Xperia S Alarm Clock Hit & Miss?

[Eddie_Plum]

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.

[majord123]

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.

[Johan]

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

[Eddie_Plum]

@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.

[ronnie3242]

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?

[Eddie_Plum]

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.

[hadjaev]

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

[Eddie_Plum]

@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.