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The Verizon Wireless HTC Eris 'Silent Call Bug'

Posted by kdawson on from the no-i-can't-hear-you-now dept.

Hall writes "In the last few months some users of Verizon Wireless HTC Eris phone models have encountered what's being called the 'silent call bug' with their phones. What has happened since the update to Android 2.1 is that some phones get dead silence (can't hear the person they call nor can the other end hear you). The only solution is to reboot the phone, though the problem will re-appear after some time. VZW tech support for a while was simply swapping out Eris phones in hopes that the replacement didn't have the same issue. Too many were, though, and now some users have been told they're not swapping anymore. A couple of days ago, a user witnessed a car accident and was unable to call 911. Well, at least not until after rebooting the phone."

5 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. A movie comes to mind. by sethstorm · · Score: 5, Funny

    What good is a phonecall if you cannot speak?

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:A movie comes to mind. by PitaBred · · Score: 5, Informative

      You're completely mistaken. Cell phones got GPS well after consumer units had appeared, because there were no small GPS chips that would easily be powered by a cell phone battery until relatively recently.

      The reason they could find your location before GPS was a thing called triangulation. They could (and still can on phones without GPS) check your signal strength to various towers to figure out where you are because they know the geographic location of all the towers.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
  2. You Think That's Bad... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...what about an Eris owner trying to call a left-handed iPhone 4 owning friend who just happens to be holding his iPhone 4 by the wrong corner at that particular moment - they have *NO* hope of talking to each other.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  3. Nexus One by nrgy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had this very same problem with my Nexus One. Even worse rebooting did not always solve the issue.

    I bought my Nexus at launch and while I was happy with it at first, the past few months it just started acting crazy. Icons on the desktop would open a different application, the issue from the article, the keyboard opening when a phone call was coming in "you couldnt slide to answer because it was ontop".

    After all that and more, once the lock button on my Nexus started to give out I just went back to my iPhone.

  4. Re:Hail Eris by mysidia · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wikipedia:

    Eris (Greek , "Strife") is the Greek goddess of strife, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer[*] equated her with the war-goddess Enyo

    [*] Homer the ancient greek poet, not Homer Simpson