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I left Android at the Nexus 5 after years of buying every Nexus phone. The deal breaker: Despite staying on official ROMs, Google broke audio in video recording

I left Android at the Nexus 5 after years of buying every Nexus phone. The deal breaker: Despite staying on official ROMs, Google broke audio in video recording such that all my vacation videos with a special friend ended up with garbled audio. My mistake for trusting Google updates right before my trip. You'd think for their reference phone they would test a primary feature like video recording for regressions? Apparently not. My friend at the time had an iPhone 5, I noticed her phone worked without issue while my Nexus 5 was constantly draining its battery. I finally bought an Apple device and 11 years later never looked back. Finally said goodbye to Windows & Linux as well. I presume this is how many Apple conversions happen. Back when Pixel came out I used to argue with a friend because it supposedly had a better camera: I'd always point out that the Pixel phone has its own Wikipedia article describing all its issues: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_(1st_generation)#Issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_(1st_generation)#Issues Its been like 12 years since the G1? They are still playing games till this day. Give it a rest already.

awill 1y ago
I remember when Google broke 911 calling, and decided it was ok to wait for the next maintenance patch to fix it. People could have died, but Google just couldn't hurry up and release an emergency patch.
- krackers 1y ago
  Apparently it still isn't fixed https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-10-911-calling-bug-3594987/ https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-10-911-calling...
  - simfree 1y ago
    911 calling issues have been a persistent problem for Pixel devices.
    - jb1991 1y ago
      How is that even legal.
    - resonious 1y ago
      While quite frightening, how could you even test this? You can't just make test calls to 911, can you? (I'm actually somewhat interested in the answer... I have a use-case, and the seeming inability to test is a bit worrying)
      - jstrieb 1y ago
        Haven't tried it myself, but this official-seeming website suggests that you can schedule a test call ahead of time with your local 911 call center. https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/#faq-title-96cbf5ac-8efc-4659-802a-1ff96e8ea71b https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/#...
      - thenthenthen 1y ago
        You can schedule a 911 test call. "Test calls can be scheduled by contacting your local 911 call center via its non-emergency phone number." [0] More info here:[1] [0] https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/ https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/ [1] https://www.nasna911.org/home https://www.nasna911.org/home
      - vasachi 1y ago
        I'm pretty sure Google can buy a femtocell to simulate local mobile network of their own.
      - brookst 1y ago
        Phone makers (and even their supply chain partners) operate their own in-building cell networks with carrier-type hardware, and extensive debugging and observability, including simulation of multiple towers and location. It wouldn’t get you 100% E2{ for 911 testing, but it does let you develop and test the stack extensively before taking it to the real world and scheduled testing coordinated with 911 call centers.
chillfox 1y ago
I used to be on android, but after the Samsung Galaxy S3 started fucking with my settings in updates I went to Apple and have been on iPhones ever since. Specifically what sticks in my memory the most was an update that reset the shortcuts on the bottom menu bar to default and locked it so it was no longer possible to customize it. At the time I used none of those default apps. Actually, similar reason that I ended up abandoning Windows for Linux on my home desktop (I had been using Linux on work computers for years at that point). Windows 10 kept changing my settings back to default after every major update and it was infuriating. I would have gone for a mac if there were better support for games.
tw04 1y ago
I went back and forth over years right up until google was caught tracking people even with the feature disabled. It’s honestly kind of sad. Google could still print money without the endless spying but they just can’t help themselves
- randmeerkat 1y ago
  > It’s honestly kind of sad. Google could still print money without the endless spying… They literally couldn’t.
  - danielktdoranie 1y ago
    Exactly, that IS Google’s business model.
    - danaris 1y ago
      Google was raking in money before the massive surveillance infrastructure. They did it by selling context-based ads.
josteink 1y ago
> The deal breaker: Despite staying on official ROMs, Google broke audio in video recording such that all my vacation videos with a special friend ended up with garbled audio. For me it was also the Nexus 5. It just lost many of my photos, of our firstborn child. Unrecoverable. Gone. And so was I from the Android-platform.
- sneak 1y ago
  It’s not unreasonable to blame google for this reliability issue, but this is also a little bit on the user who didn’t appropriately back up their important data to a different device/service/building/account.
  - simonh 1y ago
    They could use Google Photos to store them off the phone, but… https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/xsn9ij/people_who_lost_photos_from_the_google_photos/ https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/xsn9ij/people...
  - josteink 1y ago
    The camera clicked, but they were never saved. Hard to back that up, really.
    - pvtmert 1y ago
      sounds like someone left } catch(Exception e) { ... } in the controller...
bowsamic 1y ago
Yeah everyone seems to have horror stories that pushed them to Apple, and of course there are some more minor horror stories from Apple too but they just don’t reach the same height for most users

awill 1y ago

I remember when Google broke 911 calling, and decided it was ok to wait for the next maintenance patch to fix it. People could have died, but Google just couldn't hurry up and release an emergency patch.

krackers 1y ago
Apparently it still isn't fixed https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-10-911-calling-bug-3594987/ https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-10-911-calling...
- simfree 1y ago
  911 calling issues have been a persistent problem for Pixel devices.
  - jb1991 1y ago
    How is that even legal.
  - resonious 1y ago
    While quite frightening, how could you even test this? You can't just make test calls to 911, can you? (I'm actually somewhat interested in the answer... I have a use-case, and the seeming inability to test is a bit worrying)
    - jstrieb 1y ago
      Haven't tried it myself, but this official-seeming website suggests that you can schedule a test call ahead of time with your local 911 call center. https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/#faq-title-96cbf5ac-8efc-4659-802a-1ff96e8ea71b https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/#...
    - thenthenthen 1y ago
      You can schedule a 911 test call. "Test calls can be scheduled by contacting your local 911 call center via its non-emergency phone number." [0] More info here:[1] [0] https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/ https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/ [1] https://www.nasna911.org/home https://www.nasna911.org/home
    - vasachi 1y ago
      I'm pretty sure Google can buy a femtocell to simulate local mobile network of their own.
    - brookst 1y ago
      Phone makers (and even their supply chain partners) operate their own in-building cell networks with carrier-type hardware, and extensive debugging and observability, including simulation of multiple towers and location. It wouldn’t get you 100% E2{ for 911 testing, but it does let you develop and test the stack extensively before taking it to the real world and scheduled testing coordinated with 911 call centers.

chillfox 1y ago

I used to be on android, but after the Samsung Galaxy S3 started fucking with my settings in updates I went to Apple and have been on iPhones ever since. Specifically what sticks in my memory the most was an update that reset the shortcuts on the bottom menu bar to default and locked it so it was no longer possible to customize it. At the time I used none of those default apps. Actually, similar reason that I ended up abandoning Windows for Linux on my home desktop (I had been using Linux on work computers for years at that point). Windows 10 kept changing my settings back to default after every major update and it was infuriating. I would have gone for a mac if there were better support for games.

tw04 1y ago

I went back and forth over years right up until google was caught tracking people even with the feature disabled. It’s honestly kind of sad. Google could still print money without the endless spying but they just can’t help themselves

randmeerkat 1y ago
> It’s honestly kind of sad. Google could still print money without the endless spying… They literally couldn’t.
- danielktdoranie 1y ago
  Exactly, that IS Google’s business model.
  - danaris 1y ago
    Google was raking in money before the massive surveillance infrastructure. They did it by selling context-based ads.

josteink 1y ago

> The deal breaker: Despite staying on official ROMs, Google broke audio in video recording such that all my vacation videos with a special friend ended up with garbled audio. For me it was also the Nexus 5. It just lost many of my photos, of our firstborn child. Unrecoverable. Gone. And so was I from the Android-platform.

sneak 1y ago
It’s not unreasonable to blame google for this reliability issue, but this is also a little bit on the user who didn’t appropriately back up their important data to a different device/service/building/account.
- simonh 1y ago
  They could use Google Photos to store them off the phone, but… https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/xsn9ij/people_who_lost_photos_from_the_google_photos/ https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/xsn9ij/people...
- josteink 1y ago
  The camera clicked, but they were never saved. Hard to back that up, really.
  - pvtmert 1y ago
    sounds like someone left } catch(Exception e) { ... } in the controller...

bowsamic 1y ago

Yeah everyone seems to have horror stories that pushed them to Apple, and of course there are some more minor horror stories from Apple too but they just don’t reach the same height for most users