Bug silences Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Ice Cream Sarnie smartphone experiences audio freeze
It looks like Vodafone was right to hold off on the release of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone, which went on sale last week, is infuriating punters with a particularly annoying bug.
The glitch sees the handset drop the audio volume of its own accord. The phone goes suddenly silent, without warning, many an owner spent the weekend complaining on the intertubes.
Others have grumbled about the volume key becoming unresponsive, and even the power key sometimes ignores users' presses.
Not ever handset appears to be affected, but the consensus is that the bug only makes its presence felt when the Galaxy Nexus is operating in the 900MHz band for 2G communications. That's a very commonly used band in Europe.
Galaxy Nexus owners who haven't experienced the bug have not been in situations where the handset needs to switch from 3G to that band, it is believed.
A low signal strength appears to exacerbate the problem.
Meanwhile, Vodafone, which last week said it was "continuing to test" the ICS smartphone before releasing the handset, confirmed that was not testing its own overlay software.
"This testing is not due to the addition of Vodafone content to the device," it said. "Galaxy Nexus is a Google experience device and contains no Vodafone branding." ®
COMMENTS
@LPF
You wrote your whiny post less than an hour after the article was published.
Persecution complex much?
You're not singing anymore
I notice that the Android fans who attacked iOS 5 with such vitriol are remarkably quiet.
Software bugs happen to every platform. Wait for the update, like the iOS boys did.
No flash in ICS either it seems... The Story isn't on El Reg yet, but elsewhere, some people are getting their knickers in a real twist.
Copying Apple again!
Why don't they just release a phone without bugs instead of copying all Apple's ideas?
Re: you're not singing anymore
Hadn't spotted that - certainly naughty of them to release it without mentioning the lack of Flash. Okay, they don't need to list every feature that isn't present but most people would take Flash on Android as a given - especially as it is often provided as an example of a differentiator.
A quick Google suggests it IS coming soon though;
Adobe issued the following statement on the matter: “Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0 — expected to be released before the end of this year.”
