Well for what its worth G4 TV the gaming/tech/geek cable TV station did a review which aired yesterday which included the mention of the bad reception holding the phone the wrong way. The reviewers said that they had absolutely NO PROBLEM with the phones reception unless the tried for a half hour to try and replicate the results.
I am not saying the phone might have reception problems when holding the phone in a certain way for some people, what I am saying is that this whole orchestration by the android bots has blown this WAY out of Proportion. Way out of Proportion. Not just that but I would say that Gizmodo's report fueled an android geek-a-thon to alarming proportions.
I am not saying Mr. Jobs should have choose his words more carefully because he should.
I am just saying that rumors spread faster then wildfire on the internet especially if there are certain agendas behind the words of the spoken.
A single finger on mine, that definitely has death grip, makes no discernible difference whatsoever.
Mine drops 1-2 bars without the cover on and the lower left corner covered with my palm. I haven't experienced anything drastic as of yet. I'm going to sit pat and see what happens. With the cover on I actually get a stronger signal on my iPhone 4 than my 3G or 3GS phones. With it off, it varies to a bar less to a bar more, depending on where I hold it.
Mine drops 1-2 bars without the cover on and the lower left corner covered with my palm. I haven't experienced anything drastic as of yet. I'm going to sit pat and see what happens. With the cover on I actually get a stronger signal on my iPhone 4 than my 3G or 3GS phones. With it off, it varies to a bar less to a bar more, depending on where I hold it.
I have a friend who's got an iPhone either 3G or 3GS and is on the same, Vodafone, network as me. I will do some comparing and I'm guessing that the iPhone 4 will have stronger signal given just how strong out here in the sticks the signal has been when I'm not touching the lower left of it and also reports I've read about that like you are getting better or much better reception.
I have a friend who's got an iPhone either 3G or 3GS and is on the same, Vodafone, network as me. I will do some comparing and I'm guessing that the iPhone 4 will have stronger signal given just how strong out here in the sticks the signal has been when I'm not touching the lower left of it and also reports I've read about that like you are getting better or much better reception.
Well here's hoping the rumore antenna priority switch in iOS4 are true. It would explain a lot. I'm of two minds if they should just change it back to the iOS3.x method or find some happy medium between the two. The call quality I'm getting is actually better on the iPhone 4 than it is on my 3GS. Could be due to the additional Mic, the external antennas (with cover), or some other variable. Too many hardware changes from 3GS to 4.
I upgraded from a 3GS to a 4 and couldn't be more pleased. Two hours of Pandora on my 3GS would drain my battery and I would lose the signal numerous times. I have spent about four hours on Pandora today with zero dropped signal and my battery is still at 70%. Mixed in with Pandora I have also downloaded from iTunes and made several phone calls. It's been flawless. I have death gripped the two bottom corners and can't get the reduced band effect. I eve drove to an area where I usually can't get a signal and while the bars are very low, the phone worked perfectly. I don't work for Apple and am noy denying other people's issues but my experience has been terrific. It's a great phone and a huge improvement.
As an addendum to the original post, you don't need to be under a tower to know you have full strength on the phone. That's what 5 bars means on an iPhone 4, unless you are claiming that Apple falsely represents signal strength in its software.
From the iPhone manual, "The more bars, the stronger the signal."
It does not say that five bars is "full strength". It could be that five bars is enough for good reception but not necessarily "full". I can get five bars at home with weak RF and five solid bars on the freeway with perfect reception. Signal strength of a digital signal affects the carrier-to-noise ratio. As long as the ratio is above the minimum, it will work fine. If it goes below the minimum, you will drop the call. It also affects data. The weaker the signal, the lower the CNR and the less data you can push.
Where did you read that five bars means "full strength"?
From the iPhone manual, "The more bars, the stronger the signal."
It does not say that five bars is "full strength". It could be that five bars is enough for good reception but not necessarily "full". I can get five bars at home with weak RF and five solid bars on the freeway with perfect reception. Signal strength of a digital signal affects the carrier-to-noise ratio. As long as the ratio is above the minimum, it will work fine. If it goes below the minimum, you will drop the call. It also affects data. The weaker the signal, the lower the CNR and the less data you can push.
Where did you read that five bars means "full strength"?
Sorry about that. 6 bars means full strength, but 5 bars means only 90% full strength.
OF COURSE FIVE BARS MEANS FULL STRENGTH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??
Sorry about that. 6 bars means full strength, but 5 bars means only 90% full strength.
OF COURSE FIVE BARS MEANS FULL STRENGTH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??
Wow! You really want to go on record with that asinine comment? Okay then, g3pro states that any phone representing their max bars has a direct correlation with maximum decibel strength that can possibly be represented and anything less the 100% percentile, even if just 99% or 95%, will result in the bars dropping.
Really, it's kinder for me to think you people have an agenda with your lack of critical thinking and inability to think objectively, but it's posts like yours that makes realize there are a lot of not so bright people around, and that makes me sad.
Wow! You really want to go on record with that asinine comment? Okay then, g3pro states that any phone representing their max bars has a direct correlation with maximum decibel strength that can possibly be represented and anything less the 100% percentile, even if just 99% or 95%, will result in the bars dropping.
Really, it's kinder for me to think you people have an agenda with your lack of critical thinking and inability to think objectively, but it's posts like yours that makes realize there are a lot of not so bright people around, and that makes me sad.
If you can show me a standard iPhone which displays more than 5 bars, I will give you $20.
This is not difficult to understand. When a phone has 5/5 bars, it means that it has the greatest signal strength relative to 1 bar. Relative to 2 bars. Relative to 3 bars. Relative to 4 bars.
Again, this is not difficult to understand.
5 bars is better than 4 bars, 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar, or zero bars.
Unless you are seriously saying that 4 bars is better than 5 bars? Or there is a 6 bars that is possible?
If you can show me a standard iPhone which displays more than 5 bars, I will give you $20.
This is not difficult to understand. When a phone has 5/5 bars, it means that it has the greatest signal strength relative to 1 bar. Relative to 2 bars. Relative to 3 bars. Relative to 4 bars.
Again, this is not difficult to understand.
5 bars is better than 4 bars, 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar, or zero bars.
Unless you are seriously saying that 4 bars is better than 5 bars? Or there is a 6 bars that is possible?
I'll try one last time:
It's not possible to have more than 5 bars on an iPhone. By definition, that means 5 bars is full strength. 4 bars would be less than full strength.
If you can show me a standard iPhone which displays more than 5 bars, I will give you $20.
This is not difficult to understand. When a phone has 5/5 bars, it means that it has the greatest signal strength relative to 1 bar. Relative to 2 bars. Relative to 3 bars. Relative to 4 bars.
Again, this is not difficult to understand.
5 bars is better than 4 bars, 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar, or zero bars.
Unless you are seriously saying that 4 bars is better than 5 bars? Or there is a 6 bars that is possible?
Either you still don't understand the difference between full strength and full bars or you are you backpedaling, yet again. Have a little self respect and admit that you didn't understand Park Seward's comment then move on. It's not that hard.
edit: Now he's responding to himself. WTF is wrong with people?!
Meanwhile... after hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of replies, bantering back and forth on the various blogs,news sites, rumor sites... the media has moved on.
Get your damn phone replaced if you think it's a dud... you and the 500 or so other people.
...Really, it's kinder for me to think you people have an agenda with your lack of critical thinking and inability to think objectively, but it's posts like yours that makes realize there are a lot of not so bright people around, and that makes me sad.
Don't be sad, this is AppleInsider forums. Keep expectations real low.
It's not possible to have more than 5 bars on an iPhone. By definition, that means 5 bars is full strength. 4 bars would be less than full strength.
I was going to type out a reply, but, no offense, I'm giving up. Bottom line is yes, the iPhone will only SHOW you 5 bars, but "full strength" is not something you can measure very easily, it's not like say pixel sizes.
It's not possible to have more than 5 bars on an iPhone. By definition, that means 5 bars is full strength. 4 bars would be less than full strength.
3gpro, you are misunderstanding the meaning (or lack of meaning) represented by the bars on a cell phone. Cell phone technology (or specifically) GSM, is a multi-path technology, meaning it will receive various signals at different sources (towers), refracted off of surfaces, and generally being bombarded from all directions with a cell signal. The strongest signal, may not be the most usable one, but the bars will only reflect the strongest signal being received, even though your phone may not be using that specific signal.
Just because you are showing 5 bars does not mean you are using a full strength signal (strength being relative). It doesn't take into account the signal to noise ratio, mean you could have an very powerful signal, that was far too noisy to be useful.
Think if it as piping a 500 watt sound out of a 5 watt capable speaker, or piping a 5 watt sound out of a 500 watt capable speaker. Signal to noise. The 5 watt sound would sound perfectly clear, and the 500 watt sound would sound like crap. Bad analogy, but you get the idea.
Signal Strength just doesn't mean a whole lot for a cell phone. It's the quality of the signal that's important.
There is obviously more going on here than just the external physical location of the antennas. The phones don't look physically different, yet some iPhone 4's exhibit symptoms and some do not (including 3G and 3GS), which don't have external antennas..
Everyone keeps missing one simple fact. I've reported it several times, but no one is apparently paying attention:
1. The normal degradation of signal when a hand is placed near or over the antenna. Every phone has this and it is controlled by the laws of physics. Apple can not change it. Even the Droid manual mentions it. This is the issue that Jobs suggested that people might hold their phones differently if it bothers them. Since Apple can't override the laws of physics, I don't know what else they could do. I suppose they could increase the signal power by an order of magnitude, but the FCC won't let them - and all the whiners would be complaining that Apple was frying peoples' brains.
2. The abnormal degradation of signal if you touch the antennas at the spacer. As someone else pointed out, this is apparently due to a capacitance issue (like the lamps that turn on or off when you touch the base). Mossberg reported this in his review and the response from Apple was that it was a software problem and they would be fixing it. (There is a rumor of an iOS 4.0.1 coming out this week). This problem appears to be related to the quality of the signal - look at the tests in SF-some locations showed the problem and others didn't. I'm guessing that you can thank your friends at Gizmodo for reducing the number of iPhones in field testing.
Now, if the software fix solves problem #2, then there's no issue. If the software fix doesn't solve problem #2, then Apple will have to do something else. Apple has consistently fixed customer problems throughout its history and there's no reason to think that they won't solve it this time.
For the record, I have an iPhone 4. Problem #1 is no better or worse than the 3G I used to have. Problem #2 exists, but I was able to patch it by putting a small piece of electrical tape over the joint and have ordered a case from Belkin which is a little less gaudy than the bumpers. I'm not suggesting that this will work for everyone, nor is it an acceptable solution, but if the software patch fixes the problem as well as the electrical tape, then this is a fantastic phone.
Comments
I am not saying the phone might have reception problems when holding the phone in a certain way for some people, what I am saying is that this whole orchestration by the android bots has blown this WAY out of Proportion. Way out of Proportion. Not just that but I would say that Gizmodo's report fueled an android geek-a-thon to alarming proportions.
I am not saying Mr. Jobs should have choose his words more carefully because he should.
I am just saying that rumors spread faster then wildfire on the internet especially if there are certain agendas behind the words of the spoken.
Thank you very much.
Good night.
A single finger on mine, that definitely has death grip, makes no discernible difference whatsoever.
Mine drops 1-2 bars without the cover on and the lower left corner covered with my palm. I haven't experienced anything drastic as of yet. I'm going to sit pat and see what happens. With the cover on I actually get a stronger signal on my iPhone 4 than my 3G or 3GS phones. With it off, it varies to a bar less to a bar more, depending on where I hold it.
Mine drops 1-2 bars without the cover on and the lower left corner covered with my palm. I haven't experienced anything drastic as of yet. I'm going to sit pat and see what happens. With the cover on I actually get a stronger signal on my iPhone 4 than my 3G or 3GS phones. With it off, it varies to a bar less to a bar more, depending on where I hold it.
I have a friend who's got an iPhone either 3G or 3GS and is on the same, Vodafone, network as me. I will do some comparing and I'm guessing that the iPhone 4 will have stronger signal given just how strong out here in the sticks the signal has been when I'm not touching the lower left of it and also reports I've read about that like you are getting better or much better reception.
I have a friend who's got an iPhone either 3G or 3GS and is on the same, Vodafone, network as me. I will do some comparing and I'm guessing that the iPhone 4 will have stronger signal given just how strong out here in the sticks the signal has been when I'm not touching the lower left of it and also reports I've read about that like you are getting better or much better reception.
Well here's hoping the rumore antenna priority switch in iOS4 are true. It would explain a lot. I'm of two minds if they should just change it back to the iOS3.x method or find some happy medium between the two. The call quality I'm getting is actually better on the iPhone 4 than it is on my 3GS. Could be due to the additional Mic, the external antennas (with cover), or some other variable. Too many hardware changes from 3GS to 4.
As an addendum to the original post, you don't need to be under a tower to know you have full strength on the phone. That's what 5 bars means on an iPhone 4, unless you are claiming that Apple falsely represents signal strength in its software.
From the iPhone manual, "The more bars, the stronger the signal."
It does not say that five bars is "full strength". It could be that five bars is enough for good reception but not necessarily "full". I can get five bars at home with weak RF and five solid bars on the freeway with perfect reception. Signal strength of a digital signal affects the carrier-to-noise ratio. As long as the ratio is above the minimum, it will work fine. If it goes below the minimum, you will drop the call. It also affects data. The weaker the signal, the lower the CNR and the less data you can push.
Where did you read that five bars means "full strength"?
From the iPhone manual, "The more bars, the stronger the signal."
It does not say that five bars is "full strength". It could be that five bars is enough for good reception but not necessarily "full". I can get five bars at home with weak RF and five solid bars on the freeway with perfect reception. Signal strength of a digital signal affects the carrier-to-noise ratio. As long as the ratio is above the minimum, it will work fine. If it goes below the minimum, you will drop the call. It also affects data. The weaker the signal, the lower the CNR and the less data you can push.
Where did you read that five bars means "full strength"?
Sorry about that. 6 bars means full strength, but 5 bars means only 90% full strength.
OF COURSE FIVE BARS MEANS FULL STRENGTH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??
Sorry about that. 6 bars means full strength, but 5 bars means only 90% full strength.
OF COURSE FIVE BARS MEANS FULL STRENGTH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??
Wow! You really want to go on record with that asinine comment? Okay then, g3pro states that any phone representing their max bars has a direct correlation with maximum decibel strength that can possibly be represented and anything less the 100% percentile, even if just 99% or 95%, will result in the bars dropping.
Really, it's kinder for me to think you people have an agenda with your lack of critical thinking and inability to think objectively, but it's posts like yours that makes realize there are a lot of not so bright people around, and that makes me sad.
Wow! You really want to go on record with that asinine comment? Okay then, g3pro states that any phone representing their max bars has a direct correlation with maximum decibel strength that can possibly be represented and anything less the 100% percentile, even if just 99% or 95%, will result in the bars dropping.
Really, it's kinder for me to think you people have an agenda with your lack of critical thinking and inability to think objectively, but it's posts like yours that makes realize there are a lot of not so bright people around, and that makes me sad.
If you can show me a standard iPhone which displays more than 5 bars, I will give you $20.
This is not difficult to understand. When a phone has 5/5 bars, it means that it has the greatest signal strength relative to 1 bar. Relative to 2 bars. Relative to 3 bars. Relative to 4 bars.
Again, this is not difficult to understand.
5 bars is better than 4 bars, 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar, or zero bars.
Unless you are seriously saying that 4 bars is better than 5 bars? Or there is a 6 bars that is possible?
If you can show me a standard iPhone which displays more than 5 bars, I will give you $20.
This is not difficult to understand. When a phone has 5/5 bars, it means that it has the greatest signal strength relative to 1 bar. Relative to 2 bars. Relative to 3 bars. Relative to 4 bars.
Again, this is not difficult to understand.
5 bars is better than 4 bars, 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar, or zero bars.
Unless you are seriously saying that 4 bars is better than 5 bars? Or there is a 6 bars that is possible?
I'll try one last time:
It's not possible to have more than 5 bars on an iPhone. By definition, that means 5 bars is full strength. 4 bars would be less than full strength.
If you can show me a standard iPhone which displays more than 5 bars, I will give you $20.
This is not difficult to understand. When a phone has 5/5 bars, it means that it has the greatest signal strength relative to 1 bar. Relative to 2 bars. Relative to 3 bars. Relative to 4 bars.
Again, this is not difficult to understand.
5 bars is better than 4 bars, 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar, or zero bars.
Unless you are seriously saying that 4 bars is better than 5 bars? Or there is a 6 bars that is possible?
Either you still don't understand the difference between full strength and full bars or you are you backpedaling, yet again. Have a little self respect and admit that you didn't understand Park Seward's comment then move on. It's not that hard.
edit: Now he's responding to himself. WTF is wrong with people?!
No, science today is "I saw it on the internet so it must be true." You're so last century.
Get your damn phone replaced if you think it's a dud... you and the 500 or so other people.
Move along nothing to see here.
...Really, it's kinder for me to think you people have an agenda with your lack of critical thinking and inability to think objectively, but it's posts like yours that makes realize there are a lot of not so bright people around, and that makes me sad.
Don't be sad, this is AppleInsider forums. Keep expectations real low.
I'll try one last time:
It's not possible to have more than 5 bars on an iPhone. By definition, that means 5 bars is full strength. 4 bars would be less than full strength.
I was going to type out a reply, but, no offense, I'm giving up. Bottom line is yes, the iPhone will only SHOW you 5 bars, but "full strength" is not something you can measure very easily, it's not like say pixel sizes.
Don't be sad, this is AppleInsider forums. Keep expectations real low.
I'll try one last time:
It's not possible to have more than 5 bars on an iPhone. By definition, that means 5 bars is full strength. 4 bars would be less than full strength.
3gpro, you are misunderstanding the meaning (or lack of meaning) represented by the bars on a cell phone. Cell phone technology (or specifically) GSM, is a multi-path technology, meaning it will receive various signals at different sources (towers), refracted off of surfaces, and generally being bombarded from all directions with a cell signal. The strongest signal, may not be the most usable one, but the bars will only reflect the strongest signal being received, even though your phone may not be using that specific signal.
Just because you are showing 5 bars does not mean you are using a full strength signal (strength being relative). It doesn't take into account the signal to noise ratio, mean you could have an very powerful signal, that was far too noisy to be useful.
Think if it as piping a 500 watt sound out of a 5 watt capable speaker, or piping a 5 watt sound out of a 500 watt capable speaker. Signal to noise. The 5 watt sound would sound perfectly clear, and the 500 watt sound would sound like crap. Bad analogy, but you get the idea.
Signal Strength just doesn't mean a whole lot for a cell phone. It's the quality of the signal that's important.
There is obviously more going on here than just the external physical location of the antennas. The phones don't look physically different, yet some iPhone 4's exhibit symptoms and some do not (including 3G and 3GS), which don't have external antennas..
Everyone keeps missing one simple fact. I've reported it several times, but no one is apparently paying attention:
1. The normal degradation of signal when a hand is placed near or over the antenna. Every phone has this and it is controlled by the laws of physics. Apple can not change it. Even the Droid manual mentions it. This is the issue that Jobs suggested that people might hold their phones differently if it bothers them. Since Apple can't override the laws of physics, I don't know what else they could do. I suppose they could increase the signal power by an order of magnitude, but the FCC won't let them - and all the whiners would be complaining that Apple was frying peoples' brains.
2. The abnormal degradation of signal if you touch the antennas at the spacer. As someone else pointed out, this is apparently due to a capacitance issue (like the lamps that turn on or off when you touch the base). Mossberg reported this in his review and the response from Apple was that it was a software problem and they would be fixing it. (There is a rumor of an iOS 4.0.1 coming out this week). This problem appears to be related to the quality of the signal - look at the tests in SF-some locations showed the problem and others didn't. I'm guessing that you can thank your friends at Gizmodo for reducing the number of iPhones in field testing.
Now, if the software fix solves problem #2, then there's no issue. If the software fix doesn't solve problem #2, then Apple will have to do something else. Apple has consistently fixed customer problems throughout its history and there's no reason to think that they won't solve it this time.
For the record, I have an iPhone 4. Problem #1 is no better or worse than the 3G I used to have. Problem #2 exists, but I was able to patch it by putting a small piece of electrical tape over the joint and have ordered a case from Belkin which is a little less gaudy than the bumpers. I'm not suggesting that this will work for everyone, nor is it an acceptable solution, but if the software patch fixes the problem as well as the electrical tape, then this is a fantastic phone.
It leads to a dead link but the preview in Google says this...
Apple iPhone 4 may be recalled, says Steve Jobs
Daily Mail - 4 hours ago
The much-vaunted new iPhone 4 may be recalled, Apple boss Steve Jobs revealed last night. Posting a message on the social networking site ...
If you search for "iPhone 4" in Google News search the first article I get is from the Daily Mail in the UK.
It leads to a dead link but the preview in Google says this...
Apple iPhone 4 may be recalled, says Steve Jobs
Daily Mail - 4 hours ago
The much-vaunted new iPhone 4 may be recalled, Apple boss Steve Jobs revealed last night. Posting a message on the social networking site ...
"Phony iPhone 4 antenna controversy spreads to phony Steve Jobs Twitter" -- http://www.beatweek.com/news/6645-ph...-jobs-twitter/