I have been silently following this thread since I discovered the issue myself around the time we were at page 50 or so. I have been actively posting about it at macrumors, but not here as of yet. While 101 pages (thus far) should be enough, I feel compelled to contribute my experiences. If only for the sake of adding one more dissatisfied Apple customer.
Received phone on launch day via Apple/fedex. Have always been very happy with ATT service where I live. Tried very hard to replicate the signal issue and could not do it. Obviously strong signal in my area, which would also explain my good XP w/ ATT. From Day 1, I had more dropped calls than usual. Kept thinking, well.. i must be touching the G-spot just right and killing these calls. Took me a few days and some mutes/holds to realize my face was ending calls, NOT my finger inadvertently touching the Steve Jobs no fly zone (and while my signal won't visibly drop, in practice it's not so nice. I can reliably garble a conversation if I touch the right spot - different issue, different thread).
This proximity sensor problem has been a complete nightmare. Any call more than a couple minutes is doomed. I am muting, holding, and contacts the most - guess that just speaks to my phone-holding habits. Rarely speakerphone, rarely facetime. If I'm not pressing buttons, I am constantly looking to see if I have, constantly checking the GD thing if there's even a moment of silence in a conversation. IT MAKES A LONG CONVERSATION IMPOSSIBLE AND FRANKLY EMBARRASSING.
I have yet to exchange my phone because I think that's a total waste of time. And I am shocked that Apple is doing so for this complaint. I am shocked at the continued lack of communication about the issue. Apple is wasting their time and money exchanging phones that all have the same problem. Not to mention making their entire employee base look totally stupid.
This problem's prevalence is going to accelerate. There are lots of people out there who don't realize this is happening to them. They may not typically make calls of more than a minute or two, thus not adjusting the phone's position and triggering a face-incident. There are folks who are ending calls with their faces or putting people on hold (and subsequently getting hung up on), thinking it was just another dropped call - probably on the other end! They will eventually discover what's happening, even if they've never heard of a proximity sensor.
Fact is, I had both the 3G and GS since launch day and NOT ONCE EVER did I have an issue with this. I suspect my phone-holding holding habits are precisely the same after 2 years of using an iPhone.
Apple, the issue doesn't seem like a big deal. It really seems correctable via software (can't say the same about the antenna - you **cked that one up). But your continued silence on the issue is infuriating. Why are you not communicating about this? You sure are making life hard for your clueless support staff. I would really hate to return this phone, but it's virtually unusable as-is.
