How to make the pulse's screen more responsive

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

How far under the cover does the foil extend and what compnents if any is it touching?

More importantly where did you get the idea to even start playing with foil and your phone at the same time?

[Guest phucte]

How far under the cover does the foil extend and what compnents if any is it touching?

More importantly where did you get the idea to even start playing with foil and your phone at the same time?

Someone said something about when something is connected on one of the ports http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...ts-placed-flat/

so if u tryed pluging in the usb cable in your pulse it should be more responsive but you can't carry that everywhere....

so i thougth if i can some foil to be conducting..... ;)

It goes about the around the edge of the back cover like a loop round the edge of the case and with a little strip at the top for the edge of the usb.

It will also decrease your antenna gain if you covered the antenna :)

I don't know where the antennas are ... can someone tell me?

Edited December 26, 2009 by phucte

[Guest channi3]

Sorry what exactly should the tin foil be touching under the battery cover? I've tried to place it connecting for the usb port to the top of the battery under the cover. But it's still the same.

[Guest Bendolfc]

Shouldn't need to touch anything, just be there. In theory.

[Guest phucte]

This story fascinated me. It's true, when the lead is plugged in the screen is deffo more responsive, especially at the edges, such as the letter P and backspace and space bar. If you hold the phone and touch the mini usb connector and type again touch responsiveness is massivibly improved. As this is a capacitive screen the extra earthing will and does work.

I saw the above post and thought I wonder if a small piece of foil would work so I added a piece of foil over the battery under the cover and this too has improved the touch response.

yeah it like really weird, could everybody try the usb cable test and just use the screeen while the cable plug or even touching the usb connecter while using the screen.

Does a capacitive need earthing? because I've tryed an iphone and that don't need any foil :)

There has to be some way in software or firmware to improve the responsiveness..... rigth? because I know some people don't want to start cutting foil. ;)

[Guest blaze23]

have you removed the inclued screen protector. doing this made my pulse much responsive when in the hand..

[Guest phucte]

have you removed the inclued screen protector. doing this made my pulse much responsive when in the hand..

yeap it's the 1st thing I did / anybody should do

[Guest Casper-vH]

Nice. I finally managed to get the protector off. The screen feels rough now. I dont slide over it as fast as I used to. does that get better? Even if it doesn't. It feels better and looks nicer :)

[Guest jlgmax]

Nice. I finally managed to get the protector off. The screen feels rough now. I dont slide over it as fast as I used to. does that get better? Even if it doesn't. It feels better and looks nicer :)

WOW ! Tried the foil thing - didnt really notice any difference. Took the screen protector off - its like a totally different phone !! Much more responsive.

Now if only we can sort the battery life issue I'll be happy !!!

[Guest Casper-vH]

WOW ! Tried the foil thing - didnt really notice any difference. Took the screen protector off - its like a totally different phone !! Much more responsive.

Now if only we can sort the battery life issue I'll be happy !!!

WOW! I just tried to use it lying down! How awesome! It works like a charm. :) Everybody should remove the screen protector!

[Guest glossywhite]

Nice. I finally managed to get the protector off. The screen feels rough now. I dont slide over it as fast as I used to. does that get better? Even if it doesn't. It feels better and looks nicer :)

The screen is going to feel rough immediately after removing the screen protector. There will be a microscopic film of residue left from the low-tack adhesive which stuck the protector to the glass - this is normal, and you'll soon get your glide 'n' slide back again, once your skin's natural oils are on the glass.

As for the foil lining enhancing the touchscreen response, I am not at all surprised. This foil is acting as a "faraday cage" and therefore assisting to block out extraneous EMI from other sources, which could otherwise affect the sensitivity of the screen (as far as I can ascertain, that is). If you connect the foil lining to the 0v ground plane of the PCB - the USB socket housing will be soldered direct to the ground plane inside, so connect it to this, what is basically happening, is that all extraneous noise is being grounded by the foil lining, through the USB socket housing, to 0v rail (GND) inside, ergo the screen will have a cleaner input signal to work with (again, as far as I can ascertain, with the limited information I'm going on here).

When I was a trainee TV & VCR engineer, back in 1991, my boss told me of a capacitive proximity alarm which he used to maintain at the Mobil oil refinery; this worked on sensing how much of the potential voltage sustained on the wire mesh, was dragged to ground by the proximity of nearby objects - IE, intruders. It is exactly the same principle - capacitance - which is used within the thin films of the capacitive touch screens used on our beloved gadgets.

You may wish to learn about capacitance (which is basically an imbalance of electrons across two or more poles):

Capacitance @ Wikipedia

... & also FETs (Field Effect Transistors) which work on similair principles:

Field Effect Transistors (FETs) @ Wikipedia

I knew my City and Guild electronics was a wise move ;)

Edited December 27, 2009 by glossywhite

[Guest Casper-vH]

The screen is going to feel rough immediately after removing the screen protector. There will be a microscopic film of residue left from the low-tack adhesive which stuck the protector to the glass - this is normal, and you'll soon get your glide 'n' slide back again, once your skin's natural oils are on the glass.

Tx, is what I thought too :)

It feels much better already..

[Guest topspinserve]

Is removing the screen protector the solution? I am thinking that the protector is there for a reason. This is my first touch device and I wonder if others more used to these capacitive screens can tell me whether there is a real risk of the screen getting badly scratched up?

My son has an iPod Touch. It seems to work responsively with a screen protector. Why the difference?

Ed

[Guest glossywhite]

Is removing the screen protector the solution? I am thinking that the protector is there for a reason. This is my first touch device and I wonder if others more used to these capacitive screens can tell me whether there is a real risk of the screen getting badly scratched up?

My son has an iPod Touch. It seems to work responsively with a screen protector. Why the difference?

Ed

The screen protector is simply there to prevent any damage from point of manufacture, to delivery into your caring hands :). Glass is pretty tough - you will always have a better user experience if you remove the plastic film.

[Guest le_lutin]

The screen protector is simply there to prevent any damage from point of manufacture, to delivery into your caring hands :) . Glass is pretty tough - you will always have a better user experience if you remove the plastic film.

The Pulse's screen isn't made of glass, it's made of plastic.

I didn't like the screen protector which came on the pulse, but I didn't want my screen scratched either, so I bought a screen protector in hmv (6.99, by a company called Exspect). It's made for the ipod touch, but I cut it to fit my pulse. Works very well indeed, I don't notice any loss of responsiveness like I did with the one which came with the Pulse.

[Guest glossywhite]

The Pulse's screen isn't made of glass, it's made of plastic.

I didn't like the screen protector which came on the pulse, but I didn't want my screen scratched either, so I bought a screen protector in hmv (6.99, by a company called Exspect). It's made for the ipod touch, but I cut it to fit my pulse. Works very well indeed, I don't notice any loss of responsiveness like I did with the one which came with the Pulse.

£6.99?!! :)

You were robbed!

[Guest le_lutin]

£6.99?!! :)

You were robbed!

I'd say you're right. T'was an impulse buy - I was sick of carrying the phone round in the pouch.

[Guest ZootHornRollo]

The screen is going to feel rough immediately after removing the screen protector. There will be a microscopic film of residue left from the low-tack adhesive which stuck the protector to the glass - this is normal, and you'll soon get your glide 'n' slide back again, once your skin's natural oils are on the glass.

As for the foil lining enhancing the touchscreen response, I am not at all surprised. This foil is acting as a "faraday cage" and therefore assisting to block out extraneous EMI from other sources, which could otherwise affect the sensitivity of the screen (as far as I can ascertain, that is). If you connect the foil lining to the 0v ground plane of the PCB - the USB socket housing will be soldered direct to the ground plane inside, so connect it to this, what is basically happening, is that all extraneous noise is being grounded by the foil lining, through the USB socket housing, to 0v rail (GND) inside, ergo the screen will have a cleaner input signal to work with (again, as far as I can ascertain, with the limited information I'm going on here).

When I was a trainee TV & VCR engineer, back in 1991, my boss told me of a capacitive proximity alarm which he used to maintain at the Mobil oil refinery; this worked on sensing how much of the potential voltage sustained on the wire mesh, was dragged to ground by the proximity of nearby objects - IE, intruders. It is exactly the same principle - capacitance - which is used within the thin films of the capacitive touch screens used on our beloved gadgets.

You may wish to learn about capacitance (which is basically an imbalance of electrons across two or more poles):

Capacitance @ Wikipedia

... & also FETs (Field Effect Transistors) which work on similair principles:

Field Effect Transistors (FETs) @ Wikipedia

I knew my City and Guild electronics was a wise move B)

i was gonna say all that but just didn't get round to it :) ;) thanks for the explanation. B)

[Guest ZootHornRollo]

The Pulse's screen isn't made of glass, it's made of plastic.

I didn't like the screen protector which came on the pulse, but I didn't want my screen scratched either, so I bought a screen protector in hmv (6.99, by a company called Exspect). It's made for the ipod touch, but I cut it to fit my pulse. Works very well indeed, I don't notice any loss of responsiveness like I did with the one which came with the Pulse.

so the screen protector everyone is going on about effecting the responsiveness is actually part of the packaging to protect the screen when in transit?

is anyone else using a proper screen protector? how are you finding the touch response of the screen with it on?

[Guest David Horvath]

So guys, if i'm right Pulse has an assembly "problem", that there are too much static electro-noise, and there is not enough grounding. This can be fixed, by putting some metal stuff connected to the usb grounding. Right?

I wont take the folie off, or if i will i will put on another one on. We'll see how unresponsive is this phonie.

[Guest bounty123]

The Pulse's screen isn't made of glass, it's made of plastic.

I didn't like the screen protector which came on the pulse, but I didn't want my screen scratched either, so I bought a screen protector in hmv (6.99, by a company called Exspect). It's made for the ipod touch, but I cut it to fit my pulse. Works very well indeed, I don't notice any loss of responsiveness like I did with the one which came with the Pulse.

I don't know if its made of plastic or glass, but mine is being used without a protector for 2 months now and it hasn't got any scratches. I'm carrying it in a leather horizontal pouch though, which might help a lot.

[Guest le_lutin]

I don't know if its made of plastic or glass, but mine is being used without a protector for 2 months now and it hasn't got any scratches. I'm carrying it in a leather horizontal pouch though, which might help a lot.

To tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sure that it is plastic now. I've seen reviews saying that it is plastic and when you angle the screen so that you are looking across it's surface, you can see that it is not as smooth as glass would be. That said if i gently tap the screen against my teeth (my super scientific test!) it feels more like glass.

If it is glass, I probably wouldn't bother with a screen protector.

[Guest topspinserve]

I suppose the reviewers may have been using the Pulse with the factory fitted protector on and therefore feels plastic.

Can anyone confirm whether it is definitely plastic or glass underneath the film?

Ed

[Guest ceedee]

Can anyone confirm whether it is definitely plastic or glass underneath the film?

Any idea how to test that?

Other than scratching it with a diamond or heating it until it melts?

[Guest ZootHornRollo]

Any idea how to test that?

Other than scratching it with a diamond or heating it until it melts?

whack it on the corner of a table! :)