It didn’t take long for Google and Motorola to roll out Android Oreo to the Moto X4, both the standard and Android One variants.
While it was a guarantee that the Android One variant will receive the update ahead of the standard model, the fact that the latter runs Motorola’s near stock interface meant that it was never going to take long before it also received Oreo. However, this has only been true for those in India and a few other markets.
Like any other software update, early adopters of the Moto X4 Oreo update have mixed reactions to the new OS. It seems a good number have no major problems after the update, but there are others who have been having nightmares ever since they installed Oreo on the Moto X4.
In this article, you’ll find the most common Moto X4 Oreo problems that users have been registering through several online forums, including Lenovo’s, alongside their possible solutions (if any). Note that some of these fixes may or may not work. In the latter case, you’ll have no option but to wait for another update from the company to fix the issue in question.
Laggy performance
Usually, smartphones can become astonishingly laggy after a software update. It’s normal, but it can be annoying at the same time. This is exactly what Moto X4 users are going through after the update to Android Oreo. Apps are slower/crashing, the Launcher isn’t smooth, the interface looks unpolished with cases of icons overlapping and so on.
A factory data reset should help solve this problem – and so should it for many others that we’ll highlight in this article.
Blue Screen of Death
When you talk about the Blue Screen of Death, it’s usually got to do with computers. But apparently, the Moto X4 has its own version of the Blue Screen of Death. Since updating to Android Oreo, a good number of users are having trouble making regular phone calls. Apparently, the Phone Dialer app hangs and displays a blue screen when you place a call and the real calling screen only shows up after between 10 and 40 seconds, which can be annoying.
For those whose Dialer app is able to make calls, they have other issues to deal with. Apparently, it’s also not possible to make a conference call by adding another contact to an ongoing call.
One solution that is reportedly working as a charm is going to the Settings > System > Reset > Reset App Preferences and then restart your phone. Another one is to do a factory data reset after the update and keep an eye on the performance. It has worked for some, but it hasn’t for others. Motorola says doing a factory reset without backing up the app fixes the problem, so make sure you try it.
If the Phone Dialer app won’t be working properly even after trying these fixes, you may want to sit back and wait for the company to fix it via a software update, but for now, you’ll have to learn to live with these issues.
Poor battery life
The phone calling issue is more widespread than any other, but there are also other issues as well. As you would expect, complaints about excess battery drain aren’t missing. After the Moto X4 Oreo update, some people are complaining that the phone is losing too much juice, even when in idle mode, mobile data and Wi-Fi turned off and even when battery saving mode is turned on.
Doing a factory data reset may help bring things back to normalcy. You may also want to check how apps are consuming battery juice via the Battery settings. Android Oreo also allows users to limit background activity for apps and thus save more battery. If you find any apps that are consuming too much battery juice, you may want to uninstall them or maybe update them to the latest versions. Some updates to these apps may come with issues and when their developers discover them, they immediately roll out updates with fixes. Make sure you are using the latest versions of your installed apps.
Google Play services keeps stopping
There are those reporting an issue with updates. On clicking the “Security update” option located in the “Security & Location” in the Settings menu, the phone instead displays an error with the message “Google Play services keeps stopping” as seen in the screenshot below.
A non-functioning Google Play services app means that your Moto X4 won’t be able to receive software updates via the Google Play Store, which is not a good thing at all. Hopefully, a fix will be rolled out sooner than later.
Volume rocker isn’t working
After the update to Android Oreo, there are some Moto X4 users complaining about a sudden drop in the system volume. To make it even worse, the volume rockers aren’t working property. Apparently, you cannot increase the volume after this drop and this has just been noticed after the Oreo update. This means that some are stuck with a volume level they might not like as it is too low. Also, the notification level tends not to disappear when one is watching videos fullscreen and this is quite annoying for some.
Smart Lock feature is missing
One of the best features of the Moto X4 is Smart Lock. With this feature, you can keep the phone unlocked as long as it can detect that you are with it, for instance, when you are home, when it’s connected to your Moto 360 or even when it detects your face.
One problem, though, is that after the update to Android Oreo, the Smart Lock feature is missing from the Smart Lock settings menu as shown in the screenshot below (left). For some users, it started in the previous version but it has only started showing up for others after the Moto X4 Oreo update.
On the brighter side, there’s a working trick (at least for some) that can bring back the Smart Lock feature. To bring it back, turn off Smartlock Trust agent in the Security and Location settings menu and then restart your phone. After the phone restarts, turn the feature back on and Smart Lock should be back to normal as shown in the screenshot above (right). Note that this doesn’t work for some and for others, it only works for a short while, but it has worked for others as well.
Poor RAM management
Even before the update to Android Oreo, RAM management has always been an issue on the Moto X4. For a phone with a massive 4GB RAM, though, it’s strange that when there’s no active app, some users are reporting that they only get about 0.9GB of free RAM after the update to Oreo.
What this means is that the system takes up a whopping 2GB+ of the available RAM, leaving users with about 1GB RAM to play around with – and this can be disastrous in terms of performance.
Wireless sound system issues
After the update to Android Oreo, some Moto X4 users are also reporting issues with the Wireless Sound System. This is one of the features that are unique to the X4, where users can pair up to four Bluetooth devices individually and even bring them together for an enhanced stereo sound experience.
As it is, the feature is not working. On trying to access it, users are greeted by an error message saying “TempowService keeps stopping” as shown in the screenshot above. Nothing seems to work so far, whether it’s force stopping the Wireless Sound System, resetting it or even clearing the data. Hopefully, a software update will take care of it.
Phone automatically restarts in the middle of use
It can’t get worse than this, can it? Apparently, some Moto X4 users are having their worst moments when trying to enjoy their free time on YouTube or even when browsing on Google Chrome. The phone automatically restarts whenever these apps are in use.
The Moto team says clearing the cache and data, uninstalling the affected apps and then reinstalling them should work magic. You can also try using the phone in Safe Mode just so as to see if these apps are the ones causing the problem. To boot into Safe Mode, press the power key and then press and hold the pop-up “Power off” key that shows up until you see the Safe Mode instructions on your screen.
Non-responsive fingerprint scanner
Like apps, the fingerprint scanner can also stop working. For a phone like the Moto X4 where users heavily rely on the fingerprint scanner for authentication purposes, this can be annoying. There’s no proposed fix, but you can almost certainly be sure that a factory data reset may help fix the problem.
Otherwise, you may have to wait for a future software update that’ll iron out the problem and many others affecting Moto X4 users after the update to Android Oreo.
What is your experience with the Moto X4 since upgrading to Android Oreo? Share with us in your comments below.
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