HTC EVO 4G and Droid Incredible suffering from unresponsive screen issues
By Nilay Patel 
posted June 14th 2010 12:22PM
posted June 14th 2010 12:22PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted June 14th 2010 12:22PM
powered by gdgt
HTC EVO 4G
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I'm all for making companies accountable for releasing quality products...
But...
I'm in IT, work with cutting edge tech all the time and I honestly can't think of a time I'd need the phone to respond "ungrounded"
If this was an ipad, I get it. This isn't, it's a small "handheld" device. At no time am I going to be using it "out" of my hands.
Maybe in a car dock - zoom and pinch maps? But wouldn't the power adapter then be grounding it?
I just don't see what all the fuss is about.
@Presence
I'm in IT too and if there's one thing I can count on other people in IT to be like, it's being totally out of touch with the vast majority of "normal" people.
Are you kidding? Do you even own a touch screen phone? In that big geek brain of yours you can't think of a scenario that would require using the device without holding it with your other hand??
i've actually been able to carve out a pretty good living for myself by taking customers away left and right from all the established tech support companies because they're so incredibly out of touch with reality that they can't relate with their customers. You're obviously in that group.
HTC is a greedy chinese company! You forgot TOYS WITH LEAD? Chinese company like HTC cannot produce quality products. They use cheap plastic, cheap glass, not enough R&D. Look they release 10 new phones every month!
Support america, buy American buy Apple!
(All apple products are designed and tested in USA) support American!
@kyphem WTH are you talking about? All the Apple products are also made in China, Taiwan, or Korea, aren't they? Because Apple paid two designers in California and an ARMY of slave-equivalent-wage workers in Asia means you're buying American?? lol
@astrobill You are so dumb! TOYOTA cars are designed in JAPAN but built in USA so ARE YOU SAYING TOYOTAS ARE AMERICAN CARS?
Your argument is just moronic. You don't call a toyota or honda an american car just because some guys build it in Detroit. You get that dumbnuts?
@kyphem Apple products are built in high-tech asian sweatshops by people making $100-$200 a month. As products go, this is about as American as a California Roll.
@just4chan2day
Haha.. Dude California rolls ARE American. They hardy resemble anything close to the traditional asian sushi.
I get what you're trying to say but that was a TERRIBLE example.
THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.... for people with one hand.
While we're waiting for Engadget to test the iPhone models alongside the HTC ones in this series of tests...and also for them to reveal how many EVO and Droid users supposedly reported this "problem"...shall we review the history of "numerous" and "significant" iPhone touch screen problems that sounded pretty bad? Here we go....
First, from 2007:
http://www.intomobile.com/2007/08/09/apple-iphone-users-reporting-unresponsive-multi-touch-displays.html
http://www.iphonematters.com/article/iphone_screen_problems_289/
And this from 2009:
http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/iphone/articles/6131.aspx
By the way, I've got an HTC Hero and have never really encountered this except perhaps once or twice on a dry day when my skin was also dry....
@astrobill
You are an idiot, the websites you posted are either from 3 years ago when Apple came out with their very first phone ever. (while HTC was already making phones) and the 2009 web site is instructions on what to do if it does become unresponsive. Wow looking for content to bash on iphone...Loser...
@astrobill
iPhones have NEVER had widespread screen related problems like the ones HTC is having with their models here.
crap man,
for all the people thinking, "well you'll just have to hold the phone in your hand no big deal lololol noobs!" what happens when the winter rolls around and you're wearing thick gloves? Sure, you remove one glove (let's say your right glove) to use the phone, but would you have to remove your left one as well just so the top half of your screen would work?
If I were to pay a couple hundred dollars for a smartphone (and $80 a month for at least a year), I don't want to have to deal with this crap. My Palm Pre has no such issues, so wtf is going on with this phone?
I'm seriously considering buying an EVO 4G in the coming month, but I guess I'll wait and see how HTC/Sprint handles this issue.
@nmezib How do you know the problem is widespread and/or significant? Because Engadget claims a "significant" number have reported it? For all you know, five people wrote in out of the hundreds of thousands of Evo's sold.
...more on this.... Ya' know, I'm looking at the androidforums.com and the Sprint and HTC forums as well, and most people talking about there are doing so only because they saw this article. And most of the discussion there is either 1) we're not seeing it, 2) some of them are seeing it, but it's really rare, and 3) in any case, that's just how the physics of CAPACITIVE touchscreens work. The electrostatic environment, humidity in the air, and nature of the surface on which the phone is resting all affect how much your touch can charge/discharge the effective capacitor you're forming with the screen.
Basically, this seems like a non-issue. And I still say...let's see Engaget add the iPhones to their video...right alongside the HTCs.
@astrobill
You are one annoying little prik....let it go.....its a cheap quality phone. designed in china....built in china....=CHEAP...
INNOVATION COMES FROM APPLE NOT TAIWAN!!!! Remember that! All china can do is copy our innovatory products. Screw those Chineses and their poor quality control
Support america, buy Apple buy american.
@kyphem
you're kidding, right?
If you touch a capacative touchscreen with the exact tip of your finger there will be responsiveness issues. The touchscreen is meant to respond while a person is hold it in his/her hand, with the fingers at about a 45 degree angle. There is no hardware error, only user error. Now if theres issues on the exact meat of your finger (where your fingerprint resides) then theres a major issue...but this reviewer seems to be touching it with the tip of his finger.
I'd say most phones will have responsiveness issues if you touch it with the exact tip of your finger.
I have a first generation Sprint based Palm Pre which has had its share of hardware build issues. Engadget was quick to point all of those out as well. So I can empathize with how the EVO folks feel. Palm addressed the issues with the Palm Pre Plus. So the negative publicity does help put pressure on these companies to fix the phones.
Hopefully it can fixed via a software update. If it is a hardware issue we'll see if HTC fesses up and issues a recall/replacement. Is this use case really common enough to warrant a recall though?
When I tried this particular test (on Styrofoam, on Touchstone charging dock) there were no issues with my Palm Pre.
cant use one of the best phones in the world on a couch without touching it...got it....not a big deal for me....still happy with my EVO....seems like alot of negative EVO news lately, and of course, some of the commentors love to hate.
My GSM HTC Hero has exactly the same issue !!!
Come on HTC, where is the quality control ??
This is really sad....
Wow, so many comments and yet so many of them are from fan boy, anti-fan boy, conspiracy theorists, stupid little kids (I can go on, just look at these comments) and all that other bull shit. Look, ALL great devices have their flaws on their debut, that's a known fact. The iPhone 4 and AT&T are not immune to this and when reports fly in that there are hardware/software problems, Engadget will report on it, as they did when the iPhone 3GS came out. And as an happy Evo owner, I am not "waiting" for bad news from iPhone 4's launch. I see that trend brewing up in these comments. May the best phone win and let all of us tech nerds rejoice in the slew of great products, instead of acting like children!
Wait, so is it because a hard surface is more likely to allow a finger to apply EVEN PRESSURE across the screen, while moving on the surface? Whereas softer surface might yield to finger pressure on the screen, pushing the device "into" the software surface (surface absorbing some pressure), and thus the screen not registering even pressure from the finger across the screen?
Is this thread still here? Why?
I have used the Incredible since it was introduced . Not one problem.
Update: My Evo does suffer from this. It's not made up, it's not a conspiracy, and it certainly doesn't make the phone "crap". I love it, it's just annoying every once in a great while when I actually try to use it like that.
From what it sounds like, seems to be only a few people.
However, here's what I've found...
If I have headphones plugged in, it's fine.
If it's charging/docked, it's fine. That includes the car dock if you have it plugged in. If it's not plugged in, this issue will plague you.
I tried it with and without a screen protector, and the same goes for the hard and soft casings. Results are exactly the same.
Funny enough, if it's sitting on my laptop, it's fine.
I assume all these things give it enough grounding? It also seems to affect only the top half of my screen. Let's hope Engadget gets enough word around on this issue that HTC will do something about it.
@movies
Agreed. Everyone who is worried about it working in a car dock know that as long as it is plugged in to something, as it always will be, it works fine (provides a ground). Other capacitive screens work like this as well. I can't say I ever lay it on a completely insulated surface to touch it, so I am never affected anyway.
I know because I tried it yesterday.
@B3nt
oops @dyinman not @movies
This is an intermittent problem on my EVO but definitely there. I only noticed it was happening when I tried to unlock my phone while it was sitting on my desk, most of the time it won't "hold" the pattern as I draw it. I thought it was because I was looking at it from an angle, but then I noticed it always works perfectly if I pick it up and hold it in one hand while drawing the unlock pattern with the other.
Between this and the extra 48 lines of resolution, I'm stickin' with Moto Droids.
deal killer for me :(
Just reserved my iphone 4. Although hate the fact that I have to deal with sh!tty AT&T service for another 2 years
@mqasim While I totally love my EVO and Sprint has been amazing to me (signed up in February and they already hooked me up with the EVO) I can't blame you for not jumping...
Might I recommend waiting a month before renewing your AT&T deal and checking out the Droid X on VZW? I heard it's the EVO killer... lol
I have full response while using the phone on any surface except for the notification bar. I just swyped an email without issue but I can't pull down the notification bar without touching the phone (which I have NEVER needed to do). If I ever loose an arm...I guess I may need a new phone. Until then, this phone rocks
@dswatson83 AMEN!!! I got the same issue with the notification bar... I thought it was a safety feature at first... Not to hit the bar by accident? yeah, a safety feature not to hit the bar by accident... right?
Like you said though, if you are going to read a notification, getting that second hand is no big deal at the moment for me.
So, my EVO, when sitting flat on a table top, won't track my 5 point touches well? It's a freaking phone! When do I want to multi-touch when the device is laying flat? I was actually much more impressed with the EVO to Droid X keyboard comparision that showed the multi-touch keyboard vs. the HTC stock one. That bummed me out way more than to find out that my EVO doesn't track 5 points well while sitting on a pillow.
Stellar journalism always includes a line like this... "We haven't been able to reproduce the issues ourselves, but trust us when we say we've heard from enough unhappy EVO owners to believe that the problem is real."
Did these unhappy users recalibrate their screens? Did they get a bum unit? Did these mysterious people only start to complain when they saw your review of the Droid X? Have they tried a hard reset to clear any user data that may be affecting the device's responsiveness or input calibration? I have a feeling that quite a few people are suffering from buyers remorse since the 'newest' stuff is coming this month (which they read about here AFTER they ordered their EVO's...)
I have owned alot of Smartphones throughout time, and the EVO isn't the greatest device on the market, but it is the best device on the 'cheapest' all inclusive post-paid carrier. It has the best stock mobile browser I've ever used - with a few apps added (under $50) all the productivity punch you need - and honestly it has enough raw processing power to run my business for a few days without a computer. Pretty darn good for a phone...
I HAVE AN EVO I BOUGHT ON THE 4TH AND IT IS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM. I NOTICED THAT IT WASNT AS RESPONSIVE ON MY DESK THAN IN MY HAND. THEN I STARTED TO READ ABOUT THE GROUNDING ISSUE. I AM A LITTLE UPSET ABOUT THAT JUST BECAUSE I USE AT WORK AS A MUSIC PLAYER AND IT IS KINDA ANNOYING WHEN IT DOESNT DO WHAT I WANT TO TO DO WHEN I PUSH A BUTTON ON THE SCREEN.
@evoreebdndcom
Really... just press the caps lock key once more before you post next time.
This issue seems to have been fixed in 2.2
I can now swype my menu bar down without having to first pick up the phone.
Looks like a software issue then.