EXTREMELY Annoying Touchscreen Issue

[fredmr85]

This has been bothering me for some time now... but whenever my phone is laying on a desk for example after a while -- if I touch it with one finger (without picking it up) and try to unlock it...most of the time it is unresponsive to my finger. If I pick it up however, it is IMMEDIATELY responsive...so I know it cant just be my fingers. Now, that was annoying..but I could stand it...but now that I've purchased a car mount - I have problems using that as well. If it's in the car mount and locks up...I cannot unlock it unless i take it out of the mount. The mount is simply holding it..that's all, and even if i swivel the mount around, nothing. Swiveling it simulates as if I were to pick it up and turn it....but the difference is if I swivel it, the screen still cannot detect my fingers when trying to unlock it. Sometimes the unlock slider slides a very little...but usually, nothing. The second I take it out of my mount...it works fine...and if I put it back into the mount while unlocked, all the sensitivity is there....

So what is going on? Anyone else have a similar issue?

EDIT: Temp solution found in post #12 of this thread (pasted here for convenience of future readers)

2) The easier simpler method that appears to be giving me results 100% of the time (when it usually works 0% of the time on this damn leather ottoman) is use one finger - but pull the lockbar down from the EDGE of the screen. Works perfectly then, and while it shouldn't need to be this way - I am satisfied knowing that all I have to do is swipe near the edge for results 100% of the time until a (hopefully) sofware fix.

Also..from post #18 I learned that "A really soft, gentle touch in the MIDDLE is just as effective as using the edge with a normal touch!"

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

This could be an issue with the magnets in the car dock and/or the accelerometer. I have noticed the same thing with my Fascinate. At times if it is just laying on a desk and I try to swipe to unlock the device, it won’t respond at all, but the moment I pick it up it works.

My assumption is that a lot of the time the accelerometer gets “hung” when it’s sitting flat on a surface like a desk or whatnot. This can be reproduced in some devices by simply placing it on a desk, and on occasion the device will switch to landscape mode if you’re not at the homescreen. My educated guess is that this “grey” area can also affect how the device responds to touch, same with being in a car dock if the device locks.

 

[fredmr85]

Thanks for the quick reply - at least I know it's not just my phone...though I'm hoping I can convince a T-Mo store rep to walk out to my car with one and put it in my mount.

That was my thinking with the accelerometer at first which is why it didn't bother me..but the car mount is not flat, and rotating the mount should "un-hang" the accelerometer...no? The car mount is foam padded, and otherwise plastic.

Amazon.com: Bracketron UCH-101-BL Universal Cup-iT Cup Holder Mount: Electronics
(^ very nice mount if there is a convenient cup holder)

It just doesn't make sense....and unfortunately renders my phone useless unless I have Nav up preventing my phone from locking.

I've noticed this is also entirely surface dependent. Here is a very strange test I performed: rest phone horizontally on leather ottoman...it never works if I try to unlock it out of hand. I noticed at work I have never had this problem resting it on a pad of paper.....so I took that pad of paper home, and put it on the ottoman and the phone on the paper...unlocks perfect every time.. if I remove the pad and simply rest it on the leather ottoman instead, it doesn't work every time.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Hmm, it’s very odd indeed. I couldn’t find it on the Amazon posting you provided, does this car mount also charge the phone? If so, the one workaround I can think of for your car mount issue is if you go to Settings > Applications > Development and check “Stay Awake”. This will keep the screen on if it’s charging in the car mount and thus you can prevent the screen from going to sleep and locking.

 

[fredmr85]

Awesome - thanks for the tip, I wasn't aware that was an option. The mount does not charge it, but I have it positioned in a way that I am able to easily use my car charger while mounted.

I'll make a vid sometime of the ottoman/paper test I described just to prove to everyone that I'm not crazy.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Haha, stranger things have happened so I'm not surprised at all. But I'd love to see that video, so definitely share it with us once you get around to it.

 

[fredmr85]

You would think "Car Dock" mode would not lock the screen or at least give you the option to not have it lock... but that would make too much sense.

EDIT: When in car dock mode, if it's charging it will leave the screen on and not lock the device. If it is off of charging, it will turn off the screen and lock it. This is an acceptable alternative since the car dock screen gives you most stuff you'd need while driving. Just cant go browsing gmail at a light unless it's a recently loaded app or if you receive a new msg notification - which is OK since I don't plan on composing emails while driving - just opening notifications to see who it may be from/etc.

 

[J240]

Its funny you brought this up... Mine does the same thing, only its REALLY annoying when my alarm is going off in the morning and I can't turn it off when my phone is laying on my nightstand... I have to physically pick it up to turn it off - thereby listening to the alarm go off a little longer than I would like that early in the morning. Rise and shine! lol. At least now I know its not just my phone.

 

[Jerzyiroc]

Man.. this is deja vu... This exact same problem happened with the Evo when it first came out but was later fixed with an update . Thankfully it was a software issue and not a hardware issue. The problem I see this time though is you're the first person I've heard about it. It was seriously widespread with the Evo so it was fixed relatively quick. I don't see this being as widespread so I don't know if a fix will come as fast. Maybe this should be stickied and a poll added asking if anyone else is having this problem... If it is a problem like the Evo then this should most definitely be blown up to get the attention that the Evo got so a fix can come ASAP.

 

[fredmr85]

Might be more widespread than it seems... it only happens in certain circumstances for me, and took me some time to finally realize it was definitely a problem with the phone...and not my fingers or something. It's strange how I only have this problem: 1) in my car dock and 2) on my leather ottoman

Besides only happening in unique circumstances for me....I'm wondering if we just don't hear more about it because as awesome as the phone is, there isn't a terrible amount of interest in it unless you're on T-Mo -- AC actually never even provided a full review on the MyTouch last time I checked. The Evo was such a revolution in phones this year and being "4G" and tons of people jumped on it and probably left other providers for Sprint for the phone/great plan pricing..etc.

 

[Jerzyiroc]

Ya that makes sense.. It wasn't all the time with the Evo either. I really think this needs more attention. I have a bad feeling this is as widespread as the Evo was... The Incredible had the same issue as well. I can't believe that htc would let this problem happen to 3 different phone (possibly others) especially given the many months in between the release of those phones.

 

[fredmr85]

OK so I have learned a little more about how to avoid this issue through trial and error and thought I'd share my results.

1) I've discovered that using TWO fingers works nearly every time. Your fingers for whatever reason need to be as close as possible to each other though. This multi touch method seems to confuse the phone sometimes though...and the lockbar kinda freezes up about halfway down sometimes until you push if free.

2) The easier simpler method that appears to be giving me results 100% of the time (when it usually works 0% of the time on this damn leather ottoman) is use one finger - but pull the lockbar down from the EDGE of the screen. Works perfectly then, and while it shouldn't need to be this way - I am satisfied knowing that all I have to do is swipe near the edge for results 100% of the time until a (hopefully) sofware fix.

 

[Jerzyiroc]

Confirmed on my girlfriends MT4G. Same problem. Shouldn't have told her.... shes pissed lol

 

[fredmr85]

Confirmed on my girlfriends MT4G. Same problem. Shouldn't have told her.... shes pissed lol

hahaha - did she test out using one finger near the edge of the screen instead? If not, maybe you should keep that to yourself and reveal it to her when you're in trouble or something to make her happy again

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

I'm glad you have found a mostly working fix for this issue. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future but without it being a spread issue with many complaints I don't know how realistic it is to expect that to happen.

Oddly enough, I can reproduce this issue on my Fascinate as well if the conditions are just right.

 

[Jerzyiroc]

@fredmr that's a damn good idea LOL. I can confirm that the temp fix works most of time.

@Chris Ya this doesn't seem to be as wide spread as far as complaints at least as the Evo. But I think the reason the complaints for the Evo became so widespread and so fast is because the Evo has the kickstand, and that problem was very clear while using the kickstand. With the MT4G obviously it doesn't have it, and not many people really use just one finer while it just sits on a sofa or something you know? And not many people use a car dock either. I guess we can just see what happens. But like you said, good to know there's at least a temp fix for it.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

The reason the edge works is because you're pressing down on the part of the screen that isn't making good contact, so you're "fixing" it temporarily when you press on the edge.

 

[fredmr85]

The reason the edge works is because you're pressing down on the part of the screen that isn't making good contact, so you're "fixing" it temporarily when you press on the edge.

Thanks! Makes sense...which led me to test the obvious of course:

A really soft, gentle touch in the MIDDLE is just as effective as using the edge with a normal touch!

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

A really soft, gentle touch in the MIDDLE is just as effective as using the edge with a normal touch!

Ohhh boy....

 

[fredmr85]

^^ haha... knew that was coming