Apple adds Motorola Droid X to iPhone 4 death grip page - Page 7

Originally Posted by anonymouse

Well, there's nothing really left to say on this non-issue other than repeat refutations of repetitious rewordings of the same discredited accusations, so, we might as well talk about why we are all here.

Originally Posted by Robin Huber

The smartest move when a competitor gets himself in hot water is to just let them stew in their own juice. By weighing in (or piling on) you only divert attention to yourself. You then become part of the drama. Not the best thing.

Originally Posted by phalanx

Please enlighten us where on any other phone you can put one finger and lose 5 bars? "Industry wide phenomena" my eye. Apple diluted this problem by talking about a "Death Grip". No one complained about a "Death Grip". They complained about the fact that if any part of their hand touched one spot on the side of the phone, it dropped calls. Grow up Apple, we are not in the 1st grade anymore, admit you screwed up and fix it, and move on. Don't point at your other classmates. MAN UP!!!! I guess the "great innovators" "missed a spot".

Originally Posted by MeCourious

So you say there is a problem. And over 3 and 1/2 million people say it isn't a problem. If you have any dignity, you would admit you are the one in the wrong. I'll take the millions of people who own the iphone 4 and the millions who are on the waiting list for it to your feeble attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

The first article is not at all pro Apple. The second article is more neutral, short, and really just a blurb about another story elsewhere that's been all over every site. I don't see how this defeats the notion of inherent bias at all. When you label anything not anti Apple as the "fanboys", I think that says it all.

Originally Posted by DaHarder

Given my personal (now 2 week) experience with the iPhone 4 while vacationing in Tahoe (the spouse bought one), I'm going with 'Apple Is Lying'... or at least being highly deceptive.

Note: Your experience may differ, but this one is mine and my family's based on the reality of actually using the handset)

Originally Posted by voodooru

this antenna issue seems to be put to rest at this point.

now the real drama coming next is the glass.

Originally Posted by hill60

What's this then?

How about that, it's a Nokia user forum where someone is complaining about the bars dropping on an N97 Mini in January this year.

There's even a suggested solution which involves how to hold the phone, all before the iPhone 4 was even released (or found in a bar).

Amazing that Nokia never heard of it as the forum is hosted on their site.

You were saying?

Originally Posted by Chopper

... I was looking for public discourse with you, which is why the comment isn't a PM ...

Originally Posted by Chopper

Here's a thought. You call me a troll, so if you believe that to be true, have the mods ban me, and if that's successful, you can rest content that you were right all along.

If they don't ban me, then it proves what I've said which is that you resort to personal attack when you often find yourself ill-equipped to rationally debate a point. ...

Originally Posted by stelligent

Just becuz someone uses the term fanboyz does not mean they hate Apple. ...

Originally Posted by nikon133

Saying that 3.5 million people don't have a problem just because they are not returning their phones is a bit of over-optimistic. ...

Originally Posted by nikon133

That blade might have two edges.

Competitors might come out with actual info regarding how much each phone suffers from attenuation under different grip/hold conditions. From what I managed to salvage around it seems iPhone 4 is suffering more - significantly more in some cases (which could explain why Apple is using grip&bars dust in the eyes approach instead of real data) - and while some competitors are not up to media game with Apple, some other are - like Google, for example.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

No, but it pretty much disqualifies them from being considered unbiased.

Originally Posted by minderbinder

That still makes the other guys part of the story. "We suck too...but not as much!" isn't exactly a great selling point.
.

Originally Posted by SendMe

Yes it is. That is why Apple is saying it.

All phones have this problem. The fact is, it is less of a problem on the iP4.

Originally Posted by wizard69

Yet here with iPhone 4 we have people insisting that it is Apples fault that something bad happens when that insullator is touched. Sadly this is after people have learned that doing so causes problems in their location. Again to use motorcycles as an example it is like somebody grabbing a hot muffler and then blaming Harley or Honda for getting burned. If you know of a hot spot you should really avoid touching it.

Dave

Originally Posted by RichL

...someone purposefully gripping onto phones tight in order to show dropped bars. That's not the issue that was originally reported at all!

Originally Posted by thespaz

... That's why people are going crazy! Never before have they used a phone where if they lightly touch a specific spot on the phone, all communication stops. Otherwise, why wouldn't everyone be complaining about connection grinding to a halt when using older iPhones? ...

Originally Posted by msheredy

I think you're missing the point. Regardless of how antenna attenuation occurs, either by finger placement or by firm grip, it occurs on most every phone out there. That is the issue.

Originally Posted by Robin Huber

With hindsight I wish Steve had just laid it on the table:

"We've re-thought the whole antenna thing, and putting it on the outside has both benefits and deficits. We believe the former outweigh the latter. Some may notice an interesting phenomenon that when you bridge the gap between the two antennas with your finder or hand that there may be a small drop in bar indication. In a normal signal strength area this should not have any detrimental effect. If you are in a low signal strength area, it might. But again, this design allows for greater signal strength in most conditions most of the time. On the plus side the outside antenna on the iPhone 4 yields a clear improvement in overall performance over its predecessor, and we believe it is the best smartphone on the market."

This kind of unambiguous statement would have done much to "attenuate" criticism. Buyers would know up front what the characteristics of this model are, and could judge for themselves whether their real world experience is better or worse than before. I can understand why he didn't make this statement at the time the phone was released. Probably assumed people would figure this out for themselves. Also, it just goes against all normal business practice to point out any potentially negative characteristic of a newly released product. But again, in hindsight, it would have been better. Some people would have still not been pleased, but I think much of the reaction was fueled by the belief that Apple was trying to slip something past buyers.

For the record, I can make the one or two bars drop by bridging the gap, but it doesn't seem to cause me any actual performance problems that I am aware of. Took my case off to experiment.

Originally Posted by thespaz

No... I don't like your analogy.

The iPhone 4 is like this: Imagine that you hop on your brand new motorcycle and start it up. For some reason, you find that it won't go over 10 mph if you're holding onto the left handlebar, but as soon as you let go, it went as fast as you want. However, the handlebar is specifically made for holding, so it doesn't make sense to you why you should have to drive your bike differently than all other motorcycles to get the same performance as ALL other motorcycles.

That's why people are going crazy! Never before have they used a phone where if they lightly touch a specific spot on the phone, all communication stops. Otherwise, why wouldn't everyone be complaining about connection grinding to a halt when using older iPhones?

Think about it. THAT is the issue. If there was no issue, why would everyone be so vocal about it?

Originally Posted by anonymouse

And he chose to ignore you.
Ha, ha, ha. Sorry, but you are, as usual, entirely mistaken in your premises, on all counts, and your argument defies logic as well. Yet, ironically, your "argument", tone and desperate attempts to "get into it with someone" reinforce the impression that your only purpose here is trolling. Well, good luck.

Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody

Your the one that's confused.

The issue isn't the "finger of death." The issue is blocking the signal by means of the users hand, and related to that, the dropping of calls.

Apple's antenna is on the outside, therefore it's more sensitive to the issue. No one at Apple has ever denied that, they have even touted the extra sensitivity as a good thing. All phones have the issue, most of the time they don't drop calls however.

If you hold the iPhone in a natural way, it won't suffer from this and won't drop calls. If you insist on holding your finger over the antenna, it will drop bars, but for the most part still won't drop the call. If you are in a marginal signal area while participating in such hijinks, you might drop the call.

I hold my iPhone in my left hand exclusively while making a call but I never get my fingers near that spot unless I contort myself on purpose. It's a non-issue because it's almost impossible to reproduce for the vast majority of users.

I feel sorry for you if you hold your phone that way and also live in a low signal area, but that doesn't make it an issue for the rest of us. Try holding the phone with your fingers like most folks do instead of slapping it to the side of your head with your entire hand cupped around it (the only way you'd see any problem at all).

It's not healthy to have the antenna touching your face anyway. A more normal grip would eliminate your problem with the signal as well as make it less likely you will get jaw cancer or something.

Originally Posted by fonts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_659272.html

I love it!
Stick it to the apple-ho's

Originally Posted by hezetation

If you have a large hand like some of us it is very difficult not to hold the phone so that your fingers are crossing that line.

Though I think they are being a big pompous about I say kudos to them for making an example of other manufacturers. These other companies are trying to make it sound like Apple suffers the issue alone, even going so far as to outright lie about their own phones having the issue. So I say rake em all over the coals and may the best phone win.

Originally Posted by Malligator

I finally got an iPhone 4 today. Wow, talk about an overblown "problem". I can't get the deathgrip to work. My two impartial friends couldn't get it to happen. My Apple-hating Droid-loving friend couldn't get it to happen. I've been an Apple user for over 10 years. I knew people hated Apple, but I had no idea it spread to the tech bloggers who drummed up this whole farce.