phones.
| gertlex wrote:
| They as in google?
|
| This happened in a few stages:
|
| Rollout of the new release (Jan 8 or so; I got it maybe Jan
| 16?)
|
| Folks showed you could get the old update (I don't recall
| specifics) and block the OTA URLs (developer settings I think?)
| to prevent re-update.
|
| Google decided to make it harder to get the old firmware.
|
| I couldn't be arsed to wipe my phone, so am just living with
| the new shitty future for now.
| zimbatm wrote:
| This needs more coverage. Perfectly good phones are getting
| thrown out because of a software update.
| deng wrote:
| 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.
| red_trumpet wrote:
| That point is so weird: Why offer a "performance update" 1.5
| years after the end of security updates?
| bdndndndbve wrote:
| Given the sudden urgency and pulling the old software, I'm
| assuming they're trying to avoid aging batteries exploding.
| patall wrote:
| But then they should indicate that. Which they don't.
| alistairSH wrote:
| Isn't that just 3 years after release? Is that normal for
| Google phones? Yikes.
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| For older Google phones (as well as most other Android
| ones) it is the standard. (AFAIU this was mostly due to
| Qualcomm's policies and lack of pushback from Google et
| al.) Newer Google ones get 5-7 years[1], and Samsung has
| also switched to a similar support term (but keep in mind
| that only Samsung's flagships get monthly security
| updates).
|
| [1] https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705
| ndriscoll wrote:
| 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.
| deng wrote:
| 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 update. They are in the
| Bluetooth stack.
| chasil wrote:
| Just curious, does current LineageOS close these CVEs?
|
| I know they pull firmware from disparate devices when
| possible.
| deng wrote:
| I didn't check each one explicitly, but it looks
| promising
|
| https://review.lineageos.org/q/gatt_sr.cc
| ndriscoll wrote:
| So I'm not terribly familiar with Bluetooth. Are these
| something that can be exploited by an unpaired device?
|
| "Google Android on a Pixel 4a is vulnerable to remote
| code execution by arbitrary nearby wireless devices" is
| certainly a better reason to not use one than "security
| updates have ended".
| deng wrote:
| > So I'm not terribly familiar with Bluetooth. Are these
| something that can be exploited by an unpaired device?
|
| Who knows, someone would need to write an actual exploit
| for these. Just quickly skim through the Android security
| bulletins at
|
| https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin
|
| and you'll see that every month lots and lots of CVEs are
| fixed with at least high or even critical severity in
| various stacks. If you're running a phone that hasn't
| received updates since August 2023, you can assume that
| you have dozens of remotely exploitable bugs on your
| system. The security track record of Android is
| absolutely terrible.
|
| That phone hacking is not a big thing is simply because
| it's usually much easier for a hacker to get into the
| cloud services people use instead through targeted
| phishing attacks. If that makes you feel safe using a
| phone without updates, then good for you, but don't claim
| these updates aren't actually fixing serious bugs every
| month.
| ndriscoll wrote:
| The fact that their bulletins say that there are high and
| critical vulnerabilities every month is sort of my point.
| Is this thing actually critical? Can you only send the
| vulnerable commands _after_ you have paired? [0] suggests
| these are used after pairing, but like I said I 'm not
| familiar enough with BT. If that's the case though, "User
| interaction is not needed for exploitation" is
| misleading; I'm not going to pair with random devices, so
| I'm not concerned. I see that with other vulnerabilities
| too. e.g. CVE-2024-31320 from last year is "critical",
| and says "there is a possible way to establish a
| companion device association without any confirmation due
| to CDM. User interaction is not needed for exploitation."
| Except if I'm understanding correctly, you need to
| install a malicious app, and what it does is let that app
| use a bluetooth device without asking. Big whoop, that's
| how _everything_ works on desktop, and it 's fine.
|
| The problem is the security industry has such a low
| signal:noise ratio that it makes sense to just ignore
| everything they say as a user. They're constantly lying
| and saying there are important security updates when
| there aren't, and that everything is high/critical
| severity when it isn't. In a corporate setting, you just
| unthinkingly update to check boxes, but as an individual,
| it makes no sense to do that. And with Android, you have
| to take possibly undesirable feature updates to get
| kernel or system library updates. For some products,
| security updates are to "secure" the device against its
| owner! Advisories are often lacking enough information to
| be able to evaluate impact, which further makes it clear
| that the people publishing them are to be viewed with a
| skeptical eye.
|
| It should be immediately obvious whether this is
| exploitable by random passersby (if it actually is)
| without me having to go learn how bluetooth works at a
| protocol level. "Don't think about it and just update,
| install a new OS, or buy new devices" is not a useful
| attitude.
|
| Things don't become end of life when they stop receiving
| updates. They become finished. Whether and for what
| purposes they continue to be useful requires ongoing
| judgement.
|
| [0] https://learn.adafruit.com/introduction-to-bluetooth-
| low-ene...
| patall wrote:
| I assume its a responsibility thing. If your bank login
| gets hacked on a no longer supported phone, you cannot
| point at other issues since you were not uptodate anymore.
| Even if it doesn't matter.
|
| *Written from my 4a.
| dont__panic wrote:
| There's been a lot of activity on Reddit and Android tech news
| websites. /r/Pixel4a has been absolutely busy with activity
| lately, lots of people asking for help.
|
| Decent summary post here:
| https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/techblog/2025/01/09/th...
| quercusa wrote:
| My wife was affected by this. When she applied for the $100
| credit, she was told it could take up to three weeks to get the
| credit form.
| netghost wrote:
| Which is just awesome when your current phone is broken.
|
| I posted about it and they suggested that I keep a backup phone
| available at all times, thanks folks.
| deng wrote:
| 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 updates for the Pixel
| 4a already in August 2023. I've run LineageOS for years on the
| Pixel 4a and it has worked pretty much perfectly for me:
|
| https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/sunfish/
|
| Android 15 (LineageOS 22) was just released for it.
| ianbooker wrote:
| How is the photo quality? I love the pictures from the old 12MP
| sensor + Googles software, but I understand this is not in
| Lineage?
| Zak wrote:
| The Pixel camera app is available from the Play Store, and
| there are third-party ports of Gcam to other devices that
| offer extra configuration options.
| https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/
| deng wrote:
| Well, they are good enough for me, but to be honest, I'm not
| particularly picky... As said in a parallel post, you can get
| GCam in APK form (I run LineageOS without GApps) but I hear
| it's a bit trial&error to find one that works and I haven't
| bothered.
| j1elo wrote:
| I'd also be interested to know if a Google Camera app
| installed post-facto to LineageOS is compatible with the
| remote control & viewfinder of the Pixel Watch.
| nunez wrote:
| Loved the photos from my 4a when I had it many years ago.
|
| Videos, on the other hand...
| matja wrote:
| Are these not the old images? :
| https://developers.google.com/android/images#bramble
| joombaga wrote:
| Right page, wrong anchor. They removed all but the latest
| firmware for the "sunfish", i.e. the non-5g Pixel 4a.
|
| https://developers.google.com/android/images#sunfish
| Sateeshm wrote:
| Best phone I've ever used. Still going great after 4 years. Don't
| know how long it will last. There doesn't seem to be anything
| available with similar form factor.
| timerol wrote:
| What makes the form factor better than others in the series?
| I'm curious since I've only owned a Pixel 3a and a Pixel 6a
| Zak wrote:
| No current phone from any manufacturer that's reasonably
| desirable is as small as the 4a, and few of any size have a
| headphone jack.
| rolfvandekrol wrote:
| Pixel 8a is fairly similar in size. Headphone jacks in
| phones are (sadly) gone forever i'm afraid.
| Zak wrote:
| The 8a is 3mm wider, 8mm taller, and 45g heavier. Perhaps
| that's not a _huge_ difference, but I already consider
| the 4a too big. I will likely continue not upgrading as
| long as LineageOS and the hardware remain usable.
| jakub_g wrote:
| FWIW I was on Pixel 3a until last month; bought Pixel 6
| in the meantime, but it was too big and heavy to carry
| around, so I only used it as a "tablet", only at home.
|
| Just updated to Pixel 8 and it fits the hand very well
| (including Spigen Liquid Air cover), and doesn't feel too
| heavy. Have a few friends who got Pixel 8 last month on
| sale as well and they all confirm.
| dns_snek wrote:
| I switched from 4a to 8a. The weight difference is
| substantial and really noticable at first. I've gotten
| used to it now and it runs great with GrapheneOS, but it
| marked an end of an era of smaller, lighter phones for
| me.
| beretguy wrote:
| 5.81" is not small. Even 4.7" iPhones are not small. 4" is
| the perfect size for a smartphone.
| keyringlight wrote:
| I looked into this because I find I want something I can
| stuff into a trouser pocket. The only reasonably viable
| android option was a Sony Xperia XZ2 compact, from 2018 on
| android 10. You can put lineage on it which is currently
| maintained, but that has the downsides of not passing
| device integrity which some apps will check, or being
| willing to constantly play cat and mouse to spoof it. Sony
| also apparently wipe a partition with a little DRM blob for
| the camera, which degrades some aspect of its post
| processing capabilities so image quality might be less.
| There's also the iPhone SE3 which is currently in support
|
| I ended up getting a 'regular' sized samsung only slightly
| larger than the one it's replacing, but at least modern
| phones seem to be getting longer software support periods
| (assuming there's no nasty surprises included).
| ausaus wrote:
| Replaced my 4a with a similar sized Moto Edge 30 Neo. Overall,
| much better hardware quality. I had a warranty replacement for
| the 4a due to cracks around the headphone jack, also happened
| to the replacement but that wasn't replaced.
|
| The Moto was half the price of the 4a and is still receiving
| updates.
| wonger_ wrote:
| It's frustrating. My phone went from 100% to 0% in under an hour.
| I could not rely on it for a typical workday. Thankfully my job
| does not require my personal phone, and thankfully the update
| happened on the weekend. Imagine seeing this Monday morning
| before work. Who has time to fiddle with firmware? And who has
| time to set up a new phone in the middle of a workweek,
| especially if you're switching to a non-Pixel phone?
|
| The small credit does not cover the cost of inconvenience.
| stephaner wrote:
| Same problem here (a few hours of battery life and it's very slow
| to charge now). This update makes no sense at all, excepted if
| you want to force your users to buy a new phone.
|
| For me, it should be a RED flag on the Pixel lineup and on the
| confidence in Google.
|
| I filled https://www.stopobsolescence.org/.
| bbarnett wrote:
| Just bought a pixel 9 pro fold. I am now returning it. Tricks
| like this mean I won't be a customer.
| sacckey wrote:
| This reminded me of when my Nexus 5X went into a boot loop.
| starkparker wrote:
| 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.
| fumeux_fume wrote:
| My spouse had to buy a new phone because of this issue. Neither
| of us got any notification about the battery issue. Even if we
| did, what Google is offering here isn't great. We tried to get
| the battery replaced, but was told that the process could likely
| break the screen and jack up the cost to nearly the original
| purchase price. Sending the phone in for repair also isn't a good
| solution because she needs it for auth at work. What a mess.
| MaximilianEmel wrote:
| See also:
| https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Pixel_4a_Battery_Perform...
| pkaye wrote:
| My spouse and I have the same situation but strangely but my
| phone seems much better while my spouse's phone drains very
| quickly. We just took it in for a battery replacement at the
| Google store and should be picking it up soon.
| j1elo wrote:
| 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) and
| planning to keep doing that for the foreseeable future.
|
| Sucks having to choose between a potentially (even likely, seeing
| the trend) broken device or an unsecured one. Pick your poison.
| OsrsNeedsf2P wrote:
| 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?
| TonyTrapp wrote:
| 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.
| Suppafly wrote:
| >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.
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| This works until you start attending events that require
| you to present your cell phone for entrance
| encom wrote:
| What? For what purpose? I've never heard of or
| encountered this.
| geoffpado wrote:
| Some concerts have tickets that refresh every N seconds,
| ostensibly to prevent counterfeiting.
| https://conduition.io/coding/ticketmaster/
|
| In this case, if you don't have a phone that can display
| Ticketmaster's code, you're just SOL, since they decided
| to break being able to just print out your code.
| kllrnohj wrote:
| > 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.
| AnthonyMouse wrote:
| Nothing actually requires Android to be that way. They
| chose poorly but every new release is an opportunity to fix
| it.
| kllrnohj wrote:
| > They chose poorly
|
| Did they? Immutable system images are a pretty solid
| feature to have. It's a lot less "fall over broken as
| shit randomly" than desktop Linux is...
| Suppafly wrote:
| >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.
| eldaisfish wrote:
| 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.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| The other side of the coin is that the Pixels are one of
| the few (only?) devices supported by GrapheneOS.
|
| (My Pixel 6 is rock solid on that by the way.)
| eldaisfish wrote:
| I had a nexus 5x and then a pixel 4a. The latter I bought
| used as a burner phone.
|
| This is the core problem - it is a roll of the dice
| whether your hardware will work five years from today.
|
| I'm less concerned about the software but that is also a
| problem.
|
| Meanwhile, my iPhone SE from 2016 still works as
| advertised.
| ycombinatrix wrote:
| apple is an advertising company too. what's the
| alternative?
| AnthonyMouse wrote:
| Something like CalyxOS on Fairphone, presumably.
| 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
| Apple _also has_ an advertising company. And they track
| you, but they get money by selling you stuff mostly. I'm
| deep into the Apple ecosystem system and they don't force
| updates, try to upsell me every time updates are
| installed. I have no ads on the apps I use. They are
| quite happy for you to fork over gobs of money and call
| it a day.
|
| Googles primary source of income is ads. All this stuff
| they do is the primary way they get money. People need to
| stop being surprised this is where they ended up.
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| 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.
| hysan wrote:
| 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 both of them have
| completely stopped updating for fear that something else will
| "break". I can't really blame them, but it does worry me and
| now I'm trying to think of what I can do to secure their
| devices if they're not going to update.
| coldpie wrote:
| Hmm. Assuming Android, install Firefox with uBlock Origin,
| and hide the Chrome and App Store launchers someplace deep?
| hysan wrote:
| It's not an ad thing. It was an OS level accessibility
| feature dealing with text sizing and other reading related
| settings.
| coldpie wrote:
| 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
| hysan wrote:
| Gotcha. That might help somewhat but it wouldn't solve
| the "never update Android or any other app" problem. I'd
| also have to get them used to using a new browser. It's a
| larger problem that their trust in tech was easily
| (possibly irreversibly) broken after years of me slowly
| convincing them and getting them used to letting their
| devices update. They are even older now and having had a
| stint working in the senior care tech space, I know that
| trying to tech the older generation to use tech safely is
| a very high hurdle. Now that I don't live near them, I'm
| not sure that's a hurdle that can be easily overcome.
| ryandrake wrote:
| 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' disposal, much better than at any past time I can
| think of. Yet, most companies insist on having a single
| release that increments, and users must take everything or
| nothing whenever they update.
|
| Phone/OS manufacturers are actually better than most, and
| both major operating systems do provide security updates in
| parallel with major (feature) updates, but only for a very
| short amount of time.
| kevincox wrote:
| 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.
| catlikesshrimp wrote:
| 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.
| rincebrain wrote:
| This was, I believe, the problem that Microsoft wanted to
| resolve with their gradual burndown of WSUS - a lot of
| shops (including one I used to work at) would selectively
| roll out updates based on whether they thought they were
| relevant, resulting in an explosion of configurations
| that Microsoft had absolutely never tested against, and
| naturally, a lot of breakage.
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| This doesn't really jive with reality as Windows is
| plenty buggy in the presence or absence of the latest
| updates. Microsoft has slowly eliminated end user
| controls over updates because it would interfere with
| their ability to monetize their customer base. You can't
| really push a telemetry update, if updates aren't being
| applied.
| AnthonyMouse wrote:
| > 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.
|
| This has been solved by LTS releases for some time. You
| have a newest release branch that gets feature updates
| immediately and an LTS branch which has a full release
| e.g. once every two or three years, at which point it
| catches up on features to the then-current newest release
| branch. The newest release branch doesn't have long-term
| support and you're expected to take the latest feature
| update, the LTS branch gets only security updates, the
| user can choose between the two or three LTS releases
| currently in the support window or the newest release
| branch.
| jennyholzer wrote:
| "This has been solved" is an arrogant way to put it.
| xethos wrote:
| Frankly, even the scarequotes around break feel misplaced.
| Your Mom can't use the device like she wants to. An
| accessibility feature is gone to the point you can't get it
| back. That feels pretty broken to me.
| hysan wrote:
| Yeah, you're probably right. I just wanted to write my
| anecdotal experience in a way that would avoid the "you're
| holding it wrong" crowd because the point is how this leads
| to broken trust, not whatever broken feature it is.
| behnamoh wrote:
| The way Google botched the Android 11 update to my Pixel 4a was
| the nail in the coffin in convincing me to go back to iPhone. I
| don't want to upgrade my Android and see a totally different UI
| every single time. I want consistency and I don't want Google
| to mess with things that already work. This is very childish on
| their side and just shows that Google engineers and managers
| don't use their own products.
| ycombinatrix wrote:
| >I don't want Google to mess with things that already work.
|
| Unfortunately, that is exactly how Google rewards performance
| internally
| spencerflem wrote:
| It's crazy- I feel like outside of videogames, and sometimes
| programming languages, almost every single "update" makes
| things worse.
|
| They shuffle the UI around, or put in more ads, or recently-
| add some new AI feature. Genuinely can't remember the last OS
| or App update I've been happy about.
|
| Makes me sad to think of all the developers working long hours
| just to make their users upset.
| lnauta wrote:
| My pixel 4a lasted about 3 hours before the update, now its about
| an hour. Even with the discount in the store, it was cheaper to
| get the pixel 8a and some cash from a local vendor. The ticket to
| get the reimbursement went surprisingly fast, still waiting on
| money though.
|
| Yesterday I got my new 8a, installed grapheneos and it works very
| well! So far no massive issues. When I tried this on the 4a some
| years ago, netflix complained about general certificate stuff and
| casting was broken, microG et al was barely holding on. Now, no
| problems at all!
| zitterbewegung wrote:
| I've been running GraphiteOS on my Pixel 4a (it is a backup
| phone) and obviously it doesn't have the battery update but I can
| attest that it works great with it.
| netghost wrote:
| This destroyed my phone, and their appeasement process was
| terrible too. There was no way for me to find out whether there
| was a supported repair shop nearby, the $50 cash was apparently
| through a very dodgy company, and then $100 google store credit
| didn't disclose that it's "upon review within three weeks" until
| after you irrevocably chose the option.
|
| The whole thing is ridiculous and poorly handled. Sadly, if my
| phone had just cracked or failed to turn on, I'd probably have
| upgraded happily and moved on with my life. As it is, now I feel
| like something was taken from me. So it goes
| chasil wrote:
| Here is a map of the stores:
|
| https://images.ctfassets.net/d9ybqgejqp0w/7hP2z3Oyn8xH4TvFJt...
|
| You can schedule an appointment here:
|
| https://asurion.com
|
| A retired coworker got a 4a off eBay two years ago, and it's
| eligible for a free battery replacement.
| chabad360 wrote:
| Speaking as a Pixel 4a customer with this update: I received the
| update, and like everyone else, my phone battery started draining
| incredibly quickly. However, after getting the free battery
| replacement, my phone's battery has returned to draining as
| normal (and on the plus side, has somewhat renewed the life of
| this phone).
| kpeeters wrote:
| Ditto. Replaced battery, phone is as new.
| snovymgodym wrote:
| I'm glad it worked out for you.
|
| The problem is, the Pixel 4a is not designed to have the
| battery be swapped and it's common to break screens and other
| parts of the phone in the process. You can look up what's
| involved and it's no surprise that this is the case.
|
| It's basically a nice little case of hardware and software
| anti-consumer policies working together to break people's
| devices and force them to consume more.
|
| Without legislation nothing will change.
| snailmailstare wrote:
| I think the EU is fixing it for the pixel 11a and up.
| rwoerz wrote:
| I wonder why these "forced updates till kaputt" do not fall under
| (malicious) property damage. It is not just Google: My Amazon
| Kindle gets less and less responsive the last years without any
| noteworthy functional improvements. Same for the Firestick.
| wobfan wrote:
| There's a nice video about this from Louis Rossmann [1] that
| talks about this in detail and tries to find some reasons for it,
| and he seems to suggest that the update was never about improving
| the battery life as in getting more usage per charge out of the
| battery, but improving it as in limiting the battery full charge
| capacity to minimize potential problems with it, because he (and
| others) assume that they identified bad batches and are trying to
| fix potential problems with them by limiting it.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xboo6sV-cJU
| NotPractical wrote:
| If you prefer reading over watching (thanks @MaximilianEmel):
| https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Pixel_4a_Battery_Perform...
| tonymet wrote:
| He's a great advocate for right-to-repair . we have a crisis
| that few people are concerned about.
| donclark wrote:
| I resolved this problem on my Pixel 4a by installing graphene OS.
| YMMV.
| klaff wrote:
| Did you install GrapheneOS before or after the problematic
| update from google?
| donclark wrote:
| After the update from Google, my 4a did not seem to hold a
| charge like it did before. I read the reviews/risks and
| thought that my easiest options were to either roll-back the
| OS update, or finally give GrapheneOS a try.
| klaff wrote:
| ty
| sega_sai wrote:
| 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).
| nunez wrote:
| wow. i was actually considering getting a 4a as the lynchpin for
| my move back to Android (as no small Android phones exist
| anymore).
|
| anyway, iPhone 13 Mini until it dissolves into dust.
| OliveMate wrote:
| 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 11/2 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 and want to mitigate a repeat of the
| Galaxy Note 7 without saying it outright and causing a panic.
|
| My least charitable view (and immediate reaction) is that they're
| purposely ruining a viable budget phone to make more sales.
|
| Either of these are terrible. At no point has Google came out and
| stated -why- they're pushing this update in the first place. And
| as someone who hasn't updated I'd really like to know if my phone
| presents an immediate threat (and I'm sure Governments and
| airlines would also like to know) before I remotely consider an
| update that'll practically destroy my device.
|
| On top of this, within a day of being notified about this update,
| Google drastically raised the price of new Pixels on their store.
| Again if I'm charitable it could just be _automatic global market
| price_ updates, but that goes out the window when Google must
| have prepared this update, FAQs, support plans, etc, then
| released it just before said price updates. The $100 discount
| recourse doesn 't go far when the 8a jumped from PS379 to PS499.
| It's hard not to feel suspicious about it.
|
| While I'm here, I did briefly write about my experiences with the
| 4a, though I'm far from a competent tech writer:
| https://callmeo.live/blog/ode-to-the-pixel-4a/
| Suppafly wrote:
| >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.
| kristopolous wrote:
| I am still on a 4a.
|
| I really hate how in subsequent generations, they faithfully
| cloned Apple's design decisions of removing ports and making
| the device gigantic.
|
| "For customers who are dissatisfied with iphones,
|
| Our product is a slightly different iphone-like device."
|
| I mean come on now, what the hell...
|
| About twice a decade google makes a good phone and the others
| are just iphone knockoffs
| silon42 wrote:
| Also the OS is copying Apple, making it worse.
| lynndotpy wrote:
| I feel this a lot. Android's used to differentiate themselves
| from iPhones by having useful technical features at a
| competitive price. I used to be die-hard pro-Android, but now
| I can find very few reasons to buy one.
|
| Now the Android UI is sparse and wobbly, Androids lost call
| recording, sideloading is limited, and they raised their
| prices to cost as much as iPhones.
|
| Meanwhile, iPhones got call recording, they opened up NFC (a
| bit) and they support CalDAV and CardDAV and SMB natively in
| its built-in apps. The "control center" on iOS is
| customizable, to the point they do what Android's quick tiles
| did before 2020 or so.
|
| It's very frustrating-- I wish they still made Androids like
| they used to :(
| homebrewer wrote:
| This comment equates Android with Google phones for some
| reason. The complaints have nothing to do with Android --
| side loading is light years ahead of Apple (and third party
| application stores can finally automatically update
| applications). Call recording works fine on my friend's
| Xiaomi 14T (I think) that he bought just a couple of weeks
| ago, and it works fine on my own device that's on latest
| Lineage (Android 15). There's lots of choice in UI
| depending on which vendor you're going with; I'm fine with
| stock Lineage (i.e. stock Android). There's lots of choice
| price wise (even the homeless have smartphones these days),
| while the cheapest iPhone costs about two median monthly
| salaries here.
|
| Just don't buy anything from Google, they've always screwed
| something up.
| lynndotpy wrote:
| I have a very small pool of Androids I consider. Pixels
| maintain a strong security model (similar to what iPhones
| have), and they allow you to re-lock the bootloader after
| installing a non-stock OS. It's between a Pixel, or a
| FairPhone.
|
| I liked Lineage, but an unlocked bootloader is a security
| non-starter for a device that's so personal and vital.
|
| For those using the stock OS, Googles are nice because
| you "only" have Google's spyware built in to the OS.
| dhc02 wrote:
| I didn't realize there were some non-stick OSes that you
| could re-lock the bootloader for. Which ones?
| lynndotpy wrote:
| GrapheneOS and CalyxOS are the only ones I'm aware of! It
| requires OS support and the phone to support it too, so
| it's a rare combo.
| spencerflem wrote:
| Same- I stick with them out of spite, since I refuse to use
| a device that doesn't allow replacing the OS or installing
| your own software ("sideloading")
|
| But they're pretty clearly worse as phones and I'll go to
| my grave mad about the headphone jack.
| JTbane wrote:
| I'm still mad that I have to keep track of a tiny 3.5mm
| to USB-C dongle.
| spencerflem wrote:
| I lost mine yesterday -_+ have to buy a new one I guess
|
| pure evil
| Lammy wrote:
| I've been very happy to have my headphone port back since
| I upgraded from iPhone 7 to REDMAGIC 9S Pro
| m463 wrote:
| 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 and to me "do the wrong thing correctly"
| started winning.
|
| but the worst thing is that apple sets an example. The same
| "simplify for sales, but not usability" technique has
| happened to countless other products in many industries. all
| laptops have elegant looking keys that have no curve to fit
| and center your fingers. Tesla cars have a pleasing-looking
| design, but when you drive them, you can't lean on the
| touchscreen to hit targets, you don't have drive selection or
| turn signal stalks to help you get into a parking space
| easily, and "elegant simplicity" is "cost cutting for the
| peons".
|
| sigh.
| chasil wrote:
| 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 the URLs here if you ask.
|
| Edit:
|
| https://lineageos.org/
|
| [I did not remember that Lineage hosts gapps images]
|
| https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps/
|
| [IIRC, the APK is renamed to a ZIP and flashed with recovery,
| then name it back and install the app]
|
| https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/tag/v28.1
|
| https://magiskmanager.com/
|
| https://github.com/VR-25/acc/releases/tag/v2023.10.16
| gruez wrote:
| >Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced
| Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at
| 80%.
|
| That will reduce future wear, but won't suddenly make the
| battery better. If anything it'll make the battery even
| worse, at least in the short term.
| chasil wrote:
| Installing Lineage by itself will drastically reduce power
| consumption on many devices, as vendor bloat is wiped. A
| net gain is possible, even with ACC 80% in place.
|
| With a Pixel, there is less bloat, so it is less of a
| factor with this particular device. However, you don't get
| the full suite of Chrome/Maps/Gmail/Drive/Photos/etc.
| installed by default, and what you have not installed will
| not drain your battery.
|
| In any case, one would hope that Google's safeguards are
| equaled by ACC.
| JudasGoat wrote:
| My 4a went from 3 day battery life to less than a day,
| immediately after the "update".
| beretguy wrote:
| > I can put all the URLs here if you ask.
|
| I'm not who you replied to but can you please do? I've been
| wanting to make a LineageOS device for a while but was being
| cheap (and it wasn't high enough priority). But maybe now
| there will be a lot of cheap Pixel 4a on eBay in the near
| future and I'll go for it.
| chasil wrote:
| Just be careful that you do not get anything sold by
| Verizon, as these unfortunates do not allow bootloader
| unlocking.
|
| I also remember some rumor that all Pixels must access WiFi
| before they will allow bootloader unlocking in the
| developer options.
| conaclos wrote:
| > Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced
| Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at
| 80%.
|
| If we install LineageOS, should we worry about Google's
| firmware update? Then why bother with all these steps?
| burningChrome wrote:
| >>> Unlock the bootloader, then install LineageOS,
| MindTheGapps, and Magisk.
|
| Unless you have researched this and are comfortable doing
| these things, this is not something that's easy to do. I
| bricked my OnePlus Nord100 not once, but TWICE trying to
| install Ubuntu Touch.
|
| It happened because the Nord100 shipped with a more current
| Android version (11.xx) and Ubuntu can only be installed over
| two very specific versions (10.xx) on the Nord. I bricked it
| once thinking it could be installed over the 11 version. Then
| I had to figure out how to reflash the phone back to the 10
| version, then run the UBports installer.
|
| I was lucky because I bought the Nord100 for like $50 on ebay
| so it wasn't a big deal if I wasn't able to unbrick the
| phone, but if you do this to a more expensive phone, the
| consequences are a lot more expensive.
|
| I love Lineage OS and have it running on a Pixel 4XL, but my
| experience flashing and re-flashing the phone several times,
| and all the work I went into just to get UT running on that
| phone, really dampened my enthusiasm to ever do this again.
| chasil wrote:
| I've loaded Cyanogenmod on the HTC Incredible 1 & 2, and
| the BN Nook color.
|
| I've loaded Lineage on the Nexus 6, Oneplus 3a & 5 & Nord
| N200, the original Pixel, and the Pixel 3a XL.
|
| Pixels are the most forgiving, and the hardest to brick.
| They are also the best for VoLTE.
|
| I also have an N100, which is not supported by Lineage.
| Lammy wrote:
| Do I misunderstand what Ubuntu Touch is? I thought it was
| its own thing whose only relation to Android was the BSP,
| not some type of layer on top of Android. If so then it
| seems irrelevant and unfair to bring up w/r/t the well-
| tested Android-to-different-Android path.
| sharpshadow wrote:
| That defeats the whole point of a Pixel, the camera app.
| chasil wrote:
| A URL can be found below to load it back into your custom
| ROM, and supposedly the same camera can be found in the
| Play store.
| wanderingmind wrote:
| Why go all through that pain when graphene OS gives you a
| straightforward install?
| chasil wrote:
| Because the 4a is on extended support, is not recommended,
| and cessation can happen any time now?
|
| https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices
| snailmailstare wrote:
| Is that different on lineageOS or just not as clearly
| stated?
| aquasync wrote:
| 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?).
| chasil wrote:
| The new battery behavior is probably just some POSIX
| userspace process running under Linux, or perhaps some
| kernel tweak.
|
| The whole of userspace will be replaced when LineageOS
| reformats all of the partitions.
|
| It is possible that the new battery behavior has been
| injected into some deeper part of the hardware, but
| LineageOS is unlikely to make that worse.
| KORraN wrote:
| 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 the upcoming update may reduce battery life and
| offered either battery replacement or money:
| https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15701861 But the
| results people post are way beyond anyone expected.
| ChoGGi wrote:
| The Dev options have a setting to not apply updates on
| reboot. I'm hoping that'll work if I forget.
| QuantumGood wrote:
| The repair places have been overwhelmed; I've had three
| apppoints to replace my wife's 4a battery that have been
| cancelled because they ran out of stock due to huge unexpected
| demand.
| lupire wrote:
| There is no way Google is making software update plans based on
| the revenue opportunity for breaking phones that are already 2
| years past end of life.
|
| The numbers just don't make sense.
|
| Users who love 5-year-old phones can easily get a cheap used
| phone, which are in abundant supply.
| ikiris wrote:
| Your incredulity is misplaced. They've admitted in
| depositions this is a basis for decision making like this.
| mathstuf wrote:
| > At no point has Google came out and stated -why- they're
| pushing this update in the first place.
|
| The cynic in me recommends that anyone contributing to Google
| (or really any big tech company) projects to use "bug fixes and
| performance improvements" or "What's new:" (with an empty body)
| as commit messages and refuse to update them until we get
| useful changelogs for app updates.
| computehyper wrote:
| Hello I'm not sure if you can help but I made a post on here as
| well as a topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42871613
| schroeding wrote:
| I also own a 4a - the amount of hoops Google performed to
| explicitly prevent downgrades for (only) the 4a by removing all
| old Android images (and only for it) leads me to fear your
| charitable view is true. Only the tinyest sliver of customers
| would ever try to downgrade / reflash their phone, it IMO
| doesn't make sense to do this if they just want to increase
| sales a bit. And then again, why only for the 4a.
|
| Which, should it be true, would make the lack of explanation
| from Google _horrible and asinine_. If (and this is a big if,
| it 's all speculation, because Google doesn't open their mouth)
| there is a hardware fault with the battery, I would very much
| like to know outright as a customer, no matter the PR damage
| for Google.
| 1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote:
| "Either of these are terrible. At no point has Google came out
| and stated -why- they're pushing this update in the first
| place."
|
| As I can still remember the days of software before "updates",
| I am still baffled by the always unsolicited "advice" amounting
| to "always update" without even considering what's in an
| "update". This "advice" is everywhere. Software quality control
| is at all-time lows I guess. Then came "automatic updates",
| decreasing the chance of computer user discretion even more,
| effectively removing user choice, i.e., case-by-case decision-
| making.
|
| Perhaps some computer users, the rare ones who do not routinely
| follow unsolicited "advice" blindly, might respond to the
| question of updating with something like, "What choice do I
| have?" That there is no meaningful choice, or perception
| thereof, in deciding whether to install an "update" is not a
| coincidence, methinks.
|
| Maybe updating is a gamble. There are winners and losers. On
| several occasions, I have won by not updating, i.e., blindly
| installing more code from so-called "tech" company. Other times
| I have gotten burned by updating. It seems that quite often the
| "updates" include code that serves me no benefit and in fact
| reduces the computer's utility to me. Meanwhile, it might
| increase utility for others or for the so-called "tech" company
| that collects data and sells ad services. One size does not fit
| all. Sometimes the losses can outweigh the gains.
|
| Hopefully there is a lawsuit filed over this Pixel 4a "update".
| Through discovery we may be able to learn what happened.
| ptspts wrote:
| Is it possible to decline this update on the UI of an internet-
| connected Pixel 4a?
|
| Mine has already updated, and I'm wondering if I had a chance to
| say no.
| KORraN wrote:
| I'm getting prompts to restart in order to update. So far (~2
| weeks), I was able to dismiss them.
| AcerbicZero wrote:
| As soon as they dropped the Nexus line, things went downhill
| fast. IMO the nexus 5 was peak android.
| clircle wrote:
| Concur, switched to iPhone around this time, as Android just
| started to feel like a knock off iOS rather than an
| alternative.
| nixosbestos wrote:
| I'm sorry, but what? iOS and Android couldn't be more
| different, and if anything iOS has converged toward Android.
| Meanwhile my friend that likes to act smug about iOS has all
| but given up the gambit. My Pixel 9 Pro takes far better
| pictures, gets same or better battery life, and can _crazy_
| things like upload or download photos to Lightroom without
| needing to _manually keep the screen on_. Or you know,
| background tasks in general.
| bmaupin wrote:
| I'm trying to figure out what the actual latest update is doing
| regarding the battery. I found an update to the kernel binary but
| it doesn't seem the source has been updated.
|
| Can I submit a GPL request to Google to get the kernel source?
|
| https://github.com/bmaupin/pixel4a-battery-research
| kam wrote:
| I also looked around AOSP and found the commit for the battery
| alert icon [1], but no kernel source.
|
| [1]
| https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/...
| jeroenhd wrote:
| If you own a device, you're entitled to a copy of all GPL
| software that came with it, including some build tools.
| However, if the diminished battery performance comes from some
| kind of firmware update for an embedded microcontroller, you're
| probably out of luck there, unless that controller also runs
| GPL software.
|
| It's possible the changes you're looking for are already listed
| on one of these repos:
| https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-sepol...
| https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-kerne...
| https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish/
|
| (sunfish is the codename for the Pixel 4a)
| bmaupin wrote:
| I looked through all the sunfish repos first, which is how I
| found this:
| https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-
| kerne...
|
| But apparently sunfish-kernel only contains binaries.
|
| Given there's an update to Image.lz4, that seems there's an
| update to the kernel. I also compared the binary to the
| previous version and found some new strings possibly related
| to battery charging profile.
|
| Next I checked out the source using Google's documentation
| but the latest commit is here: https://android.googlesource.c
| om/kernel/msm/+/refs/heads/and...
|
| But maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.
| jeroenhd wrote:
| If those pre-compiled binaries aren't based on GPL
| software, I don't think you'll have much luck getting their
| sources.
|
| Android's source code is a maze of branches and tags,
| unfortunately. The change can have been made in the generic
| cross-device kernel tree, or it could've been a separate
| module, or it could've been a binary.
|
| One thing you could consider is checking out the kernel for
| a project like LineageOS: https://github.com/LineageOS/andr
| oid_device_xiaomi_sm6150-co... They usually pull+filter
| changes from upstream. For instance, these changes may be
| of interest: https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/andro
| id_device_xiao... https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/
| android_device_xiao... These kernels are used for a variety
| of devices with similar hardware, so not all changes have
| anything to do with the Pixel 4a, but it could prove useful
| in your search.
| bmaupin wrote:
| Image.lz4 is definitely a Linux kernel, and it's
| definitely changed:
| https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-
| kerne...
|
| Would changes to external closed-source binary files
| change the kernel image itself? There are kernel modules
| in that commit but it looks to me like they all come
| directly from here:
| https://developers.google.com/android/drivers
|
| Google does provide detailed instructions for downloading
| all sources for the kernel, and I didn't see any changes
| since 2023 to any source files:
| https://source.android.com/docs/setup/
|
| Thanks for the extra places to look. I'll check them out.
| NotPractical wrote:
| If you're reversing this: I was curious if Google determines if
| your device is "affected" using the phone's serial, or the
| battery's serial. I've seen reports that people who replace the
| battery manually outside of the program still experience
| diminished performance. But of course that could just be
| because they replaced their defective battery with another
| defective battery.
| bmaupin wrote:
| I'm going through the kernel with Ghidra but not very good at
| it and not having much luck.
|
| I do have an idea about what it's checking to determine if a
| battery is affected, but I don't have enough data yet to know
| if it's just a coincidence.
| NotPractical wrote:
| I don't imagine something like this would be implemented in
| the kernel? Might help to search system apps/binaries for
| the string displayed in the notification alert:
| https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-
| contino/images/main...
| bmaupin wrote:
| Why not? The kernel seems to handle low level charging
| and battery logic, for example: https://android.googlesou
| rce.com/kernel/msm/+/refs/heads/and...
|
| I'm not hoping to argue, only to learn. This isn't my
| area of expertise.
| tomerbd wrote:
| no more unlimited photos upload for you.
| delfinom wrote:
| Hopefully people opted out of the binding arbitration for the
| phone so they can join a class action, right?
|
| Lol, I opt out on every new pixel phone
| debo_ wrote:
| If it helps, I ran my 3a on Pixel Experience up until ~6 months
| ago, and it worked great. It's like having the exact same phone
| with extended upgrades.
|
| I gave it away to someone who needed it more and upgraded to an
| 8a. My mission with this phone is to use it for 10 years.
| Shekelphile wrote:
| I am surprised there are even any functioning 4a's left to begin
| with. Google intentionally designs major components of these
| phones to break within a year or two of normal use, like using
| extremely cheap NAND that fails commonly, bricking the phone.
| nickpinkston wrote:
| I've had software bugs / issues with various Pixel phones
| (original, 4, 6, now 7) for years, and I'm unsure why I'm such a
| masochist.
|
| Anyone else have this problem? Is it well known?
| framtidsljus wrote:
| Another Pixel 4A user here. Still haven't installed the marvelous
| update. But it'll be installed the next time I reboot. No way to
| stop it.
|
| I have never had any battery issues. Now Google wants to
| effectively brick my beloved phone? And giving me $50 for the
| trouble. What. The. F. is going on.
|
| I've requested the $50, shall be paid out within 18 days they
| say.
|
| So sad. I really like (soon liked, probably) my 4a.
| zargon wrote:
| Does/will GrapheneOS ship this new firmware? My Pixel 4a needed a
| new battery. I ordered the kit from ifixit, but was worried about
| possibly breaking the screen during replacement and being without
| a phone. So I bought a used iPhone XS to try out Apple-land. My
| plan was to put GrapheneOS on the Pixel 4a and decide eventually
| if my next phone would be a new Pixel with GrapheneOS or a new
| iPhone.
|
| Since then this whole debacle has unfolded. GrapheneOS's
| installation instructions say that it updates the phone's
| firmware to the latest early in the installation process.
| GrapheneOS's releases page has a "2025012701" release for Pixel
| 4a. But the release notes don't have any mention of Pixel 4a
| since version 2023100300. I'm trying to figure out if GrapheneOS
| has actually updated their Pixel 4a image since then, and whether
| it would install the battery breaking firmware.
| yread wrote:
| I was in the market and wanted to go for Pixel8 pro. This charade
| turned me completely anti-google and I'm not even considering it
| even though camera is the most important attribute of the phone
| for me.
| jerome-jh wrote:
| Contrary to was is said in the article, the 50$/100$ compensation
| was announced shortly before the update. It is no compensation
| for the mess they caused.
|
| I still have not restarted my phone since the update. But my wife
| has and her phone does not hold charge for a day, compared to 48h
| before the update. Battery percentage gone completely unreliable.
| She's only doing slow charges since then in an attempt to have
| battery management chip somehow recover. Hard to see what they
| tried to "fix"
| Halan wrote:
| I am done suggesting pixel phones to my family elders.
| Refurbished iPhones is the way to go
| roesel wrote:
| The pixel 4a battery life saga was what made both me and my
| entire extended family never even consider buying a pixel phone
| again (and move to Samsung or iPhones).
|
| Google denied the issues existed forever, then shipped a fix that
| somehow made them even worse, and made the phone unusable for
| years. I hope we were not the only ones.
| zer0x4d wrote:
| Has there been a single Pixel with no boot loop, battery,
| reception, or otherwise some other major issue?
|
| What is going on at the Pixel team??? They have probably single
| handedly cost Google millions of dollars
| computehyper wrote:
| I'm semi homeless and the forced Pixel 4a battery update made my
| phone unusable and I'm in a state of tears. What can I do? Reddit
| deleted my post (I am hoping it's not because of Google
| employees)
|
| I don't want to get too long into what happened in my life, but I
| had a Pixel 4a and everything was running great. Even when I was
| on the streets homeless I was able to charge it. I'm still
| struggling in and out, and apparently there was an update that
| came automatically to my phone. I checked and talked to live
| support in the library and they said it was just a battery update
| and it will last a bit less. That wasn't a big deal I thought but
| now the update came and my battery went from many hours to maybe
| half an hour now and doesn't charge at all or very slowly. I have
| interviews and some other small jobs that I have to do and just
| hard life right now and I do not have any money for this. I am a
| bit emotional so I asked while tearing up to Google support why
| they did this and I can't afford this my life is in shambles but
| they didn't help me. Even with the battery replacement I do not
| live near any local shops and mailing it in would not be possible
| for my situation. I bought this phone when my life was good and I
| only like this one and want to use this one.
|
| All my stuff is on here and I don't know too much about phones so
| I just want this to work. I don't have money to fix this. I feel
| like the phone will die any second. What can be done? I didn't
| know they would do this. My life just keeps getting worse... I
| always feared my phone getting stolen on the streets but never
| thought Google would steal my phone.
|
| What can I do? I don't have much minutes or data and can't afford
| it, is there a number I can call Google directly? I don't want to
| play with the phone and do anything weird my life is on it and
| can't back it up.
|
| Thank you all.
| tripdout wrote:
| Has anyone gone through that firmware update and seen what
| changed? What exactly are they doing to improve battery
| performance/reliability?
|
| I would guess just down clocking the CPU or something.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| _I 'm semi homeless and Google's forced update on the Pixel 4a
| ruined it_
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42871613
| nickjj wrote:
| I have a Google Pixel 4a and planned to use the phone until it
| physically no longer worked. I loved it, especially with its
| wired headphone jack and small size.
|
| It has worked for 3+ years and held a charge for 2-3 days easily
| until the other week when they pushed the battery patch. Now it
| dies in a few hours with light usage.
|
| I asked Google support on what will happen if I get a battery
| replacement and it's still draining fast. They won't answer.
|
| Google reps at a repair center said a battery replacement is
| unlikely to fix the drain issue since the drain behavior is
| attached to an OS update you can't opt out of.
|
| This is really frustrating to be ignored by Google after they
| essentially bricked a fully working device that I paid for.
|
| This is a type of move where I'm tempted to de-Google myself over
| this, including deleting my YouTube channel with 20k subs that
| I've been regularly posting to for almost a decade.
|
| My whole business (selling courses and contract work) depends on
| SEO from Google and YouTube and I'm close to saying fuck it and
| destroying all of that out of principle on how poorly they are
| treating folks over this issue. I haven't made that decision yet
| but it's close to be honest. Close enough that I'm openly posting
| this message.
| tristor wrote:
| Stuff like this is part of why I stick with iPhone. The Pixel 4A
| stopped receiving security updates just 3 years after release,
| and rather than being direct about what battery changes were made
| and providing reasonable pathways for people to replace
| batteries, this happens.
|
| Apple does stupid and shady stuff too, it is certainly not
| perfect, but Google has always had a cultural attitude permeating
| their organization since the beginning that wanted to avoid doing
| any sort of real customer support, and preferenced boxing
| customers into something kafkaesque over doing the right thing.
|
| For all the dumb shit Apple has done, I can walk into any Apple
| Store and talk to a person and get my problem resolved for a
| nominal fee (if any), their devices get 5+ years of security
| updates (usually closer to 7 years) and I upgrade before that
| ends anyway for other reasons (typically about every 4-5 years),
| in the interim my device "just works". I've effectively never had
| a problem with an Apple device since I've switched. I was an
| early adopter of Android, made my own customer ROMs and shared
| them on XDA Developers Forum, and otherwise was big on Android,
| but it became really clear to me very quickly that the app
| ecosystem is a mess (security and otherwise), the core OS has
| huge privacy and functional design issues, and Google as a
| steward and a first-party handset manufacturer is not the company
| you want to do business with.
|
| This really sucks for everyone impacted, and I understand why
| many many people (including my wife) choose to stay on Android,
| but you should really give some thought to this. What do you
| /actually/ do every day with your phone, and what would better
| serve you? As someone who wants to spend as little time on my
| phone as possible, and I use it as a tool, that needs to actually
| work when I need it, and I travel often, iPhone is clearly a more
| reliable choice.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-01-29 23:01 UTC)