Video: Nexus 7 touchscreen defect

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/video-nexus-7-touchscreen-defect-20120720/

by ukdm • 14 years ago

74 51 14 years ago

eevilspock2• 14 years ago

Seriously? From a single data point you deçide to cry wolf? I say this as an iPad user.

ericmoritz• 14 years ago

I'm not an iPad user and I really love my N7 but I notice this lag occur a few times yesterday. I suspected that it was due to high CPU load but didn't have the time to investigate it.

It actually occurred while I was showing off the N7 on the DC Metro to an interested rider. I feared that this out-of-love iOS user may have been deterred by the momentary lag even though the tablet is otherwise awesome.

I hope that this gets fixed in 4.1.2; Project Butter has made Android significantly smoother and I think this is just a rogue element in Google's aforementioned "War on laginess".

simonh• 14 years ago

Seriously? Given video proof, and without bothering to check for multiple supporting testimony from other affected users, you make cheap irrelevant accusations?

eevilspock2• 14 years ago

Sir, did you read the article? The author makes no mention of even anecdotal evidence of problems beyond his single Nexus 7. You don't write an article about a single defect instance. A post in a forum maybe, and after there is evidence of the problem being widespread you write an article. Perhaps I should write an article about the rotten apple I bought yesterday and title it "Whole Foods Apples Rotten".

The evidence that appears herein is after the fact, and even so is hearsay and subject to selection bias.

It's funny how well your comment applies to the article author, yet you attack me.

Legion• 14 years ago

As a former Android user, I say that a history of responsiveness issues on Android devices makes me particularly sensitive to issues like this popping up on the latest hot new Android device.

Responsiveness is a big feature that pushed me onto iOS devices. Kind of ironic, given that it's the other way around on the desktop for me: my Linux machines are nice and responsive even on modest hardware, while my former MacBook Pro beach-balled and beach-balled. It took going entirely solid-state storage on the MacBook Air for OS X to stop driving me insane with responsiveness issues.

brittohalloran• 14 years ago

I've also had issues with a slightly unresponsive touchscreen on my Nexus 7. Touches that (based on smartphone experience) SHOULD have registered, don't.

Separately, and more seriously, this morning I flipped the screen on (after using it for a while with no issues), and the screen was completely washed out to the point where you almost can't see what's on the screen [1]. I obviously tried adjusting brightness right away, powering off and on, etc. Nothing. This seems fairly widespread [2] (lots of reports on forums etc., then again a lot of people bought it and only people with issues complain). I will be trying to tighten up the screws inside, and making sure any connectors are seated properly, but sending it back for a replacement if it that doesn't work.

[1] like this: http://www.nexustablets.net/forum/nexus-tablet-site-news/650...

[2] more reports here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1749849

silasb• 14 years ago

I have noticed the problem with the edge of the screen not being responsive since I've had my pre-order one since 17th.

My own gripe is the ghosting/flikering that was demonstrated earlier this week or last last week. When I turn the screen on and start reading Currents, as soon as I scroll to a new page I will see the screen flicker a little bit. This is after the screen gets refreshed with new content.

Umm reading through what I wrote makes me thing it is the auto-brightness changing.

jan_g• 14 years ago

If turning the screen off and back on rectifies the problem, then hopefully this could be resolved with a patch.

growt• 14 years ago

The nexus one (or at least some) had a similar issue. After a while the touchscreen became almost unusable. Turning the screen off and on again fixed the issue, but it was annoying. Seemed like a hardware defect, because it never got fixed by software. I hope this is not the same problem.

boh• 14 years ago

I had the same problem with the Nexus S

sahaj• 14 years ago

A similar thing happens to a Motorola Xoom that own. Turning the screen on and off always fixes the issue. It's usually rare, once every month or so, so it's not that annoying, but when it happens, I end up swiping multiple times and then realize, oh I've run into that problem. I can live with it, but would be nice if it was fixed.

_ea1k• 14 years ago

The Nexus One used to have touchscreen problems as well: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6296

Hopefully Google/ASUS will respond well with fixes. It really does sound like a heat-related issue affecting the digitizer.

lewispb• 14 years ago

I don't think this is heat related as switching the screen off and on again clears the issue.

Looks like a software defect which will hopefully be rectified with a hastily developed update.

jonknee• 14 years ago

A software defect the affects the same portion of screen regardless of orientation and that is temporarily fixed when physically turning the screen off? I'm not convinced.

mistercow• 14 years ago

>I don't think this is heat related as switching the screen off and on again clears the issue.

I'm talking based on a very rough understanding of how capacitive multi-touch works, but it seems plausible that on restart, the screen calibrates itself for the current environment, "zeroing" itself according to the capacitance it is currently seeing, and that that zero value is no longer accurate once the temperature changes significantly.

donniezazen2• 14 years ago

Digitizer as in you could use pressure sensitive stylus to draw rich sketches.

dkhenry• 14 years ago

I know I can't post on geek.net, but since apparently one data point is enough to ruffle feathers, my iPad had a non working rocker switch on the side ( the one that you can use to lock the screen or mute the tablet ). I had to send it back to get replaced. At the time I told everyone they should be concerned, clearly one failure indicates a real problem with the device.

momma-joe• 14 years ago

i experienced this when I was registering, keyboard input would not register until after 5-10 presses, then buffer filled up and spit it all out with multiple key presses in the input box.

jasonkolb• 14 years ago

I have this same issue. I think it's related to CPU and runaway processes in the background. After installing a CPU monitor I can pretty easily see the correlation between CPU usage and degradation in the touch recognition.

I'm not familiar with Android's architecture, but it seems like they need better safeguards against runaway processes.

pohl2• 14 years ago

Interesting. Can you come up with a hypothesis that would explain why only a specific portion of the screen would be effected?

Edit: anothermachine has a workable story for how it could be a software problem elsewhere on this page

mibbitier2• 14 years ago

From the video I thought it was going to be more of a hardware issue - eg the hot chips are on that side of the device, and the heat interferes with the touchscreen.

danellis• 14 years ago

> I think it's related to CPU and runaway processes in the background.

I don't think it's that.

I got my Nexus 7 at Google I/O. The first one I got suffered from this same issue right from the very beginning. I could barely even get past the welcome screens, because I couldn't type certain letters on the keyboard. It was worst at the bottom of the screen (which would be the right side in landscape as the video points out).

The device help desk replaced it for me the next day. Unfortunately, the second one had a different problem -- the display was badly corrupted, and the left half of the screen (in portrait mode) was entirely red.

The third one seems to be working fine, apart from one annoying dead pixel.

ajross• 14 years ago

I got my preorder tablet in the mail last night, and didn't see anything like this over 4-5 hours of broad, "try everything" use. It might be an assembly or component issue with early tablets. Both the linked article and the grandparent seem to be arguing that it's heat related. Mine certainly got hot, though the sample size is too low to make a determination.

falcolas2• 14 years ago

Hmm. No such issue with mine. Might be a literal manufacturing defect.

I wonder if OP bothered to try and reproduce this with other models, or if they decided to make a mountain out of a molehill.

huggyface2• 14 years ago

Have you used Tegra-specific software?

I grabbed SHADOWGUN THD (a Tegra-optimized game) this morning and experienced exactly what the submitter experience: The game is very quickly completely unplayable because you have to control movement on both sides of the screen, which you quickly discover isn't possible.

I am a huge Android booster, but I have to confess to being quite disappointed at this point. The screen has the left side defect where it raises from the frame. There are bizarre lag glitches and pauses (start a Netflix movie and for the first minute or so of play there are multi-second long video pauses).

I have a feeling this is going to turn into a giant PR disaster for Google/Asus.

falcolas2• 14 years ago

Yes.

I wasn't willing to pay for Shadowgun just to test this, but I played Fruit Ninja THD for a good 10 minutes with no problems. I also watched a full Netflix show with no appreciable lag.

de_dave• 14 years ago

There's yet another similar issue with the Galaxy Nexus: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?can=2&sta... (video included!)

AshleysBrain• 14 years ago

Any ideas if this is a software or hardware defect? If the former then a patch may be on the way.

idspispopd3• 14 years ago

In most cases software or firmware patching is sufficient, even in the case of some heat issues. If it can not be fixed via patch or only affecting a small batch of users, then returns are a better approach to distributing firmware.

If it's widespread then google didn't do enough intervention testing(QA processes). Which wouldn't be unusual since even mattel are guilty of letting intervention testing slide. (It slows production and pushes up costs.)

lnanek2• 14 years ago

Had the same sort of problem with my Nexus One. Different OEM too. Pretty strange. Maybe the open source version of Android doesn't have anyway to keep the touch sensor calibrated beyond turning off and back on. I can recall ThinkPad's where the trackpoint would get stuck going a certain direction after some use as well. So continuously calibrating input devices is certainly something that can be required.

idspispopd3• 14 years ago

If it's an overflow/waterfall type issue(for lack of a better descriptive term) then turning the screen off and on will fix it temporarily until the trigger (such as heat) sets it off again.

It's less likely a calibration issue because the rest of the screen is performing accurately, and the behaviour is inconsistent.

huetsch• 14 years ago

I've been skeptical of Google-branded hardware ever since my Nexus One stopped working due to a non-functioning power button. I find myself associating "beta" with their stuff - that's fine for software but not so much for physical goods.

thechut• 14 years ago

I think this is most likely a software problem. There were similar problems with multitouch in the bottom right corner of the Galaxy Nexus which was fixed in the first OTA update, just a few weeks later.

idspispopd3• 14 years ago

If it's heat from the hardware, that can still be fixed with either more optimised drivers, or outright capping performance.

mckoss• 14 years ago

I've noted very bad screen flicker on the Nexus 7 when browsing the web (large white background). This is a Google IO unit.

donniezazen2• 14 years ago

I have no problem what so ever with my Nexus. It's the most freaking awesome tablet I have had.

Author and other people might have got a bad piece.

mgcross• 14 years ago

FWIW, I just played Shadowgun for 20 minutes on my n7 and I'm not having any touchscreen issues.

trimbo• 14 years ago

So... I just let mine bake for 30 minutes on the same game he did. The device was hot by the end of it. No problems with touch/multitouch recognition afterwards.

guelo• 14 years ago

I just tried his same test on my 7 with the same game and the same multitouch tester app and I was unable to replicate the bug. Must be a manufacturing issue that affects only some devices.

Video: Nexus 7 touchscreen defect

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