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Apple iPhone 3G’s third sensor revealed – another proximity sensor

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 1:27 PM

That’s right. All the rumors and speculation sparked by iPhone 3G case manufacturers leaving extra room for a mysterious third sensor near the iPhone 3G‘s earpiece have proven grossly inaccurate. Such is the rumor-game.

Rumors were pointing towards the third sensor as being a front-facing video-call camera, and there was even a skilled counterfeit of the iPhone 3G that circulated the interwebs showing a video-call in progress. Turns out, that was all a bunch of hooey. iPhone 3g sensor

The third sensor on Apple’s iPhone 3G has been revealed, and it seems that it’s nothing more than an additional proximity sensor. The proximity sensor on the original iPhone was used to detect close-contact with a user’s face – serving to turn off the display to prevent an accidental key-press and help extend battery life. Apparently, the single proximity sensor on the iPhone wasn’t enough to ensure consistent face-detection, so Apple decided to add another proximity sensor.

In the end, the lack of a front-facing camera really isn’t all that disappointing. Especially considering video-calling’s lackluster popularity and dearth of users.

[Via: iLounge]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Adam Jones

    I see little value in video conferencing. It would be nice to have a video camera to capture movies. I just got my iPhone and I love it. Go Steve!

  • Former iPhone User

    In addition to a video camera it would be nice if Apple added cut & paste, MMS, a replaceable battery, expandable memory, push email that actually works all the time, and fixes the dropped calls and lost 3G signals in major cities. Or Apple can just release another flashy add-on that distracts iPhanatics from the core deficiencies.

  • Dochu

    my iphone 3g sucks. I cant put off the phone after calling a friend as its screen goes black which doesn’t even come back even after pressing the home button. I have to press the switch off button to cut out the call to save my balance.

    Tried restoring to factory level a week ago and still happens the same. There is no applications loaded apart from the default ones.

    Any help on this.

  • Mark

    You may have the same problem that I had if you are using a poorly designed case or if you are holding it while coverin prt off the face of teh phone. The top part of the phone has a proximity sensor near the ear speaker opening in the black area. If that is covered, while a call is in progress, your phone thinks its up against your head and turns off both the illumination and touch screen function of the screen prevent incidental touch between screen/face contact points. This due to the fact that the first modles had screens used to allow your cheek to activate functions inadvertently. I had to cut away the case where it covers the uper left side of the phone. An amazingly simple 30 second fix, problem solced.

  • julian

    the problem does not lay with the case cause i remove my phone from it when it rings but soon as i put it to my ear
    the screen goes blank and wont switch back on
    you cant pass on a number from your phonebook to someone on the line
    you cant answer a second incoming call while you busy on one call
    you cant see your sms but you can hear it coming in whilst you on a call
    very very frustrating two months for me
    this happened directly after 4.0 update
    solution
    give this 3GS phone to my wife cause she still adores all things apple
    for me its back to NOKIA after 3 years with iphone (very sad)