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SO, Is This Horrible Proximity Sensor A Hardware or an iOS Software Issue?

falconman515

falconman515

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 8, 2010
578
36
With all this antenna talk for some reason the one HUGE problem that seems to get looked over is the ridiculous Proximity Sensor in this phone. But the feedback seems hit and miss though. It hasn't been talked about in the press much and am worried it will get looked over when in all reality for me and MANY others its the #1 main problem with their new phones.

But the question is... Is this a hardware malfunction or a software glitch that can be fixed by an OS update?

I have an appt. for Wednesday to exchange my phone but I hate to trade it in and potentially get a worse phone cause the one have now is Perfect except for t his one issue that is a deal breaker no doubt that's why its being replaced this week.

But in all reality what are we looking at here... Its is it the iPhone4 itself... or is is it the iOS4 running on the new phone that's causing this issue.

Feedback would be great so we all can get some solid info on this and figure out what our next plan of attack is with our malfunctioning handsets.

Thanks so much for all the help guys! :)
 
Hard to say whether hardware or software but mine doesn't suffer from the issue. Bad batches? I feel if it was software then I should be experiencing the problem.
 
I have no idea either but I ended up returning the iPhone 4 because of the proximity sensor issue driving me crazy -- I'm going to stick with the 3GS for now. I have no knowledge of iPhones besides just my personal experience with them, but I think it's a hardware issue because I don't have the same problem with my 3GS that has iOS 4 on it.
 
erure said:
I have no idea either but I ended up returning the iPhone 4 because of the proximity sensor issue driving me crazy -- I'm going to stick with the 3GS for now. I have no knowledge of iPhones besides just my personal experience with them, but I think it's a hardware issue because I don't have the same problem with my 3GS that has iOS 4 on it.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting, if it was iOS4 then the older models should have the issue to! unless its the build installed on the new ip4's from factory that may be a bit different than what you install on the older models through itunes.

I will keep my replacement appt. and swap it out this week and see what happens I guess.

Anyone else had this issue and swapped theirs out with any luck? Was your replacement doing the same thing or was it fixed with the new one?
 
what exactly is the problem?

i think 99.9% of the time the sensor fails is when i put the phone between my shoulder and ear, not when i hold the phone with my hand.


is that what everyone else is suffering from or is it also when you hold the phone with your hand to your ear too?
 
My iPhone 4 doesn't have the problem. But my wife's does. We just took it in to our closest Apple store and the "genius" said we needed to restore her iPhone 4 as a new phone instead of restoring from her old back-up as we did.. Going to try that tonight and see if it actually fixes anything.
 
MisterDisney said:
My iPhone 4 doesn't have the problem. But my wife's does. We just took it in to our closest Apple store and the "genius" said we needed to restore her iPhone 4 as a new phone instead of restoring from her old back-up as we did.. Going to try that tonight and see if it actually fixes anything.
Click to expand...

That is there answer to every issue. I think it's a load of crap
 
I believe it could be fixed with software, because people arent reporting it not working at all, but that its waking the screen to easily. So maybe an update could make it less sensitive?
 
MisterDisney said:
My iPhone 4 doesn't have the problem. But my wife's does. We just took it in to our closest Apple store and the "genius" said we needed to restore her iPhone 4 as a new phone instead of restoring from her old back-up as we did.. Going to try that tonight and see if it actually fixes anything.
Click to expand...

I am gonna need to have you tell me if that actually works please
 
thenumbersrbad said:
what exactly is the problem?

i think 99.9% of the time the sensor fails is when i put the phone between my shoulder and ear, not when i hold the phone with my hand.


is that what everyone else is suffering from or is it also when you hold the phone with your hand to your ear too?
Click to expand...

Mine is both between shoulder and ear and also when held directly to my ear!

I know The Genius Bar guys have to play stupid but they know about this issue, I made a call right in front of him and had that thing right smack dab flush on my ear and moved it a few centimeters (with still be flush to my ear just moving it around as you normally would on a call) and that thing poped On and Off On and Off On and Off and by the time I did this for about 15 seconds and pulled it away from my ear the Keypad was on the screen and it couldnt be unless the screen was lit and my face pressed it.

He said Ohh WoW ... Like its something frickin new and it was almost like he didn't pay much attention to me cause he's seen it many times before already.

But what the hell is it???? HARDWARE or SOFTWARE ??? I guess thats the question!
 
My sensor was not shutting off the screen properly during a call. Went to the Genius bar and they did a reboot which fixed it. Now the problem is back. Doing another reboot. I suspect this is a recurring software problem. Hoping for a patch soon.
 
Yea I have zero issues with the antenna and the proximity sensor. But I do have a huge pubic like hair on my front camera. It doesn't bother the camera when I use it. But it is gross.
 
I'm sure it's a software problem which should hopefully be fixed sooner rather than later. Another miscalculation from Apple?
 
thenumbersrbad said:
what exactly is the problem?

i think 99.9% of the time the sensor fails is when i put the phone between my shoulder and ear, not when i hold the phone with my hand.


is that what everyone else is suffering from or is it also when you hold the phone with your hand to your ear too?
Click to expand...

I never hold the phone with just my shoulder and the proximity sensor problem happened a lot even though I was holding the phone with my hand. In one call, I muted the call, I put the other person on hold, I put the other person on speakerphone, I called up my contact list, and I even hung up on the person.
 
Wish I was able to get my new replacement phone today so I can report if anything was different or not!

I sure hope the replacement is free of any other issues like this but not have the sensor issue!!!

We will see on Tues or Wed. when they come in stock!

Anyone heard stories of 3G's and 3GS's having this issue after loading iOS4?
 
erure said:
I never hold the phone with just my shoulder and the proximity sensor problem happened a lot even though I was holding the phone with my hand. In one call, I muted the call, I put the other person on hold, I put the other person on speakerphone, I called up my contact list, and I even hung up on the person.
Click to expand...

This I think happens to everyone that has this issue! I sure wish Apple would do something about this....

Instead we get a fix to come in a few weeks and no mention of this issue either!

BUT A COUPLE WEEKS !!!! People bought this piece of crap on day one and want a good phone an be happy with there purchase and Apple waits weeks to get a fix???

I have alomost ZERO respect left for apple after the last week of events!
 
falconman515 said:
This I think happens to everyone that has this issue! I sure wish Apple would do something about this....

Instead we get a fix to come in a few weeks and no mention of this issue either!

BUT A COUPLE WEEKS !!!! People bought this piece of crap on day one and want a good phone an be happy with there purchase and Apple waits weeks to get a fix???

I have alomost ZERO respect left for apple after the last week of events!
Click to expand...

I don't blame you for hating it. The issue drives me crazy because all my calls get hung up on because of this issue. It's very much ridiculous, I have to hold the phone significantly tight to my cheek essentially to avoid the issue. It's not a reliable solution.... I love the darn thing.... I just really need this issue fixed. Did you try the old run of the mill "restore" option?
 
Guys-we're early adopters. We are going to have a couple extra hiccups for being first. I saw some warnings about that from others on this forum but took the plunge on the pre order anyway. I do expect Apple will fix these things. We just have to hang in there. For me it's a few extra reboots to keep the prox sensor issue under control.
 
Tell Apple- takes 10 seconds

For those having proximity sensor problems on iPhone 4, please take 10 seconds to tell Apple. If they don't hear, they won't fix (they aren't reading the forums here- so complaining here does no good.)

Tell Apple here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html


If you sign up for a free developer account, or are already a developer, you can also tell apple here (and they probably take these complaints more seriously)
https://bugreport.apple.com/
 
falconman515 said:
Instead we get a fix to come in a few weeks and no mention of this issue either!

BUT A COUPLE WEEKS !!!! People bought this piece of crap on day one and want a good phone an be happy with there purchase and Apple waits weeks to get a fix???
Click to expand...

You need to realize what actually goes into a firmware or OS update. Even if they find and fix an issue in half an hour, there are testing and release protocols that must be followed. It's not hard for tiny changes in code to break several other things accidentally. It's way to early to be complaining they are taking too long for any of the problems the phone might have. While it's certainly inconvenient, it's not unreasonable yet.
 
My wife is having the same issue. She hangs up on people at least 3 times a day. I'm not a big caller, and I really haven't noticed the issue. It's starting to drive her crazy.

Let us know if a new phone solves the issue.

Her phone was originally setup using the restore as new funcion.
 
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