Touchscreen Pet Peeve

passion4tech

passion4tech

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
155
Many touchscreens on electronics like my Galaxy S7 are very sensitive to my earphone wires & it is annoying. The wires could touch a button & delete a file by accident.
 
I would think that most people don't use their smartphones in a particular manner where:

a) it's in the hand and being used and they purposely allow the headphone cord to remain hovering over the display itself since that blocks what you're doing

b) if it's in the hand being carried the screen will more than likely be off at any given time so unless you have an LG smartphone which natively supports double-tap to wake (or some custom ROM on another device that supports DT2W) and the cord is going to be flapping all over the place front to back and side to side as you're moving about

c) if it's being carried in the pocket again the screen will more than likely be off and the user probably won't necessarily have any excess headphone cord coiled up inside the pocket with the phone because the headphones/earbuds will be in their ears or over the head so some slack in the cable will be necessary lest they get yanked out of the ears or off the head at inopportune moments

Considering a, b, and c I don't see it as a big issue. I've got an LG smartphone with DT2W and I have some Koss earbuds that I transplanted onto the cord from a set of Samsung earbuds (so the inline remote works properly) and it never causes the device to wake. If you're listening to music there will actually be a flow of electricity in the wiring which could be enough to trigger the capacitive effect and wake the screen but I just tested that myself with this LG smartphone and my earbuds - nope, still no effect.

There might be a way to decrease the sensitivity of that Galaxy S7 somehow, might require rooting or a custom ROM however. If you have not had a button touched or a file deleted, well, there you go. ;)
 
Headphone wires are not suppose to be able to move the screen. Only human fingertips are suppose to be sensitive to screen.
 
I find it strange that your headphone cord's outer shell hold electrical charge. I think it's that you have a bad headphone cord if anything.
 
CHANG3D said:
I find it strange that your headphone cord's outer shell hold electrical charge. I think it's that you have a bad headphone cord if anything.
Click to expand...

No that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the headphone wire touching the screen not the headphone jack touching screen.
 
passion4tech said:
Headphone wires are not suppose to be able to move the screen. Only human fingertips are suppose to be sensitive to screen.
Click to expand...

I can use my wifes' S6 edge or my 6P with my work gloves on. Thank God, too.

That siad, I agree that this changed unexpectedly because our previous (S4) and before that iPhone 4's didn't allow this function.

I haven't tried it with a headphone cable, but I could see that being annoying. File deletion annoying, no, but annoying nonetheless.
 
passion4tech said:
No that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the headphone wire touching the screen not the headphone jack touching screen.
Click to expand...
We're talking about the same thing. The headphones' cord outer shells, typically made from plastic or rubber, should insulate the wires. Have you tried other headphones and see if the cords' plastic/rubber insulations carry electrical charges?
 
CHANG3D said:
We're talking about the same thing. The headphones' cord outer shells, typically made from plastic or rubber, should insulate the wires. Have you tried other headphones and see if the cords' plastic/rubber insulations carry electrical charges?
Click to expand...

I don't know how touchscreens work, I won't even pretend. Does it sense the electrical charge from your finger tips? If so, how do my standard double-leather-palmed gloves allow me to control my cell phones?
 
Capacitive touchscreens work with electrical charge. Your skin is a conductor. Real leather also conducts (cause it's animal skin), but sometimes it could depend on treatment to that leather.
 
CHANG3D said:
Capacitive touchscreens work with electrical charge. Your skin is a conductor. Real leather also conducts (cause it's animal skin), but sometimes it could depend on treatment to that leather.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Hence me saying that the electricity - hell, even the presence of a conductor aka the wiring really - flowing through the wiring of the headphones/earbuds can be enough to trigger the capacitive effect which is what makes touchscreens work. ;)
 
The material covering headphone cordage should insulate the wires. Must be some cheap poorly made headphones if it's leaking and conducting a charge.
 
Is the screen bare? If so, you might try adding a glass protector, they tend to lower the capacitance a tad, but it would still work just as fine.
 
Once again, it's your headphones. No amount of pressure from properly insulated devices and wires could register a touch on capacitive screens. Just not how it works. On resistive screens I would believe you although unlikely but it would actually be possible.
 
Totally your headphones. Just tried for shits and giggles on my S7 and iPhone 7+. As we already knew, it shouldn't work like that, and doesn't on my devices.
 
Believe me guys I have jvc gumy earphones & the wire is sensitive to s7 screen when it touches the screen by accident. Even when I put my phone in my pants pocket the screen is still sensitive the screen moves in my pocket. Why are touchscreen so sensitive? They're suppose to be sensitive for only human finger.
 
Well, either your headphones are defective or your phone is. Fix one of them, because that shouldnt be happening.
 
You have crappy earbuds with a crappy not-shielded-well-enough cord that the digitizer is picking up on as explained already, it's that simple.
 
The only way for your screen to register a touch is through electrical conduction. If your JVC Gumy wire conducts electricity, you really ought to exchange/replace it immediately. The headphone jack is capable of conducting 5V. The wire could have static discharge, but it is constantly registering charges on your screen, it's not a a static discharge but an electrical leak.

P.S. Your pants is most likely not insulated from electricity. Your pocket has a thin barrier to your skin... Common sense.
 
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I actually tried to get the screen to react to headphone wires. I even put pressure on it. Nadda.
So OPs issue is definitely not the phone or screen.
 
I mean, it MIGHT be the screen, but if it is, he has a defective screen that's causing a short. I'm more willing to bet it's his $10 JVC headphones though.
 
You know what I don't want to argue with people anymore. Nobody believes me. So The final thing I'll say is that any wire, not just headphone wire, any wire is able to move the galaxy s7 screen. Many times a cord touches the s7 home screen and the wire touches the app & the app opens. I'm not kidding in my experience wires are able to touch screen like a human finger.
 
lol, ok there buddy. /pat

Would you like video of my S7's screen working perfectly fine? Or would showing the video of a headphone wire cause your screen to bug out?
 
Here's a scientific test. Wear rubber gloves and use a rubber band over your screen. If that registers a touch, your phone has a third party resistive screen and not an OEM compacitive one. If it doesn't, it's your headphones or any other cheap wires that aren't properly insulated too.

The reason why no one believes you is that no one reasonable believes that the Earth is flat.
 
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Chang3d, it's also popssible his screen is shorting out, it's probably the most logical answer. But who let a little logic stop them from arguing on the internet. Deny away, P4T.
 
Without you testing that against anything else, I have to assume it's still your headphones. You want to prove it's the screen and not your headphones, you have to eliminate that variable. Right now, your "evidence" proves nothing.
 
Two words, basically what I said earlier but in a much more blunt and terse manner: capacitive inductance.

And a video, of sorts, lame as it might be and this is a V20, a top of the line flagship device along with a heavily shielded headphone cord on my Pro-35 headphones (PortaPro clones basically):



It's not the end of the world, really, it just means your stuff is actually working correctly so be happy that's true. :D
 
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