Develop Bugs

Proximity Sensor damage from prolonged use?

Hi Guys,
Just wondering what your thoughts and experiences are on this:
If I use the Quick Glance Motion mode in the N2... I believe constantly keeps the proximity sensor fired up.
Can this continuous and prolonged use damage the Proximity sensor? I bought my phone outright from CL... so I am not quite covered for replacement with Sprint if that happens, so I wanna be safe than sorry... thanks!

Well, I've not heard of this happening, however there are two parts to the sensor.
There is an IR emitter which is a simple IR LED like you'd find in the front of a remote control. You can verify this is working by looking at the face of your Note 2 with another CMOS based camera such as those on another cell phone. The 1st hole to the right of the speaker at the top of the phone is the IR emitter. You may be able to see a faint red glow from it as well when it's active.
The other sensor isn't as easy to test, the IR receiver which is the 2nd hole to the right of the speaker. One option is to use the built in test mode by going to your dialpad and entering *#7353#
After that its option 11 I believe for the prox sensor test. It's fairly simple to use.
In the end, proximity is a very simple IR light and receiver. nothing fancy to it. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but out of the things that could break on the phone those would be my last guesses.
Good luck!

aramova said:
Well, I've not heard of this happening, however there are two parts to the sensor.
There is an IR emitter which is a simple IR LED like you'd find in the front of a remote control. You can verify this is working by looking at the face of your Note 2 with another CMOS based camera such as those on another cell phone. The 1st hole to the right of the speaker at the top of the phone is the IR emitter. You may be able to see a faint red glow from it as well when it's active.
The other sensor isn't as easy to test, the IR receiver which is the 2nd hole to the right of the speaker. One option is to use the built in test mode by going to your dialpad and entering *#7353#
After that its option 11 I believe for the prox sensor test. It's fairly simple to use.
In the end, proximity is a very simple IR light and receiver. nothing fancy to it. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but out of the things that could break on the phone those would be my last guesses.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you aramova, for walking me through this stuff. I have to admit, I have never hear of this sensor going bad due to continuous and prolonged use, but something about the sensor staying red/orange in color, all the time made me think... something could go bad here... guess not, since no one reported this ever...
If anyone else has something different to report here, please share guys... Thank you!

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Easy FIX!!!!!
I took a can of compressed air and blew it through the top earpiece grill a few times and Voila, it works great now!!
I actually used a Old perfume can which perfume was over and it was only pressing Gas OFF!!

Scratches on my laser!

I was applying my tempered glass screen protector and after everything was done, I did a thorough check to realize that my laser sensor has hairline scratches. Will it affect the focus or performance? It's my first LG phone..
Thank you in advance!

My laser appears to have a few tiny scratches as well.

Highly doubt it will hurt anything. My g3 laser was scratched up and it seemed fine.

I was thinking of polishing the plastic and applying a film protector to get it protected. Any idea if a film would affect the focus? Thank you for the reply.
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app

Anyone got preventive measures to prevent laser focus plastic cover from getting scratches further? Mine is quite scratched up and I'm pretty annoyed by it. I believe it won't affect the focusing speed but it's a flagship phone from LG and yet such thing happens..
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app

The laser cover is soft, cheap plastic. Nothing you can do about it. No, it won't affect the focusing unless you put a giant gash in it that will deflect the beam. Same thing was happening on the G3. Just be careful about it.
---------- Post added at 14:02 ---------- Previous post was at 14:02 ----------
brysonwong said:
Anyone got preventive measures to prevent laser focus plastic cover from getting scratches further? Mine is quite scratched up and I'm pretty annoyed by it. I believe it won't affect the focusing speed but it's a flagship phone from LG and yet such thing happens..
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Polish it with ABS polishing compound, then put a drop of optical hard lacuqer on it. More trouble than it's worth, IMHO.

Although LG brands it as "laser" it's nothing more than a ray of infrared shot and measured after it bounces off obstacles. So unless the emitter/receptor is REALLY weak, there will be likely no effect on the focus.
Double that with the fact that the camera uses both the "laser" and phase detection to focus, if the "laser" fails to provide focus information the phase detection will do (slower).
Think of it that way: Do you care that much about the scratches on your TV's remote infrared emitter?
Don't worry, your "laser" is fine

AnteusFogg said:
Although LG brands it as "laser" it's nothing more than a ray of infrared shot and measured after it bounces off obstacles. So unless the emitter/receptor is REALLY weak, there will be likely no effect on the focus.
Double that with the fact that the camera uses both the "laser" and phase detection to focus, if the "laser" fails to provide focus information the phase detection will do (slower).
Think of it that way: Do you care that much about the scratches on your TV's remote infrared emitter?
Don't worry, your "laser" is fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you really know what a laser actually is.
The whole point of the laser-assisted autofocus is to project a tightly focused, coherent beam of light shining in a single direction so that it reflects off the photo subject and nothing else. A non-laser IR diode projects light in a "cone" in all directions, which is useless for focusing the camera. It is a laser by all means, otherwise it would not work at all.
Scratching the cover might diffuse the beam slightly but only a major gash will actually impair it to the point of uselessness (since it will scatter the light in many directions).
Here's a more thorough explanation: http://www.androidauthority.com/lg-g3-laser-auto-focus-386896/

siraltus said:
I don't think you really know what a laser actually is.
The whole point of the laser-assisted autofocus is to project a tightly focused, coherent beam of light shining in a single direction so that it reflects off the photo subject and nothing else. A non-laser IR diode projects light in a "cone" in all directions, which is useless for focusing the camera. It is a laser by all means, otherwise it would not work at all.
Scratching the cover might diffuse the beam slightly but only a major gash will actually impair it to the point of uselessness (since it will scatter the light in many directions).
Here's a more thorough explanation: http://www.androidauthority.com/lg-g3-laser-auto-focus-386896/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know very well what a laser is, thank you very much
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8062/a-closer-look-at-the-g3s-ir-laser-auto-focus-system
A "perfect" laser would be actually counter-productive, for unless you have a sort of "crosshair" on your viewfinder to mark the focusing point, you may very well have your phone focus on the tree behind your beautiful significant other, just because your subject is not in the laser's line of sight.
It is actually necessary for this concept to work that the beam is conic. Here, see this image from LG's own keynote: http://androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/LG-G3-Laser-Autofocus.png
If it was a super-focus laser, would they represent it as a conic, albeit very narrow, beam?
They don't need a "perfect" laser emitter to work out their concept. Granted, they need a narrow beam to avoid interference and allow an accurate measure of the scene being captured but a perfect laser beam (perfectly coherent, single direction light) would just do more harm than good. This is not used for sniper rifle or whatever, it's used for focusing on a scene.
Scratches will maybe deviate a portion of the beam a little but the majority of it, unless the window is completely buffed, will still serve its purpose. I'm strongly guessing that the way it works is: Send a burst, receive reflectionS (plural because there will be more than one) and apply some algorithm that'll define the most appropriate distance to focus on, based on the collection of durations from the receiver.

So I have a question on this topic. Since its supposed to be infrared, on a remote, you cant see anything being emitted unless you look at the emitters through a camera or something. When I have my camera on my G4 on, I can see a tiny red red light shining. Can anyone else actually see the red light being emitted? Just making sure mine's not defective.

rustypie said:
So I have a question on this topic. Since its supposed to be infrared, on a remote, you cant see anything being emitted unless you look at the emitters through a camera or something. When I have my camera on my G4 on, I can see a tiny red red light shining. Can anyone else actually see the red light being emitted? Just making sure mine's not defective.
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Click to collapse
I can see it too. Very much like you can see the IR emitter of your TV remote, except it's more focused here so even more noticable. Your device's fine
More on why we can "see" infrared in certain conditions even though it's out of the visible spectrum: http://phys.org/news/2014-12-human-eye-invisible-infrared.html
You'll notice that the "laser" is pulsing rapidly, which is the required condition to trick the eye into "seeing" the beam.

Quick camera question

I've noticed 2 things that are a little bothersome, seeking opinions.
1)When you take a macro, there is a sever aberration on the edges, beyond just bokeh. It almost looks like a motion blur. Is this a manufacturer blemish? Or are others noticing this too?
2)Would scratches on the laser cover screw with the ability to focus? I'd think that the lasers might skew and get confused....
Thanks!

I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.

dontbeweakvato said:
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think that hasn't popped into my mind

dontbeweakvato said:
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried to take a close up shot with laser focus covered with my finger. Couldnt focus on the object. Uncover it and voila it focuses in to time

I have guessed (!) that the laser simply provides illumination for dark scenes, so the camera can see better, letting it autofocus more accurately.
Many conventional digital cameras have autofocus illumination functions, just a source that helps light up the middle of the scene before shooting, so the AF can work properly.
My assumption is that this is basically what the laser is doing. I don't claim to understand why it would have to be a laser vs some other light source. Perhaps because a laser can light up something further away, vs a broader light beam of the same power. Or maybe because a laser can make a small dot (unlike a broader beam), which the autofocus system can assume should be crisp, and can adjust the focus so that the laser's dot looks sharp.
But I don't think it's something like a laser rangefinder. I think it just kind of flicks around and "paints" the scene with light, so the image sensor can see better.
Try the focus tests in dim/dark lighting. I'm guessing the camera will have a harder time focusing if you cover the laser when trying to focus in a dark environment.
Again, this is speculation, I haven't tried to test the focus with and without the laser. But if it's basically acting like an AF-illuminator, then I wouldn't call it a useless gimmick. Instead, it's something that should be most-helpful in poorly-lit areas. And not needed if you're outside in bright lighting.

dontbeweakvato said:
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does have functionality but imagine you are trying to take a photo through a window of something outside. The laser would bounce off the glass and not be very useful.
in this case the G4 will fall back on contrast detection which is the std auto focus method. so covering up the laser means it uses contrast detection. might not be as quick though.
---------- Post added at 04:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 AM ----------
drtchocky said:
1)When you take a macro, there is a sever aberration on the edges, beyond just bokeh. It almost looks like a motion blur. Is this a manufacturer blemish? Or are others noticing this too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i notice the first 10% and last ten % are softer than the centre. is this what you mean ? maybe post an image.
2)Would scratches on the laser cover screw with the ability to focus? I'd think that the lasers might skew and get confused....!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, i doubt it would affect functionality.

Now for something colossally boring A picture of the laser's output.
This is a 15 second exposure using another camera, at ISO 800, f2.0, with the G4's camera running, and its laser aimed at a white sheet of paper maybe 10" away. An exposure like this captures a lot of light, and you can still barely see anything from the laser.
I can only assume that the output from the laser is simply very, very dim. I can see a red flicker when looking at the laser's window. But I don't see anything with it aimed at paper.
If the camera is reading something about the laser light not using the lens & image sensor (eg-, somehow using it as a range finder), that's impressive. If the image sensor can actually detect something useful from the laser by itself, that's maybe more impressive. That would mean the sensor is very, very sensitive. Or that maybe the laser light is largely outside our visible spectrum, but within a wavelength that the G4's image sensor sees (that is, the light is actually brighter than it looks to the eye).
I then tried focusing the G4 on things in the room in very, very dim lighting. It's dark out, the TV was on, and that's it. The camera claimed it was focused (green square, beep), but it wasn't. I even tried covering the lens & window with my finger (pitch black "scene"), and it claimed it focused.
I then aimed it at my laptop on the floor, which had one visible LED. With the flash off (no AF-assist light), I'd tap on the LED on the screen, to focus there. I tried it with the laser exposed, and the laser window covered. It kept claiming it focused, but it wasn't. The LED appeared as a big fuzzy blob. When I'd enable the flash, it would turn that on to help focusing, and would actually focus properly.
But in my very-limited test, in a dark room, with the flash disabled, I didn't observe a focusing improvement from having the laser in-use.

Approach gesture

So on my normal Z play, the approach gesture works pretty terrible (I've owned 2 and they were about the same). I have to basically slap or shake it. This is because I believe it uses just the proximity instead of IR sensors.
My question is, does this gesture work good on the Z2 play? Does it have IR sensors like the Z/Z Force?
Thanks!

I don't know if it has IR sensors, but my complaint with the approach on this device is actually that it's TOO sensitive.
Even as I type this, it keeps lighting up like a Christmas tree. I had the moto Z and it was perfectly tuned sensitivity wise, but something is definitely different on the Z2P. Movements that would not cause the og Z to light up keep causing the Z2P to. Hopefully moto allows configuration of the sensitivity level.

@cantsingh In my case it is also very sensitive, and find the way moto display shows notifications pretty useless.
So I just turned off the moto display, and use these free and "open source" apps instead: WaveUp and Glimpse Notifications. With those two apps the screen turns on when notifications arrive and/or when I wave over the motion sensor. The screen turns also on when I take the phone out of the pocket. This works great for me.

Camera dual-led flash

Hi all. There are 2 LEDs, but when flashlight is on, only one (on the top) is active. I thought the second one can be activated when camera is used, but no, it does not help. Any ideas on how and when it should be active? Can someone check this on your device so that I can know whether it is a hardware issue with my phone? Thanks in advance!

It seems that's a kind of light sensor, or infrared led - because it even doesn't shine when I apply external 365nm UV light source.

It's the second light sensor which measures light coming from the back side of the phone. When you shine a strong light directly on this sensor, screen brightness bumps up after a while. It doesn't happen if you cover the sensor by finger. The purpose is to have screen readable when you're holding the phone against bright background (window, TV screen...) and in my experience it's quite a nice feature.