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What do you do when your phone freezes / locks up?

schnaffman

Lurker
Mar 26, 2012
2
0
So far, I have owned 2 Android phones. The first one was a Motorola XT720 with Android 2.1 (later flashed with CyanogenMod 6), and my current one is a Samsung Galaxy Nexus on which I keep the stock ICS.

Both phones, on occasion (though much less often with the Galaxy Nexus) would completely freeze, making the screen totally non responsive, so I could not even power it off since I couldn't click on the confirmation dialog. In those cases, the only thing I can do is to open the case and remove the battery, put it back in and boot the phone again.

I know some other Android phones have a sealed case with a non user-servicable battery. Owners of such phone do not have the option of forcing a hard reboot by removing the battery. I was therefore wondering how do those people deal with a complete freeze of the phone? I truly doubt those phones are totally immune from the occasional lock up - if a stock ICS on a Nexus phone can freeze, any Android can - so I would be weary of getting such a phone for myself knowing that I would not have the option of removing the battery in case of a total freeze.

How do you deal with freezes if you can't remove the battery?
 
... making the screen totally non responsive, so I could not even power it off since I couldn't click on the confirmation dialog. In those cases, the only thing I can do is to open the case and remove the battery, put it back in and boot the phone again.
Have you tried holding the power button for 5-15 seconds? Sometimes that will work.
 
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Have you tried holding the power button for 5-15 seconds? Sometimes that will work.

I just tried on the Galaxy Nexus (held it for 60 seconds), and it does not work while the phone is not frozen, so I doubt it would work when the phone is frozen.

But still, am I the only one facing the occasional freeze? What about those of you who own a phone for which you can't remove the battery, have you ever experienced a freeze?
 
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