Google Nexus 6P Complaints Suggest Yet Another Major Problem

Some customers have already reported that their Google Nexus 6P has spontaneously cracked the glass which covers the rear camera. Now it seems like some people are having problems with the on-board microphone. Reports have hit both the official Google product forums, as well as XDA Developers of low quality, muffled, in-call sound. Android Police reported this story, where one of its writers claims to be be affected by the problem.

Some users are reporting that covering the rear-mounted microphone – which is used for noise cancellation – resolves the problem. Others though say that it’s covering this microphone that causes the issue. The only thing everyone agrees on is that there are a decent number of people who find their voice being poorly received by the other person in the call.

There are a number of microphones on the Nexus 6P – and all modern phones – and sound from these is used to remove ambient noise. This suggests that perhaps there’s a software problem that’s making phones behave unpredictably, but with the same root cause. On XDA one theory is that there’s a software bug with the noise cancellation. Fixing this would be fairly straightforward once discovered, and Google could send an update very quickly.

If the problem is hardware-based then Google will end up with a lot of returned phones, and would likely see pressure to recall the rest. Different people obviously use their phones in varying amounts for voice calls, I, for example, hate talking on the phone so any microphone problems would go undetected by me for a long time. Others, however, are more reliant on voice communication.

With this and the cracking back panel problem Google might have some tough questions for Huawei, which makes the Nexus 6P. The phone itself seems to be enjoying success with reviewers though, and it’s certainly a beautifully designed device. As always, a small number of phones will always have hardware problems, and the key is just how many returns are seen on any one product. Sadly manufacturers tend not to release this information, so we’ll never know just how many users are having problems with their devices.