Got my Sprint Mogul a couple of days ago and having a tough time with the keyboard backlight not working.
I've done my searching and found that some people got their keyboard backlight to work by unchecking the option in Settings->Buttons->Backlight.
This didn't work for me.
Some people recommended just hitting a few keys and the backlight should work.
This didn't work for me either.
I'm looking at what just may be bad hardware and will have to replace the phone. That keyboard is damn hard to see in even the best low-light conditions. Forget about typing in the dark.
Does anyone know of methods that will force the keyboard to turn on so that I can test it?
unchecking the auto sensor option like you did should force it to come on whenever the keyboard is out, if it doesnt come on within a few seconds of sliding out id say get a replacement phone
I agree with defaultdotxbe...if unchecking the autosensor box isn't forcing it to be always on, I'd be worried.
I've left the autosensor activated, and my keyboard light works, but I must admit that it sometimes doesn't go on when I think it should. The sensor seems to be calibrated so that it has got to be pretty dark for the silly thing to decide to light up!
Having said that, someone on one of these forums came up with a pretty neat trick. If know I want to force the keyboard to be lit, I just slide it out about a quarter of an inch. The sensor is still hidden under the body of the phone at this point, and it thinks it's completely in the dark. The keyboard always lights up at that point. Once it's lit, then I slide the keyboard out the rest of the way. Brilliant, huh? You might wanna try that just to see if it makes any difference.
Good luck!
Thanks, peeps. I had the same problem with the keyboard light and was getting extremely frustrated. I tried the sensor trick (opening the keyboard 1/4) and, viola, it worked!
Walrus44
I also had the problem and after lots of searching I found out it was because I had the screen backlight turned all the way down. I moved it up to the first notch and now it works just fine even with the sensor.
Walrus44 said:
Thanks, peeps. I had the same problem with the keyboard light and was getting extremely frustrated. I tried the sensor trick (opening the keyboard 1/4) and, viola, it worked!
Walrus44
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This trick also fixes the orientation issues when turning on and it is in landscape rather than portrait.
Related
Hi,
I got my Orange SPV M3100 on Friday and already i've noticed what i think is a hardware fault. Not a big fault and i totally love the phone (Skype over wifi an encrypted connection works perfectly), but i'm worried as the phone is only a day old.
The first few times i opened the slide out keyboard I thought i noticed a nice blue keybourd backlight come on. I say thought as i can't find any reference to it in the manual. However whatever i now do, i can't get it to come back on. I've installed a few applications, but i doubt they would have caused it to stop working.
I don't suppose anyone else out there could tell me under what situations the backlight should come on (or if one exists), so that i can test it, and if it doesn't come on, i can phone up and get a replacement sent out. Its not a big problem and i can still use the phone, but you don't expect hardware to die after only a day.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Neil
there's a small hole in the top right of the keyboard. This is a light sensor. So, if light's on your keyboar led will be off, and if it's dark your keyboar led will be on.
you have to press a button too before it comes on iv found.
there is a setting for it as well somewhere to turn it on
Thanks for the advice guys, but the keyboard still doesn't light up if i open an application that asks for text to be entered and then slide out the keyboard in the dark and then press a key. Looks like my light sensor has died. I've just phoned Orange and they are sending me a replacement for between 6 and 10pm today (what fantastic service!).
Same issue over here
Hello I am experiencing the same problem over here.
It worked for the person who sold it to me and now it does not anymore.
Do you know if this is an HW or SW issue ?
Any other cases around?
TX
seems I have the same problem. i'm on orange and the light was working now it doesn't.
EDIT: no i dont have a problem. I went into a dark dark room and then typed something and it worked. if i cover over the "light sensor" with my finger and press a button, it doesnt work.
Indeed
Indeed I had a wrong interpretation of the function of the sensor:
The sensor works in the following way:
If it is dark AND there's a key pressed AND the setting in "Settings" is set to enable sensor THEN keyboard backlight is turned on if no light in evironment.
If the setting in "Settings" is set to enable sensor THEN keyboard backlight is turned on AS SOONS AS you press a key.
A little dumb from my point of view: if I slide the keyboard in the dark, is it to look at it in the obscurity? The simple sliding should turn it on by night.
luke.a.jones said:
you have to press a button too before it comes on iv found.
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I've noticed that the backlight on mine (Vario 2, it's a red backlight... urgh) doesn't come on all the time if it's dark or dusk-level, which is really annoying. Sometimes hitting the tab key brings it into life, but sometimes it just doesn't come on at all.
One of those 'temperamental', 'great idea in theory' designs methinks.
I also found out that if the turning screen backlight off on inactivity is disabled, then every time I slide out the keyboard, its backlight is turned on.
This is really srtange. I thought that when improving a device engineers are supposed to take the good and add more features rather than remove essential features. I had a Cingular 8125 which was replaced by 8535. The Softkeys on hte 8125 are Backlit so itis easy to see in the dark, while on the 8525 the Softkeys no longer have any backlighting. The only keys that are Backlit on the 8525 are the Phone On(Green) and Off(Red) keys. Called Cingular Data Devices Support and they said that the keys are supposed to be backlit. But when I called HTC they said that the keys are painted. It is nice to know that Cingular is on top of this. Even their Technical people don't know!!! WOW amazing. While on the subject of Backlighting, the keyboard on the 8125 has better lighting as the numbers were lit in Red and the letter were lit in White. On 8525 everything is Blue, really hard to figure out. Maybe someone out there has an explanation for all this.
The keyboard definitely has a backlight on all the keys. What you may be experiencing is that the device comes defaulted with the keyboard only kicking on the backlight based on a 'light sensor'. I've disabled this sensor in the 'settings...buttons...backlight...(uncheck the box) on "enable keyboard backlight auto sensor". I found that even in dark settings the backlight sensor would not kick on the keyboard backlight properly so now the keyboard automatically lights up by just touching a key on the keyboard. Hope that helps!
The Softkeys don't have any Backlight!!!
My main issue is that why does the 8525 not have any backlight on the Softkeys (on the front of the phone, around the D-pad)???
Sorry...I too do not have backlights on those keys but hadn't really missed it since I mostly access those by feel.
dwcliff703 said:
the device comes defaulted with the keyboard only kicking on the backlight based on a 'light sensor'. I've disabled this sensor in the 'settings...buttons...backlight...(uncheck the box) on "enable keyboard backlight auto sensor".
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No fair...the 8525 doesn't give this option.
It's the 8525 that does give these options. The 8125 doesn't.
dwcliff703 said:
It's the 8525 that does give these options. The 8125 doesn't.
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Sorry, looked in the wrong spot. I found it! As for the 8125, it doesn't even have the light sensor, let alone the option to enable one.
dwcliff703 said:
The keyboard definitely has a backlight on all the keys. What you may be experiencing is that the device comes defaulted with the keyboard only kicking on the backlight based on a 'light sensor'. I've disabled this sensor in the 'settings...buttons...backlight...(uncheck the box) on "enable keyboard backlight auto sensor". I found that even in dark settings the backlight sensor would not kick on the keyboard backlight properly so now the keyboard automatically lights up by just touching a key on the keyboard. Hope that helps!
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Thanks for the tip... I was read to throw it out untill I read this
Thanks
Thanks dwcliff703 for your post, even though it was a while ago! I thought my keyboard button detector thingy was messed up or something and didn't know why it worked some of the time!
I have a new Sprint Mogul with the latest rom update. Every time that i slide to access the keyboard, there is a 1-2 second delay before the backlight illuminates. I unchecked the backlight sensor and no resolve. What happens is that the phone rotates the screen first and once that is completed, then the backlight turns on. This can be proven by pressing the screen rotate button on the htc home icon. If the phone is already in landscape mode, then the backlight has no delay. Is there a way that this can be modified to decrease the delay. Maybe have the light turn on first, then have the screen rotate to landscape?
now this would be nice...i feel like i switch to landscape and then wait to type anything. i looked around and couldnt find anything myself but hopefully someone can find something
Good question.....I'm interested too as that delay annoys the crap out of me, especially at night.
If you flip open your 6800 keyboard and take a look at the top of the keyboard between the Function LED and the right soft key you'll see a white circle. That's a light sensor. That's whats responsible for deciding if the keybpard backlight comes on or not. It takes one second to engage though. There may be some kind of registry edit but otherwise I don't know of anyway to adjust the delay.
-Adam
k3an said:
If you flip open your 6800 keyboard and take a look at the top of the keyboard between the Function LED and the right soft key you'll see a white circle. That's a light sensor. That's whats responsible for deciding if the keybpard backlight comes on or not. It takes one second to engage though. There may be some kind of registry edit but otherwise I don't know of anyway to adjust the delay.
-Adam
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I have that sensor turned off, because that makes the delay even longer sometimes.
the sensor doesn't work, it's well documented in these forums.
I was wondering if there's a app that allows the screen to turn off when you put the phone to you head? Then when you bring it out and in front of you, it turns back on. My Iphone did that and I loved that feature.
upping cause i'm intersted too
im believe this feature on the iphone is provided by a proximity sensor, you can probable do this with the light sensor but it would only work in the day time bc at night the screen would always be off...
not unless you use the gsensor too? i think if you work with the light sensor and the gsensor..you can get it to work. maybe have it only work when theres a active call.
This is an extremely good idea!
now if I was only a programmer
i'd love to see this feature on my diamond/blackstone too, i always have problems with the cursor jumping somewhere else when taking a note while in call...
theres already a thread about that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=451456
sweet. thanks
I really love that fuction on iPhone as well. I found some program that can adjust the Light Sensor to dim the back light as you want. I never try it but surely not work in the dark. If any news on this issue, pls advise!!
I think the g-sensor is the answer, off course in combination with light sensor. If someone could make an app that would turn off the backlight during an active call AND when phone is in vertical position; this could resolve difficulties with light sensor.
aonavy said:
I was wondering if there's a app that allows the screen to turn off when you put the phone to you head? Then when you bring it out and in front of you, it turns back on. My Iphone did that and I loved that feature.
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There are a couple out there that attempt to solve the same problem the iPhone does.
One I know of is Touchlock Pro - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444215
It is free but it still has a little way to go before it is a polished solution
The other is PocketShield -- http://www.pocketshield.net/
It's not free but I found it so effective for the in-call problem as well as general locking/unlocking that it was worth paying for
I've also, as a developer by trade, played with the light sensor, g-sensor, and stylus sensor APIs and tried to create a basic proof of concept that solved just the in-call problem very well and found that without the approach taken by Pocketshield it just was not reliable enough for me.
fireweed said:
There are a couple out there that attempt to solve the same problem the iPhone does.
One I know of is Touchlock Pro - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444215
It is free but it still has a little way to go before it is a polished solution
The other is PocketShield -- http://www.pocketshield.net/
It's not free but I found it so effective for the in-call problem as well as general locking/unlocking that it was worth paying for
I've also, as a developer by trade, played with the light sensor, g-sensor, and stylus sensor APIs and tried to create a basic proof of concept that solved just the in-call problem very well and found that without the approach taken by Pocketshield it just was not reliable enough for me.
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All these programms are great software but are nowhere near the iphone solution... like i already said, the problem is e.g. that if you are on the phone and the person on the other end tells you a phonenumber you need to write down - the cursor always jumps to somewhere else as soon as you put your phone back to your ear (and then take it away again ofcourse to continue to notice the number).
ive messed with those apps before with no luch for what i was looking for. Simple app...JUST for incall and end call. light goesout..then comes back in. those other apps are pretty detaild
pitchbend said:
All these programms are great software but are nowhere near the iphone solution...
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Very true, but unfortunately this hardware does not have the same sensor as the iPhone so you can only fake it so much.
I'd love to see this developed as well. But just wondering as some have mentioned using the gsensor; what if your laying down using the phone?
any developers out there. this would be awsome. make it simple. only works when the phone is in call. the gsensor sensing the phone from 0-45 degrees and only 0-5% light. seems sorta simple when u look at it like that.
hey everyone. My HTC Touch Pro came with this functionality out of the box. And i really don't like it at all. I think the difference to the iphone is that the screen does not turn back on until the power button is pressed.
millab said:
hey everyone. My HTC Touch Pro came with this functionality out of the box. And i really don't like it at all. I think the difference to the iphone is that the screen does not turn back on until the power button is pressed.
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My diamond does this already?
mine didnt. very weird.
For what it's worth, S2U2 v.1.42 has an option called "blank screen on call" which essentially disables the touch screen and makes it turn off when a call is connected (both sent and received). To get the screen to turn back on, simply press any hardware button. (Note though that pressing the END button while on a call will end the call as well as turning on the screen.)
I've found this feature to be VERY useful and figured it's as close as we're going to get for the time being .
Does anyone find it annoying that the bootom back, home and search keys do not stay lit up?
I've been looking for a setting that would at least allow it to be dimmed but thats been a no go. I just find it hard to find the buttons with no visual cue nor any physical at that, It almost feels as if Im guessing the location.
epidemike said:
Does anyone find it annoying that the bootom back, home and search keys do not stay lit up?
I've been looking for a setting that would at least allow it to be dimmed but thats been a no go. I just find it hard to find the buttons with no visual cue nor any physical at that, It almost feels as if Im guessing the location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine don't stay lit up. But coming from a Samsung Fascinate which also has lighting time-out issues, I just sort of waved my hands at it...
They will light back up once you touch one, so you could just run your finger over the search key since that has the least chance of knocking you out of wherever you are...
I never have problems finding the buttons at night. I actually like that they turn off. Makes the phone look cleaner if your using it in the dark.
KonAitor said:
I never have problems finding the buttons at night. I actually like that they turn off. Makes the phone look cleaner if your using it in the dark.
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Agree, I've not had an issue finding them when not lit either. Doesn't bother me at all.
The keys lot staying lit is a Samsung thing. They do the same on the Galaxy S phones like the Epic, Captivate. It was annoying on those phones and yes it is annoying on this phone as well. Yes I agree they should be lit all on the time.
-McMex
They are spaced far enough apart so being lit isn't that big of deal for me but I wouldn't mind seeing them lit.
I like that they aren't lit all the time.