Sticky shutter scuppers iPhone snappers

 

Gallery

By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 13 Jan 2011 at 14:59

Apple has received plenty of flak over design issues that have hampered its iPhone – notably the call-dropping antenna - but an apparent mechanical glitch in a virtual shutter is quite an achievement.

The situation was first logged last summer, but still hasn't been fixed, with Apple customers continuing to report stuck shutters hampering camera functions on their handsets.

The shutter is actually a design frippery and performs no real function, with the image captured via a CCD sensor. However, if the shutter is frozen in its closed position, forum posters say the problem is just as inhibiting as getting a foreign object stuck in a conventional mechanical shutter.

“Mine has happened several times,” posted Max on the TFTS website. “I have taken it to the Apple store, and they simply tell me to do a hard erase of all my data, and reload as a new phone. I have now had to do this 12 times! It’s getting frustrating.

“Apple won’t replace the phone because its 'a software issue'. I love everything about the phone, but some of the coolest things require use of the camera.”

Other posters complaining about the problem say they have had their handsets replaced, but neither Apple nor its online followers have uncovered the source of the problem.

Various potential fixes for the flaw have been floated on Apple forums and the wider web, including putting a finger over the actual lens (as opposed to its on-screen simulation), turning off apps running in the background and restoring factory settings.