[Notifications] turn the screen on

[Sigurt Bladt Dinesen]

Built: r20

When getting a notification, such as a text message, the screen will turn on.
This becomes a problem when the device is kept in a pocket,
where it may falsely register screen activity and thus stay on for hours.

-----UX comment-----

Please refer for the correct behaviour to the Screen blanking policy document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBoVknCLZ4GQ8E_iVftd3i_KmdxI5d6JrBt7i5EDZO0/edit?usp=sharing

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

adding an Ubuntu UX task, this needs design team decision

[Sigurt Bladt Dinesen (sigurt-bladt)]

Thank you for that, Oliver Grawert.
Is there somewhere I can follow the progress/status of the task?

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

just follow this bug, the ubuntu-ux task should be enough to have the design team take a look.

[Sigurt Bladt Dinesen (sigurt-bladt)]

Great, thanks.
If anyone might be interested, I would suggest using the proximity sensor, if present, to check whether it makes sense to turn on the screen.

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

the proximity sensor would only help if you had very very wide pockets ;)

[Sigurt Bladt Dinesen (sigurt-bladt)]

Really?
I do not know how the sensor works exactly.
I assume it is optical, and thought maybe it could register the "proximity" of my pocket lining? :)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

iOS and (reportedly) Windows Phone always wake the display for a few seconds -- just as if you had tapped the home button or pressed the sleep/wake button -- when a notification arrives of the sort that appears on the lock screen.

Android used to do the same, but as of 5.0 apparently no longer does, unless you (a) turn on the "Ambient display" setting, (b) use a Motorola and leave on the "Active display" setting, or (c) install an app like Glimpse Notifications. ("Using Android Lollipop's lock screen notifications? Tired of having to press the power button to see them? Then this app is for you!")

For Ubuntu, the relevant part of the spec says: "If the screen display is off (black), the expected behaviour is to wake the phone by simply tapping on the screen or by using the physical button on the side. Once the display is active, user can interact with the notification bubbles." <https://goo.gl/bh9KHi> I think a couple of points need clearing up:

1. Should tapping the screen *normally* wake the phone, or is this behavior specific to a certain period after a notification has arrived? If the former, it would help to link to the relevant spec. If the latter, how long is the period?

2. If a notification would play a sound, should this sound still play even when the screen does not wake up?

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

do either of android, IOS or windows phone use the proximity sensor to check if they are in a pocket to not trigger any button presses on the notifications ? that is IMHO the only sane solution to this problem, your pocket should not be able to generate any input, only turning on the screen if the proximity sensor is not covered will help with that (yes, i know it wouldn't turn on then if you have a sheet of paper on top of it on your desk or some such, but isn't that a corner case (beyond the fact that you still get acoustic (and perhaps haptic) signals anyway ?)

[Sigurt Bladt Dinesen (sigurt-bladt)]

I think the led indicator plays a part as well.
For me, the perfect combination is no sound, vibrate, and turn start blinking the led until the next time I open the notification tray.

I believe this is the behaviour I used to get on android.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

To answer Oliver's question, iOS prevents pocket presses on notifications by requiring you to slide notifications on the lock screen, not just tap them. There are probably many other sane solutions.

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

i assume IOS also locks down all kinds of input while the device is locked ... we dont really do that currently, so you can still slide the indicator bar or the launcher causing unexpected results ...

[Paty Davila (dizzypaty)]

On an idle phone, an incoming notification or system event such as an alarm or incoming call, will unblank the screen for the length of time of the notification or incoming call ringing time. If no user interaction takes place, the screen switches off automatically after the short timeout.

Please refer to the following document for further details: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBoVknCLZ4GQ8E_iVftd3i_KmdxI5d6JrBt7i5EDZO0/edit#

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

We did add a proximity sensor check that will not allow the screen to come on
bug #1291455

[Andrea Bernabei (faenil)]

fix verified on Krillin rc-proposed r224 (20160108-020304)