I’ve learned the solution to an annoyance with the otherwise lovely Fairphone 2.

The proximity sensor wasn’t working properly for me. The problem seemed to get worse after I replaced the top module for a camera upgrade, but it had never been good. Taking a call almost always resulted in unpredictable weirdness—menu settings changing at random as I accidentally touched the screen, which should have been disabled, but wasn’t. Several goes at calibrating the sensor didn’t fix it.

A conversation with another user (there are other users!) gave me the solution. He pointed out that I was holding my phone in my left hand. Doesn’t every right-handed person? Apparently not. I’ve been holding phones in my non-dominant hand all my life, using the other to write notes or whatever, but it seems I’m not typical, and the proximity sensor on the phone is asymmetrically placed, at the top left corner of the phone screen.

So I have retrained myself to hold this phone in my right hand. Problem solved—it now works reliably.