A few observations on the google pixel 4a - Google Pixel 4a Questions & Answers

I've had the Pixel 4a since tuesday and I like it. I've a few observations I thought I'd put here in case anyone else agrees; there's a fix/workaround etc:
1) The speaker isn't too loud and it's only in the last 20% or so of the volume bar that you can hear the difference. They should change the linearity such that there's more control over the sound difference of the last 20% of the range, if that makes sense. Not a big deal.
2) It's annoying that I can't swipe back (ie swipe left from the right edge of the screen) to get rid of the keyboard. Instead a large percentage (10?) of the bottom of the screen is black except for the arrow which closes the keyboard. Waste of space.
3) On a similar note, there's a white line near the bottom of the screen. I guess it's to show that you can swipe up, but I'm not sure. Why would anyone who wasn't sure if they could swipe up see a white line and go "ah - I bet I could swipe up here"? But that's my best guess. And this is on most screens. It's the worst, and the most noticeable, on chrome. You have a full screen site, curving nicely at the top of the screen, and at the bottom the screen starts to curve but then there's the black rectangle, which exists purely to highlight the mystery-white-line-which-might-mean-you-can-swipe-up-here, cuts in, ending the curve and wasting around 5% of the height of the screen. This line doesn't appear in 3 button mode. But isn't the point of gestures that you don't need to waste space on buttons. So...don't waste the space showing me you can swipe up then. There's no swipe down hint, or swiping left/right hint. I don't get it at all. It knows I know you can swipe up, because I've swiped up.
4) Nova launcher problem. It just doesn't stick. Every once in a while it stops being the default launcher and you have to run it again. This has happened on other phones and eventually they fix it. I guess I have to try nova launcher again every month or so. The stock launcher isn't too bad, but:
5) Stock launcher is quite unconfigurable. The 5 icons at the bottom of the screen are sort of like the nova launcher dock (which i always turn off) and are there on every screen.
6) There's a notification history, which is a great idea. If you swiped away a message but then forgot if it was an email, or which whatsapp contact it was, you can see quickly what the most recent message was. You access it via a button under the notification shade which you can press to get at it. But...get this: That button only exists if you currently have unread notifications. If you swiped the last one away, the history button vanishes. You now have to go into settings to read it (why settings? my photos aren't in settings). Why? Who thought that was a good idea? That's when you're most likely to want the history! Doh!
7) Aggressive app killer. This will never change - no matter what google says about ai and machine learning, there's something too complicated about "ok, there's a music player running, playing music, and there are headphones attached, and the headphones are playing music...but...oh, the screen is turned off, which apps can I kill to save battery...well, there's this music player nobody's looking at, that'll do" to ever fix. Really? You're not checking if an app gets reloaded immediately after it gets killed every time it's killed and learning "hmm... it's as if.....he was listening to music and didn't want the app killed?" I guess it's true what they say - most machine learning is just a regex, and this isn't something which can be solved with a regex, so... I've disabled the battery optimisation for this app; time will tell whether that does the trick.
8) Can't disable the sound it makes when taking a screenshot.
9) Google photos can't keep up with quickly deleting a number of photos. To be fair, this happens on the website too. It's odd - you'd think it would be easy. You're not actually doing anything other than marking the fact that a photo is deleted. You're just moving it to the bin; it still exists locally. It's an offline-operation. Why doesn't it just defer until later, or do asynchronously - whatever it's doing. On both web and phone it's so laggy and disorienting that it's easy to end up deleting the wrong photo, the only workaround being to delete literally one picture every 5 seconds. Annoying if you're been taking pics of kids and took a bunch so as to ensure you have at least one without a blur or closed eyes etc.
Well, sounds quite ranty I guess. It's a great phone though - highly recommended. I really bought it for the camera and the fact it's quite a small phone. I recommend the spigen tough armor (sic) case; nice and grippy and feels like it's going to keep it pretty safe.

Maybe these things will be fixed in future updates. I reverted back to 10 and flashed Dirty Unicorns, just a better overall user experience compared to stock at the moment.

I would like to add something: do you also the "bubbles" always appear on the left of the screen even if you have moved them to the right before closing them?

_a! said:
...Well, sounds quite ranty I guess. It's a great phone though - highly recommended. I really bought it for the camera and the fact it's quite a small phone. I recommend the spigen tough armor (sic) case; nice and grippy and feels like it's going to keep it pretty safe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most observations in original post pertain to Android 11 (AOSP) and have little to do with the device itself. My experience on a couple items:
- Nova has yet to crash since updating to Android 11 (stable on A10 too). That said, you likely interact with the launcher in different ways not to mention app portfolio interactions. Should submit a bug report to developer via contact link in Nova settings.
- Not experiencing the same nonlinearity in volume adjustment. Max volume is fine for my tastes but probably would work well as the sole audio source at an Italian wedding

DB126 said:
Most observations in original post pertain to Android 11 (AOSP) and have little to do with the device itself. My experience on a couple items:
- Nova has yet to crash since updating to Android 11 (stable on A10 too). That said, you likely interact with the launcher in different ways not to mention app portfolio interactions. Should submit a bug report to developer via contact link in Nova settings.
- Not experiencing the same nonlinearity in volume adjustment. Max volume is fine for my tastes but probably would work well as the sole audio source at an Italian wedding
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device runs Android 11, so that's all I can talk about, not what might happen if it ran a different operating system.
I never said nova launcher crashed; just that it stopped being a default launcher by itself a few times.

The white line at the bottom of the screen is annoying! I liked having the option in Oxygen OS to hide it, hopefully that becomes an option on future updates.
Overall I'm really enjoying the phone after coming from the Nord.

_a! said:
The device runs Android 11, so that's all I can talk about, not what might happen if it ran a different operating system.
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Click to collapse
Not what I said; no reference to an alternate OS
_a! said:
I never said nova launcher crashed; just that it stopped being a default launcher by itself a few times.
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Click to collapse
Almost always the result of excessive memory pressure (also has nothing to do with the device assuming memory is adequate...which it is on the 4a)

For your issue 4 I guess there's bug in Nova launcher. I had similar issue with Nova, but after switching to Lawnchair it sticks permanently.
Default gesture navigation is surely ****ty. I prefer using old 3-buttons navigation.

Related

[DISCUSSION] ADW Launcher general (not device specific)

A new version of ADW Launcher was released in late October 2012--both free and EX version.
Many things changed from the previous version.
Quite a few people say "it is better," but I have some issues. First, a phenomenon never seen with the previous version...often, after 'doing things,' when the phone returns to the home screen, there are no icons for brief to not-so-brief time. Very disconcerting. They do eventually populate, but it is shocking when it happens and does not leave the impression of a well-produced app.
Second, with previous versions, I =LIVED= with using the dots placed left and right of the bottom dock to move (navigate) from screen to screen. Those have disappeared, even from the fee version. On my phone, using swipes to move the screen usually launches the app your finger first touches to do the swipe--very annoying. Emails to the dev asking if the navigation dots will return have not been answered.
(NOTE: I am not talking about the INDICATOR dots at top that show what screen you are currently on.)
I present this for people who may be considering ADW to know. The previous versions I highly recommend; the latest, I do not unless issues are resolved.
Anyone know an alternative way to show opened apps? When i used Nova i could set one like "pinch out" or something.. On ADW i can't fine the way to do that.. Ι avoid using home button every time..
A new update for ADW EX was just released 11-06-12, 1.3.3.7 on my phone.
It did not put back in the dots that will navigate to different screens.
Also, the phenomenon of icons being completely missing (blank screen) after settings changes remains as well.
Disappointment continues.
Its crap. I use menu button unlock in my phone and when I do it pops up the settings screen. No way to disable it. I sent an email to the dev and got no response. going back to the old one.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4g using xda premium
toxicpaulution said:
Its crap. I use menu button unlock in my phone and when I do it pops up the settings screen. No way to disable it. I sent an email to the dev and got no response. going back to the old one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He has not answered any of my two emails to him either.
Does anyone have the old ADW apk? I have a TitaniumBackup, but file in it is not the apk. ???
Attached is a screenshot to prove I have the EX version. If you only have non-EX, I will even use that--I hate this new version so much.
The ghost icons effect happens to me each time I change any ADW setting, for me it is no problem because I think it is due to the need of restarting app to make changes happen. I prefer the old scheme when you press the menu button, but I think it is just a matter of habit. Anyway, bugless for me as the previous one, and quite smooth, more than Go Launcher for example, at a friend's Galaxy 3 it makes the phone itself way faster than with Go Launcher.
Goalba said:
The ghost icons effect happens to me each time I change any ADW setting, for me it is no problem because I think it is due to the need of restarting app to make changes happen. I prefer the old scheme when you press the menu button, but I think it is just a matter of habit. Anyway, bugless for me as the previous one, and quite smooth, more than Go Launcher for example, at a friend's Galaxy 3 it makes the phone itself way faster than with Go Launcher.
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Click to collapse
I just don't see anything that is better than before, and several (important to me) things that are much worse...the "ghost" icons--I call them disappeared icons as they are gone for a LONG time on my phone, and the removal of the navigation dots for screen moves, which was my total navigation mode.
When I swipe to move screens, half the time I activate an app where my finger first touches the screen. Argghhh! I need the dots back. Author won't even answer.
OK, I think I have had a mind out of body situation here...
I deleted the new ADW EX and installed the old one (1.3.3.56). Am in the process of adding my shortcuts to the various 7 screens and setting the options and dock.
BUT...
the main reason I switched back was to get back my "navigation dots" left and right of the dock that I used to navigate from screen to screen. I cannot find how to turn the on in the options.
I have looked and looked. Can someone have mercy on me and tell me how those are commanded to be there, please?
(I KNOW they used to be available because I used them ALL THE TIME to move to different screens.)

Some Screenshots of the new Lollipop release

I am loving the looks, I mean the Whitish themes everywhere, that's what I wanted for so long. Just some screenshots in case one want to look how some sections look, for fun, that's all. I am stating some of my views on it too, please share yours too.
However not everything is great, I don't like how they have ruled out the scaling on the options, you might encounter one or two mi****s every now and then. I mean when you tap on option of some app, the OK, Discard etc. options have no box outlining those options, so you don't know where the scaling finishes. They shouldn't have done that. Tapping with fingers (which is and will be mostly done) can't always be precise. I have already miss tapped in some places!
I also don't like how they changed the notification clock font size, the AM/PM font is bigger than the clock itself, weird. The lockscreen clock has also been redone, it now has a slimmer font that KitKat, which I am not a fan of.
And I don't know whether this is a placebo effect or not, but am I the only one who is feeling that the in call loudness (volume) is a little softer than KitKat? Don't know, can't be sure.
The Dialler app now goes full screen, I mean edge to edge, simple change yet looks much much better
The Multi-Window mode doesn't have any small U shaped notification any more when enabled at the side of the screen, you just long press the back button to enable or disable it.
The lock screen notifications are directly tap-able and expandable, instead of dragging down and then tapping it to expand it from KitKat.
I guess you guys can use this topic to report bugs, whichever you have found. If this topic seems like a duplicate then remove it immediately.
Have fun.
PS: One more thing, I flashed the Polish version of the ROM on my Arab N9005, 32 GB. I tried to flash the German ROM first, because it had multi CSC but it failed to flash, so keep that in mind, I mean I think the German ROM is meant for 16 GB variants only.
@devilsdouble can we make the white background black?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
?awesome
devilsdouble said:
I am loving the looks, I mean the Whitish themes everywhere, that's what I wanted for so long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you like it. I bloody hate it. The white hurts, quite literally.
I also don't like how they changed the notification clock font size, the AM/PM font is bigger than the clock itself, weird. The lockscreen clock has also been redone, it now has a slimmer font that KitKat, which I am not a fan of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I never noticed... Oh right, I only use 24h clocks.
PS: One more thing, I flashed the Polish version of the ROM on my Arab N9005, 32 GB. I tried to flash the German ROM first, because it had multi CSC but it failed to flash, so keep that in mind, I mean I think the German ROM is meant for 16 GB variants only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no 16GB Note 3 variant outside Asia... I recall there being an issue with the German rom when flashing over to another back when 4.4 came out. You needed the PIT file to sucessfully flash from the German rom to another. This could be related.
thahim said:
@devilsdouble can we make the white background black?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This! PLEASE! I suffer from migraines, any white screen causes needle spikes in my head! Imagine it for a second, every time you open a menu, it feels like someone drives a needle into your skull.
ShadowLea said:
I'm glad you like it. I bloody hate it. The white hurts, quite literally.
Really? I never noticed... Oh right, I only use 24h clocks.
There is no 16GB Note 3 variant outside Asia... I recall there being an issue with the German rom when flashing over to another back when 4.4 came out. You needed the PIT file to sucessfully flash from the German rom to another. This could be related.
This! PLEASE! I suffer from migraines, any white screen causes needle spikes in my head! Imagine it for a second, every time you open a menu, it feels like someone drives a needle into your skull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From Developer menu you can invert colors, but that's ... all colors. At least you get rid of white.
I noticed a bug: turning the screen on isn't smooth, it looks like a two step process light up.
A missing "feature": hovering your finger over the lockscreen no longer produces an effect.
ShadowLea said:
I'm glad you like it. I bloody hate it. The white hurts, quite literally.
...
This! PLEASE! I suffer from migraines, any white screen causes needle spikes in my head! Imagine it for a second, every time you open a menu, it feels like someone drives a needle into your skull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this is why I don't plan on upgrading before at least xposed works perfectly and there is a way to force a black theme onto everything.
Okay after playing with the release for couple of hours I am really not liking it any more (except the colour part). I mean as usual with Samsung, they hurried up and released an unfinished ROM IMHO.
First and the most annoying thing I am noticing that the WiFi password (WPA) is reset every time when I toggle Flight mode back and forth. This is extremely annoying and I am sure there's a way around it, or am I wrong?
- Never mind, it's solved now.
Secondly, where is the Mute/Silent option? I mean it's either Ringer mode or Vibrate mode, but there's no Silent/Mute mode!
Thirdly, the upcoming alarm time doesn't show up on Lock Screen! What the heck?
If someone can tell me how to get rid of the above please tell me, I am mainly annoyed by the first problem though, the WiFi password reset problem.
I've not heard the password issue before. Are you sure it's not just a bug?
The silent mode is split.
You have one toggle that decides how you are notified. (the old sound toggle) Sets to either sound or vibrate.
And another toggle that decides what you're notified about. (Looks like an entry forbidden sign). All, Priority or None. This is where you set Silent mode.
If you set this to priority, you can decide which apps notify you. (settings > sound and notification) Call, text, etc.
If you set it to None, you're not notified with sound or vibration. The notification still shows up on the screen.
Be careful, as this will also silence alarms!
I would suggest priority mode and simply disabling everything in its settings except alarms.
The alarm on the lockscreen, nope. They removed it. Fortunately we can always use GO locker.
Sent From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk
I believe the WiFi passwords not saving issue can be solved by editing build.prop (that is how I fixed it on the leaked version, haven't updated myself yet)
Look for ro.securestorage.support and change it from true to false. I tripped the KNOX flag long time ago (doesn't change my warranty) and I haven't noticed any misbehaviours.
ShadowLea said:
I've not heard the password issue before. Are you sure it's not just a bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it was a bug, I mean it was a problem because my bootloader wasn't updated. Reflashed the ROM, all is okay now.
ShadowLea said:
The silent mode is split.
You have one toggle that decides how you are notified. (the old sound toggle) Sets to either sound or vibrate.
And another toggle that decides what you're notified about. (Looks like an entry forbidden sign). All, Priority or None. This is where you set Silent mode.
If you set this to priority, you can decide which apps notify you. (settings > sound and notification) Call, text, etc.
If you set it to None, you're not notified with sound or vibration. The notification still shows up on the screen.
Be careful, as this will also silence alarms!
I would suggest priority mode and simply disabling everything in its settings except alarms.
The alarm on the lockscreen, nope. They removed it. Fortunately we can always use GO locker.
Sent From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, was playing with that Interruptions option and figured that, but still that's a weird way. Don't know why Google decided to ditch the Silent mode, well at least Samsung could have kept that.
Go Locker? Well I tried a lot of third party lockers last week, didn't like any of them. I guess I will have to find a different alarm clock app which could give me an option to show the upcoming alarm time on lock screen, it's such a nifty feature to have. There's a module in Xposed which shows the actual alarm time in status bar (instead of that damn alarm icon) but well Xposed is not yet ready for TouchWiz ROMs, but when it becomes okay I will simply install that module. In the meantime I will have to look for a alarm app, that's all.
^xposed alpha 1 already released have not yet used it though. Still playing around with stock unrooted rom.
cryostasis25 said:
^xposed alpha 1 already released have not yet used it though. Still playing around with stock unrooted rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep mate, just saw that. Is it working okay with TW Lollipop now, I mean no more boot loop? Don't really want to try, in case bootloop happens I will have to redo all those formats and all, which I simply hate.
The only Xposed module I badly need is MinMin Gurad, can't stand ads, and AdAway is, well, complicated.

Android Wear, what I love and Hate

Ok as some of the members of this forum may know I got off to a shaky start with my Android wear watch (a Sony SW3).
I've now had it about four weeks and have over come the major problems I initially had, so I thought I would start a tread highlighting the things I love and the things I hate so others can assess if a smart watch is for them.
Firstly, what I love:
- Reading messages from Text, Email, Whatsapp and Messenger
It's so simply to just quickly look at my wrist see if I'm interested, if not I delete, if I am, may read further on the watch or if the message is to long, find my phone and continue there.
- Voice control
A really unexpected plus for me. I thought 'OK Google' was a bit of a gimmick at first, but how wrong could I have been. It's fantastic (OK, I feel a bit of a nerd saying OK Google to get it started, but that's a tiny problem). Driving and going to be late, OK google, Send text message to XXXX, then speak your message eg ' Sorry running late will be with you in 30 minutes. The translation is actually pretty accurate and it's done, you don't have to take your eyes off the road!
- It's an accurate watch, not sure where it gets it's time from but I guess it comes from the phone which in turn gets the time from the network which means no more setting, not running fast or slow. Not sure how it works when you change time zone though but I'll find that out soon enough.
- It's waterproof. Don;t forget to turn the touch screen off, but I've now been swimming with it, I regularly shower with it. Not a hint of a problem.
- Control you music system. I use Sonos around my home and I can turn the volume up and down, change track. Ok it's limited but it still an unexpected benefit.
- Control Bluetooth music with Spotify. Really a feature best used in the car. There's an app that will fire up Spotify on your phone which in turn will use the blue tooth audio to connect to your car. No more digging around to find you phone, unlock it, fire up spotify, find your play list etc etc etc.
- Incoming calls. Nice feature as I can decide if I want to take the call without having to find my phone to see who's calling.
What I hate (ok hate is a bit strong, but)
- The UI I think is not properly thought through You have al these options, tilt to wake, tilt to scroll through cards. Clumsy at best and a battery drain at worst (tilt to wake particularly) Even the touch screen to wake is not that cleaver as it can be operated but a lot of things touching the screen not just me, eg a sleeve, particularly one that is damp
- Voice control Ok I know I've said above that voice control is fantastic but it has one major down side, it needs internet connectivity. If it doesn't have it, it just doesn't work! Wish it would use the processing power of my phone to process voice.
- Wifi, ok I accept this is probably a bug, but wifi doesn't currently work properly, for some reason it will drain all the all the battery for no apparent reason and it does it very fast. I've now turned it off and only turn it on on the occasions because it's great to have full functionality
- Screen, the screen is fine, but that's damming it with faint praise. I would really like to see a higher quality screen and a little bit bigger would be nice.
- Incoming calls. When rejecting a call, it would be good to be offered a 'rejection message' that is sent via text giving a reason for the rejection.
When rejecting calls you can slide up instead of left por right swipe ano it will show up predefined messages that it will automaticly send to The caller.
::enviado do meu oneplus one via tapatalk::
My complaints (1 month usage) is the app tray feels bloated. Not every app needs to be displayed. Not every app has options set through the watch. Also the layout feels cramped to me. I would prefer some options (icons only, 1x2, list mode, 1x1 mode, text/no text, recent shortcuts at top on/off, etc.)
2. Embedded speaker for taking quick calls without digging for your phone last minute. 1 problem a watch introduces is that your phone starts to be left behind. I now leave my phone on the counter while I buzz around my home. Phone rings, its a mad dash down stairs to find my phone.
3. Some sort of keyboard. I'll take the old school T9 input. Just let me type a few things.
player911 said:
My complaints (1 month usage) is the app tray feels bloated. Not every app needs to be displayed. Not every app has options set through the watch. Also the layout feels cramped to me. I would prefer some options (icons only, 1x2, list mode, 1x1 mode, text/no text, recent shortcuts at top on/off, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download wear mini launcher from the playstore. It's a brilliant replacement that let's you customise the watch to how you want it.
I totally agree with you. I also use Android wear for
Reading messages from Text, Email, Whatsapp and Messenger
Voice control
Agree with some points according to my experience with my old android wear.
Hope my new one will work better.
My most of my complaints are solved with the Asus ZenWatch2. It is a solid upgrade to the LG G Watch. Once Marshmallow drops, we'll get a new app tray and speaker support (Zenwatch2 and Huawei) for calls.
I tried the alt launchers and it doesnt replace the stock launcher but runs over top of it. So it just adds to the chaos. However after the nostalgia wore off, I dont really use apps thus dont need to go into the app drawer.
Keyboard: try FlickKey
player911 said:
3. Some sort of keyboard. I'll take the old school T9 input. Just let me type a few things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try FlickKey Keyboard for Wear. It adds a keyboard to any app that wants to call it. Right now, that is limited to Wear Messenger, Coffee for Wear, and K-9 for Wear - you need one of those messaging apps to be able to use it. BTE, FlickKey is not a T9 style keyboard - it works better than that.
I have tried various keyboards. What I was referring to was an option, by default, in Android wear to have a keyboard input. I don't use any of those apps, thus having a keyboard right now would be irrelevant.
What apps would you like to use a keyboard with?
player911 said:
I have tried various keyboards. What I was referring to was an option, by default, in Android wear to have a keyboard input. I don't use any of those apps, thus having a keyboard right now would be irrelevant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I certainly agree that users should be able to decide for themselves if they want to use a keyboard or not, and which one they want on their smartwatch. What apps would you like to use a keyboard with? FlickKey can be added to any app with just about 15 lines of code. So message the dev who makes the app you want FlickKey in and let them know they can easily add it for free.
I find Android Wear to be very useful - when it works. Performance on my original 360 hasn't been very consistent either but I'm sure the S400 watches fare much better. Seriously though - every Android OEM needs to switch to AMOLED as soon as possible since it's much more suitable for smartwatch use.
I have installed AW on a Samsung Gear 2 (ported to the watch by @biktor_gj) and it runs really great !
Much much better than the default Tizen where it comes with normally.
Since I am using AW, I'm really hooked on it.
I love to be able to navigate with my watch and/or get notifications (from Google Maps) about any traffic jams or hold ups on my route.
I love to be able to use my voice to respond to whatsapp messages or even use my voice to make a new message without even holding my phone.
Really looking forward to the upcoming version (Marshmellow?), which suppose to have speaker support, because the Gear 2 has a build-in speaker.
So that means I can make calls too again from my watch (which is now only possible in Tizen, but not AW).
Hangouts and Messenger and Email (I know there are email clients that support wear and flickkey). I doubt Hangouts or Messanger will get it support.

Anyone else experiencing dropped tap inputs?

On my pixel 2 tap inputs occasionally don't register, I've had it happen in the android system menu, the android back/home buttons, chrome, etc. Is anyone else experiencing this?
My phone's basically on stock default settings, nothing unusual running. Not sure if it's only tap inputs getting dropped or the whole system locking up temporarily. Turning on "Show taps" in Developer options I can see there's no visual effect when a missed tap occurs.
Yes, this is me too exactly. Same thing with the dev option too. Not sure if I should wait for 8.1 or if it's hardware and RMA it. Frustrating because I like this phone.
I noticed this on my phone, clicking around in the settings and on the back and home buttons. I then did a factory reset (because of a separate issue where the location icon was always displaying in the notification area, even when not in use). After that the issue seems to have gone away. So it would seem to be software issue. I suggest trying a factory reset (though beware that this wipes everything on your device).
P.S. nonexistent, I'm impressed that you joined the XDA forums in Dec 2010 and never posted a comment until now. Of course, you might need to change your screen name to "existent," now that you're out in the open.
I have definitely noticed this as well, happy to know it wasn't just me
cb474 said:
I noticed this on my phone, clicking around in the settings and on the back and home buttons. I then did a factory reset (because of a separate issue where the location icon was always displaying in the notification area, even when not in use). After that the issue seems to have gone away. So it would seem to be software issue. I suggest trying a factory reset (though beware that this wipes everything on your device).
P.S. nonexistent, I'm impressed that you joined the XDA forums in Dec 2010 and never posted a comment until now. Of course, you might need to change your screen name to "existent," now that you're out in the open.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried a reset but the issue still showed up. In fact it happened twice on the first time setup stuff afterwards. I called Google and we went through the motions and reset it from recovery mode but it was still there when I was testing it the next couple hours. Anyway, we're doing the RMA thing. I'll let you guys know how it works out when I get my new phone.
Got my replacement and the problem still exists. It even happens just a couple screens into the initial setup after a factory reset from recovery mode.
I find that it occurs when I'm in a small room with the heat turned up. The sensitivity of the touch screen seems to depend a lot on moisture. If I keep my fingers moist (or wear a touch sensitive glove) it works a heck of a lot better.
ritzack said:
Got my replacement and the problem still exists. It even happens just a couple screens into the initial setup after a factory reset from recovery mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good and bad news I guess, hopefully just needs a software update. I have a replacement coming Monday, but I kind of expect no improvement and that this is just a common thing that a lot of people aren't noticing
I noticed that for a while in Google Play Books, in which I tap the screen frequently to turn pages. I tried a factory reset, which didn't help. I tried running in safe mode and testing on Maps and still had a problem, although less frequently (a higher percentage of taps worked). Then it started to work better. We'll see if that lasts.
I tried flicking as opposed to tapping and flicking always works.
I'd suggest posting on the Pixel product forum or calling support, so that Google becomes more aware of the issue. There are some threads on the subject on reddit and the product forum.
Out of interest are you noticing it any particular parts of the screen?
I've noticed it a few times but it's been on areas of the screen near the edges.
I assumed it was some sort of palm rejection thing going on it the background with it thinking I'm accidently mashing the display.
With me it was the right edge toward the middle, as that's where you tap to turn the page in Play Books.
I get it on the back button frequently, but it happened just now in the middle of the screen when I typed the text input box to start writing this
I think this is the whole OS hanging/freezing briefly actually, not a touchscreen input issue
- Pressing the hardware unlock button can get ignored (both locking/unlocking)
- Scrolling from a quick flick + release can suddenly stop (no additional inputs)
So most likely this is a software issue, hopefully fixed in an upcoming update? It's kinda annoying
Did you change the DPI or font size? I go back to default and it seems that everything is good now.
---
update: no it happens again…
nonexistent said:
On my pixel 2 tap inputs occasionally don't register, I've had it happen in the android system menu, the android back/home buttons, chrome, etc. Is anyone else experiencing this?
My phone's basically on stock default settings, nothing unusual running. Not sure if it's only tap inputs getting dropped or the whole system locking up temporarily. Turning on "Show taps" in Developer options I can see there's no visual effect when a missed tap occurs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you be more specific? I just got Pixel 2 - black, 128GB (Canadian). I can touch and the UI responds well. But i want to test it out thoroughly..
Haven't changed the DPI or font size
LimitsX said:
can you be more specific? I just got Pixel 2 - black, 128GB (Canadian). I can touch and the UI responds well. But i want to test it out thoroughly..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can trigger the system hang/"missed input" most reliably by visiting m.reddit in chrome (any thread w/ comments) and spamming tap on the [-] next to the username of any comment to collapse/expand the section. Turning on Show Taps from Developer Tools in the system menu I can see taps being ignored sometimes
Haven't changed the DPI or font size
LimitsX said:
can you be more specific? I just got Pixel 2 - black, 128GB (Canadian). I can touch and the UI responds well. But i want to test it out thoroughly..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can trigger the system hang/"missed input" most reliably by visiting any m.reddit thread in chrome and spamming tap on the [-] next to the username of any comment to collapse/expand the section. Turning on Show Taps from Developer Tools in the system menu I can see taps being ignored sometimes
nonexistent said:
Haven't changed the DPI or font size
I can trigger the system hang/"missed input" most reliably by visiting m.reddit in chrome (any thread w/ comments) and spamming tap on the [-] next to the username of any comment to collapse/expand the section. Turning on Show Taps from Developer Tools in the system menu I can see taps being ignored sometimes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I replicated what you told me, 3x. I didn't miss any taps, and no system hang/missed input..
hmm
Got my replacement and it has been much better so far. Still a few dropped inputs but I think those may be false positives because I am hyperfocused on it. Pretty sure I have always had to double click occasionally on all phones at various times.
nonexistent said:
Turning on Show Taps from Developer Tools in the system menu I can see taps being ignored sometimes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sometimes I see a tap register visually on the screen, but the intended action doesn't happen.
redandblack1287 said:
Got my replacement and it has been much better so far. Still a few dropped inputs but I think those may be false positives because I am hyperfocused on it. Pretty sure I have always had to double click occasionally on all phones at various times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's funny. I had the issue. Did a factory reset. Felt like it was better. But now that I'm thinking about it more I notice it a lot. So I can't tell if it's really different. Before I figured I'd made a mistake. Now I think it's the phone. Damn you phone!
Anyway, I notice that the issue tends to happen more or less randomly, at any position on the screen. Also, sometimes the same tap fails to register twice in a row, but once it's starts working all subsequent taps that come in a row work (say I'm clicking through a lot of menu items in some settings). So maybe that lends some credence to the idea that there is a system for registering the taps that is not waking up and once it does it works fine.
Perhaps related, I have my ambient display set to wake on double tap. Before the Nov update it hardly worked. Now it seems to be working reliably.

Issue with black crush, adaptive brightness, notifications, Hotmail issue? and other.

Hello everyone!
Hopefully you guys gonna understand that I just got this phone 2 days ago and been a iPhone user since Iphone 4! (Went from Iphone 7 to P2 XL) So I hope I don't get too much hate because hey, after all. I bought the Pixel 2 XL 128 GB
Anyways where to start.. It's been very hard to go from iOS to Android but luckily I studied abit as a software dev. where we learned few things with Androids so I did know some stuff atleast but there is quite good benefits with Pixel 2 XL that made me go :highfive::silly::victory:
The camera, I can just say Holy crap.. I never seen so good camera in my life on a small device like this! No doubt about it, The customization on Android where you can enable bluetooth, locations and all that is a really good one too and the screen is also really beautiful, There is so much stuff that I like with it but also some stuff I still need to learn and that's why I am here, and hopefully I can get the help I want and also hope it's not gonna be very long text aswell.
Problem:
[*]Adaptive brightness
This one goes banana, hopefully im not the only one but I have never seen anything more sensitive brightness as Google's, Changes every page / app you use and feels quite annoying as it goes up and down all the time and it just kills your eyes slowly. I did find an app called Lux Lite that helped me quite abit but with lower brightness takes me to the next point which is...
[*]Black crush
Black crush, For those who maybe doesnt know what it is, basically you can follow it up by watching this youtube clip: youtube[DOT COM]/watch?v=CYMRRn2Fu1s (Yes, im a newbie and joined today )
- Simply showing when you reduce your brightness, the dark color disappears and becomes totally black - The reason I want to use it is just against the night when very strong brightness kills your eyes just at bedtime. I usually check NBA and Twitch Just before I fall asleep, and now maybe it will sound racist but that's just love! Basically basketball players that are dark-colored and make them completely black and you only see their matchwear and it ruins a small part of the match.
I have looked into other videos and found that the issue is not only with Pixel 2 but also coming now to Samsung phones and basically the new Oled where the company gives a bad calibrations. Im not sure what Iphone uses if its AMOLED but look etc. at iPhone X, probably one of the best
detailing in dark areas of all phones that I have tried and sure I could have bought that phone but also i'm surprised this is not anything is talking about in any youtube reviews so I don't know whatsup with this but this is slowly making me go back to my iPhone 7... I hope im not the only one?!?!?!
I did find an app called Screen balance that helps it abit but I mean... 945$ for a Phone that I need an APP that I NEED to buy to make it look good?! Come on?!
But please, don't take this offensive now. It still gives a really good picture at high brightness! no doubt about it.
[*]Notification
Well, This might be a fix that someone that as more experience than me in Android now so basically I will make a construction of what I want and maybe someone can help me out?
Basically on Iphone there is a button on the left where you toggle to turn on or off the sound and what's happends basically is it just kills all sound if the toggle is on and what I did is that I turned off vibrations so basically I get everything notifications just without sound and vibrations AND thats what I want to make on the Pixel 2 XL now, What I have done so far is to hold the volume down button until it changes to Do not disturb and in the settings I turned on everything but now on the Screen "Where you just see the clock" it just sometimes gives me like small icons AND sometimes it gives me like a big notification like iPhone did.. but however, Is there another way I can do this like so its more instead of just the small icons and to check? Because etc when Iam at work I can usually see if something pops out on the screen (Can even be a pop out for 10 sec) but now it can be very hard if it's only a small icon adding. Hopefully you understand ish what I mean!
[*]Email Hotmail issue?
This is a combination of notification and not, basically what I have seen this is not as fast response as Gmail, basically if I get a email from Gmail, the notification usually pops out instantly BUT when it comes to Hotmail, this can take over 15minutes until the email even comes to the Gmail app (Where I connected it with my Hotmail since it had that option). and I sometimes can't risk it when im waiting for a important email to come where I wait too long so I need to check pretty often manually to see if I get one.. Now the issue is I don't know if that is a issue when Don't distrub is on or if its the Gmail application, Does anyone have any solution for me here?
[*]Snapchat
Well what to say here, Im not sure but I do think this isn't a issue coming from the phone itself but Snapchat, The quailty is just awful, Im sure my Nokia 3310 would make a better picture than that on Snapchat :fingers-crossed: but anyways the quailty is horrible and maybe there is a way to make it atleast abit better or something, I know that Snapchat is alot better with iPhone and also this isn't a big issue, like its not end of the world to get this worked nownownow but I do feel like it could be atleast at the same level as Samsung quailty atleast?!
Now I think im done and hopefully I did not overkill and I do hope from bottom of my heart that I could get all the answers of my questions and hopefully it's not hard to read since my English isn't the best one but I did try my best and hopefully I could love my Pixel 2 XL as much as I did on my iPhone! Help me newbie out!
I don't have other issues but my main issue is my pixel 2 non xl is black crushing. It looks like absolute garbage at night like in bed. Some videos I can't watch it gets that bad.
My phone is a Pixel 2 (which this forum is about) rather than a 2XL, so some differences may be related to the different hardware. I've not enough experience with the 2XL to compare.
Adaptive brightess: actually I don't have a problem - it works pretty well, perhaps occasionally I want to raise it a bit in dark conditions (I normally have the slider set between 25-30%, as I find that more comfortable than higher brightness), but otherwise the only time it causes problems is if I use the phone in portrait mode and shade the sensor with my hand.
Black crushing: my phone is a 2 rather than a 2XL, so has a different display panel. I don't have a problem in any of the images I've used for testing until I set the (non-adaptive) brightness below 5%, and even then I'm not in a very dark room at the moment so it may be that I'd see more if I were. But as it's a different panel that's probably not relevant.
The iPhone X is using a Samsung OLED screen. At best it will be the same technology that Samsung use on their current phones, but usually they sell 3rd parties a slightly older revision. So any differences will be in the tuning: Samsung do tend to assume that people want excessive saturation and contrast, so I could imagine them tuning in a way that crushes blacks. The 2XL uses an LG panel: it's fundamentally the same technology (p-OLED and AMOLED are just branding names: both are plastic substrate active matrix OLEDs), but a different company's implementation. People generally reckon Samsung are a bit ahead of LG in that game though.
Notifications: TBH I don't bother with "Do Not Disturb" - I do it old school, with a quick setting tile to toggle between Ring (which is Ring and Vibrate for me), Vibrate and Silent - the latter is neither ring nor vibrate. Not as convenient as the silencer switch on the side (which OnePlus have copied, but then Apple copied it from Palm in the first place), but not much in it (wake phone with fingerprint scanner, swipe down on scanner to reveal quick toggles, then tap it - only takes a couple of seconds in total). I'm not completely clear about the rest of your description of small icons vs big notifications, especially what you mean by "small icons": do you mean little dots on app launcher icons, or a small icon in the notification bar that tells you that there is a notification tile if you pull down the slide? Your "do not disturb" preferences include an option to block visual disturbances, so maybe check how that is set. Some apps handle notifications in different ways. Some apps can use the notification light to inform you that there are notifications waiting, which I find helpful (mind you I turn off the always on display, may be different for you).
Hotmail: I don't use hotmail, but the obvious question is whether you have set it up to use imap push (so you get notified immediately) rather than the phone regularly to see whether there is new mail. It sounds like your email client may be polling every 15 minutes.
Snapchat: I've never used snapchat in my life, so can't help.
Thrillofit said:
Hello everyone!
Hopefully you guys gonna understand that I just got this phone 2 days ago and been a iPhone user since Iphone 4! (Went from Iphone 7 to P2 XL) So I hope I don't get too much hate because hey, after all. I bought the Pixel 2 XL 128 GB
Anyways where to start.. It's been very hard to go from iOS to Android but luckily I studied abit as a software dev. where we learned few things with Androids so I did know some stuff atleast but there is quite good benefits with Pixel 2 XL that made me go :highfive::silly::victory:
The camera, I can just say Holy crap.. I never seen so good camera in my life on a small device like this! No doubt about it, The customization on Android where you can enable bluetooth, locations and all that is a really good one too and the screen is also really beautiful, There is so much stuff that I like with it but also some stuff I still need to learn and that's why I am here, and hopefully I can get the help I want and also hope it's not gonna be very long text aswell.
Problem:
[*]Adaptive brightness
This one goes banana, hopefully im not the only one but I have never seen anything more sensitive brightness as Google's, Changes every page / app you use and feels quite annoying as it goes up and down all the time and it just kills your eyes slowly. I did find an app called Lux Lite that helped me quite abit but with lower brightness takes me to the next point which is...
[*]Black crush
Black crush, For those who maybe doesnt know what it is, basically you can follow it up by watching this youtube clip: youtube[DOT COM]/watch?v=CYMRRn2Fu1s (Yes, im a newbie and joined today )
- Simply showing when you reduce your brightness, the dark color disappears and becomes totally black - The reason I want to use it is just against the night when very strong brightness kills your eyes just at bedtime. I usually check NBA and Twitch Just before I fall asleep, and now maybe it will sound racist but that's just love! Basically basketball players that are dark-colored and make them completely black and you only see their matchwear and it ruins a small part of the match.
I have looked into other videos and found that the issue is not only with Pixel 2 but also coming now to Samsung phones and basically the new Oled where the company gives a bad calibrations. Im not sure what Iphone uses if its AMOLED but look etc. at iPhone X, probably one of the best
detailing in dark areas of all phones that I have tried and sure I could have bought that phone but also i'm surprised this is not anything is talking about in any youtube reviews so I don't know whatsup with this but this is slowly making me go back to my iPhone 7... I hope im not the only one?!?!?!
I did find an app called Screen balance that helps it abit but I mean... 945$ for a Phone that I need an APP that I NEED to buy to make it look good?! Come on?!
But please, don't take this offensive now. It still gives a really good picture at high brightness! no doubt about it.
[*]Notification
Well, This might be a fix that someone that as more experience than me in Android now so basically I will make a construction of what I want and maybe someone can help me out?
Basically on Iphone there is a button on the left where you toggle to turn on or off the sound and what's happends basically is it just kills all sound if the toggle is on and what I did is that I turned off vibrations so basically I get everything notifications just without sound and vibrations AND thats what I want to make on the Pixel 2 XL now, What I have done so far is to hold the volume down button until it changes to Do not disturb and in the settings I turned on everything but now on the Screen "Where you just see the clock" it just sometimes gives me like small icons AND sometimes it gives me like a big notification like iPhone did.. but however, Is there another way I can do this like so its more instead of just the small icons and to check? Because etc when Iam at work I can usually see if something pops out on the screen (Can even be a pop out for 10 sec) but now it can be very hard if it's only a small icon adding. Hopefully you understand ish what I mean!
[*]Email Hotmail issue?
This is a combination of notification and not, basically what I have seen this is not as fast response as Gmail, basically if I get a email from Gmail, the notification usually pops out instantly BUT when it comes to Hotmail, this can take over 15minutes until the email even comes to the Gmail app (Where I connected it with my Hotmail since it had that option). and I sometimes can't risk it when im waiting for a important email to come where I wait too long so I need to check pretty often manually to see if I get one.. Now the issue is I don't know if that is a issue when Don't distrub is on or if its the Gmail application, Does anyone have any solution for me here?
[*]Snapchat
Well what to say here, Im not sure but I do think this isn't a issue coming from the phone itself but Snapchat, The quailty is just awful, Im sure my Nokia 3310 would make a better picture than that on Snapchat :fingers-crossed: but anyways the quailty is horrible and maybe there is a way to make it atleast abit better or something, I know that Snapchat is alot better with iPhone and also this isn't a big issue, like its not end of the world to get this worked nownownow but I do feel like it could be atleast at the same level as Samsung quailty atleast?!
Now I think im done and hopefully I did not overkill and I do hope from bottom of my heart that I could get all the answers of my questions and hopefully it's not hard to read since my English isn't the best one but I did try my best and hopefully I could love my Pixel 2 XL as much as I did on my iPhone! Help me newbie out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be better at posting this on the pixel 2xl thread
Sent from my Pixel 2 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
gvsukids said:
You might be better at posting this on the pixel 2xl thread
Sent from my Pixel 2 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh you are right, My bad, I just created a new there! Thanks for that!
Large Hadron said:
My phone is a Pixel 2 (which this forum is about) rather than a 2XL, so some differences may be related to the different hardware. I've not enough experience with the 2XL to compare.
Adaptive brightess: actually I don't have a problem - it works pretty well, perhaps occasionally I want to raise it a bit in dark conditions (I normally have the slider set between 25-30%, as I find that more comfortable than higher brightness), but otherwise the only time it causes problems is if I use the phone in portrait mode and shade the sensor with my hand.
Black crushing: my phone is a 2 rather than a 2XL, so has a different display panel. I don't have a problem in any of the images I've used for testing until I set the (non-adaptive) brightness below 5%, and even then I'm not in a very dark room at the moment so it may be that I'd see more if I were. But as it's a different panel that's probably not relevant.
The iPhone X is using a Samsung OLED screen. At best it will be the same technology that Samsung use on their current phones, but usually they sell 3rd parties a slightly older revision. So any differences will be in the tuning: Samsung do tend to assume that people want excessive saturation and contrast, so I could imagine them tuning in a way that crushes blacks. The 2XL uses an LG panel: it's fundamentally the same technology (p-OLED and AMOLED are just branding names: both are plastic substrate active matrix OLEDs), but a different company's implementation. People generally reckon Samsung are a bit ahead of LG in that game though.
Notifications: TBH I don't bother with "Do Not Disturb" - I do it old school, with a quick setting tile to toggle between Ring (which is Ring and Vibrate for me), Vibrate and Silent - the latter is neither ring nor vibrate. Not as convenient as the silencer switch on the side (which OnePlus have copied, but then Apple copied it from Palm in the first place), but not much in it (wake phone with fingerprint scanner, swipe down on scanner to reveal quick toggles, then tap it - only takes a couple of seconds in total). I'm not completely clear about the rest of your description of small icons vs big notifications, especially what you mean by "small icons": do you mean little dots on app launcher icons, or a small icon in the notification bar that tells you that there is a notification tile if you pull down the slide? Your "do not disturb" preferences include an option to block visual disturbances, so maybe check how that is set. Some apps handle notifications in different ways. Some apps can use the notification light to inform you that there are notifications waiting, which I find helpful (mind you I turn off the always on display, may be different for you).
Hotmail: I don't use hotmail, but the obvious question is whether you have set it up to use imap push (so you get notified immediately) rather than the phone regularly to see whether there is new mail. It sounds like your email client may be polling every 15 minutes.
Snapchat: I've never used snapchat in my life, so can't help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally my fault that I bringed in Pixel 2 XL into a Pixel 2 thread, that's so stupid of me and I can understand the reason why you couldn't give me the reason I have issues with! but I still appreciate the answers you could bring in here!
About the notifications, if you search on google for ( android 8.1 always on display ) that's what I meant with small icons. But you are right with the notifications, I have found out that every app gives different notifications and some of my apps have really bad notifications, that sometimes they dont even pop out :silly:
About the hotmail it is exactly the issue there, I did set it up in Google gmail and it says it is IMAP but I could only have it on every 15 minutes, Downloaded Hotmails program and its the program that doesn't give me notifications.
Oh, if you meant the Always On Display then actually I don't use it in "always on" mode! I have to tap to wake it, so all I can say for sure is that while many apps leave a notification, if I wake it a second time it just shows the icon. What I don't know is whether in always on mode it would switch to just showing the icon after some time, or when another notification comes in, or whether it would stay there until you interact. There are some that I've never seen show text, but most of those are persistent things I'd not want to show it anyway (e.g. showing that the "WhatsApp web" app on my computer is active is something I'd not want an actual text message for). If you wake the screen with the power button you can usually see more detailed notifications on the lock screen than the always on display.
Large Hadron said:
Oh, if you meant the Always On Display then actually I don't use it in "always on" mode! I have to tap to wake it, so all I can say for sure is that while many apps leave a notification, if I wake it a second time it just shows the icon. What I don't know is whether in always on mode it would switch to just showing the icon after some time, or when another notification comes in, or whether it would stay there until you interact. There are some that I've never seen show text, but most of those are persistent things I'd not want to show it anyway (e.g. showing that the "WhatsApp web" app on my computer is active is something I'd not want an actual text message for). If you wake the screen with the power button you can usually see more detailed notifications on the lock screen than the always on display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah exactly! I turned it off and it is like you said, That some applications doesn't show any text or anything but just an small icon on the always on display and sometimes it does show a preview notification (Like a bigger notification) so thats what curious me like what's the reason of that :fingers-crossed:
I've never been very systematic in observing what gives what sort of notification, not least because if I think there's anything significant I tend to unlock the phone to look. I know that some types of notifications never show anything more than an icon (e.g. as mentioned the notice that the WhatsApp companion app on my laptop has connected). Some, such as calendar and email, I know do. I assume that it's linked to the type of notification, but haven't studied in enough detail.
As a test I just turned my ambient display to always on and sent myself an email. A detailed notification appeared for a few seconds, before disappearing and being replaced by the small app icon. With the display set off but to wake when new messages arrive it shows the full notification for a few seconds, and just the icon when I wake it. With it not set to wake the screen for new notifications then when I woke it with a tap I got the full notification even though it had been delivered about 30 seconds earlier (but only the first time I woke it). Personally if I were designing it I'd give options for the more detailed notifications to persist, rather than just be replaced by an icon after a few seconds, but I don't think Google have done that.
For snapchat u can enable camera HAL in developer options to improve the quality mine did
jaggillararla said:
For snapchat u can enable camera HAL in developer options to improve the quality mine did
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have done that and there was no difference for me
Thrillofit said:
I have done that and there was no difference for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try reinstalling it. I've heard Snapchat is building a new app version from scratch so I'm crossing my fingers it will be better
Otherwise idk what else to do to improve the quality

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