Develop Bugs

Proximity / Light Sensor

Hey guys,
I was talking with a guy from my bank the other day, and the guy was mumbling something which I couldn't hear, and after asking him what did he say, he said I was pressing some keys on the phone which was a bit annoying..
but in reality I was just holding the phone to my ear and my cheek was dialing.. too embarassing.. :/
I know theres this proximity sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S, but I dont know when it is used exactly.. So if it isnt used specifically in situations like this (during call) then I think there must be a mod...
Can a Mod be built such that when the phone is held against the ear during the call, the phone gets locked, the keypad gets tucked in and display brightness gets dimmed and when its moved away from ear it gets unlocked by itself (even if there's a pattern lock), the keypad comes back on the screen and display brightness goes back to normal?
is this cool or stupid? you decide...

The proximity sensor works like this. When you cover the sensor, usually with your ear or side of your head while talking, it turns off the screen. Maybe yours is faulty? Mine is working very well, a lot better than on my previous device.

Are you female? Or do you have long hair?
My moto milestone too had that issue with long hair. It was a bad proximity sensor.
I have not had any such issues with my galaxy. : touch wood :
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Beast using XDA app.

aditya_t90 said:
Are you female? Or do you have long hair?
My moto milestone too had that issue with long hair. It was a bad proximity sensor.
I have not had any such issues with my galaxy. : touch wood :
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Beast using XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have long hair I have the same problem... Is there a way to hold the screen ? While on the phone? Because i didnt find one..

omzart said:
I have long hair I have the same problem... Is there a way to hold the screen ? While on the phone? Because i didnt find one..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can NEVER HOLD A PHONE WRONG(well unless that phone is an apple)
Try asking someone else who has long hair to make calls and see if the sensor works or not.
Then do the same thing with someone that has short hair, i.e. no hair over the ears.
If your tests are inconclusive, download the sensor test from the market and see what happens when it is placed near your palm first.
If it works as it is supposed to then next try your ear and face...tuck you hair in once. If it still works then try it without tucking your hair.
I really hope samsung did not use those defective moto sensors.
tl;dr version download sensor test from the market and ask a bunch of people to check the sensor.(You will see everything on the screen. You dont need to make half a dozen calls)
Get back and we will see what happens next
All the best

aditya_t90 said:
You can NEVER HOLD A PHONE WRONG(well unless that phone is an apple)
Try asking someone else who has long hair to make calls and see if the sensor works or not.
Then do the same thing with someone that has short hair, i.e. no hair over the ears.
If your tests are inconclusive, download the sensor test from the market and see what happens when it is placed near your palm first.
If it works as it is supposed to then next try your ear and face...tuck you hair in once. If it still works then try it without tucking your hair.
I really hope samsung did not use those defective moto sensors.
tl;dr version download sensor test from the market and ask a bunch of people to check the sensor.(You will see everything on the screen. You dont need to make half a dozen calls)
Get back and we will see what happens next
All the best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant an hold button http://www.dvhardware.net/reviews/freecombeatman/4.jpg
sorry ^^

Haha
Try pushing the screen lock button during the call.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Beast I9000 using XDA app.

aditya_t90 said:
Are you female? Or do you have long hair?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL NO! I'm a guy.
I have tested the proximity sensor, and I started observing when I made a call.
the screen locks when I hold it to my ear and unlocks it when I move it away.
guess I didn't enable pattern lock earlier..
problem solved

[Q] Wife Claims Ghost Buttons During Calls

So whenever I talk to my wife she always ends up hitting buttons on the screen. (mute, speaker, etc) I told her that the screen should automatically turn off and that maybe something was wrong with her device. As soon as I got home I tested it and it worked just fine. I couldn't get it to happen, light sensor was very responsive.
Somehow she manages to hit buttons and I have no idea how. I covered up the light sensor and tried hitting every button/screen area and nothing happened.
Has anyone else experienced this before? Is there something I can settings/mods wise to help?

DanBergundy said:
So whenever I talk to my wife she always ends up hitting buttons on the screen. (mute, speaker, etc) I told her that the screen should automatically turn off and that maybe something was wrong with her device. As soon as I got home I tested it and it worked just fine. I couldn't get it to happen, light sensor was very responsive.
Somehow she manages to hit buttons and I have no idea how. I covered up the light sensor and tried hitting every button/screen area and nothing happened.
Has anyone else experienced this before? Is there something I can settings/mods wise to help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woman + X = No longer functioning properly

illogic6 said:
Woman + X = No longer functioning properly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:X
Another funny thing is she said her boss at work has the same problem (female) and her husband has no issue.... Ha! I don't think they have Evos though.

my wife was having the same problem and we narrowed it down to her hair causing interference with the screen sensing that her face was against it. dont know if that makes sense but seemed logical to us and now that she tries to be aware of it and move her hair out of the way the problem doesnt seem to exist. hope this helps.

freaknjoe said:
my wife was having the same problem and we narrowed it down to her hair causing interference with the screen sensing that her face was against it. dont know if that makes sense but seemed logical to us and now that she tries to be aware of it and move her hair out of the way the problem doesnt seem to exist. hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird! Does the screen actually turn on then? I should watch the screen next time she makes a call on it.

yeah the screen was turning on while she was using it. i think whenever she would basically readjust the phone against her head it would happen if the hair would cause interference...again i'm not claiming this is some scientific answer but its what we found seemed to be causing issues for her

freaknjoe said:
yeah the screen was turning on while she was using it. i think whenever she would basically readjust the phone against her head it would happen if the hair would cause interference...again i'm not claiming this is some scientific answer but its what we found seemed to be causing issues for her
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Click to collapse
I see, thanks.

My wife had the same issue...earrings.

Yep, Yep. My wife has the same issue but I've never had a problem. I'm going to show her this thread so that at least she knows it's not just her. lol.

Lappie2010 said:
My wife had the same issue...earrings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would the earrings affect it?

I think it's actually the proximity sensor being highly in tune to how close it needs to be to the ear/face. It takes very little movement of the phone during a call to trigger the sensor and turn the screen back on. They probably don't even realize they're moving the phone as much as they are.

Crotchety said:
I think it's actually the proximity sensor being highly in tune to how close it needs to be to the ear/face. It takes very little movement of the phone during a call to trigger the sensor and turn the screen back on. They probably don't even realize they're moving the phone as much as they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
During a call, I pulled the phone away, moved it around, etc and watched for screen to come one. It did not come on easily. I don't get it.
I need to watch her during a call and test some things.

My sis has the same issues with the moment, and I tried it out and it was fine. She does seem to use it outside her hair and does have a lot of earrings. Though this is the Moment, it still runs android and has the sensors. I'll let her know and see if she'll enjoy her phone again lol.

ReFLeX135 said:
My sis has the same issues with the moment, and I tried it out and it was fine. She does seem to use it outside her hair and does have a lot of earrings. Though this is the Moment, it still runs android and has the sensors. I'll let her know and see if she'll enjoy her phone again lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still not sure what the issue/solution even is.

She picked up my phone last night and accidentally hung up on the person during the call! I didn't get a chance to see what happened...
She's starting to hate these phones. I need a solution.

Not a joke...but are these ladies blonds? At start of thread I was thinking hair color or earrings too. But earrings shouldn't impact the sensor as it is up top of phone and earrings would be down toward the screen.
But...if their hair was very light color...and they had phone only loosely pressed to head, I could 'guess' that the hair had enough light reflecting through it to set off the sensor.
Another thing to check on the earring side....what part of phone contacts first...do earrings hit the screen before head covers up the sensor?

My wife had dark brown hair :x

My wife too. Dark brown hair. With and without earrings. Swapped out one device, same problem. She even made it happen on mine.
I have seen it get in a mode where the proximity sensor seems to get reversed. Near head, screen on, away from head screen off. A button gets pushed at some point and then when the screen is on you can't un-mute, un-speaker, or answer a returned call from the one she just hung up on.
I think we are going to have to get her a different phone

I have the same issue but it only seems to come up with AOSP ROM's (Cyanogen & UD)
If I call Sprint and hit the prompts followed by putting the phone to my ear it presses other numbers. I think there is a delay in the proximity sensor that's causing this. I don't have long hair and my face is clean shaved so it's not that.
If I go to show someone that when everything works perfect. It's like when you call tech support for Dell, Netgear, etc. It works when you're on the phone with them and when you get off it doesn't.

I've noticed this in the past. If you are talking on the phone and you cant it just a little bit away from your ear, towards your face, you can see the backlight come back on. Also, hair can carry a static charge. So if your ladies cant the phone and the screen turns on, their hair could trigger a button press.

Desire's screen turns off on dialing/call

Good day,
It seems this issue has been discussed widely and regularly but I couldn't find a solution that works and I hope you can assist.
My -rooted/Redux- Desire's screen goes off when calls are made regardless of whether it is close to face or not, in addition it doesn't come back on until the call is ended -or battery is replaced- and obviously this can only be done by the other party as my screen stays blank and unresponsive..
Any thought or help would be greatly appreciated..
Regards.

Do you use any kind of sticker or a case which is near to the sensor ?
I had similar experiance with a sticker before. for 6 months it didn't cause any problem but after 6 months it caused some with problems with light and proximity sensor.

Harnec said:
Do you use any kind of sticker or a case which is near to the sensor ?
I had similar experiance with a sticker before. for 6 months it didn't cause any problem but after 6 months it caused some with problems with light and proximity sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
No, nothing at all.
Thanks.

I had this problem so i flashed a different ROM and it stopped doing it, sorry im not very technical but it worked for me, try it

AntAust1513 said:
I had this problem so i flashed a different ROM and it stopped doing it, sorry im not very technical but it worked for me, try it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ant,
Thanks but this is my third ROM, didn't help, any other thoughts?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Maybe the proximity sensor is knackered. Could be your phone that needs repairing. On the other hand you should be able to turn the sensor off if its getting too annoying by going into settings calls or display can't remember precisely buy there should be an option there to turn it off. Hope it helps.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

gmehtctilt said:
any other thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There might actually be a dust particle under your digitizer, which caused the proximity sensor to malfunction
That's what my Desire has for a few months now.. Drived me crazy, until I started using CM7 which allows me to switch the screen on by pressing the power button during calls. But sometimes it still doesn't respond. Plugging in a powered USB cable is another solution then.
Anyhow, check if your proximity sensor is working by using Z-DeviceTest for example. If the sensor is indeed not working properly, there might be some dust on the sensor. Take off your backplate and blow around the power button area. Worked on my phone the first few times it occurred..
Hope this helps!

T989 Proximity Sensor Issues

Hey guys, I just picked up a sgs2 and the phone is amazing. The only real problem that makes me want to throw this out the window is the darn proximity sensor every time I talk to someone. If it is on my left ear, the screen goes blank and everything is fine. If I try to talk using my right ear, the screen goes blank and then after 3-5 seconds, turns back on and then off, etc. It is a never ending process and I have tried to position my phone in different ways on my right ear to stop this with no luck. Sooo frustrating. Anyone else come by this issue or heard of anything like this before?

never had this issue....what rom are you on?

Boweezie said:
Hey guys, I just picked up a sgs2 and the phone is amazing. The only real problem that makes me want to throw this out the window is the darn proximity sensor every time I talk to someone. If it is on my left ear, the screen goes blank and everything is fine. If I try to talk using my right ear, the screen goes blank and then after 3-5 seconds, turns back on and then off, etc. It is a never ending process and I have tried to position my phone in different ways on my right ear to stop this with no luck. Sooo frustrating. Anyone else come by this issue or heard of anything like this before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe your right ear is way smaller than your left jk. I dont have this issue but the sensor is on one side of the phone it could be an issue with the way your right side comes in contact with it.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

shehrammajid said:
never had this issue....what rom are you on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just stock, I am beginning to believe I am deformed Lol must be the case

OMG! sorry but that made me crackle in LMAO
anyways... if you notice on the phone the sensor is on the Top left, where the FFC is located
so probably when you use it on the other side, it's not detecting any face/ear/obstacle for it to activate itself

Screen will not wake up while on call.

Am i missing a setting somewhere. My screen will not wake up while on a call and I move my phone away from my ear (~75% of the time), other times it will not turn the screen off when I put it to my ear.. I have the problem on Paranoid, Jellybomb and Venom Ice. I assume it is a problem with my hardware since it happens on several ROMS.

*#0*# on the dialer will enter test mode.
Press sensor and cover the proximoty sensor with your hand.
Remove cases/screen protectors if present and test it out.
When all else fails odin back to stock and test again.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

thanks after playing around it appears my proximity sensor is shot.

Same thing happened to me after having my note for a touch under three months. I had to take it into Sprint, and they ordered me another phone. Unfortunately, I had to pay $35 because I didn't have the insurance. I believe they just raised the charge to $50. You can also go the Samsung warranty route, but you will be out of a phone for a couple weeks ( it's free though besides shipping).
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

Is the auto screen off checked in the call settings?

w7excursion said:
Is the auto screen off checked in the call settings?
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Click to collapse
Yeah it is, but there is no doubt that it is a hardware problem at this point after testing as recommended above. The sensor basically gets stuck. The only way to get it to work after that is to get it in direct sunlight or shine a flavor right on it. Have a replacement on the way.