I was wondering if anyone here is having the same issue. I don't think it is my phone as this is my second Droid and the first one had a similar issue.
Sometimes I can't swipe to answer phone calls. I swipe and half way across, it flips back. I have missed calls because of this. Occasionally it takes one swipe, sometimes two. Many times three, four and five. Very frustating. I don't have this issue when unlocking the phone when it goes to sleep.
I got my phone after the first update so I have never used the arching swipe. Straight across should not create a problem. I try to make sure my fingers are clean, but answering a phone should not be a problem. I should be able to answer without having to think about it. Is there some way to select a different method of answering the phone other than "swipe"?
Appreciate your input.
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I have seen this problem before and it almost always points to a badly behaving app. I have seen this specific behavior with Handcent. Are any of you by chance using it or one of the other SMS replacements?
No, but I've had a different (but somewhat similar issue), though it's only happened once and I've had my phone for 2 weeks... When I have an incoming call, the green "answer" swipey-thing didn't show up; only the red "ignore" swipey-thing was there. Anyway, I swiped my finger where I would normally swipe it to answer the call and it worked anyway.
This probably doesn't help you guys but I thought I'd chime in anyway.
i actually know exactly what you are talking about. the problem you are having is you are letting your finger up too soon. you have to keep your finger down on the screen until you get to the other side. it's basically harder than the unlock screen; on that, you just swipe and can let your finger up normally, like as you swipe, half way. but to answer a call, you have to keep your finger down and connected to the screen all the way to the other side. i also missed several calls until i figured this out. try it and let me know if you still have the problem.
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I have seen this problem before and it almost always points to a badly behaving app. I have seen this specific behavior with Handcent. Are any of you by chance using it or one of the other SMS replacements?
No.. not using Handcent or other SMS replacement. I don't have a lot of apps on the phone, but that is not to say one of them does not cause the problem. It's very inconsistent. And annoying enough that I have to plan my swipe. Make sure my hand is dry. Make sure I pull carefully and purposefully, not carelessly. Answering a phone is not rocket science. Should not have to worry that each time the phone rings, I might not be able to swipe in time. So far, missed calls are easy to call back, but that won't always be the case. I LOVE all the foo-foo on the phone, but my primary reason for having a phone is to make and take calls. I wish the Droid had a call and end button. I looked at the Eris but decided on the Droid for the same reasons others did.
i actually know exactly what you are talking about. the problem you are having is you are letting your finger up too soon. you have to keep your finger down on the screen until you get to the other side. it's basically harder than the unlock screen; on that, you just swipe and can let your finger up normally, like as you swipe, half way. but to answer a call, you have to keep your finger down and connected to the screen all the way to the other side. i also missed several calls until i figured this out. try it and let me know if you still have the problem.
Will definitely try this technique. It's not difficult if you know that's how to do it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gidget
i actually know exactly what you are talking about. the problem you are having is you are letting your finger up too soon. you have to keep your finger down on the screen until you get to the other side. it's basically harder than the unlock screen; on that, you just swipe and can let your finger up normally, like as you swipe, half way. but to answer a call, you have to keep your finger down and connected to the screen all the way to the other side. i also missed several calls until i figured this out. try it and let me know if you still have the problem.
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Why should answering the phone take a special technique. NO ONE should be having a problem. I think the swipe is too sensitive or has too narrow a range. I know it's trying to avoid accidental calls, but seriously, why should I have to poise ever time the phone rings. I want to be able to answer on the first swipe. (And be able to tell someone else how to answer it. My DH has the same problem, if not worse.)
I wish there was some way to turn the swipe into a push button. Green button = answer. Red button = send to voice mail.
I'd still have to power on to get to this screen so it's not like my pocket would answer the call. Is this something that an app could do? Has someone written one already and I've missed it?
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This has really been my only complaint with this phone......and up til now I don't think I ever would have said something about it.
For me it's not an issue everytime I get a call, but when this happens it is 3-5 swipes to answer.
I agree with mully....it is probably the user, (me), that is the problem.
Why should answering the phone take a special technique. NO ONE should be having a problem. I think the swipe is too sensitive or has too narrow a range. I know it's trying to avoid accidental calls, but seriously, why should I have to poise ever time the phone rings. I want to be able to answer on the first swipe. (And be able to tell someone else how to answer it. My DH has the same problem, if not worse.)
I wish there was some way to turn the swipe into a push button. Green button = answer. Red button = send to voice mail.
I'd still have to power on to get to this screen so it's not like my pocket would answer the call. Is this something that an app could do? Has someone written one already and I've missed it?
Same problem here on occasion. I know it's me, but I'm starting to consider it a deal breaker. If they don't fix this in the next update, I'm going to go our there and get one off them there phones with red and green buttons. In about two years that is.
Seriously, I do have the issue and have missed calls because of it, especially when using GV. I wish that app would give me a bit more time. By the time I get it out of the holster and miss the original swipe, I worry about it and go too fast. Missed call. Fortunately, I use my droid more for non-phone functions than calling. I'd say 2% calls, 98% other.
I agree with most of the above statements. My issues are 1. I am out in the bright sun most of the day-difficult to see screen. 2. Phone rings - by the time I get phone out of holster and try to find shade to do swipe I sometimes have missed call and as mentioned above I panic and probably do swipe to fast .
As above I wish there was a app that would allow for power button to answer call.
As you can see this is my first post but I have been reading this forum for about month and half. This is a great forum.
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Also have weird issues answering calls sometimes. Sometimes the animation gets 'stuck' when I get to the right side of the screen, and it sort of hangs like that for a sec or 2 before it switches to the in-call screen.
I do wish we had physical call buttons. Also wish we had physical control buttons at the bottom. Maybe the Droid 2 will get it right.
I have tried doing a slower swipe and also pressing harder, but it just won't respond. I am using handcent, so it may be related to that program. Handcent just released a new version on the 19th, and I haven't noticed the problem since, but I don't get a high volume of calls.
i actually know exactly what you are talking about. the problem you are having is you are letting your finger up too soon. you have to keep your finger down on the screen until you get to the other side. it's basically harder than the unlock screen; on that, you just swipe and can let your finger up normally, like as you swipe, half way. but to answer a call, you have to keep your finger down and connected to the screen all the way to the other side. i also missed several calls until i figured this out. try it and let me know if you still have the problem.
Thanks, Gidget. Your suggestion was most helpful. I don't get many calls so I did not have a chance to put your suggestion into action until today. I pulled slowly and ALL THE WAY to the other side and was able to answer all five of my calls with only a single swipe. My hand really wants to swipe quickly and sloppily as that seems like the quickest way to get the call answered, but I consciously made myself swipe all the way across and that really helped. What do they say... do something 13 times and it becomes a habit? I've got 8 more calls to go before it's second nature!
I am the one who posted the initial question and I was almost embarrassed to do so. Surely, answering a phone should not need a special technique. Hopefully others reading this post because they have the same issue will benefit from your suggestion and the powers that be will see that the swipe needs a little tweeking. Maybe they can make it a half-swipe like we do when we unlock the phone.
I have the same issue constantly I miss calls because of it, and then my screen won't come back after a call so I can hang up. A major pain on automated calls lol. I can keep my finger on the phone the whole time and it will still flip back. O and did I mention this is number 5 for me {Droids}. I love the phone and all it will someday be capable of but....... I may have to switch back to something and wait or I may throw the stinking thing lol.
For those that suggested a button push instead of swipe, wouldn't this be a potential problem? The screen turns on when a call is coming in and it would be easy to hit a button by accident (either answering or ignoring). A swipe is unlikely to happen by accident in your pocket.
By the way, I have noticed at times the swipe to be a bit sluggish. A slower slide always works for me.
While I don't really care much about this issue as I use a bluetooth headset and it's always easy to answer calls with.. wouldn't it be great if someone could find a way to make the camera button answer calls. Dunno if it'd be possible or not, but sounded like an idea to me..
It is nice to see I am not the only one having this problem. I am on my second Droid, the first was easy to answer, you could just throw the slide and it never missed.
My second however is a different story, it was missing calls right out of the box before any apps were even installed. I have followed every suggestion given and none work consistantly. Sometimes the Droid will answer on the first swipe, the next takes 5 or will not answer at all. Customer Service has been blaming me for this problem, claiming that they have never heard of it before. Based on what I see on this thread, Droid does have a problem here.
I was a heavy bluetooth user until the Droids came along, both of my Droids have failed miserably in that aspect.
They do need to come up with a better system to answer calls.
It is nice to see I am not the only one having this problem. I am on my second Droid, the first was easy to answer, you could just throw the slide and it never missed.
My second however is a different story, .....
I had been thinking that the issue was in the software. But now I have second thoughts. A question for the technical... what makes one phone answer on a dime, and another be so difficult? Is it the way the phone is physically put together? Seems strange that there's such a difference. DSMITH had two phones. One worked easily. One did not. I assume his "swipe" was the same on both phones.
And to dsmith... now you have other stories to relate to tech support when you call. I suspect we all thought it was just us. Do try pulling the swipe all the way to the other side. So far... that seems to work for me.
I had been thinking that the issue was in the software. But now I have second thoughts. A question for the technical... what makes one phone answer on a dime, and another be so difficult? Is it the way the phone is physically put together? Seems strange that there's such a difference. DSMITH had two phones. One worked easily. One did not. I assume his "swipe" was the same on both phones.
snip
Our Droids... just like many other compooting devices use dynamic memory management. Memory is used on an as needed basis by whatever the chunk of SW gets invoked by the device. apps, utilities, system calls and all sorts of stuff is happening all the time on these buggers... alled up automatically whether or not we poke a thing on the screen, which makes debugging somewhat problematic.
I've been using my Droid since the day of release without a hitch on the answer swipe... until today.
Tried to answer a call and the swipe thing would not budge!
IMO there's a problem and it ain't the user.
I've had this problem in the past and considered writing in about it. It happens to me fairly rarely but when it happens I usually find it impossible to answer the phone. I try every technique possible in the time available before the call goes to voice mail. I'm convinced it's not a matter of swiping too hard or fast, or not hard or fast enough. It seems like it's most likely to happen when I pull the phone out of my pocket and the keyboard has slid out a few millimeters and gets pushed back in. Perhaps that has nothing to do with it, but I've wondered whether the act of pushing the keyboard back in is sending a signal to the OS that prevents the phone from answering.
I have the exact same issue. I've had my phone for only a week and have missed over half of the incoming calls. Holding the green button and sliding slowly works a little better but not much.
Answering a phone call should be a no-brainer, not something to stress over each time the phone rings. If it doesn't get any better I'm going back to my BB. Too bad because otherwise I love the phone.
It is nice to see I am not the only one having this problem. I am on my second Droid, the first was easy to answer, you could just throw the slide and it never missed.
My second however is a different story, it was missing calls right out of the box before any apps were even installed. I have followed every suggestion given and none work consistantly. Sometimes the Droid will answer on the first swipe, the next takes 5 or will not answer at all. Customer Service has been blaming me for this problem, claiming that they have never heard of it before. Based on what I see on this thread, Droid does have a problem here.
I was a heavy bluetooth user until the Droids came along, both of my Droids have failed miserably in that aspect.
They do need to come up with a better system to answer calls.
Be careful... My droid always answered on first swipe for the first couple months... Then, about 1 to 1.5 months back, it wouldnt answer on the first swipe. It was the very right side of my screen going bad. Finally, about 1/4 - 1/2 inch on the right side vertical wouldnt pick up touch. The picture was fine, the screen looked fine, but its touch capabilities were borked. I could only unlock my phone by opening it, and unlocking in horizontal mode.
Luckily, my phone is enroute to verizon this second, the wife should be getting a replacement in about 5 - 10 mins.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andychn
I've been using my Droid since the day of release without a hitch on the answer swipe... until today.
Tried to answer a call and the swipe thing would not budge!
IMO there's a problem and it ain't the user.
Chalk me up as well. 1st time a few minutes ago. Swipe thing wouldn't budge. No problems from late Dec til up to this point. Today is the first time there's been a problem.
Made a test call later and asked for a call back, which worked ok.
Me too. I know it's me - I am right handed and answer my phone right handed but my thumb simply does not fold in on itself far enough to complete the swipe. It's annoying to use two hands to answer but that's what I end up doing 85% of the time.
What I would prefer is an app that would let me pick my own pattern and location for swiping to answer - similar to what the unlock screen does. I would also like to pick the direction - If I could start upper right and swing down and to the left I would have no other complaints ever. probably ;o)
I just figured out the answer to everyone's problem answering calls on the Droid. It was driving me nuts and I also missed several calls so I decided to practice. I kept calling my Droid from my land line and guess what. Swiping is the wrong thing to do!!!
Try calling you cell phone from your land line or someone else's phone. Now just press on the green answer button but just hold it there. What does it say? DRAG right to answer! Now, look at the spot where the red reject the call button was. See that little dot? Just drag the green answer button to that dot and you'll actually feel a little vibration. When you feel that let go and you have your call!
Try it, slowly drag the green button to that little white dot.
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OHmagawd, I am SO HAPPY to have found your post, rjfrank33, because this has been bugging me since I got the phone in December. I LOVE my droid, but felt so inept trying to answer the bugger!
No problem... I'm like you. I love my Droid but actually found myself in a panic trying to answer the stupid thing. The more frantic I got the more it wouldn't answer. No problems now though!
I was thinking about dredging up this thread to see if anyone else had noticed a improvement in their swipe to answer the phone problems.
I have been using the Frank's method to answer since I recieved my second phone, it worked the best of any however I still occasionally missed calls due to the inability to answer. I still do use this method, just never looked close enough to see the dot showing up. At any rate is seems to work now.
I think mine has improved since the last update, maybe I am wrong, but it has been quite awhile since I have missed a call or for that matter had to swipe twice. So has anyone else noticed this or am I just loosing my mind again. Also, I don't think the dot was showing up previous to the last software update, but I could be wrong on that too.
Now if they would just make the phone with decent reception and bluetooth that works as good as it does on my old dumb phone I would be a happy camper.
I just figured out the answer to everyone's problem answering calls on the Droid. It was driving me nuts and I also missed several calls so I decided to practice. I kept calling my Droid from my land line and guess what. Swiping is the wrong thing to do!!!
Try calling you cell phone from your land line or someone else's phone. Now just press on the green answer button but just hold it there. What does it say? DRAG right to answer! Now, look at the spot where the red reject the call button was. See that little dot? Just drag the green answer button to that dot and you'll actually feel a little vibration. When you feel that let go and you have your call!
Try it, slowly drag the green button to that little white dot.
Thank you rjfrank33! And thank you jayes for starting the thread.
rjfrank33 said: "Try calling you cell phone from your land line or someone else's phone. Now just press on the green answer button but just hold it there. What does it say? DRAG right to answer! Now, look at the spot where the red reject the call button was. See that little dot? Just drag the green answer button to that dot and you'll actually feel a little vibration. When you feel that let go and you have your call."
...and I used to think I had a lot of patience! I've been frustrated with this since I got my phone. I use a headset when I'm in the car, so to answer I simply press the answer button on the headset. But on those occasions I don't have that headset on, I've been batting around .500 answering calls. rjfrank33's solution is the way it's supposed to work!
The app called Tedd's Droid Tools will let you use the camera button to answer the phone. I tried it today and it works! (but after I downloaded it I had to activate it. Learning all this stuff is hard for an old lady!)
I started having this problem today, but it was after I was playing basketball so I figured that my hands were wet, and in turn it was adding moisture on the screen that was screwing it up.
And do all that while standing on your head and whistling Dixie. While your phone is ringingringingringingringing ... ack! ... have to catch this call ... fumble the phone ... TOO LATE. If I got more incoming calls, I'd be really annoyed. When my contract's up, I'll definitely be looking for a phone that's easier to answer.
correct me if I am wrong but all smart phones have some sort of way to answer the phone when it is locked. My wifes TouchPro2 has to be slide. The iPhone has to be slide, the Palm's have to be unlocked using your password before you can answer the call.
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This is funny because I just got my wife a Droid and it's her first smart phone that has a touchscreen and she is having learning curve issues when trying to answer the phone. She misses the physical end and call button too but she'll get used to it.
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i actually know exactly what you are talking about. the problem you are having is you are letting your finger up too soon. you have to keep your finger down on the screen until you get to the other side. it's basically harder than the unlock screen; on that, you just swipe and can let your finger up normally, like as you swipe, half way. but to answer a call, you have to keep your finger down and connected to the screen all the way to the other side. i also missed several calls until i figured this out. try it and let me know if you still have the problem.
Thank you soo much! I convinced my mom to get one, and her only complaint so far is that she misses calls because the phone won't unlock. I will tell her this.
I had this problem for the first time the other day. My phone would not answer. The answer swipe bar would not move every time I tried. I thought I was going to have to bring it back to Verizon because it would not answer. I have had the Droid since January, so I feel confident in saying I know how to answer the phone (again, this is a phone and this should be a functionality that is not an issue!). I finally turned the thing off and then back on and the problem was gone.
I had the swipe problem with my first Droid after I removed my screen saver. Took the phone back to Verizon and the salesman had no problems. Made me look stupid so I went home with the same phone. Still problems continuedso I went back the next day and they exchanged it for me. Still had the same problem swiping open when receiving calls. Out of frustration I bought a screen saver, which the phone doesn't need, and I CAN RECEIVE CALLS, SWIPE TO OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS ! It only took putting on a screen saver to fix my problem.
I've had this issue where I would miss calls because I was unable to drag the answer slider all the way to the right. I knew what to do and was unable to because the phone would have "hiccups" when trying to slide it. Its been a while, but I recently reinstalled an old app from the market that I used to use. It was called Shuffle Tone. The very instant I installed Shuffle Tone and configured my random ringtones ... The problem I used to have came back.
If you are having difficulty answering your phone ... I would look at any apps you have that effect your ringtone. For me its been Shuffle Tone.
The Motorola Droid - the first ever Verizon Android Phone - exploded onto the mobile market with an incredibly successful ad campaign that brough Android to the masses. With a huge and vibrant touchscreen, solid metal body, full QWERTY keyboard, 5M... Read More
Problem swiping to answer Droid phone calls
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