Google is the third big-brand smartphone maker to face the heat of device malfunctions after Samsung and Apple this year. Reports are now coming in about Google Pixel smartphones freezing, and the virtual navigation buttons disappearing for a few seconds at a time.
Several users have taken to Google’s forum saying their Google Pixels are freezing and then back to normal at random. One user – aris wright – said:
“My phone keeps freezing and I can’t get it to do anything when it does. No response from any buttons for at least a minute and it will just start working randomly.”
Another user, mikemmva, posted this:
“I had a 128gb black pixel xl. It would freeze every 4-9 hours. Sometimes it would freeze back to back 3 or 4 times in a row after restart.”
Several other users reported the same issues, while other users of both the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL said that the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen would disappear for several seconds before appearing again.
Google’s support team seems to be aware of the problem, and in certain cases, the issue seems to point to Life360 family locator app. Once uninstalled, some users didn’t face further freeze or buttons disappearing issues. Others, however, who have never installed the app, say that they’re having similar issues as well.
BGR yesterday reported that a user had sent them an email talking about several issues he was having with his Google Pixel:
“…a whole suite of problems, including alarms that won’t ring, the inability to play music or video content, and in some cases, the inability to make or even receive calls.
The same emailer relayed that Google was unwilling to replace the device because he bought it at Verizon. Other Pixel owners, meanwhile, have had better luck securing a replacement or a refund for their faulty device.”
The last patch that came on December 5 could be the culprit, but Google has neither confirmed nor denied this possibility. There is also no word of a new patch to fix this particular issue that reportedly affects both models and all memory variants. Another possibility is that these bugs came with the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update that started rolling out to Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL users starting December 6.
We’re hoping that a patch will eventually come for this issue, but it might only come with the January security patch.
Nearly everyone is now aware of Samsung’s massive recall on the Note 7 phones that were reportedly catching fire and even exploding, and iPhone users in China and other parts of the world have also been reporting similar issues with the iPhone 6s, primarily, but also on iPhone 7. Google Pixel is now the third premium smartphone to face bugs, but fortunately, no hardware problems are being reported, such as batteries overheating, etc.
Right now we don’t really know if this is an issue with one or more of the apps, the recent Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system update or the hardware itself, but most reports point to either an app issue or an OS update issue.
We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.
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