HOWTO: keep capacitive buttons (bottom ones) lit - Epic 4G General

I just read yet another review of the Epic where one of the reasons they talked sh!t about the EPIC was because of the bottom buttons don't stay lit the entire time the screen is on. This is a SUPER easy fix.... should anyone want to change this, it will take 10 seconds tops:
Goto settings > sound&display > keyboard timeout and change it to "Same as Screen timeout"
BAM! Problem solved. I almost wish Samsung had done this from the factory as the default. Oh well.
'tuna

thanks! wondering how to fix this !

superbraut said:
thanks! wondering how to fix this !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! Glad someone could use the info...

Thanks so much, i would have never guessed that as setting for the hardware keyboard would effect the capacitive buttons!

Thanks
Thanks, added to my blog and tips for Epic page I'm just starting on..
http://www.bitshop.com/Tips/SamsungEpic4gbySprint/tabid/132/Default.aspx
Beautifully simple,
Steve

It's seriously stupid that they didn't put a non-lighting image on the front of these. They could have had the stenciled outline of the buttons there so they were visible even when not lit up.

Woot. Nice find spiicy. That just made the Epic a little more Epic

Oooo much appreciated
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Yeah thanks for sure! I also had no idea that these capactive touch buttons would be tied to the keyboard. I had my keyboard timeout set to like 3 seconds, because once I start typing I dont need to see anymore usually. That explains why those buttons wouldnt stay lit for long enough!
Cheers!

glad i found this thread! thanks again.

OMG I can't believe people didn't know this by now...
Forgive My Brevity. To Be Or Not To Be...

yeah i did this the first day i got my epic since i heard so many complaints about it before hand, lls, its funny how people can cry about it and not even look through the settings

Ok, just pointing out this isn't strictly true. Doing as the OP suggests keeps the buttons lit as long as a touch action keeps the screen alive, the button lights will still time-out before the screen for any other actions that keep the screen on. Like e-book readers, video player, games, extended typing in any app, timers, alarm clocks, etc (in cases where touching the screen isn't required).
What's odd is that the buttons aren't tied to either the screen or the keyboard. Since I'm used to where they are now I'd rather just have an option to keep those lights always off.

Battery Usage
Does anyone know how much battery usage the keyboard light consumes?

Someone should make a screen protector with the icons screened onto it.

Geekybiker said:
Someone should make a screen protector with the icons screened onto it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 internets for you. Quick, patent it too.

I totally agree on that screen protector idea, even though the second before you even posted some asian probably stole it and already has a patent for it somehow.
All in all though, IDK How much of a battery impact the hardware keyboard would use being on all the time, but to be honest, now that I've had the phone for a week+, I don't really need to know where they are, I already have it memorized. So I just said the hell with it and put my keyboard backlight back to 3 seconds again.

Related

Keyboard light never, ever, works.

Got my Sprint Mogul a couple of days ago and having a tough time with the keyboard backlight not working.
I've done my searching and found that some people got their keyboard backlight to work by unchecking the option in Settings->Buttons->Backlight.
This didn't work for me.
Some people recommended just hitting a few keys and the backlight should work.
This didn't work for me either.
I'm looking at what just may be bad hardware and will have to replace the phone. That keyboard is damn hard to see in even the best low-light conditions. Forget about typing in the dark.
Does anyone know of methods that will force the keyboard to turn on so that I can test it?
unchecking the auto sensor option like you did should force it to come on whenever the keyboard is out, if it doesnt come on within a few seconds of sliding out id say get a replacement phone
I agree with defaultdotxbe...if unchecking the autosensor box isn't forcing it to be always on, I'd be worried.
I've left the autosensor activated, and my keyboard light works, but I must admit that it sometimes doesn't go on when I think it should. The sensor seems to be calibrated so that it has got to be pretty dark for the silly thing to decide to light up!
Having said that, someone on one of these forums came up with a pretty neat trick. If know I want to force the keyboard to be lit, I just slide it out about a quarter of an inch. The sensor is still hidden under the body of the phone at this point, and it thinks it's completely in the dark. The keyboard always lights up at that point. Once it's lit, then I slide the keyboard out the rest of the way. Brilliant, huh? You might wanna try that just to see if it makes any difference.
Good luck!
Thanks, peeps. I had the same problem with the keyboard light and was getting extremely frustrated. I tried the sensor trick (opening the keyboard 1/4) and, viola, it worked!
Walrus44
I also had the problem and after lots of searching I found out it was because I had the screen backlight turned all the way down. I moved it up to the first notch and now it works just fine even with the sensor.
Walrus44 said:
Thanks, peeps. I had the same problem with the keyboard light and was getting extremely frustrated. I tried the sensor trick (opening the keyboard 1/4) and, viola, it worked!
Walrus44
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This trick also fixes the orientation issues when turning on and it is in landscape rather than portrait.

I have it now,but not happy at all

1.first i had problem to hard reset it,it is not done as users manual says.
2.Digital Compass app needs to Rereset after each soft reset.getting "Magnetic interference" Error
3.Screen is so sensitive that is almost impossible for me to write text messages or e mails.came off Touch Pro 2.there i had no problems.
4.my Volume UP button sudenly stoped working
i think,they rushed the release and made this device pain in the ass.maybe we need a NEW ROM!!!
mine hasn't had these problems, knock wood. And I am loving the speed!
With the screen being so sensitive... why does that make it impossible to write text messages? it just means you dont have to bend your screen when pressing so hard to press a key...?
Having had a Touch HD - owning a TP2 (work) and just having sold an Iphone 3GS - I honestly love mine to bits.
Been playing with the phone all evening - and I have to say I am really impressed - Vibrant screen, awesome speed, gorgeous flash (vid's and pics are quite good too compared to my other/previous phones) - All in all I am well impressed. The OS sits together so well - not having to touch WinMo at all, that this is one ROM I might just stick with!!!
I like the hard buttons on the front of the device - one of the bad sides of the blackstone but I have to agree the screen is VERY sensitive. As I'll be getting an invisishield for it as soon as they are released - this will make it much more useable - struggling at the moment but I can honestly say its a good thing - VERY precise screen - compared to the iphone 3GS (which sometimes required a double press to register) - You just have to think about touching this phone and it reacts - lol
Overall - VERY PLEASED and super happy I ditched my iphone 3GS for this oh and its VERY slim - in fact one of the slimmest HTC devices I have ever laid my hands on. All in all about 2mm bigger in depth, width and height than a 3GS but with like 50% more display area - Now THIS is what I call an iphone killer.
polystirenman said:
i think,they rushed the release and made this device pain in the ass.maybe we need a NEW ROM!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I just say you're out of luck. inoperative volume button... sounds like a defective unit, not software.
Replace it and be happy again.
zoomee said:
Having had a Touch HD - owning a TP2 (work) and just having sold an Iphone 3GS - I honestly love mine to bits.
Been playing with the phone all evening - and I have to say I am really impressed - Vibrant screen, awesome speed, gorgeous flash (vid's and pics are quite good too compared to my other/previous phones) - All in all I am well impressed. The OS sits together so well - not having to touch WinMo at all, that this is one ROM I might just stick with!!!
I like the hard buttons on the front of the device - one of the bad sides of the blackstone but I have to agree the screen is VERY sensitive. As I'll be getting an invisishield for it as soon as they are released - this will make it much more useable - struggling at the moment but I can honestly say its a good thing - VERY precise screen - compared to the iphone 3GS (which sometimes required a double press to register) - You just have to think about touching this phone and it reacts - lol
Overall - VERY PLEASED and super happy I ditched my iphone 3GS for this oh and its VERY slim - in fact one of the slimmest HTC devices I have ever laid my hands on. All in all about 2mm bigger in depth, width and height than a 3GS but with like 50% more display area - Now THIS is what I call an iphone killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
zoomee, come drive over to wakefield so I can have a play and see what its like
nicelad_uk said:
zoomee, come drive over to wakefield so I can have a play and see what its like
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heh, if your passing by hudds soon i.e. on teh weekend let me know fella and i'll hook up.
I agree on the sensitivity....it's awful....if, for example, you type something incorrectly...VERY easy to do..then press delete quickly a few times, it doesn't delete..it starts typing random characters!!
hoping there's a setting for this somewhere. A screen protector might be the answer though in the short term
I also had to hard reset (because I wanted to..not for any other reason) and I followed the procedure in the manual, has been the same for all HTC devices I've had
Not to *****, but the guys saying that the screen is too responsive... Are you used to capacitive screens? You need to get used to it for a bit, especially when you come from resistive screens.
Also, a phone that is TOO responsive? You never hear that from a WM phone .
compared to the iphone (yes, I know..I'm sorry) the screen is lousy!!
twisted-pixel said:
I agree on the sensitivity....it's awful....if, for example, you type something incorrectly...VERY easy to do..then press delete quickly a few times, it doesn't delete..it starts typing random characters!!
hoping there's a setting for this somewhere. A screen protector might be the answer though in the short term
I also had to hard reset (because I wanted to..not for any other reason) and I followed the procedure in the manual, has been the same for all HTC devices I've had
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's exactly what i ment.it is realy hard to wrife witbkut making a mistake.
So does it means that none of you guys hav this Digital Compass problem?after each soft reset i have to repeat that 8 shape pattern movement to make it work again.
anyway i am returning my to get a replacement.
I don't have an HD2, but I think I've experienced this over-sensitivity on my iPod nano, which I presume has a capacitive scroll wheel.
Sometimes (although not usually) it becomes so sensitive that I don't have to actually touch the scroll wheel for the songs to scroll. It then becomes almost impossible to choose the song I actually want because when I move my finger to the select button the song changes before I can select it - very, very annoying and frustrating. I'm not sure why it's sometimes much worse than at other times. Maybe it's the temperature of my finger or something.
Anyway, it sounds like this is the same sort of thing that's happening on the HD2. It's a real pain on my iPod, and I would find it totally unacceptable on a device like the HD2.
Its just a case of getting used to the screen. Our fingers are too used to resistive screens that we don't actually lift our fingers enough and drag across the screen since unless we apply enough pressure on resistive screen it won't do anything. With capacitive we just need to re-train our fingers to lift off the screen another 1mm and it'll be fine.
Here's my suggestions:
1) Try typing slower to start with.
2) Or turn phone to landscape as the keys on the onscreen keyboard are slightly wider.
I can type quite quickly in landscape with between 1-3 errors per an SMS.
I'm loving this phone right now!
kinnyfaifai said:
Its just a case of getting used to the screen. Our fingers are too used to resistive screens that we don't actually lift our fingers enough and drag across the screen since unless we apply enough pressure on resistive screen it won't do anything. With capacitive we just need to re-train our fingers to lift off the screen another 1mm and it'll be fine.
Here's my suggestions:
1) Try typing slower to start with.
2) Or turn phone to landscape as the keys on the onscreen keyboard are slightly wider.
I can type quite quickly in landscape with between 1-3 errors per an SMS.
I'm loving this phone right now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're 100% right!
I also was very frustrated and irritated the first two days. But then I realized how responsive the screen is. Just a very very light touch already gives a reaction. And now I'm loving it more and more by the minute...
ALÞHÃ said:
And I just say you're out of luck. inoperative volume button... sounds like a defective unit, not software.
Replace it and be happy again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was delivered with a faulty 'Volume UP' button. I've sent it back for replacement.
polystirenman said:
3.Screen is so sensitive that is almost impossible for me to write text messages or e mails.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just try another keyboard. One that doesn't allow to change a character once you pressed a character on the keyboard. Fingertouch Pro and Resco Keyboard Pro for example are great keyboards for the sensitive screen of the HD2. I myself like the Resco keyboard. It responds and looks very similar to the iphone keyboard.
BTW Fingertouch pro and Resco Keyboard Pro both allows you to make use of gestures. Together with this feature text input is a breeze on the HD2
(Better yet is MessagEase, but unfortunately, under WinMob 6.5, it has some real problems).
nicelad_uk said:
zoomee, come drive over to wakefield so I can have a play and see what its like
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I am in wakefield too! Small world
I have to agree the screen is very sensitive. I am sure with a weeks usage I will be ok.
I have to say though I am so in love with the phone. The speed is perfect. No more waiting to load SMS\email screen etc like with my touch HD.
Hehe thats what happens with everyone who switch over from Resistive to Capacitive, at first they will hate it as they're too used to resistive.
But just within 2-3 days they realize just how much better Capative is. Resistive just sucks IMO. Typing is way quicker using a Capactive panel.
Tanmay® said:
Hehe thats what happens with everyone who switch over from Resistive to Capacitive, at first they will hate it as they're too used to resistive.
But just within 2-3 days they realize just how much better Capative is. Resistive just sucks IMO. Typing is way quicker using a Capactive panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had exactly the same experience switching to my G1 - I sent the first one back after a few hours as i was convinced the screen wasn't working. The next handset was was the same. A day or so of use later and I was sold and never looked back.
no..the screen is definitely too sensitive...this is not my first capacitive screen btw.
I've got my phone on charge on the desk next to me...and number of time it has open the calendar, or contacts...all by itself is amazing. A few moments ago (which has prompted me to write this post), it opened the calendar and the curser moved all over november....18, 19, 20, 24, etc etc...without me being anywhere near it!!
there has to be a way to turn the sensitivity down

I have had my HD2 a day.... anyone wanna buy a HD2?

Wow....
I was so looking forward to this device after my Kaiser/XperiaX1/Rhodium. My biggest gripe was always the speed, then the screen size, after all.
But this thing is next to useless. The capacitive touch screen is HORRIBLE, and the lack of a stylus so annoying that words cannot describe. I find that I constantly end up with apps closing when I try to press buttons near the top, etc.
Its impossible to type with, its so inaccurate. Maybe its unfair of me, coming from devices with keyboards but even so, I could type on the screen of my rhodium soo much better.
I guess that boils down to "capacitive screen" too, I guess I'll be going back to my Rhodium and waiting for a snapdragon or tegra powered system with a resistive screen.... Calibrating this thing makes no useful difference.
Sorry for the rant, more than a little frustrated with my £500 paperweight atm.
Nemeth782 said:
Wow....
I was so looking forward to this device after my Kaiser/XperiaX1/Rhodium. My biggest gripe was always the speed, then the screen size, after all.
But this thing is next to useless. The capacitive touch screen is HORRIBLE, and the lack of a stylus so annoying that words cannot describe. I find that I constantly end up with apps closing when I try to press buttons near the top, etc.
Its impossible to type with, its so inaccurate. Maybe its unfair of me, coming from devices with keyboards but even so, I could type on the screen of my rhodium soo much better.
I guess that boils down to "capacitive screen" too, I guess I'll be going back to my Rhodium and waiting for a snapdragon or tegra powered system with a resistive screen.... Calibrating this thing makes no useful difference.
Sorry for the rant, more than a little frustrated with my £500 paperweight atm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I can think is you must have really FAT fingers becuase the screen on this baby is amazing and typing on it is amazing. It's a million times better than the iPhone.
I haven't ever used an iphone for more than a few mins.
I don't think the issue is finger size as I can type better on the screen of my rhodium which is smaller, but resistive. Its more the fact that I touch a button and something happens over the other side of the screen (maybe a slight exaggeration) and apps like Resco file explorer leave me trying to press the same button 20 times before I get it due to lack of Stylus.
Its not usable, its just frustrating.
Nemeth782 said:
I haven't ever used an iphone for more than a few mins.
I don't think the issue is finger size as I can type better on the screen of my rhodium which is smaller, but resistive. Its more the fact that I touch a button and something happens over the other side of the screen (maybe a slight exaggeration) and apps like Resco file explorer leave me trying to press the same button 20 times before I get it due to lack of Stylus.
Its not usable, its just frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just give it a day or two. You'll never want to have an other device...
I really disagree with you on this. I think the screen and the responsiveness is superb to type on. Top of marked for sure. Beats iPhone and Hero imo.
The touch screen on HD2 just like a sexy girl - soooo sensitive.
beating the iPhone and Hero doesn't mean much to me as I haven't done much with either beyond a quick fiddle, but we are all held to believe that capacitive is better, so I was expecting an improvement on my old phones which have all been Resistive.
Maybe mine is broken I guess...
Still, I eventually managed to make a link to the task manager on the start menu. It feels like I fight with it for 30 mins and if I am lucky, I happen to get something done along the way.
If only it was like just about every other HTC phone I have used and had the little drop down task manager on the home screen where the X would usually be...
Its all down to
Calibration.
Ensure you calibrate the screen and calibrate the screen how you tend to use it.
I calibrated the screen with my thumb while holding it in the same hand. Scary but for its size and sensitivity it works great.
Be careful about calibrating with your finger then expect to type great with your thumb. Works okay but you will need some patience. You will get better results with calibrating with your thumb in my situation.
^Agree, re-calibrate your screen & see the differents. If you still want to sell, then put it in the Marketplace...
Try this fix.. For me it was a 100% improvement.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=585511
If only it was like just about every other HTC phone I have used and had the little drop down task manager on the home screen where the X would usually be...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a tweak for that already [that puts it back there] - think it's a Dutty job - have a look in the other forum on apps
And BTW - I've owned an iPhone and many HTC touhscreens and I feel your pain - I too have issues with this one typing is pretty inaccurate (typically it seems to trigger the key blelow that which I'm typing on) and sometimes it seems to just not recognise a press at all....I end up jabbing it so hard with my finger sometimes in frustration! I'm becoming more used to it but it is a little dissapointing, given the iPhones screen (for accuracy and responsiveness) is certainly thus far better than this one
Guys, remember, this screen is going to take time to get used to. Capacitive is a totally different beast to resistive.
And one day is not long enough to fully get used to a device. I am having a few small problems with typing (mostly because it's so sensitive and I'm not used to it!).
Once I get used to it, I don't think there will be any problems. I can already type faster on the HD2 on screen keyboard than I could on the X1 hardware keyboard!
Nemeth782 said:
If only it was like just about every other HTC phone I have used and had the little drop down task manager on the home screen where the X would usually be...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Dutty's fix for this didn't work for me, but this alternative did, and there's a few other tasty treats on the post too...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4947950&postcount=1
Original Poster's phone could be faulty. I had a demo of an HD2 the other day, and the keyboard was going completely mad: touching the backspace key, for example, resulted in a flurry of detected key-presses not just of the backspace key itself but of all keys around it in all directions. I mentioned this to the guy in the shop and he said that the reason why they had put that one aside for demo purposes was precisely that they couldn't get the screen properly aligned/calibrated on it, and that the other models they had didn't have the same problem. He might have been lying, of course....

The bottom buttons

Does anyone find it annoying that the bootom back, home and search keys do not stay lit up?
I've been looking for a setting that would at least allow it to be dimmed but thats been a no go. I just find it hard to find the buttons with no visual cue nor any physical at that, It almost feels as if Im guessing the location.
epidemike said:
Does anyone find it annoying that the bootom back, home and search keys do not stay lit up?
I've been looking for a setting that would at least allow it to be dimmed but thats been a no go. I just find it hard to find the buttons with no visual cue nor any physical at that, It almost feels as if Im guessing the location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine don't stay lit up. But coming from a Samsung Fascinate which also has lighting time-out issues, I just sort of waved my hands at it...
They will light back up once you touch one, so you could just run your finger over the search key since that has the least chance of knocking you out of wherever you are...
I never have problems finding the buttons at night. I actually like that they turn off. Makes the phone look cleaner if your using it in the dark.
KonAitor said:
I never have problems finding the buttons at night. I actually like that they turn off. Makes the phone look cleaner if your using it in the dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, I've not had an issue finding them when not lit either. Doesn't bother me at all.
The keys lot staying lit is a Samsung thing. They do the same on the Galaxy S phones like the Epic, Captivate. It was annoying on those phones and yes it is annoying on this phone as well. Yes I agree they should be lit all on the time.
-McMex
They are spaced far enough apart so being lit isn't that big of deal for me but I wouldn't mind seeing them lit.
I like that they aren't lit all the time.

S-Pen sensitivity FIX

For anyone that's having a problem with their s-pen such as needing to press harder on the screen just for it to register or work to scroll etc etc take the s-pen out of the phone and hold it in your hand at the top near the clicker and take your other hand and FLICK it (kind of like if you were going to flick the back of someones ear, lol) pretty good a couple of times at the bottom near the TIP and then try to see if the sensitivity changes back to the way its supposed to be like on the older Notes.. It has something to do with the spring or something in there and if you flick it a few times pretty hard it fixes the spring holding the s-pen tip and then it'll work like a charm! Obviously don't try to flick it hard enough to break it people!
Thanks a ton. This worked for me. You are awesom man.
But is this a permanent fix or will I have to keep flicking the top part frequently?
kedarwalke said:
Thanks a ton. This worked for me. You are awesom man.
But is this a permanent fix or will I have to keep flicking the top part frequently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far it seems to be permanent to me but if it ever does it again it's just a simple flick so not really a big deal.. However if it does keep on doing it I would go to Samsungs website and request a new one because that's what I did Friday and they're sending me a brand new one free of charge.. The only reason I figured it out was because I started taping it on the desk while I was on the phone unconsciously doing it and then I needed to do something on the screen and I suddenly noticed it was fixed and I no longer had to press harder directly after taping it on my desk, hahaha!!
kedarwalke said:
Thanks a ton. This worked for me. You are awesom man.
But is this a permanent fix or will I have to keep flicking the top part frequently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it still working out for you? Mine has been working great since I did it. It's so much better now and was driving me crazy when I had to push so hard and it would still skip off like I took it off the screen when I didn't.
MrMike2182 said:
Is it still working out for you? Mine has been working great since I did it. It's so much better now and was driving me crazy when I had to push so hard and it would still skip off like I took it off the screen when I didn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes mate,thanks to your creative idea my Spen is working like a breeze now.I am expecting the replacement in two days from samsung but I will have to return this defective spen for the replacement.I ll try making some reason and see if I can keep this defective Spen with me as backup.
Cheers!!!
I noticed that the on mines is not scrolling the pages or the navigation gestures don't respond to the spen
Fixed under gesture settings
mike28 said:
I noticed that the on mines is not scrolling the pages or the navigation gestures don't respond to the spen
Fixed under gesture settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not the problem we were having ours was that we had to use too much pressure to get the pen to work and now I barely have to touch put any pressure at all before I would literally have to push the tip down pretty good for it to work and now I don't have to at all. But your suggestion might help someone else though.
MrMike2182 said:
That's not the problem we were having ours was that we had to use too much pressure to get the pen to work and now I barely have to touch put any pressure at all before I would literally have to push the tip down pretty good for it to work and now I don't have to at all. But your suggestion might help someone else though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem. I barely touch anything and it's launching apps and what ever I touch. It's not just the S-Pen, but my finger too.
Eagle 3 said:
I have the same problem. I barely touch anything and it's launching apps and what ever I touch. It's not just the S-Pen, but my finger too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into settings and then display and check and see what your settings are set to for "accidental touch protection and touch sensitivity" that might help.. Also you need to make sure one of your hands is not accidentally on the screen wherever you're holding the phone at.
MrMike2182 said:
Go into settings and then display and check and see what your settings are set to for "accidental touch protection and touch sensitivity" that might help.. Also you need to make sure one of your hands is not accidentally on the screen wherever you're holding the phone at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"accidental touch protection and touch sensitivity" is on - that's one of the things I always check when setting up the phone. No I'm not holding the phone wrong, it happens when I use the S-Pen or my finger.
Eagle 3 said:
"accidental touch protection and touch sensitivity" is on - that's one of the things I always check when setting up the phone. No I'm not holding the phone wrong, it happens when I use the S-Pen or my finger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure then I don't seem to have that problem. Maybe someone else will know.
Hey I was wondering why the s pen isn't working as smooth as my note 10+
I still don't get what you did to fix it

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