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Home screen on HTC One S goes berserk video

Apparently there are some owners of the HTC One S smartphone that are experiencing a glitch with the Android Ice Cream Sandwich handset that has persisted for some time, whereby the home screen of the smartphone goes berserk and switches between the home screen and helicopter view.

According to the guys over at Phone Arena, when the HTC One S does this crazy thing, if you attempt to interfere the handset’s three capacitive buttons stop responding; however it would appears that locking and unlocking the device temporarily sorts out the issue.

The HTC One S going berserk with the home screen has ruined the experience for numerous users, who have been trying to get some kind of explanation from HTC, who aren’t coming forth with anything of the kind at the moment. However according to the guys several forums have come up with an interesting explanation, and that is when the device is in a weak signal area, the handset has to boost the power output to reach the cell and apparently this can cause resonance between the GSM frequency and the capacitive buttons frequency on the handset.

The guys say basically the 900Mhz frequency used by some European carriers might be interfering with the 2G signal, and users have reported the problem including a 15-page thread over at XDA-Developers.

So you can see what is exactly happening with the HTC One S, we have a video showing off the home screen switching issue and button failure for your viewing consideration below, so don’t forget to check out the footage. As yet no solution to this problem has been offered by HTC, so we’d like to hear from any of our readers that own the HTC One S if they are experiencing this switching problem on their device.

Comments

44 thoughts on “Home screen on HTC One S goes berserk video”

  1. Sh says:

    So many problems with this phone is pathetic, I have exchanged my US T-Mobile phone twice and sent it for repair where it’s been living for the last two weeks and still shows “in repair” basically they don’t know how to fix it. How could it take two weeks to repair signal issue. I think the problems keep coming as their market shares goes down accordingly, I used to love and buy all HTC models but after this experience with this phone and the terrible customer and repair service that they have; I’ shall never buy HTC phones again. Too many choices out there, when a company disregards their customer with brand new phones like they are doing now. They don’t deserve our business. Shame on HTC for the way they are handling the problems with their new flagship phones, making the customers wait weeks while they have no clue how to fix it. The One has a great camera and MP3 player but lousy phone.

  2. Amy_s_ward says:

    Mine isn’t doing that, But it is crashing and rebooting itself all the time, I can’t do anything with it, if I try it crashes! But it does seem to fit with the low – no signal theory. As signal at my house is lame at the best of times. Surely HTC have to remedy this with some form of software update? Because currently I technically don’t have a phone!  🙁

  3. Esjoel says:

    Same problem with me also,but have found a temporary fix for the problem and that is to turn on wcdma net work and not gsm/wcdma auto,have not had the problem since I did that but have found reception not as good when WCDMA is on!!!! Hope this helps but this is not good HTC sort it out

  4. Kyle says:

    Yep, mine is doing the same, whether on mobile data or wifi. Very frustrating when it does it, but excellent phone the rest of the time, a real shame!

  5. Annie says:

    Just come online to see what any forums etc say as my One S started doing this yesterday. I was on a train and wondered if the calibration was so sensitive that it was somehow going crazy because of the vibration from the tracks. Today I was just walking round a shopping centre and it did it again even. Having read this I wondered if it wasdue to a  poor signal – it wasn’t so good where I was shopping. Anyway, I’m now home and connected wirelessly to my home network and its still doing it.

    I can’t believe its this bad, my current handset is a replacement one that I’ve had for a week as I had to return my original after only having it for 6 weeks because it stopped connecting to the internet. Now this ….. I’m not happy!!! Its going back to Carphone Warehouse tomorrow night :o(

  6. Emmie says:

    Exactly the same problem as described. Going to try and return it to the shop where I bought it tomorrow. Fingers crossed they’ll give me a refund. Last time I’m buying a htc.

  7. Rupegroup says:

    same problem with phone going crazy. Went to the USA for 2 weeks on AT&T network and it didnt happen once! Back to the UK and hey presto crazy phone again. HTC UK online agents knew nothing about it.

  8. annaW says:

    I have the same problem, screen keeps switching between full view and the ‘helicopter’ view, sometimes reboots itself without reason and the three touch buttons at the bottom freeze regularly for a while. 
    Contacted HTC who are now apparently looking into it but haven’t heard back for a while. I’ve notice it happens on BOTH wifi AND mobile data and changing the settings so it doesn’t automatically switch between 2g and 3g (as suggested by the HTC support person) didn’t help at all. Factory resets don’t seem to work either.Can I suggest everyone goes onto the HTC Facebook page and reports the problem? Hopefully in a more public setting HTC will be forced to acknowledge the issue.

  9. ybur says:

    I’ve got the same problem too and it seems to be getting worse. If I do manage to open an app then half way though it will jump back to doing this. The 3 home keys keep on jamming and the only way I can get them to work is by turning the phone off and on again.

  10. Nickelconian says:

    Mine doe’s the same.when flashing between screens I hit the home screen in helicopter mode as the bottom three buttons don’t respond.It takes you to the home screen I then press on off button to lock then unlock and the buttons work again open task manager and stop all tasks. I think there is some truth in the signal issue as in weak signal areas or switching between mobile internet and wifi automatically triggers the issue

    1. nickelconian says:

      HTC informed me the issue would be fixed with update seemed to make it worse for me.returned to cpw who reset and ran hardware diagnostics from HTC had back a couple of hours started again went back to cpw who offered a replacement HTC v or xperia s hello Sony good bye HTC shame my desire was faultless should of just increased CPU and storage on that to be fair.

  11. jetpacjimmy says:

    Yep, same problem here, carphone warehouse offered to send it away for repair, but I haven’t heard of any success with other people doing this so I opted to keep a hold of it and hop HTC come up with something. Come on HTC, pull your finger out!

  12. Kev. says:

    Mine has started doing the same this morning.I had full signal and on wifi at home. I have only had the phone a couple of month to.Hopefully htc will release a software uptate soon.Ive also tryed usb debugging but it did’nt fix anything.I’m thinking of contacting o2 for a new phone if it carries on.

  13. Heather says:

    Im having the same problem and it started after i only had the phone for a couple of months. Not only does it flash between screens but then the home screen and menu buttons stop working altogether. tried a factor reset and this doesn’t help either. This phone is not fit for purpose especially when you have to have the phone for 2 years.

  14. vivh says:

    I am having the same problem also. My phone is about 3 months old.
    The 3 buttons become totally unresponsive… this is most annoying. Am just hitting the unlock button to deal with it at the moment.
    Found no info on HTC site. Will look at face book… needs fixing soon !!!!!

  15. Unhappypete says:

    Exactly the same problem…and this phone was a negotiated replacement/upgrade for an earlier faulty HTC One X !
    My One S is going back to O2 if not sorted within 2 weeks…and never HTC again.
    Pete

  16. Paula says:

    Thought it was me that was causing the problem as since my upgrade in Feb I’ve had to return 3 Nokia Lumia 700’s with faults and thought the HTC would be a better phone-wrong! Ah well, I live in hope of HTC software update before Feb 2014!

  17. GB says:

    HTC One S doing exactly the same as so many other reviewers – flashing home screen to helicopter view and randomly taking screen captures. Only seems to be in weak signal areas, but makes phone unusable. The only way I found to stop it is by switching to aircraft mode! Not much use as a phone if the signal isn’t strong then!

  18. mark says:

    Mine is the same, most annoying when you are in the middle of using the phone, e.g trying to make an urgent phone call, trying to type a message, using the sat nav! happens almost constantly making this £200 phone unusable.

  19. Timbot1 says:

    I have just received a new HTC one S as a replacement for one which was doing this, and guess what ? the new one has started to do the same thing almost immediately ! Clearly HTC are not prepared to admit that this handset has a major fault with it which makes it unuseable. This one is going back and I will not be having a HTC again!

  20. oswin says:

    hii…well i m also having the same problem…just love the phone but this problem……..just hoping htc comes out with a problem soon…..or else htc is loosing customers……..

    1. Biggles says:

      Hi, had phone for one day and unusable. Checked sw update, one available which has taken phone to Android 4.0.4 and problem gone straight away. Phone also feels smoother in responses.

  21. w says:

    I found click the on/off button when it was on the home screen worked (you do sometimes get a number of screen shots). I agree with irtimbolo, mine at stopped since it downloaded
    4.0.4

  22. Nazeer Baig says:

    HTC suggested following fix and it seems working.

    I would like you to clear the cache partition.Turn the phone off (hold the Power key down for 15 seconds on devices with sealed battery) Press and hold the Power key and Volume Down key to enter the boot menu. Release volume and then power button, when you see Andriod images appear at bottom and options are displayed on top.Press Volume down to highlight Recovery, then press the Power keyWhen the Black recovery screen appears with a phone and red triangle, press Volume Up and Power at the same time to show the menu. Press Volume down to highlight Wipe cache partition, then press the Power key. When complete, press the Power key to reboot the phone. Please Note: This process and reboot may take 5 minutes to complete.Will it hard reset my phone?No, this will only erase the temporary files created by applications and the operating system.

    1. nickelconian says:

      Tried this kept my apps and told me a new sim card was inserted only thing changed was home screen wallpaper and app shortcuts had gone but apps were still in phone just added back to the home screen.. I’ll see how it goes and let you know.

  23. Swrg says:

    My HTC One S does this too, several times a day. The only way to stop it is to press the lock button. My handset will also take screenshots all the time, at any point it can take screenshots for up to a minute. The three buttons at the bottom also stop working all the time and it crashes doing everything from playing music to browsing the internet. I’ve only had mine for three weeks, and it’s useless!

  24. Vicky Boultwood says:

    I am also experiencing these problems, it happens numerous times every day. I took it in (under warrantee) to be repaired, it has come back saying ‘that the fault has been solved by a software upgrade’. I only picked it up today and it has already shown the fault is still existing at least 6 times.

  25. MarkF says:

    I have had the phone since june 5 (4 months) and it did this from day one. They changed the handset, but it made no difference and then repaired it. Within 30 seconds of turning it on it was dancing again. The battery runs down and it is driving me nuts. They do not appear to recognise this as a problem when I took it back. I love the phone and when it is working it is brilliant, but……

  26. Swag says:

    My HTC does the same thing over and over again. And i have also noticed in low signal area it goes completely bonkers, so what i normally do is to lock the screen but doing this also captures several screenshots. I normally restart the phone but it doesn’t help.

  27. Emmy C says:

    My HTC One S also does this. It started not long after I bought it, it is soooo infuriating. When I am in the middle of a text or on the internet, it does it and switches off my text or the net, so I have to wait sometimes for 10 miniutes until it stops doing it so I can send my text. If you think about it, it isn’t good if you were in an emergency and needed to call 999 and it was doing that. Terribly annoying I wish they would fix it. Has anyone sent theirs to HTC to be ‘repaired’ under warranty?

  28. G says:

    Exactly the same problem for mine, quite glad I’m not alone in this.. It also keeps switching to Google Search, which I don’t want – even if I’m in the middle of a text/dialling etc.. Anyone know how I can stop it doing that? Very disappointed, I wanted an HTC previously and won’t rush to have another one.

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