troyboytn

There is now an app for this in the Market specifically for the HTC Hero. Uses the light sensor to lock and unlock the screen during a call. Proximity Sensor v1.0 Application for Android | Tools

mlblack16

Awesome find!

Have you played with it much? How well does it work? I wonder how it works vs the auto screen disable which seems to occur after a couple minutes.

Oh, and I hate the self adjustment backlight settings on the Hero (way too low indoors and jumps around) so I leave it disabled. Do you know if it has to be enabled, or will it work independent of that?

sarspants

It works but the auto-backlight has to be enabled which I hate. Maybe they'll update it further.

TF1984

Great Find! I'm testing now.

Wait, you guys don't use bakligt sensor? wy not, works great!! saes battery too!

TF1984

WOW!!! It's awesome, works flawlessly!!! Sweet.

troyboytn

I agree with you guys, love this app but wish auto brightness had a minimum set level. I emailed the developer to see if his app could bypass haaving to have auto brightness set to initiate the light sensor. Hope it is possible.

jdbell2004

now how well does this work if you're on a call while it's pitch black out? would the light sensor assume youre in a call because its completely black?

Robchaos

The developer made it so that you can hit the back button on your phone to unlock the screen when it is dark outside and the light sensor doesn't know the phone has moved from your face.

Useful App despite its one limitation (not working in a dark room). I wonder if the G sensor could be incorporated into the app. Maybe the phone could sense the ambient light level before the call is answered and if it senses no light it could go to a backup mode using the G sensor if the phone is upright to your ear screen is locked. You bring it down screen facing up and screen unlocks.

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Kelmar

If this becomes possible I'd be all over this.

I refuse to turn back on the auto backlight control.

troyboytn

Thats a great idea. Email the dev and suggest it. He's asking for suggestions..... Home | Tom Reay - Android Applications

Robchaos

Thank you . I have sent him an email explaining my idea.

Man I wish I had some background in programming and Linux. I would be playing around with stuff like this all day.

padro82

great find! thanks for sharing!

Archon810

I find it to be too annoying and overly sensitive. In the office where the light doesn't hit it directly or in places where there are shadows, it gets way too dim - to an uncomfortable degree. I disabled it on day 1.

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impaler

Oh good! I'm tired of pushing buttons on a call!

sr1982

Ok, I feel stupid now. I downloaded it and installed it. I covered the light sensor with the test like it told me to do. I made a test call and the screen did NOT turn off. It just showed the green circle and said, "Screen locked! Press back to unlock screen and disable the proximity sensor for this call." Is that the app working?

tatonka_Hero

seems more like there'd be a way for an app to shut the screen off the instant a call is answered (when you press the green button or slide down to answer), with something like the menu button being a trigger to unlock the screen again...rather than using the light sensor.

Or is this just me?

impaler

I agree with you, that the IDEAL functionality would be to darken the screen as soon as it's held to the head. I haven't tried this out yet (working graveyard shift), but if it locks the screen but allows the screen to turn off in 30 seconds anyway, I can live with that. The point would be that I am not calling anyone else, dialing, bringing up the notification shade, etc.

tatonka_Hero

I guess I just haven't had any problems with hitting the screen during a call. The only thing I've ever done is bring the notification bar down with my ear, and that certainly doesn't bother me since it just shows the notification that I'm in a call anyway

Sabre66

Will this still work with Screebl installed?

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TF1984

yes it works with screebl installed.


To you earlier posters now griping that it doesn't turn the screen off... ARE YOU SERIOUS. Yesterday morning we were all still mad that the phone screen stayed up allowing accidental dialing and disconnects. NOW THIS APP solves that by displaying a "screen locked" image on the screen and you're griping b/c it doesn't turn the screen off????


WTF!? Whine whine whine, you guys are worse than my two year old child!!!

troyboytn

Agreed, what difference is it that the screen isnt turned completely off....all most of you wanted was a way to stop hitting the buttons and this does indeed stop that from happening!

TF1984

Some people are just never happy.

I see now why phone manufacturers can never satisfy the crowds. The do all kinds of quality testing, and probably make a ton of adjustments to improve devices. But guess what, as soon as those items are fixed people find new issues to bitch and gripe about. Good gracious!!!:confused :

BSki

If this and screebl were combined, I think that would be our perfect solution.

sr1982

Not sure if this unwarranted immature shot was directed at me or not, but if it was....

I am not upset about the screen not turning off during the call, I was just making sure I was doing this correctly. I interpreted that the screen would turn off while on a call, and when it didn't I figured I was doing something wrong.

tatonka_Hero

I wasn't whining. I don't even use the app since I don't have a problem with hitting buttons in a call. I was just pointing out that there might be a more effective way other than using the light sensor.

osli

Awesome alp idea. Installed and trying it out. My only. Concern is that it seems to take a few seconds to lock the screen and that's the time my ear usually causes problems. Havent had many calls yet... if it works well in everyday use I'll be thrilled!

DanDroid

Downloaded, installed, made a test call. Works perfect. Its the best soultion so far for accidental face hangups. I think the easiest way to solve this is to just remove the soft "End Call" key and just use the regular hard button end call key. They added the mute and speaker phone soft buttons on the last update, so I would assume removing "End Call" should not be that difficult.

nathanotis

And i think this is the best idea I've ever read on a forum. +2 internets for you, my friend.

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osli

Anyone having any odd phone issues after installing? I've started getting the "HTC" boot-type screen after pressing the home hard button from various apps, the weather widget setup keeps popping up randomly, and every now and then when I press the home or phone buttons I get asked what app I want to be default (i.e., HTC Sense or Home, SuperDial or Phone...). Seems like my defaults are getting erased.

I had also downloaded and tried LockBot Pro around the same time, so I'm not really sure which is responsible. I've uninstalled LockBot for now since I really want Proximity Sensor to work out... hopefully that fixes things.

What's up with the Android Market? I like the idea of the whole community being free to create and post apps, but man... so many that I've tried are just buggy as hell. Is there any kind of official Google testing program before they hit the market, or is it just up to the community to determine which work and which don't?

tatonka_Hero

Unless I'm mistaken, it's a completely open market. Anything can go up there regardless of testing.

osli

prod and cons for sure. Ultimately more quality apps will make it this way, but s/n ratio drops alot.

twospirits

Nice application. Working perfectly.

TS

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Tom Reay

Hi guys
Thanks for the feedback!

Just wanted to explain why the screen never turns off, its not my fault! Because HTC only use the light sensor for the auto backlight they have made it so it only reports a value when the screen is on, so when the screen goes off it just reports a constant value of 0!

I'm working on an update at the moment which should fix a couple of issues hopefully including the auto backlight feature bug. Although as far as I know this only affects the CDMA Hero, the GSM one works regardless of what setting you have it on.

If anyone finds bugs please email me, I'm especially interested in people who have tried it on other phones! I've only been able to test on my Hero but if it works on other devices then I can add them to the list of supported phones!

Thanks
Tom Reay

osli

Hey Tom... I'm no programming guru, but I had a suggestion for a future update or for you to play with. Not sure how your code works at the moment, but I'd guess you just have a threshold value set below which the app kicks in and locks the screen? Right?

How about trying a modification that reads the sensor value when the phone app is open or an incoming call is present, but before the call/answer button is pressed. Read the sensor value again after a call is initiated/answered, and do a quick calc to compare the delta (either absolute or percentage, would have to play with it to see which worked better). Set the lock behavior for a delta threshold, not an absolute threshold. Might help with variable environmental light levels.

Tom Reay

Hi,
Thats a good idea but unfortunalty the problem with it being too sensitive is with the hardware. I do use a threshold, but the threshold is 0! It seems to take a lot of light for the sensor to read anything but 0. Might look at using the g-sensor in low light situation but have more immediate bugs to fix first!

osli

Wow, bummer about the sensor. Not your fault, you made it do something cool it wasnt originally designed for.

Another thought/request. Since you have the framework for an app that intercepts the call screen, how about tackling the slider idea many here have said would be nice? Have the screen immediately lock when a call is initiated/answered and on that lockscreen is a slider to bring up the keypad, another to hang up, maybe one to mute or go to speaker or just bring up the stock call screen, etc

I would pay for that, so would everyone in my family and probably many here.