10 ms·

Google broke telephony for many Nexus users

161 points by evpuneq 12y ago

bluehazed 12y ago
I've been holding off on the 5.0.1 update due to laziness, looks like that was a good thing.
- reedcat 12y ago
  Yep, I have the update sitting on my Moto X for a week or so. Was tempting,.. good thing I didn't go for it.
  - SyncTheory13 12y ago
    Been on 5.0 for Moto X (2014) for a few weeks now without issue. These bug reports appear to be for Nexus 4/5.
- davidw 12y ago
  I have a Nexus 4 with 5.0.1 and it works fine.
  - bluehazed 12y ago
    Fair enough, but 5.0.0 is working fine for me, I think I'll sit this one out until this is confirmed/looked into better.
reedcat 12y ago
This is why I never upgrade my phone to the first couple updates pushed to the device.
- Someone1234 12y ago
  First couple of updates relative to what exactly? Because with Android's update process you cannot opt to push anything but the latest update which is always an unproven by its nature. It isn't like Windows where you can opt out of the latest service pack for a while and wait to see if it is stable. With Android you either take the latest update or you don't.
  - mobiplayer 12y ago
    He probably just prefers to wait for versions X.X.3 instead of X.X.0, X.X.1 and X.X.2 :)
  - emidln 12y ago
    You can install updates via downloading the updating and flashing. This isn't too difficult (basically what you have to do if you run a ROM). It's often how people opt-in to updates that are rolling OTA before their device wins the OTA lottery.
colinbartlett 12y ago
(No comment was entered for this change.) Status: Obsolete
iwince 12y ago
"Hi, I don't think anyone from google is even looking at this since we have no resolution" What's up with this Google?
- johnduhart 12y ago
  Maybe they're on holiday? Is that not possible?
  - spacefight 12y ago
    The full quote should read "Hi, I don't think anyone from google is even looking at this since we have no resolution, upgrading of priority or even an acknowledgement response."
    - belorn 12y ago
      Would be interesting to know how high priority telephony has as a feature.
      - latch 12y ago
        I imagine high. 911 calls.
      - thrillgore 12y ago
        I'd say very high since technically Android is an OS for smartPHONEs. Note the word "phone."
        tdkl 12y ago
        Technically it was bought for Google services and data collection in mobile space, that's inside their control.
  - habith 12y ago
    Since 12/18/2014? Not a single person to ack the issue? That seems odd.
iliaznk 12y ago
I'm on 5.0.1 with Nexus 4 and have no problems. Looks like it's not a common thing.
- Someone1234 12y ago
  While both their claims and yours are anecdotes, I'm more willing to side with more people with similar anecdotes than a single one who then uses their single experience to try and invalid the multitude of other experiences expressed.
  - davidw 12y ago
    I don't think they're trying to "invalidate" anything, just state that it's not something everyone is seeing. I have 5.0.1 on a Nexus 4 and it's working fine. I also don't doubt in the slightest that something is screwed up and a lot of people are encountering a serious bug.
    - spdustin 12y ago
      No, he was trying to invalidate, or could have chosen his words better. By saying his one experience makes the telephony bug reported by so many users to be "not aa common thing", he has (purposefully or carelessly) stated that his experience outweighs the multitudes who knew enough to go to that site to report the bug, and the folks at XDA who found a fix that works for many.
- halalfood 12y ago
  nexus 5 with 5.0.1 and me and my father definitely have had this problem. I switched to an iPhone because I had an upgrade and genuinely thought the phone wasn't working anymore.
  - davidwparker 12y ago
    Weird- I have a N5 and my wife has an N4 and neither of us had this issue.
- 12y ago
ansible 12y ago
I've seen this issue too on my Nexus 4. Rebooting fixes the problem, at least temporarily. Since I had just used the OTA updates for stock 5.0 and 5.0.1, another redditor suggested that I do a factory wipe. I haven't seen the problem recur yet, but it has only been a couple days. Because of this and other problems (random crashes), if I see any issue again, then I'll downgrade to 4.4.4. My typical uptime for that release was measured in months, and for 5.0.1 the uptime is measured in days. I've been severely disappointed with this release. I don't see how the new look and feel provides any significant usability benefit.
- 67726e 12y ago
  I had the same issue with an older 4.4.x version of Android, tried everything and after two weeks of frustration I just returned it and got a new one. Never saw the problem again.
- comboy 12y ago
  It may be a bad generalization since I imagine Google teams for different products don't have that much in common, but it seems to me that since some time Google is pushing more forward and caring less about apps being reliable and bug-free. I've seen errors in inbox, in google music, and most annoying in google photos where I'm unable to access some of my albums (created stories were unavailable for me for about 2 weeks - I've checked almost every day, it's fixed now). I tried taking Google take out (downloading all of my Google data), but all I got was an e-mail that it failed to create it. And there's of course not much I can do, I'm simply out of luck (well I can google similar problems to see I'm not the only one and that others are also out of luck). I'm still a Google fan but I'm very dissappointed with this. Of course they can exist just fine if it works only for 99% of cases, but that's not the same brand that I knew.
  - kuschku 12y ago
    And their new products are even far worse than advertised, for no real reason. for example compare http://i.imgur.com/IxwQwqk.png http://i.imgur.com/IxwQwqk.png with http://i.imgur.com/DrzdQKJ.png http://i.imgur.com/DrzdQKJ.png, it’s not like it would have been much work to implement this design, and it would have made it far nicer, but they didn’t do it. It seems like Google is trying to save on every end and while trying to not spend a single unnecessary penny, they butcher their services.
userbinator 12y ago
Priority-Small An indication that Google no longer considers the phone functionality of a smartphone to be all that important? Or is the Nexus 4 considered too old already? It is a little over 2 years old, which is a relatively long time in the mobile world. I'm curious to know what the cause of this bug is.
- delroth 12y ago
  It's the default priority for user reported bugs before triaging.
  - spdustin 12y ago
    And that causes a lot of consternation to users, obviously. Priority should be divided into two fields in these systems: user-submitted priority, and dev team's priority. Look at all the people who feel directly insulted by the "Priority-Small" tag - they don't know what it means or if it indicates that Google hasn't triaged it (seriously, this old, and not triaged?) , they just feel minimized and condescended to.
- phkahler 12y ago
  >> An indication that Google no longer considers the phone functionality of a smartphone to be all that important? I cringe whenever a product fails to perform perfectly at its primary function. Other stuff I'll let slide, but if it's any kind of "phone" it better make calls flawlessly.
andyl 12y ago
My Nexus 5 is broken. Is there a simple way to revert to the old version?
- kordless 12y ago
  Do a factory reset.
- paralelogram 12y ago
  http://www.androidpit.com/how-to-downgrade-a-nexus http://www.androidpit.com/how-to-downgrade-a-nexus
  - raisedbyninjas 12y ago
    Ok, now how do you stop the OTA update from spamming the notification bar?
jmscharff2 12y ago
I am looking at getting the Nexus 6 and its threads like this that make me think twice about leaving the iPhone. I prefer android, I love my nexus 7 but issues like this are the reason I left android to get the iPhone 5 from a Droid X2. Now, I thought if getting a Nexus google would support it more because my main issue with the Droid was that it was never updated...but now I am concerned.
- facepalm 12y ago
  Given the complexity of the devices, I suspect any modern phone will come with a number of issues. For iPhones it is almost traditional that one serious issue will be found shortly after launch (like antennagate a ka "you are holding it wrong"). Curiously, the majority of users seems to get by just fine, so maybe some issues are not as big as they seem.
- orclev 12y ago
  The good news at least, is that the Nexus 6 seems unaffected by whatever this is (and may in fact be at the core of this). Nexus 6 shipped with 5.0.1 and I'm not aware of any Nexus 6 owners seeing this problem (when running stock 5.0.1). It's mostly the pre-5.0 android phones that are having this problem when upgraded to 5.0.1, so my guess would be that it either doesn't happen with a stock (from scratch, not upgrade) install of 5.0.1, or else it's some difference between the hardware/firmware in Nexus 6, and every other Android phone.
  - beernutz 12y ago
    There are around 7 replies in that thread specifying they have a Nexus 6 and see the issue. I have one, but have not noticed it. Though I always use it with a BT earpiece, so that might account for the difference?
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Long time Android user here! (G2, Nexus One, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4). After several years of hoping Android would get its shit together, I switched to a 5S and got my wife an iPhone 6. I have minor quibbles: No Google Calendar App. Google service push notifications seem a tad slower on the iPhone. But the experience is just so much better. I am by no means a fan boi. I am a fan (as an infrastructure engineer with real problems to solve) of my phone just working, without factory resets, reboots, etc. The iPhone, to my chagrin, does exactly that.
edent 12y ago
I work for a telco (I don't speak for them, usual disclaimers apply). Everyone gets really ranty when operators delay firmware updates. Yeah, some of them delay to force you to buy a new phone, or to stuff the ROM full of bloatware. Most, however, do extensive testing to make sure that customers don't ring up call centres making angry complaints. Carriers (by and large) test the phone to make sure that the network portion operates correctly. They make sure that it complies with local regulations and that it's not going to interfere with the network. They also test that basic cellular functionality works. Many go further and check all standard operations of the handset. It's been several years since I was responsible for device testing, but here's a list of problems that I remember from big name manufacturers (Nokia, HTC, Sagem) on their "final" firmware. - 999/112/911 features not working. - Reboots when receiving a text starting with a 0. - Factory reset when receiving an MMS with more than one attachment. - Inability to switch from 3G to 2G on handover. - Caller ID always picking the first name from the SIM. It was, frankly, an unending parade of shoddy workmanship. We'd file reports, wait for an updated firmware, test it again, see that it had more bugs, refuse to ship it. Frankly, a few "enthusiasts" whining that they don't have a 0.1 firmware upgrade is a sensible price to pay compared to millions of customers storming your shops and demanding refunds. Google has an atrocious attitude to customer service - it's part of their business model https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2013/02/googles-customer-contempt-conundrum/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2013/02/googles-customer-contempt-c...
- baq 12y ago
  thank you for this post. i always felt that the other side of the fence was greatly underrepresented here.
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    I second that. We always get the same stream of negative comments towards telcos (not saying they're not deserved), but we don't get to see very often how this looks on the other side of the fence. It'll be wonderful to have more comments like GP's one.
- glass- 12y ago
  > compared to millions of customers storming your shops and demanding refunds And yet somehow Apple is able to push updates without carrier approval and this doesn't happen.
evpuneq 12y ago
This issue also affects users of CyanogenMod 11 which is currently based on Android 4.4.4 (https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-5728 https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-5728). The same thing happened to the HTC One M7, but HTC fixed it quickly with an OTA update (http://venomroms.com/venomhub-fix-no-sound-calls-htc-one-m7 http://venomroms.com/venomhub-fix-no-sound-calls-htc-one-m7). All in all it looks like the malfunction is caused by an automatic update of the Google Play Services framework. Not reacting at all so far is definitively not a good move of Google.
- gcb0 12y ago
  if it's a bug in a closed source Google service, how HTC released a fix? even if they roll back the service on a new system image it will self update... unless they hacked away and bumped the version...
  - evpuneq 12y ago
    The services probably just trigger an error deeper in the call stack like in Qualcomm's proprietary binary blobs. Perhaps they received a new version from Qualcomm.
- tunap 12y ago
  That MAY explain why I don't have these issues on my N4, I de-googled[1] my phone as soon as I got it. [1]http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1715375 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1715375
iamgopal 12y ago
I thought it was just me. And the 300 people able to reach at issue page suggest much wider spread of the poroblem. Android is getting worst, I still do not understand why Google keep adding needless feature and designs when they could not even do smooth scrolling at 2 GHz 2 gigs which my iPod touch does at quarter of resource. Ideal solution to me is, add binary small auto update like chrome, that way all phones will be forced updated and developer may need to worry about only singular version problem. And of course they should devote one full year to only stability and performance than feature creep. OK I should stop now, hour is late.
amelius 12y ago
Google also broke my bluetooth audio... :/ And they are not being very responsive about it on the issue tracker. And the silly thing is... it once worked! I feel like I should have never "upgraded" my Android version.
- callahad 12y ago
  In what way is your bluetooth audio broken? If you're seeing frequent disconnects, switching from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz WiFi seems to have resolved it on my Nexus 7. Which is utterly ridiculous, but hell, it works.
  - raisedbyninjas 12y ago
    5.0 degraded the ability for google maps navigation voice prompts to work while other apps are playing bluetooth audio. It creates a lot of silence and cuts off parts of the audio.
jsnell 12y ago
A comment in the recent "Apple has lost the functional high ground" thread started as follows, "Thing is nobody complains about Android updates breaking everything [...]". I thought that was hilarious, since at this point my baseline expectation for an Android update is for absolutely core functionality to be broken, and not be fixed for a few months if ever. Now, technically only 3 out of 6 Android devices I've ever owned ended up in that state. But it appears that it would have been just a matter of time for the Nexus 4, and it doesn't appear in those stats just due to being stolen before it was broken.
codeulike 12y ago
I have a Nexus 4 running 5.0.1 and it works fine. If this was a widespread issue surely there's be more than just an bug report about it?
tsax 12y ago
Android Lollipop also broke the led indicator at the bottom of my Nexus 5. I can no longer count on it to reliably indicate if I have messages/emails pending on silent mode.
- darshan 12y ago
  That's intentional. Lollipop no longer has silent mode; instead it has "no interruptions" mode, which considers the LED indicator an interruption. I suspect there are third-party apps that can do a pseudo-silent mode that may work for you.
  - tsax 12y ago
    Yeah I realize that and it's broken. There's clearly a use case that the LED served between ZERO interruptions and buzzing/ringing.
qdog 12y ago
I've had this happen to me a couple times, seems like when I'm doing something on my phone and answer a call, the sound from the app on my phone plays over that call, annoying. Then when I end the call, I no longer get voice on calls until I reboot. So, basically, don't answer then phone when in an app until an update cures it. Just about what I expect as far as phones these days, people just suck at making software.
gcb0 12y ago
paranoia time: i have the exact same symptoms since 2.3, but only when using Google voice. i.e. routing my calls though Google. and on the report everyone says they can dial when disabling data/wifi. i will be watching the fix for this one very closely.
wildmXranat 12y ago
I have to restart my Nexus 4 more than once a day. Either I don't hear the other party or they hear pure static. And here I thought I was buying a quality device.
hokkos 12y ago
There has been 2 threads about Apple decreasing software quality, I found theses reports to be totally bogus. If there has been a piece of technology that is falling in quality it is Android, Lollipop is the worst update ever : https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79729 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79729 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79445 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79445

161 points by evpuneq 12y ago

bluehazed 12y ago

I've been holding off on the 5.0.1 update due to laziness, looks like that was a good thing.

reedcat 12y ago
Yep, I have the update sitting on my Moto X for a week or so. Was tempting,.. good thing I didn't go for it.
- SyncTheory13 12y ago
  Been on 5.0 for Moto X (2014) for a few weeks now without issue. These bug reports appear to be for Nexus 4/5.
davidw 12y ago
I have a Nexus 4 with 5.0.1 and it works fine.
- bluehazed 12y ago
  Fair enough, but 5.0.0 is working fine for me, I think I'll sit this one out until this is confirmed/looked into better.

reedcat 12y ago

This is why I never upgrade my phone to the first couple updates pushed to the device.

Someone1234 12y ago
First couple of updates relative to what exactly? Because with Android's update process you cannot opt to push anything but the latest update which is always an unproven by its nature. It isn't like Windows where you can opt out of the latest service pack for a while and wait to see if it is stable. With Android you either take the latest update or you don't.
- mobiplayer 12y ago
  He probably just prefers to wait for versions X.X.3 instead of X.X.0, X.X.1 and X.X.2 :)
- emidln 12y ago
  You can install updates via downloading the updating and flashing. This isn't too difficult (basically what you have to do if you run a ROM). It's often how people opt-in to updates that are rolling OTA before their device wins the OTA lottery.

colinbartlett 12y ago

(No comment was entered for this change.) Status: Obsolete

iwince 12y ago

"Hi, I don't think anyone from google is even looking at this since we have no resolution" What's up with this Google?

johnduhart 12y ago
Maybe they're on holiday? Is that not possible?
- spacefight 12y ago
  The full quote should read "Hi, I don't think anyone from google is even looking at this since we have no resolution, upgrading of priority or even an acknowledgement response."
  - belorn 12y ago
    Would be interesting to know how high priority telephony has as a feature.
    - latch 12y ago
      I imagine high. 911 calls.
    - thrillgore 12y ago
      I'd say very high since technically Android is an OS for smartPHONEs. Note the word "phone."
      - tdkl 12y ago
        Technically it was bought for Google services and data collection in mobile space, that's inside their control.
- habith 12y ago
  Since 12/18/2014? Not a single person to ack the issue? That seems odd.

iliaznk 12y ago

I'm on 5.0.1 with Nexus 4 and have no problems. Looks like it's not a common thing.

Someone1234 12y ago
While both their claims and yours are anecdotes, I'm more willing to side with more people with similar anecdotes than a single one who then uses their single experience to try and invalid the multitude of other experiences expressed.
- davidw 12y ago
  I don't think they're trying to "invalidate" anything, just state that it's not something everyone is seeing. I have 5.0.1 on a Nexus 4 and it's working fine. I also don't doubt in the slightest that something is screwed up and a lot of people are encountering a serious bug.
  - spdustin 12y ago
    No, he was trying to invalidate, or could have chosen his words better. By saying his one experience makes the telephony bug reported by so many users to be "not aa common thing", he has (purposefully or carelessly) stated that his experience outweighs the multitudes who knew enough to go to that site to report the bug, and the folks at XDA who found a fix that works for many.
halalfood 12y ago
nexus 5 with 5.0.1 and me and my father definitely have had this problem. I switched to an iPhone because I had an upgrade and genuinely thought the phone wasn't working anymore.
- davidwparker 12y ago
  Weird- I have a N5 and my wife has an N4 and neither of us had this issue.
12y ago

ansible 12y ago

I've seen this issue too on my Nexus 4. Rebooting fixes the problem, at least temporarily. Since I had just used the OTA updates for stock 5.0 and 5.0.1, another redditor suggested that I do a factory wipe. I haven't seen the problem recur yet, but it has only been a couple days. Because of this and other problems (random crashes), if I see any issue again, then I'll downgrade to 4.4.4. My typical uptime for that release was measured in months, and for 5.0.1 the uptime is measured in days. I've been severely disappointed with this release. I don't see how the new look and feel provides any significant usability benefit.

67726e 12y ago
I had the same issue with an older 4.4.x version of Android, tried everything and after two weeks of frustration I just returned it and got a new one. Never saw the problem again.
comboy 12y ago
It may be a bad generalization since I imagine Google teams for different products don't have that much in common, but it seems to me that since some time Google is pushing more forward and caring less about apps being reliable and bug-free. I've seen errors in inbox, in google music, and most annoying in google photos where I'm unable to access some of my albums (created stories were unavailable for me for about 2 weeks - I've checked almost every day, it's fixed now). I tried taking Google take out (downloading all of my Google data), but all I got was an e-mail that it failed to create it. And there's of course not much I can do, I'm simply out of luck (well I can google similar problems to see I'm not the only one and that others are also out of luck). I'm still a Google fan but I'm very dissappointed with this. Of course they can exist just fine if it works only for 99% of cases, but that's not the same brand that I knew.
- kuschku 12y ago
  And their new products are even far worse than advertised, for no real reason. for example compare http://i.imgur.com/IxwQwqk.png http://i.imgur.com/IxwQwqk.png with http://i.imgur.com/DrzdQKJ.png http://i.imgur.com/DrzdQKJ.png, it’s not like it would have been much work to implement this design, and it would have made it far nicer, but they didn’t do it. It seems like Google is trying to save on every end and while trying to not spend a single unnecessary penny, they butcher their services.

userbinator 12y ago

Priority-Small An indication that Google no longer considers the phone functionality of a smartphone to be all that important? Or is the Nexus 4 considered too old already? It is a little over 2 years old, which is a relatively long time in the mobile world. I'm curious to know what the cause of this bug is.

delroth 12y ago
It's the default priority for user reported bugs before triaging.
- spdustin 12y ago
  And that causes a lot of consternation to users, obviously. Priority should be divided into two fields in these systems: user-submitted priority, and dev team's priority. Look at all the people who feel directly insulted by the "Priority-Small" tag - they don't know what it means or if it indicates that Google hasn't triaged it (seriously, this old, and not triaged?) , they just feel minimized and condescended to.
phkahler 12y ago
>> An indication that Google no longer considers the phone functionality of a smartphone to be all that important? I cringe whenever a product fails to perform perfectly at its primary function. Other stuff I'll let slide, but if it's any kind of "phone" it better make calls flawlessly.

andyl 12y ago

My Nexus 5 is broken. Is there a simple way to revert to the old version?

kordless 12y ago
Do a factory reset.
paralelogram 12y ago
http://www.androidpit.com/how-to-downgrade-a-nexus http://www.androidpit.com/how-to-downgrade-a-nexus
- raisedbyninjas 12y ago
  Ok, now how do you stop the OTA update from spamming the notification bar?

jmscharff2 12y ago

I am looking at getting the Nexus 6 and its threads like this that make me think twice about leaving the iPhone. I prefer android, I love my nexus 7 but issues like this are the reason I left android to get the iPhone 5 from a Droid X2. Now, I thought if getting a Nexus google would support it more because my main issue with the Droid was that it was never updated...but now I am concerned.

facepalm 12y ago
Given the complexity of the devices, I suspect any modern phone will come with a number of issues. For iPhones it is almost traditional that one serious issue will be found shortly after launch (like antennagate a ka "you are holding it wrong"). Curiously, the majority of users seems to get by just fine, so maybe some issues are not as big as they seem.
orclev 12y ago
The good news at least, is that the Nexus 6 seems unaffected by whatever this is (and may in fact be at the core of this). Nexus 6 shipped with 5.0.1 and I'm not aware of any Nexus 6 owners seeing this problem (when running stock 5.0.1). It's mostly the pre-5.0 android phones that are having this problem when upgraded to 5.0.1, so my guess would be that it either doesn't happen with a stock (from scratch, not upgrade) install of 5.0.1, or else it's some difference between the hardware/firmware in Nexus 6, and every other Android phone.
- beernutz 12y ago
  There are around 7 replies in that thread specifying they have a Nexus 6 and see the issue. I have one, but have not noticed it. Though I always use it with a BT earpiece, so that might account for the difference?
toomuchtodo 12y ago
Long time Android user here! (G2, Nexus One, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4). After several years of hoping Android would get its shit together, I switched to a 5S and got my wife an iPhone 6. I have minor quibbles: No Google Calendar App. Google service push notifications seem a tad slower on the iPhone. But the experience is just so much better. I am by no means a fan boi. I am a fan (as an infrastructure engineer with real problems to solve) of my phone just working, without factory resets, reboots, etc. The iPhone, to my chagrin, does exactly that.

edent 12y ago

I work for a telco (I don't speak for them, usual disclaimers apply). Everyone gets really ranty when operators delay firmware updates. Yeah, some of them delay to force you to buy a new phone, or to stuff the ROM full of bloatware. Most, however, do extensive testing to make sure that customers don't ring up call centres making angry complaints. Carriers (by and large) test the phone to make sure that the network portion operates correctly. They make sure that it complies with local regulations and that it's not going to interfere with the network. They also test that basic cellular functionality works. Many go further and check all standard operations of the handset. It's been several years since I was responsible for device testing, but here's a list of problems that I remember from big name manufacturers (Nokia, HTC, Sagem) on their "final" firmware. - 999/112/911 features not working. - Reboots when receiving a text starting with a 0. - Factory reset when receiving an MMS with more than one attachment. - Inability to switch from 3G to 2G on handover. - Caller ID always picking the first name from the SIM. It was, frankly, an unending parade of shoddy workmanship. We'd file reports, wait for an updated firmware, test it again, see that it had more bugs, refuse to ship it. Frankly, a few "enthusiasts" whining that they don't have a 0.1 firmware upgrade is a sensible price to pay compared to millions of customers storming your shops and demanding refunds. Google has an atrocious attitude to customer service - it's part of their business model https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2013/02/googles-customer-contempt-conundrum/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2013/02/googles-customer-contempt-c...

baq 12y ago
thank you for this post. i always felt that the other side of the fence was greatly underrepresented here.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  I second that. We always get the same stream of negative comments towards telcos (not saying they're not deserved), but we don't get to see very often how this looks on the other side of the fence. It'll be wonderful to have more comments like GP's one.
glass- 12y ago
> compared to millions of customers storming your shops and demanding refunds And yet somehow Apple is able to push updates without carrier approval and this doesn't happen.

evpuneq 12y ago

This issue also affects users of CyanogenMod 11 which is currently based on Android 4.4.4 (https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-5728 https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-5728). The same thing happened to the HTC One M7, but HTC fixed it quickly with an OTA update (http://venomroms.com/venomhub-fix-no-sound-calls-htc-one-m7 http://venomroms.com/venomhub-fix-no-sound-calls-htc-one-m7). All in all it looks like the malfunction is caused by an automatic update of the Google Play Services framework. Not reacting at all so far is definitively not a good move of Google.

gcb0 12y ago
if it's a bug in a closed source Google service, how HTC released a fix? even if they roll back the service on a new system image it will self update... unless they hacked away and bumped the version...
- evpuneq 12y ago
  The services probably just trigger an error deeper in the call stack like in Qualcomm's proprietary binary blobs. Perhaps they received a new version from Qualcomm.
tunap 12y ago
That MAY explain why I don't have these issues on my N4, I de-googled[1] my phone as soon as I got it. [1]http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1715375 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1715375

iamgopal 12y ago

I thought it was just me. And the 300 people able to reach at issue page suggest much wider spread of the poroblem. Android is getting worst, I still do not understand why Google keep adding needless feature and designs when they could not even do smooth scrolling at 2 GHz 2 gigs which my iPod touch does at quarter of resource. Ideal solution to me is, add binary small auto update like chrome, that way all phones will be forced updated and developer may need to worry about only singular version problem. And of course they should devote one full year to only stability and performance than feature creep. OK I should stop now, hour is late.

amelius 12y ago

Google also broke my bluetooth audio... :/ And they are not being very responsive about it on the issue tracker. And the silly thing is... it once worked! I feel like I should have never "upgraded" my Android version.

callahad 12y ago
In what way is your bluetooth audio broken? If you're seeing frequent disconnects, switching from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz WiFi seems to have resolved it on my Nexus 7. Which is utterly ridiculous, but hell, it works.
- raisedbyninjas 12y ago
  5.0 degraded the ability for google maps navigation voice prompts to work while other apps are playing bluetooth audio. It creates a lot of silence and cuts off parts of the audio.

jsnell 12y ago

A comment in the recent "Apple has lost the functional high ground" thread started as follows, "Thing is nobody complains about Android updates breaking everything [...]". I thought that was hilarious, since at this point my baseline expectation for an Android update is for absolutely core functionality to be broken, and not be fixed for a few months if ever. Now, technically only 3 out of 6 Android devices I've ever owned ended up in that state. But it appears that it would have been just a matter of time for the Nexus 4, and it doesn't appear in those stats just due to being stolen before it was broken.

codeulike 12y ago

I have a Nexus 4 running 5.0.1 and it works fine. If this was a widespread issue surely there's be more than just an bug report about it?

tsax 12y ago

Android Lollipop also broke the led indicator at the bottom of my Nexus 5. I can no longer count on it to reliably indicate if I have messages/emails pending on silent mode.

darshan 12y ago
That's intentional. Lollipop no longer has silent mode; instead it has "no interruptions" mode, which considers the LED indicator an interruption. I suspect there are third-party apps that can do a pseudo-silent mode that may work for you.
- tsax 12y ago
  Yeah I realize that and it's broken. There's clearly a use case that the LED served between ZERO interruptions and buzzing/ringing.

qdog 12y ago

I've had this happen to me a couple times, seems like when I'm doing something on my phone and answer a call, the sound from the app on my phone plays over that call, annoying. Then when I end the call, I no longer get voice on calls until I reboot. So, basically, don't answer then phone when in an app until an update cures it. Just about what I expect as far as phones these days, people just suck at making software.

gcb0 12y ago

paranoia time: i have the exact same symptoms since 2.3, but only when using Google voice. i.e. routing my calls though Google. and on the report everyone says they can dial when disabling data/wifi. i will be watching the fix for this one very closely.

wildmXranat 12y ago

I have to restart my Nexus 4 more than once a day. Either I don't hear the other party or they hear pure static. And here I thought I was buying a quality device.

hokkos 12y ago

There has been 2 threads about Apple decreasing software quality, I found theses reports to be totally bogus. If there has been a piece of technology that is falling in quality it is Android, Lollipop is the worst update ever : https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79729 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79729 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79445 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79445