Misc.  Cell or Smartphone oddities,  including keyboard - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2025, 09:06:29 pm
content: It's trivial enough of a question, to ignore in the short term, but I'm always into the interfaces for key presses, or keyboards:My smartphone, more and more, wants (requires) 2 key presses, before taking any action. So, for example, key press after searching, on 'eevb' and then clicking on 'eevblog.com' gets me...no action. I need to press that a 2cond. time !I've tried waiting, as sometimes the loading and startup takes a few seconds, but nope; screen just sits, frozen. Second press and the normal startup happens. Doing this with other menu responses as well, but it almost seems to be getting worse, or in more types of 'Press Key' actions. My bank, on the phone, needs my account number, let's say it's '123 45 6789': To correctly enter that, I need that first key press, almost like a throw-away attention-getter:Must enter: '1 123 45 6789', where that first digit isn't used (by the bank).I bring this up, as I've seen that annoying feature all the time, on my flip-phone (burner phone). Menus that, regularly, need an empty key press, just to get the key presses to register; like a 'wake-up'.Now, with the smart phone, that throwaway first character thing seems to happen, with more and more frequency. Of course, casual users don't care, and adjust the typing style, to do the extra key press, but, as a software developer, I'm tracking such buggy actions, naturally seeking better performance, for consumers.Alrighty then: a.k. please respond, within 7 1/2 minutes, of my post, here...- - Rick B.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2025, 09:48:14 pm
content: Is the behavior the same in portrait vs landscape ?I have a now "old" tablet that in landscape mode "Enter" would not always respond immediately. In portrait mode, no issues.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2025, 04:44:22 pm
content: Quote from: RJSV on August 26, 2025, 09:06:29 pmYes. In the UI field, this is called "focus", and what you are seeing is called "focus stealing", where either something else is sniffing your input actions and stealing the focus from the topmost/active-looking application, or the UI has a focusing bug possibly related to that particular hardware (say, touch controller hardware /INT unreliable in e.g. lower power modes, due to say driver software bugs). These happen, because there are so many capacitive touch controllers nowadays, and many of them are added to the underlying Linux kernel by user developers without any technical references, just to get their own hardware working. Some web searches for touch hardware issues in your phone (model and revision) should verify it isn't a hardware bug.I'm leaning towards a "keylogger" installed on your phone, though.I'd save your data from the phone to a SD card, then wipe the phone, and reinstall it from scratch. Before installing your favourite apps and add-ons, do some web searches on a computer to verify they haven't been subverted. Even if it is "as I bought it", some crooks (addicts) deliberately get hired at phone shops to exploit buyers, so it can be a good idea to do a full wipe and reinstall anyway.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2025, 05:15:13 pm
content: Thanks, sometimes, if I can afford the extra distraction, I try waiting, just to do better at tracking and not simply in a slowed down state (where my requested stuff comes, but after a long while.). One subtle change, I note, is that the smartphone screen will darken some area, or subtle underline on some text, but some change, that I interpret as a sign that 'some kind of' input was seen, and not just a lazy key press with my index finger poke that hasn't gotten into the system.(Or you could call that an acknowledge, of basic input getting seen.)Thanks, AT LEAST your info doesn't contain the doubts and perspective that I'm mistaken or semi-hallucinating, (according to that A.K. member at least, lol). On occasion, it gets like, by analogy, a cardiac doctor, that listens to heartbeats for a few seconds, and announces that:"Sorry, I don't hear anything wrong!". (For an intermittent, recurring problem). That can get annoying, and so thanks again, for the sensible response.Last phone I bought in June has the screen lock enabled, and a friend did the memory wipe for me, so I had to do some introspective on that whole question, of integrity fresh out of the box !

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2025, 06:19:32 pm
content: As I've mentioned before, I do like to add small displays to Linux-based appliances to display their status to nontechnical humans, without risk of misconfiguring or altering the appliance at all.With capacitive touch screens without haptic feedback (vibration/knock/sound), I've found that "hardware cursor" is needed for a good, intuitive interface. I like an animated ring or arcs around the touch point, independent of the application, that indicates hardware touch detected. If it is a tap or drag or other gesture, it then animates automatically, with "application" level stuff like a letter being added or a button being pressed, is done by the application itself. (Notably, I prefer buttons and such to activate on release, not on press.)The underlying logic for me is that us humans see the display as the interface, and what the display shows or describes, is the tool itself.An analog: when you get used to a tool, be it a pen or a knife, it becomes an extension of your hand. The mouse cursor does this: it is almost like pointing with your real finger at the screen. (You can often tell what people are looking at by looking where their mouse cursor is, if they use a mouse.)With touch displays, we usually do not have the equivalent of the mouse cursor, the abstract version of our finger or fingers. This is what makes them hard to use, until you use touch display devices and applications so much that you do not notice it anymore at all: the entire device then becomes the tool, the extension of your will. That only happens with extended use, though. (And I don't like cellphones much, only touching mine maybe five times a day on average, almost always keeping it on its charging stand.)

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2025, 11:06:16 pm
content: Swerving over into some loosely related topic, of the prepaid monthly Fast card (tm), I'm wondering, about the (imposed) service agreement, that is, supposedly for the consumer to look up for themselves. I'd bet that many, many folks older than, say 72 years, cannot decipher some big long legal script. Let alone even bother to go off and find ,/ read such declaration.There might be some government or regulator aid that can clean up some of the mess, of declarations trade marks and copyrights, but they aren't visible present. I guess consumer protection is relatively new (1970's).Rather than asking for helpful explanations, here is one example, where my question isn't about the copyright, but rather it's maybe just pointing out:Under (US) copyright law, my prepaid card is declaring that the card text, itself, is being under copyright. Seems like overkill. Again, please don't wade into lengthy detailed analysis, I'm more just pointing out that the copyright is claimed, for the very printing on the plastic card, (AT&T Fast card). Is this really necessary to protect ?Notice saying: '(c) 2024 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. All marks are property of respective owner's'I don't know, this is getting the weeds, a bit, but seems like they wish to 'protect' the IP, but then wish to 'protect' the declaration.That , structurally, creates a seemingly infinite series of declarations upon declarations, upon...I'll end with the statement made, on my $40 monthly Fast card:All of 'xxxx' are property of the owners.Duh; That's the definition of property !

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2025, 11:39:59 pm
content: Quote from: RJSV on August 28, 2025, 11:06:16 pmI'm not in the US, but what Louis Rossmann is trying to do about customer ownership stuff is on the right track in my opinion.As it is, EU seems to be all about protecting politicians, celebrities, and criminals from any negative effects of their own actions and excluding uncomfortable facts from public discourse, and the US about protecting manufacturers and vendors from any responsibilities to their customer... to exaggerate somewhat. But both somehow veering away from their original ideas and attitudes, into some la-la land I cannot understand. I dunno if it is me or them, though.Intellectual property, copyrights extending multiple decades, patenting essentially math and physical facts, it all just starts to look weird and fantastically dysfunctional whenever I start looking at it rationally/analytically.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2025, 01:00:49 am
content: O.K. so; ongoing its good to keep a consistent troubleshooting aspect, on the back burner, STS (so to speak, a saying). I've found that, since the August posts, this keyboard hesitation / dead response has increased, or become more noticable, when 'clicking' on anything, really.That, I perceive in an analog sense, rather than sudden shifts. What had been, as an annoying hesitation when I (think) I've clicked on an EEVBLOG forum menu selection, SEEMS more frequent and consistent. Nominal Animal had the good explain, back a bit in this thread.Now, I generally have to double select (click TWO TIMES) on regular phone keyboard uses, when selecting one item from a typical menu, or when attempting to click on a 'PLAY' selection. Generally, I'm busy with other stuff, but did try waiting for 34 seconds, or whatever...(but who needs the distraction and interruptions ?).Maybe, could there still be some hardware failure mechanism, that has been getting worse ? Mostly curious, but a machine is a machine, and we (humans) expect better clarity. Especially those members here in the FORUM, that come from aircraft safety and pilot procedures background. (Lately I've read many posts here that were written by pilots...impressive bunch).

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2025, 01:29:28 am
content: To be clear:Now, it often takes THREE key presses, where before I was noticing that to activate on a suggested item, took TWO presses. Each, BTW, press did have some minor visual 'response', like a change in the highlight color on that selection, or other visual cue that my button press was seen by the system.At any rate, it's not any Forum software, as other menus are needing the 'click assertion repeat press' action(s). Haven't tracked to such detail, that I could state or recall this UI bugaboo.

author: pardo-bsso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2025, 12:01:11 pm
content: In my current Xiamoi the alarm clock says every now and then"Alarm did not fire due to an unknown reason"I'm fixing my old mechanical clock.I also miss my first phone, it had AM radio.