Counting non-existing elements fails in Protractor 3.2.x

[szimek]

Bug report

• Node Version: 5.9.1
• Protractor Version: 3.2.2
• Browser(s): Chrome 50
• Operating System and Version OS X 10.11.4
• Your protractor configuration file: https://github.com/angular/protractor/blob/master/spec/basicConf.js
• A relevant example test:

it('should return count for not existing elements', function() {
  browser.get('index.html#/form');
  var parent = element(by.css('not-existing-element'));
  var listItems = parent.all(by.css('li'));

  expect(listItems.count()).toBe(0);
});

• Output from running the test

1) ElementFinder should return count for not existing elements
  Message:
    Failed: Class constructors cannot be invoked without 'new'
  Stack:
    TypeError: Class constructors cannot be invoked without 'new'
        at Object.NoSuchElementError (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/error.js:229:14)
        at /Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/built/element.js:343:37
        at Promise.invokeCallback_ (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:1329:14)
        at TaskQueue.execute_ (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:2790:14)
        at TaskQueue.executeNext_ (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:2773:21)
        at /Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:2652:27
        at /Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:639:7
        at process._tickCallback (node.js:412:9)
    From: Task: Run it("should return count for not existing elements") in control flow
        at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/jasminewd2/index.js:81:14)
        at /Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/jasminewd2/index.js:18:5
        at Promise.invokeCallback_ (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:1329:14)
        at TaskQueue.execute_ (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:2790:14)
        at TaskQueue.executeNext_ (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:2773:21)
        at /Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/node_modules/selenium-webdriver/lib/promise.js:2652:27
    From asynchronous test:
    Error
        at Suite.<anonymous> (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/spec/basic/elements_spec.js:7:3)
        at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/szimek/Projects/src/protractor/spec/basic/elements_spec.js:1:1)
        at Module._compile (module.js:413:34)
        at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:422:10)
        at Module.load (module.js:357:32)
        at Function.Module._load (module.js:314:12)

• Steps to reproduce the bug
  1. try to find an element that doesn't exist in DOM and then call e.g. .all(by.css('li')).count() on it

Something like this works fine:

expect(element.all(by.css('not-existing-element li')).count()).toBe(0)

but this:

expect(element(by.css('not-existing-element')).all(by.css('li')).count()).toBe(0)

fails with the error message posted above. In Protractor 3.1.1 both versions worked fine. We're using page objects, so we're quite often chaining element selectors like in the failing example.