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Ok, Proximity sensor, I've had enough..

That70sGAdawg said:
I returned mine the other day- too many muted and hung up calls. I'm not buying until it's fixed, and I might try out the new Androind Samsung next week, while I wait.:D
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x2, i got my pre-order the day before release date and I shipped it back last week. I'll be waiting to see if any software/hardware fix is released and will re-buy if that happens. For now Im back to my old 3G....haven't dropped a call since or had sensor issues.
 
I had this problem, but ever since I did a "reset all settings" the issue seems to be resolved. I think it has to do with restoring a backup from previous iPhone models. Definitely a software glitch that apple seems to be ignoring.
 
I am sooo glad that more of you have came to light!! The day I got my phone I was calling about this. And the apple tech told me he only had one other call besides me.. I be if I talked to that same guy today he would give me $100!! I am going to try an trade my phone for the new white one and see if my luck changes..
 
I too have had this issue from day one.

I did not restore from a previous iPhone so the problem is not caused by that.

I have tried Reset all Settings and Reset Network settings and that has not fixed the issue.
 
Well I am frustrated as well. This is my 2nd phone. didn' have as bad as an issue with my first. Had other issues why it was swapped out. i have been trying to deal with the PS issue but just can't get through a call. Called Apple this morning and guess I will swap for #3 I know it probably wont do much but worth a try I guess.
 
insidmal said:
You're holding it wrong. No, really. The sensor is higher up. Hold it lower. This happened to me when holding it with my shoulder and I looked in the mirror and saw it was sticking out like 45 degrees from my face and shoulder and thought. No wonder. It's totally exposed. I experimented diff ways of holding it during that conversation and realized the way I had it against my face made a differance.
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Not quite sure this is it. I never hold my phone on my shoulder. I simply hold it to my ear so I can hear the other caller well, which lines the speaker up with my ear hole, just like I have done for 2 years with my iPhone 3G. Never had a problem with the 3G doing this. If the sensor relocation is causing it, that is certainly not my fault as if the sensor will not "just work" with a normal humans ear, the only people to blame are the designers. I also have no case so there is no interference.

haddman said:
I had this problem, but ever since I did a "reset all settings" the issue seems to be resolved. I think it has to do with restoring a backup from previous iPhone models. Definitely a software glitch that apple seems to be ignoring.
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I set my iPhone 4 up brand new out of the box. I had been having some weird issues and horrible battery life with my 3G, plus my Syncs were taking like 3 hours or more due to the backup hanging and I did not want anythign to screw up the new phone. So, I bit the bullet and installed everything from scratch on my new phone.

In fact, I installed 3-4 apps at a time, then disonnected for a few minutes, opened each app up and then re synced so I could make sure if something screwed up the backups that I would be able to narrow it down. The phone works great now with excellent battery life and no backup hangs, so I am pretty sure that the software load is not borked.
 
I've noticed that if i lift the phone about half inch away from my ear i can see the display go on .. i think thats the only problem. Its odd that there is no software calibration for it. If i just walk into an apple store and tell them about the problem will they swap it for a new one right there on the spot? Or do I need to prove it to them?
 
Fant said:
I've noticed that if i lift the phone about half inch away from my ear i can see the display go on .. i think thats the only problem. Its odd that there is no software calibration for it. If i just walk into an apple store and tell them about the problem will they swap it for a new one right there on the spot? Or do I need to prove it to them?
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If your hardware is otherwise good, see if it can be fixed in software (4.0.1 is coming in a week or three) so you don't risk swapping out your nice hardware for a dud.
 
Reset all settings- did not work.
Set up phone as a NEW phone. Still no fix.

If you read the Apple.com support forums, people are saying Apple staff is still saying they never heard of this problem. 1500+ posts on this issue read over 170,000 times on Apple's own website and Apple Store staff are denying this?

What is more upsetting is that Apple Store manager privately told one owner, once the owner made an uproar publicly in the store, that the staff was told to deny they have heard of this problem even though all of the staff themselves are having the same problem and are aware of the posts.

To all posting here, please see my signature and TELL APPLE or else nothing will be fixed.
 
I just received mine on Friday and have the same issue. The antenna issue doesn't bother me, although I get worse reception with this one than my 3GS, but the prox sensor is debilitating. I use it for business and it is unacceptable. I buy apple products because they "just work", but this is something they should have perfected by now.
 
the combo proximity sensor/reception makes the iphone a terrible "phone"... But why do I love it so much! haha.

and in my case it is NOT an issue with the proximity distance opposed to the older models. I compared my old 3G to my new iP4 and the iP4 actually seemed to have slightly more distance than my 3G (they were both about 1inch)! Now the distance is very minute and negligible. I'll even admit that with my simple testing there probably wasn't enough difference to consider as verifiable... but then I noticed/remembered that the iP4 is a couple mm thinner. Meaning my iP4 was already farther away than my 3G. I think that, along side my basic tests show that if anything my iP4 has a better proximity sensor (in regards to DISTANCE) than my 3G, but at WORST they are equal.

So then why the issue? just some finicky software issue I guess...
 
EnterTheSwamp said:
I just received mine on Friday and have the same issue. The antenna issue doesn't bother me, although I get worse reception with this one than my 3GS, but the prox sensor is debilitating. I use it for business and it is unacceptable. I buy apple products because they "just work", but this is something they should have perfected by now.
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My Thoughts EXACTLY !!!
 
zub3qin said:
If you read the Apple.com support forums, people are saying Apple staff is still saying they never heard of this problem. 1500+ posts on this issue read over 170,000 times on Apple's own website and Apple Store staff are denying this?
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1500+ posts?
- How many of those posts are repeating rants by the same person?
- How many are replies from those that don't have the issue?
- How many are from people just trying to create trouble that don't own the phone?

Read over 170,000? This number is irrelevant. The number of people reading a forum thread is not an indicator of the number of phones with the issue.

I don't doubt people are having the issue. If its a problem and you can readily repeat it, take the phone back to Apple for a full refund and buy an android phone.

I have had two iP4's and not had this issue on either one.
 
gehrbox said:
1500+ posts?
- How many of those posts are repeating rants by the same person?
- How many are replies from those that don't have the issue?
- How many are from people just trying to create trouble that don't own the phone?

Read over 170,000? This number is irrelevant. The number of people reading a forum thread is not an indicator of the number of phones with the issue.

I don't doubt people are having the issue. If its a problem and you can readily repeat it, take the phone back to Apple for a full refund and buy an android phone.

I have had two iP4's and not had this issue on either one.
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Post like the one above me are useless for a problem well-known for MANY iPhone 4 customers. If you have 2 great phones, awesome! But there's others out there who simply don't want to exchange the phone *WE SHOULDNT HAVE TO*.....and simply wish Apple would come out with a solution for this and the reception issue. If we had that train of thought as you, issues wouldn't be resolved. And.......I'm on my 2nd phone.....same proximity issue.
 
EnterTheSwamp said:
I just received mine on Friday and have the same issue. The antenna issue doesn't bother me, although I get worse reception with this one than my 3GS, but the prox sensor is debilitating. I use it for business and it is unacceptable. I buy apple products because they "just work", but this is something they should have perfected by now.
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This problem really is interesting. I hope that a) it's fixed quickly and b) we learn what the root cause was and what was done to fix it.

Unlike the antenna issue which is repeatable on virtually any IP4 (though not necessarily a problem on many), this prox sensor issue is extremely hit or miss.

Including my own, I've now seen four IP4s in person. None have this issue and they are all from different build dates. Weird.
 
I walked into an Apple store a couple of days ago. I picked up every iP4 on display, dialed a number and tested the proximity sensor. Every one of them had a problem to some extent. Not one worked like the 3g.

I met someone with the iP4 yesterday and he said he did not have the problem. I asked him to hold the phone between his neck and shoulder. The screen came back on.

Basically, I believe that this problem is far more widespread than some people think. I bet many are blaming the dropped calls on the antenna.

Why does Apple remain silent on this issue?
 
LLL1424 said:
Post like the one above me are useless for a problem well-known for MANY iPhone 4 customers. If you have 2 great phones, awesome! But there's others out there who simply don't want to exchange the phone *WE SHOULDNT HAVE TO*.....and simply wish Apple would come out with a solution for this and the reception issue. If we had that train of thought as you, issues wouldn't be resolved. And.......I'm on my 2nd phone.....same proximity issue.
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Sorry you have had an issue. I made it clear that I understand that SOME people are having issues. That does not mean that Apple or any other manufacturer should consider forum post quantities on a subject as a representative of the quantity of people having an issue. There is just too much noise and not enough fact.

If you live in a world where products produced in the millions within a very short period of time do not have a percentage with defects I suggest you close your eyes and reenter dreamland.

Venting in this forum gets you no closer to a happy prox sensor experience then putting it on a desk and waiting for Santa to fix it. Taking the issue up with the company directly will have more effect. I suggest you and others call Apple or better yet use their online support site to generate a case number. It will give Apple a better idea of the volume and will filter out the noise.

Apple is looking at the issue and will likely come out with a software update that will solve it soon. While I understand everybody wants it all right now and does not want to wait. You would really be unhappy if Apple released a buggy update that took out a feature of the phone you cannot do without.
 
galenmd said:
I met someone with the iP4 yesterday and he said he did not have the problem. I asked him to hold the phone between his neck and shoulder. The screen came back on.

Why does Apple remain silent on this issue?
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I have NOT been able to duplicate the prox sensor problem. I did as you suggested and held it between my neck and shoulder. I tried it tightly, loosely, high and low on my ear, moved it front to rear, rotated it up and down. I tried numerous other positions and am unable to get my prox sensor to malfunction.

I am sure it is an issue for some, but it is likely a small fraction of the phones sold are effected. Apple is not saying anything because they are ignoring the loud whining sound. They will probably roll out a fix with the update for the signal strength patch.
 
Has anyone with this problem exchanged their phone and gotten a better one? I am debating whether to exchange it, but don't want to go through the hassle if I will have the same issue.
 
You guys have no idea how many times I've been talking to someone only to hear them say "hello? you there?", and then I look and see that I've muted the phone with my face.


...Wait...Yes you do.



Annoying.
 
EnterTheSwamp said:
Has anyone with this problem exchanged their phone and gotten a better one? I am debating whether to exchange it, but don't want to go through the hassle if I will have the same issue.
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I'm on number 2 and still the same issue! I've never hated something I bought so much in my life. I have been an iPhone user for exactly 3 years now and its hard to turn away cause i have LOVED it for 3 years now.... but MY GOD what a horrible piece of junk the ip4 is.

And the Worst part of all of this really is not the problems we are having its the silence from a company that made multi millions of those of us who are having issues and they haven't said a word and haven't tried to fix a thing!!! THE MOST HORRIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES I HAVE EVER SEEN!
 
I have this issue as well. Hoping for a fix in iOS 4.1

I also have the time and date reset everytime the phone runs out of power.
 
gehrbox said:
I have had two iP4's and not had this issue on either one.
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well aren't you special????

there are a LOT of people out there that do have the problem.... both of ours have it.... i had my phone replaced because of it (and ya... they claimed to have not heard of the issue :rolleyes:)
 
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