I noticed a function in the Droidx no app has taken advantage of?

[Bunie]

the phones front speaker has a sensor in it? what is it capable of? i noticed it when i was on the phone, and the screen went dark when somthing covered it. (sheer Genius lol) is it possible to make it detect a hand being waved infront of it? it'd be cool to wave your hand to turn pages, somthing to "show off". But it may just be a "1 or 0" type thing. anyone know?

 

[Frisco]

Hi Bunie. The Droid X forums will suit this thread more than the Lounge area. I've moved it for you.

You may have noticed the proximity sensor at the top of the device near the ear piece. It's job is to detect when it's near your ear, face or head, most often in a call, so that the screen goes dark and does not allow accidental icon/app activation.

It's a good idea to keep that area wiped clean so that it can function as designed.

 

[Bunie]

But how does it work? couldn't it have other uses?

 

[james.y8]

But how does it work? couldn't it have other uses?

It's just a proximity sensor. A lot of smart phones have it. I believe iPhone has had it from the start.

It could be used for other things. For example, it could determine that something is covering the phone and cause the ringer to be louder. Or it could be used to silence the ringer when you place your hand over the phone. As with most things, the limits are based on the programmer's imagination.

Feel free to come up with something really cool and make a $million selling to everyone else!

 

[bigbadwulff]

Maybe it could detect distances?
-tape measure?
-straight line yardages on a golf course would be great Doubt it could do that however

 

[Dysan]

My nexus one had the same thing on it.

 

[NCTurner]

Real HDMI can already use this, if you set it, it will move the display from the TV/Monitor back to your phone, and visa versa. Pretty cool to wave your hand in front of it, and *poof* the display changes! My girlfriend thought it was almost magic! Ok, she didn't, but I still thought it was pretty cool.

the phones front speaker has a sensor in it? what is it capable of? i noticed it when i was on the phone, and the screen went dark when somthing covered it. (sheer Genius lol) is it possible to make it detect a hand being waved infront of it? it'd be cool to wave your hand to turn pages, somthing to "show off". But it may just be a "1 or 0" type thing. anyone know?

 

[protocollie]

Maybe it could detect distances?
-tape measure?
-straight line yardages on a golf course would be great Doubt it could do that however

nope, it's a fairly dumb sensor that detects within a very short range, unfortunately.

 

[SlvrScoobie]

its the same one in the automatic urinals - get close, and changes a bit from 0 to 1.

 

[Hrethgir]

I think I read that it's basically just a light sensor. When it gets blocked, it senses no/very little light, and disables the screen so you don't hang up on a call with your cheek. I've heard some phones have a problem with it not working right if you are outside in direct sunlight because of the way they work. As for sensing motion or distance, it isn't capable of doing either on, it's not that kind of sensor. Just on or off.

 

[theineffablebob]

HTC uses it so that, if your phone is on a surface face-up and it starts ringing, you can flip the phone over to silence the ringer.

 

[protocollie]

HTC uses it so that, if your phone is on a surface face-up and it starts ringing, you can flip the phone over to silence the ringer.

I noticed the Droid X has an option for this too, which surprised me.

 

[MacII]

I wave my phone with this sensor facing out to make jedi mind tricks even more powerful

 

[jcarlosfox]

I noticed the Droid X has an option for this too, which surprised me.

Yes. Yes it does. And if you actually USE the option - you will lose your ringer. Froyo will likely fix it for you tomorrow, but there are plenty of threads about the problem whose only real solution seems to be a hard reset. (It happened to me. Don't let it happen to you.)

 

[SlvrScoobie]

wait, so you've lost your ringer because of the flip thing? mines currently set like that, and mine rings fine, however ive never used it to silence a phone call

 

[jcarlosfox]

wait, so you've lost your ringer because of the flip thing? mines currently set like that, and mine rings fine, however ive never used it to silence a phone call

Affirmative. If you "flip" it to silence the ringer JUST ONCE the ringer will be gone. There are posts on the Motorola user web sites and a solution that works about 1 in a 100.

So until you get Froyo you might want to uncheck that option. And then - you might wait for someone else to try it out. The Motorola site says they are aware of the problem and working on it. It does not say Froyo fixes the problem - at least last I checked.

 

[SlvrScoobie]

:whoa:

ok, i think ill undo that for a while - im starting a new job with my own office, so i shouldnt have to worry about silencing anything