It took several months for Google Pixel Buds to become commercially available. The company’s first truly wireless in-ear headphones were announced back in October 2019, but still only became available to the public a few months ago. To make things even worse, the new audio product already has an issue straight out of the box. Over the past few weeks, users have been complaining about connection issues and audio dropouts. The company has now acknowledged the issue.
According to one employee named Chelsea W., the company will be rolling out software updates “in the coming weeks” to address the connectivity problem. Later the very same employee followed up with some of the improvements that need to be pushed by the company. According to the company, the new software will decrease instances of phone call cut-outs and improve auto-recovery when on or both earbuds lose connection. Moreover, the update will improve media playback stability for phones that have software audio encoding. According to some users, the Pixel Buds have audio hissing/static noise. This particular issue might also get a fix via the new software update – firmware #296.
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The Pixel Buds joined the list of Google Products to suffer from hardware and software problems
Google’s history with poor quality control over its products is well known among the community. The Pixel 2 phone came with hardware and software issues, among them an audio issue. Then, the company released Pixel 3 that also came with hardware and software issues. Last but not least, we have the Pixel 4 which also came with hardware and software issues. So, in the end, it isn’t a big surprise to see the Pixel Buds suffering from software issues. Especially, when this is the company’s first attempt in the TWS headset terrain.
To recall, the truly wireless earphones came with a feature that can automatically detect phone calls. After detecting, the buds will attenuate background noise to make the call experience more clear. The feature doesn’t work as intended when the audio cut-out issue is preventing users from having the best experience. Worth noting that users found a workaround that fixes the audio issue. In order to activate it, users need to disconnect the earphones and reset their Pixel phones. After this, they need to place and hold the button on the Pixel Buds 2 for about 15 seconds. When the light is pulsing white, the Buds 2 will be connected to the phone and the issue might be gone. Unfortunately, this haven’t been tested in non-Pixel smartphones.
Despite these problems, the company increases its sales by 52% on a yearly basis. Apparently, fans aren’t really considering these issues before buying a Pixel device.