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joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
This is ridiculous.

My cheek hangs up calls, muts me, tries to facetime everyone, and generally makes calling a huge hassle.

Furthermore, since updating to 4.1, I've noticed that it takes my phone up to a minute to start ringing after I hit the call button.

Is anyone still having these problems? Should I go get my phone replaced or are all iPhone 4's doomed with faulty proximity sensor issues?

Truthfully, I would've replaced my phone by now if it didn't mean losing all my hard work in Angry Birds.
 
Since you already updated to 4.1 I would make an appointment with your nearest Apple Store. Explain to them the situation calmly and they will assist you accordingly.
 
I'm not going to be angry with the people at the genius bar, I know they'll help me.

I was posting mostly to see if other people were still having prox sensor issues and also to see if people were experiencing my new problem of calls taking a long time to connect.
 
I'm taking my replacement in this weekend...my original unit had no proximity issues at all but this replacement does...I've found that there is a 1/2" sweet spot for it to keep the screen off and the depth of your ear canal is in and around that area so unless that sensor is mashed up against your ear the screen goes on and off and all the hassles start.

gonna make me an appointment and try and get a replacement...this unit I have now is a week 35...My original was a week 28
 
This is ridiculous.

My cheek hangs up calls, muts me, tries to facetime everyone, and generally makes calling a huge hassle.

Furthermore, since updating to 4.1, I've noticed that it takes my phone up to a minute to start ringing after I hit the call button.

Is anyone still having these problems? Should I go get my phone replaced or are all iPhone 4's doomed with faulty proximity sensor issues?

Truthfully, I would've replaced my phone by now if it didn't mean losing all my hard work in Angry Birds.

I didn't have the issue at all UNTIL 4.1
its not a common occurrence but I do get it occasionally now

as for taking a long time to connect, mine has been doing that on and off since the iPhone 3G (I've had every generation), usually when I have low signal or have just left somewhere where I had low signal

You can back up your progress in angry birds you know...
 
I have had the issue but only when I am in a dimly lit area while making a call. Of course that is when it is the most annoying.
 
i have a week 35 here and i still have issues as well. i can't replicate it all the time but i can enough for it to annoy me. i'm going to take it in to apple next week and hopefully exchange for a new one :D
 
I am still having the problems with the sensor. It is annoying as *****. I do not have the problems with calling out though.

Will Apple take the phone back this far out? The thing that sucks is trying to replicate the problem while in a store. I will be interested to see how this goes for the rest of you.
 
yeah they should. although it always seems to behave normal when taking it in. well it acted normal when i shipped mine to apple support so they sent me the same one back last time :(. but this time i'm actually going to an apple store next week

I am still having the problems with the sensor. It is annoying as *****. I do not have the problems with calling out though.

Will Apple take the phone back this far out? The thing that sucks is trying to replicate the problem while in a store. I will be interested to see how this goes for the rest of you.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I have a week 30, and never had the issue to begin with.
 
I am still having the problems with the sensor. It is annoying as *****. I do not have the problems with calling out though.

Will Apple take the phone back this far out? The thing that sucks is trying to replicate the problem while in a store. I will be interested to see how this goes for the rest of you.
They will take it back as long as you can recreate the issue for them. My original was a launch day phone and I had it replaced 2 weeks ago. The problem is that it was a total waste of time. My proximity issues still persist unless I smash the phone down on my ear.
 
I was on hold for 15 minutes the other day and no sooner had I got through to someone my iPhone very kindly terminated the call for me. When I looked at the screen it was trying to dial #. Proximity sensor still an issue.
 
I bought a iPhone 4 16 gb two weeks ago in Oslo, Norway. This was my first ever iPhone. After a couple of days I experienced the proximity sensor problem. I brought the phone back to the store (not a Apple Store), and they sent it for repair. Three days later I received a new phone, only to figure out the new device's screen did light up during conversations, resulting in muting, putting on speaker etc, i.e. the proximity sensor issue. The phone went back and the process repeated it self with the third new device.

The consumer purchase law i Norway states that if a problem can't be fixed after the second attemt, the consumer can cancel the contract. Since I like everything else with the phone, except it is useless to function as a phone (ironic?), I asked the store manager if he could give me a device that did not have the proximity sensor issue. If he could, I would not cancel the contract. His reply was that my wish to have an iPhone without the proximity sensor issue, was not possible to fullfill. He said that every device, even his own, had the problem. If I couldn't accept having a phone that was unable to hold a conversation without interruptions, the iPhone was not what I should have.

The end of my first and most possible last experience with iPhone ends with me cancelling the contract.

The aim of this post is to enlighten possible buyers so that they can be aware of the proximity sensor issue.


Ps! Every one of the three iPhones had the antenna issue. Sorry for any bad english writing.
 
I'm on my second replacement iPhone 4. Proximity sensor was horrible on the first 2. Re-set up the first 2 as new, etc, no joy at all. Got the 3rd one today, set up as new and (fingers crossed) this proximity sensor seems to function properly! :):):)

All I can say is keep returning them to Apple until you get one that works. They tried to tell me I was holding the phone to my ear wrong!! Don't buy that, ask to speak to a supervisor and hold your ground with them. There is obviously something wrong with a certain percentage of proximity sensors.
 
I posted in one of the other prox sensor threads that I'm on my third iPhone 4 (second replacement). It's been a week now, and I think this might be the one. I've only put a call on speakerphone once in the last 4 days, but it's so much better than my last phone where every single call was getting interrupted by speakerphone/mute/contact list/etc.

I believe this phone is refurbished, but I don't know how to tell for certain. When the guy brought it from the back of the Apple Retail store, it was in a smaller black box, not the regular white one, and the factory code is 5K (I know, not conclusive). Whatever it is, it's nice to have a phone that works like it should.
 
As do I! Tired of replacements. Rock|Hard Place Yep....still pissed!

Hoping that 4.2 might finally fix as 4.1 sure as hell didn't. Not holding my breath!
 
As do I! Tired of replacements. Rock|Hard Place Yep....still pissed!

Hoping that 4.2 might finally fix as 4.1 sure as hell didn't. Not holding my breath!

It won't. The proximity sensor issue is clearly a hardware problem if only some iPhones have it and others don't. Software updates won't fix a hardware issue.

Is it possible to backup your progress on games so that you don't need to start from scratch every time you get a new phone?
 
Shipped mine back to Apple, only to get the same phone back, with a note saying they couldnt reproduce my issues an that they had firmware updated it. Needless to say, ive still got issues. Im gonna ship it back once more, but If the problem persists, Im going 3GS again. With the problems Im having, thats a much better phone
 
I too have a proximity sensor issue. It doesn't happen all the time, but i'm kinda reluctant to take it in and get another iphone with other problems, as this is my only issue with the phone.
 
I too have a proximity sensor issue. It doesn't happen all the time, but i'm kinda reluctant to take it in and get another iphone with other problems, as this is my only issue with the phone.

This is how i feel with mine. I didn't have the problem until the most recent update. Up until that point my phone was perfect. I have contemplated restoring my phone but i don't know what the consequences of that would be. I've never had to restore my phone before.
 
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