How to close the Astro Slide without key presses

Over the time that people have been recieving their Astro Slides; I’ve seen a lot of banter about gettting key presses when closeing the device. I’ve just got the hang of closing the device without key presses, and I’m confident that with a little care, it will not damange the device.

[Edit 2022-11-18: ManicXD on discord just pointed out that there’s a much easier way. So let’s cover that first.]

Above: A screenshot of someone mentioning a much better way.

ManicXD is quite right. So here’s a video demoing that method:

1. Hold the device as if you are thumb typing.
2. Bring your thumbs up close to the hinge where the two halves meet, while keeping them on the upper side of the keyboard half.
3. With both of your pointing fingers, pull up the part of the display that is wedged against the keyboard part of the phone.
4. Catch the screen with your thumbs so that it doesn’t wobble. - I expect that the wobble will cause the sliding mechanism to wear out faster over time.

This is one of those things where you probably need the video to properly visualise it. So let’s jump right into that.

To summarise the video:

1. Hold the device as if you are about to close it the “normal way”. Ie you’re about to grab both, the screen, and the keyboard.
2. Proceed to grab the screen.
   • It helps to have an area of your screen (somewhere near the middle) that doesn’t have anything that will happen when you grab it.
3. Wrap your fingers around the keyboard half as far as you can without interferring with the screen.
4. Pull the screen gently so that the keyboard half presses against your fingers, but not so much that they slip.
5. You should now be able to tilt the screen to the flat position, and then close it normally.

1. Grab both halves
   • Fingers on the back of each half.
   • Thumb on the user facing side.
2. Without rotating the display, pull the screen away from the keyboard a little to relieve the pressure holding them together.
3. Rotate the display so that it it parallel to the keyboard half.
4. Gently slide the display over the keyboard.

If you’re getting key presses when you’re not touching keys, that suggests that there is something physically wrong that needs to be fixed. It would be worth contacting PC for further assistance.

The biggest symptom that I’m seeing when I get key presses is that OneSearch pops up. Here are some instructions for disabling OneSearch.

There’s also the “Go to Desktop when closing Astro” in the Astro settings. Depending on how you use your phone, this may or may not be a good option for you. It works by taking you back to the desktop every time you close the keyboard. It does mean that if OneSearch gets triggered, it will immediately put it away. But it also means that if you wanted to simply work on your app in portrait, or simply without the physical keyboard; you’ll have to go back to the app switcher to find it again.

Personally, this isn’t the option for me. But it might be for you.