Related
HTC advertizes the x7501's weight to be 359gr, with battery. Is this weight with the keyboard included too ?
How much does the keyboard weigh ?
Thanks.
on my old kitchen scales I get 375 with the KB and 300 without it, my scales are hardly precisely callibrated though.
This is very interesting, if correct.
Assuming one does not want to carry the keyboard, then the Athena's weight becomes similar to a HTC TILT with a leather case (those leather cases, even those with minimalist design, are ~100 grams, and the TILT is another 190 grams, so it totals to 290 grams).
So assuming you can carry the Athena inside a large pants pocket without a case and keyboard...
(just thinking whether I should get into the Athena).
it's a fab phone and I love it, but it is huge and 1 handed operation is out of the question, so texting on the move is a chore.
You have to use a bluetooth headset because talking directly into the device is unfeasible, and now im looking a getting one of those bluetooth vibing watches to let me know who/when is calling, as it is awkward to get it out your pocket and open it up to screen your calls, and it has no vibrate function.
I agree the HTC 7500/7501 is an awesome phone. Although big its pretty manageable. What some ppl don't know is (I found this out by accident) if you get a "Good" cover for it it will have a small clear cutout where you can see who is calling and other info through the clear plastic of the keyboard. You cant see this with the factory HTC cover but an aftermarket one will...TJ
One handed operation
I have acheived a sort of one-handed operation - I have a Peil Frama case now (cases.com offered them for about US$85).
I have small hands, and in a pinch can stick my right hand/fingers between the case and the unit and can operate it in portrait mode with my thumb, everything except the camera button. if I need to operate the joystick, I have to pre-position my hand for it and then can't reach the commMgr, IE, & power key. It's not terrbly stable, but I can do it in a pinch if I really need to.
Side note: I was having trouble keeping the unit sliding up the unit with the keyboard attached, so I coated the inside (just where, and entirely where the actual unit is, so you can't see any of the gluey-ness while the unit is in it; I still have trouble making sure the case doesn't get stuck to itself when I take the unit out of it, and it's hard to put in and take out, but it's worth it to me, and removeable with some friction- it's rubber cement. It helps my hand stay in, too.
I'm thinking about designing and making a case with a hand strap so that units like this could be one-handed. Would anyone be interested if I could get it to a saleable standard?
So I am planning getting a Touch Pro when AT&T releases it (soon). I will greatly miss the tilting screen on my Tilt, but perhaps the TV output on the Touch Pro will more than make up for it.
I am thinking about getting some "Virtual Reality" glasses, and connecting them to the tv output on the Touch Pro.
which glasses are the cheapest/best? I was hoping to find some I could see thru while I wear them if possible, so I could still see the world around me (and not miss my stop on the train).
Also- can you charge the phone while you simultaneously use the tv output? This could be great for using at work.
Good question. I remember seeing something about some that were transparent and could do overlays, which looked kinda cool.
I am just gutted that the raph does not have an electronic compass (Like the Nokia 6210), else we could have full Augmented Reality.
Electronic compass + GPS + orientation sensors = Full outdoor AR...
Camera optional if you had glasses that could do transparent overlay.
Look at a company called "Myvu". They make an assortment of HMD's, one variety being a "shade" version. These require you to look down a little bit to see the screen but you can still see straight ahead through sunglass lenses.
Personally, I am looking to buy a pair from Vuzix, mainly because they have the option of adding a light shade that makes you feel more isolated.
Basically, the phone screen is unresponsive when your not holding it or any time it's not grounded. If I put it in the car holder and then touch the screen, its very sporadic. I have compared it with the droid eris and the Moto Droid under the same conditions at the same time, and it performs flawlessly. I have tried the incredible with the screen protector and without. If I take it out of the dock and hold the phone in my hand, it works great again. It's not just the car dock either. If I set it on certain surfaces and just touch it with one finger it does the same thing.
The car dock itself has nothing to do with it. I've narrowed it down to a grounding issue. I've also tested 3 Incredibles and ALL of them do it. I am going to post another video showing it on top of a piece of styrofoam which also creates the problem. It's definitely more widespread then just a few phones. Basically, If the phone has very little ground it is unresponsive. If you ground it, either by holding it or placing it on a surface that is grounded then it solves the problem. If you plug anything into it that is grounded it solves the problem.
Here is a new video on different surfaces. It's not a car dock issue. If it is some static issue as some are saying, it works great on a eris, or a moto droid so it's not capacitive screen in general.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL6sLW7Ll0E
The Car Dock one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKc1_wG0zg
My goal for this thread, (now that I see it is happening to a lot of phones) is too get enough info out there so that other people can effectively recreate this problem on their phones. With enough people, I am hoping HTC or Verizon can offer a fix not just a work around.
UPDATE 5-17-10
I received 2 replacement Incredibles from Verizon. Both phones respond in the same way as the original. I called verizon, and they said "they are compiling a list of problems to send to HTC and they will add this one to the list". Hopefully the rep that I spoke with wasn't just trying to shut me up. I don't know... Anyway, Here is the last video I am going to do on the topic. In this I wanted to clearly show the following:
- It is not a "Capacitive" screen issue in general (MOTO Droid, and Eris are fine)
- It is a MASS DEFECT of this phone. (I am not saying ALL phones)
I am going to forward this message and the video to HTC. I will post the response. Here is the link to the new video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQRgT3gtmsI
not the same as yours but i have a similar issue. i ordered a few usb wall plugs from monoprice. whenever i use one of the usb wall plugs to charge, the touch screen is unresponsive. The volume rocker and power buttons, but the screen and bottom row of buttons dont work. Using the factory usb wall plugs everything works fine.
igl007 said:
I have searched for someone having this problem and haven't found anything yet. So I apologize if I missed it somewhere. It's one of those problems that is difficult to recreate ALL the time so that's not making it any easier.
Basically, the phone screen is unresponsive when your not holding it. If I put it in the car holder and then touch the screen, its very sporadic. I have compared it with the droid eris under the same conditions at the same time, and it performs flawlessly. I have tried the incredible with the screen protector and without. If I take it out of the dock and hold the phone in my hand, it works great again. It's not just the car dock either. If I set it on the table and just touch it with one finger it does the same thing, However when it's on the table it's much less consistent to create the problem. Has anyone heard of this? My wife has the incredible also, and it's doing the same thing in her car. Did we just get a bad batch of phones? Is this screen just crappy under those conditions? It would make this a totally useless phone if i can't use it in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had a capacitive touchscreen phone, so I don't know for sure; but maybe it has something to do with the relative capacitance. When you have one hand on the back and then touch the screen, maybe it senses a greater variance in the capacitance. If it's on the table or in your car cradle, maybe the variance in capacitance isn't great enough to register a touch. I'm not familiar with Android either, but maybe you can adjust the sensitivity? Just like those touch lamps, capacitive sensors are triggered by a relative change in capacitance and if it's not greater than the preset threshold, it doesn't register that you touched it.
Just an idea... again, I'm not really sure. I'm only lurking around in these forums because I have an Incredible on order. I'm just throwing some odd ideas out there. Good luck!
It is the type of charger/how you are using it! I had this issue. I could plug in via the provided charger and it would work. But I went on a trip and hadn't purchased a car charger yet so I grabbed my laptop ac/dc converter and plugged in the provided charger through it and my phone became unresponsive. If I plug it in the wall presto it works. The new car charger works as well!
I am sure it has something to do with the voltage being released through the charger.
Here are a couple of video's I did on the topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKc1_wG0zg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXB1MjYM5Ks
Me too
I'm also having the same issue and I am using the Verizon OEM Holster Mount Combo (Perfect fit for Incredible, no power).
I'll post over at PPCGeeks, and AndroidForums to see if we can find a fix.
jakewill
You have to use original charger ... it has voltage regulator and earth pin on the other end ... static should not travel on the screen otherwise it will do the same ..
Workarounds
I did find out that it is pretty easy to do the following:
1. Plug in either the charger or headphone jack. Either of those seems to ground it out enough... I also tried just clipping the headphone jack (metal part) into the clip part of the belt clip, and that worked, so there just needs to be SOMETHING else attached to the phone or mount that gives it more of a ground.
2. Just hold the sides (or just one side) with your thumb and ring finger while navigating with your index finger. That seems to do the trick.
Hope it helps.
jakewill
I'm not seeing this issue, but this can't be the real dock for the incr... which one are you using?
Capacitive screens become less responsive in the cold.... if it's in front of an A/C vent with it blaring, that could be the root cause.
syntrix said:
I'm not seeing this issue, but this can't be the real dock for the incr... which one are you using?
Capacitive screens become less responsive in the cold.... if it's in front of an A/C vent with it blaring, that could be the root cause.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The car dock has nothing to do with it actually. I've narrowed it down to a grounding issue. I've also tested 3 Incredibles and ALL of them do it. I am going to post another video showing it on top of a piece of styrofoam which also creates the problem. It's definitely more widespread then just a few phones. Basically, If the phone has very little ground it is unresponsive. If you ground it, either by holding it or placing it on a surface that is grounded then it solves the problem. If you plug anything into it that is grounded it solves the problem.
Updated the 1st post with a new video.
Same issues plus some new ones
I seem to have the same issues that were reported in the youtube videos because I have a similar car dock. I am also having the same issues as hoop762 as I also purchased the wall charger from monoprice. When I have it plugged in the touch screen does not work, the OEM charger works perfect. I also purchased the car charger from monoprice but that does not cause the same issues.
I have had another similar issue when I have it plugged into my car stereo via the audio jack and a male to male 3.5 cable. When it is plugged in and I try to listen to music withe the stock audio player it starts fast forwarding and skipping songs. If I pause the music then start it again it sometimes plays for a while but will then act a fool again. I had the same issue using pandora when it skipped songs until it I ran out of skips but i have not seen the issue in other programs. I have had this issue in and out of the car dock. I will add a video later if I can.
I replied to one of your videos (as tjowatonna)
"I have never noticed this issue on my Incredible and I just tested on a variety of surfaces using the Etherial Dialpad app (it's neat, check it out if you're a music nerd) to test and had no issues regardless of if it was placed on glass, plastic, cardboard, pillows. I didn't have any styrofoam to test."
Have you had anyone else try these tests on your phone? I'm just wondering if it's not something about your body that it doesn't like as much or that it likes more for people like me that can't reproduce this.
Again, there is no car dock specifically for the DI yet.
It looks like the edges of that generic dock have a big foamy area that might be very close to the screen.
It also looks like the phone/dock is touching the dash in the video.
I put mine on an anti-static bag on my workstation and tried to only use a finger. Everything worked just fine. I know you said you tried other areas with the same result. Do you have a screen protector on?
I'm just scratching my head here.
I can confirm this issue on my Incredible as well. For what it's worth, I have a Zagg shield on the screen, and I did *not* peel it off for testing.
In *any* situation where the phone is completely isolated from ground it seems to happen. I can reproduce the symptoms by setting the phone on a huge variety of surfaces or by placing it in my (plastic) car mount, and then trying to use it with just a single finger.
As has already been posted, touching the phone body even lightly with an additional finger while it is in this state (even one from same hand) will allow full responsiveness, as will any other sort of ground such as many cable connections. Also, the silicone case from Verizon can be installed or removed, and there is no difference either way.
I also just booted my old Hero (also has Zagg shield) to check its behavior and was unable to reproduce this, even with it sitting on a double folded rubber mat on top of a big pillow. It is 100% reproducible on my Incredible though.
So be it.
EDIT: In addition to the role that grounding clearly plays, static might be a factor too (as others have mentioned).
I tried my hardest to reproduce this affect and i was unable to. I have a new zagg screen protector i have not yet put on. I will add it and re-test again and post my results
** Update
I added on the Zagg Screen Protector and tested it again. I lost some responsiveness in general nothing still like has been demonstrated.
askwhy said:
I can confirm this issue on my Incredible as well. For what it's worth, I have a Zagg shield on the screen, and I did *not* peel it off for testing.
In *any* situation where the phone is completely isolated from ground it seems to happen. I can reproduce the symptoms by setting the phone on a huge variety of surfaces or by placing it in my (plastic) car mount, and then trying to use it with just a single finger.
As has already been posted, touching the phone body even lightly with an additional finger while it is in this state (even one from same hand) will allow full responsiveness, as will any other sort of ground such as many cable connections. Also, the silicone case from Verizon can be installed or removed, and there is no difference either way.
I also just booted my old Hero (also has Zagg shield) to check its behavior and was unable to reproduce this, even with it sitting on a double folded rubber mat on top of a big pillow. It is 100% reproducible on my Incredible though.
So be it.
EDIT: In addition to the role that grounding clearly plays, static might be a factor too (as others have mentioned).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for testing your phone and also trying it against another capacitive screen phone.
I talked to Verizon and they are sending 2 new Incredibles as both my phone and my wife's phone have the problem. I will report my results on tuesday...
aol8mydog said:
I've never had a capacitive touchscreen phone, so I don't know for sure; but maybe it has something to do with the relative capacitance. When you have one hand on the back and then touch the screen, maybe it senses a greater variance in the capacitance. If it's on the table or in your car cradle, maybe the variance in capacitance isn't great enough to register a touch. I'm not familiar with Android either, but maybe you can adjust the sensitivity? Just like those touch lamps, capacitive sensors are triggered by a relative change in capacitance and if it's not greater than the preset threshold, it doesn't register that you touched it.
Just an idea... again, I'm not really sure. I'm only lurking around in these forums because I have an Incredible on order. I'm just throwing some odd ideas out there. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I have my Incredible, I have the same issues. Fortunately, I don't use it in a car-dock very often but I do plan on occasionally using it that way. If Verizon or HTC doesn't come out with a fix, I may just see if I could find a soft rubber-like material that also conducts electricity to make a grounding pad with a wire connected to the vehicle's ground on the cradle/dock so the phone's back can make contact when docked.
Update in first post...
I ordered my device on launch day, and this thing has had none of the issues you have shown, I even put it on styrofoam just to try it all out, works flawlessly.
sorry for your bad luck.
im not sure if this is a widespread issue most most of us. as we are all using SHIELD for different forms of entertainment. but i have noticed that with running just about any game designed for digital input, the D-pad is almost useless.
let me explain:
when playing say, Super Mario World. 90% of the time you're always holding "right" on the D-pad because thats the direction of game play. but for some reason you have to REALLY try to only push on the right input of the D-pad. reason being the sensitivity of the D-pad is so strong the if you ever so slightly start to push "down" even in this slightest, Mario will duck and stop running... its sooo f&%$*ng annoying!
this problem is not limited to this game alone, obviously. but to test to see if i was over reacting i popped in the SNES cart in my SNES console (along with many other titles) and had no issues whatsoever with controls on my SNES controller.
then even to run more "tests" to see if i was going crazy i had my brother (also a "old school" gamer) try out my his favorite game Contra. for test purity i never mentioned my thoughts on the D-pad to him, but after 3min of playing he looked at me a said "is there any way you can adjust the sensitivity of the D-pad? on this thing?"
i even had my Mom try out her fav, Tetris and her thoughts were similar... input errors....
so i ether have a unit that has some sort of defect and im completely alone here on this forum? or maybe there are a few more of you out there with this same problem.
well i might just maybe have a solution...
here is the PCB for the shield:
here is the PCB of a SNES controller: (my favorite controller )
here is the mod im planing:
so for clarification, the RED is where i plan to paint over or shave down the conductive contact materal on the PCB. this should in theory make the contact area act more like the D-pad us old school gamers are familiar with. so instead of the contacts kind of "weaving" its more like the 1/2 circles contact patch seen on the button side of the PCB.
i feel this may be a pretty easy mod for most of us and there is already a handy teardown via ifixit:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nvidia+Shield+Teardown/16212/1
thought?
suggestions?
Sounds interesting.
I'd suggest starting with something non-permanent like cutting a piece of tape to size and using that first to make sure it does what you expect.
Also take a look at the d-pad contacts and make sure that those are large enough to still complete the circuit.
I don't actually own a shield but had the same issue with the xbox 360 controller and fighting games. Let us know if it actually works.
masterfud said:
Sounds interesting.
I'd suggest starting with something non-permanent like cutting a piece of tape to size and using that first to make sure it does what you expect.
Also take a look at the d-pad contacts and make sure that those are large enough to still complete the circuit.
I don't actually own a shield but had the same issue with the xbox 360 controller and fighting games. Let us know if it actually works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good points. the D-pad does move (or skate?) from side to side about 1/8-1/4" inside the housing. so id need to make sure the D-pad contact pad will still hit both sides of the PCB contacts at the furthest positions to complete the circuit.
i was thinking the paint might be better for the short term test, as tape might "smudge" out of the way during a heated game like streetfighter?
if the idea works id prob scrape away the unwanted conductive material (the lines marked in red) with a hobby knife for a more durable and permanent solution.
only thing im worried about is the pressure needed for circuit closing will change from having the contacts painted (raised up surface) vs taking down the unwanted material (lowered surface) when referenced to the actual contact material we are actually trying to hit. not sure if that is easy to explain without pictures.
Don't do it. Electronics hobbyist here.
Those buttons are a digital 0 or 1. No sensitivity there. The rubber mat underneath the keys simply contacts against both sets of PCB contacts to connect them. No resistance or capacitance readings occur, its either connected or not connected. Shaving the contacts probably wont change that very much. You want to inhibit the contact between PCB and rubber mat from occuring without increased force which your proposed hack wont do to a great extent.
The problem would be purely mechanical in nature, ie the exact way the buttons being mounted perhaps allowing for unintended wobble and as a result perhaps if you shift your thumb forwards and back a bit the rubber mats for the up and down arrows may well come into contact.
A better solution would be to adjust the height between the PCB and the rubber mat, not a simple task. Perhaps the underside of the buttons have some sort of plastic nub which if filed down a tiny amount might work and require a harder press to force the mat down, not sure. Not reversible though.
Or a very thing piece of sponge with 4 holes cut aligning with the PCB contact area (but ever so slightly smaller) would cause a greater force to be required on the buttons while still allowing the buttons to contact. I would sketch what I mean but my skills with drawing on a PC are non existent and I have neither a scanner or camera right now.
I would actually lean towards experimenting with the sponge method, actually inspired by me working my way through a tin of biscuits while playing Xbox one morning and getting crumbs in the controller, started to require alot more force on the A button to get it to work. Open the controller and biscuit crumbs were everywhere preventing the buttons moving properly. Sponge should have the same effect but reversibly and cheaply. Namely, take a kitchen sponge and cut it up a bit, 2mm thick sections perhaps. Kitchen sponges are cheap anyway, pretty sure I saw a 10 pack in a £1 store once, experiment to your hearts desire.
---------- Post added at 07:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 PM ----------
Come to think of it. If you put paint on the area in between the contacts then that may work.
Your not going to be able to reliably fix this without altering the feel of the buttons sadly. I think they should have gone for tactile switches on the DPad, they are generally perfect for this.
It is the DPad skate which I believe is causing this.
less permanent if you want to try it is white glue spread with a toothpick. you can wipe that off carefully with a bit of alcohol or water.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
Don't do it. Electronics hobbyist here.
Those buttons are a digital 0 or 1. No sensitivity there. The rubber mat underneath the keys simply contacts against both sets of PCB contacts to connect them. No resistance or capacitance readings occur, its either connected or not connected. Shaving the contacts probably wont change that very much. You want to inhibit the contact between PCB and rubber mat from occuring without increased force which your proposed hack wont do to a great extent.
The problem would be purely mechanical in nature, ie the exact way the buttons being mounted perhaps allowing for unintended wobble and as a result perhaps if you shift your thumb forwards and back a bit the rubber mats for the up and down arrows may well come into contact.
A better solution would be to adjust the height between the PCB and the rubber mat, not a simple task. Perhaps the underside of the buttons have some sort of plastic nub which if filed down a tiny amount might work and require a harder press to force the mat down, not sure. Not reversible though.
Or a very thing piece of sponge with 4 holes cut aligning with the PCB contact area (but ever so slightly smaller) would cause a greater force to be required on the buttons while still allowing the buttons to contact. I would sketch what I mean but my skills with drawing on a PC are non existent and I have neither a scanner or camera right now.
I would actually lean towards experimenting with the sponge method, actually inspired by me working my way through a tin of biscuits while playing Xbox one morning and getting crumbs in the controller, started to require alot more force on the A button to get it to work. Open the controller and biscuit crumbs were everywhere preventing the buttons moving properly. Sponge should have the same effect but reversibly and cheaply. Namely, take a kitchen sponge and cut it up a bit, 2mm thick sections perhaps. Kitchen sponges are cheap anyway, pretty sure I saw a 10 pack in a £1 store once, experiment to your hearts desire.
---------- Post added at 07:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 PM ----------
Come to think of it. If you put paint on the area in between the contacts then that may work.
Your not going to be able to reliably fix this without altering the feel of the buttons sadly. I think they should have gone for tactile switches on the DPad, they are generally perfect for this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you as well.
i am aware this is a "on / off" situation. but the weaving of the PCB contact material makes for a very light press to be needed for circut closing. (my sensitivity problem)
the "sponge method" is also something i thought about. i wanted to source some other D-pads from other controllers to try this but im not sure how a modded one would hold up to button mashing in the long run. so it would basically have to be almost identical dimensions to work.
ive been trying to source SHILED parts to experiment with. but the guy i was speaking with has family obligations tying him up right now. so...
i do really like the feel of the controller. they did a awesome job. but i just wish the PCB contact layout was identical to the NES/SNES controllers. as in with the a, b, x, y buttons being the more sensitive (weaved) contacts and the D-pad being the less sensitive 1/2 circle style once.
i wish i was just being picky here but i just flat out cant play any retro games in the current state. 15 years of muscle memory just doesn't go away.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
It is the DPad skate which I believe is causing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree. its a lot of movement...
i can center the D-pad and game play is much better for a few seconds till it moves again. in fairness, every D-pad (SNES, SEGA, Etc) does skate a little (except for PSX). the SHIELD is by far the one with the most movement.
for ppl not understanding what we mean by the D-pad "skate" here is a very crappy rez vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYj5-L02fiI&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1
s0me guy said:
i agree. its a lot of movement...
i can center the D-pad and game play is much better for a few seconds till it moves again. in fairness, every D-pad (SNES, SEGA, Etc) does skate a little (except for PSX). the SHIELD is by far the one with the most movement.
for ppl not understanding what we mean by the D-pad "skate" here is a very crappy rez vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYj5-L02fiI&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My PSP has quite a bit of DPad skate. But the centre point of the Dpad does seem to stay centred, it just seems to rotate on the spot if you know what I mean. It skates but it remains perfectly usable.
to stop the skate we could find (make?) rubber grommets to fit around the mounting holes for the screwdowns (yellow circles are the tips). they would act as sleeves or bumpers keeping the plastic D-pad assembly centered.
i have no idea where i would even look for a part like this... McMaster? lol
http://www.mcmaster.com/#rubber-bumper-spacers/=o6yfz8
That centre nub between the 4 screws. They should have made that larger or the hole in the rubber piece smaller so that they match size better. I reckon that the cause of the skate is that nub.
just realized i should probably stop brainstorming using the images from ifixit as a reference.
they could have quite possibly used a different pre production unit and it might be nothing like the final public retail units. i know there were a few different revisions along the way (D-pad included).
guess ill have to try to find time to tear this down over the weekend. i've been hesitating up until this point mostly because our 1mth old baby requires a lot of attention ( who would have thought? ).
id just hate to have this thing half taken apart get sidetracked and forget were i was... lol
i can easily see this mod taking up an entire saturday to get 100% working without a newborn.
oh yeah, this D-pad is really really ****ty...
delete..
MUCH BETTER! :victory:
now to fix the skate issue!
wow... it feels much better? so you DID it. nice! :good::laugh:
I want to try in once, too
david419kr said:
wow... it feels much better? so you DID it. nice! :good::laugh:
I want to try in once, too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea now its much more like the other D-pads im used to. (NES, SNES, N64, PSx, PS2, Gameboy, NDSlite)
i swapped the button diaphragms also. as the A B X Y button side Diaphragm has a small hold in the middle of it and it tends to minimise the "skate" issue.
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
all in all id say these mods made the D-Pad 100x better, but its still not perfect. i still make input errors all the time. but its nowhere near as bad as it was. the main issue thats still present is that the D-pad is acting like a rocker more than a switch. so when you press dead center on the "right" arrow on the D-pad the diaphragm on the "right" contact is pressed down 100% and the "up" & "down" contacts are pressed 75% down (almost touching but not making contact). but... it you ever so slightly press off of dead center on any arrow the contacts next to the one you're pressing end up touching. then your input becomes a 45deg. input instead of a 90deg one.
i honestly don't know how to fix this without designing a different bottom half of the D-pad assembly. my current idea is to take a D-pad from a Donor SNES controller (its dimensions are pretty close on the bottom side), grind off the "arrow pad" and attach the remaining bottom portion to the SHIELD's "arrow pad". since the SNES bottom part has more of a Dome shape than a flat one like the SHIELD it will have more bias to the direction your inputting and less Bias to the directions on either side of that direction.
descriptive pic coming soon
my main issues is right now everything i do is a MAJOR commitment because i have no access to Extra SHILED parts. if i mess up... well thats it... so...
hopefully the guy i was talking to about getting extra parts will get back to me soon. i also was talking with a guy who has a 3D printer that may be able to print the modded D-pad for us after its complete. :fingers-crossed:
also i might add that i used 2000grit sand paper to rough up the surfaces on the D-pad & buttons. the glossy-ness of them got very slippery after a few minutes of gaming as the finger oils build up.
they have WAY MORE grip now and the matte finish is much more appealing over the Gloss finish. :victory:
this has been already kind of talked about in a few other threads with users complaining of "screws falling out" but i would also would like to stress to anyone disassembling their SHIELD to be very very VERY careful with the threads. it seems about half my screws were slightly over tightened from the factory and i have some slight stripping going on.
the build up of plastic dust on the one screw in this pic is not something you want to see. as the less plastic there is in the threads, means the less "meat" the screw can grab on to. in-turn that means the less torque can be applied to fasten the 2 parts which can lead to movement and then internal ware... i may have to find slightly bigger screws then drill and tap all the holes...
Makes you wonder how this got past QA testing. I also have the same problem with a newly purchased Shield and it makes emulators difficult to use (unless you map stuff to the analog stick)
georaldc said:
Makes you wonder how this got past QA testing. I also have the same problem with a newly purchased Shield and it makes emulators difficult to use (unless you map stuff to the analog stick)
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emulators were probably not something they were heavily focused on and all the testers probably were more worried about "feel" than function. IMO if you are able to think about the controller during game play, its not made right.
i hate to sound like a whiny brat or something here but if i wanted a sub par experience i would have stuck a $40 Moga controller on my Galaxy S3 or somthing. i mean isn't the point of SHIELD to be a premium product for a Niche market? and isnt the controllers function the most important part of the "function" of SHIELD? sure nice screens and speakers are great and a part of the experience... but what does it matter if you cant play the the thing. you may as well use a GameKlip and android Phone.
its like driving a highend sports car on all season tires. all kinds of awesome engineering and power thats just frustrating to drive cuz you cant keep the thing on the road.
Hi. I have my nexus 6p for 2 days now, and I installed some racing games (NFS no limits, Asphalt 8), which I control using tilt controls (landscape mode).
At first I started to have a feeling, that the phone is unbalanced. I needed to tilt nexus more to upper side of phone to drive straight in game. Then I put the phone on flat surface (on the edge of table to eliminate disturbing effect of camera protrusion) and started the game. The car directly after the start of race (phone still on flat surface), started to steer, and it steers independently from phone landscape orientation, to the side of the bottom end of phone.
IS IT HW FAULT? Or it is normal and I have to calibrate the sensor. Is there any way how can I calibrate gyroscope on flat surface? Thank you in advance for your answers guys!
Really no one know how to solve my problem? I already tried clean reflash with factory image and it doesnt help.
Some of apps have they own gyroscope calibration option, but it doesnt work for the whole system, but only for that app.
Please guys help me.
Hi Predo, I got the same issue like you, I was just searching about this issue and this post came up, have you sent a feedback to google? Just hope they could give us an update to fix this and the speakers imbalance issue.
carzakone said:
Hi Predo, I got the same issue like you, I was just searching about this issue and this post came up, have you sent a feedback to google? Just hope they could give us an update to fix this and the speakers imbalance issue.
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No, I havent sent feedback to google. A lot of apps have their own calibration feature, so this bug/ HW fault? doesnt bothered me too much. But it would be nice to have a fixing update from google.
mr.pedro said:
Hi. I have my nexus 6p for 2 days now, and I installed some racing games (NFS no limits, Asphalt 8), which I control using tilt controls (landscape mode).
At first I started to have a feeling, that the phone is unbalanced. I needed to tilt nexus more to upper side of phone to drive straight in game. Then I put the phone on flat surface (on the edge of table to eliminate disturbing effect of camera protrusion) and started the game. The car directly after the start of race (phone still on flat surface), started to steer, and it steers independently from phone landscape orientation, to the side of the bottom end of phone.
IS IT HW FAULT? Or it is normal and I have to calibrate the sensor. Is there any way how can I calibrate gyroscope on flat surface? Thank you in advance for your answers guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are talking about the accelerometer...
in my case the gyro(rotation sensor) is off, updating to android n didn't fix it.
i hope a factory reset will force recalibrate this.
I really hate to mess with the RMA services in israel since its not google themselves.