Screen Turns Black when using Visual Voicemail

[dpvball]

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this issue, but when i'm listening to a visual voicemail message, If i try to press any part of the screen, the whole screen will turn black. This didn't happen on my lumia 900 before. Also i'm on developer preview. any help would be appreciated.

 

[Laura Knotek]

That's really strange. I've never seen that on my 900 or on my 920.

Was it working properly for you prior to Developer Preview?
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 via Tapatalk

 

[dpvball]

did happen before developer preview. Thought the update would fix it. But didn't happen on my 900. Just on the 635. Only thing I can think of is that it doesn't have a proximity sensor. I noticed that on phone calls it detects that its against my face if there are a lot of contact points on the screen. But on visual voicemail, when I try to touch the screen it will shut off as though it were being held up against my face. Strange thing is it doesn't always happen.

 

[Laura Knotek]

did happen before developer preview. Thought the update would fix it. But didn't happen on my 900. Just on the 635. Only thing I can think of is that it doesn't have a proximity sensor. I noticed that on phone calls it detects that its against my face if there are a lot of contact points on the screen. But on visual voicemail, when I try to touch the screen it will shut off as though it were being held up against my face. Strange thing is it doesn't always happen.

Perhaps you are correct that the lack of proximity sensor is the cause.

I just listened to visual voicemail on my 920 whilst rapidly tapping all over the screen, and my screen did not go black.

 

[k72]

I am on the developer preview on a 635 and this doesn't happen on mine (not that it helps much, but just to add info).

 

[js8229]

Happens on mine, and didn't really know what to make of it. Lack of a proximity sensor is an interesting take. I'll have to review the specs to find out if there isn't a sensor on the device--sure doesn't look like there is.

 

[Jeebus137]

Same here on 635 screen goes black when attempting to touch screen at visual voicemail. It happened before and after I joined developer preview I believe.

 

[dlalonde]

Yeah the lack of proximity censor has its flaws. I'd think that is the case here. I don't remember with voicemail but I do sometimes have trouble hanging up. After a conversation, when I get the phone further, the screen sometimes remains black. So I push the power/lock button and the screens turns on for a glimpse and back to black. Sometimes I need to do this 2-3 times before I can actually reach the "Hang up" button.

 

[randalwon]

same thing happens and mine and my wife's Lumia 635. I looked into the settings, didn't see anything that I could change that would affect it. When I tried it again it worked without any problem. Seems to have fixed it for now.

 

[mcraine]

Just got my 635. Having the same problem. It's intermittent though sometimes it works.. According to this post, the phone does have a proximity sensor. It just appears to be buggy. I might just exchange the phone. I've only had it a few days. Can anyone with a 635 confirm that they don't have this problem?

No, the Nokia Lumia 630, Lumia 635 aren't missing a proximity sensor | Windows Central

 

[mcraine]

I exchanged the 635 through Amazon and got a new phone. Same problem with the screen going black intermittently when trying to tap the screen while using visual voicemail. After some experimenting, I think this may be a problem related to my Bluetooth headset. I'm still testing this but it looks like sometimes when using the headset, the headset somehow doesn't completely disengage after being used for a call or to listen to voicemails. When having the problem, if I make a call and then end the call with the button on the headset, then everything works as it should again. I'm going to try and get a different headset over the weekend and see if that makes a difference. I'm currently using a Motorola Sliver II with the 635 on AT&T.

Is anyone else that's having this problem also using a Bluetooth headset when the problem occurs?

 

[mcraine]

Just got a new Plantronics M50 Bluetooth headset. Same problem. Ugh. If I end a call using the button on the headset, everything works for a while. If I use the phone to disconnect the call, then is seems to get stuck and lock the screen when playing visual voicemails. Once the message finishes playing, I can then touch the screen again. (nothing worse that being forced to play through a three minute telemarketing message) Until I play another voicemail, then it turns off again when I try to touch the screen. Per MS mobile tech support, I should use the windows phone recovery tool and reload everything. Will try that tonight.

 

[packetwar]

This phone DOES NOT have a proximity sensor. Microsoft uses a simple software trick to turn the digitizer on and off. If you're in a call, and the top portion of the screen is being touched, it assumes you have the phone to your face and turns the display off.

I have owned an AT&T Lumia 635 since July. I have had the issue with the screen turning off while listening to visual voicemails before & after dev preview, and even on Windows 10 TP. To be fair, I am on Cyan, and maybe Denim will fix the issue. Maybe not. Otherwise, this is a shortcoming of NOT having a proximity sensor.

End-all-be-all solution: Buy a phone with a proximity sensor such as the 830. Even the 520 has a proximity sensor. Microsoft's decision to skip this important sensor, as well as the ambient light sensor (520 even has ambient light sensor), is one of the biggest shortcomings of this phone.

Supposedly, the 640 (& XL) will feature both a proximity sensor and ambient light sensor. Otherwise, you have no option on the 635 except to live with this issue during visual voicemail playback. I know it sucks, and will be replacing my 635 with a 640 the day the phone becomes available.