'Worst case' in iPhone reception issue: Apple gives away bumpers - Page 3

Did Jobs say that or was it one of his minions?

I'm saying if it's a design flaw then pretty much all users would be seeing it - if it's a smaller number, it may be a manufacturing issue affecting only some units (which would be fixed by replacing just those units and not changing the design and replacing all of them).



Except that's demonstrably false. You're saying that you can make any phone completely lose signal and drop the call just by holding it in your hand. I just proved that wrong with my old junky phone.



"the bumpers solution could not be enforced" - funny, that sounds like insisting. IF bumpers actually do solve the problem, you really think taking back a million phones is the best recourse for apple?

Assuming the bumpers are a solution, that absolutely could be "enforced". Do we all agree that it would be Super Nice if apple decided to be Super Nice and replace all the phones? Sure. And while they're at it I'd like a years supply of free ice cream and a unicorn, please.

I'll say it again. Assuming that a bumper does solve the problem, apple will not be exchanging all the phones for a new model. Just wait, and you'll see that I am right.


I assume you're mostly kidding but you're on to something - it sounds like Apple had people testing the phone externally use a case to hide it. If that's the case, there may have been very little testing without a case. Which would explain how a problem like this managed to make it out the door instead of being caught by testers.

Because it is so easy. Click reply. Bitch. Bask in the glow of intellectual engagement. I love the internets.

I doubt they'll "publicly" give away bumpers. They barely want to give away a flimsy screen cloth for a thousand-dollar laptop. So I doubt they'll give away an accessory which already points to the likelihood they knew about the antenna design "problem". That would just draw attention to the fact that they also tried to make a $30 profit from it.

As much as I usually swear by Apple's genius and design prowess, they really screwed up this time. You don't wrap the entire circumference of a small handheld electronic device with a conductive material – no proper insulation – and not expect noticeable disturbances in a multitude of circumstances! No amount of Jonny Iveness can design-away the laws of physics (
A sad moment for Apple's design/engineering team, especially on a weekend when they could've made serious dents in Android, since Android is showing weakness in its deployment-friendliness with its Sprint delays.

I have two iPhone 4's. Both of them degrade from 4-5 bars to "no service" in about 30 seconds when I hold them. The service returns when I set them down. I can repeat this over and over. The bumper, which cost me $30, seems to have solved this problem. The problem is I hate the bumper and will likely end up shelling out more money for a better case when I find one.

Jobs.

Completely disagree. You have to look no further than Toyota for a clear example of a technology flaw that does not exhibit itself for all owners (and in fact very few). There is no doubt of a design flaw there, right?

Look, there's little data in, I'm sure we agree. But it is very possible that external conditions contribute to whether the problem is evidenced or not, AT&T signal strength among them. I hope it is a manufacturing defect, I hope replacement of problematic units resolve the problem, but your requirement for "design flaw" is much too restrictive.

Hooboy! I didn't catch that earlier. That's just so wrong.

Give me any cell phone, I can reproduce the results you see. Also, try standing beneath a cell tower and reproducing the issue.

You are losing cell for the obvious reasons, ignoring this newly observed behavior. If you can completely lose cell, then you don't have great cell to begin with, or there is an issue with the state of the tower and the current number of calls.

You have proved nothing. You have not even approached anything remotely similar to a proof. You are not doing science, you are making invalid conclusions from incomplete observations.

All cell phones always have done this. All of them. Always. They've always done it. No cell phones don't exhibit this behavior. Every cell phone ever made, all currently existing and in use cell phones can be demonstrated to have this signal-loss effect when comparing an untouched cell phone laying still, and then picking it up and waving it around, it will show this behavior. Always. It will never ever not, because it is science, and science doesn't lie, not the way you lie to yourself.

i havn't had any problems at all with my iphone4 but if your friend really is having problems the fix is pretty simple, just a piece of clear scotch tape over metal rim of the bottom left corner of the phone. not ideal, but it should work and be barely noticeable.

edit: i bridged it for a good two minutes. lost two bars, web page loaded slower but did not lose reception. took thumb off antennas and the two bars returned and the same web page loaded noticeably faster.

and for the north facing, right handed or ambidextrous 4G owners who insist on holding your Iphone left handed, I know it has been unbearable for you. And I want to personally thank you for bring your plight to our attention. I don't know how you can stand it. Oh, the horror. Apple has done you wrong, and you deserve better than this.

So please return the iPhone immediately for a full money back guarantee...so that the other 99% of us who do not have these issues, who have been waiting and waiting, can get our hands on one.

By the way, I hear Androids are quite good, and many on this website believe it is way better than the new iPhone. I suggest you pick one up now.

Thank you for your cooperation.

JoeG.

HaHa, I Wrote an email to Steve Jobs yesterday stating the antenna issue is due to conductivity (human hand messing up their seam separation) and should offer the bumper case for free.

If I get a reply from him, I will post a follow up.

I haven't read all the posts here, and if the link below has already been posted, my apologies.

Really interesting read:

http://www.antennasys.com/antennasys...-antennas.html

Same here. I've always had about 3 bars on an iPhone 3G in my house. The new iPhone is crackling, popping and dropping calls regardless of how I hold it. It's so disappointing to have such bad luck. I went through device swap-outs for the same reception problems on my original iphone 3G. It was painful. After 2 exchanges, the 3rd was a charm. Hope I only need 1 exchange this time.

iphone bumper does not resolve the issue completely. something else is also contributing to the issue, if not the root cause.

So, since previous versions of the iPhone also had this issue, we can no longer blame AT&T for dropped calls? The real reason for the dropped calls was that us 'dumb' users held the iPhone in our hands....gee....what kind of cell phone manufacturer (Apple) would expect that!

Maybe they would have if Gizmodo didn't steal their test unit...

Back on-topic... I would hate to have to cover up a great looking phone with a rubber bumper. This solution would not work for me, makes the phone look cheesy as does any case or cover IMO. I know many like the protection they offer but I prefer to take my chances.

I've tied and tried to get this to happen on mine but I can't get a single bar to drop no matter what

God! I have a real job. I can't hold your hand all the time...

How does your hand "short" the antennas? By creating an electrical bridge between them.
Everybody knows water is a conductor of electricity.
Condensation gets trapped under the rubber bumper and recreates that bridge.


Anybody that feels the bumper only masks the problem, should let Apple know by returning their phones.

There are a range of theories. Some say it is iOS4 glitch that can be remedied by a firmware upgrade in the future.

Some say all phones do this, it just happens to a different spot on each model because of the different antenna placement.

Others say it is to do with how much static electricity a person has in their body.

One thing is for sure - it depends a lot on how close you are to your cell tower. If you are close to it and have a strong signal to begin with then the issue isn't so apparent. Some users have found relief by resetting their network settings on the phone. All this does however is force the phone onto the nearest, strongest tower for a while and masks the symptoms - and you nix all your wifi info.

All the Chicken Littles out there should take heart. iPhone is one of Apples biggest income streams now so you can bet your arse they are working on it.

Until the issue is isolated and fixed the best thing you can do is use a bumper, or an invisible shield type of product.
I personally was going to get one anyway to keep the phone looking nice. The film is a dielectric insulator so it will fix the immediate problem until a more permanent solution is found.

Apple is not going to pull a Google on this like they did with the Nexus One.

Just relax and enjoy your phone!

Oh and before you do, please post the last digits of your iPhone 4 serial number so we can see if it is batch issue.

If a shield type of product is not an option, you can put a tiny bit of Scotch/Sellotape on the black bar in the bottom left hand corner. This will also work as a temporary fix.

hilarious. as a left handed user I could never buy an iPhone 4. it's very surprising and un-apple to make such a glaring design mistake. "we're gonna put the antenna around the perimeter of the phone, the only place where people directly grab it!" yeah, great job.

i would like to see if someone with the bumpers notices signal improvement. hopefully it really works - if i bought an iPhone 4, i would buy a bumper as well anyway.

This should be toatlly unacceptable to iPhone owners who spent $200.00 + for their device. They deserve to get a device that is NOT defective. Perhaps a class action law suit is needed to institute a Recall of this defective device and force Apple to make it right.

What else is Stevieboi going to tell me I am holding ''IT'' wrong. Then he will tell me to use my first finger and thumb instead of my hand wrapped it.

And did you know that condensed water happens to be non conductive?

//Rob

No recall needed. Just return it for a full refund since it does not perform as it was intended.

LOL NBC Nightly news is talking about iPhone 4 reception issues right now (reported by Mike Taibbi).

He just referenced Mac Rumors and Gizmodo and interviewed Jesus Diaz.

What's his address??

It's been proven beyond any scientific doubt that the iPhone 4's reception issue is actually not any issue whatsoever and can be duplicated on every cell phone in existence by anyone that understands why it occurs.

Apple will surely leap to respond to this issue as catering to it's least intelligent and most paranoid customer base is what they have always done.

Now Apple will just need to respond to this newly discovered flaw that when you use the sleep button, the screen goes blank. The same thing happens when you switch it off. I can't believe they're still in business... I really can't.

I'm parodying the excellent images by those parodying Apple ignoring what everyone believes is a design flaw in the face of mountains of undeniable and incontravertable scientific evidence. I apologize for any embarrassment or inconvenience I may have caused for the cat.

It's not just a lefty vs righty issue. As a righty I hold the iPhone cupped in my left hand when I'm surfing or using apps, but in right hand when talking.

C'mon now....you can't complain about all the negative Apple buzz when just days ago it was all sweet smelling roses.....You have to take the good Apple media frenzy with the bad Apple media frenzy.....
It is just the nature of the beast!

I found this very interesting and will give it a go when I get my iPhone 4 here in Oz...

"Theres something thinner than tape, and much more attractive
I used to be an R&D;engineer in fuel cells, where corrosion and passivation issues are very important.
Stainless steel doesnt corrode because it develops a thin layer of transparent, non-flakey oxides (passivation) on the nickel and chrome in stainless. oxides dont conduct electricitybelieve me, they dont. But such oxides dont interfere with the radio signals (photons) being emitted by the metal an
Its possible that Apple knew of this problem and dismissed it. I note that in almost all the videos by users, they hold the video camera with their right and hold it with their left. So normal, right-handed use might make it so this is a rare phenomenon on average.
I dont yet have my version-4 phone (still have my 3GS) But if it were me, the first thing I would try (be careful if you try this) is to make sure the stain band is very clean and free of oils.
To clean, try one part Windex in three parts distilled water and dampen (not soaked) a rag. Wipe down the edge to make it completely free of oils
Then to passivate the stainless (make a very, very thin piece of tape), I would rub it down with a damp rag with distilled or tap water (if it isnt really water). Let the dampness dry. Repeat several times. You can even use a hand-held hair drier on low (~140 °F) to accelerate the drying and promote deeper passivation.
A mild acid, like vinegar will really passivate stainless quite well. But you REALLY have to be careful; ensure the rag is only *damp*. You should also on a small spot on the bottom of the phone to make sure it doesnt discolor the band.
I should think that skin would have a terrible time galvanically connecting to the stainless and bridging the different antennas if the stainless is fully passivated."

Hope it helps...

You're right. Buying a bumper should be an option not needed for the phone to function correctly if that ends up being the case.

No bar drop after 2 full recharges!

I've done 2 full battery recharges and the bar drop all but disappeared. It was noticeable during the first day, less so after the first recharge, and now I've been squeezing the heck out of the phone for 30 min straight and it stubbornly stays at 5 bars.

Could it be that the whole thing is a combination of software/power management, and a conditioned battery responding much better to the changes in the antenna load? Notice, that all the negative responses appeared during the first day of use.

No but that is a cheap and fast solution. Nintendo did the same thing with the wii controller when people started to complain that the controller slipped from their hands. First Nintendo gave away stronger wristbands and then gave away silicon skin for the controller. Stopped the issues and didn't affect their profit margin one bit.

I am sure Apple will change the production to fix the problem but until then they should issue free bumpers for new iPhone 4 owners.

//Rob

Ha!!! Classic upset guy! I love it.

If the analysts quoted on another current thread can be quoted after polling people standing in line, so can I. I just reviewed all the posts on this thread up to now. I counted up the number of people who have iPhone 4 who claim problems, and those who claim no problems. I trusted everyone was telling the truth. I counted each phone if someone said they had 3 and all were doing it. Here is the result of my unscientific investigation.

Problems: 7
No Problems: 7

Does this imply that 50% of phones have a problem? No. Because we might assume that complainers tend to be more motivated to sound off than satisfied customers. You can ponder the meaning of this yourselves. But clearly, the complainers are getting more air time in the media that the others.

Wrong thread

Strange that you get 7 vs 7. I checked the thread and the comparison shows 11 had problems and 5 did not. Based on that I get approximately 69% who experienced problems against 31% who are problem free.

While we can't accurately judge the ratio of motivated complainers to motivated satisfied purchasers, I'd say that twice as many dissatisfied against satisfied is a pretty clear indicator that there is a real issue at this point.

However, since this is my first post here, I'll no doubt get the usual "you're a troll" response applied to those who don't follow the cheer book to the letter, so have at it.