More iPhone woes, but Jobs hints at reception fix

The iPhone 4, despite selling 1.7 million in three days to become fastest selling handset of all time, is now famous for its failure to do well what it is mainly supposed to do - namely make and receive calls.

Reception blocked by the very act of holding the phone, blotchy marks on the finish and screen scratches have all played their part in painting a picture of the iPhone 4 as not being the pinnacle of consumer electronic devices it would like to think it is. Now, however, another fault seems to have raised its ugly head - proximity sensor failure.

The proximity sensor is supposed to detect when you have the device clamped to your ear (assuming you could get a signal past your podgy digits), and lock the keypad, thereby preventing you from making accidental navigation choices with your lug-hole. Apple support forums are now being clogged up with users becoming frustrated that the sensor on their new handset is not behaving as it should, causing them to cheek-dial, mute themselves or hang up on people. "I was on an hour phone call this evening and my phone muted me 5 times, put me on hold and tried calling my work and then put me on hold and tried to send a text message to my work. This is very disappointing," commented one user.

Disappointing doesn't really cover it, does it? It's a joke. However, the Telegraph reports that there are hints that a solution could be on the way for the original reception problem, where holding the phone like a phone causes it to lose contact with the network. Apple's official line on that issue remains - 'don't hold it like that', 'buy a case' and 'all phones have that problem', but in an email to a customer on Sunday, Steve Jobs said "There is no reception issue. Stay Tuned" - which many tech blogs are interpreting as meaning that a fix is on its way via software update, possibly as early as this week.