I have to say, the reporting on this from AI seems quite poor from an objectivity standpoint.
I fear you're confusing PR spin control with journalism.
I don't believe AI see themselves as a news site - rather it's a blog for Apple enthusiasts I think, with freelance contributors providing the 'news' leads. How those contributors are chosen is something only AI's owners and mods know for sure, but it seems clear that DED (including his other aliases) has a standing arrangement to feature his 'work' in the news space when he feels so motivated.
Which is often.
Mostly these are hatchet-job pieces on Apple's enemy of the moment, like Adobe, RIM, Google, Android, and so on. In fact I'm certain that nothing he provides is other than such attacks, or alternatively, rah-rah pieces praising Apple.
"Daniel" is a "flack", a PR spin-meister whose fulltime job it seems is to both bolster the Apple corporate line and chew out their opposition under assumed names and at various sites across the blogosphere. Whatever "Death Grip hysteria may end Monday with iOS 4.01" is, it sure ain't journalism.
No more than the phony stories about "death panels" ended. It doesn't end when being deliberately fed by a malicious website, Gizmodo, which has a good reason to pick up and exaggerate every single possible story: revenge. They want to show Apple that they can interfere with a spectacularly-selling product by spreading phony or exaggerated stories about it. I guess when you're looking at some jail time, you get desperate. Watch out, Steve, they're doing a drive-by.
It DEFINITELY does happen with MicroCell... That's my configuration here at home and I still get the 5 bars to zero on my iPhone 4 when I hold it "wrong."
I can't seem to make it happen, myself. The Microcell keeps the thing at 5 bars.
I hope they fix the broken bluetooth in 4.0.1 as well... Can't connect to my car any longer and it seems that there's a lot of people out there experiencing the same issue.
Try it again. It recognizes my stereo headset perfectly.
Why didn't Steve say that then, instead of the holding position crap? Something sounds fishy. Were relying on very shady information here, and why was it taken down?
Yeah fucking right. If the phone doesn't work as advertised, without a case - you blew it. I want an iPhone 4 like the next guy, but color me extremely cautious.
Wear rubber gloves when using your iPhone 4. That should solve your problem.
To members in the UK, is your iPhone 4 suffering from any of these problems?
Mine's fine if not even better than my 3G. I read a lot about these issues but I can honestly say all my iPhones have worked beautifully. The 3G is on O2, the 4 is on Vodafone and seems even better. Maybe due to the new antenna?
All these connection issues seem to be isolated to the US, well at least from my reading. Any feedback on UK iPhones would be great.
Why didn't Steve say that then, instead of the holding position crap? Something sounds fishy. Were relying on very shady information here, and why was it taken down?
Yeah fucking right. If the phone doesn't work as advertised, without a case - you blew it. I want an iPhone 4 like the next guy, but color me extremely cautious.
Okay, but how is it crap? Those who've experienced the problem can rectify (albeit temporarily) with readjusting how they hold it, or by using a bumper. No, that's not a permanent fix, but it's completely workable until a fix or recall is released or announced.
Yes, Steve came off as abrasive, but why are you expecting a 55 year old man, set in his ways to suddenly be kind and cuddly. As to wanting the phone and being cautious, I'm not going to fault you at all for either. Fortunately, my phone hasn't expressed this issue, so that makes me curious to the claims that it's hardware exclusively.
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.
Nice attempt at being clever. But, IF this call-dropping behavior is widespread, it is hardly comparable to blocking the mic or screen. A phone call should not depend on your grip any more than a car's engine should depend on the posture of the driver. It's not as if people are wrapping their iPhone 4s in aluminum foil - they're holding it in their left hand for goodness sake.
If there's a design flaw, there's a design flaw. If there's not, there's not. But your "wry" tweet is flawed logically, and this passage of your article comes off as obnoxious.
Ya... a software update is going to redesign the antenna to cover it with scotch tape...
Maybe a software update will give it a 4.3" screen too.
Oh, Another Andriod user trying convince people that a 10" netbook should be phone(try making call with it). and BTW, none of the phones out there are problem free otherwise you won't visiting apple fan sites to find whether it has problems or not.
Trolls are self-convinced morons who have made a decision based on some criteria of choice & trying to convince more people so that it will justify him that he has made a right decision.
That is a shitty remark in that email claiming that the person is holding it wrong. Apple fucked up with this design and does not have the decency to admit it.
To be honest, Apple are making too many mistakes with their products now since they have grown in size, quality cuntrol is failing.
What with Snow Leopard crashing, iMac screen smearing, iPad not connecting to wi-fi and now iPhone losing reception.
I am confused. How come none of the reviewers - David Pogue, Walt Mossberg, ? - weren't having these issues?
Untill iPhone 5 we'll have to make pinched phone calls. It's yet another way to distinguish ourselves from the "others" making grabbed phone calls.
(1) The Pinch = using your Thumb, Index and Middle Finger (very feminine & sophisticated)
(2) The Grab = using your Hand (very masculine and android)
?
(3) The Earplugs = handsfree phone calls
(4) The Bumper = if you can't help but to grab your phone (like a REAL man). Agree, Apple should give one for free, or 30$ for a six pack with different colors.
That is a shitty remark in that email claiming that the person is holding it wrong. Apple fucked up with this design and does not have the decency to admit it.
To be honest, Apple are making too many mistakes with their products now since they have grown in size, quality cuntrol is failing.
What with Snow Leopard crashing, iMac screen smearing, iPad not connecting to wi-fi and now iPhone losing reception.
yeah and now snow leopard is fine, the ipad issue gone and...
seriously, wait for the facts everyone. The fact that the EU based phones seem to have very few problems speaks volumes. We still have no idea what the sample size is of this fault, so lets wait and be a little scientific shall we? Of course there is a fault somewhere, but you judge a company with how they deal with it, and apple's record is good here. It would be reckless for apple to say they are aware of a generic fault without any idea of the true scale, or if there actually is one on all the phones, act WITH THE INFORMATION. This is basic crisis management stuff, really...
yeah and now snow leopard is fine, the ipad issue gone and...
seriously, wait for the facts everyone. The fact that the EU based phones seem to have very few problems speaks volumes. We still have no idea what the sample size is of this fault, so lets wait and be a little scientific shall we? Of course there is a fault somewhere, but you judge a company with how they deal with it, and apple's record is good here. It would be reckless for apple to say they are aware of a generic fault without any idea of the true scale, or if there actually is one on all the phones, act WITH THE INFORMATION. This is basic crisis management stuff, really...
Sir, I beg to differ with you on basic crisis management. The first thing you do is admit there's a problem and be utterly honest about the solution (This is done in the first hours of the crisis). That hasn't happened here and as a result Apple is being pilloried on the National News Networks, the FRONT PAGE of the New York Times, most local station.
I mean, come on, an iPhone you can't hold. Hyperbole? Sadly no.
People just want to be assured they won't be stuck with a useless brick. Do you get that? Geez.
To members in the UK, is your iPhone 4 suffering from any of these problems?
Mine's fine if not even better than my 3G. I read a lot about these issues but I can honestly say all my iPhones have worked beautifully. The 3G is on O2, the 4 is on Vodafone and seems even better. Maybe due to the new antenna?
All these connection issues seem to be isolated to the US, well at least from my reading. Any feedback on UK iPhones would be great.
I'm in the UK and I can replicate the problem easily!
As I type this (holding the phone in my left hand and using my right hand to type with!) I have no reception at all. The same thing happens at work. Network is Vodafone.
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.
Seriously, if the software fix doesn't do it, there will be multitudes of ripped off users who will be pissed off.
Seriously, really it won't be that bad. I can get it to reproduce the problem and it's very hit and miss if it actually does it, sometimes nothing happens at all. And that's with a difference in location of a few metres.
This probably has a lot more to do with your surroundings affecting your ability to be an effective antenna. Curiously, the bar dropping happens mostly when I'm near a computer.
But my bumpers have sorted the problem anyway, and to be honest, if you haven't got your iPhone 4 in a case you are just insane!
Sir, I beg to differ with you on basic crisis management. The first thing you do is admit there's a problem and be utterly honest about the solution
Surely it's bad management to admit to ANYTHING without taking the time properly evaluate the situation. Blindly agreeing with some random people would arguably be a sign of very poor management and decision making skills. What COMPETENT manager would back themselves into a corner without the means of walking out of that corner?
It needs to be looked at carefully, not have totally flailing around with un-coordinated responses leading to no clear message being given.
While they're at it, maybe Apple will see fit to address the issues some are having with flaky/faulty proximity sensors that keep either muting, disconnecting, or placing calls on speakerphone for no apparent reason.
I guess we're not supposed to place the phone near our faces when making calls now... Geez!
While they're at it, maybe Apple will see fit to address the issues some are having with flaky/faulty proximity sensors that keep either muting, disconnecting, or placing calls on speakerphone for no apparent reason.
I guess we're not supposed to place the phone near our faces when making calls now... Geez!
Actually there aren't any proximity sensors anymore. Instead it defers that functionality to the front-facing camera. The "proximity sensors" only deactivate the screen, they don't actually do the muting, disconnecting etc.
I think if you are absolutely bathed in light and move the phone more than about 1cm away from your face it deems that it is no longer in proximity to your face and so reactivates the touch screen.
I'm sure they'll just tweak the tolerance levels for that in software, as that is all that is at fault here.
There are insulating seams between the external antennas on the iPhone 4. The antennas are clearly not meant to be connected electrically, otherwise Apple wouldn't have put the seams there.
Skin conducts. It doesn't even have to be "sweaty." The only reason the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen works is because your fingers conduct electricity, and they aren't always sweaty, right?
So, by holding the phone in the most natural, obvious way, you are circumventing the insulation that Apple's engineers put between the antennas.
It's no wonder this is a problem and I don't see how any amount of software patching is going to fix it.
More interesting is why only some people experience the problem, and why others experience it intermittently. Is it possible that Apple put an insulating laminant on some of the antennas and not others? Maybe the signal drop has to do with the interaction between both antennas, e.g., it will only happen if wifi or Bluetooth is enabled/active.
It's a shame that so many people are taking the time to make YouTube videos about the problem and post on message boards, but don't seem curious enough to take a multimeter and measure the conductivity of the steel band, or try bridging the seams with different RF features enabled/disabled, etc. etc.
Comments
I have to say, the reporting on this from AI seems quite poor from an objectivity standpoint.
I fear you're confusing PR spin control with journalism.
I don't believe AI see themselves as a news site - rather it's a blog for Apple enthusiasts I think, with freelance contributors providing the 'news' leads. How those contributors are chosen is something only AI's owners and mods know for sure, but it seems clear that DED (including his other aliases) has a standing arrangement to feature his 'work' in the news space when he feels so motivated.
Which is often.
Mostly these are hatchet-job pieces on Apple's enemy of the moment, like Adobe, RIM, Google, Android, and so on. In fact I'm certain that nothing he provides is other than such attacks, or alternatively, rah-rah pieces praising Apple.
"Daniel" is a "flack", a PR spin-meister whose fulltime job it seems is to both bolster the Apple corporate line and chew out their opposition under assumed names and at various sites across the blogosphere. Whatever "Death Grip hysteria may end Monday with iOS 4.01" is, it sure ain't journalism.
It DEFINITELY does happen with MicroCell... That's my configuration here at home and I still get the 5 bars to zero on my iPhone 4 when I hold it "wrong."
I can't seem to make it happen, myself. The Microcell keeps the thing at 5 bars.
My download speeds are about 9000 mbps. Whoopee!
I hope they fix the broken bluetooth in 4.0.1 as well... Can't connect to my car any longer and it seems that there's a lot of people out there experiencing the same issue.
Try it again. It recognizes my stereo headset perfectly.
Why didn't Steve say that then, instead of the holding position crap? Something sounds fishy. Were relying on very shady information here, and why was it taken down?
Yeah fucking right. If the phone doesn't work as advertised, without a case - you blew it. I want an iPhone 4 like the next guy, but color me extremely cautious.
Wear rubber gloves when using your iPhone 4. That should solve your problem.
Mine's fine if not even better than my 3G. I read a lot about these issues but I can honestly say all my iPhones have worked beautifully. The 3G is on O2, the 4 is on Vodafone and seems even better. Maybe due to the new antenna?
All these connection issues seem to be isolated to the US, well at least from my reading. Any feedback on UK iPhones would be great.
Why didn't Steve say that then, instead of the holding position crap? Something sounds fishy. Were relying on very shady information here, and why was it taken down?
Yeah fucking right. If the phone doesn't work as advertised, without a case - you blew it. I want an iPhone 4 like the next guy, but color me extremely cautious.
Okay, but how is it crap? Those who've experienced the problem can rectify (albeit temporarily) with readjusting how they hold it, or by using a bumper. No, that's not a permanent fix, but it's completely workable until a fix or recall is released or announced.
Yes, Steve came off as abrasive, but why are you expecting a 55 year old man, set in his ways to suddenly be kind and cuddly. As to wanting the phone and being cautious, I'm not going to fault you at all for either. Fortunately, my phone hasn't expressed this issue, so that makes me curious to the claims that it's hardware exclusively.
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.
Nice attempt at being clever. But, IF this call-dropping behavior is widespread, it is hardly comparable to blocking the mic or screen. A phone call should not depend on your grip any more than a car's engine should depend on the posture of the driver. It's not as if people are wrapping their iPhone 4s in aluminum foil - they're holding it in their left hand for goodness sake.
If there's a design flaw, there's a design flaw. If there's not, there's not. But your "wry" tweet is flawed logically, and this passage of your article comes off as obnoxious.
Making excuses for Apple again.
Ya... a software update is going to redesign the antenna to cover it with scotch tape...
Maybe a software update will give it a 4.3" screen too.
Oh, Another Andriod user trying convince people that a 10" netbook should be phone(try making call with it). and BTW, none of the phones out there are problem free otherwise you won't visiting apple fan sites to find whether it has problems or not.
Trolls are self-convinced morons who have made a decision based on some criteria of choice & trying to convince more people so that it will justify him that he has made a right decision.
That is a shitty remark in that email claiming that the person is holding it wrong. Apple fucked up with this design and does not have the decency to admit it.
To be honest, Apple are making too many mistakes with their products now since they have grown in size, quality cuntrol is failing.
What with Snow Leopard crashing, iMac screen smearing, iPad not connecting to wi-fi and now iPhone losing reception.
Untill iPhone 5 we'll have to make pinched phone calls. It's yet another way to distinguish ourselves from the "others" making grabbed phone calls.
(1) The Pinch = using your Thumb, Index and Middle Finger (very feminine & sophisticated)
(2) The Grab = using your Hand (very masculine and android)
?
(3) The Earplugs = handsfree phone calls
(4) The Bumper = if you can't help but to grab your phone (like a REAL man). Agree, Apple should give one for free, or 30$ for a six pack with different colors.
Steve Jobs is becoming a bit of a twunt !!
That is a shitty remark in that email claiming that the person is holding it wrong. Apple fucked up with this design and does not have the decency to admit it.
To be honest, Apple are making too many mistakes with their products now since they have grown in size, quality cuntrol is failing.
What with Snow Leopard crashing, iMac screen smearing, iPad not connecting to wi-fi and now iPhone losing reception.
yeah and now snow leopard is fine, the ipad issue gone and...
seriously, wait for the facts everyone. The fact that the EU based phones seem to have very few problems speaks volumes. We still have no idea what the sample size is of this fault, so lets wait and be a little scientific shall we? Of course there is a fault somewhere, but you judge a company with how they deal with it, and apple's record is good here. It would be reckless for apple to say they are aware of a generic fault without any idea of the true scale, or if there actually is one on all the phones, act WITH THE INFORMATION. This is basic crisis management stuff, really...
I'm left-handed and using a friend's new iPhone I can replicate the problem with my normal usage. Easily.
It would be nice if Apple QA/Industrial Design tested obvious stuff like this.
Anyone remember when they totally hosed boot times on laptops around 2004 in a sw update?
The Apple QA team needs a revamp with fresh eyes.
I don't mean to be harsh. I've been an Apple user since the Apple ][, but the current QA situation is terrible.
yeah and now snow leopard is fine, the ipad issue gone and...
seriously, wait for the facts everyone. The fact that the EU based phones seem to have very few problems speaks volumes. We still have no idea what the sample size is of this fault, so lets wait and be a little scientific shall we? Of course there is a fault somewhere, but you judge a company with how they deal with it, and apple's record is good here. It would be reckless for apple to say they are aware of a generic fault without any idea of the true scale, or if there actually is one on all the phones, act WITH THE INFORMATION. This is basic crisis management stuff, really...
Sir, I beg to differ with you on basic crisis management. The first thing you do is admit there's a problem and be utterly honest about the solution (This is done in the first hours of the crisis). That hasn't happened here and as a result Apple is being pilloried on the National News Networks, the FRONT PAGE of the New York Times, most local station.
I mean, come on, an iPhone you can't hold. Hyperbole? Sadly no.
People just want to be assured they won't be stuck with a useless brick. Do you get that? Geez.
To members in the UK, is your iPhone 4 suffering from any of these problems?
Mine's fine if not even better than my 3G. I read a lot about these issues but I can honestly say all my iPhones have worked beautifully. The 3G is on O2, the 4 is on Vodafone and seems even better. Maybe due to the new antenna?
All these connection issues seem to be isolated to the US, well at least from my reading. Any feedback on UK iPhones would be great.
I'm in the UK and I can replicate the problem easily!
As I type this (holding the phone in my left hand and using my right hand to type with!) I have no reception at all. The same thing happens at work. Network is Vodafone.
Loss of reception while dialing out?
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.
Seriously, if the software fix doesn't do it, there will be multitudes of ripped off users who will be pissed off.
Seriously, really it won't be that bad. I can get it to reproduce the problem and it's very hit and miss if it actually does it, sometimes nothing happens at all. And that's with a difference in location of a few metres.
This probably has a lot more to do with your surroundings affecting your ability to be an effective antenna. Curiously, the bar dropping happens mostly when I'm near a computer.
But my bumpers have sorted the problem anyway, and to be honest, if you haven't got your iPhone 4 in a case you are just insane!
Sir, I beg to differ with you on basic crisis management. The first thing you do is admit there's a problem and be utterly honest about the solution
Surely it's bad management to admit to ANYTHING without taking the time properly evaluate the situation. Blindly agreeing with some random people would arguably be a sign of very poor management and decision making skills. What COMPETENT manager would back themselves into a corner without the means of walking out of that corner?
It needs to be looked at carefully, not have totally flailing around with un-coordinated responses leading to no clear message being given.
I guess we're not supposed to place the phone near our faces when making calls now... Geez!
While they're at it, maybe Apple will see fit to address the issues some are having with flaky/faulty proximity sensors that keep either muting, disconnecting, or placing calls on speakerphone for no apparent reason.
I guess we're not supposed to place the phone near our faces when making calls now... Geez!
Actually there aren't any proximity sensors anymore. Instead it defers that functionality to the front-facing camera. The "proximity sensors" only deactivate the screen, they don't actually do the muting, disconnecting etc.
I think if you are absolutely bathed in light and move the phone more than about 1cm away from your face it deems that it is no longer in proximity to your face and so reactivates the touch screen.
I'm sure they'll just tweak the tolerance levels for that in software, as that is all that is at fault here.
There are insulating seams between the external antennas on the iPhone 4. The antennas are clearly not meant to be connected electrically, otherwise Apple wouldn't have put the seams there.
Skin conducts. It doesn't even have to be "sweaty." The only reason the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen works is because your fingers conduct electricity, and they aren't always sweaty, right?
So, by holding the phone in the most natural, obvious way, you are circumventing the insulation that Apple's engineers put between the antennas.
It's no wonder this is a problem and I don't see how any amount of software patching is going to fix it.
More interesting is why only some people experience the problem, and why others experience it intermittently. Is it possible that Apple put an insulating laminant on some of the antennas and not others? Maybe the signal drop has to do with the interaction between both antennas, e.g., it will only happen if wifi or Bluetooth is enabled/active.
It's a shame that so many people are taking the time to make YouTube videos about the problem and post on message boards, but don't seem curious enough to take a multimeter and measure the conductivity of the steel band, or try bridging the seams with different RF features enabled/disabled, etc. etc.