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).
...
39 pages (and counting) in this support thread, lots of folks getting hit with this problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at discussions.apple.com ...
BTW: if it’s an infrared sensor then they may have a bigger issue on their hands.
You don’t need to lock the phone though if the screen turns off reliably.
I know I had a fuze that had issues so I had to use one of those apps to lock the screen. But with tilt2 it reliably turns off when it goes to my ear so I don’t need to freeze the screen. Which is nice because I can quickly go from talking to touching keys to answer stupid touch tone prompts.
BTW: this is one of the reasons I actually considered getting an iPhonen is because I wanted a screen that reliably turned off. The 3g iPHone appeared to do that very well. If the new iPhone 4 messed this up it will be a major point of frustration for users. I know it frustrated me with my fuze until I adjusted it.
Cheek dialing is extremely maddening. If iPhone4 becomes known for cheek dialing then it will be bad news.
I don’t think I ever had a post removed by the moderator; that was someone else.
___
Well, you’re wrong (guess it’s a habit) you had 2 posts back to back that were personally insulting and childish removed.
Oh, and ROFLOL at you’re “concern” about addressing the issue of the proximity sensor. You’re so kind and helpful and respectful, Apple users are so lucky to have you! LOL, keep the laughs coming!
Proof?
LOL, you think I’m making it up?
They were beneath the dignity of the forum and I reported them and they were removed, sorry I don’t have a screen capture for you of PugetSoundSoldier’s pathetic postings.
Puget mentioned the proximity sensor, the poster at Apple mentioned the proximity sensor and "cheek dialing," which only involves the proximity sensor. They do not involve the ambient light sensor, except that both sensors are in the same piece of hardware. That hardware reports a binary value (True/False) for proximity and analog values for light sensing to the phone.
So, no, you can't tell the OS to handle the proximity differently, or expose an API that allows finer control of the proximity sensor, when proximity is reported to the OS as a True/False value (at least in HTC phones).
It uses the proximity sensor input to know that your face is close to the phone, so it kills the screen and ignores any touches. It keeps the proximity sensor change event registered, so that when the proximity sensor flips to 1 it knows to turn the screen and touch back on.
This is completely different from it dimming the screen when you go into a lower-light situation. That uses the variable ambient light sensor input.
That would be nice. I would love to be able to use c# to program for the iPhone. So, how do you propose Apple do this? And how is this different in concept from Android, which uses Java, and a non-standard version at that?
One way is to expose the APIs directly. Or do something like .net and allow various languages to be created against that.
It’s a little more difficult. The Cocoa framework kind of goes hand-in-hand with Objective C. To allow another language full access to the OS just as well as Objective C, Apple might have to change the core framework.
Not that it can’t be done, it’s just a big project. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Ruby development for the iPhone in the future since Apple has been working for years on a project to run Ruby natively in OS X. Of course that’s easier than for other languages since Ruby has its roots in Smalltalk just as Objective C does.
In a few words: I wouldn’t accept any Apple product as a gift. My wife had the Titanium laptop, with the various OS X and OS X.1’s.
My kids all have the iPod touches.
My conclusion - there must be a better way. The navigation on the iPads are - not good. Certainly not intuitive.
I love the way you have to be connected with their freaking store in order to get your iPod synchronized.
I have no idea what information is being transferred back and forth, and I guess I don’t want to know.
Given that I was never notified at all, yeah, you may be making it up. But then I’ve never had a post removed as far as I know.
You AGAIN chose NOT TO PING ME TO YOUR THREAD... smart move. I guess you really aren't interested in posting this to the Ping list members. My proximity sensor is working as expected.
As to the "hundreds" of people on the forum... out of over TWO MILLION iPhone 4s sold... hardly a serious problem causing "damage" to anyone.
As to solving the proximity sensor problem...
Perhaps you missed the ELEVENTH response in your linked forum where the answer to the issue was posted... He got it from an earlier forum that extended exactly one page where the answer was posted.
"Goto settings, general, and reset, and reset all settings It will wipe out your wireless setup settings, but it restored my proximity sensor and others."
Reset the phone... and the proximity sensor problem went away.
Puget, YOU DON'T USE AN iPHONE... quit with the snarky, ill-informed rumor posts that only spread FUD. Don't you have a life out side of trying to make other people miserable for the choice of phone they bought? Give it a rest.
There were cross-platform tools you could use, until Apple change the TOS for developers to only be native-generation of Objective C tools.
Cross-compilers are rather common, and should be allowed. If you want to use Java, C++, C#, FORTRAN, COBOL, or assembly you should be allowed to do it.
Android allows you to write in anything you want, you just have to have a Java executable (since that’s the VM that runs). But you can generate that executable with multiple different languages.
I'm sorry, did that hurt your feelings? And I know exactly what you will say:
It doesn't happen on my iPhone, this is just FUD, shut up Puget you liar...
And that's pretty much what you posted here. Never mind your own justification/defense has been torn apart by the hundreds of people reporting it on the Apple Support Forums.
So shut the heck up with the "FUD" charge. There was nothing uncertain about this - it ACTUALLY HAPPENS. It was not in doubt - it ACTUALLY HAPPENS. If you fear it, then it's your own fault.
FUD, indeed! Rather, you're spreading RUS - Rainbows, Unicorns, and Skittles. Sunshiny happy faces trying to plaster over KNOWN PROBLEMS that are affecting real-life people. People that Apple is blaming.
But that seems to be the norm for Apple and their supporters now days. It's all the user's fault!
That is my biggest gripe with the iPod (I had a Shuffle for a while) - you had to use iTunes to do anything on it. I couldn’t just drag and drop music from my music server, I had to import them into iTunes then over to the player. Why? I already run SqueezeServer (I have several Slim Devices Squeezeboxes for music), and use EAC to rip to FLAC in a nicely structured directory. I just want to copy a few songs to my Shuffle and use it.
Now I use use my phone - plug the phone in via USB, pop open file explorer, and copy/drag/drop files as needed. Video, audio, even data files. Drop them on the phone, fire up Kinoma Media Play and I’m ready to go!
Is that why Apple designed batteries designed for a FIVE YEARS to 80% capacity life span for their latest notebook computers??? Because they don't care about their customers? Is that why they design their batteries for 10-11 hours of constant use on ONE charge? Because they don't care about their customers.
RisaseaofDs you don't know what you are talking about. Most of the Macbooks that will be sold today will still be working—with their original batteries—after two and a half full replacements of PC notebooks from the competitors. Because Apple doesn't care about their customers.
My wife and my daughter are using original first generation iPhones (an 8G and a 16G) that have NEVER had their batteries replaced. Guess what. They still hold their charges almost as long as they did when they were new. My daughter is getting my 3Gs this weekend... and my wife will be getting her 16G first generation... and the 8G is being given to a friend... all with out having the battery replaced. The ALL STILL WORK... The two earlier models are running iPhone OS 3.2 and the 3Gs is running IOS4. Because Apple obviously doesn't care about their customers.
And all those developers that are jumping ship from iPhone development because Apple insists on a few rules... yeah, right... they are going to ignore the over $1 Billion that Apple sent to them for apps sold in the last 18 months... so they can go get a chunk of the $50 million garnered from Google apps. Sure... Because Apple doesn't care about their customers.
Apple's platforms are so short lived that OSX has only been supporting software that runs on it for 10 years now... and also supports all Windows (25 years), DOS (30 years), UNIX (40 years)...
Apple had a solid reason against those tools, as they bypassed critical system APIs and could be used to develop a non-native UI. Being an Android user, I've noticed how too much UI flexibility sucks, leads to inferior apps.
Android allows you to write in anything you want, you just have to have a Java executable (since that’s the VM that runs). But you can generate that executable with multiple different languages.
Java is the language. You can use the NDK to write speed-sensitive portions of your app in C/C++, but then you don't get access to the Android platform APIs.
We’ve talked about UIs before, I think there is great value in allowing users to change the UI if they want. It’s how you develop and innovate. Apple can provide a common, default UI but why not let people extend their UI as they like?
For example, why limit the number of icons on a single screen to 12? Why not 15? 25? 50? I should be able to scroll left-to-right for categories, and up-and-down within that category. I might have more than 12 games, or more than 12 contacts, being able to have a games or contacts screen would simplify organization, I think.
As far as development, you could either stub out your API calls, or create link tables to link your own application into the Java API entry points. Cross-platform and mixed-code development is standard on so many devices, why it cannot be allowed on the iPhone is really a case of Apple wanting to force devs to only think in Apple’s terms, not more open languages. After all, they’re the only ones using Objective C...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.