Users Continue to Experience Problems With iPhone 4 Proximity Sensors

[Anuba]

Go to Mercedes Benz forum and it is dominated by people having problems with their Benz.

There are problems and then there are problems.
Problems are something that people come together and whine about on forums, but the discussion doesn't spread beyond those boundaries.

Problems are picked up by media worldwide and become watercooler and breakfast table topics.

I'm sure there are problems with this or that Mercedes model, but it's been ages since I read about any problems with them. I think the last time was in the 90's when it was discovered that their A-series cars would flip over if you made a sharp turn. I have however read plenty about the major problems that Toyota is having.

The proximity sensor issue, for now, is merely a problem.
The antenna issue is a problem and has attracted attention accordingly. On the day the news about the antenna broke, I found it impossible to visit any mainstream news sites without reading about it. I regularly check CNN, BBC News, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter (the latter two are Swedish newspapers). All of them had headlines about the iPhone 4 antenna issue on their front page that day. So please stop fooling yourself into thinking it's just some pesky little discussion confined to obscure tech geek forums. This one has gone Toyota on Apple.

 

[Darkroom]

relax, enjoy your family, it's just a phone.

 

[timbloom]

This one has gone Toyota on Apple.

QFT

 

[macccapt1]

case

I have a customer whose iPhone 3GS's proximity sensor worked in reverse: he'd put the phone up to his head and the phone would light up, meaning his ear would touch the screen and end the call, or mute it, etc. When he pulled the phone back down away from his ear it would go dark! Totally the opposite of how it is supposed to work.

We took the phone out of its case (a leather one) and it worked fine! Put my iPhone 3GS into his case and had the same problem. Put his back into his case and the problem came back. Put his into my case and his problem went away.

We got out the scissors and modified his case up at the top, where the proximity sensor is, and it worked fine.

I know we're talking about the iPhone 4 and not the 3GS but it seems to me that a case that blocks the proximity sensor could be the problem for any iPhone.

Advice: if you're using a case, and you're having problems with the proximity sensor, take the case off and see if it's still a problem.

I had the same problem with my 3GS using the original iPhone case. Case off, problem solved. Can you explain where you modified the case? Thanks.

 

[old-school]

Go to Mercedes Benz forum and it is dominated by people having problems with their Benz.

Mmm. Perhaps, but the equivalent of an iPhone cutting out during a business call is the equivalent of a car cutting out in the middle of the motorway. Albeit a bit dramatic but in terms of functionality I doubt there are many people on the Mercedes forum complaining because the car is having problems at being a car.

That said, hopefully the next update will iron out most of these issues. Certainly with the proximity sensor.

 

[Trinity]

at the moment we only have a 0.2% of returns, so there's no problem

 

[retrospek]

I have the same issue with the proximity sensor.

What point is a phone which can't be held to the face ! Can't believe the quality control coming out of Apple currently !

 

[Sabenth]

all these issues kind of explains why there avertising the ipad every were in the uk at least

 

[CalebF]

never had a problem with the sensor I know 3 people who own a iPhone4 and none of them had the issue.

Oh, well, in THAT case. Apple should immediately close all investigation, apologize to you with a nice muffin basket.

Glad we got you on the case!

 

[Beast10101]

at the moment we only have a 0.2% of returns, so there's no problem

lmao. That many people are smart enough to return a phone thats eff'd

 

[aerodave]

I am reasonably confident that EVERY iPhone 4 has the possibility to exhibit this proximity sensor "bug". I believe it has to do with the shape of individual ears and other factors, such as whether you have longer hair that hangs over your ear, etc.

I agree 100%. That's the only thing that explains how every person who has exchanged their phone for this reason has encountered the same problem with their replacement. No one ever says they got a replacement and everything is better. Because of that, I think it's reasonable to conclude that all the new phones are identical (within normal QC bounds), but the each individual user is different. Different holding behavior, ear shapes, etc. might explain why some people experience it when others don't. But the fact that replacement phones always act the same means there's no statistical way that this is a problem with only some small percentage of the handsets.

Also, given that the sensor mostly works, but just "acts" kinda stupid, makes a software fix seem likely. Hopefully it's nothing a little clever programming can't solve.

For what it's worth, I have this problem. My original iPhone 4 did it, and so does the replacement I got from the Apple Store. I'm not willing to try another replacement, because there's no evidence it will do anything. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that a software fix is issued before my return window is up in 14 days.

 

[Mark Booth]

You will note that my earlier response mentioned I have experienced this on my iPhone 4 and that I believe ALL iPhone 4s have the potential to exhibit the proximity sensor bug. You will also note that I am not emotional or angry about the bug. Sure, it seems like something that Apple should have caught in testing, and I'm disappointed that they didn't. But I'm also confident it will get corrected.

Some of you people need to get a grip! Some of you go out of your way to create drama in your lives. To make mountains out of molehills. You are all in control of your own lives. You are in control of how you react to your environment and the obstacles and problems that life throws at you. And if any of you think this proximity sensor bug is a serious, life-altering problem, well, you must be very young or have lived a charmed life.

Life will throw you enough curve balls. Ya'll need to save up your energy and strength for those real, life-altering problems that are someday coming your way. Just ask Steve Jobs and his brush with death due to pancreatic cancer. Or ask my wife, who had to deal with the surgical removal of a brain tumor that left her legally blind and with very poor balance. She can never drive a car again, can't enjoy a 3D movie, can't walk in unfamiliar areas without a cane, is unable to walk on grass or sand or other uneven surfaces without fear that she may fall down. Hell, she can't use an iPhone at all because her vision is too poor to read it!

Jesus people, get some perspective! It's a stupid software bug. Apple will figure it out.

Mark

 

[thetaylor13]

Oh, well, in THAT case. Apple should immediately close all investigation, apologize to you with a nice muffin basket.

Really? I don't think he was saying that Apple should cease all "investigations" I believe he was more stating that this isn't obviously an issue that is affecting every iPhone 4 in existence as some people would like to blow the problem up to be.

I think people should relax for a little bit, at least for a first update to come out. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like when nearly 2 million brand new devices flood the market that have never been used before there's a chance there may be some bugs. Give it at least one update to see what happens. But thats just my opinion... if after the first update it still isn't working for you then stop holding the damn thing wrong.

 

[timbloom]

Really? I don't think he was saying that Apple should cease all "investigations" I believe he was more stating that this isn't obviously an issue that is affecting every iPhone 4 in existence as some people would like to blow the problem up to be.

I think people should relax for a little bit, at least for a first update to come out. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like when nearly 2 million brand new devices flood the market that have never been used before there's a chance there may be some bugs. Give it at least one update to see what happens. But thats just my opinion... if after the first update it still isn't working for you then stop holding the damn thing wrong.

The unfortunate part here is that the fix is timed for after many users can return their phone without penalty through att

 

[kickpush]

I have this issue and it's highly annoying to be on a call and all of a sudden you're either talking to someone else or the speakerphone comes on....

I have another friend with an iPhone 4, we have this issue but none of the other issue's people are having.

 

[Avatar74]

This is the new blogging paradigm. Gizmodo and all other blogger morons are on a warpath because Apple has gone from being the underdog to being the establishment. The last straw was Gizmodo being scorned for taking their tabloid blogging (read: NOT JOURNALISM) too far... limiting opportunities for the rumor mill.

Combine that with Independence Day, slow news week, and Apple surpassing MS market cap (going from underdog to zeitgeist)... and what do you get? Macrumors and all other blogger yahoos out there will now start falling over each other to be the first to report every single perceived flaw, regardless of newsworthiness.

Folks, as a film critic, I can tell you that Harry Knowles and his penchant for jumping on every rumor that got slipped his way... absolutely reduced his credibility to ash. He got caught on more than one occasion reporting false rumors that were deliberately planted by anonymous tipsters just to set him up and expose him as a big fraud. He also further damaged his credibility by lavishing a screenplay with praise, which it happens was written by one of his contributors. He also took a hit for ignoring embargo rules we critics agree upon in order to get access to things the studios are under no obligation to grant us... and he is banned from 20th Century Fox screenings. He went very quickly from being a big powerbroker to a fat twerp whose back was crushed by 1200 pounds of his comic/movie memorabilia (pronounced: "hubris")... and in the interim, others have quickly taken his place.

It's fun to bitch about things, and I know that's the Cause célèbre of the internet generation... but when one resorts to turning every little thing into a very transparent attempt at increasing pageviews at the cost of one's integrity, it doesn't do any better than the Entertainment Weeklys, People Magazines, and other trash rags in terms of the overall dumbing down of society.

That's not a repudiation of legitimate discussion of interesting, substantive speculation... but I do see a trend toward grasping at straws because the stakes have gotten higher. The web is more competitive and ad revenue has been in decline since 2007. Advertisers are getting wise to the meaningless of a LOT of "analytics" data that aren't translating into results. So, the trend has moved toward publishing umpteen "stories" a minute on everything under the sun... just to cast a larger net for pageviews.

So, this generation of people who were going to revolutionize the world... decentralize the information economy... have become servants to the dollar and contributors to the decimation of culture, just like the suits they pretend to abhor.

Hippies didn't vanish from the Earth... they sold out and became silicon valley CEO's.

P.S. I'm not saying there's no issue here... but there is a reason that reputable, major news outlets with real journalists tend to wait and check sources and statistics. The game of being first is a double-edged sword. If you built your business on an image of credibility, it can damage your credibility... and thus cost you your readers. On the other hand, if you have no credibility to begin with... then it's no problem. Teenie boppers and net retards will continue to get you pageviews... If that's all you aspire to, it's not that hard to regurgitate flaky **** you heard on the grapevine.

Journalism takes work, though. Yes, I know... it's tough. But it's rewarding. Maybe not monetarily... but intellectually. It really feels good to actually create something. But in this day and age of the Entitlement Generation's endless rationalization of plagiarism and piracy, I can see how most bloggers might have no frame of reference for that.

 

[Hikkadwa]

implosion

Apple is about to impload if it doesn't get its act together. Bill Gates must be loving this. For the first time ever my faith in Apple products is tested.

 

[tbusby]

LOL, was playing with the iPhone 4 yesterday at the 14th street Apple store and the thing is a POS. No offense, but I was trying to do facetime and the phone literally crashed in my friends hands immediately.

My personal opinion is that the iPhone 4 is one awesome piece of electronics. As with most new design devices there are some startup issues but nothing like most everyone is making it out to be. Not a fanboy just a fan of cool gadgets. Best phone by far I have seen or used so far. I've played a bit with the last version android phones and I'm sure the new Android phones are great as well but the integration of the iPhone works great for me. I have had one dropped call and no other problems what so ever. The camera is very good and I have enjoyed creating videos of decent quality. Apple's version of multi-tasking or what ever you choose to call it really makes it easy to hop from app to app. Love the new screen. As you can tell I'm very pleased with the new phone and it is most certainly far from a POS to me. Guess I got the only good one out there. Lucky me.

 

[Serelus]

Apple will start selling face bumpers to help mask the problem.

Ok, honestly this is funny.

 

[Mark Booth]

Apple is about to impload if it doesn't get its act together. Bill Gates must be loving this. For the first time ever my faith in Apple products is tested.

See: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/10449815/

Mark

 

[lewchenko]

So—who are you trying to convince that the iPhone 4 is a bad buy?
We really don't care to be subject to your personal affirmations.

I dont need to convince anybody. Apple are quite capable doing that all by themselves it would seem with faulty products, appalling PR, and a QA department staffed by baboons.

I find the whole situation somewhat comical if truth be told. You see I had looked forward to the iPhone 4 launch for a long time. I was even willing to terminate my current phone contract and then buy one, which would have cost me a fortune.

As luck would have it I balked at the price (excessive) and decided to wait and see. Best decision I ever made in hindsight. Im sure there are others too who have read about the problems and thought 'Android phone for sure now'. (In fact I know there are)

Whilst I generally love Apple products (my iMac and to an extent my iPad), their attitude to customers has gone bad recently, and they have started to take our custom for granted.

Its worth reminding yourself that Apple is certainly not godlike, nor are they above criticism.

 

[picktaylor]

Reset Worked!

Just did the "Reset all Settings" and it's worked fine so far. It was starting to be a real pain, glad the fix was easy.

 

[douglasf13]

Apple changed the physical location of the proximity sensor on the iPhone 4. With the 3G and 3GS, the proximity sensor was located immediately to the left of the speaker slot. On the iPhone 4, the front-facing camera now sits in the spot that used to be occupied by the proximity sensor. So, on the iPhone 4, the proximity sensor is ABOVE the speaker slot.

My iPhone 4 has experienced the proximity sensor bug, resulting in 2 calls that my cheek ended prematurely and one call where I sent keypad tones. If I stand in front of a mirror while connected on a call, I can carefully move the iPhone 4 around on my ear (moving it a few millimeters this way or that), and pretty easily invoke the proximity sensor bug. My iPhone 4's display will come on, even though the iPhone 4 is still up against my ear.

I am reasonably confident that EVERY iPhone 4 has the possibility to exhibit this proximity sensor "bug". I believe it has to do with the shape of individual ears and other factors, such as whether you have longer hair that hangs over your ear, etc. It is my guess that the new location of the proximity sensor ABOVE the speaker slot causes to sensor to be pointed into the hollow of the ear, where, at times, the bottom of the hollow of the ear is just far enough away that the proximity sensor reactivates the display (thinking the iPhone has been pulled away from the ear).

I do not believe the proximity sensor is faulty. Nor do I believe the location chosen by Apple is a bad one. I simply think Apple's software engineers need to tweak their software parameters for when (and how long) the proximity sensor does its job. This is nothing more than a software bug that will easily be squashed in the first software/firmware update.

Mark

I agree. If I move/tile the phone in a certain way, it seems the sensor "looks" down my ear canal, and the depth is just enough to turn on the display. Apple needs to set the sensitivity to something like 2", rather than the 3/4" or so that it's at now.

The antenna issue is more of an issue to me. It's ok for voice calls, but I see a clear data hit when using safari or speedtest when I touch the black antenna bar. I've reluctantly ordered a case, which is like putting plastic on my couch

 

[Swift]

LOL, was playing with the iPhone 4 yesterday at the 14th street Apple store and the thing is a POS. No offense, but I was trying to do facetime and the phone literally crashed in my friends hands immediately.

How could you have "done facetime" with an Apple Store phone? It would have failed. It can't make a call, and you don't have any facetime:// urls stored in the store phones.

 

[Master Chief]

There's too much noise here, presumably from youngsters, who as I see will have to cut their power lines – when they grow old enough to make some money – after the first power failure, and setup a windmill and/or solar panels.

For God sake people. This is just another software glitch. Like so many before this one that will be fixed by Apple. We've been here before a few times already, and while it might be frustrating... it's just a phone and not your dick that is falling off. Get over it!!!