Volume Buttons doing more than they should

[lordbah]

I don't know whether this is particular to the Galaxy Nexus or a general Android issue, but it's a major frustration for me. I put the phone in vibrate mode when I'm at work or other places where sound would be rude. I put the phone in my pocket. Any accidental contact with the volume buttons while there takes it out of silent mode!

With the phone just sitting on the table I can reproduce some of this. Either volume button will wake up the phone, which seems dumb to me, but an accidental touch of the power button while in pocket would wake it up too. Hitting volume up a second time takes it out of silent mode! I have no screen lock, and maybe that would be a workaround for this issue, but I would find it inconvenient. Volume down wakes the phone, and a second volume down switches it from vibrate mode to mute. The issue with that is that I'll miss notifications if the phone doesn't even vibrate.

Do all Android phones behave this stupidly? Only the power button should wake up the phone (i.e. "turn on the power"). Volume buttons should only adjust the volume level (hence the name, duh) and should only do that when the speaker is enabled.

 

[2waterfowl]

I have screen lock (slide lock) enabled and the volume buttons do not wake the phone for me or disable the silent mode. Might be a quick solution for you.

 

[jafels]

Its because you have no screen lock....there is a reason for the screen lock and it certainly is not security because it offers none....it is their so you do not accidentally use your phone.

 

[yosteve]

No only do I have a lock, I have slide to call because while I added contacts I was dialing people left and right

 

[Comineeyeaha]

Its because you have no screen lock....there is a reason for the screen lock and it certainly is not security because it offers none....it is their so you do not accidentally use your phone.

This. If you don't want to use a screen lock (which most phones use now), you will have to be OK with buttons being pressed in your pocket. I think my blackberry just had the lock button without an extra action, but that was an outdated Storm. It's not there just for privacy, but also to avoid accidents. It's not just Android, either. iPhone, Windows Phone 7, Nokia, and probably many others all do this.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[kcrandall758]

I have screen lock (slide lock) enabled and the volume buttons do not wake the phone for me or disable the silent mode. Might be a quick solution for you.

same thing here

 

[Beyond Fire]

Not sure how taking an extra second to unlock your phone is inconvenient but don't blame the phone for acting "stupid" when features are implemented to prevent things like that from happening in the first place.

Sent from my GalaxyNexus using Tapatalk

 

[lordbah]

I will and do blame the phone for acting stupid. In what way does it make sense for "volume down" to switch from vibrate mode to mute mode? (I can kinda see logic in having "volume up" switch from vibrate or mute to "sound on" mode, given the presumption that the user is aware he's hitting the button. Even if I don't like it myself. I prefer that a button does what its label says - period.)

My Palm Pre had a switch which muted rings/alarms/notifications. The kind of switch which actually changes position, incredibly infrequent for it to move while in-pocket. Even if you forgot to mute your phone and it started ringing, you could very quickly silence it with no need to get past lock screens or the like - just push that switch from one position to the other. That's good, thoughtful design. Now I've moved on to a newer phone - with poorer design in this area. Do all the other brands lack a STFU switch?

 

[yosteve]

My windows phone went

sound
vibrate
mute

Makes perfect sense since the phone rang while vibrating. Then the next level down is vibrate only. Why, because vibrate isn't quiet, the shaking causes a disruptive sound especially during a meeting. So the next step down after that is complete mute.

As for your buttons working that's what a lock is for. On my nano I always find out had run down playing on its own. It has a physical lock that I keep forgetting to set, but when I do forget to set it, I realize my error, that's what locks are for.

That said I can adjust the volume of my radio while the phone is locked. If that's your gripe, then yes there's validity to that.

 

[anon(394005)]

I will and do blame the phone for acting stupid. In what way does it make sense for "volume down" to switch from vibrate mode to mute mode? (I can kinda see logic in having "volume up" switch from vibrate or mute to "sound on" mode, given the presumption that the user is aware he's hitting the button. Even if I don't like it myself. I prefer that a button does what its label says - period.)

My Palm Pre had a switch which muted rings/alarms/notifications. The kind of switch which actually changes position, incredibly infrequent for it to move while in-pocket. Even if you forgot to mute your phone and it started ringing, you could very quickly silence it with no need to get past lock screens or the like - just push that switch from one position to the other. That's good, thoughtful design. Now I've moved on to a newer phone - with poorer design in this area. Do all the other brands lack a STFU switch?

Look at it this way; the lowest volume mode is mute or silent mode (aka bottom of the scale), one up from that is vibrate, then you have each audible increment going up to max. It's very logical. As to quickly silencing a ringing phone, most phones either do so by a press on the power button or by sliding the lock screen to decline the call or by pressing either the volume up or volume down key. This can vary by phone, so reading your phone manual will help to figure out exactly how these functions work.

 

[elvisgp]

The volume rockers do what they're supposed to do. It makes perfect sense that the down volume makes the phone go to silent. Having the phone being silent is part of the volume levels, in case you didn't know that. The levels go from high to medium to low to vibrate and then to silent. So the phone is not being stupid at all, its doing what it was programmed to do. Your argument is very invalid. If u would maybe put a lockscreen, which takes about less than one second to unlock, u wouldn't have this "problem" any more.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[lordbah]

You guys are considering "mute" and "vibrate" as points along the same line as volume levels. They're not. If I have volume set to 8, then hit silent, then turn sound back on, I don't have to step volume up all the way from 0 to 8. It's instantly right back at 8. "Mute" did not change the volume level to 0. The mode is separate from the volume, and overrides it. The volume buttons should not affect the mode. IMHO it's your argument which is invalid rather than mine.

I realize that at least 3 of you don't share my opinion. That's fine.

What I'm inferring here is that this behavior is not Galaxy Nexus-specific. Which is what I was mainly curious about. (besides just wanting to rant)

 

[2waterfowl]

You also could use an automation control app like "Tasker". This would allow you to automatically assign things like volume levels, silent, or vibrate based on certain parameters like location or wifi proximity. The app would make all changes for you so you don't have to be bothered by changing all your settings all the time. I use it. It's a really powerful app with tons of flexibility. Check it out.

 

[lordbah]

I use Impel to automatically switch to vibrate mode when I get to work, and noisy mode when I get home. It's an event-based program, i.e. when I cross a boundary where GPS says I am now "at work", it'll switch to vibrate mode, but it won't enforce that every second while I remain at work. So if a pocket button press has switched the phone to noisy mode or mute, I'm out of luck. Good suggestion.

 

[rvandroid]

You guys are considering "mute" and "vibrate" as points along the same line as volume levels. They're not. If I have volume set to 8, then hit silent, then turn sound back on, I don't have to step volume up all the way from 0 to 8. It's instantly right back at 8. "Mute" did not change the volume level to 0. The mode is separate from the volume, and overrides it. The volume buttons should not affect the mode. IMHO it's your argument which is invalid rather than mine.

I realize that at least 3 of you don't share my opinion. That's fine.

What I'm inferring here is that this behavior is not Galaxy Nexus-specific. Which is what I was mainly curious about. (besides just wanting to rant)

Wow. The side volume buttons of all phones (Motorola, LG, HTC, and Samsung) that I've ever used behaved this way. Volume Down goes high to low, then vibrate, then silent (and vice versa). I'd be surprised if a phone didn't work this way.

 

[Droid800]

You guys are considering "mute" and "vibrate" as points along the same line as volume levels. They're not. If I have volume set to 8, then hit silent, then turn sound back on, I don't have to step volume up all the way from 0 to 8. It's instantly right back at 8. "Mute" did not change the volume level to 0. The mode is separate from the volume, and overrides it. The volume buttons should not affect the mode. IMHO it's your argument which is invalid rather than mine.

I realize that at least 3 of you don't share my opinion. That's fine.

What I'm inferring here is that this behavior is not Galaxy Nexus-specific. Which is what I was mainly curious about. (besides just wanting to rant)

Get a different phone. Its obvious Android won't work for you if you're complaining about this.

 

[Beyond Fire]

Get a different phone. Its obvious Android won't work for you if you're complaining about this.

what phone could he possibly get? I think even those $10 POS phones behave the same exact way. The OP's stubbornness to use a slide lock to solve this very simple and stupid problem is beyond mind boggling.

 

[Droid800]

what phone could he possibly get? I think even those $10 POS phones behave the same exact way. The OP's stubbornness to use a slide lock to solve this very simple and stupid problem is beyond mind boggling.

I was trying to be diplomatic about saying what you just said.

 

[johnnyshinta]

Wow. Just give up LordDuh. You've been given several options to "fix" the issue. Say thank you to the nice people who humored you and let's shut this thread down.

 

[lordbah]

Wow. I see we have some haters and some fanboys in the house. I'm coming from a community which loved its phone but had no issues with honest critique of its shortcomings.

> Say thank you to the nice people

Thank you Comineeyeaha, yosteve, Synycalwon, 2waterfowl, rvandroid. You have informed me that all Android phones, and almost all phones, do behave this way. (I've owned 4 smartphones prior to this one, and all have had a hardware sliding mute switch - all from the same manufacturer. That's why I asked the original question, since I have no experience with phones from other manufacturers.)

That's all of the nice people.

Droid800 - why would you want to drive someone away from the platform? Is hating that much fun for you? And if it's "obvious" to you that Android won't work for me, then all I can say is that you are wrong.

Beyond Fire - I'm sorry that I've boggled your mind. No harm was intended. Really, I am boggled that you guys think the current scheme is better than a hardware mute button. We'll just have to agree to disagree since neither is making any headway at convincing the other.

johnnyshinta - really? Childish name mocking? I think that just letting people read what you wrote will be sufficient response to that.

I'm content to let the thread die.