Posted on 07/01/2010 9:10:32 AM PDT by PugetSoundSoldier
I'm having an issue with the Proximity Sensor not properly detecting when i'm holding my phone to my ear. I can confirm that the iPhone sensor is working by covering it with my finger, but when held to my face, the screen blinks as if it cannot decide to disable the screen or enable it. It results on me hanging up, putting calls on mute, and dialing numbers accidentally while i'm on the phone. This occurs on 90% of my calls. Is anyone else experiencing this issue. I would like to confirm whether this is a software issue (Proximity Sensor sensitivity too low) or a design issue (sensor now placed towards the end of the phone).
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39 pages (and counting) in this support thread, lots of folks getting hit with this problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at discussions.apple.com ...
This post is pretty interesting (and if you skim through the thread, you'll find it quite common), too:
Follow-up report: I am on vacation and make a case ID online, went to the Apple store in Las Vegas this evening. While waiting, the specialist girl told me she *has seen the proximity sensor issue. I get to the Genius bar (real nice guy) and (of course) he was surprised and "hadn't heard of the issue". I said "That what everyone on this thread is saying about you Geniuses are telling us!. *He ran a "diagnostic", which was little more than pluggin into a MacBook Pro, dialing a few numbers and he told me he could not replicate the issue but was going to replace my phone. I thanked him and left. Went into the mall to test and... BOOM. same problem, MAINLY when I stick it on my left shoulder and hold it against my face. Cheek dialing galore... I ran back and showed the Genius... He watched and said "light was sneaking through and activating the screen" "Hold it differently".this is getting INSANE. I virtually can't make any calls the way I have my whole life, including iPhone 2G and 3G. Oh, btw - the sensor is DIRECTLY above the front-facing camera. Stick your finger over it and see for yourself. So, if a firmware update can't change the sensitivity, we have a defective HW design that I'm begining to think there is no solution for.
Oy Vay.... I am done for the day.
People will accept problems with the phone if Apple would address them openly and honestly; the attempt to deflect any and all issues from the phone (hold it differently, it's not a problem because MY phone doesn't do it, etc) is killing the reputation of Apple's customer service.
Ping - I think the loss of one iPhone 4 by a careless employee, and Gizmodo spreading pictures forced Apple to release the phone before it was ready. Either that or the pressure from the new HTC EVO and DroidX caused them to release too early. Too many of these hardware/software failures to have been just coincidence or “new phone birthing pains”.
Apple’s handling of customers affected by these failures, though, is what’s really becoming their nightmare. You cannot blame the phone users for holding it wrong, especially when so many owned previous iPhones. If it worked on a previous iPhone to hold around the bottom, or not tight against the skin, it should do the same for the new iPhone.
And blaming the customer is the LAST thing you want to do publicly; even IF it is the customer’s fault, you don’t say so in the open. That just reeks of shirking responsibility and immaturity.
1) notice the programs stumble during start (its trying to figure out 3g or wi-fi) turning wifi off solves it. 2)The the sensor gets confused on direction of holding unit. (stumbles in a pause)
Never had the problem with the old software.
You’re just a hater
This definitely happens across all phones with these sensors, yes, including Droids. Usually it has to do with sideburns, long hair, position against the ear, head-on-shoulder holding, or lighting sources interfering with the sensor. Droid owners didn’t seem to have a problem with the “hold it differently” suggestion, or to simply brush their hair aside when calling.
I know this because I wasn’t happy with the proximity sensor on my Droid and researched it.
If you don’t want to change your ways, on the Droid you can buy an app that locks your screen during a call, and on the iPhone you just lock your screen during the call.
Now you’re not even posting news stories, resorting to support forum threads to further bash Apple.
LOL!
I just checked the Droid marketplace and there is a free app for this called Screen Mode Widget.
It may be the way you hold the phone. I had that happen with my fuze. My tilt2 works flawlessly for me, but when I let my son talk on it...he holds the phone with the light sensor pointing up slightly so that it catches enough light to stay on.
I could adjust it for his use, but then it’s my phone so why would I :-)
Does the iPhone has such a feature to adjust the sensitivity of that sensor?
How is this bashing Apple? He's just informing people of some of the issues with the latest hot item to hit the market. Information isn't bashing.
I must be missing something. On my windows mobile phones I have a tool that allows me to adjust the sensivity of the light sensor. I can’t believe such an app doesn’t exist for the iPhone and Android phones.
Nice that there's a free one now.
No, I am not!
I’m a GD EVIL LIAR, though...;)
I see several apps that do this in the droid marketplace. I don’t see one in the apple app store though.
Funny, my HTC Touch Pro 2’s proximity sensor works great for me. And I have long hair (over my ears) and a beard. The screen goes blank when it should, and comes back as it should.
But I’m just a hater, like those hundreds of people in the Apple Support Forum.
But you’re missing the bigger issue here; it’s not that the prox sensor is poorly calibrated, that can be fixed with a software update. It’s Apple’s self-righteous attitude towards the problem. Apple blames the USERS for holding the phone wrong, even when the USER owned previous iPhones and didn’t have the problem.
It’s Apple’s steadfast refusal to acknowledge real-world, actual problems with their premier product that is doing the damage. Read the posts. People love the phone, want Apple to fix the bug, and HATE the way they’re being treated by Apple.
The problem - the real issue - is Apple has bought in to the marketing image they’ve created over the last 5 years of being perfect, infallible and always right. Well, that’s all great until you get something wrong. Then you end up lashing out at your customers because you bought in to your own lie.
It’s systemic in Apple now, from Steve “you’re holding it wrong” Jobs to the Genius Bar claiming to have never heard of the problem. Apple’s management of their problem is what’s making these issues big stories, not the issues themselves.
You read the apple support forums so you can drag the info over here. And then ping the same couple people over...and then you all...wow...
It was a sure thing that the iPhone update would be released at the WWDC even before the loss. The phone shown by Gizmodo was pretty much the final version.
Either that or the pressure from the new HTC EVO and DroidX caused them to release too early.
Given the sales figures, not much pressure. The only pressure Apple has with the iPhone is to offer it on a network besides AT&T.
Apple isn't Microsoft. They don't release a product without Jobs' blessing, and he doesn't give it unless he's willing to risk his ginormous ego over it. There is always the possibility of design errors or manufacturing mistakes, but you're not going to get something like an XBox 360 from Apple because of pressure to get to market fast.
Apple operates on Apple's schedule. I'll give you an example. There wasn't supposed to be an iPhone. Apple was working on a touch tablet since the early 2000s, but the tech just wasn't there to do one right. However, they found that they could do a phone right using much of the technology they'd developed so far, hence the birth of the iPhone. Years later, when Apple finally had it right, we get the iPad.
You notice no hurry. Release it when it's done, no sooner.
That is always a problem. When a company starts believing its own marketing it becomes a downward spiral.
Why would Microsoft wait for Steve Jobs to bless their products?
And that sounds like a bit off topic and trolling. I thought you didn't like such posts.
We’ve learned that WinMo and Android allow the user to adjust the proximity detector, which is a good thing. If you have one of those OSes and are experiencing a similar problem, you can fix it yourself.
We have learned that there “isn’t an app for that” for the iPhone, which means it can only be fixed by Apple.
I think it’s been an informative thread so far. Apple should either expose a setting in the OS, or expose some of the API so apps can be created to fix this problem, because it IS a problem.
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