"this has only impacted a small number of customers"
In other words this has impacted every single one of our customers with this model of phone
A software update issued by Vodafone for the Xiaomi Mi 9 phone has left some users unable to connect to the cellular network, preventing them from making calls, sending texts, and accessing mobile data. The issue was brought to our attention by regular Reg reader Tim Allen, who accused Vodafone of "spannering" his phone and …
aka, you didn't fecking well test it properly.
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I am sick of this level of technology, when, basically, a supplier, who could be halfway round the world, decide when and where to update software on your device/pc/car/kettle/fridge. Often it mucks up the UI, adds features that are not needed (I bought the device without the feature - I was happy with that), not infrequently buggers up some functionality that you use, and as we know, in the case of some Apple phones, slows them down to the point of unusability.
IT IS MY DEVICE. I BOUGHT IT WITH THE FUNCTIONALITY AT THE POINT OF SALE. STOP FECKING FIDDLING WITH IT.
" in the case of some Apple phones, slows them down to the point of unusability"
No it didn't. Processor throttling reduced performance to avoid a shutdown due to declining battery output, but it never came close to the 'point of unusability' unless your battery was completely fscked, in which case you wouldn't notice the slowdown - because your phone wouldn't turn on.
Possibly. The missus bought a note 8 a couple of weeks ago which was immediately updated to MIUI 11, don't seem to have any issues beyond the usual keruffle of changing phones.
Coincidentally (or not?) Virgin just flagged that they're sending her a new sim for 'compatibility' reasons (though I've received nothing) - I suspect that may be something to do with the merging with whoever it is that Virgin are merging with.
This is why I stopped buying Vodafone branded phones and use unlocked factory versions - they are really unreliable at pushing patches (you'll probably get one or two, about a year after the manufacturer releases their version if you're lucky) and when they do they are full of bloatware. Vodafone, take the coloured pencils away from the marketing team and tell them we don't need a special Vodafone SMS or phone call app - guess what, the phone already comes with one!
If you buy a phone built by some never-heard-of-them chinese manufacturer you should expect things not to always go smoothly. No doubt this was an android update that works with all common brands but they forgot to check on the cheap-as-chips unlocked rooted brands from down the market. Too bad. Caveat Emptor.
Yeah, Xiaomi - the 4th largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world, only have about 10% of the market - (Samsung have 20%, Apple about 13%, Huawei 15%) must be so easy to'forget' about them. It's like cars - everyone knows about Toyota, Volksvagen and Renault - but who the hell has heard of 'General Motors' at No 4 - let alone weird niche companies like Ford (6) and Honda (7)?
Don't know why the downvote. This was exactly the reason I moved from a Chinese model/English ROMed Redmi 3 Pro to a global version Redmi 4X.
For the more recent Redmi 7:
Global version LTE bands: 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 20 38 40
China version LTE bands: 1 3 5 7 8 34 38 39 40 41
Just need to be aware of what you are ordering/buying.
Lol it was Vodafone that killed the phones not xiaomi I bought this phone back in December and the update Vodafone users have only just got came out months ago and guess what..... The worked fine.
Vodafone need to stop messing around with the software to add their bloatware.
Sebastian
I've bought my Xiaomi Mi 9 one year ago ,sim free from AliExpress,probably in a few day after launching.
I just want to tell the Mi 9 owners.that is an amazing phone,I've never had any problems with it in more than one year.
It must be the supid Vodafone patch,they released it without enough testing.
I am using the phone with a cheap prepay sim,and until today 21 May,I don't have the Miui 11 therefore Xiaomi didn't release it yet
Why Vodafone did???
If you don't know Xiaomi is the 3rd and sometimes the 4th mobile phones producer in the world right now.Depends where you check.But the best quality for the money
Not knocking Android 1 - but it only promises os updates for two years and security for 3, so its not like it's a panacea. And, ironically, Xiaomi are probably the largest company that have actually participated in Android One. The fact that the market in the UK has incentivised the mobile providers to offer discounted handsets with branding and locks to encourage users to keep paying subscriptions is hardly the companies fault (nor necessarily the consumers).
That's great. But that's because Xiaomi has decided to be nice. The point being that neither Google nor the carrier (I'm assuming this was not associated with a carrier) care at all about providing you updates. Any credit there is for maintaining the phone this far goes to Xiaomi. There is such credit to go out, but not because this is a very long time. Just because most of the competition is lamentably bad at it.
> For the cost of one of these phones in unlocked form I would expect a bit longer
True, but still not bad, given you're supposed to buy a new one each year...
Some (mostly older) people are still biased by the ancient system of devices which lasted for years and could even be repaired (!): Home appliances that lasted 20+ years, cars that lasted a quarter of a century, and so on. Nowadays everything is meant to be disposable, use it for a week and throw it away, it's not fashionable anymore.
Don't you mean "Project treble"?
"Android one" specifies a phone where google specifies the hardware and software.
"Project treble" seperates the software into drivers/OS/UI. The manufacturers provide the drivers for their hardware, and then the core OS can be updated centrally, as it's the same. - Just like with the PC market (although unlike Windows, the UI is also seperate, so a phone company can have their own hardware, their own user interface, but still have a common OS that will get common updates)
If you have an andorid phone that's compatible with project treble (any phone that comes with orio or later) you can get the latest version of android 10 here : https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-gsi-project-treble/
Even my "cheap unknown chinese tablet" will run it.
> If you have an andorid phone that's compatible with project treble (any phone that comes with orio or later) you can get the latest version of android 10 here
With two huge caveats. First you need to be an Android dev: "flash the system and vbmeta images over fastboot" doesn't sound like something common people might know how to do (and succeed in doing). And second you don't even know if it will work, or if you just have spent a couple hours bricking your device.
I had high hopes when Project Treble was announced, but clearly it was only a marketing stunt, as nothing has really changed in the phone industry. (Well, why would it? They want to make you buy a new phone, not help you keep the old one a little longer.)
Really?
I knew that it was currently a techie thing to do the update yourself, but I expected it would be consumerised.
As for the rest of your comment.... Looks like I've been suckered by the hype. :-(
Cheers... Looks like I won't be blindly upgrading my Huwaei to get rid of the awful EMUI after all......
Would be nice if Xiaomi would share this fix with us end users...
Based on reports from the Vodafone support community thread, Xiaomi have a candidate fix that they'd like to push out for testing, but they've not fixed the issue yet on everyone's Mi 9s. Not by a long way. Shame really, it's actually an excellent phone.
I don't do smart phones because I really don't seem to need one. I have a decade old tracfone that satisfies my occasional need for remote phone calls and text messages, costs less and probably only spies on me on those rare occasions when I turn it on. So maybe I'm missing the obvious.
But I'm curious. If you have no connectivity as a result of installing the latest manufacturer improvement, how are you supposed to download that fix that will be promulgated any minute now?
The updates released by carriers are just placed on the carrier's servers, with the phone locked in some way to only get updates from those servers. You can contact those servers however you want, though. If you have a carrier-locked device that you didn't connect to their network, it still gets updates*.
*It actually doesn't get any updates, but that's because the carrier never releases any. If they ever did release one, your phone could download it and install whatever bugs it contains with no difficulty.
"The rep claimed that a patch is in the final stages of testing and should be deployed to customers by the end of the week at the very latest."
Why bother testing? Obviously they didn't test the initial update... OK just kidding.
"No it didn't. Processor throttling reduced performance to avoid a shutdown due to declining battery output, but it never came close to the 'point of unusability' unless your battery was completely fscked"
Inaccurate. Look online, and people complained of devices that were normally 1.4-1.8ghz being reduces to like 600-800mhz. This is a very large reduction in speed (I'm surprised, I thought it was like 10-20%...) and could easily make people decide their previously usable phone was unusable. This was a ridiculous design flaw, every other vendor realizes old used batteries sag a few 10ths of a volt under load. My BlackBerry KeyOne has a battery rated for 3.85 volts, so most likely it uses 3.3 volt hardware. No problem with sag there!
If you look at the forum, the issue had been marked as "Resolved" as soon as Vodafone came around with a message that a fix is in the making.
Also, I don't see the word "sorry" or "apologies" anywhere in their response. Only "... to get you all connected to what you love again". As if the fix for bricking the phones was a "feature."
What a nice, modern approach on customer service...
After promising a fix to the problem, there is still no update.
What really annoys me is that the two companies just keep passing the buck between them with neither of them accepting responsibility for their mistake!
Meanwhile anybody with this model phone is in to their second week without a working handset!