Touch screen lag. Did a hard re-set.

[Traveler5]

A few weeks after I got my N7 the touch screen would, from time to time, become unresponsive. Not completely unresponsive but enough to drive me crazy. For whatever reason it would suddenly take me multiple taps to get a button to respond to a tap and smooth scrolling was impossible. To fix it I would press the power button off then on and that would take care of it until the next time it happened. I started deleting apps one by one that I thought might be causing some interference with the OS then wait and see what happened, but that didn't make any difference. I even had an app killer running but that didn't make any difference either and I deleted it as well. I know there are some touch screen problems out there but from what I've heard this affects only certain parts of the screen and after using OS intensive apps. For me it did not matter what part of the screen I touched and I also don't play games on my N7 or push the device's OS limits in any way. Almost all of my apps are fairly vanilla apps and commonly used and shouldn't be causing problems.

So yesterday I did a complete erase and re-set -- what a hassle. I have re-downloaded only those apps that I feel are "safe" (about 4 all together). We'll see what happens. If that doesn't work then I'll either return the device to Asus for a another (which I really DON'T want to do) or wait it out and see if a future OS update fixes it.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[Jussumguy88]

I'm sorry that you're having this issue. My cousin was having some issues with lag and responsiveness on his n7. He told me the culprit seemed to be Google wallet. Not sure if you have that app installed, but try deleting that if you do. Hope every thing works out for u.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Traveler5]

Well, the stupid touch screen did it again. I have disabled Wallet as suggested above. Thanks Jussumguy. We'll see what happens.

 

[Lil Jaye]

I had the same problem. Going to go get rid of the wallet too.

 

[Traveler5]

I had the same problem. Going to go get rid of the wallet too.

I just hope it's a software problem that a future update will fix.

 

[djnshores]

You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble. I find when the touch screen becomes unresponsive, I close and open the case and problem is solved, at least for a little while. I am hoping it is a software issue.

 

[Traveler5]

You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble. I find when the touch screen becomes unresponsive, I close and open the case and problem is solved, at least for a little while. I am hoping it is a software issue.

I mentioned this in my initial post. It's too bad I have to power off then on to fix this. I'd be doing this all the time, and for how long?

 

[chocolate muffins]

Guys, this is a bad defect ..send your N7s back immediately.. I went through The same thing, and had 3 N7s sent to me until I got the perfect unit.

 

[Traveler5]

Guys, this is a bad defect ..send your N7s back immediately.. I went through The same thing, and had 3 N7s sent to me until I got the perfect unit.

I really don't want to send it back unless it's absolutely necessary. If it's a hardware defect then I have no choice but if it's something a OS update will fix then I can wait. I see it more as a software issue than hardware but I'm no expert. My biggest concern about sending it back is that I'll probably end up with a refurbished unit and I don't want that -- I waited a long time for my brand-new N7 and I want to keep it if I can.

 

[Traveler5]

By the way, since I was still having problems with this issue last night I decided to do a hard re-set for the second time. This time I wiped all backed-up data then re-downloaded only essential apps -- like Amazon's reading app and Dolphin browser -- that should be fairly safe. From my experience with electronic devices like this (and I've had a million electronic "gadgets" over the years), a problem like this is usually caused by an incompatibility issue with a specific app(s) and the device's OS. Get rid of the culprit app and everything is back to normal. If I'm right I believe all N7 owners have a year's warranty on the N7. If so, I can be patient to wait and see if a OS update fixes it. I'm hoping my latest wipe will do the trick. If it's stable then I'll start adding back apps one at a time to identify the culprit app. Maybe I'm just wishful thinking this will fix the problem when it won't and I end up having to send it back to Asus. We'll see.

 

[dralezero]

Mine was also fine for a week playing games etc. then for the first time I had it in car seat for 1.5hr drive with navigation in the late afternoon. ever since then I've had touch issues. and never specifically tried to look for the issue I just noticed I couldn't type.

so did you ever have it in car or hot car?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[Traveler5]

Mine was also fine for a week playing games etc. then for the first time I had it in car seat for 1.5hr drive with navigation in the late afternoon. ever since then I've had touch issues. and never specifically tried to look for the issue I just noticed I couldn't type.

so did you ever have it in car or hot car?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

It's been in my car but it was in a neoprene case and the drive was a short distance. Now that you say this, I'm wondering if the heat the N7 generates (battery heat?) after a fairly long period of use is what's causing the unit to misbehave. If that's the case then I'm sending mine back because I'm fed-up with the problem.

 

[bas.androiddev]

Mine also has the touch screen unresponsive issues, and I've not been able to pinpoint a cause. Like others have stated, the immediate solution is to turn the screen off and back on, but some games I own don't respond well to that.

I sincerely hope this is a problem that is correctable via a software update.

 

[6tr6tr]

I had this issue too. It looks like it might be an issue with the CPU and how it handles high load. See this for more info: Nexus 7 Screen Defect - YouTube

 

[InclusionInnovates]

Just receive my Nexus 7 and having the same issues ... the screen has become very unresponsive to the point I have to tap commands 2 or 3 times ... very disappointing ... just got my refund email ... I think I will simply wait for the next model

 

[1812dave]

I suspect the issue is all SOFTWARE. maybe wait for updates but I doubt hardware is to blame in most cases

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[credo]

Same issue here with the lag. Drives me up the wall. I tried showing the N7 off the other day and it happened. Google / Asus won't be getting three new customers.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[InclusionInnovates]

Not sure this would be relevant, but I flashed a new ROM and Gapps and still have the problems

 

[Eduardo06sp]

I switched from a pattern lock screen to a pin lock screen. It made a noticeable difference.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[InclusionInnovates]

I found this solution on XDA Developers

Fixed my touch screen problems!

I purchased my Nexus 7 from Staples during business trip to San Francisco. My device started having touch screen issues after few hours. Factory reset did fix it and I liked the device a lot so I didn't return it as I thought touch screen issue was just a SW glitch. Issue came back at the airport . Unfortunately I didn't have time to return the device at that point. Issue wasn't manifesting itself all the time, but seemed to come up every time I plugged the device in charger. Symptoms were exactly as in this video:

Nexus 7 Touch screen problem defect - YouTube

and the other one in which multitouch is demonstrated. I suspected different applications as a reason to the problem as well as faulty charger. Then I found this thread and became assured that this must be a HW problem.

As I'm living in Finland and don't know when my next business trip to USA will take place I decided to try and fix the problem myself. I took off the back cover and touch screen worked perfectly. Initially I suspected grounding problem but pretty soon came to conclusion that it can not be the case. The problem in my case was the "sponge" pushing (what I assume is) display / touch flex. I have marked that in the attached picture. Even a very light touch to sponge caused touch screen to go crazy. As I don't have the luxury of immediate warranty repair I decided to remove the sponge and my Nexus 7 has been working flawlessly ever since. I can even charge and everything works as expected. When I started charging the device I placed my Nexus 7 on the table. It probably caused slightly increased pressure on back cover and therefore to "sponge". After removing the sponge I can't see any of the touch screen problems I was having. Couldn't be happier as I don't have any of the other problems people have found and device is working as it should, at least for now.
I don't encourage anyone to do what I did, but if you are in the same situation as I was with imported device, you can try to take off back cover and see if the problems are fixed. You should be very careful though not to break the device especially when it's powered on with back cover off. Hope this helps someone.

EDIT: 22.8.2012. Forgot to mention, that turn of WiFi if using device with back cover off. Turning off NFC and GPS won't hurt, although GPS is receiving only. Reason is that antennas are located on back cover.