Droid issues experienced - anyone else?

[baruch]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???
2. i have had my screen "lock" several times - had to turn off to unfreeze; again, is this software issue?
3. would not come out of its "sleep" mode? left home, tried to turn on, would not, arrived at office & plugged in --> only then did phone turn on, & i still had a 30% charge remaining?????
4. several times unable to connect to the web to either browse or view emails. called Verizon, no help, & lame explanation. naturally, only happens when necessary to view; never happens when casually browsing. anyway, have others experienced browsing problems???
5. as per issue #1 above, many times when i remove droid from pocket, instead of the home screen, will see the calculator screen!!?? which as u know, have to touch gray button, then have to touch the calculator icon to have that screen; so, why would this screen appear without going through this process???

assume both (1) & (2) & (5) issues related??? (4) connection issue, (3) tied in to separate issue. would prefer not to exchange for another phone, if the above are known issues & will be addressed, because (obviously) will have same issues with a new Droid. on the other hand, i may have a "bad" phone - it happens.

another issue away from Droid SW/HW; when go thru Yahoo web site to reach yahoo mail, when open a message & reply to, using touch keyboard, a cursor does not appear, so when make a mistake have to use delete button to go all the ay back to the error instead of being able to place finger at the error to correct????? aware yahoo not supported, but this seems odd - any help????

 

[dannydoes]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???
2. i have had my screen "lock" several times - had to turn off to unfreeze; again, is this software issue?
3. would not come out of its "sleep" mode? left home, tried to turn on, would not, arrived at office & plugged in --> only then did phone turn on, & i still had a 30% charge remaining?????
4. several times unable to connect to the web to either browse or view emails. called Verizon, no help, & lame explanation. naturally, only happens when necessary to view; never happens when casually browsing. anyway, have others experienced browsing problems???
5. as per issue #1 above, many times when i remove droid from pocket, instead of the home screen, will see the calculator screen!!?? which as u know, have to touch gray button, then have to touch the calculator icon to have that screen; so, why would this screen appear without going through this process???

assume both (1) & (2) & (5) issues related??? (4) connection issue, (3) tied in to separate issue. would prefer not to exchange for another phone, if the above are known issues & will be addressed, because (obviously) will have same issues with a new Droid. on the other hand, i may have a "bad" phone - it happens.

another issue away from Droid SW/HW; when go thru Yahoo web site to reach yahoo mail, when open a message & reply to, using touch keyboard, a cursor does not appear, so when make a mistake have to use delete button to go all the ay back to the error instead of being able to place finger at the error to correct????? aware yahoo not supported, but this seems odd - any help????

You still within the 30 days to return it? If so, I would. Other customers have reported similar problems, but I don't think it's software. I don't have any of these problems. Lots of phones have been returned, customers got replacements and are much happier. Seems a lot of lemon droids out there.

 

[Fraxinus]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???

I would agree with dannydoes that your other issues might warrant a return; those sound like fairly major issues that are (probably?) specific to your handset. As to this issue, I've noticed this as well and I have a theory about it. Your phone is using an accelerometer to determine its orientation. When placed on a perfectly flat surface, there is really nothing to differentiate between portrait and landscape views - in other words the position that the accelerometer falls in is basically random - might be portrait, might be landscape. When you're on your home screen, you won't notice the difference since it doesn't auto-rotate by default. As soon as you click on app while the phone is on your desk, it comes up in whatever orientation the accelerometer indicates.

Again, just a theory, but it seems likely to me. It would be interesting to do some experimentation with a bubble-level app (anyone tried this?)

 

[baruch]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???
2. i have had my screen "lock" several times - had to turn off to unfreeze; again, is this software issue?
3. would not come out of its "sleep" mode? left home, tried to turn on, would not, arrived at office & plugged in --> only then did phone turn on, & i still had a 30% charge remaining?????
4. several times unable to connect to the web to either browse or view emails. called Verizon, no help, & lame explanation. naturally, only happens when necessary to view; never happens when casually browsing. anyway, have others experienced browsing problems???
5. as per issue #1 above, many times when i remove droid from pocket, instead of the home screen, will see the calculator screen!!?? which as u know, have to touch gray button, then have to touch the calculator icon to have that screen; so, why would this screen appear without going through this process???

assume both (1) & (2) & (5) issues related??? (4) connection issue, (3) tied in to separate issue. would prefer not to exchange for another phone, if the above are known issues & will be addressed, because (obviously) will have same issues with a new Droid. on the other hand, i may have a "bad" phone - it happens.

another issue away from Droid SW/HW; when go thru Yahoo web site to reach yahoo mail, when open a message & reply to, using touch keyboard, a cursor does not appear, so when make a mistake have to use delete button to go all the ay back to the error instead of being able to place finger at the error to correct????? aware yahoo not supported, but this seems odd - any help????

You still within the 30 days to return it? If so, I would. Other customers have reported similar problems, but I don't think it's software. I don't have any of these problems. Lots of phones have been returned, customers got replacements and are much happier. Seems a lot of lemon droids out there.

thx very much for responding!!! i am within the 30 days, but hate to return if these are either minor, known & fixable, or like any sophisticated equipment - not perfect. on the other hand, unless told differently, will monitor & if persist, will return for another.

 

[baruch]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???

I would agree with dannydoes that your other issues might warrant a return; those sound like fairly major issues that are (probably?) specific to your handset. As to this issue, I've noticed this as well and I have a theory about it. Your phone is using an accelerometer to determine its orientation. When placed on a perfectly flat surface, there is really nothing to differentiate between portrait and landscape views - in other words the position that the accelerometer falls in is basically random - might be portrait, might be landscape. When you're on your home screen, you won't notice the difference since it doesn't auto-rotate by default. As soon as you click on app while the phone is on your desk, it comes up in whatever orientation the accelerometer indicates.

Again, just a theory, but it seems likely to me. It would be interesting to do some experimentation with a bubble-level app (anyone tried this?)

also, thx very much! your accelerator explanation makes sense & "appears" to reduce my above issues from 5 --> 4. assume browser issue (4) will happen. just seems that when it happens are the times i really want to view! as to my issues (2-3) & (5), would like to hear more responses, & i will post when those repeat.

 

[640k]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???
2. i have had my screen "lock" several times - had to turn off to unfreeze; again, is this software issue?
3. would not come out of its "sleep" mode? left home, tried to turn on, would not, arrived at office & plugged in --> only then did phone turn on, & i still had a 30% charge remaining?????
4. several times unable to connect to the web to either browse or view emails. called Verizon, no help, & lame explanation. naturally, only happens when necessary to view; never happens when casually browsing. anyway, have others experienced browsing problems???
5. as per issue #1 above, many times when i remove droid from pocket, instead of the home screen, will see the calculator screen!!?? which as u know, have to touch gray button, then have to touch the calculator icon to have that screen; so, why would this screen appear without going through this process???

assume both (1) & (2) & (5) issues related??? (4) connection issue, (3) tied in to separate issue. would prefer not to exchange for another phone, if the above are known issues & will be addressed, because (obviously) will have same issues with a new Droid. on the other hand, i may have a "bad" phone - it happens.

another issue away from Droid SW/HW; when go thru Yahoo web site to reach yahoo mail, when open a message & reply to, using touch keyboard, a cursor does not appear, so when make a mistake have to use delete button to go all the ay back to the error instead of being able to place finger at the error to correct????? aware yahoo not supported, but this seems odd - any help????

#1 - The phone cannot tell the difference between landscape and portrait while it is sitting horizontally on a desk/table. you have effectively defeated the orientation of the device by laying it flat. pick it up in your hand to resolve the orientation or angle it upwards.

#2 - not sure by what you mean by lock. do you mean that it will suddenly become unresponsive to your touch? sometimes a reboot will clear that up, but alot of times, it's a bad application or a process that is resource intensive that is causing your phone not to respond. either wait it out or uninstall applications that modify things like your home screen.

#3 - i had this happen on my first droid. i had to do a battery pull to get it to turn back on. i ended up replacing the device because of it.

#4 - if you drop out of 3G coverage, the DROID has a difficult time with data transfers. make sure you're in 3G with a good signal and update your PRL with #228.

#5 - not sure what #5 relates to, but it's not related to #1.

my advice is to try a factory reset and start over. be conscious of the apps you install and observe the behavior. if all else fails, take it in for an exchange.

 

[RW-1]

Yes, if you look at it flat, you got a 50/50 chance on how it will display, not an issue with the phone at all in that reguard.

I've found I love my dock, can use it like a mini laptop hehehe ....

 

[baruch]

1. my home screen appears to be overly sensitive, which i have labeled as being "Unstable". for example: when have Droid laying flat vertically on my desk, & touch the settings icon, the next screen may come up in the horizontal (landscape) view without me touching, or picking up, etc...!!?? this happens quite frequently & is somewhat aggravating. like to find out of this is normal, or a software issue, or a hardware problem???
2. i have had my screen "lock" several times - had to turn off to unfreeze; again, is this software issue?
3. would not come out of its "sleep" mode? left home, tried to turn on, would not, arrived at office & plugged in --> only then did phone turn on, & i still had a 30% charge remaining?????
4. several times unable to connect to the web to either browse or view emails. called Verizon, no help, & lame explanation. naturally, only happens when necessary to view; never happens when casually browsing. anyway, have others experienced browsing problems???
5. as per issue #1 above, many times when i remove droid from pocket, instead of the home screen, will see the calculator screen!!?? which as u know, have to touch gray button, then have to touch the calculator icon to have that screen; so, why would this screen appear without going through this process???

assume both (1) & (2) & (5) issues related??? (4) connection issue, (3) tied in to separate issue. would prefer not to exchange for another phone, if the above are known issues & will be addressed, because (obviously) will have same issues with a new Droid. on the other hand, i may have a "bad" phone - it happens.

another issue away from Droid SW/HW; when go thru Yahoo web site to reach yahoo mail, when open a message & reply to, using touch keyboard, a cursor does not appear, so when make a mistake have to use delete button to go all the ay back to the error instead of being able to place finger at the error to correct????? aware yahoo not supported, but this seems odd - any help????

#1 - The phone cannot tell the difference between landscape and portrait while it is sitting horizontally on a desk/table. you have effectively defeated the orientation of the device by laying it flat. pick it up in your hand to resolve the orientation or angle it upwards.

#2 - not sure by what you mean by lock. do you mean that it will suddenly become unresponsive to your touch? sometimes a reboot will clear that up, but alot of times, it's a bad application or a process that is resource intensive that is causing your phone not to respond. either wait it out or uninstall applications that modify things like your home screen.

#3 - i had this happen on my first droid. i had to do a battery pull to get it to turn back on. i ended up replacing the device because of it.

#4 - if you drop out of 3G coverage, the DROID has a difficult time with data transfers. make sure you're in 3G with a good signal and update your PRL with #228.

#5 - not sure what #5 relates to, but it's not related to #1.

my advice is to try a factory reset and start over. be conscious of the apps you install and observe the behavior. if all else fails, take it in for an exchange.

great forum & again much appreciated:
1. as per the above responses, "seems" like this issue has to do with the phone's accelerator; & therefore, is very "sensitive" which now sounds like this experience may be 'normal'(??)
2. thx for clarifying, i.e., "unresponsive to my/the touch" which, the way u explain, sounds like a solvable situation without exchanging (again, ??)
3. only happened once (so far); looks like i should monitor to determine if warrant an exchange. doesn't appear to be an explanation. when i plugged in battery charger, did still have a 30% charge left, so this could be the one issue that would lead to an exchange.
4. i had recently done a *228, opt 2, but will do again to see if solves browser connection article. live in Manhattan, & generally don't get the 3G Network, 1xRTT takes forever.....
5. this issue seems to be a true mystery & difficult to explain. could explain by 'accidentally' hitting 1 of the buttons at button; HOWEVER, in that the home screen reverts to the calculator screen - that requires a couple of different steps, so the "hitting button" concept doesn't make sense. sort of like having a "floating" screen for lack of a better description.

know the droid not perfect, & i'm sure each phone will have issues, i'm just trying to determine "IF" the issues i have experienced warrant an exchange - or - issues that will always be encountered?????

 

[640k]

1x is your biggest problem. use wifi where you can. DROID and 1x don't get along. i've had both the browser and the market tell me there was no internet because of 1x speeds.

 

[baruch]

re: the above 5 issues i posted, thx to all to replied - very helpful!! of the 5, seems like (1) was answered - accelerometer effect. (4) browser issue probably need to do another *228. issue (2) seems to involve a reboot & has only happened twice. so now down to basically "screen" issues (3) & (5). issue (3) has only happened a couple of times, so hopefully was addressed with the update; therefore, left with this issue of the moving screen?? possible, inadvertantly touching a sensitive button? but leaves unexplained how it "rotates" over to this calculator screen, as well as sometimes will see the quick search box history with the touch screen keyboard appearing!!!??? is this as a result of a very sensitive screen - or - is my Droid a LEMON???