Mine experienced this initially. I did a restart, and now the only variance I see is from 5 bars to 3 bars.
In any case, I'll probably buy a bumper, as I planned to anyway. The phone is tiny and I'm afraid I'll drop it. Unfortunately, the Apple Store only ordered black for some reason, so I'll have to try elsewhere.
Does anyone know if AT&T, or Best Buy or some other vendor sells them?
From the gizmodo leak, we found out that Apple was testing these phones in public in cases to disguise them and make them look like old iPhones.
I wonder if they did much testing without cases in real world use, if any? Pretty bad if they ended up with a design that only works well inside a case.
Please let Motorola be working on a new commercial, emergency rush - 24/7.
I just can't wait to see it:
"Hold your phone in your left hand? Droid does" ... 20 second fade of iPhone 4 in left hand going from 5 bars to no service.
Please, oh please Moto be working on this, not because I like Droid but to force Apple to react in the right way.
That's assuming the droid doesn't have a similar problem, as has been reported on Nexus One and other phones. Even if it's less severe on their phone, they can't really go after this unless they don't have the issue at all else risk bringing attention to their own problem.
I almost always agree with Steve, but this time I couldn't disagree more. Why wasn't this an issue with the other 3 iPhones? Because it wasn't an issue with the other 3 iPhones.
You can't teach the world how to hold a phone a particular way. Even worse, this problem affects the most comfortable position to hold the phone in. I lose the entire signal just by having my pinky finger anywhere near that corner.
If all you need to do is stop conductive contact between the two antenna sections, a small strip of the invisible Scotch tape over the join should do the trick.
Alan.
No this won't do it.
If your index finger is touching the upper antenna, and your pinky or another finger is touching the lower antenna, you've created the short. You don't have to put a finger right on the joint.
I originally thought my iPhone didn't have the reception problem. The first few times I experimented with it, reception was fine. However last night I discovered otherwise.
The problem appears to be worse when the signal is already weak or perhaps when there is noise in area. While lying on my couch last night, holding the phone in my left hand (as I always have) resulted in two bars instead of five. With those two bars, all data traffic was ground to a halt. No data was passing over the 3G connection. When held without bridging the antennas, reception jumped back to five bars and throughput went back up to around 2Mbps. This was 100% repeatable over and over again over the course of a half hour of testing last night. Basically, the phone was completely unusable when used in a normal fashion.
I've already got a bumper on order so it will likely be a non-issue for me soon. But this is a definite problem, a major problem. Let's hope it can be fixed in the manufacturing process or via a software update. Otherwise, I hate to say it, but Apple stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars and suffer a blow to its image. They'd have to allow millions of phones to be returned and/or respond to class action lawsuits.
Keep in mind that this report is coming from someone who isn't angry or enraged, loves apple products, and even loves the iPhone4 despite this problem. I'd even still recommend the phone to friends, with the caveat that it must be used with a bumper or case. With that said, this is a major problem!
Oh yeah, for all you blind diehards that think Apple can do no wrong, Stevie has this new flute he would like you to play, it is skin colored but trust him, it is a real instrument.
I couldn't tell if he was serious or sarcastic. But now it seems all his posts have been deleted from this thread. Thank you! They were nonsense posts repeated over and over and over and over again. (Time to go add somebody to my ignore list )
This does seem to be a serious problem, but this article has a REALLY misleading headline.
If you're going to say "APPLE SAYS", you damn better well follow it up with something they actually said, not a paraphrase or spin on it.
Correct me if I missed something, but neither Jobs nor apple has said anyone is holding the phone "wrong". That would be some really ill-chosen wording if that's what they said...but they didn't, did they?
Apple's quote is included in the article. How did you miss it?
It is not a stretch to take what Apple effectively said, don't hold it that way, and say that you're holding it "wrong" if you do.
All that said, ill-chosen wording or not, the response from Apple is a coverup for a bad design decision, despite apologist attempts to claim otherwise.
That's assuming the droid doesn't have a similar problem, as has been reported on Nexus One and other phones. Even if it's less severe on their phone, they can't really go after this unless they don't have the issue at all else risk bringing attention to their own problem.
A Motorola Droid is not an HTC Nexus, but just for you and for greater effect:
"Touch your phone with one finger? Droid does" ... 20 second fade of a Droid being touched with one finger and iPhone 4 being touched at the antenna gap on the lower left side causing the signal meter to crash from 5 bars to no service.
OK, I believe all of you saying this is a problem and you are pissed and Apple should recall or give you a refund.
In the wake of them deciding what to do, please DM me with your contact info and I'll be happy to take your "Defective" phone off your hands, because I was one of the unlucky ones not able to get in on the Pre-Order due to AT&T's overworked servers.
I am willing to take one for the team and buy your phone from you so I don't have to wait until the middle of July to get my own personally defective phone and you can get a better phone.
Apparently the issue isn't as defective design flaw that will cause require all iPhone 4's to be recalled. What will the Chicken Littles do now?
Engadget on the iPhone 4’s Reception
Engadget has this official statement from Apple on the iPhone 4 reception issue:
Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.
The key phrase is “if you ever experience this”; most iPhone 4 users seem unaffected by this. Engadget has a video showing the exact something thing happening with an iPhone 3G from 2008, and Joshua Topolsky admits that in their testing of the iPhone 4, “we had improved reception and fewer dropped calls than we experienced with the last generation, and we never noticed this issue.”
My best guess at this point is that the issue pops up in areas with spotty 3G coverage. With nothing covering the antenna, the improved reception of the iPhone 4 gives you more bars, maybe even up to 5. But when you cover the antenna in these areas with poor coverage, the phone is unable to get a strong signal. I’ve seen several reports from people who can reproduce the problem, but only from certain locations.
If your index finger is touching the upper antenna, and your pinky or another finger is touching the lower antenna, you've created the short. You don't have to put a finger right on the joint.
Actually, is possible that the impedance through several inches of flesh (having two different fingers touching each antenna) is too great to cause this issue. But "shorting" the gap by directing bridging it with a finger or other part of your palm, may be low enough impedance to allow interference.
Apparently the issue isn't as defective design flaw that will cause require all iPhone 4's to be recalled. What will the Chicken Littles do now?
Engadget on the iPhone 4?s Reception
Engadget has this official statement from Apple on the iPhone 4 reception issue:
Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.
The key phrase is ?if you ever experience this?; most iPhone 4 users seem unaffected by this. Engadget has a video showing the exact something thing happening with an iPhone 3G from 2008, and Joshua Topolsky admits that in their testing of the iPhone 4, ?we had improved reception and fewer dropped calls than we experienced with the last generation, and we never noticed this issue.?
My best guess at this point is that the issue pops up in areas with spotty 3G coverage. With nothing covering the antenna, the improved reception of the iPhone 4 gives you more bars, maybe even up to 5. But when you cover the antenna in these areas with poor coverage, the phone is unable to get a strong signal. I?ve seen several reports from people who can reproduce the problem, but only from certain locations.
None of this refutes the plethora of videos out there of iPhone 4 dropping service by the simple act of being held, not to mention the ones showing the iPhone 4 losing service while laying flat on a surface and being touched at the antenna gap. I would rather believe that there is less of a bias in the videos over these talking blogheads and Apple apologists.
Where are the videos of any other phone going from 5 bars to no service in 20 seconds simply because they are picked up and held?
Comments
In any case, I'll probably buy a bumper, as I planned to anyway. The phone is tiny and I'm afraid I'll drop it. Unfortunately, the Apple Store only ordered black for some reason, so I'll have to try elsewhere.
Does anyone know if AT&T, or Best Buy or some other vendor sells them?
Please let Motorola be working on a new commercial, emergency rush - 24/7.
I just can't wait to see it:
"Hold your phone in your left hand? Droid does" ... 20 second fade of iPhone 4 in left hand going from 5 bars to no service.
Please, oh please Moto be working on this, not because I like Droid but to force Apple to react in the right way.
That would be funny to see.
Never even looked at a Android phone but unless Apple does something soon I
may switch to Android/Verizon
I dont buy phone to then buy a case, The only reason I have a Case on the 3G is the Back has a Crack about 1inch long.
I wonder if they did much testing without cases in real world use, if any? Pretty bad if they ended up with a design that only works well inside a case.
Please let Motorola be working on a new commercial, emergency rush - 24/7.
I just can't wait to see it:
"Hold your phone in your left hand? Droid does" ... 20 second fade of iPhone 4 in left hand going from 5 bars to no service.
Please, oh please Moto be working on this, not because I like Droid but to force Apple to react in the right way.
That's assuming the droid doesn't have a similar problem, as has been reported on Nexus One and other phones. Even if it's less severe on their phone, they can't really go after this unless they don't have the issue at all else risk bringing attention to their own problem.
You can't teach the world how to hold a phone a particular way. Even worse, this problem affects the most comfortable position to hold the phone in. I lose the entire signal just by having my pinky finger anywhere near that corner.
If all you need to do is stop conductive contact between the two antenna sections, a small strip of the invisible Scotch tape over the join should do the trick.
Alan.
No this won't do it.
If your index finger is touching the upper antenna, and your pinky or another finger is touching the lower antenna, you've created the short. You don't have to put a finger right on the joint.
Who is the bonehead at Apple who decided it would be a good idea to blame the customer?
Jobs.
You're cute. I'm sure your loyalty won't go unnoticed by Apple.
Yes it will. We may be loyal to Apple, but Apple is loyal to no one.
The problem appears to be worse when the signal is already weak or perhaps when there is noise in area. While lying on my couch last night, holding the phone in my left hand (as I always have) resulted in two bars instead of five. With those two bars, all data traffic was ground to a halt. No data was passing over the 3G connection. When held without bridging the antennas, reception jumped back to five bars and throughput went back up to around 2Mbps. This was 100% repeatable over and over again over the course of a half hour of testing last night. Basically, the phone was completely unusable when used in a normal fashion.
I've already got a bumper on order so it will likely be a non-issue for me soon. But this is a definite problem, a major problem. Let's hope it can be fixed in the manufacturing process or via a software update. Otherwise, I hate to say it, but Apple stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars and suffer a blow to its image. They'd have to allow millions of phones to be returned and/or respond to class action lawsuits.
Keep in mind that this report is coming from someone who isn't angry or enraged, loves apple products, and even loves the iPhone4 despite this problem. I'd even still recommend the phone to friends, with the caveat that it must be used with a bumper or case. With that said, this is a major problem!
Oh yeah, for all you blind diehards that think Apple can do no wrong, Stevie has this new flute he would like you to play, it is skin colored but trust him, it is a real instrument.
I couldn't tell if he was serious or sarcastic. But now it seems all his posts have been deleted from this thread. Thank you! They were nonsense posts repeated over and over and over and over again. (Time to go add somebody to my ignore list
This does seem to be a serious problem, but this article has a REALLY misleading headline.
If you're going to say "APPLE SAYS", you damn better well follow it up with something they actually said, not a paraphrase or spin on it.
Correct me if I missed something, but neither Jobs nor apple has said anyone is holding the phone "wrong". That would be some really ill-chosen wording if that's what they said...but they didn't, did they?
Apple's quote is included in the article. How did you miss it?
It is not a stretch to take what Apple effectively said, don't hold it that way, and say that you're holding it "wrong" if you do.
All that said, ill-chosen wording or not, the response from Apple is a coverup for a bad design decision, despite apologist attempts to claim otherwise.
That's assuming the droid doesn't have a similar problem, as has been reported on Nexus One and other phones. Even if it's less severe on their phone, they can't really go after this unless they don't have the issue at all else risk bringing attention to their own problem.
A Motorola Droid is not an HTC Nexus, but just for you and for greater effect:
"Touch your phone with one finger? Droid does" ... 20 second fade of a Droid being touched with one finger and iPhone 4 being touched at the antenna gap on the lower left side causing the signal meter to crash from 5 bars to no service.
Even better.
I'd rather encased that with Gmask Skin than the rubber...
Any sheep skin bumpers? I'm allergic to rubber.
Right?... Right?
In the wake of them deciding what to do, please DM me with your contact info and I'll be happy to take your "Defective" phone off your hands, because I was one of the unlucky ones not able to get in on the Pre-Order due to AT&T's overworked servers.
I am willing to take one for the team and buy your phone from you so I don't have to wait until the middle of July to get my own personally defective phone and you can get a better phone.
--T
The key phrase is “if you ever experience this”; most iPhone 4 users seem unaffected by this. Engadget has a video showing the exact something thing happening with an iPhone 3G from 2008, and Joshua Topolsky admits that in their testing of the iPhone 4, “we had improved reception and fewer dropped calls than we experienced with the last generation, and we never noticed this issue.”
My best guess at this point is that the issue pops up in areas with spotty 3G coverage. With nothing covering the antenna, the improved reception of the iPhone 4 gives you more bars, maybe even up to 5. But when you cover the antenna in these areas with poor coverage, the phone is unable to get a strong signal. I’ve seen several reports from people who can reproduce the problem, but only from certain locations.
Seriously, did they actually do any research on how people actually have hold their phones before designing this?
We have been misunderstanding Steve all this time. When we thought he said FLASH would degrade the iPhone's performance, he actually said FLESH.
No this won't do it.
If your index finger is touching the upper antenna, and your pinky or another finger is touching the lower antenna, you've created the short. You don't have to put a finger right on the joint.
Actually, is possible that the impedance through several inches of flesh (having two different fingers touching each antenna) is too great to cause this issue. But "shorting" the gap by directing bridging it with a finger or other part of your palm, may be low enough impedance to allow interference.
Apparently the issue isn't as defective design flaw that will cause require all iPhone 4's to be recalled. What will the Chicken Littles do now?
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%.
Oh no. Use duct tape. You can fix anything with duct tape.
Apparently the issue isn't as defective design flaw that will cause require all iPhone 4's to be recalled. What will the Chicken Littles do now?
The key phrase is ?if you ever experience this?; most iPhone 4 users seem unaffected by this. Engadget has a video showing the exact something thing happening with an iPhone 3G from 2008, and Joshua Topolsky admits that in their testing of the iPhone 4, ?we had improved reception and fewer dropped calls than we experienced with the last generation, and we never noticed this issue.?
My best guess at this point is that the issue pops up in areas with spotty 3G coverage. With nothing covering the antenna, the improved reception of the iPhone 4 gives you more bars, maybe even up to 5. But when you cover the antenna in these areas with poor coverage, the phone is unable to get a strong signal. I?ve seen several reports from people who can reproduce the problem, but only from certain locations.
None of this refutes the plethora of videos out there of iPhone 4 dropping service by the simple act of being held, not to mention the ones showing the iPhone 4 losing service while laying flat on a surface and being touched at the antenna gap. I would rather believe that there is less of a bias in the videos over these talking blogheads and Apple apologists.
Where are the videos of any other phone going from 5 bars to no service in 20 seconds simply because they are picked up and held?