If you always hold the HTC EVO 4G in your hand while interacting with the touchscreen, then you're probably incredibly pleased with its responsiveness and accuracy.
But have you ever tried to lay the EVO on a flat surface (not your leg) and pull down the notification shade or just touch the top half of the screen without touching any other part of the phone?
Try it now.
Did your EVO's screen suddenly stop responding to your touch? If so, then touch any side of the device and try it again. Now it works flawlessly, right?
Unfortunately, it looks like some EVOs left the factory with improperly grounded touchscreens. So you're not alone if you can replicate the behavior described above. The anomaly has been confirmed by multiple users who have experienced this issue on various surfaces on more than one EVO, regardless of whether a case or screen protector is used. There are conflicting reports about whether HTC knew about this before the EVO was released, but the company does seem to be aware of it now.
An improperly grounded touchscreen is something that HTC Incredible users have also experienced, so there's no telling how or when this could be fixed for the EVO.
Note that not every EVO is affected by this. I tested mine (without a case) on a leather couch, glass table, cardboard, napkin, newspaper, and carpet and have seen no difference in responsiveness. How is your EVO's screen?
Thanks, Jason!
wow i have that exact problem. kind of p.o.ed about it. anyone know how i can get this fixed?
I thought I was crazy too as I have this issue. Kudos for mentioning it.
Omg I noticed that at work today and thought it was odd..wow I’m pissed. What could they do to correct this?
Just tested and mine has the problem as well.
Thanks for the write up and break down of repeating this problem.
I hope there’s a fix that doesn’t involve returning it!
All good here, screen responsiveness is perfect and has not shown any glitches.
Four out of five (or six, counting Jenn) have responded with this problem in just a short amount of time since the post went live. Wow, not good at all…
How many of you are using the phones that were handed out at Google I/O? I know Jenn and I are, but it would be interesting if this is limited to certain batches, like maybe just the launch day phones from a certain chain store (Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sprint)
I bought mine from RadioShack and I also have the same screen issue, depending on how this turns out I will be heading to The Shack before my 30 Days is up for a replacement.
No problem with mine.
When I was at the store playing with it, I noticed this….I thought I just wasn’t using the proper gestures. I wont get mine for a few weeks (Waiting on a rebate) so hopefully mine will be okay.
Got mine launch day at radioshack. The top of the evo has spotty responsiveness when on a table and almost no response at the top of it when using multitouch even when I’m holding the device. I have the box but lost the receipt. They sold me a lemon phone and said there’s nothing they can do for me…FML!!!
I have this problem too. I am wondering the repercussions?? This has NOT affected me because I have had bare phone in hand since I bought it. But I’m thinking if I get a case with which my hand is not in contact with the bare body of the phone it will NOT work. Or if I get a cradle and use the phone for GPS in the car, it will NOT work. Amy I correct?? What are the other issues I might have?? Should I really care??
One of the comments from a YouTube video suggests that running the G-sensor calibrator may fix this problem. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAHglTfC8es
I can’t believe this is happening. G-sensor calibrator did nothing. Listen I had similar problems on my HTC hero and thought nothing of it. A couple months later the screen was completely unresponsive no matter what I tried. I called HTC and it does not fall under their manufacturers warranty. So here I am stuck with another HTC phone and I’m in the same situation as before…I think I’m done with Sprint and htc altogether and just opt to iPhone 4. So trust me if you have this problem on your Evo DON’T WAIT GET A REPLACEMENT OR YOUR MONEY BACK BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE..
mine appears to work ok…had it shipped from best buy. my problem is that my PC wont recognize the phone via USB. No charging…no syncing.
Mine was bought walk-in launch day at Radio Shack too.
Yes, mine was brought from Radio Shack on launch day.
The phone works great when I’m holding. I also have the protective screen over, and I’ve worked with G-Calibration already. Maybe I should calibrate it when the phone is leveled on a surface?
It’s not annoying and I can live with it. The service is much better than AT&T.
Mine works fine. I bought it from Best Buy.
I got mine at a Sprint Store on Launch, and it appears I have the problems described.
Mine works just fine and I got it from Best Buy.
Mine works perfect. Hehe!
Yep, I have the same issue and I got mine from radio shack. Just prior to this I got the incredible (which I returned because of Verizon’s poor coverage) and it also had the same issue. Looks like I am going back to the shack.
But I have spent an entire week getting my phone set up like I want it. Does anyone know the best way to do a full backup/restore? I have not installed the software yet, will that do it?
Same problem. Bought at Best Buy June 4th. What is fix / remedy?!? Could battery issues also be related to this?
Scott, I have the same issue and mine is in a case. So even though its in a case, it still somehow grounds through it. But you are right about it affecting you use it for gps. I would take it back if I was you before the 30 days are up. (i have to do the same thing and it is a pain!)
(follow-up)
Wait a minute. Mine had the same problem as well (see above) but now it is working! I noticed it at work and noticed or on my car. But now I cannot duplicate it. I did a full battery conditioning cycle (one day before this sites article came out and said it was not necessary).
Run it until it completely dies and charge it back up with the Phone off. And if the battery is hot, let it cool down first. I will keep experimenting, but give that a try. That’s all I can think of that’s different. (I also have a bodyglove case now).
weird-
You may be right, it could be a battery voltage issue.
Mine works just fine, got mine at the Shack. By the way for the person that lost their receipt. Radio Shack can look up your receipt through their system I used to work their. Just give them your info and they should be able to look it up. They were either being lazy or the person was new. If not talk to the manager then the DM. Their is no way that they don’t have your records. Especially with a cell phone they have to log the esn or serial numbers plus they have you sign a paper version of the contract and they have to keep their copy for a year. Good luck.
What’s the best way to drain the battery?
I’ve been running all the apps as I can.
Yup- I’ve got the problem. And I thought I was just hating the Android pull-down notification menu on my 1st non-iPhone. Release day pre-order via Best Buy Mobile
Bought mine at Radio Shack and it has the same issue, but it seems to only be at the very top of the screen (notification bar). The rest of the top half seems fine. I hadn’t really noticed it until I read Jenn’s post.
Well, so I G-Calibrated it on a precise leveled surface and it has been working fine so far with dragging the Notifications down. Also, notification drags down much better if I start from the off the screen.
I’m still draining my battery. It’s almost done. 14 minutes left!
I have this problem too.called HTC technical support today and I talked to three different people that say they have never heard of this before. They told it was most likely from my zagg protector which is absurd because I doubt all the people experiencing this problem have zagg shields. HTC will never have higher quality phones than Apple or Motorola and im no fanboy.
Weird weird weird!
I’ve had something similar with mine- in my case, I’ve had a case on it since I bought it last weekend and occasionally the top will not let me open up the notifications. It’ll just do nothing, trigger a change in the line (show the date but not open the notification) or trigger the desk clock to come up instead.
I may take it out of the case tomorrow to see if it conforms to what others are experiencing…
First off, my EVO has the Zagg full body protection and I have the Seidio 1750mAh battery. Today, I happened to be using the stock battery. I had the same issue described in this post. Tried the G-sensor calibration fix, but it did not resolve the issue. So removed the stock battery and replaced it with the Seidio one. After it came back up, I could not reproduce the problem anymore. Hope this helps. I’ll try the stock battery again when its charged.
Yup. I’ve got that issue on mine. I’ve never noticed it until now, though, and don’t expect it to be a problem. Good to know, though, thanks!
Mine is having this issue, so I called HTC Tech Support (Amber), HTC is not aware of this issue and all EVO’s at HTC Tech Center is not showing this issue. So more people we have reporting this issue to Tech support, the quicker they will look at this issue.
(866) 449-8358
Mine works perfectly!!
So much for first in line for first generation products!!
Mine also works correctly and I bought it at launch day from Sprint at 7:45am CST.
My evo screen doesnt seem to have that problem. I sell sprint and non of my co-workers or customers have noticed that problem as of yet
Reboot your phone… I was able to reproduce the issue described above, ran the calibration – no change. I rebooted the phone and now i can’t reproduce the issue. Software/driver issue maybe…
Correction, the first time the display went to sleep and i tried again, i could reproduce the issue. I had the application “no lock” installed, uninstalled, will try again.
No luck, same issue. This seems somewhat intermittent, which does usually occur with improper groundings.
Best buy phone here – second shipment, picked up on 6/10. I do not have the grounding issue.
Okay so my earpiece on the evo sounds like it is blown out, but only if I set it to max volume. It is so annoying, when I put my EVO volume all the way up, and have a phone conversation, it sounds like a blown out earpiece speaker. I was able to find only 2 other people online so far doing a quick internet search, who have the same problem.
It only occurs if I turn the volume to max, even 1 notch below max solves the problem. However, I’m sometimes in noisey areas and I need the volume set to max, I don’t want to hear a blow out rattle speaker in my ear.
Is this an isolated case?
Guys and gals, set your earpiece volume to max, and have a phone conversation, tell me what you think.
I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE back speaker, i’m talking about the earpiece speaker sounding blown out at max volume.
Thanks
by the way, I just thought to myself, who the heck is HTC annyway, I feel like they popped out of nowhere, are they even a reliable company?
LOL, now I know why you made that dumb comment in the battery tips post.
Why are you posting about the earpiece in this thread about the touchscreen? And you haven’t heard of HTC!? WTF?!?! They’ve been around for over a decade! They used to make the Treo and other phones and recently started selling under their own name. HTC.com would’ve been a place to visit before asking about their reliability.
Brainiac.
And just to keep this comment on-topic, my EVO does not have this grounding issue. Bought it from The Shack on release day.
Tried it… I guess mine isn’t properly grounded.
I very, very rarely use it on a flat surface though.. it’s pretty much always in my hand when I use it. Even if I was using it on a flat surface, like the article says, it’s pretty much only the top Notifications pull-down menu that won’t work.
Tried G-Sensor calibration… it works on hard surfaces.. does not work on a tissue box I had it sitting on originally and does not work on my bed.
Someone made a comment here about the issue not being covered under HTC’s warranty. Wondering how that possibly is the case.
If they’re covering workmanship and it isn’t grounded properly from the factory that qualifies.
Can we get the exact statement?
I think I’m having a similar issue, but it only affects a tiny portion of the screen Typing with the phone in hand is no problem, but when the phone is sitting on my desk, the “p” key doesn’t register most of the time. Weird, eh?
I also had this problem, but I did a G-Sensor calibrator and it works flawlessly now. Now I’m back in love with my phone lol
Had this Problem Year ago with my HTC Hero. Returned it, because of this It was too annoying.
No Iam on Iphone 3GS and experienced never anything like this
I don’t have this exact problem. My touch screen behaves erratically when connected to the wall charger. But when connected to my PC, it is fine. Could it be my wall charger?
I tried using a paint program to see what exactly was happening. I drew a grid and found that the lines were not straight by a long shot and that they drew differently every time i dragged my finger in the same spot. It seems to be worse if you are drawing from the sides when holding it in portrait mode or top and bottom when holding it in landscape.
Very strange.
Had the same issue with my first two EVO’s. First on the Sprint service center was able to repair. The second, BestBuy replaced under my paid warranty there. Now the third one is having this screen issue. I’m thinking Samsung next?