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Phone dies when taking pictures with Flash

I know there is another topic about this, but VZ doesn't seem to be replying to that thread anymore.

I am getting the same problem that many others are reporting where the phone dies while taking pictures with the Flash on.

I checked the SD card that came with the phone and it came with the class 4.

This seems to be a huge design flaw. Others are reporting the same issue on other forums.

Comments

joen4691

What was your battery percentage when it happened? I have also seen posts that it happens when the battery is lower than 40%. I tried, but couldn't duplicate it last night, however it has happened to me before.

paulshwang

It was at 70% on the samsung extended battery.

Try turning on flash and covering up the camera and just rapidly take pictures. I just did that and on my 10th picture it froze.

Loveshackle

Girlfriend & I both have new Charges & are having same clearly discussed issues from other thread. Due to reading done there, will try a new battery. Definitely occurs more frequently under low battery conditions & surely seems to be factor of flash drawing more battery than is available. Will report back. Suspect Samsung will provide an OTA fix/update eventually.

bluevolume

Here's the dirt. I'll post in the other threads once I've had a few days of testing.

It is the BATTERY. I have gone through extensive testing of devices, SIM cards, SD cards, software, etc. Finally, I was able to swap with a known-good battery and the problem went away. And my old battery was then put in a known-good Charge and it began having the flash-crash problem.

After I have had a few days to make sure my Charge is stable, I'll post more on this. But I am 90% sure the battery is the problem. I am an engineer, with experience in device testing, and what I'm saying is the real deal.

fiorucci

Hi,

What ended up being the solution for this? Will Verizon provide a new battery? My 2 month old Droid Charge dies everytime I try to take a picture with the flash. It's terrible! And it takes several tries of the on button (like 5-8 presses) to try to get it back on. It's the original battery that came with the phone and it's really a bummer. Not only will it not take the picture, but then I have to pry open my case to get out the phone (really difficult) and then take out the battery to try and get it to turn on again.

Help!

JerryF

fiorucci,

You asked if Verizon would give you a new battery. Go buy a new battery yourself. Why would you punish yourself while waiting for Verizon to give you a new battery? Then come back and tell us the results when using the new battery.

Do NOT immediately use any new battery in the phone. First, charge it overnight (8-10 hours) BEFORE using any new battery in a phone.

JerryF

butlerpd1

I had the same problem did battery pull removed sim and sd card then put them back no certain order then put battery back no probs since.

hellohowareyou

I bought my Droid Charge in October 2011 and I experienced the problem with the flash soon after but dealt with it until I couldn't stand it anymore. The Verizon support guy was friendly but wasn't aware of the issue. As soon as I got off the phone with him, I googled and found that many people reported the same problem on forums like um, this one right here on their own website.

One guy "solved" the problem by putting his phone in Airplane Mode before taking pictures with flash. That's great, but we shouldn't have to do a workaround to get our phones to work the way they're supposed to!

I received my replacement phone in February or March, took one flash photo just fine. Took another and...the phone died. Great. Again, decided to live with it for a bit. Too busy to deal with it. I know it's the battery, YOU know it's the battery, so why doesn't Verizon just give me a friggin' new battery instead of a replacement phone that requires me to use the battery I already have?

Anyway, I've just received another replacement (so I'm on my THIRD Droid Charge since October 2011). The Activation Guide that the paperwork tells me to refer to is not in the box and I hold out little hope that this phone will be any better than the last two. (Aside from the flash issue, both of my previous phones had a tendency to just go dark on me while trying to enter say, a pin number when calling in to a conference call. I'd type in a few of the numbers and the screen would go blank, I'd wait for it to come back up, enter numbers, it'd go blank....and on and on. It was like a free, albeit cruel, game). When I was in the Verizon store to order this replacement, I asked the guy why Verizon won't let me choose another phone (without having to pay full price for it). He replied that the only time he's seen this happen was after someone had to replace their phone 6 times! Well, I'm halfway there...

Wish me luck!

jco23

I have heard that if you call in and get the right tech guy, they'll send you a new battery the next day.

another thing you can do is to recalibrate the battery. there are apps for doing that, and you can also do that via CWR mode. bascially, you run the battery done to 0%, then charge it (uninterrupted) back to 100%. Calibrating the battery doesn't really "DO" anything per se to the battery, but just refreshes your battery stats.

regarding the screen going to dark, make sure that the sensor on the top front of the phone is clean and clear. this sensor helps prevent people from pressing numbers with their face during a call.

hope this helps!

JerryF

Of all you folks having Camera problems why can't you just do the following to test your battery??? It's easy and painless. Don't blame the phone, Verizon, or Samsung until you test your battery.

Tonight when you go to bed plug your phone into the 1 amp charger that came with the phone. Tomorrow morning DO NOT unplug the charger. Then with the charger still plugged in take 10 photos with the camera. If that works okay then with the camera still plugged into the charger take 5 or 6 FLASH photos.

If all these photos work okay (the phone does not lock up) go BUY a new battery. Don't punish yourself or raise your CRP stress levels venting that it's verizon or Samsung's fault. I'll agree it is their fault but remember "life is to short, eat desert first."

By the way, when you get the new battery DO NOT immediately put it into your phone. WAIT...the first night put it into your phone with the 1 amp charger connected so it fully charges overnight. Start using it the next morning.

JerryF

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