ajh94

Hi all!

If you are the owner of a Galaxy S3... How are your home buttons?

I have a UK (International) Galaxy S3 and my home button is working absolutely fine, no problems there and it seems relatively well built, but there's something that's got me wondering....


When pressing the button you expect a consistent response every time... I have found that most of the time when pressing the button it has a very mellow soft click that has virtually no sound which is great and what I consider normal! But i'd say about 2 out of 5 times when I press it, it responds with a more harsh 'click' sound. So sometimes doesn't sound as nice to press it, just a little different. I think it also depends how and where you press the button. It just doesn't always sound the same to press, it sometimes has the normal soft click and then half the time it's a more harsh click sound.

Don't get me wrong, it's not really a issue, I bet nobody has even noticed because it's so minor! It may not even happen on all of them. I just wondered... If you own a Galaxy S3, please press your home button 5 - 10 times slowly for example, and listen closely in a quiet place, does the 'click' sound the same every single time or does the sound vary ever so slightly slightly?

Again when I say slightly, I mean it's usually hardly even noticeable unless you listen for it so nobody has probably noticed but I was just wondering if it was only mine doing that or if it's all of them? I tend to notice these little things lol. Heck, you may not even be able to tell what I mean as it's hard to describe, my description of it is probably not the best... But if anyone has noticed what I have described on the home button, Please let me know, put my mind at rest - Anyone?

Cheers!

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Mar

Hi. Are you sure it isn't your finger unsticking from the home button when you release it? Keep the finger on and keep pressing it and then try removing it. The finger removal sometimes creates a slightly different sound.

ajh94

No it's not my finger unsticking, but thanks for the reply.. If anyone owns the S3, try it and tell me if yours does the same or similar..

Mar

I tried it as you said but i didn't notice any differences between the same bouts of clicking. Although on diffierent times it sounds only slightly different ( I mean i did it once with the finger in the same position and then 5 minutes later again and there was a v small difference )
(p.s. if you could try the screen inversion test i mentioned in my recend thread to check for screen pixels not working well on left side of the screen it would be appreciated)

ajh94

Yeah that's exactly what I mean, I can press the button loads of times in the same place and it will sound the same but if I move my finger up slightly for example the click sounds different (harsher if that's the right word). It's hard to describe, But I have described it the best I can, It's looking like it's normal, it just sounds slightly different sometimes, I think it depends where you press the button.

And yeah sure

Last edited by ajh94; June 8th, 2012 at 09:08 AM.

Baldilocks

Because of it's non uniform shape, it's going to sound a little different depending on where you push it.

However, mine makes absolutely no sound at all when I press it.

Last edited by Baldilocks; June 8th, 2012 at 09:38 AM.

elbeeuk

My home button is noise free too

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ajh94

Cheers - Not even a tiny tiny normal click when pressing from the middle?

elbeeuk

Sorry,
Just to clarify, by 'noise free' I meant no prominent click sound at all, just a dull press sound which I'm guessing is the same as your 'mellow soft click'

Cheers
Elbee

AndroidifyMe

If you feel lag on your home button you can do a simple fix :

Fix home button lag on Samsung Galaxy S3- i9300 - YouTube

Basically I think the tie between going back to the home screen and S Voice confuses it and causes a slight delay.

ajh94

Yes I know about that, not the problem i'm having.

barne19801

I too have this quirk, i notice if i push slowly rather than a quick jab it happens less often.

I am slightly dissapointed as i had this issue on my s2, its not major but still annoying, it never stopped working however.

I noticed that the button does rock ever so slightly and that it clicks a bit louder when its off centre so if its tilting slightly to the top or the bottom of the device.

pwannell

Remove the back cover and try pressing the home button.

rushmore

I luv the home button since no fixed capacitive or soft buttons to accidentally hit when play games and emulators

HUGE positive, (added) not to mention no space taken up by a fixed nav bar like other devices will have, including the Razr HD.

Last edited by rushmore; June 9th, 2012 at 07:09 AM.

ajh94

Yea my home button is like that. Should I get a replacement then or shall i just leave it? :P

MattMJB0188

OP: Mine is exactly how you describe yours. Some times it clicks louder and other times I barely hear anything. I have come to the conclusion that some are just a little different. My home button is 100% working. I will not return it for this. I think thats being a little OCD. Now if the button wasn't working and obviously loose, then I would.

Some GSIII's have really loose power buttons, volume rockers, and clicky home buttons lol. Guess its just how they are manufactured.

artman540

My home button does this. It sounds like the base of the button gets caught on the edge of something inside.

MattMJB0188

Yeah, some do it, some don't. I don't think this is a real reason to exchange the device. Unless of course the home button wasn't registering or unresponsive.

HaloGod

I have ocd when it comes to buttons and I definitely have noticed the same. Push the sides and it's soft with no noise or feedback, push the middle and it's more clicky and sometimes will have a click out noise that's louder, it bothers me but it's functional

MattMJB0188

Annoying yes, but as you said, functional. On the top of my home button I can somewhat see underneath when held in light. The the casing around the home button is a mm too large lol. Once again, perfectly functional.

I do wish Samsung had better quality control, but they are all like this now, especially Apple. Played with many iPhones that had light bleeding, and very wiggly home buttons.

nseriessaga

Not sure what you mean by "harsh click" but if u press it with a pop (meaning pressing quickly and releasing) dead center, the button should make a "click" sound, its because of the design. U will notice pressing on the edges will make no sound. This is with most physical keys that aren't recessed. Sort of like on laptop keys. The reason u don't notice it on devices with recessed keys is only because the user has much lower odds of pressing at the edge when a key is recessed. That click is actually a satisfying one for me. I feel safer pressing it center then on the edges. I actually returned my iphone before for the exact opposite reason.. because it had no click to the home button.

sean76

Mine has a slight click...

faizo

Interesting thread and obviously I share the same issues/concerns to have come across this...

I understand that this is my first post, but I am a long time reader and first time poster of this great community. I have posted several times on XDA regarding such hardware abnormalities with other phones including GNex and S3. We all start somewhere.

Now, many good points to cover:

I can confirm the behaviour described above. It's quite irritating to hear because it feels like the edges are rubbing against the surrounding glass and I don't think that is by design.

The button has been 100% working on mine as well, and yes home buttons may be different, but it seems the average one is better, no click or rubbing issues. I have confirmed over 20 units now from demo units, outlets, store units, friends and colleagues. And some units have superb click travel, feel and almost silent. Only difference between my unit and the others is I bought it launch day but they got theirs 1-3 months later.

Additionally, what isn't mentioned here is how much the centre button is raised or flush with the screen. For example, mine is just about flush with the screen and thus a certain click with a possible angle will cause a louder click sound because the button isn't raised enough to overcome rubbing against the carved area of Gorilla Glass 2. This could very much be a major contributor to this 'click' and irregular click feel.

I can assure you that there are perfect non clicking and predictable firmness home centre buttons.

This is a sign of quality control issue and no matter the excuse, no end user should suffer because I am sure you wouldn't like 'defective' parts from the start. In fact, I have seen many units with the very flush, wobbly power buttons making it very cheap looking and difficult/inconsistent to click. I can go on but you get the point.

I don't think it's only OCD, it just some people like a good quality product not everything is acceptable. This is the way standards are raised, expensive sure, but consistent quality is important for long run.

Someone mentioned to remove back cover and press the home button? Do you mean to fully remove the housing compartments and try to find the mechanism responsible for the home button and try to push it out ?

Finally, I also believe that it's not just the click that is irregular, but the firmness of the button isn't consistent and sometimes using the phone with one hand, pressing/clicking the centre button causes the rather annoying/irritating click sound and feel...

Extra:

The folks over at XDA also seem to have a thread for more or less the same issue/concern. If interested, have a look here.

Last edited by faizo; September 18th, 2012 at 11:21 PM. Reason: +info

robin_

If I press on the top, middle, left, or right of the button there's no click just a soft depress if I press in the bottom center of the button there's a click.

I also find that my case interferes slightly with pressing the button.

jamsterdm

Pressing directly in the middle makes a soft click on mine

itot

I have exactly same feel when pressing the home button after a while, especially. Feels like the button has misaliging issue so rubs or has friction against the wall when pressing.

I suppose as the gap is quite a bit between the plastic wall of the button and the button...smallest of the dirt if it goes in there and settles will cause this friction thing happening...so its the design issue.

Either find a way to clean it by dismantling the button and case or try using strong suction very close to the button and press the button when doing that...could help not tried btw.

Anyone with better solution please..at times its quite annoying.