Develop Bugs

[Q] Compass started acting up after upgrading to Froyo

I have upgraded my HTC Desire to Android 2.2. Unfortunately I have realized that after that update, an embedded compass started acting up. I mean it's not showing the North anymore. It seems to me that it's not an issue with some particular application as I have tried with several ones available on the Market and it needs to be some bug with new OS. Anyway here is what I have figured out and what I have already done in order to get this sorted out. At this point of time, it even looks like I have just some kinda workaround:
Once I pick out 'Calibrate' menu item in Compass v1.1 (developed by Snaptic, Inc.) and then according to the instruction, start off waving my phone in a figure 8 pattern to reset the magnetometer on my device, it's not gonna fix the issue but when I start rolling my phone in a hand (side to side then top to bottom) and then it seems to me that the issue is sorted out as finally compass points out the North, but after I close the application and open it again (or open any other compass based app) the magnetometer is broken again So all what I can do is to reset the magnetometer as per above-mentioned instruction again. It just looks like the device is not able to save some compass calibration setting anymore.
Anyway I was just wondering if some of you already faced this same issue and know how to fix it permanently. I would appreciate it, if you could share any thoughts with me. Thanks in advance.

Hey folks, I don't believe that nobody experiences that issue too. Maybe you just haven't noticed that yet? Anyway could you please just check if your compass works as intended after the upgrade to Android 2.2? Personally, I really believe it's a bug with Froyo.

I think mine is also acting weird.
Wenn starting Google Maps and using streetview in compass mode it only looks up and down and I cannot look from left to right.
When i roll the phone a few times in my hand it starts working.
But after closing Google Maps and starting it again I have to do the rolling again

I was wondering that compass problem too. With ver.2.1 everything worked like a dream as I use compass mostly geocaching. After updating in every app I've tried the compass stucks pointing to approx. to the lower left corner of the screen. Sometimes calibration helps but it stuck again after a while even the app is running all the time.
"Compass" app kinda could wake up after waiting a while but usually it doesn't. In any other software won't work at all as I've tried, 5secs after calibration but nothing more.

JLillia said:
With ver.2.1 everything worked like a dream as I use compass mostly geocaching..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@JLillia: Also in my case the compass worked as intended on android 2.1.
Anyway thanks for your answers guys! I really appreciate it! So it looks like at least 3 folks here are experiencing some issues with digital compass after the upgrade to the Froyo on HTC Desire
Wonder if there is anyone here who could disagree with us and say that the upgrade didn't cause any compass degradation on his/her device at all...

I can't say if it worked properly with 2.1, didn't use the compass a lot before.
With 2.1 I needed to calibrate it a few times, but probably not as much as I need to do now. I'm using the "compass" app and it directly tells me it detected an abnormal magnetic field. After calibrating it again, it points north. Haven't checked the correct north with a real compass, so it may have a slight difference.
I put my phone down at the table at 0 degrees N. I turn off my screen, and turn it back on. It is now pointing 90 degrees E. But the interesting thing is.. the east is actually located west, compared with the previous north :?
When I rotate my phone it displays only E or SE, always between 90 degrees E and 130 degrees SE. I can't even find north.
I can rotate my phone 180 degrees (Pointing south), it displays 130 degrees. When I calibrate the phone and I rotate my phone 180 degrees (Still south) it displays 160 degrees S. Which is kinda strange. And when I try to find the 180 degrees point, and rotate my phone again, it displays 35 degrees NE.
After another calibration the values seems to be okay...
My conclusion? Don't trust the compass at all unless you have a real compass to compare.

That person with the exact opposite experience is me
I complained on 2.1 here with many others about the compass going haywire every time you took it off-screen and its lack of stability and consistency. HTC 2.2 totally fixed this issue for me. I've calibrated it once about a week back and it's still accurate every time I'm opening it and in Google Earth.
Beware, the compass draws a lot of power in use so it'll drain the battery very fast. About as fast as playing a 8Mbps 720p VC-1 vid.
-----------------------------------
- Sent via my HTC Desire -

My problem is kinda dame that with Nakebod.
As I said compass stucks pointing to the lower left corner, it infact tells I'm holding the phone towards 120-130 decrees east, where ever I turn the phone to. Calibration helps for a while as after that the compass points approxamtely to north which is enough direction to me, but after a while or at least after swithing apps or taking compass background and back on, it stucks again to the 130 decrees.
Of course I am not using this kind of device as "for real" but I'd like to have it at least somewhat accurate. As geocacher I use compass as a tool with my hobby and I was quite happy with Desire because of the quite accurate GPS but after the update the compass is practically useless.

Just a quick update, I made a quick phone call to HTC support this morning and raised that issue. The support analyst recommended the factory data reset to see if it helps. I guess it's just a standard answer so at this point of time I'm not gonna proceed with that and erase all data on my phone. (Btw, I wonder if it's possible to backup all current data from my unrooted, unbranded Desire?)
Furthermore he promised to get back to me in next few days with some official resolution of that issue so I will keep you updated.

Try calibrating your magnetometer by waving your phone in 8-shaped moves.

I emailed HTC customer care also about the issue and the answer was to factory reset the phone. Of course that was the first thing I had already done at the minute I noticed the problem in first place so I wasn't quite fond of the idea. In fact I have reseted phone three times after the update and allways the result was the same; compass stucks.
Well, I thought that maybe I have some weird app that messes up the compass so I tried one more time...
At first after the reset I downloaded only EStrong file manager, compass and c:eo. Compass worked most of the time! I kept resuming backups and compass did stuck occasionally but not very often (+ abnormal magnetic field). I am not sure what I did leave out of the phone but now the comapss works quite fine. It is a lot more sensitive for magnetic fields than in 2.1 but usually calibration works to it.
So, the conclusion is, that even for some reason first times the reset didn't work, it did help after all. Just backup your data and give it a try. Doesn't cost more than some time. The compass DOES stuck still but is most of the time usable.
At least I left out MoreLocale2, Metal detector and some games. And I DIDN'T calibrate G-sensors after reset.
So, there is still some issues with update and compass but it COULD also be somewhat application related...

G-Sensor calibration might be the answer! Following the first factory reset yesterday which cleared the compass problem initially I reinstalled all apps and calibrated G-sensor to find the problem came back. Then I factory-reset once more last night and reinstalled all apps but didn't do the re-calibration, left the phone on for the night - no problem in the morning. Feel tempted to re-calibrate to proof the point now.

Please inform here how did it do if you re-calibrate. I have an ongoing geocaching challenge, so I won't try that until I'm sure that I don't need the compass for couple of days. After that I'm going to test if calibration is the problem as soon as possible.

I have the same problem. Have tried everything but hard reset. Still, compass worked a lot better on 2.1 :-(
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

nitemarc said:
@JLillia: Also in my case the compass worked as intended on android 2.1.
Anyway thanks for your answers guys! I really appreciate it! So it looks like at least 3 folks here are experiencing some issues with digital compass after the upgrade to the Froyo on HTC Desire
Wonder if there is anyone here who could disagree with us and say that the upgrade didn't cause any compass degradation on his/her device at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My compass works fine on HTC Desire on Android 2.2.

Try 3d compass, and use its calibration option. Always works for me.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

nitemarc said:
Just a quick update, I made a quick phone call to HTC support this morning and raised that issue. The support analyst recommended the factory data reset to see if it helps. I guess it's just a standard answer so at this point of time I'm not gonna proceed with that and erase all data on my phone. (Btw, I wonder if it's possible to backup all current data from my unrooted, unbranded Desire?)
Furthermore he promised to get back to me in next few days with some official resolution of that issue so I will keep you updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonder how does HTC support team's SLA look like in terms of resolving client's tickets as my one hasn't been resolved yet... Anyway it seems to me that HTC is not going to confirm that OTA update to Froyo could caused that compass issue.
That's why I decided on factory data reset and it looks like that helped with getting this issue sorted out. After the hard reset, my first step was an initial compass calibration and that's really all what I did. The digital compass is not maybe so precise and accurate as it used to be on Android 2.1 but finally roughly (I would say with 15° margin) points out the north so there is a progress

Just to add my 2c, I can confirm that the compass has become useless since I upgraded to 2.2 on my device. Doing the figure 8 in Compass app has short lived benefits.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Neither does my compass react in any application (tried Compass, Places directory, Google Navigation) after update to Froyo.
Calibrating with the 8 movement or G-sensor calibration does not help at all.
However, it always starts working normally when I tilt the phone to the side (so that I look on the slim side of the phone) and then start a short forward and backward rotation with the rotational axis going thru the display.
I need to repeat this every time I unlock the phone and the compass keeps on working until i lock the phone again or until I switch the application.
Weired.

I have the same problem, and it is a bit annoying. The compass works correctly if I wave the phone like in the video posted, but I have to do this every time I start an app that uses the magnetometer. My phone was not like this on 2.1.

Camera Error - Cannot connect to camera.

Anyone else getting this error? After reading the two main errors seem to be faulty camera hardware and bar code scanning apps. I uninstalled my bar code scanner and the problem persists. There is a small dent next to my flash under the camera but this came with the phone and my camera worked for a while. Taking the battery out and putting it back in fixes the problem about half of the time, but only is good for one to two uses. I'm thinking of sending this in, but I'm waiting until the SGSII HD is out in case they offer to replace it with any phone. Wishful thinking, I know.

And here's the error:

Are you on the stock rom? I got that yesterday but a reboot fixed it.

HJZS2K said:
Are you on the stock rom? I got that yesterday but a reboot fixed it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock ROM not rooted. No modifications what-so-ever.

8mileroad said:
Stock ROM not rooted. No modifications what-so-ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try doing a factory reset. Sometimes an app installed on the phone might screw up with a hardware's function. For example, I've always use Screebl Pro on my phone to let it control how my screen turns off. I decided to try their new Beta version. A few days later, I cannot seem to manually turn off my screen by pressing the power button. Every time I press the power button, the screen will come back on on its own. I can try up to 4-5 times before it eventually goes off. I though my phone finally broke as I tried uninstalling and reinstalling apps, changing settings here and there to no luck. I finally realized about the beta Screebl I had installed, and decided to disable it. The moment I did that, the phone was back to normal, no weird things happening to it.
So try doing a factory reset first before sending it back.

Strangely enough uninstalling Reconage has seemed to fix this. Can anyone else confirm it breaks your camera? The comments don't say it does so it must be something with the Nitro.

I get it too on cm7 all the damn time. I can record 1 video then after I stop, it messes up and I have to reboot to record again.

Any more definitive answer on this issue? My wife's Nitro HD has started giving this error in the last few days and no amount of rebooting seems to be fixing it. She is stock plus a few apps. I uninstalled nearly everything that uses the camera, reboot the phone, and still have the problem.
Alternatively, is there a way to see what apps were installed/updated by date? The last photo she took was on 6/13, so if we can figure out what apps have been updated since then that might help us get to the bottom of the issue.

Weird Annoying Typing Issue

Is anybody getting this weird issue when they're typing: The keyboard all of a sudden just goes away on it's own after 2 or 3 keystrokes. It happens a lot when I use the Bing Search function. I'll get two or three letters down then the keyboard abruptly goes away. So I have to get two or three key presses in each time I restart the process.
Anybody know what could be causing this? It's not just limited to my Bing Search, I literally got so frustrated trying to start this thread through my phone's browser that I had to dig out the laptop instead.

And this is happening on a Lumia 900?
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

sorry not I

iiDeadSeriousii said:
Is anybody getting this weird issue when they're typing: The keyboard all of a sudden just goes away on it's own after 2 or 3 keystrokes. It happens a lot when I use the Bing Search function. I'll get two or three letters down then the keyboard abruptly goes away. So I have to get two or three key presses in each time I restart the process.
Anybody know what could be causing this? It's not just limited to my Bing Search, I literally got so frustrated trying to start this thread through my phone's browser that I had to dig out the laptop instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the symptoms are those of the disappearing keyboard issue with mango. Its supposedly fixed in this release of mango. However several people have reported seeing it.
I suggest you report it to Nokia at the web site. You won't be able to fix it on your own.

alodar1 said:
the symptoms are those of the disappearing keyboard issue with mango. Its supposedly fixed in this release of mango. However several people have reported seeing it.
I suggest you report it to Nokia at the web site. You won't be able to fix it on your own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This still happens to me occasionally on both my original Focus, and my Lumia 900. Both are updated.

alodar1 said:
the symptoms are those of the disappearing keyboard issue with mango. Its supposedly fixed in this release of mango. However several people have reported seeing it.
I suggest you report it to Nokia at the web site. You won't be able to fix it on your own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I didn't know if it was a symptom of Mango or the Lumia. It's just so weird when it happens, I notice it when I'm low on battery more often, but idk what sort of relevance that would have. Thanks for the tip though.

Yeah, I get it quite often on my Lumia 900. Also my Radar still has it happen occasionally, my girlfriends Radar has it happen more than mine. All updated as well.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Are you sure you're not accidently rubbing you hand/finger on the back button? The back button, since it's universal, will remove the keyboard if it's on screen. And because Back, Home and Search button all use capative touch instead of having to push them, simply rubbing or bumping them will cause them to activate.
I had this problem when I first got my Lumia, but I've adjusted and adapted.

SwimSwim said:
Are you sure you're not accidently rubbing you hand/finger on the back button? The back button, since it's universal, will remove the keyboard if it's on screen. And because Back, Home and Search button all use capative touch instead of having to push them, simply rubbing or bumping them will cause them to activate.
I had this problem when I first got my Lumia, but I've adjusted and adapted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, definitely not. I've tested it many times on my Lumia and my Focus. It's definitely something to do with the keyboard deactivating itself. It happens to me a lot if I try to share an article I read in WP7 News app and go to email. When I try to type my name in the TO: field, I get one or two letters, then it goes away and I end up clicking/typing in the message body.
It seems like if I give it a moment to rest, then start typing, it's less likely to do it, but that's a little annoying, since I want to check my stuff and get on with things. Not a huge issue, mind you, but annoying none the less.

No, im not accidentally touching the back buttons.I'll ask my girlfriend if she's having the same problem, but it's gotta be a software issue from what I'm hearing now.

SuperSport said:
For me, definitely not. I've tested it many times on my Lumia and my Focus. It's definitely something to do with the keyboard deactivating itself. It happens to me a lot if I try to share an article I read in WP7 News app and go to email. When I try to type my name in the TO: field, I get one or two letters, then it goes away and I end up clicking/typing in the message body.
It seems like if I give it a moment to rest, then start typing, it's less likely to do it, but that's a little annoying, since I want to check my stuff and get on with things. Not a huge issue, mind you, but annoying none the less.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh, this doesn't happen to me though. Guess it's only effecting certian modles... Nonetheless, this kind of defeats their whole add campaign (Smartphone beta test is over)

iiDeadSeriousii said:
Ok, I didn't know if it was a symptom of Mango or the Lumia. It's just so weird when it happens, I notice it when I'm low on battery more often, but idk what sort of relevance that would have. Thanks for the tip though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
at&t has not rolled the fix out yet, but the lumia supposedly has it. Other carriers that rolled out the fix, still report some problems, though not nearly as widespread. AT&T says they will roll out the fix around the tango release timeframe..i think it needs more work.

Mine is doing it now after updating to the latest software, this sucks! I hope they fix it asap, very annoying when composing text and the keyboard disappear!

humblehyper said:
Mine is doing it now after updating to the latest software, this sucks! I hope they fix it asap, very annoying when composing text and the keyboard disappear!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have actually noticed this problem less and less as the weeks have gone on. It's not so much that I'm getting used to it, cause I notice when it does happen, I think it was just a weird thing. I haven't had a problem personally since the update either.

Hi,
I don't have this issue on my 900 nor does my wife see it on hers. That said, let me offer what I know about the keyboard disappearing from previous hardware/builds.
When I had this issue on earlier hardware (Focus/Focus S) it was caused by apps set to run in the background. When an app is set to run in the background, the app would shift focus away from the current user task for a split second, and if you have the keyboard out the keyboard thinks you've switched to a different task and it closes. The way I worked around it was to disable background tasking for all my apps (settings -> applications -> background tasks. Note that when an app updates itself, it will reset this background task setting so you have to reset it. I never saw this problem again after I updated my Focus S to 8107. Still, it might not hurt as a troubleshooting step to disable background tasks and see if the problem reappears.
Michael

so far, i've not encounter this issue with my phone yet, but seems to be affecting mango version only, coz mine is already on tango....

[Q] GPS acting crazy

If you're locked into as many as ten satellites is there any reason to have erratic GPS performance?
I got a refurbished S3 from Sprint and the GPS is a freaking mess. I can be standing perfectly still and the map starts moving around erratically, sometimes even straight backwards. Other times I'll be driving and it will show me on a totally different street or moving in a totally wrong direction. Sometimes this is going on when I'm locked into as many as ten satellites.
Shouldn't that be enough to get a good fix? Does this suggest that the GPS receiver is working well but there is a software problem? Or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
I reset/downloaded agps data with GPS Status, I've tried TopNTP and I've tightened every visible screw. Nothing has helped. I also can't get a fix indoors like I used to be able to with my original S3.
Any suggestions on other things I can try to make my GPS work or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
This is the fourth or fifth refurbished Android phone I've received from Sprint over the years and not a single one has worked right. It's like they don't ever really address the reported problem. They just factory reset the phone, give it a cosmetic facelift and then ship it back out without any testing.

uscpsycho said:
If you're locked into as many as ten satellites is there any reason to have erratic GPS performance?
I got a refurbished S3 from Sprint and the GPS is a freaking mess. I can be standing perfectly still and the map starts moving around erratically, sometimes even straight backwards. Other times I'll be driving and it will show me on a totally different street or moving in a totally wrong direction. Sometimes this is going on when I'm locked into as many as ten satellites.
Shouldn't that be enough to get a good fix? Does this suggest that the GPS receiver is working well but there is a software problem? Or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
I reset/downloaded agps data with GPS Status, I've tried TopNTP and I've tightened every visible screw. Nothing has helped. I also can't get a fix indoors like I used to be able to with my original S3.
Any suggestions on other things I can try to make my GPS work or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
This is the fourth or fifth refurbished Android phone I've received from Sprint over the years and not a single one has worked right. It's like they don't ever really address the reported problem. They just factory reset the phone, give it a cosmetic facelift and then ship it back out without any testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Rom are you using ? Did it behave like this before rooting ?

prboy1969 said:
What Rom are you using ? Did it behave like this before rooting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm totally stock 4.3, just rooted. I rooted it pretty soon after I got it so I don't remember if it was like this right off the bat. I believe it was.
Weird thing is that today I tried turning of Google location services and that seemed to help a lot. It doesn't seem to be getting a lock while indoors but when I'm driving around I'm not getting the erratic map behavior I had before. No idea if it will work for long, there have been a few other times when I thought I fixed the problem and it came right back.
I know on my previous phone I had Google location services on and it worked like a charm. Anyone have an idea why turning location services off helps and what I can do to make GPS work right with location services off?
Any real downside to keeping location services off?

I've always kept it on. But if your Stock rooted, and have that big an issue with GPS. I would almost be inclined to say it's a hardware issue. You could always Nand, and flash a coherent Rom. Just to see if it resolves the issue.
TEAM MiK MikROMs Since 3/13/11

After driving extensively with Google location services turned off I did not experience any more erratic behavior. Problem solved but I'd like to have location services on.
Tonight I turned location services back on and it still seems to be working fine with no erratic behavior. I haven't given this as thorough of a test but I'm optimistic.
I have no idea why turning location services off fixed things but if anyone comes across this thread looking for a solution to GPS problems try turning Google location services off and see if that helps. It looks to have done the trick for me.

Touch screen problem

Weird this. I sometimes find that the 'dock' area of the screen will not respond to new touches. Therefore I can't open the phone or the app drawer etc. Odd thing is that I can drag icons from elsewhere over the area which makes me think this is more a software issue than a hardware one. If I open Chrome links can't be opened if they are in the affected area. It's just weird.
Some times this requires a reboot to clear but other times it appears to clear by itself. From my observations it seems to start after using the camera app.
Any ideas? Could this still be down to a defective device?
Matt.

I experienced the exact same thing. Everything else works normal though. It happens after using the Camera app and goes away after I clear the app from the multitasking window (which I have to do app by app since also "Clear all" can't be tapped). I just hope its a software bug that can be fixed by an update.

Clearing running apps doesn't sort the problem on mine. Your problem certainly sounds very similar though especially given the connection with the camera app in your case as well. Tried a factory reset and the problem persists but it is very random and difficult to reproduce. Still not 100% sure it's not some sort of hardware fault as I can't really see any touch screen related problems being reported on the web and this one is very irritating.

I experienced this once - also after having the camera. I rebooted and haven't experienced it again.

I have the same problem where my touch screen doesnt respond in the corners sometimes. Really abnoxious when playing games and then i just lose because of this. I send my phone to HTC and i waited 20 days to get my phone back with the same problem as before. First i downloaded a touch screen test app, and there it didnt show any response in the corners but another touch screen test app registered every touch.

I have the same problem. Seems to be caused by either the camera or the photos app. Closing them doesn't help here, but a reboot does. It's something that started happening recently so I hope an update of some sort will fix this.
Very annoying... If anyone has found a permanent solution I hope they'll share it here.
Skickat från min HTC 10 via Tapatalk

Found a fix
b0ngle said:
Weird this. I sometimes find that the 'dock' area of the screen will not respond to new touches. Therefore I can't open the phone or the app drawer etc. Odd thing is that I can drag icons from elsewhere over the area which makes me think this is more a software issue than a hardware one. If I open Chrome links can't be opened if they are in the affected area. It's just weird.
Some times this requires a reboot to clear but other times it appears to clear by itself. From my observations it seems to start after using the camera app.
Any ideas? Could this still be down to a defective device?
Matt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is a software issue. U just need to revert the photos app back to the factory version. This can be done by going into settings >apps >photos app and the click on uninstall updates. Then reboot your device and the problem should be gone. Try it out and tell us if it works for u as well.

b0ngle said:
Weird this. I sometimes find that the 'dock' area of the screen will not respond to new touches. Therefore I can't open the phone or the app drawer etc. Odd thing is that I can drag icons from elsewhere over the area which makes me think this is more a software issue than a hardware one. If I open Chrome links can't be opened if they are in the affected area. It's just weird.
Some times this requires a reboot to clear but other times it appears to clear by itself. From my observations it seems to start after using the camera app.
Any ideas? Could this still be down to a defective device?
Matt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or you could turn off the screen using power button and then turn your screen back on using fingerprint option....
its something to do with incompatible apps messing up frameworkres