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If I can activate a touch button with my finger than why not my ear? EDIT: I didn't know about the proximity sensors and other mechanisms until the replies bel

If I can activate a touch button with my finger than why not my ear? EDIT: I didn't know about the proximity sensors and other mechanisms until the replies below informed me. I still prefer tactile though :)

ddagradi 15y ago
The iPhone's proximity sensor disables the touch screen when it is near your head. Sounds dicey, but in practice has worked nigh flawlessly since launch. The issue here is buttons that you physically press down (like the iPhone home button) vs buttons that are an extended part of the touch screen element (the back button on most Androids).
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naz 15y ago
Because there is an IR proximity sensor which turns off the screen when your head is against the phone
msy 15y ago
Because the iphone uses accelerometers and other sensors to work out when the phone is even near your ear when on a call and disbles the screen, both saving battery and disabling input.
shaggyfrog 15y ago
The iPhone has a proximity sensor to prevent this from happening.
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raganwald 15y ago
This is an example of Apple's design brilliance. They have a feature that just works, and it's perfectly normal for users to have no idea why it just works or why other products that seem to have the same features are so frustrating to use. Of course, the downside is that people sometimes buy a product that seems to be "as good as an iPhone," and they have no idea that their user experience is worse than the iPhone's, they just assume the iPhone works just as poorly as theirs.
- WrkInProgress 15y ago
  I think this is a standard feature of most modern touchscreen smartphones and not some "design brilliance" relegated to only Apple devices. I currently have to carry two phones, one is an Android device and the other is a Windows Phone 7 device, they both implement the proximity sensor and it works the same way as the iphone. IIRC correctly HTC (back in the days of Windows Mobile 5) already employed this feature in their "slate" phones before the original iPhone was released. They then improved it by adding some rather unique features, like being able to flip the phone over (i.e. laying screen side up on a table) to silence/reject an incoming call.
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  - raganwald 15y ago
    If HTC had this feature back when iPhone was released, then they are also brilliant. Android and Windows Phone 7 did not exist at that time, so what they do or don't have today is a question for patent lawyers to sort out.
  - qq66 15y ago
    I didn't use the HTC phone that you mention, but it would be interesting to know if the feature was implemented as well as it is in the iPhone. This feature has literally never failed for me in 2 years of using my iPhone (it sometimes gets false positives when the phone is in my hand, but it's not too bothersome).
- DufusM 15y ago
  http://www.google.com/search?q=iphone+proximity+sensor+bug http://www.google.com/search?q=iphone+proximity+sensor+bug Just to counter the "brilliance" part of your statement, there was an issue with the proximity sensor in iPhone 4 that took a couple of months to fix :) I think this bug matches part of the issues people have with capacitive buttons - those buttons are prone to be active when they shouldn't causing mishits.

ddagradi 15y ago

The iPhone's proximity sensor disables the touch screen when it is near your head. Sounds dicey, but in practice has worked nigh flawlessly since launch. The issue here is buttons that you physically press down (like the iPhone home button) vs buttons that are an extended part of the touch screen element (the back button on most Androids).

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[deleted]

naz 15y ago

Because there is an IR proximity sensor which turns off the screen when your head is against the phone

msy 15y ago

Because the iphone uses accelerometers and other sensors to work out when the phone is even near your ear when on a call and disbles the screen, both saving battery and disabling input.

shaggyfrog 15y ago

The iPhone has a proximity sensor to prevent this from happening.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

raganwald 15y ago

This is an example of Apple's design brilliance. They have a feature that just works, and it's perfectly normal for users to have no idea why it just works or why other products that seem to have the same features are so frustrating to use. Of course, the downside is that people sometimes buy a product that seems to be "as good as an iPhone," and they have no idea that their user experience is worse than the iPhone's, they just assume the iPhone works just as poorly as theirs.

WrkInProgress 15y ago
I think this is a standard feature of most modern touchscreen smartphones and not some "design brilliance" relegated to only Apple devices. I currently have to carry two phones, one is an Android device and the other is a Windows Phone 7 device, they both implement the proximity sensor and it works the same way as the iphone. IIRC correctly HTC (back in the days of Windows Mobile 5) already employed this feature in their "slate" phones before the original iPhone was released. They then improved it by adding some rather unique features, like being able to flip the phone over (i.e. laying screen side up on a table) to silence/reject an incoming call.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- raganwald 15y ago
  If HTC had this feature back when iPhone was released, then they are also brilliant. Android and Windows Phone 7 did not exist at that time, so what they do or don't have today is a question for patent lawyers to sort out.
- qq66 15y ago
  I didn't use the HTC phone that you mention, but it would be interesting to know if the feature was implemented as well as it is in the iPhone. This feature has literally never failed for me in 2 years of using my iPhone (it sometimes gets false positives when the phone is in my hand, but it's not too bothersome).
DufusM 15y ago
http://www.google.com/search?q=iphone+proximity+sensor+bug http://www.google.com/search?q=iphone+proximity+sensor+bug Just to counter the "brilliance" part of your statement, there was an issue with the proximity sensor in iPhone 4 that took a couple of months to fix :) I think this bug matches part of the issues people have with capacitive buttons - those buttons are prone to be active when they shouldn't causing mishits.