Android Pie Breaks Pixel XL's Ability To Fast Charge (theverge.com) 79
Google's recent launch of Android 9.0 Pie hasn't gone off without some early bugs and issues. According to The Verge, users are reporting that Android Pie prevents their phone from fast charging when plugged into many chargers. Google's own charger doesn't even appear to be working. From the report: Other Pixel XL owners say the bundled charger still functions properly and displays "charging rapidly," but third-party USB-PD (power delivery) chargers no longer juice up the XL as quickly as they did pre-update. Google has oddly marked a bug report on the problem as "won't fix (infeasible)," which is likely alarming to see for those experiencing it, especially since it can very clearly be attributed to the Android 9.0 update. Things were working normally, then Pie came, and then something broke. A second thread has been posted with more users chiming in to confirm they're affected.
If it's now taking this to get bugs fixed (Score:5, Interesting)
Noted how quickly that bug got reopened after this hit /.
Instead of closed by some half-assed lackey, then what hope do we have of getting other bugs fixed (skia segfaults with bitmap (free'ing) handling whilst drawing in another thread, argb8888 segfaults (with register corruption), etc)
I mean, seriously, take a look at some of the bugs on there. Some devs are f*cking SCREAMING to get some bugs fixed and the dev team (which need to be bigger) are most of the time, oh hum, obsolete now I guess (then it continues in the next several fucking versions of the OS so the devs give up bothering to report)
Sort it out.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've got a Pixel XL and didn't notice this issue because I charge overnight from a slower charger anyway. In general though I'm very happy with the Pie update. It's fixed the small performance issues I was seeing, just slight lag here and there. Feels like a brand new phone again.
The only down side so far is that the new app switcher screen is swipe left/right instead of up/down, and I find the latter easier.
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I have to agree with the last bit. Left-right swiping is bad for one-handed operation.
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... and then the bug wouldn't get passed down to subsequent versions requiring it be fixed several times.
It shouldn't need saying, but apparently it does.
Re:If it's now taking this to get bugs fixed (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, it's like Google has a time machine and can go back from the 6:00AM time it was posted here in order to re-open the ticket at 01:59AM.
This was reported on XDA weeks ago, Android Police a couple of days ago, and on Reddit shortly after.
Yeah,
Nobody gives a shit about slashdot (Score:2)
Noted how quickly that bug got reopened after this hit /.
You actually think anyone involved with this gives a shit about a slashdot posting? Slashdot hasn't had any meaningful influence in well over a decade and it's usually several days behind the curve on anything newsworthy. A few thousand people are regulars here and most of the well known people who used to hang out left quite some time ago. I have a hard time recalling the last time I read a posting here that I hadn't read elsewhere at least 24+ hours previous. The only reason most of us are still here
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Slashdot posted the bug this morning. If I'm reading it right, the bug was reopened at 10:59 last night. So unless there's time travel involved or something.... :-D
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So unless there's time travel involved or something.... :-D
I wouldn't put it past them. Sneaky bastards. :D lol
What's the point of project Treble... (Score:3)
...if not to prevent bugs like this. Isn't all the stuff that makes your hardware work supposed to be contained in the /vendor partition and not updated with new OS versions. Surely the ability to fast charge would be part of that, no? Or does Google put out a whole new /vendor setup when they upgrade you anyway. If so, what's the point?
Poor guy (Score:2)
Probably buggy knockoff junk
You knocked your junk off with a buggy? Poor guy
Re: Probably buggy knockoff junk (Score:1)
That almost sounds like what Apple would say.
Status changed to 'Assigned (Reopened)' (Score:5, Informative)
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Interestingly this was done *after* something has been posted on Slashdot. This is a strange new world where Slashdot actually is at the forefront of something rather than reporting several days after the fact.
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Yeah, but it's more of a Reddit stampede now.
Re:Status changed to 'Assigned (Reopened)' (Score:4, Informative)
Sure, for all definitions of "after" which mean "before."
I don't like this "updaterits". (Score:2)
It's going on my nerves.
I have a tablet running Android 5. Runs perfect. Why does the Airbnb app have to fail running correctly? What does the app have that it requires the Avantgarde of software to run on?
This is bullshit. I wish vendors would focus more on stability and long-term support than this nonsense. Same goes for operating systems.
My 2 cents.
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No no, your pro consumerism attitude is even more wrong.
The right attitude is to buy devices that can be unlocked to use alternative firmware. My LG Pad 8.3 (from 2013) has Android 7.1.2 nowadays and is running fine, thank you.
The industry already made it clear that after the first 2 years the problem is on your hands. So just make sure you can actually take it on your hands.
Re: I don't like this "updaterits". (Score:1)
Yeah, a Walkman that will bleed your SSN and emails to everyone on the Internet.
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"updaterits"?
Did you mean "updater-itis", perhaps?
Maybe you don't know that "itis" means "inflammation of"
So, you're tired of updaters being inflamed? Interesting
I don't even know what that means.
Re: (Score:2)
I have an old tablet with some old version of Android on it- probably 5. I daren't connect it to Wifi. I don't trust the security of the operating system. I still occasionally play some old games on it I installed long ago when bored but never anything that requires internet.
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Android tablet ... running perfect...
Is this a post from an alternate universe where Google doesn't half-ass the tablet version of Android? Has slashdot proven quantum entanglement with parallel realities?
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What does the app have that it requires the Avantgarde of software to run on?
If it required 9 I'd agree with you. 5, on the other hand, seems a little ... dated.
AHhhhh (Score:1, Interesting)
Privacy: Apps get internet access by default, granting an app access to any data on the phone lets it slurp all the data over to the company. FFS the calculator app on my phone phones home.... as if that's any of their business! Unacceptable, unfixed.
Confused 'Back' button, a do-all back button that steps backwards, cancels, switches app, exits app, does everything confused as fook. Broken design unfixed.
No way to tell the OS you're done with an app. Does the app need to continue in the background, yet get
AI (Score:2)
that is the AI taking over optimizing your battery.
obviously it's better for your battery not to be charged.
the AI knows best, just comply.
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Fast charge - fast discharge? (Score:3)
I have noticed that when I use a certain (shady) cable to charge my iPhone, it charges much faster, but then it doesn't hold the charge. When I use the normal cable, getting to 100% takes much longer, but the device lasts twice as long. Is that known/expected behavior?
Re:Fast charge - fast discharge? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like your battery is worn out. When batteries start to near their end of life their behaviour during charge and discharge starts to change.
Apple had trouble with this before, you may recall, with phones going from 50% to 2% instantly. They eventually did a free battery replacement scheme to cover it; maybe yours is covered.
The technical reason is that battery state of charge is estimated by measuring voltage and load. The voltage falls off as the battery discharges. More load also makes the battery voltage sag. So to estimate state of charge you need to know the voltage and load, and then fudge it a bit so for example it never goes up even if your estimate was a bit low.
Fast charging creates more heat. Older batteries get hotter. It's likely that the charging system is ending charge prematurely with a worn out, hot battery. A slow charge mitigates that and actually puts more energy into the battery before the system thinks it is full.
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Lithium batteries shouldn't be fast or slow charged, just CC/CV.
Slow charged == Slower than you can safely charge the battery, because of limitations of the charging system
Fast charged == As fast as you can safely charge the battery, or at least approaching same
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This assumes (and I don't know) that fast charge can be done with a gradient of speeds, rather than all-or-nothing, which might be the case as it uses special cords and jacks with dedicated additional power wires.
I guess if the problem is heating of older batteries, they could monitor the heating and fall back to slow charge, then ramp back up. But then you're introducing many more heating/cooling cycles leading to metal fatigue. Probably not the best thing for older batteries.
So once problem detected, pe
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This assumes (and I don't know) that fast charge can be done with a gradient of speeds, rather than all-or-nothing, which might be the case as it uses special cords and jacks with dedicated additional power wires.
It can and is done with a gradient of speeds, without "special cords or jacks with dedicated additional power wires".
The USB power delivery spec allows device and charger (or device and device... you can charge one device from another) to negotiate both voltage and amperage within a fairly broad range, up to as high as 20V @ 5A for 100W. For the higher power delivery rates you do need all three of source, cable and sink to be capable of whatever it is that you're trying to do, so in that sense I suppose y
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The "reduced" battery capacity with an old battery isn't actually really reduced (at least not as dramatically as your % charge indicates). When you charge an old battery (normally, dunno about fast charge), it's still taking nearly the same
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This wouldn't be a problem if you could change the $15 battery yourself once a year.
Don't you feel ripped off, doing slow charging, because of this? That's sad.
Seriously? (Score:2)
Fast charge should be disabled by default (Score:2)
And should only be enabled when you actually need your phone to charge quickly. This will prevent premature wear on the battery.
Android is free! Android is Open! (Score:1)
Just edit the source!
Battery life tanked? (Score:2)
My fast charge on my Gen1 non-XL is fine, and my battery use while the phone is off is much improved... but while using it, I can almost feel it draining.