Screen protector prevents answering a call when screen off?

[jvukas72]

Just wanted to pass this along and see what everyone thinks.

I was in need of a cheap smartphone so I picked up a Nokia 3.1a from Walmart.

It works great except for one thing that was really messing with my head: When the screen was off and the device locked, an incoming call resulted in a simple black screen with a "to prevent pocket mode...." message.

I couldn't answer the call at all.
I eventually figured out that I could answer the call by swiping down from the top of the screen and selecting "answer".

But even then, I found that I couldn't hang up the call, not even by pressing any of the volume or power buttons. Behavior was erratic at that point.

Today, I had a hunch and removed the screen protector. (I had purchased a simple silicone case and tempered glass screen protector shortly after buying the phone)

After I removed the screen protector, I could answer calls normally when the device was off and the screen was black.

I guess the phone always thought it was in my pocket...simply by covering the screen with a protector.

Just wanted to pass this along..in case it helps anyone else.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central, and thanks for the tip! Are you certain the screen protector was designed specifically for that phone, with the correct cutouts? Perhaps it was blocking the proximity sensor.

 

[jvukas72]

yeah, everything seems to line up. I tried covering the proximity sensor with my thumb and verified that a double tap will not wake up the screen. The protector has a cutout for the sensor. I guess the cutout needs to be larger? Maybe it needs a buffer space around the edges of the sensor? dunno.

 

[B. Diddy]

What exactly does that "To prevent Pocket Mode" message say?

 

[mustang7757]

Just wanted to pass this along and see what everyone thinks.

I was in need of a cheap smartphone so I picked up a Nokia 3.1a from Walmart.

It works great except for one thing that was really messing with my head: When the screen was off and the device locked, an incoming call resulted in a simple black screen with a "to prevent pocket mode...." message.

I couldn't answer the call at all.
I eventually figured out that I could answer the call by swiping down from the top of the screen and selecting "answer".

But even then, I found that I couldn't hang up the call, not even by pressing any of the volume or power buttons. Behavior was erratic at that point.

Today, I had a hunch and removed the screen protector. (I had purchased a simple silicone case and tempered glass screen protector shortly after buying the phone)

After I removed the screen protector, I could answer calls normally when the device was off and the screen was black.

I guess the phone always thought it was in my pocket...simply by covering the screen with a protector.

Just wanted to pass this along..in case it helps anyone else.

Yeah some low quality screen protector can cause issues like you described.

 

[jvukas72]

It said:

"prevent pocket mode"
"please do not cover top of the screen"

 

[B. Diddy]

Look at the diagram on page 4 of the manual: www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/devicesupport/en-Nokia3-1-A-UserGuide-ATT-Issue1-0.pdf. Does the screen protector have 2 cutouts or only one? If there's only one, then it probably doesn't have one for the proximity sensor (unless it's one big cutout for both sensor and camera).