Screen lock/Light sensor issues

[maliss6]

This is my first Samsung phone and I'm loving it for the most part, but there's a couple of things that have been annoying the hell out of me.
I like playing on my phone right before I go to sleep. Of course, I'll have my lights off. If I'm completely still, my screen won't turn off on me, but if I move at all, it locks. Also, it doesn't even have to be completely dark for the sensor to trigger my phone lock. I have a habit of putting my index finger over the top right corner of my phone when i look at it. It usually rests on the part of the case right above the sensor(not covering it at all). That can trigger it as well. It'll even turn off on me if I'm in bed, on my side, with my ceiling light on if the shadow is just right. Is there a way to somehow disable the light sensor? Is this stuff even normal or did I get a defective phone? I can't find any complaints about it online and I've wanted to throw my phone a few times just because of it.
My other issue is with the screen lock. The max amount of time I can set it to is 10 minutes. I'm used to phones having a never option for screen timeout. I used to set my old phone to that option when I wanted to play Pandora at work. Now if I want to play it w/o my data turning off from lock, I have to completely disable the screen lock feature. Then, setup my password and what not again after I'm done using the app. Does anybody know an easier way to go about using pandora? I don't really have a big issue with this one so much but the other issue will probably make me return my phone pretty soon. Please help me.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I'm not sure about your first issue. On the S3 (and I would guess the S4 is the same), if you turn on Smart Stay the phone will stay on as long as it can see your eyes. So if you're turning your face away, then yes, it will shut off. But it shouldn't shut off sooner than the screen off time you've set. The sensor shouldn't make the phone turn off sooner than the time you set; it will only keep it on longer than that setting if it can see your face.

On the 10 minute limit, there is (again, I assume the S4 is the same as the S3) there's an option in Developer settings to keep the screen on when the phone is docked. But if you're not using a dock, there are some apps in the Play store that will let you keep the screen on.

 

[maliss6]

Atm I have all the extra features disabled. I figured one of them would fix my issue, but it didn't help. Regardless of whether or not smart stay is on, the sensor will lock my phone if it's just shadowed. I've asked others that have S3's or note 2's if they had the same issue, was even able to recreate it for every single one of them. One of them was even while we were standing outside in the sun. A couple of them checked all of my settings because they were sure that was the issue. They all decided it was my phone and I should probably return it. I'm going to the att store in a few to see if I can exchange it for a new one.
Whenever I get my new phone, I'll make sure to check out the app store to download one of the apps you mentioned. Thanks for your help

Update: Phone really was defective and was able to trade my old one in at the store