Issue with Proximity Sensor during calls

When is the fix coming for this COMMON Apple fix this proximity problem we put food on your family's table and this is what you give us in return ?

Message was edited by: iphone4_925

Well looks like Im goving up...I only have a cou;le of days before with 15 days at the Apple store runs out for a full refund....**** I love this phone ( well I guess I should say phone since I dont use it as a phone with the sensor on crack )too!!!!

@Jesse Diaz; iPhone Return Policy

If you are not satisfied with your iPhone purchase, please visit online Order Status or call 1-800-676-2775 to request a return. The iPhone must be returned to our warehouse within 30 calendar days from shipment to avoid an $175 early termination fee. The iPhone must be returned in the original packaging, including any accessories, manuals, and documentation.

I have noticed several times the iPhone beeping while held to my face. This is from buttons being pressed. I tried to solve this by hold it it closer, but that made it worse as more buttons were pressed.

Same happening here. I've lost more calls in the last two weeks than in 6 months AT&T. I may go back to my 3GS

Update:
3GS proximity issues solved.

I got the idea of testing if the problem also occurred while calling with Skype. And guess what, it didn't. During a Skype call the screen goes black and the screen is unresponsive. Since the Skype call my iPhone 3GS proximity sensor (or rather the software interpretation of it) is working properly again. Very weird bug and i.m.o. not hardware related.

So, Skype to the rescue everyone!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/08/samsung-captivate-coming-to-atandt-on-july-18 -for-200/

Skype doesn't work with IOS 4.0.

This has to be the biggest flop of a release! Apple has yet to address many of the issues with this phone, Proximity sensor is horrible, and no Mr. Jobs the other phones did not do this. the reception is horrible despite what he says you are holding it wrong, the phone can be laying down u grab it and slide slider and u have no bars. Apples response to the signal bars, We are stunned we had the formula wrong all this time. Sorry Mr. Jobs the other iphones had no problems some dropped calls but not as bad as 4g and certainly didnt have signal degradation holding the phone! also to compare the iphone 4 to other phones on signal that all phones if u hold it in certain places messes the signal up, that is bs the most of even any of the other iphones or other phones i have owned maybe drop one bar? and thats holding it tight all the way around the phone.

There have also been a few reviews by antenna experts even before the release but after the announcement of the antenna being the metal band on the outside the phone. They have all said that u cant grab a antenna without interference with signal, and explain the science behind it. So why is apple the only one that does not know this? They were all about design without actually consulting with experts in the antenna technology field.

Bottom line apple dropped the ball!
Ps. apple stop comparing yourself to other companies like microsoft or any others over problems they have because from what I have seen you have many more.

I stand corrected. Skype working with iOS 4. I made call via Skype. I'll have to see if the proximity sensor problem still exists.

I agree with Reality _150. But who if not all of us giving the apple this luxury to lie to us , to give us fake and intentionally missleading excuses ? Why millions of people who bought this iphone 4 still did not get it back to Apple ?
Because we think apple will fix all the issues. Obviousely it will never be fixed with iphone 4 . The signal will be nice on display with many bars but in reality the influence from holding is a bug in the design. In the places where the reception is good we will be fine but we all defenetely will have MUCH more places where we do not have signlal because we are holding it wrong.
The prooximity sensor will be fixed , but the way it is fixed is still never via software it can become working as 3GS. It is not the metter of sensetivity only.
Apple must recall ALL iphone 4 but they too busy with booming selling compain and we all help them with their booming fraud.

TrentP wrote:
Look at how they may have designed the proximity electronics. The following is total speculation on my part. The actual proximity sensor is most likely IR. It contains a transmitter and a receiver. The signal is transmitted, reflected and the detector measures the signal response. This circuit would create some type of voltage response based upon the amount of signal received. An electronic circuit could be designed to measure this voltage and automatically activate or deactivate the display at some level. A circuit could be designed so that the voltage response could be measured by the software and the software controls the display circuit (on/off).

Hi TrentP,

I have followed your posts with interest as you seem to be one of the few on this thread willing to use logical scientific method to work-through this problem.

There's really very little I can add to what you already have gleaned except that I would go further than the sensor is "likely IR" as I believe this certainly is the case - I repeat below a section of a post I added to this thread some time ago:

The detector appears to be an IR transceiver. It can be visualised using a digital camera or camcorder screen, as their detectors extend into the IR range. On my 3G (and on 3GSs I surmise) it is slightly above and a few millimetres to the left of the ear-slot. On the iPhone 4 it is just above the ear-slot and very slightly to the left of centre. I'd post a picture of it if I knew how to 🙂

Please keep your analyses coming, I hope that eventually Apple will address this annoying issue.

Regards,

Richard.

I am now on my 2nd IPhone 4 , BOTH with the same problem.
Took the first one along to a Genius Bar appointment at my local Apple store and the technician claimed to have never heard of a problem with the proximity sensor !!! He also told me that I was the first person that had returned a phone to them with this problem ! I then told him to Google it to confirm what I was saying but he refused to. I then asked to speak to the store manager as I said that if the technician knew nothing about any proximity sensor problems then I had no confidence in his ability to fix it. The manager repeated the company line , ie. he was not aware of any problems with the IPhone 4's proximity sensor. He also refused to accept or acknowledge any of the references I mentioned on the Internet , even when I showed him these pages from Apple's own discussion forums !

Despite this , they replaced my phone. The manager told me that Apple had sold over 1.7 million units. So my question to Apple is this - if the staff at my local store had never heard of or seen an IPhone 4 with this problem , HOW STATISTICALLY LIKELY IS IT FOR ME TO HAVE RECEIVED TWO WITH THE SAME FAULT ? !!!

We are not being told the truth.

TrentP wrote:
I have experienced different trip points (distance) at times to deactivate and reactivate the display.

It appears that Apple Engineers have decided to use a dynamic averaging method to constantly adjust the sensitivity (trip point in distance) of the proximity sensor. The distance away from the screen to trip the proximity sensor is constantly changing. It seems that they are using an averaging method to adjust the sensitivity of the proximity sensor (trip point).

Trent, you certainly have done a lot of research on the issue, but I'm not sure that they have not used an averaging method..... Our 3 phones are working fine and at the request of someone here, I tested the proximity activation.... it constantly activates at 1-3/4" whether or not it's been moved around during a call... we ran 3 tests with the same result on all... it's always activated at the same distance... [Interestingly, I had this issue on my 3GS, whereby I was often muting calls or putting calls on hold, etc. while holding the phone to my ear - I never put it together that I had an issue with the proximity sensor, assuming it was just one more instance of the world never being engineered quite right for us lefties...)

My proximity sensor issue was transitory - I left the store and used the phone for a few hours with no problem - and then my problem appeared after i did a restore that night to get my old 3GS settings into the new phone. I got my problem resolved in fairly short order, but the fact that it appeared when the old settings were put into the new phone certainly has me believing that at least in some instances it's a software glitch...

What make some think in some instances it may not be is that the two people who posted the factory and week that their phones were manufactured, both had the same information, so it might be a manufacturing issue in some cases, as well...

Thanks for the link Gregorius13, I'm considering sending my iP4 back.

I read a "rumor" yesterday that Apple was delaying the 4.01/4.1 update because of the "jailbreakers". If this is true, I'm done with Apple. Why in the **** would they worry about jailbreakers when they have millions of phones out there that don't work they way they are suppose to?