The Nokia 2.2 is an entry-level Android phone released by Nokia in June 2019 and since the Android 10 update it has been plagued by a very serious notifications problem.
Until now Nokia 2.2 was working fine for the most part with Android 9. When the Android 10 update came along, a great number of users started experiencing debilitating notification bugs. In this article, we’re going to be covering all major bugs and some possible solutions that have worked for some people.
Nokia 2.2 notifications problem
This has to be the most troublesome bug we’ve come across in a long while with phones. In the Android 10 update, a lot of users seem to have stopped receiving notifications from third-party apps (read the full list here) downloaded from the Playstore.
While the built-in Google apps like Gmail are working fine, Whatsapp, Facebook, Messenger, etc. give you no notifications now. The only way to see what’s going on in these apps is by opening them. Then, you can see all the new happenings as they are downloaded.
Here’s an example of what happens:
Why can’t I receive notifications?
The problem lies with a failed battery optimization gimmick. The phone memory management system is aggressively killing apps from running in the background. This leads to apps being killed by the phone just after a few minutes of using them.
According to this Github discussion, the cause lies with the Mediatek Duraspeed service which kills tasks.
Is there a fix?
According to the above discussion, there are some ways that have proven to work for some Nokia phones (this isn’t strictly restricted to the Nokia 2.2, but other Nokia phones as well), but there isn’t any mention of this removing the issue from the Nokia 2.2.
If you’re tech-savvy, you might have some luck in working out a solution with the above discussion.
Other possible ways to enable notifications is by disabling battery optimization for your selected apps. Keep in mind that this fix has not worked for a large number of people.
Go to Settings > Apps & Notification > Advanced > Special app access > Battery optimisation > Not optimised > All apps
From there, you can choose the apps that you don’t want killed every few minutes after using them. Select the app and choose ‘Don’t optimise’.
In our case, this just led to major battery drain and didn’t help with notifications.
Nokia 2.2 Android 10 vibration problem
Another annoying issue with the Android 10 update is the vibration motor. There is no longer any haptic feedback for keypresses, ringtones, notifications, alarms, or anything for that matter.
We’ve been using our phones on vibrate mode for the last few years and rarely ever put it on General. For us, this is intolerable.
All our preferences have vibration set to On, but it hasn’t vibrated once since the Android 10 update.
Just to make sure that your settings are set right, go to Settings > Sound > Advanced > Touch vibration
Make sure Touch vibration is set to on and give it a try. Nothing has worked for us to bring vibration back in the Android 10 update.
Nokia 2.2 Android 10 full brightness problem
While thankfully this one has a fix, it’s still annoying to experience. Your screen’s brightness will automatically set to maximum when you put in charge. When this happens, you will not be able to adjust it with the brightness slider from the top of your screen.
You could set it to minimum and the brightness will not change. The only way to fix this is by restarting the phone and this fix has worked every single time.
How do we get Nokia to fix this?
While HMD’s executive, Juho Sarvikas has responded on Twitter regarding this issue, he has yet to do anything about it.
This tweet came out on March 31, 2020. Since then, no update has solved these issues and no further announcement has risen from any Nokia official which would make us feel hopeful.
If you’re an affected Nokia 2.2 user, I’d suggest going to this thread and asking Juho to say something. If enough people start ranting, they might be forced to notice it or you try this reddit thread to see if there is any luck.
We can also sign this petition someone made on Change.org. Maybe signing on and sharing it with Nokia users could somehow speed up the process.
Experimenting with budget phones
Nokia 2.2 came with Android 9 as the default version and back then, it was a great phone. It offered light users (like myself) an array of features in a budget.
On March 17, 2020, HMD’s executive, Juho Sarvikas, announced that the Nokia 2.2 is now Android 10-enabled.
Nokia 2.2 owners around the world rejoiced as they were about to receive the latest Android 10 update that many newer phones didn’t even have. Nokia was trying to get the best Android experience even to its budget users and it gave people a reason to be happy.
But, they failed miserably at delivering the experience. I bought the Nokia 2.2 because It fulfilled my needs well and in a budget. The only reason I haven’t sold this phone yet is because we’re all stuck at home and I can use my phone pretty much all the time to see notifications myself.
The Nokia 2.2 Android 10 notifications problem is a big deal because Nokia chose to experiment with a budget-oriented segment and is not trying to make it better. It’s been over 3 months now since the problem started and we haven’t seen anything from Nokia that can give us hope.
If I was going out, I couldn’t tolerate this at all. In case you’re looking to buy a Nokia 2.2 right now, I’d suggest avoiding it until a confirmed fix is released.
If you’re interested in cool tech tips, be sure to check out our 50 amazing iPhone tips and tricks!
I love understanding how different technologies work and explaining them to people. From tech guides to opinions, everything is interesting to me. Other than that, I enjoy writing about various science-related topics and conversing with people.
What a big mistake purchasing this phone, I was struggling with the choice of Nokia 2.2 Android 9 or Alcatel 3L. I sent the Nokia 2.2 android 10 back to retailer with the notification fault for a replacement with the original Android 9.. But they sent another Nokia 2.2 android 10, with the same problem. Nokia need to get a patch for this android sorted Quick! this will knock their reputation and hopefully hit their sales.
That is just pathetic support on Nokia’s end. Still have hope that this bug gets fixed somehow.
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