Screen not as responsive when on flat surface

[Quazar]

Its strange how when the hero is lying flat on the table, the screen is less responsive then when in your hand.

The stranger thing is, if you put another finger on bar of the phone where the 4 buttons are located, it becomes perfectly responsive, and as soon as you let your other finger go, it becomes unresponsive again. (try it by typing lightly and it wont register, then touch the face of the phone and try the same typing and it registers easily)

Anyone know why? Also if I'm the only one with this issue.

 

[LABRAT]

Mines the same. No idea why...

 

[Quazar]

It is strange, and its annoying having to touch the button bar and the touchscreen whenever my phone is on my desk!
Wonder if its a software issue or hardware.

 

[BiGMERF]

i notice that with my phone as well... its a bit of a pain when i have it in the car cradle and im trying to enter an adress into google maps.. i have to pull the phone from the cradle

 

[Quazar]

wouldnt it be vertically standing if on a cradle though?
My issue is only when its on a flat surface.

 

[Hrochnick]

I've not noticed this effect at all, at least not when the phone is on a flat surface but I have noticed it when in a car cradle. I put this down to the angle of my finger when reaching forward and the amount of it in contact with the screen as opposed to using a 'flat' thumb print when held in my hand. If I adjust the angle of my finger when the phone is in the cradle to be a bit flatter and upward pointing, as opposed to straight out end on, then it works fine. Maybe some of you are seeing a similar effect when the phone is laid down?

Edit - I've just retested this with typing and the phone laid down and, bizarrely, you seem to be right, partly at least. Without changing the angle of approach or amount of finger in contact and typing is troublesome mostly (if not only) on the right hand side (backspace, L, P) but as soon as I rest another finger between the home and menu buttons, it works perfectly. Most odd.

 

[Slug]

The stranger thing is, if you put another finger on bar of the phone where the 4 buttons are located, it becomes perfectly responsive, and as soon as you let your other finger go, it becomes unresponsive again.

Anyone know why? Also if I'm the only one with this issue.

It's due to the capacitive display I think. You need to 'ground' yourself to the casing.

 

[lekky]

Some people mentioned that this may be due to the fact that you are not actually holding the phone, something to do with how capacitive screen works.

Don't know how capacitive works, but when you are holding the phone, it does seem to be more responsive.

 

[mjcritchie]

I had this problem, but then I upgraded to the new ROM (a few months ago, from the T-Mobile website) and that seemed to help.

 

[richabramsuk]

It's (and speaking without any knowledge of how these things work) definitely something to do with the nature of the display. I'd been blaming it on the fact I calibrated the screen while holding it upright but now I've tried Quazar's suggestion it's definitely more responsive when grounded by touching the button area. Weird.

 

[MattW]

I believe it's a capacitive screen issue - you need to ground the phone (either by holding it or just resting another finger on any part of the casing) to let it properly 'see' screen touches. iSheep owning friends say their screens also become more responsive when the phone is in their hand.

A side issue of nice capacitive screens I guess.

 

[Quazar]

My phone has a crystal case on, so I'm never actually touching the phone even when I'm holding it. So how can I be grounding it when its upright?

 

[lekky]

My phone has a crystal case on, so I'm never actually touching the phone even when I'm holding it. So how can I be grounding it when its upright?

I wonder if the case affects it that much really, I have a shield casing and holding that its still very sensitive.

 

[Quazar]

The case does not affect it, screen is very responsive when upright, strange bug!

 

[MattW]

My phone has a crystal case on, so I'm never actually touching the phone even when I'm holding it. So how can I be grounding it when its upright?

Upright has nothing to do with it - just that it's in your hand. You don't actually have to be in physical contact with the phone casing, it's enough to just have the phone very near you (i.e. an add-on casing won't matter) for the capacitance to work. It's not really a 'ground' in the true sense of the word - more of a capacitive circuit.

 

[rice]

I don't have this issue, it works perfectly when lying on the table. Sounds wierd

 

[readerd]

i too find this when it's on my desk at work
makes it so much harder to just read a message quickly without actually picking the phone up

 

[jigjags]

i read somewhere that capacative screens work on magnetic/electric impulses thats hy you cant use a stylus etc. so that is why it works 100 times better when you are holding it and you can complete the circuit.
try it flat on your hand and it works perfectly but flat on a wooden surface and its no good.

Quote

"In the capacitive system, a layer that stores electrical charge is placed on the glass panel of the monitor. When a user touches the monitor with his or her finger, some of the charge is transferred to the user, so the charge on the capacitive layer decreases. This decrease is measured in circuits located at each corner of the monitor. The computer calculates, from the relative differences in charge at each corner, exactly where the touch event took place and then relays that information to the touch-screen driver software. "

 

[mkhopper]

Wow, thanks for that info. Makes sense now when you think about it.

I still get annoyed why I have to press, press, PRESS, PPRREESSS buttons when the phone is lying flat on my desk, but at least now I know why.

 

[jigjags]

works on your desk if you have charger or usb cable in complete circuit :O)

 

[Quazar]

Interesting, I'm already used to touching the button bar when using it on a flat surface anyway.

 

[fantasytozi]

It's strange that I dont have this kind of problem. The screen is responsive even when I lay it on my table.
Maybe because I do a g-sensor calibration when placing it on the table and typing calibration when holding in hand? Did anyone try this?
Have no idea if it makes sense or not

 

[NewYorkLaw]

I read a review that spoke of a "special" stylus that work with our types of screens. Anyone know where to get one? I see some stylli on ebay that claim to be good for the hero, but none of them mention "capacitative" screens, or anything else that sounds like they are anything other than a rubber tipped pen. Hmmm.... Would a rubber tipped pen work?
Pete

 

[android_d00kie]

This is due to capacitive dsplay of the hero.. lying on a surface the hero and the user have different grounding.. for accurate capacitive response u nid to have common grounding with the hero

 

[petefoth]

I read a review that spoke of a "special" stylus that work with our types of screens. Anyone know where to get one? I see some stylli on ebay that claim to be good for the hero, but none of them mention "capacitative" screens, or anything else that sounds like they are anything other than a rubber tipped pen. Hmmm.... Would a rubber tipped pen work?
Pete

Googling for "capacitive stylus" gives a lot of hits, including this one from Maplins Capacitive Stylus : Accessories : Maplin
I've had phones with touchscreen and stylus for along while, and I had planned on getting one of these, but now I'm getting used to driving the Hero with my fingertips so I probably wont bother