Database Users

Oil-like stain reflection on screen

After owning the Touch HD for a full month I just noticed that down the middle of the screen there is something which I can best describe as an oil stain. It looks as if there is a liquid in between the glass/plastic screen and the resistive layer that lays on top of it.
The screen works normally and this "stain" can only be observed if I look at how the light reflects of it.
Any idea what happened?

Hi,
I have a small idear. The TFT-Monitor ist touching your Touchscreen. Probeply you pressed something on your HD, that the two Monitor touch each other, that is why it looks like a Water or Oil spot.
This can happen for example, if you are carrying your HD in your trouser pocket.
If you want to try to remove this spot, you have to turn with your both hand the hd, like the right hand turn with the clock and the left hand turn to the other way.
Sorry, my english is not very good for such a discribing. What I mean is like "to contort" or "to skew (up)". But you have to be very carefully. Before you start, remove the Battery

(I'll be incorporating a clearer explanation along the lines of what Dude10 was trying to say)
The effect you're seeing is IDENTICAL to what causes the colours to appear on an oil film actually!
The way the Touch HD screen works is to have the hard glass (polycarbonate plastic actually as far as I'm aware, but that's not important here!) with a squashy resistive sensor layer on the top.
This resistive layer detects touch as an increase in resistance at the spot that's compressed - be that by a finger or a stylus. Because the upper layer can be compressed, it can also be malformed by stronger than normal pressure, such as an object in a pocket. The effect can be more pronounced if your body heat warms up the screen surface making the screen "set" in position rather than spring back as it should do...
The "oil" effect is cause by the reflections of light from the outermost plastic layer and the outermost surface of the hard screen. When the gap is small enough, these reflections can interfere with each other, cancelling and re-inforcing different wavelengths depending on the thickness - hence the tapering of the screen from thinnest to thickest results in a "rainbow"
Now, why explain all this you may ask? Partly because I like science and it fascinated me in school to learn what caused that effect so wanted to share this! (And this also explains why it only presents itself when you look at the light reflections)
Anyway, more importantly, the solution to your problem is to restore the thickness of that part of the touch layer to it's original uncompressed state.
I'd firstly start trying to hold your finger flat against the top of the phone screen (on flat surface, portraint orientation, finger "left to right") then pressing resonably hard (the hard screen should protect the device - if not you're pressing too hard!) slide your finger down the screen from top to bottom trying to keep an even pressure. This should hopefully even out the surface.
Failing this, as Dude10 suggests, take the battery out and use your thumbs (holding with fingers in the battery well) to press and "smear" around the problem area.
Unfortunately, other than this I don't think there's a particular way to remove the effect totally if it doesn't work...
Obviously it's speculation given that you didn't mention how it happened in the first place, but it does sound like it got knocked or pressed by something either in bag or pocket - maybe even a fold in the pouch
Hope you manage to smooth it out!

WhO_KnOwS said:
After owning the Touch HD for a full month I just noticed that down the middle of the screen there is something which I can best describe as an oil stain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a long shot, but:
Sometimes a similar effect can be caused when some moisture has got between the layers of a display.
Have you used the phone anywhere damp or very humid ?
Keeping it somewhere warm and dry might be worth a try?
- Steve

Thanks for all the tips. The issue happened when I had the Touch HD in the pouch and in my pocket - so the idea that it was a fold in the pouch holds water.
The funny thing however is that before I saw all of your replies I was already out the door (with the Touch HD back in the pouch and pocket). 5 minutes later when I pulled it out the issue was gone. I am guessing that I reapplied the exact amount of pressure needed or something like that.
Thanks again for the tips and especially to chaosdefinesorder for the nice explanation.

Thx for helping explanation

5 minutes later when I pulled it out the issue was gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, i don't think it was gone. check again under a fluorescent light....
i have this on my diamond. my HD is flawless (till now...)
i phoned to a technician and explain the phenomena and he invited me to replace the screen. when i got there, to my complete amazement and embarrassment the stain was gone. only later i discovered that the stain is visible under fluorescent light only.

chaosdefinesorder said:
Unfortunately, other than this I don't think there's a particular way to remove the effect totally if it doesn't work...
Hope you manage to smooth it out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks m8, already tried this (on my diamond) and tried now again with both yr methods. no results. the stain is still there...i think only a replacement can solve it.
here u have the paralel thread in diamond forum:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=439410&highlight=oily+stain

you can not do it yourself. the best way will be to go to your seller or straight to HTC, because I think you HD still have warranty.
I repaired ones an Diamond and I can tell you, it wasn´t an easy way.

is the screen heat or pressure sensitive?

is the screen heat or pressure sensitive, and how is the multitouch?

Neither. And so far I can't complain about the screen one bit. I do find myself simply tapping the screen to auto-size the browser, been easier than using two hands.

Its heat although the proper name is Capacitive meaning is only works with fingertips or a specialized " iphone " stylus, which i have and dont work very well tbh although mine was a cheapy off ebay (like 60cent for 2)

i just tried one at the store and noticed that it was not as sensitive as the iphone's. if my finger was on the hero light enough there was no response, but no matter how light i try to go on the iphone it always responds.

It is not heat.
Wiki:
"A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator such as glasshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_tin_oxide (ITO). As the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the local electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance."
And who cares if it's not as sensitive as the iphone? When would you ever try to press a button as lightly as possible in real life? I find it better that you actually need to touch the screen for a button press, leads to fewer mistakes with random light button brushing. I have yet to find a time when the screen doesn't respond when I want it to.

Feels just as sensitive to me. I very lightly ran my finger over the screen and it responded just as well.

back of archos 70 is super cheap

when i press on the back of my 70 the front screen change colors for 275 i dont want the world but at least something stronger

Stronger = heavier and thicker.
Oddly enough, mine doesn't have this issue unless I press hard enough that I am worried about causing damage. Theres no way to put crush support between the LCD and the case. The case has to provide all of its own support while being thin. Try the same thing with a laptop screen.

I didn't notice that, but consider getting that case linked by cajl at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=863058 for extra protection if you find that issue annoying.

I don't think that this a problem with the Archos devices, it's a problem with any screen. I can press on my laptop screen, my phone screen, even my PSP screen and get that rainbow/distortion effect. That's just the way it is with screens this thin.

tmacgarris6727 said:
when i press on the back of my 70 the front screen change colors for 275 i dont want the world but at least something stronger
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How many psi and what's your press pattern? Please include a diagram and indicate your press locations.
Thanks,
Allen

Interesting. seems if you press relatively hard nearly anywhere,the display start to get weird (displaying round circles) at the center of the screen roughly 65% horizontally to the right (archos 70 internet tablet words at the bottom as orientation).
But just don't press hard. it's a thin device.

Wondering, the back of the A70 is alu, no plastik. No problem on my A70.
Sent from ARCHOS 70 using Tapatalk.

touchscreen unresponsive when phone is on flat surface

sometimes my phones touchscreen becomes unresponsive when its flat on its back on a table for example. I unlock the screen with the trackpad or power button so that the screen comes on. Then when i try to slide the lockscreen it doesnt do anything. When i begin sliding the bar from the total edge of the screen it sometimes works.
Usually i just have to pick up the phone to get the touchscreen working again. actually, when i even lift up the phone the slightest bit, it works again.
Weird right?
anyone else experiences this issue ?

I assumed it was designed to work like this. Makes me move my phone rather than just slide to snooze the alarm then go back to sleep.

Same here. I think it has to do with the capacative toucscreen.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

wileykat said:
I assumed it was designed to work like this. Makes me move my phone rather than just slide to snooze the alarm then go back to sleep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're saying you move your phone to snooze the alarm? didnt know it could do that, gonna try that out tomorrow morning
forgot to mention the issue is not ROM specific. I have witnessed it on virtuous, CM, MIUI, stock

Ive had this problem as well. Slightly annoying!

I don't think its a design issue..
you don't have to lift your phone to get the screen to respond.
notice that it is enough just to touch the body of the phone to make the screen responsive again..
for me its very annoying, especially not being able to snooze the alarm in the morning

Let me point out that this happens with my G1 also so its not just the G2.

Yeah, there are a few discussions about this on the forums already. It's most likely a capacitance issue. When your phone is just sitting on a table and you touch the display, you may not create enough capacitance with the touchscreen for it to register as a touch (as opposed to resistive touchscreens which needed only physical contact but were less accurate as a result). Touching the body of the phone basically creates a common ground or voltage reference point for the phone, allowing your finger to create the needed amount of capacitance (in technical terms, no longer a floating ground). Whenever I touch the screen while the phone is lying on a table, I just always make sure to rest either my thumb or ring finger on one of the edges.
A lot of factors will also come into play---whether or not your phone is in a case, type of material the phone is resting on, the level of humidity in the air, even potentially the type of shoes you are wearing. This is why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

ianmcquinn said:
(...) Touching the body of the phone basically creates a common ground or voltage reference point for the phone, allowing your finger to create the needed amount of capacitance (in technical terms, no longer a floating ground). (...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes! I just figured this out myself. merely touching the body of the phone makes the screen respond to my fingers.
well in that case its not really a big problem. from now on i just touch teh body with my middle finger while sliding with my index finger =D

liory said:
notice that it is enough just to touch the body of the phone to make the screen responsive again..
for me its very annoying, especially not being able to snooze the alarm in the morning
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will give this a go tomorrow, I hope it doesn't work!!!.... I'm gonna be forever snoozing with 2 fingers now!!!

This seems to be temperature related (and it doesn't happen on a mytouch 3g)
I live in Minnesota and I deliver pizza. When I would need to call a customer to get into an apartment building, I would set the phone on top of the pizza bag and dial with one hand.
When I first got my G2 (early november) I had no problems doing this, then one day it wouldn't respond at all to touch. I still had my old mytouch 3g with me because the old number wasn't ported yet, and I was able to use that to make the call. It wasn't until later that I realized that the problem was caused by the cold and that I needed to touch the metal part to make it work, so I thought that the touchscreen on my 2 week old G2 had just died.
At room temperature the touch screen always works (I can silence the alarm while it's sitting on the table), but temperatures below 50F cause problems

I started noticing this as well. Sometimes I'll hit the power button to turn my phone on from idle-state and then I'll drag the unlock button with to no avail! But then again, I do use my thumb to do it so maybe the capacitance by using the thumb isn't good enough to unlock it.
I use my phone at work a lot so in order to text while being discreet, I usually have the phone in my right hand and text / unlock the phone using my thumb. I doubt it is a defect but it had me worried too. Guess I'm not the only one experiencing this. (Although I must say, dragging my thumb to swype and using the side of my thumb probably is the reason why it sometimes doesn't work)

Back when I had my g1 it did the same thing and experience this on my g2....if its laying down its like it thinks its just on in your pocket so the touch seems limited
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Elegy said:
sometimes my phones touchscreen becomes unresponsive when its flat on its back on a table for example. I unlock the screen with the trackpad or power button so that the screen comes on. Then when i try to slide the lockscreen it doesnt do anything. When i begin sliding the bar from the total edge of the screen it sometimes works.
Usually i just have to pick up the phone to get the touchscreen working again. actually, when i even lift up the phone the slightest bit, it works again.
Weird right?
anyone else experiences this issue ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not weird. TOTALLY normal and expected.
It is because it has a CAPACITIVE TOUCHSCREEN.
This means that when you touch the screen, your finger is actually COMPLETING AN ELECTRIC CIRCUIT.
When the phone is lying on a table and you touch it, you are NOT completing the circuit since you are NOT touching the phone's body.
When the sensor is on, there is an electrical difference between the surface of the screen and the body of the phone. When you touch BOTH, you alter the electric field in that localized area of the screen. The sensor detects the change in voltage and determines the location of the contact.

dhkr123 said:
Not weird. TOTALLY normal and expected.
It is because it has a CAPACITIVE TOUCHSCREEN.
This means that when you touch the screen, your finger is actually COMPLETING AN ELECTRIC CIRCUIT.
When the phone is lying on a table and you touch it, you are NOT completing the circuit since you are NOT touching the phone's body.
When the sensor is on, there is an electrical difference between the surface of the screen and the body of the phone. When you touch BOTH, you alter the electric field in that localized area of the screen. The sensor detects the change in voltage and determines the location of the contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how do I adjust the sensitivity? As I understand it I could increase the voltage to the screen making it easier to complete the circuit...such as through thin gloves.....
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

dhkr123 said:
Not weird. TOTALLY normal and expected.
It is because it has a CAPACITIVE TOUCHSCREEN.
This means that when you touch the screen, your finger is actually COMPLETING AN ELECTRIC CIRCUIT.
When the phone is lying on a table and you touch it, you are NOT completing the circuit since you are NOT touching the phone's body.
When the sensor is on, there is an electrical difference between the surface of the screen and the body of the phone. When you touch BOTH, you alter the electric field in that localized area of the screen. The sensor detects the change in voltage and determines the location of the contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is mostly true.
Put the phone on the table and dont touch it and try to swipe to unlock.
No touch a finger on the phone body and do it again, itll work.
Doesn't seem to always fit that behavior, but more often than not.

TheNewGuy said:
So how do I adjust the sensitivity? As I understand it I could increase the voltage to the screen making it easier to complete the circuit...such as through thin gloves.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't. You should NOT even if you could. It would not work as you expect since it is NOT a matter of sensitivity, but of CONDUCTIVITY.

klmsu19 said:
This is mostly true.
Put the phone on the table and dont touch it and try to swipe to unlock.
No touch a finger on the phone body and do it again, itll work.
Doesn't seem to always fit that behavior, but more often than not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not "mostly" true, it is PRECISELY true.

dhkr123 said:
It is not "mostly" true, it is PRECISELY true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No reason for the condescending tone in every post (or if it's not your intention to be condescending, you may want to restrain your constant use of caps). You had stated:
dhkr123 said:
This means that when you touch the screen, your finger is actually COMPLETING AN ELECTRIC CIRCUIT.
When the phone is lying on a table and you touch it, you are NOT completing the circuit since you are NOT touching the phone's body.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone was just pointing out that if this was "precisely" true as you put it, then the screen should never be responsive if you aren't touching the phone's body (since the circuit is, based on your reasoning, still broken). This isn't the case though since it does work sometimes. How could your statement be precisely true if it's known to be false sometimes (hence the "mostly true" comment)?
And it's actually not true. You are not completing an electric circuit. No current flows from your finger into the screen and no components within the phone are electrically coupled because of your touch. As you stated, you are altering the electric field when you touch the screen. This results in a change in capacitance in that area. Note, this change occurs even when you are not touching the phone's body, just to a different degree. Touching the phone will typically increase the amount of capacitance as opposed to when you are not though (since you are basically "grounding" yourself to the phone). The more capacitance there is, the easier it is to measure. If there is too little capacitance, the touchscreen's microcontroller will not register the change at all. Even if it does register the change, there will be additional filtering that occurs to that raw data either in the microcontroller itself or in software (or both).
This is why the screen works sometimes when you touch it without touching the rest of the phone. You are still causing a change in capacitance. The amount of change depends on numerous factors (this is what I stated in an earlier post). These factors effect how grounded both you and the phone are relative to earth ground (in the electrical sense, not geographical). Typically speaking though, if you are relatively close to earth ground, then you will be able to use the screen without touching the body of the phone. For example, someone stated earlier that the screen doesn't work when it's cold. Cold weather results in lower humidity/drier air and you being less grounded (basically why people see an increase in static electricity as well). Chances are that the touchscreen would work again without the touching the phone's body if you had physically been touching a large piece of metal with your other hand (to help ground you).
So in response to the other question posed, yes, technically by raising the voltage level to the touchscreen, it may result in a more sensitive screen since there will be a larger increase in capacitance when you touch it. It may also reduce the life of the touchscreen though, if not damage it completely, so not a good idea. It would be better to figure out the filtering mechanism if possible and adjust that in software. Not sure if any devs have looked into it (though my guess is that if it was simple, it would have been done already).

I am so happy I found this thread..
Lately I thought my touchscreen was broken because I was unable to snooze my alarm in the morning (just as some of you seem to have been trying to do).
I think it's temperature related as suggested by the person who mentioned pizza delivery.. and I think this because it only happens on mornings where I've left the bedroom window open and it's very cool. My phone is often on a cold wooden surface. however even picking up the phone doesn't seem to help (I'll have to pay more attention next time) but after a few moments of struggling it eventually works (probably warms up in my hand and gets a better circuit).
I can also vouch that the screen works great with just a single finger on a flat surface, provided it's room temperature. I don't need to touch the body at all, and I do this a lot without issues (aside from cold mornings waking up to my alarm).

D-Pad mod

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
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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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Click to collapse
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.