Touch Pro 2 tip: Fix the "Cases with magnets' issue

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

One annoying side effect of the Touch Pro 2's slide-out keyboard is magnets in close proximity tend to wake the phone. And if you don't have a screen lock, your battery could be heading south right quick.

Magnets often are found in your favorite phone cases — specifically the side pouches with the flap. Having your TP2 in one of these can cause it to power-on randomly, draining your battery throughout the day. (This is an issue we found during our initial reviews of the Touch Pro 2.)

A simple fix for this is to disable the "slide to wake" feature of the Touch Pro 2. What this refers to is if the phone is off and you slide the keyboard out, it'll wake up. It's actually a smart feature as the only reason you would slide out the keyboard is if you were to use it.  However, this mechanism relies on magnets to pass under the screen and trigger it.

Cool, eh?  Unless you  have a case with magnets, then it's a nuisance.

To fix, simply download and run this .cab file or manually alter these registry values:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\KEYBD]

"SlideWakeup"=dword:00000000

Thanks BigD5 for the tip!

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

11 Comments
  • This is a great tip, but I actually like the "slide to wake" feature, so I took a slightly different approach to the workaround. On the recommendation of a few posters on "the usual HTC discussion sites," I found a great leather case manufacturer that advertises on eBay (search for "Easecase"). They will customize your case in just about any way you want, including lowering the side panels to allow you to plug in your charger or headphones while the phone is in the case. So when I ordered my side case, I simply asked them to leave off the third off the three magnets that hold the flap closed. (The "wake" feature is only initiated when a magnet passes near the bottom inch or so of the phone.) By leaving off that magnet, my case still stays closed (two magnets is plenty!) and I get to keep the "slide wakeup" feature enabled. And irrespective of that benefit, they make a *great* case.
  • I used the CAB file when (a version of) it first popped up on XDA. Worked great for me, of course then I'd forget to reapply it after flashing to a new ROM. My permanent solution to the problem is the Seidio Innocase+Holster. No magnet, so no problem and my keyboard slide to open still works. Had a fun one a little while ago that was confusing to me. Put the TP2 in a pocket without a case and it kept waking up. Couldn't figure out for the life of me what was doing it until I realized (my work) Blackberry was in a jacket pocket that kept swinging past the pocket the TP2 was in and - the Blackberry case kept waking up the TP2 as I walked !
  • My solution is Slide2Unlock. I like having the slide-to-wake feature to the keyboard during normal use, so S2U2 works nicely. I power off my device, put it in my holster, the magnet wakes the device, S2U2 keeps the screen locked and turns back off after a few moments! Viola!
  • For those who try the .cab solution, you need to do a soft reset before it takes. I've been testing another phone but will give this solution a try once I head back to the Tilt2.
  • i dont about all this magnet stuff but this tip, which ive done way before i read this article is if you lock your phone cut off the back light then slide it opens it still wakes but if you cut your back light off without locking your phone it does not wake, unlike the original touch pro which stayed sleep no matter what, i liked that better. i have a sprint touch pro 2, also changing dword to 0 is good enough you dont have to put 00000000
  • I just installed TouchLockPro. keeps it locked untill i wanna use it.
  • This also work for Touch Pro/Fuze.
  • I installed the cab file. After a soft reset my touch pro2 would stay off when I manually opened the keyboard, but the magnet from my case still turns on the phone. I checked the values in my registry editor and they were still set to 0's. When I uninstalled the program to change the values, I can no longer find the slidewakeup registry. Does anyone have another solution?
  • Nice heads-up and tips. I have a new Touch Pro 2 and am using the same horizontal black leather case/holster I got for my Touch Pro last November. It's a Verizon Wireless brand (of all things...I actually got it cheap at a Verizon kiosk during Circuit City's last days here in Sacramento...kicking myself because I should have gotten two). It's specifically made for Pocket PC phones. I think the actual model name was "Pocket PC" or "PDA", but I don't really remember as it's been well over a year. The cover flap has a single magnet about 1" square in the center near the leading edge of the flap right under the fancy metal "Verizon Wireless logo. It's actually a very nice case that fits the Touch Pro (even with the Seidio Innocase or Sprint two-piece rubberized surface casing)comfortably and the Touch Pro 2 (by itself) snugly. When closed, the magnet is positioned right at the center of the phone. I've done several tests with my Touch Pro 2 and found that it did not wake up even once while in the closed case. The only time I could actually get it to "wake up" via magnet was to take it out of the case, hold the flap open and run the bottom end of the phone by the center of the flap where its magnet is. The case and the belt clip are of sturdy construction. I recommend this case and I imagine it's still available at most Verizon stores.
  • Thanks for this post. I was going crazy with all sorts of strange things happening while my HTC Tilt 2 was in its case, including making phone calls! I discovered that the problem was the magnetic closures on the case activating the phone. I really like the case and don't want to change it. I tried being very careful how I put the device in the case, but couldn't get a consistent solution. I finally found this site searching the Net for an answer. I ran the patch on my HTC Tilt 2 and it worked perfectly. My phone is now once again my obedient servant, sleeping on command and staying that way. Just one note: the patch will not return to the previous registry setting when uninstalling it. If you want the magnetic behavior restored, you'll have to edit the registry by hand with a program like Total Commander CE. Not a huge deal, but folks should know that.
  • I thankyou all for the comments. They really are a breath of fresh air but my question about this case issue is a little different. I had a Black Berry that I could put in the case and the screen would litterally turn off. When I pulled it back out of the case, the screen turned back on. Is there a way I can get my (Sprint) Touch Pro 2 to function like that? The case I use has a magnet inside it which gives me the issue where my screen turnes on when it passes by the magnets