January update improves auto-brightness on Pixel 5/4a/5G, improves auto-rotate on Google phones

Google is following last month’s big Pixel Feature Drop with a bug fixer. The January update addresses six issues for the Pixel 5 and Google’s other current phones.

One audio fix exclusive to the Pixel 5 is “further tuning & improvements for volume level of system sounds,” while “speaker noise in certain scenarios” has been addressed for the Pixel 4a 5G.

Google’s 2020 devices — including the Pixel 4a — also get “further improvements for auto-brightness response in certain light conditions. All three phones use under-display ambient light sensors.

All other phones (Pixel 3/XL, 3a/XL. 4/XL, 4a, 4a 5G, and 5) get the follow enhancements:

  • Fix for issue causing interment restarts in certain apps
  • Further improvements for auto-rotation response in certain device orientations
  • Fix for issue prevent calls on certain MVNO networks

Tapping the check for update button in system Settings pulls the OTA immediately. On the Pixel 5, this January update comes in at 27.23M, which is more sizable than normal.

Meanwhile, Google’s latest phones drop down to just two builds. Following up to five late last year, there’s now only a Verizon specific patch and the variant for everyone else. Additionally, the US carrier update should be available today rather than being delayed a week.