One of the primary selling points of Google's Pixel devices is how fast they are compared to other Android devices. So, owners are understandably irked that Google's latest OTA update seems to have slowed down something you probably do dozens of times per day. According to multiple tips and online complaints, the June OTA made the Pixel 2 XL much slower to wake up from sleep.

Google started rolling out the latest OTA yesterday with new security patches and a fix for that proximity sensor bug. Google also promised some functional updates like better Bluetooth and WiFi performance. However, we've already gotten multiple tips from readers who notice their phones are much slower to wake up from sleep. We're talking on the order of two or three seconds instead of under one second.

Some report this delay goes away when you have always-on display mode activated. So, this seems like an issue with the display turning on and not the fingerprint sensor in particular. Indeed, it sounds like just pressing the power button to wake up the phone to the lock screen also lags. There are multiple Reddit threads complaining about this bug, and an item on the issue tracker has well over 100 stars as of this posting. Google already has it assigned to someone for investigation.

UPDATE: 2018/06/12 3:23am PDT BY

An official response from Google was posted on the issue's thread on r/GooglePixel. It says a fix will roll out in the coming weeks and, in the meantime, the only solution is to turn on Ambient Display.

Hi everyone,

We are aware that some Pixel 2 XL users are experiencing occasional delays with wake ups. We have now identified a fix which will be rolling out in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the problem can be worked around by setting the Ambient Display to "always on" on your Pixel 2 XL.

Cheers

UPDATE: 2018/07/26 11:27am PDT BY

Google promises fix with Android P release

A more detailed explanation behind why this issue cropped up has been supplied in the issue tracker:

The problem was caused as a side effect of a fix introduced in June SMR in order to fix cases of bright flashes before entering Always On Display for displays on certain (isolated) devices (this was actually pointed out in comment #44 of public bug). The fix will be reverted in July SMR to address the slow unlock regression. A proper fix for the original issue which won't cause slow unlock side effect will be available on P release.

So this new problem was an unfortunate side-effect of a fix for the previous screen flashing, and it sounds as if Google is planning on reverting the fix in the next set of security updates. A better solution for the original problem will then be implemented on the release of Android P—perhaps implying that the schedule for P's full release is to follow the next monthly security update.

Thanks: Yakir and ZuZu Boy