Droid 4 - Touchscreen Ceased Function

[koekonboeth]

The touchscreen on my Droid 4 stopped working so I did a factory reset which didn't fix it. Now I can't unlock my phone because it requires the touch and slide. The only solution I've been able to find is placing a magnet on the back of the phone... That must only apply to older droids or I'm doing it wrong. Anyone have an alternate solution?

Also, the physical keyboard still works just fine and so do the buttons around the outside.

 

[Haalcyon]

Welcome to Android Central!

It sounds like it may be a hardware issue and I'd suggest taking it into Verizon. They may replace it or send it out for repair while giving you a loaner (sometimes they're in a particularly helpful mood.

 

[koekonboeth]

I'm going to go on a rant here. Not out of anger, but out of disappointment. It seems there should be a lot more fail safes in these phones. The reason I got a Droid 4 was because I saw this coming and wanted the physical keyboard as a fail safe for the touchscreen. Sadly enough, the keyboard is only so effective. Applications, as far as I could tell, were impossible to close without restarting the phone. Once I did a factory reset, the slide unlock became an impassable wall. With the Droid 4 it would merely be some software adjustments to make it easy to overcome those things. What about all the new phones that are nothing but touchscreen? What happens then? I doubt I'm the first one to think of these things, which just makes me wonder why they haven't been implemented. People are meant to improve the world around them for their own benefit. I mean, I understand that it may not seem like something as small as this really matters, but the small things add up. Just because you don't do something amazing that makes you famous, doesn't mean your contributions are worthless. It's not for the money, or the fame, it's about science! Not only that, but my problem may not be something that anyone else cares about, and why should they? My life is not important to 99.99% of the world. It's important to me, though. Your life is probably important to you. So why not take the opportunity to make some changes that would make things a little bit better for you?

And to put into perspective what this problem means for me, and could mean for you if you use any touchscreen phone. I don't know if I get more phone calls on a daily basis than I realized, or if people can just sense that I can't answer phone calls and decided to rub it in my face. Either way I have a few missed calls and a few texts that I have no access to. As far as I can tell, once my replacement arrives on the 8th, I will lose all of those. What if there's something important? I have no idea. Neither would you.

Maybe one person will see this and be persuaded. If people just go on with their lives, who knows how many more people will run into this issue. Many of them will probably conduct angry phone calls. We all know what that can lead to.

 

[Haalcyon]

This is why I always get the insurance on my phones. Never mind that I'm very very careful with my gear...things break. Electronics are delicate items and they're made be people. People are fallible and so are the electronics we make. I really do suggest you take you're phone in to the carrier and politely let them know your displeasure. They may help out...even if you didn't get insurance on your phone.

from my Sony XTZ

 

[koekonboeth]

Yes, I have insurance and I had already been sent a refurbished phone when I made the original post. Verizon representatives were very kind and helpful.
I recognize that nothing is perfect and that sh*t happens, which is why I am disappointed that there aren't more effective fail safes in place. Just hoping for some way get some use out of my phone until the replacement arrives.

My next question would be, and I'll likely be asking Verizon directly soon enough: Is there any way to recover text messages and voice mail? I heard that the only thing that can be done is getting the number from which the messages were sent.

 

[Eclipse2K]

Yes, I have insurance and I had already been sent a refurbished phone when I made the original post. Verizon representatives were very kind and helpful.
I recognize that nothing is perfect and that sh*t happens, which is why I am disappointed that there aren't more effective fail safes in place. Just hoping for some way get some use out of my phone until the replacement arrives.

My next question would be, and I'll likely be asking Verizon directly soon enough: Is there any way to recover text messages and voice mail? I heard that the only thing that can be done is getting the number from which the messages were sent.

Messages are saved to the phone so unless you can save them manually to the SIM than you're out of luck. Since the touch screen is acting up you'll just have to live without it.

Sent from my Motorola Droid Maxx using Tapatalk 4