[Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet] Darth Newton:
As many of us are aware, there is a issue that can occur with a Nook Tablet going crazy with phantom touches. Essentially it looks as if you are tapping on the screen when you are not. It usually happens very quickly, one minute ok, the next everything is getting tapped all over the screen. This can cause data loss as the device thinks you are touching the screen. For example a file you were working on may abort before saving as it thought you hit "close".

I have been bugged by this issue on and off. Some people replace batteries to fix the issue, and while that will fix it 99% of the time, there is an easier (and cheaper way).

The problem appears to be the newton loses battery calibration. There has been talk in the past of deleting the battery file via CWM or other Android app that deletes this file (or even doing it manually with a file browser app, which may need root access). This battery file is only data since the LAST time you charged the device. Not the calibration data. And this file is deleted automatically everytime you plug it in to charge.

How I fixed it

After a lot of research I found that many Android devices there often a way of recalibrating the battery charge system. The steps are:

1. If you get phantom touches hit the power button as fast as you can to put it to sleep ande prevent anything occurring you might not want (aka a file deleted you wanted to keep etc).

2. Charge the battery to full, until the green light is lit on the charge indicator located on the Nook Tablet charge cable

3. Unplug the device from the charger

4. Use the Nook Tablet for 20 minutes with a high drain app (aka watch a video)

5. Plug the Nook tablet back into the charger and wait until the light turns green again.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 several times. I would suggest 3 or 4.

7. See if you get phantom touches again when the Nook Tablet power gets low. If you do try steps 2-5 again several more times.

In my experience after a few times of this, I no longer had the phantom touches issue.

Why it happens

I am not sure all the details as to why, but one time I do know for a fact that one time it happened after I had the tablet on the charger with a full charge (I had not got around to unplugging it yet) when the power to my home failed. It came back on a few minutes later but that night when I was using the device I got phantom touches at about 50% power left. Which I never had before. After doing the above method it is working fine again even down below 15% power (which I never let it get that low normally).

I suspect that the power failure caused the charger system to recalibrate and since the battery was already at full, messed up the whole system. I also would NOT leave the Nook Tablet on a charger for long periods. If it sits at 100% for a long enough period it is possible for the battery to drop down a little and start charging again. This could start a recalibration again, bringing back the phantom touches issue.

I have not posted until now as I was not certain what fixed it before. If it was the charge to full, use for 20 minutes, then charge again method or turn it off then charge method worked. I tried several before and wasn't sure which one worked. Now I can say the put to sleep, charge, use, charge again method does work. But don't turn off the device then charge if you can help it. If the Nook tablet is powered all the way off (not sleep) doesn't seem to do a battery recalibrate. Or at least my best experience is to plug it in while in sleep mode, charge to full (green light), use for 20 minutes, and then charge again.

Sorry if this has been posted before. But a quick search didn't reveal any hits.

UPDATE:

Upon further tests, often powering off the device fully (holding power for 30 seconds or pressing for 5 and saying yes to the popup to power off), then plugging it in, letting it turn on and charge to full will fix the problem as well.