A curious observation

[MacDryCleaner]

Today has been my busiest day with the iphone. Lots of calls and emails, etc. Today I needed to conference call with somebody so I attempted to use the add call feature. When I moved iphone away from my face the buttons were unuseable for a solid 20 seconds. Totally unresponsive. I didn't think anything about it until a while later I was on the phone and had another phone call come in. I couldn't answer that call either for about 20 seconds. I THINK that maybe the screen is too warm from being against my face or something that makes the iphone unuseable.

I've done some 'controlled' experiments' and found this to be true in every call I have made.

Anybody else??

 

[jshbckr]

My buttons have almost always been immediately responsive after pulling it away from my face.

 

[badtzmaru]

thats a feature of the iphone. when you put the phone to your head, the keypad is deactivated so you wont accidentally hit any buttons with your head or chin (I do that a lot with other phones)

The keypad should reappear when you move the phone away from your head. but if it doesnt, try to tilt it a bit or lay it flat.

 

[mrtune]

I've conferenced call twice last tuesday. Both times, the screen would turn on with in 2 seconds of me pulling it away from my face. Hit the add call button and off we went. No problems.

 

[Rooskibar03]

Is your face extra greasy? I know that sounds gross, but maybe your leaving enough "face gunk" on the screen that the phone still thinks your face is against it.

Or maybe you just have a jacked up phone.

 

[jpelario]

sensor still covered

maybe when you moved it from your face you had the top covered by your hand and thats where the sensor is, i did it once

 

[DoFoT9]

it would have to turn off wen ur making a call...otherwise hu knows what buttons youd be pressing during the call. you might make a conference call with your mother while talking to your girlfriend, that wouldnt be ppreuuuty. baha. thats a good feature, how long does it take for it(the touch screen) to turn back on??

 

[JonboyDC]

The proximity sensor is located in the area of the earpiece (not the speaker, but where you listen when on a regular call). I just tested it while on a call, and just putting my finger very close to the earpiece was enough to trigger the sensor and deactivate the screen.

Is it possible that when you pulled the phone away from your face you were somehow blocking the sensor (perhaps holding the phone by the top)? If you're confident that you weren't touching that part of the phone, and if the sensor continues to have a 20-second delay before reactivating the screen, I would think it's a problem with the sensor that should be covered by warranty. Make an appointment at the genius bar -- but be sure to sync your phone first, as I'm guessing you'll be walking away from the store with a new one.

 

[jshbckr]

I think a lot of people are mistaking what the original poster said... I don't think they meant that the buttons didn't reappear, but rather than they were unresponsive. Meaning that they could see all the buttons and options, but the screen was not registering the presses.