One Possible iPhone 4 Antenna Fix With Mixed Results

[djrobsd]

Well I satisfied my curiosity about whether this is a design flaw or
not. It is NOT a design flaw. Let me explain. I walked into an Apple
store to see iPhone 4 and test the "grip of death" that has been on the
web news and blogs. I held every one of the 20 iPhone 4 display units
in the grip of death. Out of the 20 only 4 suffered dropped bars the
other 16 stayed at 5 bars no matter how long I held them in the grip.

Now this is a small sampling but much larger than most have done. The
results show that 20% suffer from the dreaded grip of death. There is
something else of a technical nature causing the problem, but it isn't
the design. If it was hen all 20 in the same room would have dropped
bars instead of just 4. Maybe it's manufacturing related, a component failure or how the
software chooses the signal, but it should be fixable once Apple
diagnoses what is causing this.

Wrong. FAIL. AT&T strategically makes sure that signal strength is high around Apple and AT&T stores. After all, they wouldn't want a customer walking into their store and testing a phone out and seeing only 1 bar, right?

The drop of bars is 100% related to the quality of the signal. If you have a very good quality signal AND have 5 bars, you will not see the issue most likely. If you have a mediocre quality - BUT still have 5 bars (i.e. you're on the fringe of going from 5 to 4) you'll see the drop start to occur. If you have 3 bars, or 2 bars, then god help you - you're screwed.

I reproduced this issue EVERY single time in my bedroom where I have poor signal. On my balcony, I could only reproduce it 1 out of 5 times.

 

[TroyBoy30]

If you have 3 bars, or 2 bars, then god help you - you're screwed.

I reproduced this issue EVERY single time in my bedroom where I have poor signal. On my balcony, I could only reproduce it 1 out of 5 times.

really? cause i only have 2 bars at work and the best I can do is get my phone to drop 1 bar. No matter where I am I can never get it to lose signal entirely!

 

[MacModMachine]

Wrong. FAIL. AT&T strategically makes sure that signal strength is high around Apple and AT&T stores. After all, they wouldn't want a customer walking into their store and testing a phone out and seeing only 1 bar, right?

The drop of bars is 100% related to the quality of the signal. If you have a very good quality signal AND have 5 bars, you will not see the issue most likely. If you have a mediocre quality - BUT still have 5 bars (i.e. you're on the fringe of going from 5 to 4) you'll see the drop start to occur. If you have 3 bars, or 2 bars, then god help you - you're screwed.

I reproduced this issue EVERY single time in my bedroom where I have poor signal. On my balcony, I could only reproduce it 1 out of 5 times.

i think your post is more a FAIL......

of course it will drop in a low coverage area.....ANY phone will including the 3GS while holding it, which i have personally tested....never drops in decent signal zones, in low signal zones if i hold it, it drops like a rock.

a bit of reading can really save you from embarrassment.

 

[Ries]

i think your post is more a FAIL......

of course it will drop in a low coverage area.....ANY phone will including the 3GS while holding it, which i have personally tested....never drops in decent signal zones, in low signal zones if i hold it, it drops like a rock.

a bit of reading can really save you from embarrassment.

Ofc they do, but the iphone4 does it way worse. Thats a measured fact some rumors above. Cupping the 3GS equals holding the iphone4 normally in signal loss.

 

[Sealevel]

Just recievd an email from Apple:


We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

This has been my experience with the iPhone 4 too, so I accept this expiaination.

 

[rcossebo]

So, iPhone 4 reception problem...Anyone heard from Apple??

They say iPhone 4 users received a letter; I didn't. They say it's a matter of the wrong algorithm displaying the bars; not all of it. I still think that the antenna design is BRILLIANT; however, not figuring out the signal attenuation problem is a little disturbing that the engineers would have OVERLOOKED that tiny problem! OK, my theory is this; if you look at the antennas you'll notice that they are actually separated on the left side but still connected on the right side, if one places their hand in the manner that they say NOT TO, you bridge the gap between the antennas on the left side. Would this not short circuit the signals, so to speak? In a sense you would be grounding all of the signals together and thus confusing the receivers on the inside of the iPhone 4. Or so I'd think, why else would the scotch tape and bumper ease the signal problems? I read an article in the beginning of this fracas that stated if they changed the software to search for the next strongest signal, kind of like roaming, instead of sticking to one, the problem would most likely be eliminated. Just wondering! Ron

 

[tivoboy]

no software fix

yeah, I don't know how a software fix will fix this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H795Qz-PBQc