To determine whether this is just a problem with the software measurement of the signal strength, I tested the actual data throughput speed in both unheld and held states. The impact of holding the iPhone in your hand is SEVERE, cutting up/down speeds to a fraction of their unheld potential. Here are the results.
Maybe/hopefully this can be fixed in software, but it's not just about measurement in the UI, nor is it a typical issue that affects all phones.
Where'd you get that figure? I'm right-handed and I hold my phone in my right hand and use my thumb.
Talking about figures. No one know how widespread this issue is. We know that Apple sold at least 600K iPhone pre-orders. No one here will tell you how many are having this signal/grip "issue" but they still act like the sky is falling and how the antenna design is flawed
This happens every time Apple release a new device or model.
Yesterday, my wry tweet, "Blocking iPhone 4 antenna kills reception. Blocking mic kills audio, and covering the screen makes it impossible to see Retina Display" made it to the front page of Twitter and was retweeted more than a hundred times by people following the hullabaloo.
You make it sound as if people are covering the antenna on purpose just to complain. This is my first post and I just registered to say that I don't try to cover the antenna, I just pick the phone with my hand like I've normally done with my previous iPhone and the signal goes away. This certainly is a design flaw because how are you not supposed to cover the antenna if the antena is surrounding the entire phone?.
Truth is no one really knows the issue and it's conjecture (even on my part). If the software fix that's coming soon doesn't fix the issue then it is a hardware issue.
The big mistake that Apple made was to tellpeople they're holding it the wrong way.
So I'm a righty, but whenever I'm doing anything besides calling with the phone, I hold it in my left hand (and operate with the right), in portrait mode, in the "death grip." Honest question: how else am I supposed to hold it? What righty doesn't hold it this way when browsing the internet or doing almost anything else in portrait mode? Holding it at the top not only feels unnatural and precarious, but clearly Apple didn't intend it that way since pinching it up there ends up pressing the volume buttons by accident.
So again, honest question: who doesn't hold the phone braced by their palm in the lower-left corner when in their left hand? I've probably seen 1000 people with iPhones in NYC over the years, and I can't recall a single one holding it any other way when holding it with one hand and operating the screen with the other.
Truth is no one really knows the issue and it's conjecture (even on my part). If the software fix that's coming soon doesn't fix the issue then it is a hardware issue.
With the tautological addendum of "...HW issue for those with the HW issue." as there is still no evidence to suggest that it's a design flaw affect all iPhone 4s.
Quote:
The big mistake that Apple made was to tellpeople they're holding it the wrong way.
I agree with this. I wish he's stop replying to emails at all. I think it's a waste of time that doesn't nothing to benefit their products, stock or their consumer base.
You make it sound as if people are covering the antenna on purpose just to complain. This is my first post and I just registered to say that I don't try to cover the antenna, I just pick the phone with my hand like I've normally done with my previous iPhone and the signal goes away. This certainly is a design flaw because how are you not supposed to cover the antenna if the antena is surrounding the entire phone?.
Is it is bad enough to take your phone back. This is a risk of high tech on day one. The problem could be a simple mistake on the production line or a software bug, or a design deficiency, the fact that it only occurs under certain conditions and is reproducible like changing the antenna wavelength by creating a short across the gap, means the engineers will have an easy time figuring out what is going on. The RSI #bars is pretty much meaningless and is an approximation especially when two way commas are not established with the tower. I would use a case until Apple has a chance to resolve issues
I dropped by the Apple store to do a little experiment for my own benefit and to check out the iPhone 4. First:
It's beautiful. The screen looks awesome, the interface is snappy, and the camera rocks, even in the fluorescent lighting of the Apple store. Protip: it's really fun to scroll through the camera memory to see all the people who took pictures of themselves.
What I did:
I walked around to the iPhone displays (12 of them) and held each phone deliberately trying to cause the problem. I held the phone in my left hand with the seam directly in my palm. I held each phone there for about a minute, sometimes less if the issue arose faster than that. I did not make any calls, and I relied only on the meter to tell me if the reception went away.
Results:
The signal dropped to one bar on all 12 of the phones. The signal never dropped to "No Signal". Because I did not attempt to make any phone calls, I do not know if this caused the call quality to be bad or diminished at all.
I also asked some people who were beside me to hold the phone in the same way. Sure enough, they saw the bars go away as well.
Conclusions:
There definitely is an issue. Since I only tested phones from one Apple store, it could have just been that this Apple store got a bad batch. An apple employee mentioned that the problem may have been related to a certain build week. Generally, retail employees are full of crap though.
I wouldn't advise you to run back to the store and demand your money back. It is possible that a software update on Monday will fix these woes. However, it is also possible that this is a hardware problem, so if you haven't already ordered one, I'd advise you to hold off, or order one with caution.
Obviously, this wasn't a scientific test. But for me, it was enough evidence for me to hold off on ordering an iPhone 4.
Oh please oh please let the next iPhone OS update include being able to turn off multi-tasking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why? Don't like it? Don't us it. From what I gather, most apps are just in suspended state and don't use resources or battery. The obvious exceptions are streaming radio, etc.
Gathering evidence from the reports on the web, this does not seem to be related to signal attenuation. Rather it seems to be related to shorting the GPS/WiFi antenna and the 3G antenna with your sweaty palms.
If it were merely signal attenuation then the solutions that seem to be working for people would not (e.g. putting a piece of transparent tape (an insulator) over the area where your palms would short the two antennas).
A simple test of this being correct or not would seem to be testing signal strength with your bare hands, and testing it again wearing non-conductive latex gloves.
You don't seem to mention this aspect of the story at all, instead focusing on perceived body attenuation.
If this is a shorting problem, I doubt any imagined quick fixes in software will have any effect other than to mask the issue.
Oh, and everyone, including the author, who is in a frenzy about this 'issue' seems to also be ignoring the preponderance of reports that also indicate that the new iPhone 4 has much better general voice quality and reception than any previous iPhone on AT&T. So everyone should calm down a little it seems.
So again, honest question: who doesn't hold the phone braced by their palm in the lower-left corner when in their left hand? I've probably seen 1000 people with iPhones in NYC over the years, and I can't recall a single one holding it any other way when holding it with one hand and operating the screen with the other.
Hold it with only your fingers!
What apple should do is program the UI to always display that it has 5 bars, thereby covering its own ass and AT&Ts ass as well.
There are numerous reports of the problem happening with Microcells. I've repeated the issue multiple times with two different microcell units. I've spoken to several friends who can repeat this with their microcells.
You really think all this can be solved with a software update?
Comments
Did you even read the article you linked? It excludes the 3GS... And yes, ive tried that already.
Sorry, I saw the title and it said 3GS so I assumed it worked. I didn't bother reading it because it doesn't apply to me.
At least the iPhone haters had their fun. Hopefully, the iPhone faithful will have the last laugh.
Maybe/hopefully this can be fixed in software, but it's not just about measurement in the UI, nor is it a typical issue that affects all phones.
Where'd you get that figure? I'm right-handed and I hold my phone in my right hand and use my thumb.
Talking about figures. No one know how widespread this issue is. We know that Apple sold at least 600K iPhone pre-orders. No one here will tell you how many are having this signal/grip "issue" but they still act like the sky is falling and how the antenna design is flawed
This happens every time Apple release a new device or model.
Yesterday, my wry tweet, "Blocking iPhone 4 antenna kills reception. Blocking mic kills audio, and covering the screen makes it impossible to see Retina Display" made it to the front page of Twitter and was retweeted more than a hundred times by people following the hullabaloo.
You make it sound as if people are covering the antenna on purpose just to complain. This is my first post and I just registered to say that I don't try to cover the antenna, I just pick the phone with my hand like I've normally done with my previous iPhone and the signal goes away. This certainly is a design flaw because how are you not supposed to cover the antenna if the antena is surrounding the entire phone?.
The big mistake that Apple made was to tellpeople they're holding it the wrong way.
So again, honest question: who doesn't hold the phone braced by their palm in the lower-left corner when in their left hand? I've probably seen 1000 people with iPhones in NYC over the years, and I can't recall a single one holding it any other way when holding it with one hand and operating the screen with the other.
"It appears that iOS 4, more so than previous iPhone software, presents a less accurate signal meter..."
If data throughput is used as a "proxy" for signal strength, then I get 0 signal strength with the death grip.
"the fact that the issue seems easily reproducible when connecting to a WWAN 3G network but does not appear when connecting to a Microcell 3G
At least one person posting on AI wrote that the problem arises when using their nearby Microcell.
This just reminds me that Apple is still a relatively new cell phone manufacturer.
and innovator.
Truth is no one really knows the issue and it's conjecture (even on my part). If the software fix that's coming soon doesn't fix the issue then it is a hardware issue.
With the tautological addendum of "...HW issue for those with the HW issue." as there is still no evidence to suggest that it's a design flaw affect all iPhone 4s.
The big mistake that Apple made was to tellpeople they're holding it the wrong way.
I agree with this. I wish he's stop replying to emails at all. I think it's a waste of time that doesn't nothing to benefit their products, stock or their consumer base.
You make it sound as if people are covering the antenna on purpose just to complain. This is my first post and I just registered to say that I don't try to cover the antenna, I just pick the phone with my hand like I've normally done with my previous iPhone and the signal goes away. This certainly is a design flaw because how are you not supposed to cover the antenna if the antena is surrounding the entire phone?.
Is it is bad enough to take your phone back. This is a risk of high tech on day one. The problem could be a simple mistake on the production line or a software bug, or a design deficiency, the fact that it only occurs under certain conditions and is reproducible like changing the antenna wavelength by creating a short across the gap, means the engineers will have an easy time figuring out what is going on. The RSI #bars is pretty much meaningless and is an approximation especially when two way commas are not established with the tower. I would use a case until Apple has a chance to resolve issues
It's beautiful. The screen looks awesome, the interface is snappy, and the camera rocks, even in the fluorescent lighting of the Apple store. Protip: it's really fun to scroll through the camera memory to see all the people who took pictures of themselves.
What I did:
I walked around to the iPhone displays (12 of them) and held each phone deliberately trying to cause the problem. I held the phone in my left hand with the seam directly in my palm. I held each phone there for about a minute, sometimes less if the issue arose faster than that. I did not make any calls, and I relied only on the meter to tell me if the reception went away.
Results:
The signal dropped to one bar on all 12 of the phones. The signal never dropped to "No Signal". Because I did not attempt to make any phone calls, I do not know if this caused the call quality to be bad or diminished at all.
I also asked some people who were beside me to hold the phone in the same way. Sure enough, they saw the bars go away as well.
Conclusions:
There definitely is an issue. Since I only tested phones from one Apple store, it could have just been that this Apple store got a bad batch. An apple employee mentioned that the problem may have been related to a certain build week. Generally, retail employees are full of crap though.
I wouldn't advise you to run back to the store and demand your money back. It is possible that a software update on Monday will fix these woes. However, it is also possible that this is a hardware problem, so if you haven't already ordered one, I'd advise you to hold off, or order one with caution.
Obviously, this wasn't a scientific test. But for me, it was enough evidence for me to hold off on ordering an iPhone 4.
Oh please oh please let the next iPhone OS update include being able to turn off multi-tasking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why? Don't like it? Don't us it. From what I gather, most apps are just in suspended state and don't use resources or battery. The obvious exceptions are streaming radio, etc.
If it were merely signal attenuation then the solutions that seem to be working for people would not (e.g. putting a piece of transparent tape (an insulator) over the area where your palms would short the two antennas).
A simple test of this being correct or not would seem to be testing signal strength with your bare hands, and testing it again wearing non-conductive latex gloves.
You don't seem to mention this aspect of the story at all, instead focusing on perceived body attenuation.
If this is a shorting problem, I doubt any imagined quick fixes in software will have any effect other than to mask the issue.
Oh, and everyone, including the author, who is in a frenzy about this 'issue' seems to also be ignoring the preponderance of reports that also indicate that the new iPhone 4 has much better general voice quality and reception than any previous iPhone on AT&T. So everyone should calm down a little it seems.
So again, honest question: who doesn't hold the phone braced by their palm in the lower-left corner when in their left hand? I've probably seen 1000 people with iPhones in NYC over the years, and I can't recall a single one holding it any other way when holding it with one hand and operating the screen with the other.
Hold it with only your fingers!
What apple should do is program the UI to always display that it has 5 bars, thereby covering its own ass and AT&Ts ass as well.
There are numerous reports of the problem happening with Microcells. I've repeated the issue multiple times with two different microcell units. I've spoken to several friends who can repeat this with their microcells.
You really think all this can be solved with a software update?