My RAZR lies
I’m convinced that my Motorola RAZR cellphone does not tell time accurately.
The phone has a little external LCD panel that displays the time and other pertinent information so that I don’t have to flip the phone open to check on things. Normally, this panel is not backlit in order to conserve energy, but there’s an easily accessible button on the edge of the phone that lights up the screen. When I hit the button to check the time on my phone, about forty or fifty percent of the time the digital clock ticks over to the next minute.
That’s very odd; I’m not looking at the screen for more than two seconds (max). That means, I’d expect to see the minute change about once every thirty times, assuming the times at which I check the time are uniformly randomly distributed within the sixty second interval between minute digit changes. One out of thirty is not even four percent; there’s an order of magnitude difference between the expected and observed values. I must have checked the time on with the phone more than five hundred times by now, so this is definitely statistically significant. This discrepancy leads me to the following hypothesis.
My RAZR is programmed to change the minute digit on the display when I click the button if its internal clock is within a twenty or thirty second window around the actual time at which the seconds should roll over back to zero.
If true, it’d have to have been a deliberate design decision. Perhaps people remember the time better after reading a digital clock if they see the digits change and Motorola is just helping me out? I haven’t yet thought of a different explanation.
Oh so you think it was “intelligently designed” to do that huh? Why is it that every time you people see something you can’t explain you think some higher being (engineers at Motorola in this case) designed it that way? That’s not science, that’s just superstition. Unless you can confirm that engineers at Motorola designed it to be like that. Then I guess it’s kind of like science.
It’s possible that your phone has a cheap, crappy internal clock (to cut down on cost) and that activating the backlight resynchronizes the clock with the nearest cell tower. After all, your cell phone is periodically in contact with the towers whenever it is on, not just when you’re making a call.
Here’s a suggestion. Take a digital camera with a video function and record your phone’s behavior when you turn on the backlight a few times. That should give you some definitive proof.
After some more thought and conversation, I’m of the opinion that when not backlit, the screen refreshes only every ten or fifteen seconds (for whatever reason) and when lit, it refreshes at some higher rate.
My guess is that the Moto engineers think that its target customers are always running late and that if they see the clock rollover they’ll be spurred to hurry. It may even be collusion between Moto and big business: “Hey Moto — I need my employees to feel more paniced all the time, what can you do for me?”
Of course, you could always stick it to the man and disable the external clock. Just don’t be surprised if you’re labeled a terrrorist or something. After all, those guys are always worried about what time it _really_ is, right?
LOL
I have noticed the same thing with my RAZR. It makes absolutely no sense to me as to why they would design it that way. It seems to do it at least 50% of the time, yet it keeps very accurate time… its always in sync with my other clocks.
You’re lucky. I just got a V3c and often the clock is half an hour late! It’ll be 1130 and when I check the external screen it says 11! What’s worse is if I flip the phone open it still says 11. Then if I make a call or use the global clock function, it will update to 1130…then I check the phone 5 minutes later and it’s still at 1130…grr!
Why don’t you take a digital camera with a video function and record your phone’s behavior when you turn on the backlight a few times. That should give you some definitive proof.
When I read the title, I thought we had the same problem. After reading yours, I’d same your problem is not a problem for me at all.
Here is my problem with my RAZR v3c. It does not sync at minutes at all. It shows 4:40pm right now, while it is actually 5:03pm. I need to press a few bottons or make a phone call so it will sync. This is the second phone I got, which has exactly the same problem.
I was really disappointed with the clock on my v3c….now I turned off the “Battery Save” (at the bottom of the “initial setup” screen) and my clock seems to work just fine now!!!
does this mean my battery performance is going to be limited just because I want to be able to see what time it is??
My V3c has the same problem with the clock, where it can be many minutes late. My guess is that pushing a side button to light up the screen just wakes up the screen and not the rest of the phone, so the time still just says what it used to last time it was awake.
Colette says turning off Battery Save fixes this, but it also always leaves on the keypad backlight, even if there is enough ambient light. Here’s what the manual says about that Battery Save option:
It doesn’t say anything about the clock.
Oh… forgot to mention… for me, turning of Battery Save did not fix the problem.
I’ve been having the same problem with my razr. I called verizon tech support, and the woman said this was a common glitch in the phone…it’s not a design decision. She also said they should have a patch out to fix the problem within the next few weeks.
Thanks! I’m having this exact problem. Finding this thread at least confirms my thoughts and gives a “glimmer of hope” Verizon will fix it.
Try turning off the phones battery save feature, this should fix the problem
I just received a new Razr and had the same problem. I called Verizon and they gave me Motorola’s number 1-800-657-8909. It is a known issue. Motorola asked me to set the battery save feature to off, but that did not work. They had me do a master reset and that fixed the issue.
I just did a master reset, and it actually completely screwed up my phone. It didn’t allow me to send or receive text messages at all and gave me a fatal error. So I’d just suggest waiting until they come out w/ the patch, which they said should be in a month or so. It sucks, but i guess we just have to wait.
Same issue with the clock delay on my razr. If you open the phone, hit the menu button and then the end call button, it will update the clock, but not permanently. This only updates the clock, not a fix to the overall problem. Tried the battery save in the off setting and this did not work. Guess we all need to start wearing a watch?
Verizon kept telling me to dial *228-option2 to fix the clock problem. Ofcourse it didn’t work. Then I read this page regarding the battery-save. That didn’t work either. Then I tried both, battery-save-ff first then *228-option-2. That seems to have worked.
The clock never tells the time when the phone is closed, Verizon (a store full of idiots) told me “it’s designed that way.” Good luck, I just traded mine in for the e815, which is a lot better compared to the RAZR V3C.
I had the same problem and fixed it this way:
1. Turn off the battery save
2. Turn phone off
3. Turn phone on
4. Check the clock to see that the screen updates each minute
5. Turn on the battery save
6. Turn phone off
7. Turn phone on
Seems like some bit needs to be twiddled otherwise the screen doesn’t update frequently enough. Just fiddling with the battery save didn’t do it. Nothing changed until I cycled power on the phone.
Hope this helps.
Just got the RAZR today, and was shocked to find this problem!?!?!? Verizon customer support knew nothing about it, but I think I fixed it by following Stu’s advise (#21 above). Thanks.
Stu’s advice (#21 above) worked for me as well.
Thanks Stu.
I just got my v3c thursday and was noticing this same thing. It was showing the time I last used the phone. I did what was suggested above and it worked!
Stu advise worked for me as well!
Thanks….
I just got our razr v3c today and had the time problem. Stu’s answer fixed it. Thanks Stu.
Stu, you rock! I had the same problem as post numbers 7, 9, 11, etc., and your advice worked.
I bought 2 razrs last week. One of the phones had the problem with the time (would not update) so I went in and exchanged it. Exchanged phone did the same thing.
Salesman at verizon store couldn’t believe that I would get 2 phones with the same problem (whats the chances right?) so he called tech support…they never heard of this problem. Then he called someone else, and they told him it was a known software problem and that a patch would be coming shortly. When the patch is ready you will have to take your razr to a service tech to get it applied.
The other phone wouldn’t connect to download ringtones. It kept stating that there was a fatal error.
I exchanged both of my razrs for a different model all together. Glad I did, razr cool phone but has too many problems.
Thanks Stu, this worked for me as well. Just goes to show you how awesome the internet is.
ITS ALIVE
I was so worried that my phone was JACKED! The clock on my phone would not update unless I looked at something on my phone. Only when I got back to the main screen would my time update. I looked on the internet and tried so many different methods to make my blasted Verizon V3c work, but nothing worked, that is until I used Stu’s method. My phone’s time is perfect now and updates like it should. Thanks again Stu!!!
Stu, you are a true hero. Never let it be said this site has contributed nothing to the world. Go ahead and say that I’ve had nothing to do with it, though.
Rock on, Stu. Rock on.
omg .. am havin the same problem.. i took it to verizon .. and they gave me a new razr.. same shit happenin again.. am happy to knw.. i aint goin crazy.. lol.. appreciate the tips..
oo yea.. anothr problem.. its makin a creepy voice.. when the razr is not in use.. and sometimez durin use.. a high pitch.. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..ZZZZZ… :-s
I bought two Razors yesterday 3/18. One had the clock problem-one didn’t. Called Verizon-they said they heard of the problem and I would have to bring it in for exchange. Tried Stu’s method above and it worked so far. Thanks Stu.
is it possible that this is a verizon problem?
I’ve never seen another v3c that does this type of crap
BTW I have the same problem, thats how I found this.
Stu … you rule. Thanks for posting that fix - I’ve been trying to fix it for a week now.
Thanks for this blog … excellent stuff.
haha..Stu, your awesome. Been trying to figure out this crappy waste of money and your advice works! =) thanks a bunch!
Thanks! The clock on my phone wasn’t accurate after but 1 day, but thanks to Stu, it’s all good!
Stu you saved my life! I just got this phone this past weekend and thought it was useless, but thanks to you I feel better about my purchase. Thanks!
Thanks so much. The clock thing was driving me crazy.
My Razr is awful…I have had it replaced once and the new phone is doing the same thing. It will not let me make out-going calls, and then will automatically shutdown and restart after the 4th or 5th attempt. Verizon thinks I’m crazy. I’m getting mad. Anyone else have the same problem?
so, i want to trade in this POS .. I just got it on 3/28 and it’s already more than a problem .. i’m taking pictures of the clock thing right now compared to my other clocks.. and hopefully going to get a new RAZR or else a new phone all together
Does anyone have a problem with the alarm clock? I have it set for Monday - Friday and it still goes off on Saturdays. I need to know how to fix if anyone knows! Thanks.
OMG thank you so much for writing that. I thought I was going crazy being that mine does the same thing.
My provider is cingular and I have this problem also. This problem is with the phone, not the provider. Cell phones send and recieve data in packets through the use of time division multiple access (TDMA). This allows hundreds of phones to communicate at the same time through one cell tower. These packets of data have a time stamp. For some reason the phone is not finding/decoding this time stamp.
You’re an idiot. The people who build cell phones are not. They know how to make a clock that works. Holy Shit, don’t you own two clocks? Why don’t you try comparing them at different times through the day. I have a razor phone and it does the same thing. It refreshes the time when you check it. You are not traveling through time faster than anyone with a nokia. Idiot.
Stu, thank you so much for your fix. I was going to go Office Space on my phone until I tried your solution. My hero.
Same clock problem, and a sucessfiul fix from Stu!
I am more worried about 1)the whine/buzz when the backlight is on; 2) does one of the outside buttons work as “Snooze” when the cover is closed?
David: obviously yours didn’t have the problem. like others, my phone did not update at all. It could be hours off, not seconds, unless you used oter buttons.
Thanks for the fix Stu. I just got the phone on Sunday and realized today that it was not working properly. All is good now.
way to go stu - works great
Stu,
you the man…I was minutes away from returning it for another.
I am having the Mon-Fri alarm clock issue too. It’s set for Mon-Fri but goes off on Saturdays…but doesn’t on Sundays…anyone having this problem? Anyone have any ideas? 6:25a is way to early to get up on a Saturday.
I’m having the exact same problem, I have an alarm set for 5:45am Mon-Fri. Every Saturday it goes off at 5:45am as if the phone thinks it a weekday. This does not happen on Sunday however. Anyone have any solutions. Perhaps Stu has another miracle for us.
No, David, I am not an idiot. I am in Satellite Communications, and although cell phones are not do not transmit and recieve data directly from a satellite, the theory of both systems is very similar. When recieving data via satellite, you essentially recieve everything that it broadcasts in its footprint. The equipment then amplifies the low noise floor, pulls the data from your recieve freq, demodulates, removes carrier…. The same thing happens from the cell tower, or cell towers. If you are within the range of two or more towers the timing will be off, as the phone will pull data from various “clocks”, as you so elequently wrote.
I have noticed that my phones time will stop. I was thinking either the phone has no internal clock as a power save feature, or stopped constantly updating (again, power save). To my knowledge cell phone towers do not ping a time stamp. Maybe you know David
My i hate my rzr because its always telling me the most fucked TIME! and its got a shitty camera.. if you want to know what a good phone is.. its the motorola….. v360
Stu,
You are a goldne god. Thanks! worked for me.
#44, Soach - I have the same problem…My Razr alarm clock that is set for Mon-Fri goes off on Saturday mornings (doesn’t go off on Sundays, interestingly), even though the date/time stamp of the display says Saturday. Did you ever find a solution to this problem? Thanks.
I have the same problem as robert; I just purchased a brand new RAZR about 3 days ago and whenever it is open it makes a very annoying buzzing whiny sound and when i try to film videos the sound is extremely loud in the video and makes it pointless to film anything. is there any way to fix this?
#59 Jeremy - Nope, still does it. I am taking it back to Verizon tomorrow. The first time I tried after the salesman let me go on and on and then I found out there was not a tech in the store. He looked at me as though I was speaking a foreign language, said he’d never heard of any problems. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and plan on trying again. Hopefully I will get someone who knows what is going on.
I am hoping they will give me a new phone though I don’t think I will feel very confident if it is still going to be a Razr. Funny thing though both my friends just got Razr and have not had the first problem. This makes number 4 for mine – the time stamp, display staying lit at all times, dying without no warning whatsoever and the alarm. I say it is possessed!
Thanks stu, my clock was not updating and your method fixed it
Does anyone know the answers to the following questions?
1. How do you turn off the low battery audible alarm?
2. How do you stop the Alarm Clock from going off on Saturday? This happens even when the alarm is set for only Mon-Fri. As stated by others, it does not go off on Sunday morning.
I spoke with Verizon & Motorola today regarding the time not updating automatically on my RAZR, and Motorola indicated a patch was released this past friday to resolve that issue and others. My local Verizon store confirmed they now have a software patch that a technician can download to the phone. Hope it works!
your razr has a clock? bad ass
thanks alot stu, stupid ass piece of shit clock wasnt workin and i was about to throw it at a car, but i found this in the nick of time
My Verizon Razr was losing time for the past week. Sometimes 5 minutes and sometimes 2 or 3 hours. I brought to Verizon and they had to flash the firmware. Phone is only 20 days. Ahhh Motorola quality. It appears to have fixed the problem. WARNING: you need to sign a release because there is a very small chance that the upgrade will “fry” your phone and you will lose EVERYTHING.
Same clock problem — noticed on my wife’s new phone the next morning. Stu’s fix worked like a charm. Someone else commented on the power of the internet . . . so true. The more we talk, the more collective experience and knowledge, the better.
stu, you are the man. you should know that you’re headed straight to the 7th level of heaven, just from the good karma off this post.
my $300 phone can now tell time. awesome!
and verizon doesn’t even charge for it. hey dinosaurs at verizon - new revune stream possiblity! milk us for every dollar. yummm milk - real competitive cell market with a whole _4_ providers, only of which 2 have networks that don’t suck - and they both are from a mindset and business model of a cable company or a power utility. this is captialism gone wrong - there’s no competition. and that’s why we end up with phones that can’t tell time. thanks FTC, you suck. ma bell, ma bell…
today i woke up at 8:30 to head out to an appointment with my trainer at 9. but when i headed out my RAZR read an hour off of every clock in the house- but it even updated every minute to the same time as other clocks, but an hour earlier. i ended up solidly missing the appointment. i went through a battery cycle and switched up the battery save, and that fixed the problem, but this seems to be a pretty egregrious mistake, regardless if it was isolated to my cell phone tower, with the amount of people who use their cell phones as their only means of keeping time.
Responding to the Saturday alarm problem. What version of the RAZR are you guys running?
my razr has a black spot on the screen which grows larger every day. Spot is centered in the middle of the screen and little black worms crawl into it from the edge of the screen mostly from the top.
Your phone is possesed by the devil; it must not be allowed to live.
That’s genuinely frightening. Plus, how could you possibly dispose of a phone that’s been afflicted by the dark magic of the prince of demons? Is such condition covered under warranty? Or do you need to purchase the extended coverage plan? I believe that the instructions plainly say not to dispose of the equipment in fire. Maybe bury it? But then you run the risk of allowing the vile taint to fester in the earth, to continue to draw from the evil powers of Abaddon itself, until one day it’s excavated by some unsuspecting soul who will be unable to stand against the torrent of unmitigated, raw power. What results will be a foul flood of doom and despair that enshrouds the planet in a final, grim dark age where pain is the only currency and the wailing of the tormented hangs on the air in a wretched symphony born of Hell.
So, just to be clear: that’s bad, right?
Never thought of the dark magic aspect, suspected a virus, but in retrospect that is the same thing, right?. I need to find me excommunicated priest to excorsise the beast, lest as you say it floods the earth with a foul flood of umitigated raw power, bury it I shall not, burn it I surely will, but then the beast within may enjoy the flames, and draw even more power to infect all, maybe drown it in the depths of the ocean? What do you think?.
This is the only blogwaffe page ive visited, and i thank stu for the solution, but the author of this blog isn’t smart. to believe this flaw was intentional gives far too much credit to motorola, why the heck would not showing the correct time be a valued attribute to any electronic device?
I revise my statement: what the author posted wasn’t very smart
Ryan, Stu’s problem and mine were completely different and, at best, tangentially related. I do, however, agree that my original hypothesis (though still interesting to me) is incorrect. To say that it was not smart, however, is … ‘misinformed’ is the most polite way I can think to put it.
Here, I am not arguing that I am or that my statements are smart or not (indeed, I’d be tempted to argue for the case you propose in your first comment, though with decidedly more information than you have at your disposal). I am simply arguing that your rationale is ill-founded.
As a side note, I should point out that I believe my situation is most likely explained by my second hypothesis, which, if correct, implies that my first idea was, in part, surprisingly accurate. It would also imply that not showing the correct time would be a “valued attribute” for this particular electronic device: since it can operate at a lower refresh rate and still show a time that is not too incorrect, the phone can conserve battery life. A trade off, you see.
To settle this, I propose the following.
I will make a announcement detailing my belief in the idea that you are a douche bag. I can do so here or perhaps publicly in the city of your choice. It is my understanding you live in or near Houston; it would take some convincing on your part to get me to make the trip, but I admit the possibility.
I just got a razor and I was deleteing text messages from my inbox and the phone locked up, Now I cant get into my inbox at all, when I click on the inbox it locks up, I have to press end to get out of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I just bought a new Razr from Alltel, I haven’t had any problems with the clock on either display and it keeps time to the second along side my computer and atomic time radio wall clock, but the alarm clock on the phone does not go off after I have set it before I go to sleep. The alarm has actually gone off two times, on time, for a week and a half of setting it. The alarm will go off if I set it for a minute, five, etc, but not all night mostly.
hey david guess what? aaron was right. your an idiot. Contrary to your belief cell phones dont work on theories, they work on protocol. Yea they recieve packets of info. and in the packet is the time. only there is hardly a noise floor, or equipment in a cell phone that would amplify it, for they aren’t anaolg. they’re digital. they either recieve the packet or they don’t. its really very basic. and your assinged to a tower, through this incredibly basic system, so you dont get updates from 2 towers. just one. and if you did get 2 updates? it;d be a repetition of the same packet! and you say “were it different?” itd look at the TIMESTAMP of the packet, and use the most recent. not mix and match them. your clock stopped working cuz its broken. not having a internal clokc, would seriuosly save about .2 nanoseconds of battery life. think about it, your cmos battery will hold the time for 3 years. unless your phones clock runs on tubes with point point hand wired circuirty, id say you;ve run into what we call a “bug” btw where did you get your almight satelitte certs? ITT TECH?
I happen to own one of these razr phones, and I’ve always wondered where I need to go to get the time displayed in seconds. Do I need a java app for this? Where might I find one?
This is just a thought, but maybe to save more power from the battery, the external screen has a lower refresh rate when not lit. So maybe, every 25 seconds instead of every 2 seconds the screen will update. That could leave a delay if the refresh rate and don’t conflict exactly at the change of a minute (So when the time would update, the right time on the screen wouldn’t show it for another few seconds). Then when you turn on the backlit, the refresh rate increases and then updates the time.
A theory I guess :/ You could probably look it up on the internet somewhere, ha.
hehe PENIS!
stu’s shit worked for me
Help!
My V3T does not have the battery save option listed in the initial setup screen!
A couple of people on here mentioned the annoying buzzing sound, I just got a RAZR today, and it’s doing the same thing, do they all do that? I was thinking about taking it back and exchanging it tomorrow, but if they all buzz like that, then that would be pointless. Anyone???
Ok, here is another one, why does my phone change style ring to Loud every time I plug the charger in? (I usually have it set on vibe and ring)Oh yeah, and the buzzing from key pad is normal, as they say, it’c caused by the light, and it only buzzes while the light is on.
My razr does that as well.
What are you smoking??? Weed? My friend I took 4 college courses in advance statistics (econometrics) and what you say doesn’t make sense at all. Stop watching your phone clock so much and get a date (A real one, not one in myspace of face book, but you can actually touch)
:-)))
my raz wont let me send text messages or get online even though i have it on my plan. i just got it from ebay and i dont know what to do. can anyone help me?
mine lies to me too!
It must be SATAN!
someone look at #63!! turning off low battery beeping!!!! anyone?! this drives me crazy as my battery could take up to 4 hours to die.
also FUNNY but annoying razr fact that you should all appreciate… i set my alarm and it doesn’t go off until THREE DAYS LATER. pos.