Maybe if the prototype iPhone wasn't stolen by some asshole in a bar the guy who wrote the baseband software could have fixed this problem before it came to market instead of becoming part of the circus.
No, it really can't. It either affects ALL phones and therefore in fault with the initial HW design or the fault lies with some production issue along the way limits the issue to a subset of all iPhone 4s sold.
Quote:
Faulty concept? Are you actually mad.
So you are still on the exposed antenna being a design flaw and therefore affecting all iPhone 4s despite the issue not being universal? Sheesh, and I thought you had learned something this weekend.
Quote:
Yes, and we're all simply trolls, right?
Only when you were posting "inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." You have to understand, Ireland, I don't care about you, i only care about accuracy and truth. Everything else in this discussion is inconsequential to me which is why I have absolutely no emotional stake in the issue at hand. I don't expect you to mirror my actions or to even understand how I can't be upset by the typical production issues that all vendors face, but you should at least give try to be objective in a technical discussion.
Apple said they made "an entirely new alloy" or something like that for the steel-alloy frame. While the machining may be precise, could there be some variability in alloy composition, however small, that causes some variability in signal reception across different phones.
It looks like Apple was doing a lot of new things here, from the design, to the alloy, to the software, etc. They've taken big, big risks in making the next great iPhone.
At the end of the day, is there a design flaw? Or simply dud phones where the alloy/ coating/ whatever is out of regular specification? We'll see.
Just suggesting the use of a case on prototype models would have an effect on their testing. The evidence would suggest that.
However, it is a fact that having direct contact with an exposed antenna can cause interference under specific circumstances.
Just get a plastic case. You will get more reliable signal.
We upgraded all four phones in our family to the 16g 4G, and all are experiencing poorer cellular performance the 3G's and 3GS's they replaced. I'm not obsessed so much about the bars/GUI, but that, in the same areas at home and work and travelling, the new phones have a tougher time making, receiving, and handling onto calls, and I've had more people than in the past indicate the call sounded garbled (whether speaking via the handset or speaker phone).
We all can make the phones just about lose their signal by holding it in our bare hands. My kids are using their iSkins from their previous phone (loose, but good enough for now), but aren't experiencing any better call performance.
I hope this software fix is performance related more than cosmetic related, or I foresee some unpleasant time wasted at the genius bar.
Apple said they made "an entirely new alloy" or something like that for the steel-alloy frame. While the machining may be precise, could there be some variability in alloy composition, however small, that causes some variability in signal reception across different phones.
It looks like Apple was doing a lot of new things here, from the design, to the alloy, to the software, etc. They've taken big, big risks in making the next great iPhone.
At the end of the day, is there a design flaw? Or simply dud phones where the alloy/ coating/ whatever is out of regular specification? We'll see.
Having dealt many times with demand exceeding manufacturing capabilities and what to do about it? My thoughts are that someone at FoxConn made the decision to speed up the production lines in order to meet the 600K+ pre-orders, which were probably in the range of 2X what was expected. When something like that gets implemented, the line supervisors sometimes start jockeying for even more ways to get more units out the door. Forgetting to complete, or even eliminating, steps such as the clear coat on the exposed antennae band makes complete sense to me.
Again, time will tell. But it would certainly help to explain why some units seem perfect, and others not so much so. As it stands I am certainly glad that my personal phone won't arrive for 3 more weeks.
Actually, the phone takes into account signal quality and interference with an averaging algorithm when it comes to displaying the signal strength as bars.
If you have a consistent 5 bar reception, the phone is telling you that you have better reception than 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 or no bars. ON AVERAGE.
There are variations, of course, and the larger variations in signal strength and quality you have, the lower bars you will have.
For example, if you are in an area with high noise to signal ratio, there are times when you will have good signal strength and quality and other times when it is bad signal quality. However the phone averages this out and displays 3 bars. Or 2 bars.
Actually no they don't. They just report the strongest signal.
We upgraded all four phones in our family to the 16g 4G, and all are experiencing poorer cellular performance the 3G's and 3GS's they replaced. I'm not obsessed so much about the bars/GUI, but that, in the same areas at home and work and travelling, the new phones have a tougher time making, receiving, and handling onto calls, and I've had more people than in the past indicate the call sounded garbled (whether speaking via the handset or speaker phone).
We all can make the phones just about lose their signal by holding it in our bare hands. My kids are using their iSkins from their previous phone (loose, but good enough for now), but aren't experiencing any better call performance.
I hope this software fix is performance related more than cosmetic related, or I foresee some unpleasant time wasted at the genius bar.
This is very similar to what Walt Mossberg said in his review where he basically blamed AT&T and threw them under the bus. Apple however did tell Mossberg that there is a known software bug that would be released soon to correct the issue so I believe them.
Apple is the last company that I think would hide real problems with a cosmetic software patch. They take their engineering very seriously and have always been trust worthy.
In all honesty, while I do see this issue it really has not affected me at all from a functionality point of view. I'll be patient and trust that Apple will fix the issue.
I'm tired of reading clueless crap from people who don't know what they're talking about.
No doubt, some people are experiencing real problems - and those people should take the problem phone back to Apple and get it exchanged for a new one.
But the real clueless people are like ones here who go to the Apple store and squeeze 12 phones to watch the display change without bothering to see if it really affected the devices performance. I have a 3Gs and an iPhone 4. They both show the screwy meter thing when gripped, yet they both work just fine even when the display says "No Service".
That sure as heck sounds like a software bug to me.
Again, if you are one of the minority who is having an actual hardware issue - take the phone back to Apple. They will fix or replace it. Stuff happens. But moaning on the Internet won't solve anything other than furthering the noise level.
Quote:
People are having real problems, respect them or expect to be told you're ignorant.
I don't have to respect people who are flat out wrong because they take information from the Internet, misconstrue it and then further repeat the bad information. And disagreeing with someone doesn't equate a lack of respect either - it's not a binary proposition.
Let's look at it a different way. If this wasn't Gizmodo just starting more $h!t but a sincere and real problem - say a systemic design flaw as some have hysterically claimed in this and other forums - with over a million sales, don't you think actual iPhone 4 owners would be coming out of the wood work in droves?
If it was really a systemic design flaw, you would see major news organizations reporting it with their own research, interviews and follow up - instead of pointing to "online reports".
We don't see any of that. It's another internet tempest in the teapot. It's like the game telephone - but on steroids because there are tens of thousands of people with nothing better to do than endlessly gossip.
The level of furor over this is what is ignorant. For the vast majority of people, this is a total non-issue. It more than likely is EXACTLY what Apple claimed it is - a software issue. I realize conspiracy theories and "Apple is Dooooomed!" are far more entertaining, but still believe that Occam's razor applies far more often than not (and certainly in this case as well).
I do have an iPhone 4, thank you very much. See my previous posts. I'm finding the immaturity displayed by some members of this forum to be somewhat pathetic. Any criticism of Apple or their products leads to one of their pet Chihuahua biting at your ankles. You obviously aren't affected by the problems, but why are you so quick to deny that others are?
I'm not denying that others all. What I am denying is that the issue is pervasive to every phone and that Apple is Doooomed. I am stating that the issue has been totally overblown. With over a million devices out there, if it was a wide-spread and systemic flaw this story wouldn't have rolled off the major media sites, and the major news media would be doing far more than linking to other online sites as their citation.
Again, if there are people who feel they have a real hardware problem with their iPhone 4, take it back to Apple. If there is a problem, they will fix or replace it. I have owned many different Apple devices and they are by far and away the most liberal with their repair policies of any consumer electronics company I have dealt with.
Remember that the stolen iPhone purchased by Gizmodo was in a modded 3GS case. I would wager that for secrecy purposes most field testing for iPhones was performed with cases on, so Apple was never aware how serious this problem really was.
What you are implying is that Apple is very stupid - too stupid to anticipate a simple facet of antenna design. I refer back to Occam's razor - I think by the success of them as a company, we can throw that assumption right out the window. The affects of body mass on an antenna is one of the very first things focused on by cell phone producers.
We have blog postings from people like Spencer Webb who is an expert in his field stating he doesn't see an issue with the design, and yet keyboard jockeys such as yourself continue to cling to the notion it's a big cover up?
Comments
http://twitter.com/ceoSteveJobs/status/17124017895
You may have shown a link as a source, but it's still BS.
Yes, and we're all simply trolls, right?
Well, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck?
Whoops, looks like fake Steve Jobs says Apple is going to recall the iPhone 4.
Actually, more like Apple is going to recall Fake Steve Jobs.
If could mean either one, actually.
No, it really can't. It either affects ALL phones and therefore in fault with the initial HW design or the fault lies with some production issue along the way limits the issue to a subset of all iPhone 4s sold.
Faulty concept? Are you actually mad.
So you are still on the exposed antenna being a design flaw and therefore affecting all iPhone 4s despite the issue not being universal? Sheesh, and I thought you had learned something this weekend.
Yes, and we're all simply trolls, right?
Only when you were posting "inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." You have to understand, Ireland, I don't care about you, i only care about accuracy and truth. Everything else in this discussion is inconsequential to me which is why I have absolutely no emotional stake in the issue at hand. I don't expect you to mirror my actions or to even understand how I can't be upset by the typical production issues that all vendors face, but you should at least give try to be objective in a technical discussion.
Well, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck?
It's a duck, not a troll.
Actually, more like Apple is going to recall Fake Steve Jobs.
You're funny.
It's a duck, not a troll.
OK. Glad to see you've put the single Malt to bed and are back with a sense of humor.
Oh, and me Mum says she can still kick your arse.
Apple said they made "an entirely new alloy" or something like that for the steel-alloy frame. While the machining may be precise, could there be some variability in alloy composition, however small, that causes some variability in signal reception across different phones.
It looks like Apple was doing a lot of new things here, from the design, to the alloy, to the software, etc. They've taken big, big risks in making the next great iPhone.
At the end of the day, is there a design flaw? Or simply dud phones where the alloy/ coating/ whatever is out of regular specification? We'll see.
Just suggesting the use of a case on prototype models would have an effect on their testing. The evidence would suggest that.
However, it is a fact that having direct contact with an exposed antenna can cause interference under specific circumstances.
Just get a plastic case. You will get more reliable signal.
We all can make the phones just about lose their signal by holding it in our bare hands. My kids are using their iSkins from their previous phone (loose, but good enough for now), but aren't experiencing any better call performance.
I hope this software fix is performance related more than cosmetic related, or I foresee some unpleasant time wasted at the genius bar.
Apple said they made "an entirely new alloy" or something like that for the steel-alloy frame. While the machining may be precise, could there be some variability in alloy composition, however small, that causes some variability in signal reception across different phones.
It looks like Apple was doing a lot of new things here, from the design, to the alloy, to the software, etc. They've taken big, big risks in making the next great iPhone.
At the end of the day, is there a design flaw? Or simply dud phones where the alloy/ coating/ whatever is out of regular specification? We'll see.
Having dealt many times with demand exceeding manufacturing capabilities and what to do about it? My thoughts are that someone at FoxConn made the decision to speed up the production lines in order to meet the 600K+ pre-orders, which were probably in the range of 2X what was expected. When something like that gets implemented, the line supervisors sometimes start jockeying for even more ways to get more units out the door. Forgetting to complete, or even eliminating, steps such as the clear coat on the exposed antennae band makes complete sense to me.
Again, time will tell. But it would certainly help to explain why some units seem perfect, and others not so much so. As it stands I am certainly glad that my personal phone won't arrive for 3 more weeks.
Actually, the phone takes into account signal quality and interference with an averaging algorithm when it comes to displaying the signal strength as bars.
If you have a consistent 5 bar reception, the phone is telling you that you have better reception than 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 or no bars. ON AVERAGE.
There are variations, of course, and the larger variations in signal strength and quality you have, the lower bars you will have.
For example, if you are in an area with high noise to signal ratio, there are times when you will have good signal strength and quality and other times when it is bad signal quality. However the phone averages this out and displays 3 bars. Or 2 bars.
Actually no they don't. They just report the strongest signal.
We upgraded all four phones in our family to the 16g 4G, and all are experiencing poorer cellular performance the 3G's and 3GS's they replaced. I'm not obsessed so much about the bars/GUI, but that, in the same areas at home and work and travelling, the new phones have a tougher time making, receiving, and handling onto calls, and I've had more people than in the past indicate the call sounded garbled (whether speaking via the handset or speaker phone).
We all can make the phones just about lose their signal by holding it in our bare hands. My kids are using their iSkins from their previous phone (loose, but good enough for now), but aren't experiencing any better call performance.
I hope this software fix is performance related more than cosmetic related, or I foresee some unpleasant time wasted at the genius bar.
This is very similar to what Walt Mossberg said in his review where he basically blamed AT&T and threw them under the bus. Apple however did tell Mossberg that there is a known software bug that would be released soon to correct the issue so I believe them.
Apple is the last company that I think would hide real problems with a cosmetic software patch. They take their engineering very seriously and have always been trust worthy.
In all honesty, while I do see this issue it really has not affected me at all from a functionality point of view. I'll be patient and trust that Apple will fix the issue.
Time will tell.
I'm tired of reading clueless crap from people who don't know what they're talking about.
No doubt, some people are experiencing real problems - and those people should take the problem phone back to Apple and get it exchanged for a new one.
But the real clueless people are like ones here who go to the Apple store and squeeze 12 phones to watch the display change without bothering to see if it really affected the devices performance. I have a 3Gs and an iPhone 4. They both show the screwy meter thing when gripped, yet they both work just fine even when the display says "No Service".
That sure as heck sounds like a software bug to me.
Again, if you are one of the minority who is having an actual hardware issue - take the phone back to Apple. They will fix or replace it. Stuff happens. But moaning on the Internet won't solve anything other than furthering the noise level.
People are having real problems, respect them or expect to be told you're ignorant.
I don't have to respect people who are flat out wrong because they take information from the Internet, misconstrue it and then further repeat the bad information. And disagreeing with someone doesn't equate a lack of respect either - it's not a binary proposition.
Let's look at it a different way. If this wasn't Gizmodo just starting more $h!t but a sincere and real problem - say a systemic design flaw as some have hysterically claimed in this and other forums - with over a million sales, don't you think actual iPhone 4 owners would be coming out of the wood work in droves?
If it was really a systemic design flaw, you would see major news organizations reporting it with their own research, interviews and follow up - instead of pointing to "online reports".
We don't see any of that. It's another internet tempest in the teapot. It's like the game telephone - but on steroids because there are tens of thousands of people with nothing better to do than endlessly gossip.
The level of furor over this is what is ignorant. For the vast majority of people, this is a total non-issue. It more than likely is EXACTLY what Apple claimed it is - a software issue. I realize conspiracy theories and "Apple is Dooooomed!" are far more entertaining, but still believe that Occam's razor applies far more often than not (and certainly in this case as well).
I do have an iPhone 4, thank you very much. See my previous posts. I'm finding the immaturity displayed by some members of this forum to be somewhat pathetic. Any criticism of Apple or their products leads to one of their pet Chihuahua biting at your ankles. You obviously aren't affected by the problems, but why are you so quick to deny that others are?
I'm not denying that others all. What I am denying is that the issue is pervasive to every phone and that Apple is Doooomed. I am stating that the issue has been totally overblown. With over a million devices out there, if it was a wide-spread and systemic flaw this story wouldn't have rolled off the major media sites, and the major news media would be doing far more than linking to other online sites as their citation.
Again, if there are people who feel they have a real hardware problem with their iPhone 4, take it back to Apple. If there is a problem, they will fix or replace it. I have owned many different Apple devices and they are by far and away the most liberal with their repair policies of any consumer electronics company I have dealt with.
Actually no they don't. They just report the strongest signal.
You are proven wrong in the videos which show degradation of signal to zero bars on the iPhone 4.
source: http://www.thomas-fitzgerald.net/201...gy-journalism/
Excellent article and spot on. Thank you for linking.
Don't be fools. Utilize your skepticism. Don't make sweeping conclusions based on fractured reports that have no frame of reference.
You might as well tell people to stop gossiping about their neighbors
Remember that the stolen iPhone purchased by Gizmodo was in a modded 3GS case. I would wager that for secrecy purposes most field testing for iPhones was performed with cases on, so Apple was never aware how serious this problem really was.
What you are implying is that Apple is very stupid - too stupid to anticipate a simple facet of antenna design. I refer back to Occam's razor - I think by the success of them as a company, we can throw that assumption right out the window. The affects of body mass on an antenna is one of the very first things focused on by cell phone producers.
We have blog postings from people like Spencer Webb who is an expert in his field stating he doesn't see an issue with the design, and yet keyboard jockeys such as yourself continue to cling to the notion it's a big cover up?
Please! A little perspective here. As was posted earlier, you really need to read this article and breathe a little: http://www.thomas-fitzgerald.net/201...gy-journalism/
Avoid using the phone for phone calls.
Dropped calls in San Francisco?
Avoid going to San Francisco.
Playhouse Disney (or other flash site) doesn't work in the browser?
Avoid going to that site.
Screen gets smudged?
Avoid touching the screen.
Hate getting ripped off for expensive junk?
Stop buying Apple products./QUOTE]
Yeah, Apple sells junk. That's what they sell. And their junk is so popular they're the biggest consumer products company on Earth,
:::YAWN::: Another day, another desperate, full-of-himself clown in love with his own empty voice.
Yeah, Apple sells junk. That's what they sell. And their junk is so popular they're the biggest consumer products company on Earth,
What do you call a phone that can't make phone calls? The answer is self-explanatory.