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I am mostly active on Android Enthusiasts here and often use my mobile (Google Nexus S) to post, edit and vote on the site.

EDIT: Seems to be fixed with Jelly Bean (tested on my Nexus S with an early CM10 image)

Editing has some weird cursor placement bug up to Android 4.0.4 and its built-in browser.

  • I use Android's built-in browser
  • Happens on Android 2.3, 4.0 (CyanogenMod7+9)
  • I have enabled the full site view
  • Doesn't happen in the mobile view

Symptoms:
As soon as the input text exceeds some limit one cannot reliably position the editing cursor any more in the input window. The cursor is placed correctly at first but jumps to another position when the finger is released from the touch screen (the jump seems random but is deterministic for a fixed target touch position).

I have enabled 'show pointer position overlay' in the developer settings to better visualize my finger position, here's a screencast on YouTube.

PS: I like the full theme because it gives more control, so don't just suggest to switch back, please.

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2
  • +1 for the screencast!
    – Matt
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 10:04
  • declining this because it seems to be a browser issue.
    – Sklivvz Mod
    Commented May 12, 2014 at 16:25

1 Answer 1

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9

I also use the desktop view on my mobile devices. I have seen this issue myself, but there is evidence that this is a browser issue that is out of our control:

  1. I've never seen it happen on my phone (HTC One X), only on my tablet (Acer Iconia). Both of them run ICS, but the HTC obviously has Sense UI on top of it. This suggests that HTC may somehow have fixed an issue here.

  2. It also happens when I turn off JavaScript, so it has nothing to do with the JavaScript Markdown editor.

  3. It only happens in the stock Android browser, not in Chrome.

  4. When I tap on a word on my tablet, I usually get a dictionary popup; when I tap between words, it just sets the cursor (I haven't figured the causality out 100% yet; bottom line: sometimes I get the popup). When the tap results in the cursor being moved, it's jumpy like you describe. But when the tap results in a popup, it's in the correct position (and for the correct word).

This makes me doubt that there's anything we can do about it.

I've also found two reports on the Android bug tracker that describe pretty much the same thing (but on other sites).

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6
  • Thanks for the answer. Esp. point (2) suggests it's a browser bug rather than an SE one. I'll try some options and will come back later with my findings.
    – ce4
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 13:06
  • 1
    @ce4 I found these two: code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=22533 code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24170 So it's definitely not just happening here.
    – balpha StaffMod
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 14:06
  • Thank you. As soon as Chrome mobile supports Android's stock browser quick controls, I switch. It's the single feature holding me back.
    – ce4
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 14:15
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    Yep, that's my number one reason as well. Chrome also has a few other small issues, and I disagree with some of their decisions, but the quick controls are definitely the biggest point. It's young, we can hope :) If I understand correctly, Chrome is supposed to replace the default browser at some point.
    – balpha StaffMod
    Commented Jul 20, 2012 at 14:20
  • The quick controls even got better with Jelly Bean, by the way. Seems likely they won't abandon it with Chrome (when that replaces the built-in browser)
    – ce4
    Commented Jul 26, 2012 at 0:28
  • This is happening on my samsung galaxy note 2. In Chrome, not stock browser! I cannot type correspondence with the cursor jumping without reason... I was an Android enthusiast before this. But now, especially seeing how common this problem is, I am ready to get an iPhone! I hate iPhone. But I hate this problem more! I can't really use this very expensive phone!!!
    – user224318
    Commented Jun 4, 2013 at 5:23

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