HTC Droid Incredible Comes with Screen Issues? [How Responsive Is Your Droid Incredible’s Capacitive Touchsreen?]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Wednesday, 19. May 2010 under: Mobile/Cell Phones

It’s really incredible to hear that a phone like the HTC Droid Incredible has some potential issues. The smartphone is the current Verizon flagship handset and the best Android device available in stores right now. Well that’s not entirely true since Big Red doesn’t have enough stock to go around but you get the point.

To hear that the best Android smartphone, until the HTC EVO 4G hits the streets, has any kind of issues is pretty disturbing. But we’ve been there before, remember? The Google Nexus One, also an HTC creation, had and possibly still has, some kind of 3G issues which Google doesn’t want to try to fix anymore.

But the Droid Incredible has different problems. While 3G is apparently working fine, since nobody complained yet, the capacitive touchscreen display has some issues of its own which can render the phone unusable at certain times, as shown in the videos below.

I am a little harsh here, but bear with me! It is being reported that some users have had a hard time accessing the menus of the phone unless they were actually holding the device in their hands. That means that when driving, and thus placing the Droid Incredible in a car dock, the screen becomes unresponsive which is not a good thing.

Of course this is not a major problem since not all of you are going to use the Droid Incredible with a dock but it’s still annoying to hear that such a hot phone comes with minor flaws. The whole thing casts a shadow on the Droid Incredible but the issue is not a major one and will probably not affect sales.

Nevertheless we’ll be waiting to see if more users experience such problems and if HTC will acknowledge it and come out with a fix. Is it all just an electrical issue that can be solved?

We’ll be looking forward to hear your thoughts on the matter, Droid Incredible users! Let us know how your Droid Incredible is performing so far. And remember, don’t drink and/or text and drive!

Source

mitch
I have the incredible. Performed all tests but the styrofoam and everything worked fine. Not too concerned as I will probably not be setting my phone on styrofoam to use it. I would not be concerned with buying another. I already have two of them and may buy more for my kids.
Tapple (Kris)
I’ve tried the above issues with my Droid Incredible and only experienced minor issues of the screen sometimes loosing my finger. Not nearly as bad as whats shown here.
John
How many people will use this phone on styrofoam and keying while driving is dangerous and illegal in some states. These two “problems” are non-issues.
HowieDub
I’m wondering if that is just a precaution to prevent accidental dialing or usage if you have the phone in your pocket and you forget to lock the phone? I have friends who have touchscreen phones that have accidentally dialed me when the phone was in their pocket and have drained their phone’s battery because the phone was activated while in their pocket.
Tim
Yep. Had the same issue when mounting into my car cradle. Screen can be unresponsive. I found that if I pressed extra hard, the screen would react. Still love the device, but this is a strange little quirk.
Aaron
At first I thought it might be some type of intentional error to try to curb texting and driving. Maybe like they had figured most people use two hands to text and that is why when they drive and text they end up in accidents. I have been text and driving for 10 years. I have yet to get in an accident and I hope I never do. Although I type, look, type, look, type, look… Sorry for those who can’t do it, guess your brains are too simplistic to be able to drive and do chew gum at the same time. Seriously though, a lot of people should have their license taken away period.
Russ
Weird – stubmled across this site and saw your demonstration. Tried that with my incredible, and it works just fine. Mine came the day of release as a pre order directly from Big Red. Not quite sure why you are having these kind of issues, but it makes me happy mine is working OK!
Dustin
I don’t necessarily mind that. The first thought that came to my mind was that it makes sure YOU are taking it out of the lock screen instead of it, somehow, coming out of the locked screen in say, your pocket. Just a thought.
Andre
I’ve had my droid incredible since the day it was public, and I haven’t had a problem at all with it flat on any surface. After seeing this i even tried! But it still worked fine. Is it possible the problem is only on a select batch of phones? If I come across and problems that involve the faulty touchscreen I will remove this immediately, but I havent had this problem once! The only thing that i slightly dislike about the phone is that sometimes when you ture in sideways during a text, it takes about double the time an iphone does to change its orientation
Gurrg
Mine is working 100% on all surfaces including Styrofoam. What an odd error though.
Lamar
My HTC Incredible doesn’t do this. It’s perfectly responsive under the same conditions of the video. It was purchased about 2 weeks ago.
mark
If I had my way all cell phone features except for voice activation would be rendered useless in an auto unless the car is in ‘park’. Too many accidents happening while driving. So that being said, I don’t care if the Incredible doesn’t perform when not in the hand!
MJB
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for letting us know that you text and drive constantly, I’ll keep an eye out for you. Seriously though, it’s not a matter of having the “brain power” to accomplish texting and driving (most people can do this). It’s a matter of not being selfish and ignorant, and being able to put the safety and consideration of others first while using public roads. Driving requires your FULL attention in order to react to an unexpected situation, and even taking your eyes off the road for a half-second can have dire consequences. You’re right, there are a lot of people who need their licenses taken away. You’re one of them.
Molly
I just found this in my Incredible. I have had it since the first day of the release and not had any problems until now. I tested it on a table, carpet, my leg and it was ok. It had problems on a couch, but when you touch it on the side it works. I do not have the car stand for it, so I can’t test it, but was thinking of getting it-not any more :). Is there a fix for this? Or I guess I can just remember what surfaces it works on and to just hold it. Still a great phone with lots of great features. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else!!!
ray
the incredible has a proximity sensor. could this be the problem??? if so, there might be a setting to change sensitivity level??
Rob
I don’t have the Incredible as of yet but I plan on purchasing one. In my mind, this isn’t much of an issue at all, and will not change my decision regarding the phone. If anything I’ll look at this as some sort of strange safety feature.
And thanks MJB, you beat me to it. Aaron seems to consider getting away with texting while driving for 10 years without killing himself or worse, someone else, as an achievement. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve gotten away with it, 10 years or 20, it only takes one moment to make you regret it. I hope, Aaron, that it’s only you that ends up having to pay for your selfishness.
anthony
it seems that it is more succebtible to electro-magnetic flux. styrofoam, cloth,….etc all have static generation properties. especially styrofoam. having to touch the side of the device only interrupts the electro-magnetic field since your body, as well, has the same properties to some extent. you should try a test around high-power devices like, well anything that is internally capacited that would require some kind of voltage/ current step-down, or up, function. it could also be a feature instead of a flaw, being how it will most likely spend a lot of time in pockets, and will utilize that to keep it from being activated via the soft keys on the front, and likewise. FCC regulations say that the device must accept all interference from other sources, but must not interefere with those sources. Make sense?
Kevin
Well works perfect on all surfaces including Styrofoam. The only times it has been unresponsive is when my fingers are dirty.
Kevin
…Also, how can it be a grounding issue when the back is all plastic. I think this is fake and the guy is probably using his fingernail or something to touch the screen when he is on the styrofoam.
James
Why the hell would I want to use my device on styrofoam? Do you really have nothing better to do than find small and stupid “problems” on the Incredible? I’ve had my Incredible for 2 weeks now and I haven’t had any issues. Probably because my car and house aren’t made of styrofoam. Good luck with your “problem.” And Anthony, thats a good explanation.
Mario
I bought my Incredible when it just came out. Now i am having a very annoying problem with it. The home screen automatically changes all the time! It could just be sitting on a table, and it will randomly change screens. I heard it could be the joystick. Anyone else have this problem?
Mick
This is no bull. I stuck my Incredible in a windshield mounted holder this morning and it would not respond. That’s really all that needs to be said. I’m returning my Incredible to Verizon tonight.
waylon
This is not a new problem,blackberry storm users should be quite use to it. Storm phones react the same way. This is not a big issue. Got to run circles around this piece of!!!!storm.
KJ
I can barely use my phone because of this. It’s killing me. I sometimes cannot scroll and typing has become almost impossible.
I take very good care of my phone, too. I hope I don’t have to buy a whole new phone…
WazKazall
I have had this phone since.. October?
Only in the last two months have I been having problems. Mostly with the screen.
I just had screen problems while unlocking. At first, it was nonresponsive. Then whenever I moved the screen lock, it would just go down and not unlock. It made me really frustrated and I couldnt reply to my texts. I couldnt turn my phone off either, because you need to have the phone unlocked to do that. I searched HTC Incredible screen lock problems, and I noticed this site. Once I held the phone in my hand and held onto the side of the phone, I finally unlocked my phone after 20 minutes.
Thank you very much :\
beth
Hate Hate Hate my droid.. can’t dial at times.. all my contacts erased this weekend except for face book contact.. ohh my goodness off the the store i go.. ugg hate it hate it hate it .. type 3 numbers then it goes back to nothing… fails in dialing.. just sucks
jimmy
I only had this phone for six months and already is giving me problems. like vwhen i go send a picture text message to A friend or family a message will come up saying ” generic network failure and will not sent the message by texting word work fine this just really is not the best phone to buy!!!

HTC Droid Incredible Comes with Screen Issues? [How Responsive Is Your Droid Incredible’s Capacitive Touchsreen?]

You may also like:

Featured News

Breaking News

The TFTS Team