A41 Issues After April Update - Audio, Bluetooth, etc

[Raxx]

Hi

I had an update on my A41 on April 21st. After the update I am having various audio issues. The touch sounds seem to go loud and quiet by themselves in the same session (by session I mean a typical usage session of a few minutes checking messages, emails etc). When watching youtube the audio has 'popping' sounds and again seems to come forward and backward like the audio is switching in some way by itself. When connected to bluetooth audio device like earbuds or the car handsfree, I take a call on the connected device, after about 1minute the audio switches to the phone loudspeaker by itself. When listening to music say on the earbuds the same thing happens, first plays on the earbuds for a bout a minute then by itself the sound switches to the phone loudspeaker by itself. Sometimes if I switch it back to the connected device after another minute it switches back to the phone loudspeaker again.

I had no issues prior to this update. I have tried restarting the phone several times to no avail. I really don't want to restore to factory defaults as it is a real ball ache for me to get the phone setup to how I need it.

I checked the last update and the info provided is this:

Build Number: A415FXXU1BUC3

Android Version: Q(Android 10)

Release Date: 2021-04-15

Security Patch Level: 2021-03-01

Clearly there is an issues with this update, is there any way to roll it back? or can Samsung fix it with a step upgrade?

Thanks

[TessM]

Hey @Raxx ,

Let's try to run an interactive check on your phone to see if the speaker is working correctly. To do this launch the Samsung Members app (pre-installed on your phone)> Get help> Interactive check> Speaker.

In regard to Bluetooth, do this happen to a particular device? 

[Raxx]

Hi TessM

Interactive check as you instructed is fine 'normal'. BTW I didn't have Samsung Members on the phone but went and got it from the store.

Regarding the Bluetooth; as I mentioned the same issue happens on my earbuds and car hands free so not a particular device.

Let me reiterate, these issues were not present before the software update on 21st April, only after.

I've only had this handset 4 months or so.

Thanks.

[TessM]

If you feel that this is down to the new software not working as intended, you can get this examined by one of our engineers. Please contact our Support Team to check your available options @Raxx : https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/contact/

[Raxx]

Its not that 'I feel' its the only logical explanation. Unfortunately I don't have time to mess about with someone for hours and days who probably don't believe a user of a device they use day in day out so I'm just going to change my device and ditch Samsung. Too busy for this hassle in our lives, we need stuff that just works especially when they cost a lot of money.

[Raxx]

Hi @TessM

Sorry didn't mean to come across like a tw*t, just get frustrated with these kind of things as it takes a lot of time to resolve and most of us simply don't have that time these days.

I switched my device to another brand as I need to use it a lot day to day including Bluetooth connections.

Meanwhile I have factory reset the A41 and currently testing it but  this seems to have resolved the BT audio switching and pop noises on phone speaker that occurred after the last update as mentioned in my previous post. I don't know if I will re-use the A41 as my main device again as I don't know if I can rely on it, I mean after an update if it plays up every time and I need to factory reset it to get it to work properly then that's a deal breaker for me no matter how much I think its generally a nice device to use (apart from the really terrible on screen fingerprint sensor that is so unreliable). In some ways I was wondering if the smart things app was the root cause as that also turns on when a BT device is connected and that can be used to switch audio but I re=installed that after the factory reset and it is still behaving. Before the factory reset I tested it once again to verify the device was still randomly switching audio from phone speaker to BT and vice versa, it was, several times within 5 minutes by itself & randomly, after the reset to default this issue has gone. BTW I did also try a network & connections only reset to see if resetting the network & BT system resolved it but it did not, only a factory reset seems to have. In case anyone else has the same issue.

I will continue monitoring as I get time and if the issue comes back after this reset I will update.

Quite clearly the update caused some issue that could only be resolved by a factory reset. I don't know what more evidence you need really......... Maybe your engineers can do some testing themselves.

Thanks