Nexus 7 (2013) JSS15Q OTA Update Rolling Out - Fixes GPS/GNSS and Multitouch Issues
by Brian Klug on August 22, 2013 5:46 PM EST
We published the full Nexus 7 (2013) review today, and liked it so much we gave it our Editors Choice Silver award. I'm a huge fan of the updated Nexus 7 and have been using it since launch without many issues, but a number of users ran into a few bugs that are being fixed today with an OTA update and build number JSS15Q. We've confirmed with Google that the JSS15Q resolves these issues and is slowly rolling out to all users. The bugs previously affected both GNSS (GPS+GLONASS) dropping out intermittently which Qualcomm provides through the APQ8064-1AA SoC, and some issues with touch recognition.
Although GPS and GNSS constellation lock would happen fast and signals were fine (Qualcomm's GNSS remains arguably best in class), the fix would periodically and randomly disappear and not come back until after a restart. I have to admit I ran into this particular bug once while testing the Nexus 7 for my initial mini review piece, but didn't think much of it since it didn't happen in subsequent testing. This issue is resolved with the update, and some quick testing with GNSS reveals no dropout issues.
The other issue was a touch controller related bug which affected taps along a shared axis causing the taps to disappear and then reappear and some other issues. I didn't see this issue on my Nexus 7, and neither did Anand, possibly due in part to multiple touch controller sourcing, but it also is fixed as of the update.
Users can either wait for the OTA update to hit their devices, or re-flash with the full factory image which Google has also updated via the link below.
Source: Factory Images for Nexus Devices
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flashbacck - Friday, August 23, 2013 - link
Bleh. A number of people are reporting (and a video on youtube) showing multitouch is still broken if you set the tablet down.Impulses - Friday, August 23, 2013 - link
I seem to recall reading of a similar issue with another phone or tablet in the past, had something to do with the way capacitive displays work and the way the particular device was built.Davidjan - Friday, August 23, 2013 - link
Cool! it supports to add storage with http://goo.gl/U6IyYcaleblloyd - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
I just updated to JSS15Q and definitely have a single touch problem on my 2013 Nexus 7. I felt like there may have been a touch issue before the update, but I can confirm that JSS15Q did not fix it and may have made it worse. I fired up Angry Birds and when I pull a bird back and it randomly launches (pretty often, like 2/3 birds) without me releasing a finger. Also, when I scroll on websites it will randomly zoom in and out as if it registered a ghost click. Running YAMTT reveals both single touch inconsistency and ghost clicks during single touch. Just a guess, but I think JSS15Q messed with touch sensitivity settings and exposed some issues with my unit. There's plenty of posts on Google groups, XDA, and Android Police that reveal many people having the same problem.Nexus 7 2013 - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/mob...Update fixes some, has no effect on others, makes it worse on many.
Check out the above link to Google's own forum where you can follow the story as it unfolds.
Not pretty at all.....
wintermute000 - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
nah, according to orwellian1984 they're all just 'butthurt'misterv - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
It's funny how he makes a reference to 1984 and yet is the first person to defend a corporation's defective product, attack individual people claiming that there may actually be issues with it, and displays a lack of skepticism to anything that doesn't fit his "google is god" mindset. After all...Ignorance is strength...Jeff Bellin - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - link
Hate to sound polyanna but i don't think this is a gripes-only forum, is it? I just want to say that I got my N7 2 on July 30 and have used it extensively every day. It has performed flawlessly (with one fairly rare issue, below) and has never had the problems most commonly discussed, including here. Updating to the newest build has not changed the - already fine - performance in any discernible way.The only problem I experience about 5% of the time is a touch not registering on a web page - though never have this problem within an app or native screen. I've begun to wonder how much this may be related to the web page programming or the browser in use (I seem to vacillate among 4!) or maybe a combination of the two. I have at times found the same web page to fail to respond to touch-clicks in other browsers though at times it worked fine on the new browser, and still failed upon return to the original browser. I'm not sure this is any worse than mouse clicks on a pc browser. In any event, it does somewhat agree with far more severe problems with unresponsive screen clicks, but it doesn't happen often enough or lack quick easy workarounds to rise to the level of a "problem."
As so many identical complaints can't be wrong, QC would appear to be the cause, though I don't know how this explains the large number of 100% successes with the late August update. I think of QC as being a hardware issue, not software. Asus has a very mixed track record on QC. One its most outstanding products, the Zenbook UX31A ultrabook experienced return rates/one star reviews from about 1/3 of all customers for the first year of that model's life. Still, over 50% found it to be flawless from day one.
My point: it seems I was lucky with my N7 2 and while that pleases me, luck should not be required to get a perfect product the first time at least 90% of the time.