HTC, Samsung also take issue with Apple's antenna claims
Smartphone rivals HTC and Samsung have both chimed in on Apple's antenna attenuation claims made last week, with both companies suggesting their handsets do not lose signal when held improperly.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, HTC said on Monday that reception problems are not common on smartphones, regardless of what Apple said at its iPhone 4 press conference on Friday. HTC suggested that Apple should fix its own phone rather than bring competitors into the fray.
"The reception problems are certainly not common among smartphones," the company's chief financial officer, Hui-Meng Cheng, said. "They apparently didn't give operators enough time to test the phone."
But John Gruber of Daring Fireball also pointed out on Monday a screenshot from HTC's instruction manual for the Droid Eris. Page 13 includes an illustration of the Droid Eris, showing the portion of the phone where the antenna is located, and instructing users not to touch there.
"Avoiding contact with the antenna area when the phone is IN USE optimizes the antenna performance and the battery life," the manual reads.
In addition, Samsung also gave comment on Apple's claims, as the Cupertino, Calif., company specifically cited the Omnia II smartphone in a video showing signal attenuation. The company simply noted that it "hasn't received significant customer feedbacks on any signal reduction issue for the Omnia II."
The comments come after both Nokia and Research in Motion also issued official statements disputing Apple's statements from its press conference. RIM said the company's approach was an "attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle," while Nokia did not specifically mention Apple, and instead called itself "the pioneer in internal antennas."
Since the iPhone 4 was launched and users discovered they could lose reception by holding it in the bottom left corner, Apple has maintained that any mobile phone experiences reception issues when held improperly. The company, on Friday, said it will address customer concerns with the iPhone 4 by giving away free cases for every customer through Sept. 30.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, HTC said on Monday that reception problems are not common on smartphones, regardless of what Apple said at its iPhone 4 press conference on Friday. HTC suggested that Apple should fix its own phone rather than bring competitors into the fray.
"The reception problems are certainly not common among smartphones," the company's chief financial officer, Hui-Meng Cheng, said. "They apparently didn't give operators enough time to test the phone."
But John Gruber of Daring Fireball also pointed out on Monday a screenshot from HTC's instruction manual for the Droid Eris. Page 13 includes an illustration of the Droid Eris, showing the portion of the phone where the antenna is located, and instructing users not to touch there.
"Avoiding contact with the antenna area when the phone is IN USE optimizes the antenna performance and the battery life," the manual reads.
In addition, Samsung also gave comment on Apple's claims, as the Cupertino, Calif., company specifically cited the Omnia II smartphone in a video showing signal attenuation. The company simply noted that it "hasn't received significant customer feedbacks on any signal reduction issue for the Omnia II."
The comments come after both Nokia and Research in Motion also issued official statements disputing Apple's statements from its press conference. RIM said the company's approach was an "attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle," while Nokia did not specifically mention Apple, and instead called itself "the pioneer in internal antennas."
Since the iPhone 4 was launched and users discovered they could lose reception by holding it in the bottom left corner, Apple has maintained that any mobile phone experiences reception issues when held improperly. The company, on Friday, said it will address customer concerns with the iPhone 4 by giving away free cases for every customer through Sept. 30.
Comments
I don't remember Steve Jobs specifically saying that mobile phones made by HTC and Samsung lose their signal when touched. His demo showed that the number of bars will drop when you hold the phone in a certain way. He did not say that this inevitably leads to a loss of signal and the inability to have a conversation.
Exactly. There is a world of difference between dropped bars and dropped calls.
All 3 owners must be in good quality areas so......
the more this happens the more apple is going to get caught with there pants down,,
im not a apple hater,,, but i am apple discouraged with the attitude of late
well |I just retired my 3g (after putting 4.0 on it ,, it lagged bad),,iphone 4 looks to apple restrictive,, went droid,, and the choices and layout is unlimited,, like a burden has been lifted, all web pages and emails open fully,,, i got the xperia x10,, ive tried everything to have signal drop,, no dice,, so my response to mr. jobs is that not all phones have the deficiencies of your product,, and your rush to make your products obsolete by rushing products out on one end and holding back other parts,,,
the more this happens the more apple is going to get caught with there pants down,,
im not a apple hater,,, but i am apple discouraged with the attitude of late
Well we all hope you're happy with your new phone, but you should have someone look at that keyboard -- seems like your comma key gets stuck too easily.
im not a apple hater,,, but i am apple discouraged with the attitude of late
This is my feeling exactly. I still love my Mac, and ironically, I still love my iPad, but their attitude and reaction to everything that is going on is a bit disturbing. Not to the point that I will stop supporting their products (as long as they are of the utmost quality), but now I am keeping a more watchful eye on the alternatives. We'll see if anything significant happens after that September 30th deadline, and is it's still underwhelming, Apple will have forced my hand into something else.
Well we all hope you're happy with your new phone, but you should have someone look at that keyboard -- seems like your comma key gets stuck too easily.
yes it doesss,, so does my sss sssomtimes,,, but this is on my mac,,, next time i will do on my xperi
well |I just retired my 3g (after putting 4.0 on it ,, it lagged bad),,iphone 4 looks to apple restrictive,, went droid,, and the choices and layout is unlimited,, like a burden has been lifted, all web pages and emails open fully,,, i got the xperia x10,, ive tried everything to have signal drop,, no dice,, so my response to mr. jobs is that not all phones have the deficiencies of your product,, and your rush to make your products obsolete by rushing products out on one end and holding back other parts,,,
the more this happens the more apple is going to get caught with there pants down,,
im not a apple hater,,, but i am apple discouraged with the attitude of late
Awwwwww. Need a tissue? So glad the great burden of owning Apple products has been lifted off your back. Enjoy your delusional fantasy, er uh I mean unburdened escape from the clutches if the Evil Empire into the soft delicate hands of droid bliss.
Everyone's Iphone 4's seem to be working fine with one caveat, the antennae. The phone is in no way defective, merely imperfect as all phone's *and all electronics) are in some way. The droid OS is terrible, HTC hardware is crap. Everything sucks on a droid.
Iphone 4 owners have to have to use a case, hold it a certain way or turn off 3G. Not a big deal to me over the deficiencies of owning a craptastic droid. Especially 3G, eats too much battery anyway.
Funny you didn't even bother to look at IP4. I am now waiting for mine since I realized (IMO) all of these stories are gross exaggerations, perpetuated by loud mouth, non expert, whiny bloggers throwing temper tantrums in an attempt to garner attention for their sad, sad blogging lives by spreading nothing short of propaganda, possibly cooked up by Apple's competitors when a fairly minor flaw was uncovered. Apple took a big chance at making a better antenna and it worked. Reception is better, but it also presented a flaw. How many times have we seen that in the tech business? Kudos for Apple taking a chance, sorry it didn't work out for everybody. Everyone else was happy with 3G phones that got worse reception than the clunkers from the early 90's, but obviously Apple wanted the best antenna they could make. In creating a new standard it introduced a problem they didn't see soon enough.
Not a perfect antenna, I Know, but I know how to mitigate the problem and I still have the better phone, the better camera, the better screen, the best ipod, video chat, the best apps, the best OS, the best book, tv and movie store as well. Oh well, enjoy the freedom to embrace mediocrity.
Awwwwww. Need a tissue? So glad the great burden of owning Apple products has been lifted off your back. Enjoy your delusional fantasy, er uh I mean unburdened escape from the clutches if the Evil Empire into the soft delicate hands of droid bliss.
Arrogant idiot.
Clearly there are issue spots on their phones or they wouldn't be saying in official instructions not to touch at certain spots.
And all they are doing now is encouraging people to keep calling them out on this. I wouldn't be shocked if some site or blog has a complete collection by the end of the next day or two
Awwwwww. Need a tissue? So glad the great burden of owning Apple products has been lifted off your back. Enjoy your delusional fantasy, er uh I mean unburdened escape from the clutches if the Evil Empire into the soft delicate hands of droid bliss.
Everyone's Iphone 4's seem to be working fine with one caveat, the antennae. The phone is in no way defective, merely imperfect as all phone's *and all electronics) are in some way. The droid OS is terrible, HTC hardware is crap. Everything sucks on a droid.
Iphone 4 owners have to have to use a case, hold it a certain way or turn off 3G. Not a big deal to me over the deficiencies of owning a craptastic droid. Especially 3G, eats too much battery anyway.
Funny you didn't even bother to look at IP4. I am now waiting for mine since I realized (IMO) all of these stories are gross exaggerations, perpetuated by loud mouth, non expert, whiny bloggers throwing temper tantrums in an attempt to garner attention for their sad, sad blogging lives by spreading nothing short of propaganda, possibly cooked up by Apple's competitors when a fairly minor flaw was uncovered. Apple took a big chance at making a better antenna and it worked. Reception is better, but it also presented a flaw. How many times have we seen that in the tech business? Kudos for Apple taking a chance, sorry it didn't work out for everybody. Everyone else was happy with 3G phones that got worse reception than the clunkers from the early 90's, but obviously Apple wanted the best antenna they could make. In creating a new standard it introduced a problem they didn't see soon enough.
Not a perfect antenna, I Know, but I know how to mitigate the problem and I still have the better phone, the better camera, the better screen, the best ipod, video chat, the best apps, the best OS, the best book, tv and movie store as well. Oh well, enjoy the freedom to embrace mediocrity.
wow.. i had the same exact feelings as you tile my friend got a droid,, and i took the blinders off and tried it,,,,and well the rest is history,,, open source coding,, or apples do it my way,, IE: as much as adobe flash may not be the future,, it is out there,,on alot of websites,,i do believe the ip4 will be a above the bar product but so are alot of the droid phones,,
and ya it is great for apple to try new things,, im all for that,, but when R&D misses something that simple.,, i say it was a rush to deliver what wasnt ready,, but i guess in 4 months they can release the iphone4gs,, btw the first rule of marketing never show what your competitor is or has done wrong, show what you are doing right,, jobs should have left it that the bumper corrects it and we will give you one,,,
well |I just retired my 3g (after putting 4.0 on it ,, it lagged bad),,iphone 4 looks to apple restrictive,, went droid,, and the choices and layout is unlimited,, like a burden has been lifted, all web pages and emails open fully,,, i got the xperia x10,, ive tried everything to have signal drop,, no dice,, so my response to mr. jobs is that not all phones have the deficiencies of your product,, and your rush to make your products obsolete by rushing products out on one end and holding back other parts,,,
the more this happens the more apple is going to get caught with there pants down,,
im not a apple hater,,, but i am apple discouraged with the attitude of late
Congratulation, you bought yourself more than a smart phone here. You bought yourself a cozy relationship with a new life supervisor and editor a lot smarter than you and your phone will ever hope to be.
Welcome to Google's free lunch program for the consuming impaired...! Their tutoring is ground breaking and well thought of by the ever so credible and highly consistent 'Consumer Report'. They leave no consumer buying habits behind and will take good care of yours, no doubt.
wow.. i had the same exact feelings as you tile my friend got a droid,, and i took the blinders off and tried it,,,,and well the rest is history,,, open source coding,, or apples do it my way,, IE: as much as adobe flash may not be the future,, it is out there,,on alot of websites,,i do believe the ip4 will be a above the bar product but so are alot of the droid phones,,
and ya it is great for apple to try new things,, im all for that,, but when R&D misses something that simple.,, i say it was a rush to deliver what wasnt ready,, but i guess in 4 months they can release the iphone4gs,, btw the first rule of marketing never show what your competitor is or has done wrong, show what you are doing right,, jobs should have left it that the bumper corrects it and we will give you one,,,
I have 3 friends with Droids...on loves it and the two others hate it. Granted the Droid lover HATES anything Apple, so his joy may be a bit tainted. The two others have had serious freeze up issues and one was given a new phone....and it was a refurb. Customer service seems lacking...one thing Apple excels at in my opinion. I hear the app store for the Droid is almost 50% porn and poorly organized.
When you have Android 2.2 and can install Flash then you'll be able to leave the restricted Internet you currently share with iPhones.
Maybe you can jailbreak (root) it if you get sick of waiting for SonyEricsson or your network.
well |I just retired my 3g (after putting 4.0 on it ,, it lagged bad),,iphone 4 looks to apple restrictive,, went droid,, and the choices and layout is unlimited,, like a burden has been lifted, all web pages and emails open fully,,, i got the xperia x10,, ive tried everything to have signal drop,, no dice,, so my response to mr. jobs is that not all phones have the deficiencies of your product,, and your rush to make your products obsolete by rushing products out on one end and holding back other parts,,,
the more this happens the more apple is going to get caught with there pants down,,
im not a apple hater,,, but i am apple discouraged with the attitude of late
A very misleading piece of Legal/Marketing work