Google Pixels - battery unreadable massive issue

[hughtrimble]

Hi all,

Anyone else with a Pixel with this issue? I've got a 4XL and am getting an alert from Google saying the battery is unreadable and that it's replaceable under extended warranty...except in countries such as the UK where only the standard 2 year warranty applies!

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/10169830?&ref_topic=7223822

Lots of examples here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pixel_phon...blem_reading_your_battery_meter_on_pixel_4xl/

I find it hard to believe that they can kill a phone's component with an update, yet can then charge customers to fix it. Has anyone else here had this issue and had the battery sorted for free by Google?

 

[hughtrimble]

That 1 year extension was offered to countries where the standard warranty was only 1 year, not 2 like ours.

I'm not surprised that Google wont replace a battery FOC out of warranty. Killing it with an update is shady as hell though ...

Not sure the update is killing it as such - from the Reddit threads seems like there is an underlying fault that for some reason the update is more likely to expose.

It appears that it may be a fault present from manufacture, that's revealed by the update, meaning they created the issue. The 2 year warranty is not relevant to this as you have rights as a consumer up to 6 years after purchase for certain issues.

I had them escalate this fault with mine and they're replacing it. I don't think it should require arguing with them about, as they created the fault and they know it.

 

[hughtrimble]

I really don't get the fascination with batteries the user can't replace in phones - about half the phones I've had either the battery died prematurely or it was useful to upgrade to a higher capacity one and screw sending the phone off and/or taking it in somewhere to have it replaced under warranty... while probably less useful for most people I've also had occasion where it is useful to be able to simply swap one battery out for another.

Far easier to get the IP rating for waterproofness if a sealed unit.

I miss replaceable batteries too - some of those were water resistant too, it just takes more effort from the manufacturer to achieve it. I'd imagine part of it is also the knowledge that many people treat phones as disposable once the next version comes out so they never even think about the battery needing replacing. The company gets more phone sales with sealed units that are a PITA to repair.

Which is why this is really tempting in future:

If this error happens to me, I'd be tempted by the Fairphone 4