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For those of you who own it and use it often, the simple question is whether the placement of the power button gets in your way?
I am right-handed and thus hold tablets in my left hand to poke at it with my right hand. Since I don't own one yet, I haven't had much experience with day to day use and whether 'just grabbing it' often results in hitting the power button accidentally.
As well as whether when you have it in your lap or on something (backpack, lap, blanket, whatever) if the items underneath, assuming they are not perfectly flat, accidentally hit the power button as well.
My hope is that since I don't see many/any posts dedicated to the subject.. that it's good news and the power button isn't that big of a deal.
Thanks. Can't wait for the Wifi X (cause I missed the 25% off chance).
I have never accidentally hit the power button. I'm right handed too.
The biggest issue you may have with the buttons placement is when you have the device on a flat surface, it requires you to lift the top left of the Xoom to hit the button. Personally, this hasn't bothered me at all. I barely just have my device laying flat on a table, usually it rests in my lap or my hands.
But I can almost assure you, problems with accidentally hitting the button probably will not arise.
I do have a gel case on mine though, but i just took it off to test this for you:
Running my finger across the back of the Xoom with decent pressure still won't cause the button to be pushed in when my finger crosses it.
So resting it in your lap wouldn't cause an accidental push.
And if it does for whatever reason, a gel case would do good to counteract that since it makes the button deeper down. but the way its set up, you really should see no problem.
Agreed! I most of the time actually have to search for the button especially when using the trick to turn it upside-down when charging. I think the design is good and I agree that I hardly have it laying flat either since the viewing angles are mediocre
My beef is with the volume buttons. Too tiny. The power button is high enough that it avoids accidental contact with hand during one handed operation.
ZBoater said:
My beef is with the volume buttons. Too tiny. The power button is high enough that it avoids accidental contact with hand during one handed operation.
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Agree'd, it took me about this whole first week to get use to these volume buttons. They are kind of hard to press in depending on the angle you're coming at them, and the Case makes it harder because you're unsure when you're trying to hit the buttons it you're actually hitting the buttons because of the huge space between them.
I like it where it is. It's very convenient.
Couldn't be in a better place, very convenient, for me.
Evo Better Than The Best...
I have never accidentally pressed it, I actually like it's placement quite a bit, it makes sense for me because of where I hold the tablet from.
Elysian893 said:
I have never accidentally pressed it, I actually like it's placement quite a bit, it makes sense for me because of where I hold the tablet from.
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Same for me...right handed.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Thanks everyone.. the answers are what I expected.. just wanted to confirm. 19 votes at the moment and 100% of them say the power button location is just fine. Thanks again.
1st post here!!! Great forum BTW. No problems at all with hitting the power button by mistake. Xoom is a great device. Needs a little polishing, but all in all a great device!
I have never once hit it by accident. I've also never had any trouble pressing or finding it when I DID want to. After a day of getting used to it, it really is an extremely natural position to have it in.
Yes, the one inconvenience is if it's lying flat on a surface, and you intend on turning the screen on and then leaving it in that position. Really though, when is this ever going happen?
This is Android though. So if the ability to fully map one of the volume buttons (on the upper-left side of the xoom) to turn the screen on/off doesn't already exist (via an app or ROM), you can bet it will soon. I've seen forum threads with titles suggesting such an app already exists, but I've never looked for it myself bc I don't think it's necessary
Add me to the group that loves where its at
+1,
I like the location of the Power button and have never had issue.
As noted in another thread, I recently exchanged an A500 with bad Wi-Fi for one that works and, so far, it's much better. There is one thing I tested that failed and that's the reset button (yes, I found a screwdriver that was narrow enough to fit into the tiny hole).
When I push the screwdriver in I can feel it touch the button, the spring compress, and the button bottom out. However, nothing happens. I'm assuming it should simply immediately reboot but it doesn't. No matter if I hold the button down, push again and again, etc. Nothing.
So, is this a reason to return it again or should I just ignore it? The power button should always turn the device off by holding it down until it powers off, right? That should really be enough, no?
Just wondering. Thanks!
Return it, you paid for a full working unit. And tell them is your second unit and so be more careful sending you another tablet.
400 bucks is 400 bucks. money doesn't grow on trees.
qhorque said:
As noted in another thread, I recently exchanged an A500 with bad Wi-Fi for one that works and, so far, it's much better. There is one thing I tested that failed and that's the reset button (yes, I found a screwdriver that was narrow enough to fit into the tiny hole).
When I push the screwdriver in I can feel it touch the button, the spring compress, and the button bottom out. However, nothing happens. I'm assuming it should simply immediately reboot but it doesn't. No matter if I hold the button down, push again and again, etc. Nothing.
So, is this a reason to return it again or should I just ignore it? The power button should always turn the device off by holding it down until it powers off, right? That should really be enough, no?
Just wondering. Thanks!
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I would send back, can you feel the little click..?Sometimes just hard to hit.
I can feel a click but nothing happens. I don't want to push too hard though, if it's already broken, I guess it doesn't matter if I do!
So i've had my MyTouch 4G for over a year now and The hardware was fine (with the exception of a few scratches) until a few days ago. The lock button had gotten harder to press. I could still press it until last night, when the button was just locked into place and WOULD NOT press. I removed the rubbery outline the phone has to get under the button but even pressing that didnt work. I didn't spill anything on it or do anything that could physically harm the phone. Any ideas?
Sometimes the power switches fail. More ofter, their flex cables break. It's a common fault in Nexus One, for example, and far less common, but happens in other phones.
Also, it might be mechanical failure.
FAILHARD said:
So i've had my MyTouch 4G for over a year now and The hardware was fine (with the exception of a few scratches) until a few days ago. The lock button had gotten harder to press. I could still press it until last night, when the button was just locked into place and WOULD NOT press. I removed the rubbery outline the phone has to get under the button but even pressing that didnt work. I didn't spill anything on it or do anything that could physically harm the phone. Any ideas?
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I have a mt4g with the exact problem you are describing. What I have to do, & what you can do to get your phone on, is carefully pull back the black rubber as you said you have done, you will see a silver dot with a silver ring around it (it is VERY small) and take a piece of foil and touch the silver dot and ring simultaniously for about 2 seconds, and it will power on. It's a real pain, but I have gotten so good at it, I can do it in about 5 seconds. If you can't get it fixed, that's how to get it on at least...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk
i suspect the power/lock button is FUBAR, but there are some other symptoms that do not resemble just a bad power/lock button. here are the symptoms that indicate it is the power/lock button:
1. when the phone is off, almost impossible to turn on. sometimes have to press and hold power button 10-12 times before it will shut on
2. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to lock the phone, most of the time it thinks i held the button and says "slide down to power off" although sometimes it doesn't respond at all. it almost NEVER locks when i press it (like it should be doing)
3. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to unlock the phone, most of the time it shuts off completely and i go back to step 1
symptom that indicates another problem not related to power/lock button:
1. if the phone is off and i press the power button, when the phone responds it will sometimes say "samsung" like it is turning on, and then nothing else will happen. i won't get the ATT screen and it won't boot up. this some times happens multiple times before the phone finally boots
currently i've been letting the phone time out automatically instead of the lock button, and using the camera button to unlock it. i've also been trying to not let it turn off at all, because getting it back on is really tough.
is there anyway i can disable the lock/power button...and/or is there an alternative way to lock and turn on your phone that doesn't require the use of that button? even if i tell myself not to use it, there are still times in your pocket where the darn thing gets pressed. for me that could mean it kills my phone and doesn't restart for the rest of the day, which i'm sure you can imagine is not ideal.
tuffluck said:
i suspect the power/lock button is FUBAR, but there are some other symptoms that do not resemble just a bad power/lock button. here are the symptoms that indicate it is the power/lock button:
1. when the phone is off, almost impossible to turn on. sometimes have to press and hold power button 10-12 times before it will shut on
2. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to lock the phone, most of the time it thinks i held the button and says "slide down to power off" although sometimes it doesn't respond at all. it almost NEVER locks when i press it (like it should be doing)
3. when the phone is on and i press the lock button to unlock the phone, most of the time it shuts off completely and i go back to step 1
symptom that indicates another problem not related to power/lock button:
1. if the phone is off and i press the power button, when the phone responds it will sometimes say "samsung" like it is turning on, and then nothing else will happen. i won't get the ATT screen and it won't boot up. this some times happens multiple times before the phone finally boots
currently i've been letting the phone time out automatically instead of the lock button, and using the camera button to unlock it. i've also been trying to not let it turn off at all, because getting it back on is really tough.
is there anyway i can disable the lock/power button...and/or is there an alternative way to lock and turn on your phone that doesn't require the use of that button? even if i tell myself not to use it, there are still times in your pocket where the darn thing gets pressed. for me that could mean it kills my phone and doesn't restart for the rest of the day, which i'm sure you can imagine is not ideal.
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You seem to have a (hardware) problem with the power button (obviously).
There are a couple of ways to turn on the phone/display without the power button:
- camera/back
- connect power charger
- usb connect
Last 2 are not practical and first you already do. You should try and see how much would it cost to replace the power button, if you're out of warranty. Should be cheap, and beats workarounds.
is there any way to lock it rather than letting it just time out? what about turning it on?
do you feel pretty confident that the seemingly unrelated symptom where the "samsung" screen comes up and then shuts off while trying to turn the phone on STILL indicates the button is broken? just worried this problem extends further than just the button.
thanks for your help.
tuffluck said:
is there any way to lock it rather than letting it just time out? what about turning it on?
do you feel pretty confident that the seemingly unrelated symptom where the "samsung" screen comes up and then shuts off while trying to turn the phone on STILL indicates the button is broken? just worried this problem extends further than just the button.
thanks for your help.
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There's no other way to turn it on (except plugging it to charge) and you found the one workaround, with the camera.
I am *very* sure that the power button is the culprit in your case, most likely the spring that pops back the button is either broken or out of place.
If you keep the power button pressed, in 2 seconds you'll see the slide message, but if you keep it pressed, then it just turns off after 2 more seconds. So, yes, it's the power button and nothing else, in your case.
Fix that and you should be back to normal.
And you're not the only one with this problem. Recently, I've tried to help someone else here, with the same problem, as you can see here.
thanks. i called around and a guy here in town said it will take him 30 minutes for $30 to fix it. i'm taking it to him at lunch, so hopefully i'll come back with a fully functional phone--he also was pretty certain it was the power button, and had seen this before. thanks for your help.
well it wasn't the power button. apparently there is a battery connected to the power button that is dying. but you can't even order a new battery, so pretty much once it's dead, it's dead for good and you have to do the camera button workaround like i was doing.
though he did solder the battery to the board a little more (that's another problem, from the factory it is soldered to the main board so even if you could replace it, you'd likely damage the board), and it seemed to fix the problem. he claimed it would only be temporary and within a few weeks the problem will likely come back.
tuffluck said:
well it wasn't the power button. apparently there is a battery connected to the power button that is dying. but you can't even order a new battery, so pretty much once it's dead, it's dead for good and you have to do the camera button workaround like i was doing.
though he did solder the battery to the board a little more (that's another problem, from the factory it is soldered to the main board so even if you could replace it, you'd likely damage the board), and it seemed to fix the problem. he claimed it would only be temporary and within a few weeks the problem will likely come back.
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That is weird indeed. I don't think I ever heard of another type of battery being used in phones, tied to buttons. Unless it's a capacitor but anyways...
Thanks for sharing the info with us!
I know this is thread is almost a year old, but unfortunately, it seems my Samsung Focus (v1.3) also has the exact same issue.
The worst bit is that every other aspect of this once glorious phone still works and I was very happy using it, not really feeling the need to upgrade.
I was using a custom ROM which I flashed back to AT&T original 7004 but that did not work. It doesn't seem to be a software issue at all.
The symptoms are the same - tapping the power button to lock the phone gives you the option to slide to power-off and after a second it will do that anyway (without any interaction). When you try to boot, it won't progress past the SAMSUNG screen and in the rare chance it does boot, it will work for an hour or two before dying again. Connecting power helps a little (as you can't turn off the phone with mains power connected), but only just. I have tried using the original battery which I initially suspected was causing issues but even a generic battery has the same issues. I'm tempted to spend $20 on a genuine battery but I don't think it will really help given the generic battery did work properly when the phone was itself.
I'm now faced with upgrading to the Lumia 920 but with new models around the corner I think I'm going for the budget Lumia 520 which has similar specs to the Focus (except LED flash) and will hold out for the new flagship model, or buy the 920 when it falls a bit more.
Hi - just wanted to add my experience with this issue (as my focus exhibited these exact symptoms today). Unlike some people, though, even if my phone managed to boot up, it would shut down again after a few seconds on the tile screen.
Like cysser0, I also suspected the battery at first, but replacing the long-life I had purchased last year with the original battery (which I keep charged as a back-up) had no effect on the symptoms. To be brief, I tried all sorts of things over the course of an hour. Nearing the end of my tether, and resigning myself to try a format as a last resort, I discovered that if I held the power button and the volume button down, I could get the phone to stay on. Releasing either of these buttons would result in the phone switching off suddenly.
Wrapping a rubber band tightly around the top of the phone has allowed me to continue using the phone for the moment, and I have managed to do a backup of all my content (not that I will be able to restore it on this phone, it seems).
A power button that misbehaves. Half the time when I go to turn the screen off via the power button, it goes off and then instantly comes back on (at the lockscreen).
Doing a little investigating, I have messed with it... right after the screen popped back on again, a few times I had unlocked the screen and then shut it off several times in a row just to see.. and it would shut off and stay off like it's supposed to. It seems to do this only when I'm least expecting it (go figure), but is at least once a day now.
THE-COPS said:
A power button that misbehaves. Half the time when I go to turn the screen off via the power button, it goes off and then instantly comes back on (at the lockscreen).
Doing a little investigating, I have messed with it... right after the screen popped back on again, a few times I had unlocked the screen and then shut it off several times in a row just to see.. and it would shut off and stay off like it's supposed to. It seems to do this only when I'm least expecting it (go figure), but is at least once a day now.
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Yes, I've seen something close to this on my wife's phone. I always trumped it up to a slight hardware issue with the used phone we purchased online.
likely system just needs a better repeat delay setting.
when i press the power button to shut off the screen, sometimes it'll register as double-tap jump to camera instead.