HTC Desire Proximity Sensor Problem
December 21st, 2010My Desire is 6 months old, not rooted and has Android 2.2 installed. Just recently the proximity sensor has issues, it seems that it only detects very bright light so is useless indoors (or in grey Danish winter).
Basically the sensor should detect when I make a call and hold the phone to my ear and then turn off the screen, it should turn back on when I remove it from my ear.
In reality as soon as I start a call the screen goes blank and it never turns back on. I’m unable to hang up the call or press any buttons during the call. Only after the call is ended by the other party does the screen turn back on, and then it takes about a minutes after the call ends to do this.
If I insert the charger, headphone jack or hold the phone to a very bright lamp the screen turns on so it seems to be a software issue as the sensor does work, it’s just the sensitivity is totally out of calibration.
I contacted HTC who suggested a hard reset, which I did, but the problem still exists so after the New Year I think I’ll have to send it for repair.
It’s a shame, I really like the phone but this issue makes it useless for phone calls right now.
The issue seems to affect a few people and there’s a thread on the HTC community forum.
Update – I found a stupidly easy fix. Just blow between the screen and the ear piece. It looks like there is no gap but it blows dust out of the sensor. HTC needs to seal the screen better to stop this.
The fix came from this tweet.
December 22nd, 2010 at 9:06 am
hello! I have the same problem but my htc Desire has a week old!
Assistance has also told me to do a hard reset but nothing has changed.
So I contacted support again and I’m waiting for another response.
February 26th, 2011 at 1:44 am
Hello,
I found root cause of this problem;-)
Proximity sensor have two part- one is infra red emiter (TX), and another is IR sensor (RX). Inside arround sensor you will see glossy metal parts and little gap in plastic bariere between this two parts. Solution is: use dark isolating tape and cover glossy metal parts and fill gap between plastic and metal. After this modification all will works fine!
(Because glossy metal parts inside happends multi reflection and sensor is blinded with near IR emitter)
balki (croatia)
February 28th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Hi balki,
sounds like it could be the issue but I think I’ll get mine fixed under warranty rather than pull it apart myself!
My problem fixes itself for a while but comes back again very soon and it’s very annoying when you can’t end a phone call.
March 1st, 2011 at 11:11 pm
I had same problem with proximity sensor and thanks to balki’s advice I was able to fix it!!! Thanks man, I owe you a beer!!
March 6th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
[...] writing about this problem and seeing that the fix I thought worked didn’t really I decided to return my [...]
April 17th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Worked a treat, thank you so much for the information.
April 20th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
@balki
I have the same sencor problem, can you upload a picture of the solution (black tape) ?
May 6th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
The is a useful app called AndroSensor that lets you see the output readings from each sensor on your phone. I used this to confirm that the problem is with the proximity sensor.
June 16th, 2011 at 9:14 am
It seems that my problem is with the silicon screen protector. The edge of this protector is half way into the front of the IR sensor. As it has life time warranty I will ask at the shop where I bought it to replace it or change it.
June 16th, 2011 at 11:49 am
I took mine back for a second time to be fixed and it was caused by dust in the sensor. They’ve cleaned the dust out and I’ve never had a problem since.
It’s just annoying that dust was able to get in the sensor in the first place.
August 22nd, 2011 at 5:21 pm
I have the same problem. Do I need to remove the Torx screws to get at the glossy metal parts. I cannot see them when I just take the back off the phone.
August 23rd, 2011 at 12:06 am
I have the same problem. Do I need to remove the torx screws to get at the glossy metal parts. I cannot see them when I remove the back cover.
September 26th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
I have no idea since mine was still under warranty so it was repaired by the operator.
October 21st, 2011 at 3:39 am
Worked like a charm! Thanks so much.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
is there any picture or video showing how to fix this sensor issue
it really annoying me pls any way to show us how to fix it
am afraid i would break something instead fixing it
i waited so much to see a solution :(