I could care less about the signal problem. The proximity sensor thing is insanely annoying. I am much much more likely to end the call or put it on mute than I am to drop the call due to reception issues. I've exchanged the phone once already and the replacement phone has the same issue. At first, I thought it was my face (shape? texture?), or the way I was holding it (am I suppose to push it with force against my ear to make sure zero space is between the phone and me?). No luck. Right now, all my calls have issues with it unless I put it on speaker phone. But then, I shift the problem from my end to the receiver's end (other side: "what? I can't hear you, can you repeat that, wayne?"). I'd rather them fix how the proximity works, than fool around with how the antenna displays.
So, RDF was hard coded into the bar display (50% = 5 bars?), and the sudden drop shows up if you're at the floor of that green bar, then you use your hand to cover the phone and force it to drop slightly, it will go into freefall mode since you're now crossing the threshold. Fix is to remove the RDF.
I second that. I love my iPhone 4, but the proximity sensor problem causes me to accidentally mute calls, call random people in my contacts list, etc., etc. It is beyond frustrating and I'm surprised there hasn't been a greater mention of this.
yea, while the antenna is arguably theoretical/subjective (apple: faulty formula / world: rdf?), the proximity sensor is very real and affects calls now. i too am also surprised people are focusing on antenna and not proximity.
Thank you - the proximity sensor issue is a much bigger deal for me as well!
I took my iPhone into a genius appointment yesterday. They took it into the back area and upon returning informed me that they installed a "patch," I couldn't restore from my previous back-up, and that it was a known problem.
Apparently this is a software issue that only affects those upgrading their iPhones (the iPhone 4 doesn't like something in the back-up), not brand-new users.
wait, what? genius bar can fix it with a patch? did they install the patch for you and did that fix the issue for you? do you now have an iphone that has proximity sensor fixed? when they returned the phone, were all your apps/settings intact or was it fresh? what does your about screen say for version numbers?
That's what I was told, but to be honest, I doubt anything was installed.
All my apps/ settings were intact and my version number is the same as the regular shipped build.
I was told to restore my iPhone fresh (which would delete the installed patch, no?) and not to restore from back-up, which is possibly the fix itself. I'm going to do it now and will report back on the results... did you upgrade from a previous iPhone and restored from a previous back-up?
yes i did, as soon as i got back with the replacement i restored from previous (original) iphone 4 backup made earlier that day. however the first iphone 4 i got, i didn't do a restore. proximity sensor issue was there too (which prompted the need for an exchange).
Initially, problem appears to be fixed. I can hold the phone around an inch away from my face, at varying angles, while the screen remains disabled. Before, any cradling of my phone / shoulder would make the screen active, but now it remains disabled.
Just tested against a co-workers by placing on a flat table and moving fingers to cover up the sensor... mine seems to work consistently within about an inch of cover-up, his is hit-or-miss even while physically covering / pressing on the sensor.
nice. what steps did you take? did you do a reset and delete all settings on the device? when you say "restore from original instead of from backup", what do you mean by "original"? do you do both steps (reset on device, then some restore from itunes?)
isn't it a relief to know it's not your face and not the way you're holding it? once i found out others were experiencing it, it was a great relief. you can now stop doing hand gymnastics with the phone and wait for some fix too.
Still have to do hand (and shoulder/ear/etc) gymnastics while waiting for the fix. Though, yes, it's a relief to know it's not my face nor just my particular phone that's broken.
There are far more people and bloggers bitching about the Antenna issue, so it's become Apple's biggest priority. Just give it time, these issues have a way of getting solved.
i hear you. the part that irks me is that in the year since the time of 3GS release, this passed QA for call making. while we give them more time now, we suffer the affected calls. <sarcasm> maybe Gary Powell was the guy in charge of making sure calls worked properly </sarcasm>
Ever since the first iPhone was launched I've made sure to complain very little about it. Do you remember how bad smart phones were before Apple entered the game? I do, I went through about 5 before getting an iPhone. I'm astonished these devices do everything they do, to be completely honest. Little issues like these don't get me down.
>Ever since the first iPhone was launched I've made sure to complain very little about it.
Complaining gets issues fixed, period. Living with issues and accepting them may be better for your health and outlook on life, but it doesn't bring about progress. If Apple had just accepted the things wrong with smartphones there would be no iPhone in the first place. I agree that complaining and entitlement sometimes go too far (though not in the case of dropped calls; a phone should be able to be used as a phone), I'd say that complaining overall remains very much a good thing. Satisfaction leads to stagnation.
Edit: And although I don't agree with your post, I didn't find it downvote worthy. I hate to bring karma into discussions, but it seems like it keeps things more civil when one side doesn't downvote the other, so I don't.
For now just lock the phone with the top button during every call. The antenna seems to be a much bigger issue and possibly even a hardware problem whereas the proximity sensor issue sounds like a calibration problem.
You can only lock the phone with the top button if you're using headphones or on speakerphone (or a Bluetooth headset, I assume). Otherwise, lock hangs up the call.
EDIT: It seems Apple introduced the bar bug in OS update 2.1 that "improves the accuracy of the 3G signal". Graphical representation of that is here (Source: Gruber): http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefull...
So, RDF was hard coded into the bar display (50% = 5 bars?), and the sudden drop shows up if you're at the floor of that green bar, then you use your hand to cover the phone and force it to drop slightly, it will go into freefall mode since you're now crossing the threshold. Fix is to remove the RDF.