Fix Proximity Sensor on Samsung S III

I recently swapped a screen on my S3 using heat-and-unglue method, and I have been mostly satisfied with results, except for one thing: when I call someone, screen was going dark and never turning back on, so not only I could not press any buttons on the phone, but there was not even a way to hang up.

Needless to say, I was unhappy.

I figured out what happens using xda-developers. Apparently, the phones have so-called "proximity sensor", which they use to determine if you are holding the phone next to your ear. When you cook it during lens swap, or when the screen is generally dirty, you get it to misfire.

Proximity Sensor

You can test what proximity sensor thinks about the distance by enabling hidden menu (enter number *#22745927 in dialer), then *#0*#, then click on "Sensors". Look the number in "Proximity Sensor" section, and see how it changes when you bring your hand close to the sensor. When ADC is less than 14, proximity is zero, after that it is one.

My sensor was always showing ADC of 16 or more. That is the problem, which I could not fix even by replacing sensor. I was able to get ADC down to 12, but this barely worked, because a hand even near a phone, while in the call caused screen to turn off, which is annoying to say least. I compared it with my wife's SIII, and it was 1 to 2, depending on lighting, so the problem was clearly in the sensor. But I had a new one!!!

After several days of looking for solution, I got an idea. There are two openings. It is probably because light is emitted from one opening, and (when your ear is close to the phone) gets reflected into a second one. What could go wrong? Screen could be slightly dislocated, and then the light will hit the dark spot between openings and get reflected into receiver, even when no ear is close to the sensor. How could this be resolved? Apparently very easily: put some black rubber paste or dough in between emitter and receiver, and the light will be blocked.

This solution worked for me so amazingly well, that I decided to publish some pictures, demonstrating the process.

Unscrew the last one and carefully pry out the sensor

Put some BLACK paste or dough. NOT TOO MUCH!!! Make sure you don't  smear any on the windows

Your mileage may vary, but after I reassembled the phone, ADC stays around 2 at all times. It is amazing. I was expecting a small effect, but the problem was gone completely.

PS: Oh, and for what it's worth, here's the compound I used to separate light from receiver. As I said, you can be good with probably just about anything, this just happened to lay around.