While the mainstream tech media was still highlighting the broken multi-touch feature issue caused by the Android 8.1 update, we stumbled upon another 8.1-related problem.
It was being widely reported is that the Android 8.1 update has increased significantly the delay between fingerprint sensing/ power button press and screen unlocking/waking up. In many of the complainants’ words, what used to be a “blazingly fast” process, has now become dead slow.
Well, if you have been facing this issue, here’s some good news: Google has resolved the problem internally, and your device will get the fix in a future update. Here’s what a Google employee exactly said on a thread on the company’s issue tracking website today:
Our engineering team has fixed this issue. It will be available in a future Android release.
More info on the issue
Affected users say the fingerprint sensor recognizes the touch quickly – that short vibration is still instantaneous – but the screen wakes up after a large delay, taking up to 1 or even 1.5 seconds in some cases.
To make things even more clear, following is a user shared video clearly showing the problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q7wSV7sLSU
While users confirm there was no such issue with Android 8.0, the unit on the right in the video above (whose screen wakes up instantly) isn’t running 8.0. It’s on 8.1, but has Ambient Display ON (yeah, you can see that in the beginning of the clip). This is also a work around that many are suggesting.
But of course, everybody has personal preferences, and there may be some who would not like to turn on Ambient Display on their units. The issue isn’t certainly deal-breaking, but quite annoying to say the very least. However, in case of real-world emergencies, the problem could effectively prove to be catastrophic.
Considering the increasing number of user-complains, an expert on the official Pixel help forum recently confirmed that the matter is being looked into.
Soon after the expert’s confirmation, Google employee Orrin (who is also the Community Manager on Pixel User Community) also joined in, and started asking the complainants for bug reports to dig in deep.
What are betas for?
What’s baffling is, instead of entertaining the broken functionalities when reported in beta/DP versions, the company is letting them crawl in to public releases, troubling a genuinely good number of users before finally fixing them.
We say so for a reason: just like the multi-touch issue, the screen unlock lag was also reported in 8.1 DP2, but was left unfixed in the public release. So this naturally raises a question in mind: what are betas (developer previews) for, if you can’t fix major/annoying issues timely?
Fix coming
What’s good is the problem has now been resolved, and you should expect the fix to be available in next month’s update for sure, if not any sooner.
Other related links: Pixel User Community 1 2 3 | Reddit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | XDA | Google Issue Tracker 1 2 3
Stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) to hear about all related developments as and when they occur
Dr. Aparajita Sharma
1227 Posts
Currently, I am pursuing Ph.D (Psychology), and have been teaching the same for past four years. Coming to PiunikaWeb, I know it was a complete switch over, but the idea was appealing enough to put in all the effort it called for. My work primarily involves research. Oh, and yes, some of the photographs you see here are clicked by me. Overall, I am enjoying whatever I am doing, and hoping you’ll also feel the same reading all my articles. You can find me on LinkedIN.
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