Death Grip hysteria may end Monday with iOS 4.01 - Page 7

Originally Posted by Brawnr

...but there's a difference between "optimises antenna performance" and the phone being useless if you touch it here.

Originally Posted by RichL

People who queue overnight are going expect the product to be perfect. They will complain very loudly if it isn't.

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

Can you please run the SpeedTest utility like I did above? My wireless speeds drop dramatically when holding it normally (aka Death Grip).

Originally Posted by g3pro

But how are you going to use the gyroscope feature or noise cancellation technology of iOS 4.0 if you downgrade??

Originally Posted by DocNo42

You don't have over 90% customer satisfaction ratings - ON A CONTINUAL BASIS - by screwing over and not taking care of your customers!

Originally Posted by Robin Huber

The 3G has neither.

Congratulations, Gizmodo, you wagged the dog. Anyone that ever payed attention before noticed that all cell phones exhibit the behavior you have sensationalized. All of them, every cell phone ever manufactured by anyone will show diminished reception when you touch it, hold it a certain way. This is physics, and science, and thanks so much for showing how gullible Americans are.

Originally Posted by alectheking

Yeah, flawless. I dont sit here and bitch about little "issues" which are really non-issues. Mine has worked well beyond my expectations.

Originally Posted by Plagen

Clearly, you don't understand it at all

1. Take a regular multimeter and measure the resistance between the sides of the gap. Guess what, it's already very small, almost a short. Apparently, the resistance of the electrical circuit is already very low, much lower than your hand.

2. No, the capacitive touch screen does not require your fingers to be conductive. Take any thin plastic film, or tape, and touch the screen through it.

You see, somehow I think that Apple engineers understand the issue just a little bit better than all the backseat drivers on this forum.

Originally Posted by DocNo42

Many are, unfortunately.



Did you do that before or after you read or heard about it on the Internet? Because on my 3GS with iOS 4 it did the same thing, but I never noticed, and I doubt the majority of people posting about it would have noticed if they hadn't read about it somewhere else, tried it and then it became a "major problem".

Perception becomes reality




The cellular anntenna is only the strip on the bottom of the phone (notice the gap in the band on either side?). The upper antenna is for wi-fi and Bleatooth.

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

Can you please run the SpeedTest utility like I did above? My wireless speeds drop dramatically when holding it normally (aka Death Grip).

Originally Posted by DocNo42

The cellular anntenna is only the strip on the bottom of the phone (notice the gap in the band on either side?). The upper antenna is for wi-fi and Bleatooth.

Originally Posted by DocNo42

And for those of us who actually own an iPhone 4, it's hardly useless even if you touch it "here".



And if you do have an iPhone 4 and it is useless if you touch it "here" then take it back and get another one! $hit happens - luckily Apple is one of the most liberal companies in repairing or replacing electronics that I have ever dealt with. Heck, they have swapped out stuff for me that wasn't even under warranty - I didn't ask, I just wanted to see what it would take to get it repaired.

That's why I find comments like yours and the "they just don't want a bricked phone" so disingenuous. You don't have over 90% customer satisfaction ratings - ON A CONTINUAL BASIS - by screwing over and not taking care of your customers!

Flipping trolls - I can't believe I'm still being sucked into this thread...

Originally Posted by Hands Sandon

I'm tired of reading clueless crap from people who don't know what they're talking about. People are having real problems, respect them or expect to be told you're ignorant.

Originally Posted by solipsism

Try it gripping the bottom portion tightly WITHOUT touching the WiFi+BT antenna thus not creating this phantom "short circuit" Ireland and others are claiming is undeniably the reason for this "design flaw".

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

It's nearly impossible to comfortably grip the phone tightly in your hand touching the bottom of the phone (without feeling like you're going to drop it) and not having your palm rest on the "bridge". The only way I was able to do was to hold it like my hand was a "claw" (My four fingers were grasping the top of the phone, and my palm was cradling the bottom of the phone).

Doing it that way, I have no drop in performance.

image: http://i50.tinypic.com/2iaef6b.jpg

Originally Posted by chillin

Gizmodo, you are excrement.

Originally Posted by Jetz

I am surprised that none of these reviewers found this flaw in their reviews. Do they never hold the phone in their left hand at all when doing a review?

Originally Posted by solipsism

Then do it over the couch or bed but I had no problem gripping the device tightly with my forginger and thumb extended and the left corner pressed into the inside of the dorsal interosseous muscle (I think).

If I grip that tightly I loss signal. If I free up from pretty much all RF interference but bridge that gap between antennas with my finger or metal I don't loss anything. Again, how is that a design flaw caused by a short circuit?

Nothing in these forums supports that claim, all they show is that when you block the signal the throughput drops, as one should expect. What is wrong is the level it's dropping and the complete loss of signal from holding your phone comfortably, which points toward a production or SW issue, but I'm leading toward production and would be first in line to get a new device if I had this issue.

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

I don't think I ever mentioned anything about a short circuit...

That being said, I don't care HOW the problem is manifested be it hardware or software. I just want it fixed, that is all

Originally Posted by solipsism

"It's a short circuiting do to a design flaw" is the argument put forth by the trolls that others have tried to debunk as being fallacious. I've seen no one saying it's not an issue.


Anyone with this problem should get a new iPhone or return it for a full refund. This is CE off a production line made with components offer other production lines that are made with components off other companies. THERE WILL BE PRODUCTION ISSUES.

We are foolish to not expect more issues hitting the net each year as the number of units sold increases. That does not mean there are a higher percentage of issues happening simply because there are more posts on forums and blogs about an issue.

By now youve all heard reports that the iPhone 4 has a terrible design flaw that makes it useless for calls once you pick it up. Well, ok, Im exaggerating a bit but youd be forgiven for thinking that with the way this story has spread like wild fire. Now, I dont doubt that some people are having an issue with this, but Im amazed at the way this story was reported and the way it was picked up by the mainstream news media. First of all, Gizmodo were pushing this big time on Thursday, along with any other story they could find to paint the iPhone in a bad light (including, surprise surprise, you drop it and it breaks). Big surprise. From there other blogs started picking up on it and then it reached the mainstream media. What amazes me about this is that, first of all, most of the people reviewing the phone never noticed an issue with it and that most reviewers had noticed improved reception.

Secondly, as has already been pointed out, the same thing happens to existing phones. When Apple said this in their email they were set upon by bloggers for being dismissive of the fatal design flaw but theyre telling the truth. I tried it with my iPhone 3G and it does the exact same thing. Hold it in the bottom left corner and the signal drops. Ive had my phone for over 2 years and I never noticed this issue until someone pointed it out and I tried to replicate it. But what I find really telling about the reporting on this is that virtually none of the mainstream media reports into this did any research or looked even remotely into the issue. They just reported on the Gizmodo story coupled with a few anecdotes from viewers or readers who were having reception issues. Im not trying to down play the problems of those who are having problems, what Im annoyed about is the complete and utter lack of perspective. For a start, a little bit of research would have found out that the Nexus one had the exact same issue when it was launched. But where was the outrage there? Where was the massive controversy about the Nexus being flawed? Why wasnt this pushed as the main story by Gizmodo for several days? It certainly never reached the mainstream media, and yet according to the people experiencing the issue, its pretty much the same.

The problem is now that regardless of the extent of the reception issue, it will forever be seen as the design flaw of the iPhone. Anyone who tries to point out that other phones do in fact experience this are immediately branded as fanboys. Its amazing how people are so eager to buy any controversy that involves Apple that they loose all sense of reason or balance. Its gotten so bad lately that Ive almost given up blogging about Apple and the mac, two subjects close to my heart. It seems that people are only interested in expressing phoney outrage at some inconsequential thing Apple does and creating giant controversies out of insignificant issues (Im not talking about the iPhone 4 reception issue here before people start giving out about that Im saying its an insignificant issue although for many people apparently it is). Its amazing to me how there has developed this complete disconnect between the impression you get about Apple from reading technology sites and publications, and the reality on the ground. The tech press (particularly tech blogs*) has lately been overwhelmingly negative about the Cupertino company, and yet contrast that with hundreds of thousands of people queuing for an iPhone 4. Were given the impression that the iPhone is a terrible platform for developers and that its atrocious policies mean developers are abandoning it in droves for Android, and yet contrast that with WWDC selling out in 8 days.

I think the root of the problem, or at least part of it is the way a story spreads. It often starts on a blog when someone publishes their opinion on something that Apple has done. The problem with a lot of blogs though (and Im talking big publications who call themselves blogs, not the average independent blogger) is that they often report opinion as fact. This fact then gets picked up and reported on as news and hey presto, instant controversy. A perfect example is the so called controversy of the iPhone 4s retina display. Someone found a so called expert from some display firm that no one had ever heard of before this who disputed Apples claims about the retina display. They expressed that in their opinion Apple was incorrect. However it wasnt reported that way. It was reported that Apple was misleading customers. This simple act of turning an opinion into a fact quickly spread across the web and became the latest in a series of controversies to engulf Apple. A few days later though many more experts chimed in with their views on the matter. Most defending Apples position. In the end a some scientist from NASA claimed that Apples statements about the retina display were in fact true. Yet you still hear grumblings on the web about how Apple are misleading customers about this.

Another problem with many of these stories is the fact that many bloggers* seem to be missing the word allegedly from their vocabulary. Take the infamous Gizmodo and the iPhone prototype story. They happily took the word of some random guy that he just found the phone and that everything was on the up and up with his story. If a real newspaper had run that story (and they wouldnt) they would have said that the phone was allegedly found in a bar. And yet as this story spread there were, and still are many, people who happily side with Gizmodo and the random guy (who in the light of the information released by the police seems somewhat shady) and believe their version of events verbatim, even over the evidence released by the police. They prefer to believe the conspiracy about Apple rather than the far more down to earth and realistic version of what probably happened. The thing is, they did have a legitimate story there and they could have handled it very differently. The real headline should have been Guy claims to have iPhone prototype and is attempting to sell it. They could have cooperated with the police to recover the phone and that should have been the story, not, look at us, we one upped Apple. The real story should have been outing the guy who was trying to pawn it off not the poor engineer who allegedly lost it.

I could go on and on with examples of how the technology press has taken something innocuous about Apple and blown it out of all proportion. I guess at the heart of it all is a desire to see something (in this case Apple) successful humiliated in the same way that tabloid and celebrity gossip rags earn a roaring trade. The tech press has become the silicon valley equivalent of hello with certain bloggers becoming the paparazzi that camp out outside some starlets home going through her garbage in the hope of finding some incriminating pair of panties or something. In the real world Apples customers (the vast majority of which dont read technology websites or magazines) continue to buy Apples products at unprecedented rates and continue to be enamoured with the consumer electronics maker, all the while tech pundits are desperately trying to get the perfect shot of Apple with its knickers down.

(* before some bloggers start giving out that Im unfairly targeting them, Im not. Im talking about the so called blogs that are really just online magazines calling themselves blogs because it allows them to get away with far more than they would if they tried to be real magazines)

Originally Posted by RBR

It seems incontrovertible that Apple simply is not test devices in any meaningful way or in a way that any reasonable consumer would use the devices. It seems self-evident that a consumer would cradle the expensive little thing so that it would not slip out of their hand and break on the floor.

Originally Posted by motrek

Okay, i guess I misunderstood how capacitive touchscreens work.

Re: point #1, what you're saying about the resistance between antennas may be true but how do you explain that bridging the antenna gap with skin is, for most people, the only reliable way to reproduce this problem? I understand that people argue about how to repro this problem but I have seen dozens or maybe hundreds of reports that when the gap is covered with scotch tape, a piece of paper, fingernail lacquer, or a rubber/plastic case, then the problem disappears. Basically even the thinnest layer of insulation is enough to solve the problem so I HAVE to assume that the electrical conductivity of human skin is playing a role.

Originally Posted by Bueller_007

Remember that the stolen iPhone purchased by Gizmodo was in a modded 3GS case. I would wager that for secrecy purposes most field testing for iPhones was performed with cases on, so Apple was never aware how serious this problem really was.

That said, the fact that Apple started to sell "bumpers" out of a non-conductive material that just happen to fix the problem leads me to believe that they knew that, at least in theory, this could be an issue for some users some of the time.

Originally Posted by Chopper

Say, aren't you a kiwi? If I'm wrong, then my apologies.

But if so, nice to nail the Welshmen but pity round two wasn't as definitive, huh. Cowen was off song. Thank the good lord for Piri Weepu eh?

Ireland were also unlucky against the Wannabees, too.

Originally Posted by solipsism

5) The fact is, this problem shouldn't be happening at all, and since it's not happening to everyone it's clearly an isolated issue.

Originally Posted by RBR

It seems incontrovertible that Apple simply is not test devices in any meaningful way or in a way that any reasonable consumer would use the devices. It seems self-evident that a consumer would cradle the expensive little thing so that it would not slip out of their hand and break on the floor.

It seems equally obvious that the present problem was well know to Apple and Steve who simply ignored it. It would not have been at all difficult to have designed the device to avoid this problem or failing that to have included something akin to the bumper with the phone in the first place.

Not only that, but Steve, once again, pumped out misinformation, this time about upgrades. His credibility declines with nearly every presentation he performs.

Apple's responses to these entirely preventable issues have been very disappointing, indeed.

Originally Posted by chillin

Yeah... but what you fail to recognize is

1. ALL CELL PHONES ALWAYS DO THIS
and

2. ISOLATED REPORTS WITHOUT TOWER DATA ARE MEANINGLESS


So ... what it clearly is is not clear. We have reports with no frame of reference. A lot of them. All these reports are meaningless. They speak nothing at all towards whether there is something wrong with iPhone 4, or just their iPhone 4, or nothing wrong at all.

Gizmodo is using their limited power for evil.

Originally Posted by Ireland

Practically every seasoned member of this forum is calling Jobs on this bullshit. Great, 'cause that's exactly what it is.

Originally Posted by geekdad

But those of us that are having signal loss and dropped calls just because we hold our phone in a completely normal fashion have a right to post our experiences about that without being painted in a negative light.

We should not have to so rigorously defend ourselves for report a problem.

Originally Posted by geekdad

I am going to go to my local Apple store in a couple of hours and return my phone for a new one. Hopefully it won't have the signal loss issue.