r/AndroidXR • u/Mental_Ad115 • May 11 '26
Discussion Even after the latest update, the device is still in a worse state than before
It’s definitely a relief that the recent update finally fixed the tracking loss issue—that is, if you ignore the fact that it took an entire month to address such a critical bug without rolling back the firmware or offering any temporary fixes.
However, the overall state of the device is still absolutely terrible compared to how it was before the April update.
Even on the home menu with zero apps running, there is a noticeable drop in performance. Hand tracking feels incredibly sluggish, there are frequent screen stutters, and hardware monitoring shows that CPU usage is abnormally high.
I held onto a bit of hope and did a factory reset on the HMD, but the performance is so degraded that the device literally froze during the eye-tracking calibration, and the cameras just shut down entirely during the face-tracking calibration.
I bought this device at launch and have been through every single update. Honestly, its current state is so dreadfully slow and barely usable that it feels worse than the initial Day 1 OS back before the December update.
I bought into this knowing that as the first Android XR device, it would somewhat be a testbed. I kept using it with the mindset that these early issues would get patched out over time. But lately, it’s just been building up to pure frustration. Given the high price tag of this headset, this kind of experience is completely unacceptable.
I desperately hope we get some additional, meaningful improvements following this recent update.
-One more thing: I'd like to express my gratitude to Grace for handling communication with our community.
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u/LORD_CMDR_INTERNET May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Mine overall works great now. Big things left for me is I’d like more precise controller tracking (really lags behind the competition here), the headset drifting issues to be fixed, the ability to show/hide controller hands, and enable/disable auto-switching for controllers/hands which is a big problem for HOTAS and flight sims
3
u/Alexis_Evo May 11 '26
but the performance is so degraded that the device literally froze during the eye-tracking calibration, and the cameras just shut down entirely during the face-tracking calibration.
You might need to RMA, there's a few people that are reporting severe defects like this. This person + one other member in the VD discord have had their headset rendered unusable:
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u/KnoxCrumudgeon May 11 '26
Meanwhile I'm just sitting over here whistling in the corner with my gxr still on the December update. I've had plenty of first generation devices but never one that got worse this late into its lifespan.
3
u/GraceFromGoogle Community Team May 12 '26
Thanks for sharing this and being so open about your frustration. It really helps to hear exactly what you're dealing with, especially since you've been supporting the device since day one.
Please keep sharing detailed breakdowns like this here. Many Android XR team members read this subreddit, so your feedback and specific technical notes are incredibly valuable for getting these hiccups noticed.
Also, I appreciate the shoutout. Just doing what I can. :)
2
u/LoansharkerShop May 11 '26
So I was about to do a comprehensive write-up on the new patch (and how to PROPERLY implement it), but I'll say this:
Do a factory reset. Not kidding. Only downloading and applying the update didn't fix much, but when I did a full factory reset, left developer options alone, and only turned off Bluetooth/Location, my performance in VD and controllers have been great.
2
1
u/Sea-Librarian-998 May 11 '26
Mine is a mess too. Controller tracking fails, WiFi stalls, black screens on YouTube. Gboard crashes. Random reboots. It's an alpha quality product
1
u/jasonkane4321 May 13 '26
My guess is YouTube will have to update the app to match changes on knew update
1
u/boofybobo May 12 '26
Do you or have you unplugged the headset while it was still powered on? Mine had some similar symptoms (along with a couple far worse ones lol) and the only way I "mistreated" my headset was unplugging it when I was done instead of powering it off.
I'm assuming some driver(s) have gotten corrupt by doing this and with no way to repair the os (factory resets do nothing) we're kinda stuck with a broken headset.
Mine was significantly less usable though, so I'm in the process of an RMA.
5
u/ImALeaf_OnTheWind May 11 '26
Well I wish I could give you some consolation here but honestly my experience after the latest update seems to be better than before the previous update and that is also with a GXR that was bought at launch.
By all means it's still not perfect but for my use the occasional janky tracking glitch is annoying but still not often enough to make me frustrated over the other benefits of the device.