[mistergadgett]

Howdy!

I'm new to the forum so please go easy on me.

I've noticed that my 9530 seems to have unreliable notifications/alerts. Hopefully it's something that I am doing wrong or that I have misunderstood. If so, please kindly help me gain a better understanding. I'm coming from an 8130 which I'd say was reliable about 99% of the time in regards to notifications.

Problem Statements:
A) 9530 does not always initiate audible alerts when out of the holster for items like BB Messenger, SMS, EMAIL, GTALK.
B) 9530 will often initiate audible alerts after vibe when in holster even when "Sound in Holster == No".

Observations:
1) When out of the holster, the LED will flash when a message is received but does not always sound the audible alert. I know the 9530 recognizes the message since the LED is lit. I also get the message icons on the home screen.
2) sometimes I will hear a brief pop/crackle from the speaker when the LED is lit due to a message being received so I think it "tries" to sound the audible alert but maybe is aborted for some reason.
3) I use the Blackberry belt holster and I know the 9530 recognizes the magnet and goes into "holstered mode". This is because I observe the screen turn off and new messages cause the 9530 to vibrate but then it often still initiates the audible alert after the vibe is done eventhough I believe I have told it not too.
4) It seems like I get the phone ringer most of the time when out of the holster but the other message alerts seem less reliable.

Other info: I have the "Normal" Sound Profile active and then I went to "Set Ring Tones/Alerts" to select the custom vibe in holster and sound byte for the various messages.

Object: If my 9530 is holstered I only want a vibration alert and if the 9530 is *not* in the holster I want the LED to light and an audible alert of my selection to initiate with no vibe. The in/out of holster actions should be auto detected due to the magnet. I was able to do this reliably on the 8130.

Any ideas? Hopefully I have misunderstood the setup procedure.

Any advice/comments would be appreciated.

-mistergadgett

[mistergadgett]

So I noticed something interesting. I've been playing around with the sound profile settings some (while I sit here listening to the wind trying to blow our ice covered house away! )

This is what I have observed. I am using the Normal sound profile and go in to edit the Ring Tones/Alerts. At the start of my test I had the following for an email message:
Tone: Notifier_Contentment
Volume: 10
Sound in Holster: No
LED: On
Vibration: Custom
Length: Short
Count: 5
In/Out of Holster: In Only

This setting would produce the following when in the holster and an email was received: LED flash, vibe 5-short, audible alert. *WRONG* This is NOT what I believe I have set the profile to do!!!! I expect LED Flash, vibe 5-short and that's it.

I then changed "Sound in Holster" to YES leaving the other settings as in the prior test case. Same result which is what the profile is set to but indicates that it is setting the audible alert in the holster regardless of the preference. (Yes, I am saving after each test reconfiguration)

I then changed Vibration to "In Holster Only". Results: LED Flash, vibe 1-longer, audible alert. This is per the profile setting at this time since I still have "Sound in Holster" to YES from the previous test case.

I then changed the "Sound in Holster" to NO. Results: LED Flash, vibe 1-longer, *NO* audible alert!!!! This time it seemed to acknowledge the "Sound in Holster" preference!!! This is very close to what I want but I don't always catch the single vibe when on my belt.

Now, I change the "Vibration" back to Custom (short, 5, In Only). Results: LED Flash, vibe 5-short, audible alert!!!!!

Sooooooooooo.... it seems that anytime I have the *Vibration set to Custom* it will sound the audible alert regardless!!! This seems like a software bug to me in Sound Profile module and not hardware related.

Can anyone else having this issue confirm these test cases?

-mistergadgett

[jshell35]

I am having the same issue, although somewhat different. My Storm appears to only recognize texts, emails, or bbm's when in portrait mode. Anytime the phone switches to landscape mode I only get the led indicator, no audible tone.

Havent tried your fixes yet. Spoke with a tech today who states its a known issue. If anyone has any fixes or are having the same problems would love to know about it. Trying to determine right now if this is a deal breaker for me. I only have to Jan 3rd to return. Not being able to hear and audible tone for my email will hurt my business and I just cant have that...

[mistergadgett]

I am having the same issue, although somewhat different. My Storm appears to only recognize texts, emails, or bbm's when in portrait mode. Anytime the phone switches to landscape mode I only get the led indicator, no audible tone.

Havent tried your fixes yet. Spoke with a tech today who states its a known issue. If anyone has any fixes or are having the same problems would love to know about it. Trying to determine right now if this is a deal breaker for me. I only have to Jan 3rd to return. Not being able to hear and audible tone for my email will hurt my business and I just cant have that...

That's an interesting observation about no audible alerts when not in portrait mode. I often notice that when I set my 9530 down onto a table (to lay flat on it's backside) it often switches into landscape mode and then the screen turns off after it sits there. Maybe if it goes to sleep in landscape mode then it's only giving the LED and not the audible alert for me as well!! I may have to try another experiment with the landscape mode / portrait mode out of the holster in the morning.

I'm glad the tech said it's a known issue. Notifications are just one of those things that should be 99.999% reliable for a Blackberry!! Kinda makes me think they missed some configurations during their software regression testing.

Thanks for the message!

[mistergadgett]

Can someone with OS 0.83 confirm this behavior? Hopefully it has been improved or fixed from 0.75.

Thanks!

-mistergadgett

So I noticed something interesting. I've been playing around with the sound profile settings some (while I sit here listening to the wind trying to blow our ice covered house away! )

This is what I have observed. I am using the Normal sound profile and go in to edit the Ring Tones/Alerts. At the start of my test I had the following for an email message:
Tone: Notifier_Contentment
Volume: 10
Sound in Holster: No
LED: On
Vibration: Custom
Length: Short
Count: 5
In/Out of Holster: In Only

This setting would produce the following when in the holster and an email was received: LED flash, vibe 5-short, audible alert. *WRONG* This is NOT what I believe I have set the profile to do!!!! I expect LED Flash, vibe 5-short and that's it.

I then changed "Sound in Holster" to YES leaving the other settings as in the prior test case. Same result which is what the profile is set to but indicates that it is setting the audible alert in the holster regardless of the preference. (Yes, I am saving after each test reconfiguration)

I then changed Vibration to "In Holster Only". Results: LED Flash, vibe 1-longer, audible alert. This is per the profile setting at this time since I still have "Sound in Holster" to YES from the previous test case.

I then changed the "Sound in Holster" to NO. Results: LED Flash, vibe 1-longer, *NO* audible alert!!!! This time it seemed to acknowledge the "Sound in Holster" preference!!! This is very close to what I want but I don't always catch the single vibe when on my belt.

Now, I change the "Vibration" back to Custom (short, 5, In Only). Results: LED Flash, vibe 5-short, audible alert!!!!!

Sooooooooooo.... it seems that anytime I have the *Vibration set to Custom* it will sound the audible alert regardless!!! This seems like a software bug to me in Sound Profile module and not hardware related.

Can anyone else having this issue confirm these test cases?

-mistergadgett

[windycitybberry]

sounds like you need to get out of "custom" mode and just select "vibration only" for the settings you mentioned in your op.

[mistergadgett]

That's the plan for now although I think this is a true bug / unintended behavior of the OS and should be rectified by RIM. The Vibration Only mode doesn't excited the vibe solenoid long enough to really get my attention and they must have "attempted" to provide a custom mode for some reason but accidently broke the "sound in holster" feature as a result. doh!

Do you have 0.83? If so, maybe you could test if the Storm still initiates the audible alert in the holster when vibe is set to custom.

Thanks for the response,

-mistergadgett

sounds like you need to get out of "custom" mode and just select "vibration only" for the settings you mentioned in your op.

[windycitybberry]

yes, i do have .83 version currently running.

and i just tested it in custom vibration mode to see if the audible alert would ring in holster and it functioned properly. i did not hear anything, and only the vibration and led alerted me.

i do agree with you that the strength of the vibration alert is not substantial enough to get my attention when it is in my pocket. i also feel the audible alerts need to be louder as well. a few others have posted the same opinions and we are all hoping that with the upcoming updates, they get addressed and resolved.

good luck with your phone. i hope your issue gets resolved. have you tried doing a battery pull or two?

[squatpuke]

I didn't know about the magnet in the case thing....is that really true?

What about those innocase designs...do you just lose that In/Out hoster feature?

[mistergadgett]

I didn't know about the magnet in the case thing....is that really true?

What about those innocase designs...do you just lose that In/Out hoster feature?

The Blackberry belt holsters which I've had for the 8703e, 8130, and 9530 all had a magnet built into the case so they Blackberry can't detect when it's in a holster or not. I can actually see the magnet in the 8703e plastic belt holster. There is probably some sort of reed switch in the phone to let the OS know whether it's in or out of the holster.

I think the Blackberry slip case also has a magnet.

It's a very clever idea. I really like this feature. I would assume if your case doesn't have a magnet then you don't benefit from this feature.

I'm not sure if iPhone does something similar. Maybe they do it with an ambient light sensor or something???

-mistergadgett