Apple Working on Fix for Bug Causing iPhone X Display to Become Temporarily Unresponsive in Cold Weather

Fix is move to a warmer climate, (...or stay indoors..)

 

This has nothing to do with OLED technology.

The OLED is what generates the image, not what registers touch input.

As others have indicated, cold air is usually more dry. Dry air will have a different effect on capacitance readout than warmer, more humid air.

Plus, everyone seems to ignore that this is the first device with 120 Hz touch readout as opposed to 60 Hz (go look it up).

That last fact might further explain why we are seeing this in the X only. A faster readout is usually more noisy and as such, might require different tuning of the readout process....

If Apple dropped the ball I am sure they will own up to it and provide a decent solution: there were many recall procedures before for things like batteries or free fixes for e.g. The shifting selfish cam on the 6.

What certainly doesn't help here are all the lame 'go live somewhere warm' jokes or often mis-quoted lines from Got (imagine how dumb you must be to mess up a three word line).

So nothing to see, move along...

 

the irony eh.... have a good weekend.

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They still may, though they will have to test it thourougly and disclose the results. Something apple is not used to in the developement life cycle based on secrecy.

 

So you're saying ... the phone needs to be heavier?

 

So long as it's just a couple of pieces of paper and there are no light breezes it should be fine!

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Denial

 

Apple had better fix this one fast. Android users are flying into a 'roid rage gloating over this non-problem.

 

Electrical current doesn't flow from your fingertips into your phone display. That's not how capacitance works.

I wonder how much electricity can flow from a passive style pen into the phone display...

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> "I’m no genius but will learn a little something before making comments I know absolutely nothing about. This is why over half of the posts here are useless to read."

> "doesn’t mean you have to be sarcastic to those that did some reading and made a comment and used the wrong word."

So you're upset by all the false information here but take issue when someone points out that electrical current doesn't flow from your fingertips. That's why passive capacitive stylus works.

It's not just a wrong word, it's a wrong principle, and people reading it will gather a wrong understanding of how it works.

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Well, he is an exception who probably does have current flowing through his fingers.

 

First of all, I never said electricity flows from your finger into the phone’s display. I said

If you can’t see the difference, then it’s not worth discussing any further.

Also, with regards to your stylus jab, you are further proving my point since all capacitive styli must be made of a conductive material so that the electricity in your finger or hand can travel to the tip in order to communicate with your device.
You know those gloves that work with touchscreens? They have strands of conductive material in them because once again, electricity is needed to communicate with the display.

 

I saw it reported on NBC nightly news last night— so the problem is now mainstream. Since it’s cold in my area and winter is coming, I think I’m gonna wait for a confirmed solution for this issue before buying.

 

Hard to go snowboarding in a warmer climate or indoors though

 

So all this massive battery drain since iOS 11 finally makes sense now.

They constantly kick the cpu and gpu to prevent the X screen from freezing.

Sadly all non-oled Phones loose 40% Runtime. Its magic!

 

You buy a 1 million dollar car and still have issues. It happens when you buy something that hasn't been done before.

https://blog.caranddriver.com/its-mortal-after-all-bugatti-veyron-recalled-three-times/

No matter how much testing they do beforehand they can not fully test until they have 5-6 million users in the first weeks to report back to them. So chill, it will be sorted. If you can't put up with the issues don't buy in week 1. Wait 1-2 months or so and then go for it. If you want it week 1 then just ride the wave. You're a pioneer. Chill. Probably you haven't got an X anyways and you're just here for slagfest.

 

You being sarcastic ? Walk in freezers have been around for long long time.

 

Nope, it does not sense your body's "weak electrical field."

Electricity does not come from your finger.

Right. A nearby conductor changes the mutual capacitance at a row-column intersection, by diverting electrical field away from the touchscreen, not by adding to it.

Electrically, we're roughly the equivalent of a six foot diameter ball of water. This is because our blood and electrolytes in the capillaries near the surface of our skin are good electrical conductors.

When we get cold, our capillaries narrow and we then have less conductivity near the surface of our skin. This can affect capacitive touch screen sensitivity, but this has always been true.

 

Or, move into your freezer
One time in Chicago, the outside temperature was -7 degrees F, but the freezers of an gourmet ice cream shop were 7 degrees!

 

Once again, I never claimed that electricity flows from your finger into the display, so the poster you are siding with is misquoting me and also bringing absolutely no information to this discussion, just so you know.

Further, you are correct regarding our body composition and that we are electrical conductors. However, a capacitive touch display doesn’t work by just coming into contact with a conductor. Good thing or else anything that can conduct electricity,like metal or water, that comes into contact with our screens would register as a touch. It works when we touch it not just because our body is a conductor, but also has a small static electrical field that is produced by some of our cells, most abundantly in our nervous system which is constantly using small electrical currents called action potentials to propagate signals throughout our body and to and from our brain.

Maybe electricity is not the best suited word as many people only know a very specific and basic definition of it.

 

Again, no, it has nothing to do with any electricity our own body generates or uses.

Electrical fields are projected by the touchscreen X-Y cross points, not the person or object touching them.

Heck, as the Koreans figured out, in winter you can use a thick dead sausage with a glove and the touchscreen will still work.

 

No, both electrical fields communicate. Our electrical field disrupts the electrical field the display is producing and registers as a touch.

 

Oh, so this is the iPhone Galaxy Note?

 

Still nope. A live person with his own electrical field is not necessary to act as a mutual capacitance touch "stylus".




It's our body capacitance that disrupts the touchscreen field, not any self-generated charge.

 

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I never buy an new 1st generation Apple product when it's got this many upgrades and new tech features. It ALWAYS take a year at least to work out all the kinks. It's as if Apple releases beta versions to get the product out to drive the stock price. Thats always been my experience.

 

Not sure what you are getting at with “self generated charge,” but it’s the electrical and chemical properties of our bodies that give us our capacitance. This changes depending on our surrounding environment. In a nutshell, we wouldn’t have the capacitance to interact with a capacitive touch screen if not for the electrical processes occurring within our body, which of course are influenced by our surroundings.

 

That's true but Apple didn't used to have as many issues with new devices. Cook is just after the money.
And no I don't have nor want an iPhone X, my 7 works perfectly and I don't want to lose Touch ID!

 

FWIW, I just used my phone outside in ~40 degree weather for ~3 hours and had no issues. The phone was out of my pocket the entire time.

 

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it happened to me today, 5 degrees in London, I didn’t understand what was happening