(Image courtesy of bindapple.com)
Well at least the general consensus seems to be that when it comes to the hardware on the iPhone 4, Apple at least got the Retina Display right. On the flip side though, along with the antenna band troubles, apparently some users are experiencing buggy proximity sensors, according to MacNN. The details come from Apple's support forums.
To bring you up to speed, the sensor kind of holds some clout on the iPhone in terms of importance, as it shuts off the touch screen when the phone is brought up next to the person's ear. If the screen remains on, you run the risk of hitting onscreen buttons, muting a call, or perhaps with the new multitasking capabilities, turning on Pandora in the process.
According to what's being reported, the touchscreen could wind up popping back on, even with slight movement or even quickly turn on and off. Some are having success with resetting the iPhone's settings, but also some have not, and had to return back to the 'ol Apple or AT&T store for a swap out. The thought is that it's software-related.
Is anyone out there in MaclLife Land having similar issues? Have you been able to resolve it if so? Feel free to leave comments below, and perhaps help out some fellow readers in the process!
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bigbadnin
June 29, 2010 at 10:50pm
I've had the same problems. It was my only real complaint with my new phone. It was constantly activating and was almost impossible to make an error free call. I went by the Apple Store today and they swapped it out without batting an eye. They claimed I was the 1st customer to report such a problem but I find that hard to believe. Needless the say the new one seems to be much better.
cwanja
June 29, 2010 at 3:05pm
I had it several times last night. It was as if it was flipped - I would pull away and it will go back or I place on my face and it comes back on. Definitely a pain in my ass.
rkpruz
June 29, 2010 at 10:14am
Im already on iphone4 #2 and the proximity sensor is just as sensitive, and i think it maybe because the size of the phone is now smaller, i have also had better luck with holding the phone and slight angle away from my mouth forcing the phone to be up against my ear better. Maybe it is an issue of just getting used to the new shape of the phone.
brianminor
June 29, 2010 at 9:15am
I've been having the same issues. I have muted and hung up on multiple calls it is very frustrating, and I really dont want to have to do a restore unless I know for sure it will fix it.
johnnysfun
June 29, 2010 at 8:29am
Because the screen goes live again, I have ended up muting my phone during quite a few conversations. After the inevitable "hello, are you there" I look and sure enough the mute button has been activated.
dgsholar
July 01, 2010 at 6:17am
I've had this same problem since the 24th...Called Apple last night - they had me do a restore. When doing this the update from Apple seemed to fix it. Before when I'd hold the phone between my shoulder and ear it would often dial DTMF digits or start some app or go in to speaker phone mode. After the update - the Proximity sensor seems to work much better - a lot like my 3GS did. Restore worked for me and fixed the sensor issue.
Update - 7.1.10 - Dang - thought it was fixed...still happening. Called Apple back did another restore - no fix. Sigh... However it only seems to happen when I hold phone pressed between my shoulder and ear - not when I hold it up to my ear by hand. Guess it's time for a headset, unless Apple ramps up the sensor sensitivity.
80skids
June 29, 2010 at 4:06am
Yeah I was talking on my iPhone 4 today and the mute came on from nowhere I have already did a restore out of box since day 1 to rule out any bugs the apple store told me to run a restore on anything iPhone,iPod touch and iPad new out of box to rule out future issues like the iPad charging issue. I had new out of box first time I charged the iPad I had it plugged in for about 4 hours and and the charge would not go past 89% so I took it to the apple store to fix the issue and they did a restore no issue since but I am having issues where if the iPad is in standby mode and you hold the power button to turn it off and it's shut down and off 4 or five hours later its on automatically it's like it turns it's self on from nowhere? But if I take it out of standby mode and then hit the power button to shut it down it will stay off very strange?
Loup407
June 28, 2010 at 9:08pm
I've had this problem all day today...thought it was me. I've hung up on a couple of people, and had the speakerphone turn on....
kind of a drag. I never had this problem with my 3G or 3GS.
ninoid
June 28, 2010 at 8:48pm
I have had this happen twice since getting my iPhone 4. It has never happened with my 3G or 3Gs. I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day and FaceTime activated-- I had no business using Facetime- since I was driving.
The second time happened tonight. I was talking to a friend and after a while they kept saying "hello".. I thought I lost reception with them (as I do all the time in my house). I pulled the phone away from my face to replace the call but found out the "Mute" button was pressed. In both instances I never took the phone away from my face-- and the screen never turned on during the "accidental button presses".
chanan154
June 28, 2010 at 8:35pm
I just got this issue today. I heard sound like tap on the button while i was on the phone with my friend.
