topic Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss? in XPERIA archive

Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:01:14 GMT

I've done a quick search of the forum & not found anyone else posting about this problem, but it can't just be me!

While my alarm did fail to go off a few times under GB, it has been extremely hit & miss since the ICS firmware rolled out. To give you some idea how bad this problem is, my alarm only wakes me up about 3 days out of 5 during the working week. The other 2 days (on average) the alarm simply doesn't go off and the next alarm time is displayed in the clock widget.

Now, I have been doing som playing with this and I think I've narrowed the problem down to the 'always on' clock mode. I have the phone set so that the screen is always on while plugged in, and I plug it in most nights. While I sleep, I have the phone set in 'clock mode' which has the display always showing the time, the clock moving around the screen to avoid burn-in.

Here's where it gets a bit flakey... In clock mode, touching the screen dims the background and makes the wallpaper almost completely disappear into blackness, but leaves the clock (and alarm time) bright & visible. Another long-press on the screen dims it even further, turns the clock blue and makes the alarm time disappear.

I must touch my phone at various points during the night, so my theory is that the darkest mode with the hidden alarm time must somehow disable the alarm. Has anyone else experienced this?

I did an experiment for the past few nights where I have not used the phone in clock mode and I have turned the screen off. The alarm has been 100% reliable.

Is this a bug or a feature? Either way, it's bloody annoying and I'd like the option to change this behaviour.

Any/all comments welcome!

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:31:14 GMT

Update:

My alarm did go off this morning (not in clock mode) but as soon as I touched the phone, it stopped! Properly stopped (as in, not snooze). I didn't touch the screen, but I might have brushed the camera button.

More testing needed...

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

zhuhang — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:24:08 GMT

What u mean go off? Go off means the alarm rang??

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

DavidJay — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 22:58:31 GMT

I thought it was just me. My alarm also fails.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:48:47 GMT

Hi Zhuhang,

Yes, I guess this is one of those weir quirks of English. When I say the alarm goes off, I mean it rings out. I can see how that might be confusing!

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:51:50 GMT

I have confirmed that the camera button permanently silences the alarm, even if it's just a very light touch. Otherwise, I have been using the alarm successfully in 'normal' mode for the past few days. I'd suggest there is something about the 'clock mode' feature that kills the alarm.

I'll keep playing to see what I can find out. If I get something conclusive, I'll report it as a bug.

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Garret141 — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:32:43 GMT

Never had any problems with alarm.

But there's an option for behaviour of the camera button. You can choose no action, snooze mode or disabling alarm. Also check box "alarm in silent mode"

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:19:50 GMT

Thanks Garret. I knew that option was available and I have just set the side button action to 'none' and will see how it goes. Alarm in silent mode is active by default I think, but I have also checked that.

The alarm has still been 100% reliable while not using clock mode, so I still think this is the cause of my problems.

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Johan — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 06:44:50 GMT

I have not been able to replicate this issue myself.

Which build number are you running on?

Have you tried to reinstall the phone software using SUS?

http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/tools/update-service/

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:14:03 GMT

Hi Johan,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm on the latest build available for my phone:

LT26i

1257-3114

6.1.A.0.453

7/19/2012

I haven't tried reinstalling, no. Seems a bit too drastic for an issue I appear to have a workaround for - if I don't use the clock app, the alarm seems to work just fine. It appears to only get flaky when the clock app is running in its darkest mode.

Steps:

Set an alarm (mine is set to repeat on Monday thru Thursday)
While inside the 'Alarm & clock' app, tap the bottom left button which looks like a rectangle with "1:30" written in it - this enters what I call clock mode.
Tap the screen once to darken - the background goes almost black, the clock, date and alarm time stay white.
Tap & hold the screen to darken further - the background turns completely black, the clock & date turn blue and the alarm time disappears.

I believe that when the phone is in this darkest state, the alarm may fail to go off, although all my tests seem to result in a reliable alarm! It's only when I actually want the thing to wake me up that it fails!

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

majord123 — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:51:40 GMT

I've had the alarm fail a few times. I don't use it as you do.

However, it does appear to stem from when the Alarm rings and is in the Alarm/Clock state where I have to snooze or disable it. This is when it either works and make the alarm sound or it doesn't work and gives me a message of the app has stopped working, wait, close, report.

I was half hour late for work a few weeks back. When it works it's great, the speaker on the Xperia S is spot on for waking me up, when I'm out, I'm out.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Johan — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:53:04 GMT

Is there anyone having this issue running on the latest version of the software? (6.1.A.2.45)

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:20:42 GMT

@DavidJay and @majord123 can you let us know what SI and firmware version you're on?

Network: Orange UK

SI number: 1257-3114

Firmware: 6.1.A.0.453

Thanks,

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

ronnie3242 — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:58:33 GMT

yes,I've experienced the same thing.The camera button only needs the slightest touch and the alarm cuts out altogether. I'm getting a name for being unreliable lol. Does anyone know the way around this problem?

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:09:08 GMT

Thanks Ronnie,

Can you let us have your carrier (e.g. EE, Vodafone, etc.) and your SI number (from the label under the back cover) and your firmware version from settings > about phone?

As for a workaround, you can disable the side buttons in the alarm settings. Go into your alarm app, select the alarm you want to use (assuming there are several - I have 3) and hit 'advanced settings' at the bottom. Scroll down to 'side keys behaviour' and select something other than 'dismiss' - I've gone with 'none' but 'snooze' will probably work just as well.

Cheers,

Ed.

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

hadjaev — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:34:26 GMT

Люди,скажите пожалуйста,стоит ли обновить xperia S на андроид 4?

Re: Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

Eddie_Plum — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:47:37 GMT

@hadjaev - Да, определенно! Некоторые вещи не работают, но они небольшие. Android 4 гораздо лучше, чем в 2,3 почти в каждом районе.

Я прошу прощения за перевод Google!

English: Yes, definitely! Some things don't work, but they are small. Android 4 is better than 2.3 in almost every area.

I apologise for the Google translation!

Ed.