The eagerly awaited Galaxy Nexus was released to retailers in the UK last week and reports are emerging of an unusual bug affecting the device volume. Neither Samsung or Google have acknowledged the issue just yet, but the consensus among users is that the volume automatically adjusts when it gets radio interference from itself or a nearby device transmitting on 2G GSM 900 (900Mhz). Telstra, Vodafone and Optus all use 900Mhz for 2G in Australia so this could become an issue for us in low reception areas where the phone drops back to 2G. The poll on the XDA thread reports that 60% of users are experiencing this problem to some degree, certainly something to keep an eye on for all those people with pre-orders. You can star the official bug report here, or check back with us for updates.
Google response posted on androidpolice.com
“We are aware of the volume issue and have developed a fix. We will update devices as soon as possible.”
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/11/23/google-galaxy-nexus-volume-bug-is-not-hardware-related-software-fix-already-on-the-way/
android bug report included in article
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=22021
Look at how quickly it moves up and down, way faster than a human can push the buttons.
Whatever the cause, there is a trivial software workaround: require a volume button to be held down for some amount of time – say 0.1 seconds – with the other volume button not being pushed, before the volume change mechanism kicks in.
Since this bug seems to flick between volume up and volume down very quickly, with that simple change it will never reach the 0.1 second requirement and the interference (or whatever it is) will have no impact.
UPDATE – MobiCity have provided a statement here: https://mobicity.zendesk.com/entries/20705273-samsung-galaxy-nexus-volume-bug
They don’t believe their stock will be affected
UPDATE – Handtec have stopped shipping pre-orders until they get a response from Samsung. Customers with pre-orders can contact Handtec if they would still like their order sent: http://www.handtec.co.uk/blog/2011/11/samsung-galaxy-nexus-shipping-update/
It’s all just speculation at this point, but i’ve read that it is insufficient RF shielding around the volume rocker, and while this is a hardware fault a workaround can put put in place via software. I won’t be cancelling my pre-order, in the highly unlikely event that Google don’t address this I’m sure someone in the community will patch it
After having a play around with ics on my sgs, I think they could just just make hitting the volume button toggle the volume slider, but not effect it.
So there would just be the popup you could control with your hand.
Could use the other button for brightness or something
Well fuck
Lets hope its only a 2G thing so we should be OK if were in the metro areas. I rarely if never see my phone drop to E. optus and telstra.
Some people have been saying it’s a hardware issue and are freaking out, but I don’t think that’s the case. It’s highly likely it’s a software bug – if it was the hardware switch itself, it would happen all the time. Volume moving erratically for a single band does indeed sound very peculiar and is highly likely linked to software. I’d say those users that weren’t affected are either not understanding the conditions needed to be met to cause the issue, or they are just plain lucky. That said, when Nexus S’s were said to be random rebooting all the time, I… Read more »