[Q] Slow/unresponsive media controls from smartwatch/Android Wear or lock screen - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hitting various media controls on my smartwatch (previously Pebble, now Android Wear both via built-in media functions and Music Boss), my Bluetooth car stereo, or the lock screen, including play/pause, next, and back (or even turning off my car which should automatically pause playback) is incredibly unreliable for me.
I find that at MOST, half the time these buttons work as they're supposed to. The rest of the time there's a delay ranging from a couple of seconds to over a MINUTE. And they accumulate, so I can hit next, not hear any change, hit next again, and then a minute later my music will skip two tracks. Or I hit pause, think it didn't work, hit it again, give up, go to my app directly, pause it, and 30 seconds later it plays again, then pauses.
I find pretty much the only thing that tends to clear this up is restarting my phone, which is usually not convenient to do at the times I need this to work most (like while driving).
I didn't have this problem at all with Jelly Bean on my Nexus 4, and I feel like the problem was rare, if at all, on my 5 with 4.4 through 4.4.2. It was 4.4.3 that seemed to make it a severe and constant problem, and it's held through 4.4.4. And as noted, the problem transitioned from my Pebble to my Android Wear, and since the same thing happens with lockscreen controls, I feel confident it's my phone/OS and not the watch. I'm stock, rooted, FYI.
Any thoughts? I've done a ton of Googling and gotten surprisingly nowhere.

I've noticed this too. For me it seems to have started happen after I got my Android Wear watch, and didn't happen when I just had the phone connected to my car bluetooth. I wonder if having the phone connected to multiple bluetooth controllers at once is causing the issue ?

Interesting thought. Might explain why I was also experiencing it with my Pebble.

Tested this theory by connecting my car stereo through the aux jack instead of Bluetooth and disconnected my phone from its Bluetooth connection. No improvement. At first it was responding right away, which it does sometimes, and then the next time I tried to use it it took a good 30 seconds before my actions registered.

This has been happening to me for a few months. I find that the only reliable way to immediately adjust the playback controls is from within the app. Lockscreen, Bluetooth devices, notification controls, corded play/pause via headphones are all unreliable. But the attempts to play pause are all cumulative and with the aforementioned lag, even if I successfully pause from within the app. So I think I've paused the player, but a minute later it may start playing again. Really embarrassing at times. Not rooted, and switching default players hasn't helped.

Socold said:
This has been happening to me for a few months. I find that the only reliable way to immediately adjust the playback controls is from within the app. Lockscreen, Bluetooth devices, notification controls, corded play/pause via headphones are all unreliable. But the attempts to play pause are all cumulative and with the aforementioned lag, even if I successfully pause from within the app. So I think I've paused the player, but a minute later it may start playing again. Really embarrassing at times. Not rooted, and switching default players hasn't helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I'm not alone, although disappointed you don't have a solution either. And yes, it's very embarrassing to try to show off this technology and have it fail, or worse have it fail at the wrong moment. Sometimes I get out of my car, walk into a building, and THEN the commands catch up and the music starts blaring from my pocket. Good thing I don't listen to Gangsta Rap.

Related

Audio Crackling/Audio stutter when screen off after 3.1 Update

All,
I noticed a couple possible defects after upgrading to 3.1 manually.
1. When playing audio from certain applications (XMP for Android for instance) The Audio cuts out shortly after the screen turns off, and then halts for a period of time before coming back shortly, then cuts out again.
2. Once you turn the screen back on, there is a distinct crackling in the audio.
Workaround:
1. Turn screen back on (get the crackling)
2. Unplug the 3.5mm audio jack
3. Play music from the speakers
4. Plug back in the 3.5mm audio jack
Anyone else seeing these issues with other audio applications?
Yep, I had the crackling and long pauses start happening today after the FOTA update.
Seems to happen (more often?) when applications interrupt an audio stream. For instance, listening to music and get an IM or email.
Yeah I had issues with this as well afer updating to 3.1...I saw in another thread that doing a "hard reboot" will fix the issue and has seemed to work for me so far. Hold the power button down for 10-15 sec until the unit reboots.
same problem
I have the same problem as well. The audio stops functioning properly when the screen times out or when I lock the device with the power button. The weird thing is that this behaviour is not consistent for all apps.
For example, "Music" stops only at the end of the song. From the "3.1 ROM issues" thread, other users are experiencing this as well. In contrast, in the apps "Listen" and "Audible", almost as soon as the screen goes off or I lock it, the audio stops, starting after some 30 seconds, halting again after 10 seconds. It repeats this cycle a few times and then stops completely. If I lit the screen by hitting the power button, the audio resumes with crackling noises as mentioned in the original posts.
Also, hard reset didn't work. I am tempted to do a factory reset except that I don't really know what's going on and I don't know if that'd fix it!
UPDATE: I found the following workaround solutions:
1- Winamp works flawlessly for songs, not a peep or hitch!
2- BeyondPod is working fairly well for podcasts. (It has paused once after 11 minutes so far.)
I did the fota update.
and I've the the crackling. Sucky.
me too. Hope they get an update out to fix this asap. Extremely annoying bug.
Would like to add I am also experiencing this issue although mine didn't start till a couple days after the update to 3.1. A hard reset works for a little while but the issue eventually presents itself again. Might be due to a caching issue with the music player?
Anyone try another music player?
I discovered the crackling noise problem last night.
At first I thought the FLAC songs were recorded from a dirty vinyl record.
I also discovered the problem where the Music app does not continue to the next song when listening with the screen turned off. How stupid is that.
These are two big problems that ASUS needs to address ASAP.
I am already annoyed by the pop sound when turning the Transformer on and whenever any sound to the speaker (Headphones are fine) is played after a long pause.
They must have used a really cheap sound chip in the Transformer.
Yes I can confirm the same problems with google listen. Have tried the hard reset but it doesn't really help very much. Things worked fine after the restart, but as soon as the screen turned off, then the audio paused, and began to crackle, then more pauses. It is almost as if some part of the system is in some sort of low power mode and is not able to feed the data at the required data rate...
gloomyandy said:
... It is almost as if some part of the system is in some sort of low power mode and is not able to feed the data at the required data rate...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this could be exactly the problem. I have not yet gotten my TF, but looking forward to one greatly. However, I get exactly this problem on my Galaxy Tab 7" WHEN using setCPU to add a profile that scales the CPU down when screen is off. It sounds to me as if ASUS has added some sort of governer/scaling that does this. I could be wrong of course This is just based on reading, and personal experience
corodius said:
I believe this could be exactly the problem. I have not yet gotten my TF, but looking forward to one greatly. However, I get exactly this problem on my Galaxy Tab 7" WHEN using setCPU to add a profile that scales the CPU down when screen is off. It sounds to me as if ASUS has added some sort of governer/scaling that does this. I could be wrong of course This is just based on reading, and personal experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I get a lot of weird little problems with the Tab 7'' when setCPU scales clock speed down too far, including random reboots. I guess that's the sacrifice Asus made to give the TF such a tremendous battery life.
grainysand said:
I guess that's the sacrifice Asus made to give the TF such a tremendous battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about "tremendous"
More like pretty good...
i can confirm that i have this issue using google music app. I previously purchased PowerAMP (arguably the best android music app) and no problems whatsoever when the screen goes off.
I do like the google music app as it seems like a truly lightweight player but its still in beta stage and needs a bit of work.
I just discovered something. The problem does not occur for my Transformer when the unit is plugged in!
So it must be power management problem, the question is how to fix it?
Hey guys, loving the xda forums btw, much love. I have a acer iconia a500 16gb, and same problem here:
Using Acer_a500_4.010.13_com_gen2
The default Music player is buggy and crashed fairly often, the audio stopping when screen turns off and stopping intermittently is also present on iconia with the default music player and the others as well.
The audio crackling is also present under same conditions.
To add insult to injury, sometimes when i connect a headphones the speakers dont turn off. And if i play with he "dolby mobile" settings, the sound on my headphones get really tinny untill i unplug the headphones and plug them back in, or i reboot the sys in some cases.
I just thought I should add to this thread that I have the same problems on my Acer Iconia A500. It consistently only finishes the song after I turn the screen off then it waits MINUTES to start the next song. I only occasionally have problems with the crackle sound. I had the crackling a lot when I first got it but it doesn't seem to happen as often any more. It doesn't seem to happen when I use doubleTwist but I really wish that the STOCK APPLICATION (which I like the best) would work...
Is there ANY way to fix this stuff? I mean even downgrading to like 3.0 or something. I like to use my tablet to play on my stereo system and I don't enjoy having to effing go back every time I want to play the next song. I also don't want to leave the screen on all the time and murder the battery.
I have the same thing happening on my A500 (running the ASUS PRIME ROM, though). When the screen turns off, anything audio related gets really skippy.
apparently there's some sort of setting build in for the cpu to underclock to the point of not being able to continue running the music application when the screen turns off. (that's me guessing it could be wrong) It always happens with stock music app though it didnt happen when in 3.0.
I installed winamp and doubletwist and both played nonstop.
Also i noticed that if you had music in your external sd and you open music app (also happened with winamp) and remove the sd the applications wont work anymore (thy always fc)unless you install the sd back (that is if you had your music library in the sd even if you also have it internally)
I tried moving the music to the internal storage but the error persist. the only way to get rid of it is formatting the tablet and passing the music to the tablet before running the apps. However if you install the sd and you happen to have music and music app open, youre screw again.
thats the error ive been having and im stuck with a 16gb sd in the tablet to hear music, (which i find it sucking cause my tablet is 32gb)
any suggestions?

Music Skipping And Voice Dialer Self-starting

I've noticed this since I bought my htc inspire 4G the phone (I had other issues before such as low battery life, vibration feedback simply not working, etc - I hard reset the phone and those went away, but this is back), and I'm wondering if it's my hardware, or the software.
Basically, if I'm listening to music (Pandora or the Music app), it'll randomly hit Next song - if it's the music app, it'll be a mish-mash of fast forward and next track. This is with the phone screen off or on. When it starts happening I turn the screen on and notice it jumping all over, and I've not touched anything. Additionally, while this is happening, voice dialer opens over and over after I close it, and sometimes it'll just start making a call to the last dialed/received number (which is making me a hit with all my friends).
Finally, I say possessed because this is not consistent. For example, I'm listening to Pandora now with no issues. However, the fact that I have to even worry about this happening again
You are using incompatible headphones. You didn't mention headphones but it explains everything. You need to use headphones that have a mic. These headphones have 4 gold contacts on the plug. Without a mic it only has 3. The big contact at the bottom is grounding out 2 connections causing your phone to switch tracks and make calls. Get correct headphones with a mic. You have to remember this is a phone and not a simple mp3 player.

Odd problem: Playback stops for no reason sporadically - HELP !

Hi folks.
Sooner or later any audio playback stops, just as if I had pushed the pause button.
It affects different apps.
I deactivated each and every special feature in settings, no matter what it is, from gestures to case type. Blutooth and NC is deactivated.
It happens with and without case, wired or not, screen on or off, flight mode or WLAN or 4G.
Sometimes it happens a few times in a few minutes or even several times in one minute. Sometimes it doesn´t happen in an hour or more.
I´m completely clueless.... This is a serious problem for me. Who can help?
Same issue here. Watch a video and sound just stops. First time happened I also tried to start poweramp and same issue.
I need to restart the phone to get everything normal.
I feel the software is not complete, there are small bugs and issues that needs solutions.
I hope an update will get it right.
Oh no...
But wait: You say: Sound stops. But video playback continues? In my case, playback in general stops, not just the sound. But I did not see that with videos since I just playback audio files.
I found out, it seems, this affects not all apps. Too bad most apps are not satisfying. (for my personal needs)
There is a app called MyNoise. It creates sound scapes with generators. There is a "CPU-Mode" option where you can select 2 different CPU modes: "High CPU" and "Normal CPU". "High CPU" was created to prevent the app from stopping to work in certain situations because of power saving features. Maybe this is a hint.
Not sure if it's related but I've started having problems in the car, when I turn to my phone's on-board music (on SD card), there is a delay of approx. 10 seconds before any music plays. It never used to be like this, I may be wrong but I'm suspecting it's since the update to EMUI version 182.

Going to submit a mass software bug report to Essential

And Im gathering as much info as I can into one centralized area. If you have experienced something that isn't already on the list, please feel fee to chime in here or on reddit . I'll be copying and pasting links from here to the report as well. I was gonna submit tomorrow but since I'm late to the party here, I'll send it Thursday evening. Thanks a lot everyone!
https://www.reddit.com/r/essential/comments/70m7j4/software_issues_and_bugs_to_be_reported/
It seems like I can't remove the Hotspot quick settings tile. I remove it and then it's back again.
Bug reports
I find the keyboard misses a few vibrations on tapping letters, around 2 out of 10 taps.
Casting a movie to my TV stalls and stutters after about 10 minutes every time I try to watch a movie.
johnny8910 said:
Casting a movie to my TV stalls and stutters after about 10 minutes every time I try to watch a movie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That shouldn't matter with the phone. I find that odd. Casting is nothing more than a web browser, more or less. The phone sends a URL to the Chromecast, then the Chromecast plays that URL and the phone is completely disconnected from what happens next other than the playback controls. Phone isn't playing anything, isn't transmitting data, etc. unless you're mirroring your screen or the app is actually streaming from the phone. I'd try a different app, use a speed test app on the chromecast, and do some other troubleshooting there.
Okay thanks. Will try a different app.
johnny8910 said:
I find the keyboard misses a few vibrations on tapping letters, around 2 out of 10 taps.
Casting a movie to my TV stalls and stutters after about 10 minutes every time I try to watch a movie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Change the vibration back to system default and that issue is remediated
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Yep.
You are right. Fixed, thanks ?
My Bose QC25 headphones seem to be incompatible with the USB-C/3.5mm adapter.
It seems like the volume down button is constantly being held down. As soon as I plug it in, ringer volume goes to vibrate.
In-line mic does not work.
Any in-line button press seems to reduce ringer volume and occasionally calls up google assistant.
jnmacd said:
My Bose QC25 headphones seem to be incompatible with the USB-C/3.5mm adapter.
It seems like the volume down button is constantly being held down. As soon as I plug it in, ringer volume goes to vibrate.
In-line mic does not work.
Any in-line button press seems to reduce ringer volume and occasionally calls up google assistant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bose QuietComfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones for Apple devices?
If they use the Apple remote function, they are not compatible with Android.
tech_head said:
Bose QuietComfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones for Apple devices?
If they use the Apple remote function, they are not compatible with Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the Android cable. They work fine on other phones with 3.5mm jack.
However, on my previous Zenfone3 with USB-C, I used the Essential adapter and get the same results. It has to do with the adapter.
This will be going out to essential today at around 7pm pst so if there's anything I missed or anything you all wanna add, do yo thang
I have a problem with Bluetooth audio streaming to my car. I cannot rewind or fast forward. If I try to switch to the next/prior track the sound goes away, but it looks like my Google play music app is still playing. If I re-pair or switch inputs and go back to streaming, the audio plays again.
I can't replicate this problem with either my Google pixel or my wife's iPhone.
foodplz said:
I have a problem with Bluetooth audio streaming to my car. I cannot rewind or fast forward. If I try to switch to the next/prior track the sound goes away, but it looks like my Google play music app is still playing. If I re-pair or switch inputs and go back to streaming, the audio plays again.
I can't replicate this problem with either my Google pixel or my wife's iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this issue as well, Also, what you said about the changing tracks, that happens to me as soon as a song ends, and not just with google play music, but with amazon music as well. And while my LG V10 and Moto G4 will send track names and album art to my radio, the PH-1 does not.
Sorry for the late response but everything has been added to the bug report and sent off to Essential. They got back to me with a response, "The whole Essential team monitors /r/Essential pretty religiously, and I know the SW team is looking at the thread. We love that you guys compile stuff like this, as it really does help us make a better product..."
Fingerprint reader gone to sleep
https://forum.xda-developers.com/essential-phone/help/fingerprint-reader-day-t3679908
Hi guys. I exchanged my Essential Phone yesterday (hardware defect) and now on my second device I still get this random fingerprint reader bug. Once in a while I take my phone out of my pocket and the fingerprint reader doesn't work. I have to press the power button to wake it up.
mhajii210 said:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/essential-phone/help/fingerprint-reader-day-t3679908
Hi guys. I exchanged my Essential Phone yesterday (hardware defect) and now on my second device I still get this random fingerprint reader bug. Once in a while I take my phone out of my pocket and the fingerprint reader doesn't work. I have to press the power button to wake it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks! added
Fingerprint sensor
I have used all 5 instances of the fingerprint scanner for the same finger in multiple positions while holding the phone. Works fine once or twice but then all of a sudden won't recognize my fingerprint, have to use the pattern to unlock and even then I usually have to reboot the phone in order for the sensor to recognize my fingerprint and after a few times it goes back to not recognizing the fingerprint again. Essential phone ph-1
And yes I have cleaned my hands and fingers and cleaned the sensor multiple times with no change to effectiveness.
[email protected] said:
I have this issue as well, Also, what you said about the changing tracks, that happens to me as soon as a song ends, and not just with google play music, but with amazon music as well. And while my LG V10 and Moto G4 will send track names and album art to my radio, the PH-1 does not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try going in developper settings and change avcrp version to 1.3. reboot phone. This worked for my phone + mazda 3
i have done a clean install twice of the latest 8.1 my issue is that sometimes answering the phone it defaults to speakerphone.. but the speakerphone button isnt pressed.. i have to toggle it on then off again before it will switch to the ear piece. also casting seems to only work after a fresh start of the phone.. alcast wont find a device till i restart.. nev2r an issue on 7.1
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
stinger4321 said:
i have done a clean install twice of the latest 8.1 my issue is that sometimes answering the phone it defaults to speakerphone.. but the speakerphone button isnt pressed.. i have to toggle it on then off again before it will switch to the ear piece. also casting seems to only work after a fresh start of the phone.. alcast wont find a device till i restart.. nev2r an issue on 7.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't an Essential issue, this a Google dialer issue.

More Pixel 2 Bluetooth Woes

I know Pixel 2 bluetooth problems have been discussed here and elsewhere ad nauseam, but I honestly haven't found anyone else experiencing the problem I'm having. Or really even close. None of this was an issue with my Nexus 6P, which I just replaced.
First problem: Audio programs mute between tracks. The phone thinks it's playing them, but it isn't. Take Pandora. A few songs will play fine, then one will end, and suddenly it'll go mute when the next song starts. I'll notice no sounds playing, and I'll look down to see it think it's playing, but with no sound. If I pause and hit play again, the sounds start up until the next song, when it does the same thing. This happens with every audio program I've tried EXCEPT Google Play Music, which works fine. It also sometimes works for 4-5 songs before tanking.
Second problem: notification noises suffer the same fate. I'll have Google Play Music going (which works), and it'll just cut out for a second). That's the notification buzz, which silences the music but doesn't actually play anything. Obviously I can't use the play/pause test to see if that fixes this.
I'm using Soundpeats Q16 true wireless. I unfortunately don't have much else with which to test this. I'd blame Soundpeats, but they worked great on my 6P, and the bluetooth problems with the P2 make me think it's not on Soundpeats here.
I've messed around with the Developer options, and I THINK that setting the Playback Quality to anything steady (330kbps, 660kpbs, or 990 kbps) fixes it. The problem is that that, and the other Bluetooth developer options, all reset on me almost immediately, so that's tough to prove. I have also tried messing around with Tasker, whose sounds also wind up muted.
So one question I'd have would be: is there a way to make those developer options stick?
Second question would be: anybody else in this boat?
I have tried both re-pairing and factory resetting the headphones, several times.

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