Google’s Pixel lineup of devices is equally known for its controversy like software bugs, hardware issues. Devices like Pixel 3, 4, 4XL have faced hardware issues. And users of older 2XL have faced random reboots, freeze, and whatnot. Now, Google is once again under the radar of blame as quite a few users of Google Pixel 4a have reported touch sensitivity problems.
Soon after the release of Android 11, several users of Pixel 4a took to forums like XDA, Google, and Reddit(via Android Police) to point out the touch sensitivity problems. The issue seems to mainly pop-up for people who use screen protectors.
Editor’s Pick: OnePlus adds its Messages app to the Google Play Store
What is the issue?
It is not clear if the issue is present on every Pixel 4a but it’s probably a touch sensitivity mishap. Users experience phantom aka ghost touches, unresponsive scrolling. Ghost touch is when the phone automatically performs a touch function but the user hasn’t really touched the screen.
Apart from this, the issue includes unresponsiveness in navigation gestures and gesture-based keyboard actions. And factory resetting, clearing cache, rebooting doesn’t seem to help. That said, few users said that removing the screen protectors solved the issue. And few others suggested that by setting the accessibility>touch and hold delay>short, the issue got resolved.
Is it hardware or software related?
Also, according to a few users, the issue started popping after upgrading to Android 11. To ascertain this, some said that the issue vanished on downgrading to Android 10. Additionally, a user on Google’s Issue Tracker says that the issue could also be due to the absence of a touch sensitivity toggle which the Pixel 4 already has, to improve touch response with screen protectors.
Google might have carried this change mistakenly over to the Pixel 4a but without a toggle. On the contrary, an employee responded to the issue saying that it is hardware related. While this needs more light, it is certain that Google is working on a fix already.
Up Next: High-quality images of Pixel 4a 5G appear on UK retailer website ahead of launch
