The last 3 phones I've owned (all non-apple, and all non-smart) have included specific verbage in the manual on how to hold the phone in relation to the antenna, and one even had a sticker on it essentially saying "don't touch here". Its too bad Apple is getting so much negative press about it.
Which phones were those? I am sure I could look up the manuals. I have never seen this type of verbiage before.
Exactly. That's why "shorting" with a 1kOms of your hand does not do anything. The capacitive impedance, on the other hand can be essential, especially at high frequencies.
Is my multi meter broken? Because when I measure the resistance across my finger I get around 4M ohms.
One can put a thin scotch tape over the bridge and effect will be the same. Obviously, it's a capacitive coupling. The bumper (or a case) just physically separates your hand from the antenna, thus decreasing the coupling.
A small separation should be enough for the iPhone antenna and a thin piece of scotch tape does seem to work:
What are you going to say when Apple does actually fix this issue?
They may be able to issue a software fix but if it's hardware, I'd say they can change production to just inset the antenna from the edge a bit further and on current models, exchange them if people have an issue.
The term quite nice compared to what I'd likely say in person to someone jumping to erroneous conclusions and running around claiming imminent doom based on anecdotal evidence or other very, very limited data.
There is no evidence to support a HUGE problem. There is proof that people have held their iPhones in a certain way and the bars dropped. There is also proof this has occurred with previous iPhones and other cellphones.
Now you have Ireland and SpotOn making it their mission in life to talk people out of buying new iPhones because have experienced an issue. They are saying it's a design flaw affecting all phones. You don't think that's an acorn falling being touted as the apocalypse?
The only HUGE problem we've seen so far ?and has always and will always affect every product ever made ? is if your device doesn't work as expected you are an unsatisfied customer. If my iPhone 4 would lose bars and drop calls from holding it in my left hand (the hand I hold it in) I would take it to Apple to get a new one. It's really that simple. To expect there will be no production issues with mass-produced CE is simply unrealistic and ignorant.
PS: Apple engineers say it's better to lose iPhone bars than to lose an iPhone in bars.
Which goes against the trolls claim that it's a design flaw shorting out the antennas.
MANY reports not ALL reports. Wow. Considering AT$T has such lousy service it will only get worse. Lets see take one crappy carrier, add one phone with major design issues what do you get CRAP.
The last 3 phones I've owned (all non-apple, and all non-smart) have included specific verbage in the manual on how to hold the phone in relation to the antenna, and one even had a sticker on it essentially saying "don't touch here". Its too bad Apple is getting so much negative press about it.
Yeah, and I suppose all those areas were where you hand naturally held the device? The iPhone 4 is flawed, the only field tests Apple did were with cases. They missed the issue.
This again? Someone said they saw the video showed the bar drop from 5 to zero suggesting the problem can happen even when you got strong signal. Then someone posted the picture of his holding the phone "the wrong way" with 5 bars intact or when someone said they didn't have the problem, there's always this "that's because you got strong signal" excuse. If you have no clue about the situation then why won't wait until you have a clear idea?
Signal bars are relative. Do you think a phone with 5 bars, 1 mile from a cell tower, will have the same signal strength as a phone with 5 bars, 100 ft from a tower?
If a phone is close enough to a tower, an antenna's poor performance becomes less of an issue.
Now who's the one that doesn't have a clue?
I'm not trying to defend Steve Jobs or Apple. I'm just trying to point out why it's not happening to all phones. I do think there is a fundamental flaw with the phone.
The problem with this guys article is that he was approached by a reporter and asked about the iPhone loosing some signal bars. He launched into his whole analysis about attenuation. I buy that. If the reporter had said instead "talk to me about the iPhone going from 5 bars to no service in 20 seconds when you pick it up or touch it in a certain spot" then he would be relevant.
So if you buy his explanation, then why do think he isn't relevant? He pretty much sums up what's going on, why it's going on, and why nobody has done anything different.
Plus by the end of the article, after all he says about the design of the new iPhone and how it could affect the signal, he says he's buying one!
If you don't like the explanation, then don't buy one. If you already did and are unsatisfied, take it back and get a refund and buy what you think will get better reception.
I don't like the explanation either, but i'm not going to shoot the messenger.
Now you have Ireland and SpotOn making it their mission in life to talk people out of buying new iPhones because have experienced an issue. They are saying it's a design flaw affecting all phones. You don't think that's an acorn falling being touted as the apocalypse?
Maybe they are just doing that so they don't have to wait in line when they go to get one.
Not really. Signal strength doesn't affect it. And to tell right-handed people not to hold a touch-only phone in their left hand is absurd.
Not my experience. In a strong signal strength area, no change in data download speeds no matter how I held the iPhone 4. In a weak area, I did see a difference.
The fact that you'd still recommended the phone to a friend is precisely why Jobs has the balls to say these kinds of things. If more decent, honest guys like you said no, it's time to take a stand, Apple would have less of leverage when it came to things like this. As for me I'm telling anyone who's buying a new phone to steer clear of the iPhone 4, until a legitimate fix is issued.
I don't like Apple's response. But it is also reasonable to advise people that reception isn't a problem if they are planning on using a case anyway. If they wouldn't be using a case, I'd advise them to choose a different phone.
As for taking a stand. Picking one's battles is always important because there are so many things that we could be upset about in life. If I were to take a consumer empowerment stand, this would be pretty far down my list of priorities. If the phone doesn't work for people, simply returning it seems sufficient.
Maybe they are just doing that so they don't have to wait in line when they go to get one.
Or maybe if they can stop all the blind fanbois from running out and writing Stevie blank checks he may do something about the problem. Right now Stevie has no incentive to do so because people will blindly give him money.
The test needs to be redone so that the phone is not moved or rotated when held in different ways. Otherwise the test says nothing about the way it is held.
That's already been done. It's a real problem. Get over it.
Well, the antenna is a SNAFU that should never have happened.
But, moving forward...
Electrical tape in the lower left hand corner, going down to NEAR the plug and extending up well over the junction is a PARTIAL FIX.
However, take a wild guess where your microphone is? Yup, lower left hand corner of the phone, near the Apple jack - so don't cover it; or you will get a good coverage connection but your friend on the other end of the line won't hear a word you are saying.
That said; the other part of the partial fix is to cover the same section of the metal on the lower right hand portion of the phone. You see, the antennae in question is a 'U' shaped piece of metal on the bottom of the phone. If you short it, you lose bars. So, we need to isolate this 'U' antennae - the problem is this antenna has holes cut in it for a microphone and the Apple connector.
If you opt not to tape the lower right hand signal, then you will likely short it when you use the phone - to hold the phone, this antennae is positioned to be a key grasping area - despite what Stevie says.
This is not about signal "attenuation." This is about signal LOSS. I've run Speed Test three times in a row now.
1. When I place my iPhone 4 on my desk here in my office, I get 5 bars on the 3G network, and my download speed averages 2870 kbps, upload speed averages 1328 kbps.
2. When I hold the phone in my left hand in the exact same orientation, the signal drops to one bar in ~10 secs. Running Speed Test, I got 110 kbps download speed on one of the three tries, on the other two download and all of the upload tries I got zero.
I've tried the same thing on my wife's original 2G iPhone, and my old 3G iPhone. There is no significant speed difference on either of those phones when I run the same test.
So let's please stop with the "oh, all cell phones do that," and "it's a non-issue, just don't hold it that way" blather. When I hold this phone in my left hand in a way any ordinary human might do, it becomes a brick. It's no longer a useable phone.
And for the record, I'm not an Apple hater nor a troll. I bought the original 128K Mac back in February of 1984, and have been buying and using Apple products ever since.
There is a major problem with my iPhone 4, and no one can reasonably deny it.
Signal bars are relative. Do you think a phone with 5 bars, 1 mile from a cell tower, will have the same signal strength as a phone with 5 bars, 100 ft from a tower?
I agree with you. It's just that when someone, like you, said the problem won't happen if you're in the strong area, people will come and tell you it doesn't matter because the video shows 5 bars droped to zero (look at post in the first page). Then someone posted the picture of his phone holding death grip with 5 bars intact another person will come and tell us that's because you live in the strong area. In short, nobody has a clue. I'm sorry for using "you", I should use "everybody" instead.
Right now Stevie has no incentive to do so because people will blindly give him money.
Sure he does ... it's called "Class Action lawsuit". If you continue to sell a product, after being made aware of a design defect - you are committing fraud. In fact, each and every phone Apple sells further increases the damages that will be accessed.
Thus, it is in Apple's best interests to fix this problem post haste.
Comments
The last 3 phones I've owned (all non-apple, and all non-smart) have included specific verbage in the manual on how to hold the phone in relation to the antenna, and one even had a sticker on it essentially saying "don't touch here". Its too bad Apple is getting so much negative press about it.
Which phones were those? I am sure I could look up the manuals. I have never seen this type of verbiage before.
Exactly. That's why "shorting" with a 1kOms of your hand does not do anything. The capacitive impedance, on the other hand can be essential, especially at high frequencies.
Is my multi meter broken? Because when I measure the resistance across my finger I get around 4M ohms.
If you are in an area with a strong signal, it won't happen.
So they must be the ones AT$T talks about getting 5 bars, ahhhhhh. What about the rest of us that live in crap AT$T coverage land?
The conductivity of you hand does not matter.
One can put a thin scotch tape over the bridge and effect will be the same. Obviously, it's a capacitive coupling. The bumper (or a case) just physically separates your hand from the antenna, thus decreasing the coupling.
A small separation should be enough for the iPhone antenna and a thin piece of scotch tape does seem to work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GanfYUPaXH0
What are you going to say when Apple does actually fix this issue?
They may be able to issue a software fix but if it's hardware, I'd say they can change production to just inset the antenna from the edge a bit further and on current models, exchange them if people have an issue.
Can't you wage this debate without the name calling?
What are trying to say anyway? That my reaction is chicken little?
This is a huge problem no matter whether the effected percentage of consumers is 10% or 90%.
Are you not famliar with the fable?The term quite nice compared to what I'd likely say in person to someone jumping to erroneous conclusions and running around claiming imminent doom based on anecdotal evidence or other very, very limited data.
There is no evidence to support a HUGE problem. There is proof that people have held their iPhones in a certain way and the bars dropped. There is also proof this has occurred with previous iPhones and other cellphones.
Now you have Ireland and SpotOn making it their mission in life to talk people out of buying new iPhones because have experienced an issue. They are saying it's a design flaw affecting all phones. You don't think that's an acorn falling being touted as the apocalypse?
The only HUGE problem we've seen so far ?and has always and will always affect every product ever made ? is if your device doesn't work as expected you are an unsatisfied customer. If my iPhone 4 would lose bars and drop calls from holding it in my left hand (the hand I hold it in) I would take it to Apple to get a new one. It's really that simple. To expect there will be no production issues with mass-produced CE is simply unrealistic and ignorant.
PS: Apple engineers say it's better to lose iPhone bars than to lose an iPhone in bars.
Which goes against the trolls claim that it's a design flaw shorting out the antennas.
MANY reports not ALL reports. Wow. Considering AT$T has such lousy service it will only get worse. Lets see take one crappy carrier, add one phone with major design issues what do you get CRAP.
The last 3 phones I've owned (all non-apple, and all non-smart) have included specific verbage in the manual on how to hold the phone in relation to the antenna, and one even had a sticker on it essentially saying "don't touch here". Its too bad Apple is getting so much negative press about it.
Yeah, and I suppose all those areas were where you hand naturally held the device? The iPhone 4 is flawed, the only field tests Apple did were with cases. They missed the issue.
This again? Someone said they saw the video showed the bar drop from 5 to zero suggesting the problem can happen even when you got strong signal. Then someone posted the picture of his holding the phone "the wrong way" with 5 bars intact or when someone said they didn't have the problem, there's always this "that's because you got strong signal" excuse. If you have no clue about the situation then why won't wait until you have a clear idea?
Signal bars are relative. Do you think a phone with 5 bars, 1 mile from a cell tower, will have the same signal strength as a phone with 5 bars, 100 ft from a tower?
If a phone is close enough to a tower, an antenna's poor performance becomes less of an issue.
Now who's the one that doesn't have a clue?
I'm not trying to defend Steve Jobs or Apple. I'm just trying to point out why it's not happening to all phones. I do think there is a fundamental flaw with the phone.
The problem with this guys article is that he was approached by a reporter and asked about the iPhone loosing some signal bars. He launched into his whole analysis about attenuation. I buy that. If the reporter had said instead "talk to me about the iPhone going from 5 bars to no service in 20 seconds when you pick it up or touch it in a certain spot" then he would be relevant.
So if you buy his explanation, then why do think he isn't relevant? He pretty much sums up what's going on, why it's going on, and why nobody has done anything different.
Plus by the end of the article, after all he says about the design of the new iPhone and how it could affect the signal, he says he's buying one!
If you don't like the explanation, then don't buy one. If you already did and are unsatisfied, take it back and get a refund and buy what you think will get better reception.
I don't like the explanation either, but i'm not going to shoot the messenger.
Now you have Ireland and SpotOn making it their mission in life to talk people out of buying new iPhones because have experienced an issue. They are saying it's a design flaw affecting all phones. You don't think that's an acorn falling being touted as the apocalypse?
Maybe they are just doing that so they don't have to wait in line when they go to get one.
Not really. Signal strength doesn't affect it. And to tell right-handed people not to hold a touch-only phone in their left hand is absurd.
Not my experience. In a strong signal strength area, no change in data download speeds no matter how I held the iPhone 4. In a weak area, I did see a difference.
The fact that you'd still recommended the phone to a friend is precisely why Jobs has the balls to say these kinds of things. If more decent, honest guys like you said no, it's time to take a stand, Apple would have less of leverage when it came to things like this. As for me I'm telling anyone who's buying a new phone to steer clear of the iPhone 4, until a legitimate fix is issued.
I don't like Apple's response. But it is also reasonable to advise people that reception isn't a problem if they are planning on using a case anyway. If they wouldn't be using a case, I'd advise them to choose a different phone.
As for taking a stand. Picking one's battles is always important because there are so many things that we could be upset about in life. If I were to take a consumer empowerment stand, this would be pretty far down my list of priorities. If the phone doesn't work for people, simply returning it seems sufficient.
Maybe they are just doing that so they don't have to wait in line when they go to get one.
Or maybe if they can stop all the blind fanbois from running out and writing Stevie blank checks he may do something about the problem. Right now Stevie has no incentive to do so because people will blindly give him money.
The test needs to be redone so that the phone is not moved or rotated when held in different ways. Otherwise the test says nothing about the way it is held.
That's already been done. It's a real problem. Get over it.
But, moving forward...
Electrical tape in the lower left hand corner, going down to NEAR the plug and extending up well over the junction is a PARTIAL FIX.
However, take a wild guess where your microphone is? Yup, lower left hand corner of the phone, near the Apple jack - so don't cover it; or you will get a good coverage connection but your friend on the other end of the line won't hear a word you are saying.
That said; the other part of the partial fix is to cover the same section of the metal on the lower right hand portion of the phone. You see, the antennae in question is a 'U' shaped piece of metal on the bottom of the phone. If you short it, you lose bars. So, we need to isolate this 'U' antennae - the problem is this antenna has holes cut in it for a microphone and the Apple connector.
If you opt not to tape the lower right hand signal, then you will likely short it when you use the phone - to hold the phone, this antennae is positioned to be a key grasping area - despite what Stevie says.
...the only field tests Apple did were with cases.
How do you know that for certain?
1. When I place my iPhone 4 on my desk here in my office, I get 5 bars on the 3G network, and my download speed averages 2870 kbps, upload speed averages 1328 kbps.
2. When I hold the phone in my left hand in the exact same orientation, the signal drops to one bar in ~10 secs. Running Speed Test, I got 110 kbps download speed on one of the three tries, on the other two download and all of the upload tries I got zero.
I've tried the same thing on my wife's original 2G iPhone, and my old 3G iPhone. There is no significant speed difference on either of those phones when I run the same test.
So let's please stop with the "oh, all cell phones do that," and "it's a non-issue, just don't hold it that way" blather. When I hold this phone in my left hand in a way any ordinary human might do, it becomes a brick. It's no longer a useable phone.
And for the record, I'm not an Apple hater nor a troll. I bought the original 128K Mac back in February of 1984, and have been buying and using Apple products ever since.
There is a major problem with my iPhone 4, and no one can reasonably deny it.
Yeah but didn't you shout to high heaven for six months about no wifi on your phone?
Yes, I did. But it's jailbreak so no comeback.
Signal bars are relative. Do you think a phone with 5 bars, 1 mile from a cell tower, will have the same signal strength as a phone with 5 bars, 100 ft from a tower?
I agree with you. It's just that when someone, like you, said the problem won't happen if you're in the strong area, people will come and tell you it doesn't matter because the video shows 5 bars droped to zero (look at post in the first page). Then someone posted the picture of his phone holding death grip with 5 bars intact another person will come and tell us that's because you live in the strong area. In short, nobody has a clue. I'm sorry for using "you", I should use "everybody" instead.
Right now Stevie has no incentive to do so because people will blindly give him money.
Sure he does ... it's called "Class Action lawsuit". If you continue to sell a product, after being made aware of a design defect - you are committing fraud. In fact, each and every phone Apple sells further increases the damages that will be accessed.
Thus, it is in Apple's best interests to fix this problem post haste.