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Android. When holding my phone up to me ear after answering a call, the screen won't switch off and random buttons will then get pressed because you know, I'm

Android. When holding my phone up to me ear after answering a call, the screen won't switch off and random buttons will then get pressed because you know, I'm holding it against my ear. Can't find any options in the seeing to fix this issue. My wife has exactly the same problem despite using a different make of phone. How can Android fail at the most fundamental task? The alternative of Apple is too expensive for me... More than I'm willing to spend on a phone at least.

MrRiddle 5y ago
iPhone 11 is 500-550 which is kind of mid range and still is a great phone (They're still selling new ones). I have iPhone Xs and don't plan on upgrading soon.
jasonjayr 5y ago
What phone model? I had a moto z that used pogo pins to connect the top screen proximity sensors, that after the adhesive weakend holding the thing together, lost contact. That was the only time I had an android phone fail to block input when I was on a call...
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  Nokia X20, my wife has a Google (not sure which model) that suffers the same. In fact her previous Google also failed with the proximity test... Which is why I'm thinking there's a fundamental problem with Android rather than just poor hardware.
- ysleepy 5y ago
  Hahahaha, also had a moto z with the same problem. I think the sensor driver got confused when the pins bumped and stopped working until a reboot for me.
kyriakos 5y ago
Sounds like a model specific issue and not a fundamental android issue. I've had quite a few phones and none had this particular issue.
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  My wife's phone (different make) also suffers from a similar issue. Btw mines a Nokia and hers a Google, priced mid range.
dilippkumar 5y ago
I have worked on technology related to the proximity sensors on phones (the thing that’s supposed to detect when your phone is at your ear while on a call) and have known people who have worked on several proximity sensors on several different phones and other devices. These are generally simple sensors but they are sort of hard to quality control in the factory and tuning them generally takes some significant amount of work. The problem for phones without a “notch” like what the iPhone does is that the OEMs tried to put the proximity sensor below the screen. It generally works - but the problem is that the IR pulses emitted by the sensor excite the display and will turn on pixels and create a grey or white spot over the sensor. Product managers later decided that they don’t like this spot, so engineers had to put in all sorts of software mitigation, mostly involving turning off the sensors and making them less sensitive. An expensive phone generally has a larger team of engineers who will tune these sensors, work on the factory quality control problems and generally make things reliable. Apple, with their strong engineering culture has generally refused to deal with the white dot on screen thing entirely by putting the sensor on the notch. Unfortunately with lower end phones, you can’t get the same quality that you will get with a $800 phone. There are people who work really really hard to make things better, but its mostly underfunded engineering teams trying to fix problems in software that honestly should be fixed in the sensor hardware by the vendors.
- boogies 5y ago
  > The problem for phones without a “notch” like what the iPhone does is that the OEMs tried to put the proximity sensor below the screen. Why not put it next to the camera? That’s what my $200 Pinephone CE does (and the $150 model with the same sensor), and it works well IME.
  - dilippkumar 5y ago
    > Why not put it next to the camera? Unfortunately, it boils down to org charts and who talks to whom in a company. An engineer who owns the proximity sensor device driver is usually not invited to the meeting where the industrial design lead is showing off the latest iteration to the product and marketing team. My personal opinion: most obvious flaws in consumer hardware is just a reflection of flaws within the OEM’s org chart and the networks of people within the chart.
Spooky23 5y ago
Sounds like you’re getting what you paid for. Smartphones pretty much cost the same, so maybe spring for a used iPhone 8 or Samsung.
boogies 5y ago
That’s incredibly pathetic. My phone’s UI (sxmo) is a bunch of desktop software and a handful of phone specific tools stuck together with shell scripts and it manages to turn the screen off while the proximity sensor detects my ear during a call. If you’re willing to drop most native mobile apps and maybe spend some time tinkering, you could get the far niche-er alternative of a GNU/Linux phone for as little as $150 (plus ~15% more for shipping all the way from China).
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  What hardware are you running on?
  - boogies 5y ago
    A Pinephone.
t0bia_s 5y ago
I never had such issue with Lineage OS. I'm using it over 7 years now. It sounds like HW related problem. Btw price of iPhone is non acceptable for me from two reasons. Device could be easily lost and I do not need powerful HW with terrible battery life for calls and messages.
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  Well that's another problem with Android that I wanted to touch on: it's not trivial to try out different OS, which I think is more a fault of the phone manufacturers rather than just Google. The whole smart phone ecosystem is all about walled gardens. I agree about battery life for iPhone, pretty much everyone who owns one complains about how their battery doesn't even last a day. My Nokia X20 can last 3 days with light usage... Which I suppose makes up for the poor proximity sensor.
  - t0bia_s 5y ago
    But at least you have options with android device. With Apple you have none. You are completely dependent on manufacturer.

MrRiddle 5y ago

iPhone 11 is 500-550 which is kind of mid range and still is a great phone (They're still selling new ones). I have iPhone Xs and don't plan on upgrading soon.

jasonjayr 5y ago

What phone model? I had a moto z that used pogo pins to connect the top screen proximity sensors, that after the adhesive weakend holding the thing together, lost contact. That was the only time I had an android phone fail to block input when I was on a call...

CodeGlitch 5y ago
Nokia X20, my wife has a Google (not sure which model) that suffers the same. In fact her previous Google also failed with the proximity test... Which is why I'm thinking there's a fundamental problem with Android rather than just poor hardware.
ysleepy 5y ago
Hahahaha, also had a moto z with the same problem. I think the sensor driver got confused when the pins bumped and stopped working until a reboot for me.

kyriakos 5y ago

Sounds like a model specific issue and not a fundamental android issue. I've had quite a few phones and none had this particular issue.

CodeGlitch 5y ago
My wife's phone (different make) also suffers from a similar issue. Btw mines a Nokia and hers a Google, priced mid range.

dilippkumar 5y ago

I have worked on technology related to the proximity sensors on phones (the thing that’s supposed to detect when your phone is at your ear while on a call) and have known people who have worked on several proximity sensors on several different phones and other devices. These are generally simple sensors but they are sort of hard to quality control in the factory and tuning them generally takes some significant amount of work. The problem for phones without a “notch” like what the iPhone does is that the OEMs tried to put the proximity sensor below the screen. It generally works - but the problem is that the IR pulses emitted by the sensor excite the display and will turn on pixels and create a grey or white spot over the sensor. Product managers later decided that they don’t like this spot, so engineers had to put in all sorts of software mitigation, mostly involving turning off the sensors and making them less sensitive. An expensive phone generally has a larger team of engineers who will tune these sensors, work on the factory quality control problems and generally make things reliable. Apple, with their strong engineering culture has generally refused to deal with the white dot on screen thing entirely by putting the sensor on the notch. Unfortunately with lower end phones, you can’t get the same quality that you will get with a $800 phone. There are people who work really really hard to make things better, but its mostly underfunded engineering teams trying to fix problems in software that honestly should be fixed in the sensor hardware by the vendors.

boogies 5y ago
> The problem for phones without a “notch” like what the iPhone does is that the OEMs tried to put the proximity sensor below the screen. Why not put it next to the camera? That’s what my $200 Pinephone CE does (and the $150 model with the same sensor), and it works well IME.
- dilippkumar 5y ago
  > Why not put it next to the camera? Unfortunately, it boils down to org charts and who talks to whom in a company. An engineer who owns the proximity sensor device driver is usually not invited to the meeting where the industrial design lead is showing off the latest iteration to the product and marketing team. My personal opinion: most obvious flaws in consumer hardware is just a reflection of flaws within the OEM’s org chart and the networks of people within the chart.

Spooky23 5y ago

Sounds like you’re getting what you paid for. Smartphones pretty much cost the same, so maybe spring for a used iPhone 8 or Samsung.

boogies 5y ago

That’s incredibly pathetic. My phone’s UI (sxmo) is a bunch of desktop software and a handful of phone specific tools stuck together with shell scripts and it manages to turn the screen off while the proximity sensor detects my ear during a call. If you’re willing to drop most native mobile apps and maybe spend some time tinkering, you could get the far niche-er alternative of a GNU/Linux phone for as little as $150 (plus ~15% more for shipping all the way from China).

CodeGlitch 5y ago
What hardware are you running on?
- boogies 5y ago
  A Pinephone.

t0bia_s 5y ago

I never had such issue with Lineage OS. I'm using it over 7 years now. It sounds like HW related problem. Btw price of iPhone is non acceptable for me from two reasons. Device could be easily lost and I do not need powerful HW with terrible battery life for calls and messages.

CodeGlitch 5y ago
Well that's another problem with Android that I wanted to touch on: it's not trivial to try out different OS, which I think is more a fault of the phone manufacturers rather than just Google. The whole smart phone ecosystem is all about walled gardens. I agree about battery life for iPhone, pretty much everyone who owns one complains about how their battery doesn't even last a day. My Nokia X20 can last 3 days with light usage... Which I suppose makes up for the poor proximity sensor.
- t0bia_s 5y ago
  But at least you have options with android device. With Apple you have none. You are completely dependent on manufacturer.