[Updated] First gen Pixel users on Android 8.1 reporting device heating, rebooting, and freezing

Update 4 (March 29):

A redditor has compiled a list containing good number of product forum threads to highlight the seriousness of rebooting issue on first gen Pixel units.

Update 3 (March 9):

Someone shared this story of ours on Reddit yesterday, and the issues we’ve highlighted here are now being actively discussed there, with most users confirming they are facing device heating and random reboots. Here’s the link to the Reddit thread.

Update 2 (January 10):

Google starts investigating swipe related issues. Here’s what Google employee Orrin (who is also the Community Manager at Pixel User Community) said a few hours back while addressing the matter in question:

We are looking into the swipe issues that have been reported. I’m going to be reaching out for bug reports, so please keep an eye out for my email

Update 1: It has now come to light that a large number of Pixel (as well as Nexus) phone users running Android 8.1 on their units are also facing issue with swipes. Specifically, users say when swiping to bring up lock screen password prompt, or to dismiss notifications, or to answer/decline calls, it requires multiple retries to complete the action.

Original story follows:

It’s sad but true that updates usually gain more limelight for breaking functionalities rather than bringing something new. While Google flagship Pixel devices are already rife with bugs, what’s now being highlighted is that the Android 8.1 update (pushed in December) has triggered random reboots on first gen Pixel devices.

Troubled owners are routing to the official Pixel User Community and Reddit to bring to notice the 8.1 upgrade instigated reboots/freeze on their devices. Going by the reports, the phone occasionally freezes (while being used), following which it either reboots immediately or lags till it reboots.

Well, rebooting/freezing is not the only problem. What’s baffling is that in some cases freezing ended up bricking the Pixel device, rendering it completely useless. The sufferer also shared that Google support issued them an RMA.

It’s worth mentioning that the complainant also mentioned that before upgrading to Android 8.1 stable, they encountered random reboots even on the beta version, so Google, it appears, didn’t/couldn’t fix the problem in beta phase.

Some of the affected users also headed to Twitter to bring the matter to light:

https://twitter.com/igfxbalance/status/943958350928134145
https://twitter.com/alchew3000/status/946815723141193728

Not only reboots, users are also complaining of other serious issues like devices getting hot, without them doing anything crazy with their units.

The list of issues doesn’t end here, as some users are also facing microphone, speaker, headphone, and bluetooth related issues after the update.

Interestingly, one of the top contributors on the official Pixel help forum suggested those affected to get in touch with Google Support to get helpful suggestions especially related to device exchange. What’s worth highlighting is that he said there are currently no plans to fix these issues.

I strongly urge any of you who are having these issues to contact Pixel support if a factory reset did not resolve them for you. There are no announced or known planned fixes for these issues. If they are hardware related or something specific to your particular devices, it will be too late once your warranty period passes. Perhaps support can offer more insight or they might recommend an exchange, I don’t know

To conclude, it won’t be wrong to say that Android 8.1 final release seems to be a beta build when it comes to original Pixel phones. Google doesn’t seem to interested in solving the problems as they are apparently finding the number of such complaints very low. It’s hard to say how widespread these issues are, but we suggest all first-gen Pixels facing these problems should contact Google in whatever way they can – who knows, that might prompt the company to solve the issues through updates in near future.

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