S III/S4 proximity sensor calibration crap

[King Mustard]

I have a problem with my S4 that I also had with my S III which I hoped would be sorted when I upgraded to my S4.

After a call, I pull the phone from my ear and the screen only comes back on 50% of the time.

This means having to press the Lock button to bring up the display, which means 2/3 seconds at least where I haven't hung up, which feels odd for me and the person on the other side if they didn't hang up.

Is there a way to calibrate it? I never had the issue with any of my iPhones.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I have a problem with my S4 that I also had with my S III which I hoped would be sorted when I upgraded to my S4.

After a call, I pull the phone from my ear and the screen only comes back on 50% of the time.

This means having to press the Lock button to bring up the display, which means 2/3 seconds at least where I haven't hung up, which feels odd for me and the person on the other side if they didn't hang up.

Is there a way to calibrate it? I never had the issue with any of my iPhones.

I think there is a settings for recalibrating, I just can't remember exactly where. Try Settings>Display. As for me, I just learned to lock the screen when I place a call, before I put it to my ear. Then, when done, I unlock it, and hang up.

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

There's a setting to calibrate the gyroscope, but not the proximity sensor, at least on the Verizon S4 running Android 4.3.

For me, I can't always seem to get the phone to turn off when I put it to my ear, with the result that I sometimes finish a call and find myself looking at the notifications screen or, worse, a settings dialog, which I have managed to access with my ear, and wondering whether I accidentally changed anything.

P. 64 of the Verizon S4 manual has this incomprehensible "information" about Settings > My device > Call > Turn off screen during calls:

When enabled, the screen automatically turns off during phone calls, and the proximity sensor on the front of the device is used to turn the screen back on when the device is moved or brought close to another surface, such as when you move the device to your ear.​

This sounds as if the prox sensor turns the phone back on when you put it to your ear. Surely that can't be right. Surely the intention is to use the sensor to turn the screen off when you put it to your ear during a call, and back on when you take it away from your face. I've seen it do that many times, but it does seem to be unreliable.

FWIW, the generic Samsung S4 manual says only, "Turn off screen during calls: Set the device to turn on the proximity sensor during a call." It doesn't say what the sensor will cause to happen, but given the name of the setting, you would expect that to be "turn off screen when it gets near something, e.g., your face." The VZW manual, I think, must have garbled this.