Some of the Android OS versions have a bug which stops the sensors such as the accelerometer recording when the screen lock is on.
The bug has been submitted but has not been fixed in all instances
Below is a list of Phones and OS versions the do and don’t have the bug + some are reported to be intermittent.
| Bug | No Bug | Intermittent |
| Motorola Milestone – 2.1 | Google Nexus One – 2.2 | Google Nexus One – 2.2 |
| Nexus One – 2.1 | T-Mobile G1 – 1.6 | |
| HTC Desire – 2.2 | Google ION – 1.6 | |
| HTC EVO 4G – 2.2 | ||
| Motorola Droid – 2.2 | ||
| HTC Eris – 2.2 | ||
| Droid Incredible – 2.2 | ||
| HTC Legend 2.1 | ||
| HTC Wildfire 2.2 |
Update: There are a couple of workarounds that i have found
The first works for all phones but is a drain on the battery and involves keeping the screen on all the time. It changes the timeout of the screen to a higher number:
The second seems to only work on some phones such as the Milestone and Droid which registers the sensor, then un-registers the sensor when the screen is off and re-registers the sensor. Long winded but if it works…