Well said. Unfortunately, for now at least, it seems Apple's response is to acknowledge the issue as a non-issue-"hold it differently".
That's not entirely true. Apple's 'hold it differently' seems to address my item #1. They have also explicitly commented on item #2 to Mossberg, saying that there will be a software fix.
So Apple is acknowledging that both types of problems occur. We just don't know whether the software fix will really work or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Plagen
It's already shorted somewhere inside through the electronic board. You can check it with a multimeter, the resistance is less than 0.5 Ohms. So the resistance of your hand does not contribute at all. Apparently, its' a capacitive coupling and tape just physically distances the hand from the antenna thus decreasing the coupling. The thicker the gap the better.
It's already shorted somewhere inside through the electronic board. You can check it with a multimeter, the resistance is less than 0.5 Ohms. So the resistance of your hand does not contribute at all. Apparently, its' a capacitive coupling and tape just physically distances the hand from the antenna thus decreasing the coupling. The thicker the gap the better.
I agree that even the bars are reduced, the SpeedTest does not decrease, in some cases I even observed an increase. My numbers are about 2Mp for download and 1Mp for upload.
Come down, people
I was thinking that maybe you could summarize your comment in layman's terms. Not for me of course because I know everything about electrical circuits and what-not, but we may have some less experienced commenters that don't understand. But again, not for me, I totally get it
Did you not read my previous post? I believe I asked nicely for no one else here to utter the phrase "free bumper". Now maybe didn't read my post, or maybe you took me too literally, so I will re-phrase for your benefit. Please, for the sake of SANITY, no one else mention anything about Apple giving a free case of any kind as a resolution to this problem.
This is NOT an acceptable fix for the problem. If Apple belives something is wrong and therefore should do something to address the situation, then they just need ot bite the bullet and fix or replace affected phones.
Did you read MY post?
I said that Apple should:
a. Make whatever design changes are needed so that future phones do not have the problem.
b. Repair or replace existing phones. Alternatively, they might offer the customer a choice of a free case (or credit so they can buy their own) or a full refund.
The first priority is to fix the problem so that they don't manufacture 30 million phones. No one knows yet whether that will be a software fix or a hardware fix.
If the software fix doesn't work, they need to make design changes.
If they require design changes, I stated that they should repair or replace existing phones.
I suggested that they offer the OPTION for a customer to receive a bumper or a full refund.
I don't see any problem at all with offering people the option of accepting a bumper in lieu of phone replacement. If a customer isn't having a problem and would rather have the free bumper, it's no skin off your nose.
(not to mention that I don't care how nicely you asked for people to not mention free bumpers - it's not your site and people are free to make whatever suggestions they want).
Given this issue is more serious than folks whining that Apple lowered prices do folks really believe that Apple won't do something? $60M is a lot of money but Apple has what? $23B in cash?
If the problem is widespread, and it might be, then Apple will respond in a way to keep its reputation intact. It's worth a lot more than $60M. There isn't likely to be an open letter again but there have been "the sky is falling" problems with Apple gear that blew over because Apple replaced the defective units and made good.
I certainly hope so. If the situation turns out to be worse than a few thousand phones, this would affect not only the iPhone 4, but all future iPhone launches. Can you see incredible lines forming in the future if this turns out to be a PR disaster?
I'm a huge Apple fan and was planning to get the iPhone 4, but I will be waiting until the dust settles on this. Right now I'm very pleased from the performance boost iOS 4 gave my 3GS.
I don't see any problem at all with offering people the option of accepting a bumper in lieu of phone replacement. If a customer isn't having a problem and would rather have the free bumper, it's no skin off your nose.
(not to mention that I don't care how nicely you asked for people to not mention free bumpers - it's not your site and people are free to make whatever suggestions they want).
1. Of course I read your post, and I agree with most of what you said. However "free bumpers" isn;t one of them, which is why I commented.
2. Of course it isn't my site, I am not a moderator, and cannot tell you what to do say think or feel. I wasn't literally telling you what to do. It wasn't said with the intent of your mom telling you to "Clean up your room". Although I intended it to sound a bit like that to inject a bit of humor. Maybe, I should have excluded the joking tone. In any case, my intent was to make a point, which is this: If Apple hears alot of people indicating that a free bumper might appease them, then this might be their long term answer, which is no answer at all.
3. I see that you mentioned a refund or a bumper, and to this I would say again, no one in their right mind should let Apple off the hook this easily.
4. So if people talking about "free bumpers for all" affects the situation by Apple saying this is their plan, then it would be skin off the nose of anyone who isn't willing to accept that as a "fix".
5. Finally, you mention if a customer isn't having an issue, they may prefer a bumper. Are you kidding? If they aren't having an issue then they do not need or deserve a free bumper. If they have no problem, then no solution for them is needed. It's not like people should get them just for emotional stress because they saw a youtube video that a guy in Florida is having the problem.
Again, I'm not literally telling you or anyone else to do, only making the point that we should form a united front and not settle for an "I'm sorry" as a solution. An actual fix may be needed depending on what is actually going on.
If this Webb guy is right this will be a serious problem for Apple. It has all the signs of a truly big gaffe.
I have a feeling that either Apple didn't discover it until the last minute OR that they discovered it fairly late in the process - way too late to fix it. This will also explain why they had these bumpers ready at day 0.
To tell you the truth guys, I am not laughing. A piss stain here and there on some phones is not a big issue, but a failed antenna design pretty much negates the core function of this device - being a mobile phone.
I guess that sometimes it's an advantage to be stuck in the middle-east waiting for a new device. We have time to see if it actually works for other people... on the other hand, living here puts us in danger of being wiped off the map by an iranian atomic bomb in the near future!
1. Of course I read your post, and I agree with most of what you said. However "free bumpers" isn;t one of them, which is why I commented.
2. Of course it isn't my site, I am not a moderator, and cannot tell you what to do say think or feel. I wasn't literally telling you what to do. It wasn't said with the intent of your mom telling you to "Clean up your room". Although I intended it to sound a bit like that to inject a bit of humor. Maybe, I should have excluded the joking tone. In any case, my intent was to make a point, which is this: If Apple hears alot of people indicating that a free bumper might appease them, then this might be their long term answer, which is no answer at all.
3. I see that you mentioned a refund or a bumper, and to this I would say again, no one in their right mind should let Apple off the hook this easily.
4. So if people talking about "free bumpers for all" affects the situation by Apple saying this is their plan, then it would be skin off the nose of anyone who isn't willing to accept that as a "fix".
5. Finally, you mention if a customer isn't having an issue, they may prefer a bumper. Are you kidding? If they aren't having an issue then they do not need or deserve a free bumper. If they have no problem, then no solution for them is needed. It's not like people should get them just for emotional stress because they saw a youtube video that a guy in Florida is having the problem.
Again, I'm not literally telling you or anyone else to do, only making the point that we should form a united front and not settle for an "I'm sorry" as a solution. An actual fix may be needed depending on what is actually going on.
Just what is wrong with Apple saying "we'll give you a refund or, if you prefer, give you a free bumper"? Especially since I suggested that they should first repair or replace the phones with ones that don't have the problem (assuming that the software fix doesn't work).
I think it's unreasonable for YOU to demand that people not even consider an option that they might be happy with.
Just what is wrong with Apple saying "we'll give you a refund or, if you prefer, give you a free bumper"? Especially since I suggested that they should first repair or replace the phones with ones that don't have the problem (assuming that the software fix doesn't work).
I think it's unreasonable for YOU to demand that people not even consider an option that they might be happy with.
I am not demanding anything. I explained my tone was for effect, and that my post should be taken as advice on how to react as consumers. And I spelled it out pretty clearly. If an option is given to those affected to either get a new phone, get a full refund, or get a free bumper, and 10,000 people opt for the bumper, then I could care less if they choose this option. Because I am still being given my own option. But for it to be fair to all, there has to be an option.
If 10,000 people on forums like this continue to say that they would be fine with a free bumper as a solution, then Apple could decide to respond to the alleged issues by saying "We are sorry about the problems, and we have decided to give free bumpers to anyone affected". If they said this and offered no other options because some people, like you, are okay with it, then this affects everyone else and screws them over. In this scenario, just because they happen to go with a single option that you like does not make it okay to not give the rest of the affected users their choice. If it's not free choice for all, then there is no choice.
Ummmm....I'm right handed so I hold the phone in my right hand as most right handed people do. It's the unfortunate 11% of us who are left handed who are going to have issues.
This is what i call ignorance and denial. Wont you hold it in left hand to use the touch screen ? or is your left hand dead ? I am a right hander , but i hold my phone more in the left to use the touchscreen. Also both my ears are working. So either you never owned a phone or you are an apple rep.
if apple had the slightest care for its customers it would have announced this issue and not the dumb answer it gave to engadget, that is more depressing than no answer. I know a lot of iphone owners just want to shut up, but remember you are not getting it for free, you got a device and this is a flaw and obviously serious hardware flaw .. i am going to cancel my preorder if i dont hear an apple announcement (sensible one) in 1-2 days.
I added a small piece of electrical tape over the 'seams' (see below) while waiting for my case to come in. My speedtest results showed no difference. Interestingly, unlike most people, my uploads are roughly equal to downloads:
.....
.....
I believe that there are two issues involved.
1. The normal behavior of all phones to have variable signal intensity depending on how they're held, proximity to the body, etc. .....
2. The antennae are very close together on the iPhone 4 and it is easy to touch both anntennae at the same time. This apparently shorts things and causes the number of bars to drop. It is not yet 100% clear if the signal is really dropping. My data suggests that the signal really is OK, just the bar levels are off...
IF IT DOES TURN OUT TO BE REAL, then it appears to be a design problem related to the placement of unprotected anntennae. If that turns out to be the case, I would hope and expect that Apple would:
a. Make whatever design changes are needed so that future phones do not have the problem.
b. Repair or replace existing phones. Alternatively, they might offer the customer a choice of a free case (or credit so they can buy their own) or a full refund.
First off, if you live in an area where you normally get 2 or 3 bars; you WILL drop the call when you have the audacity of picking the phone up in either the left or right hand.
Second off, I used electrical tape and had great success in eliminating the problem at home - HOWEVER ....
Take a wild guess where they put the microphone.
Yup, in the lower left hand corner ..... So when you use tape - be careful you do not cover the small hole used by the microphone - or you will not be able to talk to the person on the other end of the line.
pull up to my bumper baby... anyway nice to know that you have to add a bumper to make your new sleek phone fatter and uglier. in my area of cali phones are sold out anyway. this is the first time i did not buy product on day one. 3GS with ios 4 works great anyway. so is reception really worse with the new phone or is it just loss of bars.
pull up to my bumper baby... anyway nice to know that you have to add a bumper to make your new sleek phone fatter and uglier. in my area of cali phones are sold out anyway. this is the first time i did not buy product on day one. 3GS with ios 4 works great anyway. so is reception really worse with the new phone or is it just loss of bars.
Is anyone selling bumpers except for the apple store? My local store only ordered black.
I was going to post a gloat... a ha ha told you so... now that the reception issues have been thoroughly debunked. But it appears most are still in denial that there is nothing wrong with the phone. They are waving off the fact that all cell phones exhibit this exact behavior, and even though many smart phone manuals actually have paragraphs dedicated to explaining how to avoid the issue, they still insist that there is something wrong with the new iPhone!
Maybe we've missed something. I think there is something wrong with the new iPhone. It makes people stupid. No... wait... they were probably stupid before. What it doesn't do is make them smart, I guess.
I was going to post a gloat... a ha ha told you so... now that the reception issues have been thoroughly debunked. But it appears most are still in denial that there is nothing wrong with the phone. They are waving off the fact that all cell phones exhibit this exact behavior, and even though many smart phone manuals actually have paragraphs dedicated to explaining how to avoid the issue, they still insist that there is something wrong with the new iPhone!
Maybe we've missed something. I think there is something wrong with the new iPhone. It makes people stupid. No... wait... they were probably stupid before. What it doesn't do is make them smart, I guess.
I can only speak for myself, and I have no iPhone 4 to test with, but this does seem a bit different that other phone launches. it is also different than my experiences with both the original iPhone and 3Gs. While I certainly see my signal changing, I have had very few dropped calls, and none of these I would attribute to holding the phone incorrectly. The few drops I have had are related to areas where signals are weak. So I am curious about your comment that certain issues were debunked. There are of course 2 different signal strength issues at this time:
1. The cosmetic issue pointed out by Walt Mossberg in his review where the iPhone seemed to have erratic signal strength meter readouts while using the phone, but he never had a problem making or receiving calls, or dropped calls. The one he said Apple was working on a fix for.
2. Holding the phone in certain ways (near bottom left corner, or bridging the two different antennas that reduces actual signal greatly, and causes dropped calls.
So which of these two issues are you saying was debunked? I am not aware of any debunking going on. I am assuming you are saying issue #2 above was debunked, but I don't think it has. If every phone has this same issue, can you let me know how I can hold my 3Gs in order to drop calls and lose all signal? Also, if it affects all phones, why are some iPhone 4 users saying that have no reception issues, yet some are plagued with them? I would be curious because none of this has ever happened with my 3Gs and I would like to do some testing.
Held my iPhone 3GS with my hand wrapped around the bottom half, and I noticed I was losing bars. Then I let my phone rest on my palm, and the bars started coming back up. Never noticed it before, its kind of funny.
Held my iPhone 3GS with my hand wrapped around the bottom half, and I noticed I was losing bars. Then I let my phone rest on my palm, and the bars started coming back up. Never noticed it before, its kind of funny.
Yes, but I have seen (with proof) no reports of it causing any older gen iPhones to completely lose signal directly because of this reason. Sure, most phones suffer this to a certain extent, but with iPhone 4 the issue looks way more serious. On the surface it looks like a design flaw at the hardware level, so we'll see.
Some antenna guys have reared their heads to chime in having the antenna position there on the outside of the phone is dumb.
Some people have tried to blame the FCC, but Apple didn't have to have the antenna on the side on the outer edge of the phone right there. They could have put in completely on the bottom. And they could have tested the phone correctly and done something else. The FFC should have noticed it, but Apple should have had the engineering know how to realize it was a bad idea when it was on the drawing board. I'm personally steering clear of the iPhone 4 until I know more, and I'd most certainly recommend against given Apple any money for that device until they actually fix the fault. Steve is insulting right now, and he's not getting my money until they change their tune.
Comments
Well said. Unfortunately, for now at least, it seems Apple's response is to acknowledge the issue as a non-issue-"hold it differently".
That's not entirely true. Apple's 'hold it differently' seems to address my item #1. They have also explicitly commented on item #2 to Mossberg, saying that there will be a software fix.
So Apple is acknowledging that both types of problems occur. We just don't know whether the software fix will really work or not.
It's already shorted somewhere inside through the electronic board. You can check it with a multimeter, the resistance is less than 0.5 Ohms. So the resistance of your hand does not contribute at all. Apparently, its' a capacitive coupling and tape just physically distances the hand from the antenna thus decreasing the coupling. The thicker the gap the better.
Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense.
It's already shorted somewhere inside through the electronic board. You can check it with a multimeter, the resistance is less than 0.5 Ohms. So the resistance of your hand does not contribute at all. Apparently, its' a capacitive coupling and tape just physically distances the hand from the antenna thus decreasing the coupling. The thicker the gap the better.
I agree that even the bars are reduced, the SpeedTest does not decrease, in some cases I even observed an increase. My numbers are about 2Mp for download and 1Mp for upload.
Come down, people
I was thinking that maybe you could summarize your comment in layman's terms. Not for me of course because I know everything about electrical circuits and what-not, but we may have some less experienced commenters that don't understand. But again, not for me, I totally get it
Did you not read my previous post? I believe I asked nicely for no one else here to utter the phrase "free bumper". Now maybe didn't read my post, or maybe you took me too literally, so I will re-phrase for your benefit. Please, for the sake of SANITY, no one else mention anything about Apple giving a free case of any kind as a resolution to this problem.
This is NOT an acceptable fix for the problem. If Apple belives something is wrong and therefore should do something to address the situation, then they just need ot bite the bullet and fix or replace affected phones.
Did you read MY post?
I said that Apple should:
a. Make whatever design changes are needed so that future phones do not have the problem.
b. Repair or replace existing phones. Alternatively, they might offer the customer a choice of a free case (or credit so they can buy their own) or a full refund.
The first priority is to fix the problem so that they don't manufacture 30 million phones. No one knows yet whether that will be a software fix or a hardware fix.
If the software fix doesn't work, they need to make design changes.
If they require design changes, I stated that they should repair or replace existing phones.
I suggested that they offer the OPTION for a customer to receive a bumper or a full refund.
I don't see any problem at all with offering people the option of accepting a bumper in lieu of phone replacement. If a customer isn't having a problem and would rather have the free bumper, it's no skin off your nose.
(not to mention that I don't care how nicely you asked for people to not mention free bumpers - it's not your site and people are free to make whatever suggestions they want).
.....
Given this issue is more serious than folks whining that Apple lowered prices do folks really believe that Apple won't do something? $60M is a lot of money but Apple has what? $23B in cash?
If the problem is widespread, and it might be, then Apple will respond in a way to keep its reputation intact. It's worth a lot more than $60M. There isn't likely to be an open letter again but there have been "the sky is falling" problems with Apple gear that blew over because Apple replaced the defective units and made good.
I certainly hope so. If the situation turns out to be worse than a few thousand phones, this would affect not only the iPhone 4, but all future iPhone launches. Can you see incredible lines forming in the future if this turns out to be a PR disaster?
I'm a huge Apple fan and was planning to get the iPhone 4, but I will be waiting until the dust settles on this. Right now I'm very pleased from the performance boost iOS 4 gave my 3GS.
Did you read MY post?
I don't see any problem at all with offering people the option of accepting a bumper in lieu of phone replacement. If a customer isn't having a problem and would rather have the free bumper, it's no skin off your nose.
(not to mention that I don't care how nicely you asked for people to not mention free bumpers - it's not your site and people are free to make whatever suggestions they want).
1. Of course I read your post, and I agree with most of what you said. However "free bumpers" isn;t one of them, which is why I commented.
2. Of course it isn't my site, I am not a moderator, and cannot tell you what to do say think or feel. I wasn't literally telling you what to do. It wasn't said with the intent of your mom telling you to "Clean up your room". Although I intended it to sound a bit like that to inject a bit of humor. Maybe, I should have excluded the joking tone. In any case, my intent was to make a point, which is this: If Apple hears alot of people indicating that a free bumper might appease them, then this might be their long term answer, which is no answer at all.
3. I see that you mentioned a refund or a bumper, and to this I would say again, no one in their right mind should let Apple off the hook this easily.
4. So if people talking about "free bumpers for all" affects the situation by Apple saying this is their plan, then it would be skin off the nose of anyone who isn't willing to accept that as a "fix".
5. Finally, you mention if a customer isn't having an issue, they may prefer a bumper. Are you kidding? If they aren't having an issue then they do not need or deserve a free bumper. If they have no problem, then no solution for them is needed. It's not like people should get them just for emotional stress because they saw a youtube video that a guy in Florida is having the problem.
Again, I'm not literally telling you or anyone else to do, only making the point that we should form a united front and not settle for an "I'm sorry" as a solution. An actual fix may be needed depending on what is actually going on.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365650,00.asp
If this Webb guy is right this will be a serious problem for Apple. It has all the signs of a truly big gaffe.
I have a feeling that either Apple didn't discover it until the last minute OR that they discovered it fairly late in the process - way too late to fix it. This will also explain why they had these bumpers ready at day 0.
To tell you the truth guys, I am not laughing. A piss stain here and there on some phones is not a big issue, but a failed antenna design pretty much negates the core function of this device - being a mobile phone.
I guess that sometimes it's an advantage to be stuck in the middle-east waiting for a new device. We have time to see if it actually works for other people... on the other hand, living here puts us in danger of being wiped off the map by an iranian atomic bomb in the near future!
I hope it all gets fixed soon.
1. Of course I read your post, and I agree with most of what you said. However "free bumpers" isn;t one of them, which is why I commented.
2. Of course it isn't my site, I am not a moderator, and cannot tell you what to do say think or feel. I wasn't literally telling you what to do. It wasn't said with the intent of your mom telling you to "Clean up your room". Although I intended it to sound a bit like that to inject a bit of humor. Maybe, I should have excluded the joking tone. In any case, my intent was to make a point, which is this: If Apple hears alot of people indicating that a free bumper might appease them, then this might be their long term answer, which is no answer at all.
3. I see that you mentioned a refund or a bumper, and to this I would say again, no one in their right mind should let Apple off the hook this easily.
4. So if people talking about "free bumpers for all" affects the situation by Apple saying this is their plan, then it would be skin off the nose of anyone who isn't willing to accept that as a "fix".
5. Finally, you mention if a customer isn't having an issue, they may prefer a bumper. Are you kidding? If they aren't having an issue then they do not need or deserve a free bumper. If they have no problem, then no solution for them is needed. It's not like people should get them just for emotional stress because they saw a youtube video that a guy in Florida is having the problem.
Again, I'm not literally telling you or anyone else to do, only making the point that we should form a united front and not settle for an "I'm sorry" as a solution. An actual fix may be needed depending on what is actually going on.
Just what is wrong with Apple saying "we'll give you a refund or, if you prefer, give you a free bumper"? Especially since I suggested that they should first repair or replace the phones with ones that don't have the problem (assuming that the software fix doesn't work).
I think it's unreasonable for YOU to demand that people not even consider an option that they might be happy with.
Just what is wrong with Apple saying "we'll give you a refund or, if you prefer, give you a free bumper"? Especially since I suggested that they should first repair or replace the phones with ones that don't have the problem (assuming that the software fix doesn't work).
I think it's unreasonable for YOU to demand that people not even consider an option that they might be happy with.
I am not demanding anything. I explained my tone was for effect, and that my post should be taken as advice on how to react as consumers. And I spelled it out pretty clearly. If an option is given to those affected to either get a new phone, get a full refund, or get a free bumper, and 10,000 people opt for the bumper, then I could care less if they choose this option. Because I am still being given my own option. But for it to be fair to all, there has to be an option.
If 10,000 people on forums like this continue to say that they would be fine with a free bumper as a solution, then Apple could decide to respond to the alleged issues by saying "We are sorry about the problems, and we have decided to give free bumpers to anyone affected". If they said this and offered no other options because some people, like you, are okay with it, then this affects everyone else and screws them over. In this scenario, just because they happen to go with a single option that you like does not make it okay to not give the rest of the affected users their choice. If it's not free choice for all, then there is no choice.
Ummmm....I'm right handed so I hold the phone in my right hand as most right handed people do. It's the unfortunate 11% of us who are left handed who are going to have issues.
This is what i call ignorance and denial. Wont you hold it in left hand to use the touch screen ? or is your left hand dead ? I am a right hander , but i hold my phone more in the left to use the touchscreen. Also both my ears are working. So either you never owned a phone or you are an apple rep.
I added a small piece of electrical tape over the 'seams' (see below) while waiting for my case to come in. My speedtest results showed no difference. Interestingly, unlike most people, my uploads are roughly equal to downloads:
.....
.....
I believe that there are two issues involved.
1. The normal behavior of all phones to have variable signal intensity depending on how they're held, proximity to the body, etc. .....
2. The antennae are very close together on the iPhone 4 and it is easy to touch both anntennae at the same time. This apparently shorts things and causes the number of bars to drop. It is not yet 100% clear if the signal is really dropping. My data suggests that the signal really is OK, just the bar levels are off...
IF IT DOES TURN OUT TO BE REAL, then it appears to be a design problem related to the placement of unprotected anntennae. If that turns out to be the case, I would hope and expect that Apple would:
a. Make whatever design changes are needed so that future phones do not have the problem.
b. Repair or replace existing phones. Alternatively, they might offer the customer a choice of a free case (or credit so they can buy their own) or a full refund.
First off, if you live in an area where you normally get 2 or 3 bars; you WILL drop the call when you have the audacity of picking the phone up in either the left or right hand.
Second off, I used electrical tape and had great success in eliminating the problem at home - HOWEVER ....
Take a wild guess where they put the microphone.
Yup, in the lower left hand corner ..... So when you use tape - be careful you do not cover the small hole used by the microphone - or you will not be able to talk to the person on the other end of the line.
And the hits keep a coming
By not getting cheated.
BS. You bought a technology product as an early adopter and can return same for a full refund.
End of entitlement story.
pull up to my bumper baby... anyway nice to know that you have to add a bumper to make your new sleek phone fatter and uglier. in my area of cali phones are sold out anyway. this is the first time i did not buy product on day one. 3GS with ios 4 works great anyway. so is reception really worse with the new phone or is it just loss of bars.
Is anyone selling bumpers except for the apple store? My local store only ordered black.
Excellent. Kudos to you sir (or madam). I like your style.
Thank you... *bows*
Maybe we've missed something. I think there is something wrong with the new iPhone. It makes people stupid. No... wait... they were probably stupid before. What it doesn't do is make them smart, I guess.
I was going to post a gloat... a ha ha told you so... now that the reception issues have been thoroughly debunked. But it appears most are still in denial that there is nothing wrong with the phone. They are waving off the fact that all cell phones exhibit this exact behavior, and even though many smart phone manuals actually have paragraphs dedicated to explaining how to avoid the issue, they still insist that there is something wrong with the new iPhone!
Maybe we've missed something. I think there is something wrong with the new iPhone. It makes people stupid. No... wait... they were probably stupid before. What it doesn't do is make them smart, I guess.
I can only speak for myself, and I have no iPhone 4 to test with, but this does seem a bit different that other phone launches. it is also different than my experiences with both the original iPhone and 3Gs. While I certainly see my signal changing, I have had very few dropped calls, and none of these I would attribute to holding the phone incorrectly. The few drops I have had are related to areas where signals are weak. So I am curious about your comment that certain issues were debunked. There are of course 2 different signal strength issues at this time:
1. The cosmetic issue pointed out by Walt Mossberg in his review where the iPhone seemed to have erratic signal strength meter readouts while using the phone, but he never had a problem making or receiving calls, or dropped calls. The one he said Apple was working on a fix for.
2. Holding the phone in certain ways (near bottom left corner, or bridging the two different antennas that reduces actual signal greatly, and causes dropped calls.
So which of these two issues are you saying was debunked? I am not aware of any debunking going on. I am assuming you are saying issue #2 above was debunked, but I don't think it has. If every phone has this same issue, can you let me know how I can hold my 3Gs in order to drop calls and lose all signal? Also, if it affects all phones, why are some iPhone 4 users saying that have no reception issues, yet some are plagued with them? I would be curious because none of this has ever happened with my 3Gs and I would like to do some testing.
Thanks~
Held my iPhone 3GS with my hand wrapped around the bottom half, and I noticed I was losing bars. Then I let my phone rest on my palm, and the bars started coming back up. Never noticed it before, its kind of funny.
Yes, but I have seen (with proof) no reports of it causing any older gen iPhones to completely lose signal directly because of this reason. Sure, most phones suffer this to a certain extent, but with iPhone 4 the issue looks way more serious. On the surface it looks like a design flaw at the hardware level, so we'll see.
Some antenna guys have reared their heads to chime in having the antenna position there on the outside of the phone is dumb.
Some people have tried to blame the FCC, but Apple didn't have to have the antenna on the side on the outer edge of the phone right there. They could have put in completely on the bottom. And they could have tested the phone correctly and done something else. The FFC should have noticed it, but Apple should have had the engineering know how to realize it was a bad idea when it was on the drawing board. I'm personally steering clear of the iPhone 4 until I know more, and I'd most certainly recommend against given Apple any money for that device until they actually fix the fault. Steve is insulting right now, and he's not getting my money until they change their tune.