Help Help: Screen turns off at below-zero temperatures

[williamc]

Good day,

My Nexus S screen turns off when I use it outside and the temperature is below zero (-17 C / 0 F). The soft key lights stay on. I have checked the screen off time, have uninstalled any battery management software and have recently factory-reset.

Right now the AMOLED screen stays on indefinitely inside my warm pocket, but turns off after one minute of using the phone. This is why I think the freezing temperature causes the problem.

Touching the screen with my (cold) finger makes it turn off even sooner.

Is this just me, is it a hardware defect, or is this a software problem?

Android 2.3.6.

William

 

[StarMenace]

Good day,

My Nexus S screen turns off when I use it outside and the temperature is below zero (-17 C / 0 F). The soft key lights stay on. I have checked the screen off time, have uninstalled any battery management software and have recently factory-reset.

Right now the AMOLED screen stays on indefinitely inside my warm pocket, but turns off after one minute of using the phone. This is why I think the freezing temperature causes the problem.

Touching the screen with my (cold) finger makes it turn off even sooner.

Is this just me, is it a hardware defect, or is this a software problem?

Android 2.3.6.

William

I haven't had this problem at all. For me it works fine in sub-zero temps.

 

[MaypepNecro]

Also work fine for me even at -30 cielcius.

 

[quantumrand]

It definitely shouldn't be acting like that.

The first thing that comes to mind regarding issues with the cold would be the battery. In cold weather, the battery may not be outputting the full 3.7 volts needed to run the phone properly. Typically this causes the phone to freeze and/or crash.

You say your cold finger is enough to cause the screen to malfuntion, though. That suggests that the battery may not be the culprit and it could very well be some issue with the circuitry in the screen itself.

Either way, it sounds like you have a defective device.