Ghost Touches in Cold Weather

[PinkPaws4Eva]

I purchased my XZ2 Premium in Taiwan and recently came back to Chicago.  In the past week, I started experiencing ghost touches on my device (e.g. apps starting by themselves, random letters when the keyboard pops up).  I initially thought it was an application I recently installed causing the issues but the problem still came back after I uninstalled those applications.  I thought it might be the network causing issues with my device but putting the device in airplane mode didn't solve it.  I have Bitdefender installed on my device and all scans came back clean.  Whenever I ran into the ghost issues, I was always outside so this is when I realized it might be the cold weather causing the ghost touch issues.  It's been cooler recently...around 40 degrees F during the day, 20s at night.  I placed my device in the freezer for 30 minutes and after taking it out, the ghost touch issues were there.  After the device warmed up, the ghost touch issues went away.

Has anyone else in cold weather experienced this issue?  I'm trying to figure out if I have a defective device or if this is a hardware/software issue.  Any help or comments are appreciated.  Thank you.

Model:  H8166

Android Version:  8.0.0

Android Security Patch Level:  September 1, 2018

Build Number:  51.1.A.12.48

[PinkPaws4Eva]

I'm back in Taiwan again and since the weather is warmer here, I didn't experience the ghost touch issues until it got cooler 2 days ago.  It was around 13-14 degrees celcius (55-57 F) and I started getting the ghost touch issues after around 2 hours outside.  I finally removed the screen protector and the issue didn't go away.  I went to Sony's service center today and the guy tried to convince me that this is typical in cold weather.  I told him that's BS...and 13 degrees celcius is NOT cold.  He wants me to back up the device and then bring it back so they can test it.  I'm going to do some tests tonight before I give it to them tomorrow.  I'm going to factory reset my device and then stick it in the freezer again for 30 minutes to see if the issue is still there.  If it is, then it's a major flaw with their device.  I previously had the Z3+ and I never had the ghost touch issue.  Will update when I have more info...

[vance_yin]

finally I got my phone back. they replaced new screen and no more ghost touch so far

[PinkPaws4Eva]

Vance, what country are you located in?  I dropped off my device at Sony's Bade Road service center in Taipei this afternoon and I have very little faith in the employees at this location.

[PinkPaws4Eva]

After factory resetting my device last night, I stuck it in the freezer for 20 minutes and the ghost touches were very evident after taking it out. So I dropped off my device at Sony's Bade Road service center in Taipei this afternoon and I have very little faith in the employees at this location.  About an hour after I dropped off my device at the service center, I received a text message telling me my device was fixed.  I found it odd that they were able to test it in cold temps and fix it that quickly.  Since I was still nearby, I went back and they told me they found nothing wrong with the device.  I asked if they tested it after putting it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes like I told them to.  They said no.  They just clicked around the screen and said it worked fine.  I was very annoyed.  They said they will send it to a different location for more tests...at least 3 days so I'm not sure if I will get it back before CNY.  My guess is that they will do their "tests" and find nothing wrong.  If I get screwed, this will be the last Sony smartphone I ever buy.

[Strampke]

Haha

I did the same to provoke this non responsiveness. Only put it in the fridge because this mishap happened to me yesterday when I was biking at 5 degrees Celsius with the phone in a cycle bag.

The fridge test didn't result in bad behaviour.

Putting the device in a freezer is really a challenge for a phone. Read the manual where it is strongly advised not to expose the device to extreme temperatures.

On the other hand I agree with you that the way the service team handles your complaint doesn't deserve a beauty contest prize.

The client is king. That's rule #1 in business.

This sounds more like so employees satisfaction than striving for customer satisfaction.

[lanovik]

Hello guys. Greetings from cold Russia. Yep, I'm in the same boat with that odd issue. Anytime I take my phone outside off my pocket I do have that issue. When it is wet and below zero. And I do not know what to do.  It's really annoying. I had never had that issue with any of my Xperia phones. And it seems to me that it is not a software issue, definitely hardware (

[PinkPaws4Eva]

After leaving my XZ2P with Sony support for 4 days, I called back to see if it was ready. They told me they didn't find anything wrong. They said they did the freezer test and they did see the ghost touches but it was caused by condensation on the screen. I called BS and told them in constant 10 degrees F temperature, condensation will not form on the screen. After a bit of yelling on my part, they got me in touch with an engineer and after explaining the issue and telling them their explanation is BS, they agreed to proceed with possible resolutions. But before proceeding, they asked me to sign a NDA so that I won't divulge online what they did to fix my phone. So after the fix, I tested my phone 3 times and no ghost touches. So my phone is fixed but I can't say what they did to fix it. Messed up huh? This tells me that Sony knows this is a problem but won't acknowledge it.

My only advice to those experiencing ghost touches in cold weather is to bring your phone to a Sony service center and push back hard if they try to convince you that this is normal cold weather behavior or that it's caused by condensation.