i have the latest version of skype (version 4.0.0.19550) installed on my htc one phone. i have noticed while using skype that something weird happens to the phone-- the screen goes dark while the phone call is in session and there is no way to really get back into it-- if you press the power button it flashes quickly and goes back to black. i was willing to live with that b/c i have a paid skype account to call internationally. anyway today after completing an international call, something really strange occurred. the skype call ended but then i couldn't bring the phone screen to turn on. i started freaking out and tried to reboot the phone by holding down the power button and then trying to press the VOLUME down button, as someone suggested but this had no effect. when pressing the power button the home and the left-arrow buttons just kept flashing white.
i took the protective cover off to see if i could take out the battery and put it back in but realized there was no way to open the phone! then i thought this sucks b/c i have to travel in the next few days and the timing of this was most inopportune... so i went on sprint's website to see if there was a tech available online but i guess it's sunday and no one is around on sundays, so the next thing i tried to do was to CALL myself from the computer using skype. when i dialed my number, the interesting thing was that it was not going straight to voicemail, the phone was actually receiving it-- and i saw the little indicator light turning green but the screen was still black. so then i called again, and the same thing happened. so then i rotated the phone around and brought my hand close to the screen and the screen lit up for a second so i got very excited: a sign of hope... i did the same thing again and it lit up again for a brief moment i tried a few things i tried to get the screen to light up and then also to hold down the power button and somehow briefly i saw a message saying: "Your phone will reboot in 3...2...1..." and then it rebooted itself finally and now appears to be working normally.
i'm not sure exactly how skype is able to screw up the phone to such an extent that one can't even factory-reset it afterwards but i think this experience will prompt me to uninstall skype and think of alternatives (maybe google hangouts?) also this experience has made me reluctant to do any android development on my one and only "production" phone... i think it would make sense to get a separate phone to do dev/testing on, does that make sense..? just wanted to share my experience with the community... not sure exactly the steps taken to get the phone back to working order but i guess calling myself and then tiling the phone and bringing my hand close to the screen somehow caused it to go back into a state where i was able to pres the powerbutton and get it to reboot...
i took the protective cover off to see if i could take out the battery and put it back in but realized there was no way to open the phone! then i thought this sucks b/c i have to travel in the next few days and the timing of this was most inopportune... so i went on sprint's website to see if there was a tech available online but i guess it's sunday and no one is around on sundays, so the next thing i tried to do was to CALL myself from the computer using skype. when i dialed my number, the interesting thing was that it was not going straight to voicemail, the phone was actually receiving it-- and i saw the little indicator light turning green but the screen was still black. so then i called again, and the same thing happened. so then i rotated the phone around and brought my hand close to the screen and the screen lit up for a second so i got very excited: a sign of hope... i did the same thing again and it lit up again for a brief moment i tried a few things i tried to get the screen to light up and then also to hold down the power button and somehow briefly i saw a message saying: "Your phone will reboot in 3...2...1..." and then it rebooted itself finally and now appears to be working normally.
i'm not sure exactly how skype is able to screw up the phone to such an extent that one can't even factory-reset it afterwards but i think this experience will prompt me to uninstall skype and think of alternatives (maybe google hangouts?) also this experience has made me reluctant to do any android development on my one and only "production" phone... i think it would make sense to get a separate phone to do dev/testing on, does that make sense..? just wanted to share my experience with the community... not sure exactly the steps taken to get the phone back to working order but i guess calling myself and then tiling the phone and bringing my hand close to the screen somehow caused it to go back into a state where i was able to pres the powerbutton and get it to reboot...
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram