Nokia's manual adds, "Contact with antennas affects the communication quality and may cause the device to operate at a higher power level than otherwise needed and my reduce the battery life."
And to be fair, there's no mention of the Nokia dropping calls at all in the instructions. There's something to be said for hiding the antenna in the device housing rather than exposing it to the physical environment and the added unknowns that come with it, such as the 'death grip'.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
One is the "death grip" at the base of the phone deliberately trying to attenuate the signal by holding it in an unusual way
BTW, there's no 'unusual' way to hold a phone and certainly what's described as the death grip is not that unusual at all. Have a look around you. I hold my phone exactly they way the iphone issue is said to arise. Other's don't.
Is there a compendium of standard smart phone gripping techniques which I have somehow missed?
I switched from a Nokia as they did not repair it because it supposedly got water damage.
Now, what did I do to that Nokia phone? I went skiing with it, something I have done with each an every one of my 4 previous phones and the iPhone 3GS which replaced that crappy Nokia, no water damage whatsoever. Truth is, Nokia is a cheap and low class phone company that makes terrible and unusable phones, yeah the replaceable battery and 10 other moving parts on the phone make it vulnerable to humidity and physical damage, I lost CHF 400 on that shitty Nokia, and I hope they go down because at that time, I really did not have money to buy a phone, luckily my operator was much more professional and asked if I'd be interested in the iPhone 3GS at a reduced price, between the iPhone, Google phones and Blackberry I chose the one that looked like it would give me the least headaches and would have the lowest chance to deceive me, I was right.
Screw Nokia, their phones suck. I'm no fanboy, I looked around before I bought an iPhone, what I hate about Nokia is that they're jealous and pick at defaults of a new product, I'm sure I can find a new Nokia phone launch that was an epic failure.
It will be funny when they hear from Apple's attorneys and Apple demands a public apology or a multibillion dollar lawsuit.
I don't think the article mentions the iphone at all? Mere coincidence? Yes, I am being asinine but there's nothing for apple to latch onto in that blog post at all.
The difference, of course, is that Apple's ads didn't make outright false statements.
Owww come on, get a Mac ads were a parody and humorous , they were not based on facts, clever marketing based on stereotypes . The statements about pcs and viruses were blow out. So nokia is showing u how to hold a phone, what are you going to sue them over??
Similar to the article about the antennae issue from Price Mclean, this one misses the point and (I feel) is intentionally conflating two separate issues in order to downplay the problem with (a subset of?) the iPhone 4 devices.
As has been repeated a thousand times, all cellular phones --- and all RF devices --- will have their signal strength attenuated to some degree if you cover their antennae with your hands or other body parts. Consequently, many, if not most cell phones will show an increased signal strength when you set it down on a table. No one is disputing this.
In fact, this should also happen with the iPhone 4 to some degree, depending on how much you are covering the antennae portion.
On the other hand, at least some of the iPhone 4 units are experiencing a different phenomenon which is far more disruptive and can lead to a complete loss of signal. This phenomenon only occurs when the antennae is covered in a specific fashion, namely when it is held in a left-hand orientation. Based on all the reports, it almost assuredly is related to the fact that two different external antennae come together on the bottom-left corner of the device. These antennae are electrically separated by a small piece of rubber which keeps them from contacting each other. It appears that when someone holds the iPhone 4 in their left hand --- with their skin contacting both antennae --- they can act as a conductor and short the antennae together. This probably depends on local conditions, skin conductivity, etc, but appears to be widespread.
Some of the questions that immediately come up when this is discussed are:
1) How would Apple's engineers miss such a basic engineering flaw?
2) Why does this only affect certain people and not others?
Additionally, there was a rumor going around that a customer service representative told a customer that there was a manufacturing defect related to some "iPhones not receiving a coating"...
With this information, I think the most rational explanation is that the iPhone 4 was indeed designed to receive a special non-conductive, perhaps anti-corrosive, coating on the stainless-steel antennae during the manufacturing process -- and something went wrong on at least some of the assembly lines
This would easily explain the problem with how Apple's engineers wouldn't see a basic engineering problem. Similarly, coupled with the fact that signal strength is highly variable based upon local conditions/radio frequency/topography, this would also explain why many people are unable to replicate this problem. Their device may not have the manufacturing defect, or perhaps their signal strength is very high and so less affected by the antennae shorting than a device with a lower signal to begin with.
The only part of this situation that is still confusing is Apple's varied responses. I'm beginning to think that once Apple figured out how widespread this manufacturing defect could be, and in order to avoid a costly recall, they decided to downplay the issue and act like the antennae issue is normal behavior.
Don't buy it with an antenna or don't buy it with a government regulation on where the antenna can be placed and how powerful it can be?
No, if this antenna issue cannot be fixed with software and then Apple doesn't change the hardware on some level to address this, just don't buy it that way.
The FFC says you need to have the antenna at the bottom, they never said the antenna should be on the outside of the phone where 'your hand touches it'.
You're talking about antenna attenuation, I'm taking about bridging the antenna. Different issue. Now, if they can fix this with software then it's not a big deal. If that is the case however, Steve confused a lot of people by telling a user to not hold it in that way, rather than saying a software fix is coming.
Similar to the article about the antennae issue from Price Mclean, this one misses the point and (I feel) is intentionally conflating two separate issues in order to downplay the problem with (a subset of?) the iPhone 4 devices.
As has been repeated a thousand times, all cellular phones --- and all RF devices --- will have their signal strength attenuated to some degree if you cover their antennae with your hands or other body parts. Consequently, many, if not most cell phones will show an increased signal strength when you set it down on a table. No one is disputing this.
In fact, this should also happen with the iPhone 4 to some degree, depending on how much you are covering the antennae portion.
On the other hand, at least some of the iPhone 4 units are experiencing a different phenomenon which is far more disruptive and can lead to a complete loss of signal. This phenomenon only occurs when the antennae is covered in a specific fashion, namely when it is held in a left-hand orientation. Based on all the reports, it almost assuredly is related to the fact that two different external antennae come together on the bottom-left corner of the device. These antennae are electrically separated by a small piece of rubber which keeps them from contacting each other. It appears that when someone holds the iPhone 4 in their left hand --- with their skin contacting both antennae --- they can act as a conductor and short the antennae together. This probably depends on local conditions, skin conductivity, etc, but appears to be widespread.
Some of the questions that immediately come up when this is discussed are:
1) How would Apple's engineers miss such a basic engineering flaw?
2) Why does this only affect certain people and not others?
Additionally, there was a rumor going around that a customer service representative told a customer that there was a manufacturing defect related to some "iPhones not receiving a coating"...
With this information, I think the most rational explanation is that the iPhone 4 was indeed designed to receive a special non-conductive, perhaps anti-corrosive, coating on the stainless-steel antennae during the manufacturing process -- and something went wrong on at least some of the assembly lines
This would easily explain the problem with how Apple's engineers wouldn't see a basic engineering problem. Similarly, coupled with the fact that signal strength is highly variable based upon local conditions/radio frequency/topography, this would also explain why many people are unable to replicate this problem. Their device may not have the manufacturing defect, or perhaps their signal strength is very high and so less affected by the antennae shorting than a device with a lower signal to begin with.
The only part of this situation that is still confusing is Apple's varied responses. I'm beginning to think that once Apple figured out how widespread this manufacturing defect could be, and in order to avoid a costly recall, they decided to downplay the issue and act like the antennae issue is normal behavior.
Though after years of get a mac ads, Apple cannot complain if another company has a go at them.
Please don't confuse Apple with AppleInsider. AFAIK Apple has not responded, and probably will not respond, seeing as they were not directly mentioned. Besides, it seems like Nokia users have responded appropriately...
I would take the iPhone 4 with all its signal issues over Nokia's unusable UI.
Are you still posting that crap from last year, the N97 might be a failure of a device in your viewpoint, but they have had firmware updates since then
And don't forget, Apple had an ad banned in the UK for misrepresentation
It will be funny when they hear from Apple's attorneys and Apple demands a public apology or a multibillion dollar lawsuit.
I imagine it will be around the same time Nokia complains to Apple for using their "Connecting People" phrase, oh thats right, they didn't complain, did they!?!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
There is plenty of evidence that Nokia and other phones have the same problem.
All devices with an aerial will lose signal if you cover them, the difference in this case is Apple has placed the aerial where people hold the device and then blame the users for holding it wrong. Maybe they should tell people upfront, then there wouldn't be an issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
The difference, of course, is that Apple's ads didn't make outright false statements.
Comments
Nokia's manual adds, "Contact with antennas affects the communication quality and may cause the device to operate at a higher power level than otherwise needed and my reduce the battery life."
And to be fair, there's no mention of the Nokia dropping calls at all in the instructions. There's something to be said for hiding the antenna in the device housing rather than exposing it to the physical environment and the added unknowns that come with it, such as the 'death grip'.
One is the "death grip" at the base of the phone deliberately trying to attenuate the signal by holding it in an unusual way
BTW, there's no 'unusual' way to hold a phone and certainly what's described as the death grip is not that unusual at all. Have a look around you. I hold my phone exactly they way the iphone issue is said to arise. Other's don't.
Is there a compendium of standard smart phone gripping techniques which I have somehow missed?
Now, what did I do to that Nokia phone? I went skiing with it, something I have done with each an every one of my 4 previous phones and the iPhone 3GS which replaced that crappy Nokia, no water damage whatsoever. Truth is, Nokia is a cheap and low class phone company that makes terrible and unusable phones, yeah the replaceable battery and 10 other moving parts on the phone make it vulnerable to humidity and physical damage, I lost CHF 400 on that shitty Nokia, and I hope they go down because at that time, I really did not have money to buy a phone, luckily my operator was much more professional and asked if I'd be interested in the iPhone 3GS at a reduced price, between the iPhone, Google phones and Blackberry I chose the one that looked like it would give me the least headaches and would have the lowest chance to deceive me, I was right.
Screw Nokia, their phones suck.
It will be funny when they hear from Apple's attorneys and Apple demands a public apology or a multibillion dollar lawsuit.
I don't think the article mentions the iphone at all? Mere coincidence? Yes, I am being asinine but there's nothing for apple to latch onto in that blog post at all.
It will be funny when they hear from Apple's attorneys and Apple demands a public apology or a multibillion dollar lawsuit.
Sure hope so, that's what they should get for being rude and stupid. They could spend the time to post such BS improving their ill-conceived phones.
The difference, of course, is that Apple's ads didn't make outright false statements.
Owww come on, get a Mac ads were a parody and humorous , they were not based on facts, clever marketing based on stereotypes . The statements about pcs and viruses were blow out. So nokia is showing u how to hold a phone, what are you going to sue them over??
While I don't care for the way Jobs responded via email (or that he does respond at all) it looks like he was accurate.
Yeah, or just don't buy it that way.
As has been repeated a thousand times, all cellular phones --- and all RF devices --- will have their signal strength attenuated to some degree if you cover their antennae with your hands or other body parts. Consequently, many, if not most cell phones will show an increased signal strength when you set it down on a table. No one is disputing this.
In fact, this should also happen with the iPhone 4 to some degree, depending on how much you are covering the antennae portion.
On the other hand, at least some of the iPhone 4 units are experiencing a different phenomenon which is far more disruptive and can lead to a complete loss of signal. This phenomenon only occurs when the antennae is covered in a specific fashion, namely when it is held in a left-hand orientation. Based on all the reports, it almost assuredly is related to the fact that two different external antennae come together on the bottom-left corner of the device. These antennae are electrically separated by a small piece of rubber which keeps them from contacting each other. It appears that when someone holds the iPhone 4 in their left hand --- with their skin contacting both antennae --- they can act as a conductor and short the antennae together. This probably depends on local conditions, skin conductivity, etc, but appears to be widespread.
Some of the questions that immediately come up when this is discussed are:
1) How would Apple's engineers miss such a basic engineering flaw?
2) Why does this only affect certain people and not others?
Additionally, there was a rumor going around that a customer service representative told a customer that there was a manufacturing defect related to some "iPhones not receiving a coating"...
With this information, I think the most rational explanation is that the iPhone 4 was indeed designed to receive a special non-conductive, perhaps anti-corrosive, coating on the stainless-steel antennae during the manufacturing process -- and something went wrong on at least some of the assembly lines
This would easily explain the problem with how Apple's engineers wouldn't see a basic engineering problem. Similarly, coupled with the fact that signal strength is highly variable based upon local conditions/radio frequency/topography, this would also explain why many people are unable to replicate this problem. Their device may not have the manufacturing defect, or perhaps their signal strength is very high and so less affected by the antennae shorting than a device with a lower signal to begin with.
The only part of this situation that is still confusing is Apple's varied responses. I'm beginning to think that once Apple figured out how widespread this manufacturing defect could be, and in order to avoid a costly recall, they decided to downplay the issue and act like the antennae issue is normal behavior.
What do you guys think?
Yeah, or just don't buy it that way.
Don't buy it with an antenna or don't buy it with a government regulation on where the antenna can be placed and how powerful it can be?
Don't buy it with an antenna or don't buy it with a government regulation on where the antenna can be placed and how powerful it can be?
No, if this antenna issue cannot be fixed with software and then Apple doesn't change the hardware on some level to address this, just don't buy it that way.
The FFC says you need to have the antenna at the bottom, they never said the antenna should be on the outside of the phone where 'your hand touches it'.
You're talking about antenna attenuation, I'm taking about bridging the antenna. Different issue. Now, if they can fix this with software then it's not a big deal. If that is the case however, Steve confused a lot of people by telling a user to not hold it in that way, rather than saying a software fix is coming.
Similar to the article about the antennae issue from Price Mclean, this one misses the point and (I feel) is intentionally conflating two separate issues in order to downplay the problem with (a subset of?) the iPhone 4 devices.
As has been repeated a thousand times, all cellular phones --- and all RF devices --- will have their signal strength attenuated to some degree if you cover their antennae with your hands or other body parts. Consequently, many, if not most cell phones will show an increased signal strength when you set it down on a table. No one is disputing this.
In fact, this should also happen with the iPhone 4 to some degree, depending on how much you are covering the antennae portion.
On the other hand, at least some of the iPhone 4 units are experiencing a different phenomenon which is far more disruptive and can lead to a complete loss of signal. This phenomenon only occurs when the antennae is covered in a specific fashion, namely when it is held in a left-hand orientation. Based on all the reports, it almost assuredly is related to the fact that two different external antennae come together on the bottom-left corner of the device. These antennae are electrically separated by a small piece of rubber which keeps them from contacting each other. It appears that when someone holds the iPhone 4 in their left hand --- with their skin contacting both antennae --- they can act as a conductor and short the antennae together. This probably depends on local conditions, skin conductivity, etc, but appears to be widespread.
Some of the questions that immediately come up when this is discussed are:
1) How would Apple's engineers miss such a basic engineering flaw?
2) Why does this only affect certain people and not others?
Additionally, there was a rumor going around that a customer service representative told a customer that there was a manufacturing defect related to some "iPhones not receiving a coating"...
With this information, I think the most rational explanation is that the iPhone 4 was indeed designed to receive a special non-conductive, perhaps anti-corrosive, coating on the stainless-steel antennae during the manufacturing process -- and something went wrong on at least some of the assembly lines
This would easily explain the problem with how Apple's engineers wouldn't see a basic engineering problem. Similarly, coupled with the fact that signal strength is highly variable based upon local conditions/radio frequency/topography, this would also explain why many people are unable to replicate this problem. Their device may not have the manufacturing defect, or perhaps their signal strength is very high and so less affected by the antennae shorting than a device with a lower signal to begin with.
The only part of this situation that is still confusing is Apple's varied responses. I'm beginning to think that once Apple figured out how widespread this manufacturing defect could be, and in order to avoid a costly recall, they decided to downplay the issue and act like the antennae issue is normal behavior.
What do you guys think?
I think that's an amazing post.
Though after years of get a mac ads, Apple cannot complain if another company has a go at them.
Please don't confuse Apple with AppleInsider. AFAIK Apple has not responded, and probably will not respond, seeing as they were not directly mentioned. Besides, it seems like Nokia users have responded appropriately...
I would take the iPhone 4 with all its signal issues over Nokia's unusable UI.
Are you still posting that crap from last year, the N97 might be a failure of a device in your viewpoint, but they have had firmware updates since then
And don't forget, Apple had an ad banned in the UK for misrepresentation
It will be funny when they hear from Apple's attorneys and Apple demands a public apology or a multibillion dollar lawsuit.
I imagine it will be around the same time Nokia complains to Apple for using their "Connecting People" phrase, oh thats right, they didn't complain, did they!?!?
There is plenty of evidence that Nokia and other phones have the same problem.
All devices with an aerial will lose signal if you cover them, the difference in this case is Apple has placed the aerial where people hold the device and then blame the users for holding it wrong. Maybe they should tell people upfront, then there wouldn't be an issue.
The difference, of course, is that Apple's ads didn't make outright false statements.
Yet they had an ad in the UK banned...
I would take the iPhone 4 with all its signal issues over Nokia's unusable UI.
a phone makes phone calls.
a phone makes phone calls.
And the iPhone is more than just a phone.
a phone makes phone calls.
I like turtles?
I looked but can't find the URL to Apple's blog. Can someone post it? I did find Steve Jobs' personal blog. Hilarious!
Yet they had an ad in the UK banned...
An ad in a country? How many ads does Apple show in how many countries in a typical year?
Holding your hand over the screen prevents normal function of the Retina Display
Holding your hand over the microphone makes it harder for the other person to hear you
Holding your hand over the aerial makes it harder for the phone to receive a signal
PS iPhone 4 owner here...not a single issue so far, even when trying to reproduce some of them..