Google is fixing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus volume problem. An official solution to the phone's volume-dropping problems is being sent to handsets over the next week.
"We're currently rolling out a fix for the volume issue, which will reach everyone in the coming week," Google told us.
The Nexus has a very odd bug that sees the volume sometimes dropping to nothing, stopping you from hearing phone calls, music or ringtones. Here's our video of the problem occurring.
The problem seems to be caused by the 900MHz 2G frequency, used by O2 and Vodafone here in the UK. Weirdly, the problem even happens when you put a different phone near the Nexus, as long as it's on the affected frequency. Orange, T-Mobile and Three use different frequencies and don't seem to have the problem.
An unofficial -- and warranty-voiding -- solution was revealed earlier this week, but it requires unlocking your bootloader and flashing an image to your phone. If you read that last sentence as 'it requires unblubbing your bloopedibloop and flubbity-flubbing your flublah blah blah bloop bloopity' then we advise you to wait for the official fix.
If you clearly understood that sentence and your first thought was, "Unlock my bootloader you say? Piece of cake!" and your second thought was, "Flash an image to my phone? Why, there's nought simpler! No sooner said than done, good sir!" and your third thought was, "Warranty? Pshaw -- I care not for such trivialities, for I am a man who knows his bootloader from his bottom," then download the unofficial fix and have at it.
We're looking forward to the problem being resolved, so we can amend our review score and give it the rating this otherwise cracking phone deserves. Until it's fixed, we sadly can't recommend the Nexus, a position we'll happily reconsider next week.
The Galaxy Nexus isn't the only phone with glitches lately: the GPS in the Samsung Galaxy S2 is acting up, the Nokia Lumia 800 has battery woes, and the iPhone 4S has also suffered from power problems.
Do you have a Galaxy Nexus? Has an update hit your phone? Pump up the volume in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
Update 2 December: Google has pushed out an official update that fixes the bug, and we've amended our Samsung Galaxy Nexus review to reflect this.
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Comments 11
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anonymous 30 November, 2011 12:48
How do we obtain the bug fix? Is it an OTA update? Or a warranty fix?
Rich Trenholm 30 November, 2011 12:50
We understand it's a software update, we're seeking clarification from Google
anonymous 30 November, 2011 14:18
As a total noob to the Nexus range and also Android, how would I go about implementing the software update (if it is software as opposed to hardware) once released? Is there a 'software update' feature in the settings somewhere!?!
Ryan J Pattinson 30 November, 2011 14:42
it will be an update of software of such it should just rewrite some codes to fix this and surely it wont be and warranty fix google nor samsung would let that happen you would be out of a phone for at least 2/3 if they do it all in one go be such a backlog some might even get lost
anonymous 30 November, 2011 15:18
Does anyone know if the nexus bug fix can be obtained in Samsung kies?
anonymous 30 November, 2011 16:14
Hopes this fixes it for me
anonymous 30 November, 2011 16:36
I'm watching for this like a hawk on my Nexus, I keep hitting 'Check Now'. -Can someone tell me how to take a screengrab, then I can do a before and after? -I've taken one accidentally (I can see it in my gallery) but can't work out how I did it...
anonymous 30 November, 2011 18:22
...screen grab by pressing Power button and vol down simultaneously. That's me answering my own question.
anonymous 1 December, 2011 09:48
still undecided on whether to get the nexus or 4s....
anonymous 26 September, 2012 18:49
Funny because Im writing this on September 2012 and there is still no fix. I even emailed a Google Executive who said this issue has been recently reported to Engineering (they claimed to have no knowledge of it) but couldnt promise whether it will be fixed or whether its a software or hardware issue. Im ready to give up on Android - every handset has problems. For a phone, this is crucial and I cant hear the phone ring in public and even in silence videos and streaming music are useless and many game tones cannot even be heard
anonymous 26 September, 2012 18:50
Oh and Im in the US so at least in the US the problem has not been fixed