I've been having a vary annoying and frustrating problem with my Aria. When I hold my Aria to my ear, the screen doesn't stay off, but randomly goes on and off. When the screen goes on, I push all sorts of screen buttons, causing my phone to dial my voicemail, the last number I dialed, or just hang up, when I'm in a call. This makes it very difficult to have important business conversations on the phone.
This appears to be a problem with the Aria's proximity sensor. Based on what I've read on other forums, lots of people are having this problem, and the problem has to do with long hair. Apparently, when the proximity sensor "sees" hair it gets confused and turns the screen on. This has been verified by my husband who doesn't have this problem with the phone while I do. I've tried brushing my hair away from my ear when I talk, but some always manages to get near the phone and this problem keeps coming back.
I can't believe that the engineers at HTC never tested this phone with long hair. This seems like very poor engineering and HTC should be ashamed of themselves for letting this sort of issue slip through. I'm now stuck with a phone that I can't talk on.
Does anyone else have this problem?
HTC: Are you aware of this, and are you planning on doing anything to fix this?
I'm about to throw this phone away because I can't complete a phone call on it.
This is yet another place where I've found the instruction manual to be a bit lacking. I had purchased a case for my Aria and was wondering why touch-tone call answering services or logging into my voicemail were impossible because the screen turned off. It turned out that a design flaw in the case was inadvertently covering the proximity sensor, preventing me from being able to enter in my voicemail code. Simply stating that there is such a sensor in the back of the manual (pg 204) doesn't help much if you don't tell us where the sensor's located.
Eric, thanks for alerting me to the fact that I didn't know where the proximity sensor on the Aria was located! I did some investigating and discovered the sensor is located just above the "AT&T" logo. As Eric mentioned, if your case is covering or partially occluding the sensor it will not properly, er, sense.
Here is how you can test the sensor:
If your screen doesn't go off at all, try completely covering the upper right corner of the phone with your finger. If the screen _still_ doesn't go off, and there is no case covering that area, then you have a faulty sensor and should take the phone back.
Jon
Sorry, I should have posted where I found the sensor to be hiding. I found it after a minute or two of trial and error. Again, why would a manufacturer NOT include this kind of handy information in their manual? Other than that, the sensor has been pretty reliable on both Arias I have had so far.
I wonder if the original poster is left-handed. The only way I can get the sensor to screw up is if I use my left ear. Since the sensor is on the upper right corner of the phone, when using the left ear it can end up placed just above the ear. If the sensor is completely surrounded by hair it doesn't seem to sense the proximity correctly.
The original poster (me) is right handed.
To get this thread back on track, this has nothing to do with a case on the phone. This has to do with a normal case-free phone simply coming in contact with a LITTLE bit of hair in front of the sensor.
I’m really surprised there are no more people with this reliability issue with their postings on this forum! My Aria is not even a month old & is having issues with the proximity sensor, i.e. as soon as I press the CALL button screen goes blank & can’t end calls or anything else with it, and no I did not drop it or smashed the screen!!... much as I would like to now I suspect this reliability issue with the sensor is to do with htc going too cheap on this component. I bought this phone on Amazon & am trying to send it back to the vendor for a replacement or my money back.
Really disappointed with htc, just not acceptable when you have so many other reliable choices of phones on the market these days don't you think?
I have noticed an issue with the sensor off and on. I never paid it much mind due to it usually just doesn't realize that I have pulled it away from my ear. I found very early on that just tapping the lock button will bring the screen to life. It is a minor annoyance and may actually be caused by my elcheapo Amzer case. Which I love.
Alright I finally figured it out. A lot of the problems with the proximity sensor has been after cracking the screen and replacing it. I discovered after replacing my digitizer that when the screen was not close enough to the lcd, the proximity sensor would not work properly. The solution would be to just use an adhesive that holds the digitizer close enough to the lcd screen so that the sensor works. I hope that helps.
I believe I am having the exact same problem as the original poster (MJS). Did anyone ever come up with a solution for this? This is a serious flaw.
I had the same problem on my Aria.
You make or receive a call and the screen goes blank and unusable.
Thankfully, I figured out the problem.
Dust.
There is a gap between the light sensor and the blue dots underneath the display glass. I must have had some dust in there because I blew really hard into the gap (no jokes, please) and the sensor worked perfectly after.
It's odd that this gap is not sealed, but blowing out the dust worked for me!
i have htc explorer, it was working well, but now a days when i make call senser makes the screen black, when i remove it from ear screen does not appear, i have to remove the battery than it works, every time i call does the same problem,
someone please tell me how to turn the senser off. The rotation senser is working pretty well.
i have did factory restore setting but in vain,
i am compeletly agree with jimmy, The senser problem is due to the dust,do clean the dust.
the problem will be disappear.