i wish I didn't need a case of some sorts on my cause if I don't I do drop calls, with frequency d/t the antennae attenuation issue. i really wish I didnt have to use a case but oh well.
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A year later, Antennagate Revisited.
- Thread starter eezing
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My close friend has an iPhone 4, and I've dropped many of his calls by 'holding it the wrong way' and for kicks i make him lose his signal. So the antennagate is definitely an issue, and I can only imagine Apple will try to erase the thought of antennagate with the iPhone 5, so I am expecting an antenna redesign.
Antennagate and proximity sensor are still an issue with me IF I don't have a case on my phone or I hold my phone to my ear with my shoulder.
My phone will drop the signal strength because of attenuation even though I live and work in a 5 bar area. It is what it is. I have fixed that issue however by putting a case on my phone (I would've regardless of antennage or not).
My phone will drop the signal strength because of attenuation even though I live and work in a 5 bar area. It is what it is. I have fixed that issue however by putting a case on my phone (I would've regardless of antennage or not).
Never had a problem with Antennagate on any iPhone, however I DID have the problem quite majorly on the Samsung Galaxy S I used for a few months. Funny how that works.
A great device, yes. A great phone? far from it in my experience. I drop so many calls on my ip4 that it gets annoying. I never remember having such an issue on my iphone 3g
With my iPhone 4 I've not experienced antenna problems specifically, but I have had dropped calls, particularly at work and at home (a truly unfortunate combination). The dropped calls don't seem to coincide with poor signal as when I check right after the call drops the signal invariably will be 2-3 bars. And I definitely don't hold my phone in the "death grip" fashion that might cause signal loss. AT&T recently sent me a 3G MicroCell and that has improved my home call quality but work is still a bear. I had to sign up for Google Voice and have my personal calls ring on both my iPhone and my work Blackberry so I have a phone I can actually have a conversation on. If my employer wasn't so tight with their wireless network I'd have the MicroCell at work.
Oh, and trying to keep a call going while holding the iPhone to your ear with your shoulder (say, if you need both hands to perform a task while talking) is a near impossibility. Within a few seconds my screen activates and I'm making random selections with my cheek (Mute, Speaker, End Call, etc.).
That being said, all of the other benefits of owning the iPhone have kept me a relatively happy user as I don't rely on it for phone conversations very much at work and everywhere else it works fine. I was initially salivating over the Verizon iPhone but my contract with at&t still has another year and I have no idea if the problems would continue on Verizon's iPhone 4. So I sit, and wait patiently for iPhone 5.
Oh, and trying to keep a call going while holding the iPhone to your ear with your shoulder (say, if you need both hands to perform a task while talking) is a near impossibility. Within a few seconds my screen activates and I'm making random selections with my cheek (Mute, Speaker, End Call, etc.).
That being said, all of the other benefits of owning the iPhone have kept me a relatively happy user as I don't rely on it for phone conversations very much at work and everywhere else it works fine. I was initially salivating over the Verizon iPhone but my contract with at&t still has another year and I have no idea if the problems would continue on Verizon's iPhone 4. So I sit, and wait patiently for iPhone 5.
Ive had several ATT iphone and none of them had the antenna problem. Also, my very first verizon iphone has the antenna problem. Will go from 5 bars to 1 bar but it never completly drops a call.
Ok, don't know why you guys are being so harsh to the OP.
I think it's a fair thing to do to revisit this issue a year on from release, when it was so blown out of proportion is was unreal.
Whilst it was blown out of proportion massively, anybody claiming the design of the phone doesn't affect the signal quality is very wrong.
Just because it's not an issue for yourself (your not dropping calls etc) does not mean its not an issue.
I know all phones suffer signal loss when covered, but none as bad as the iPhone 4 (in my experience)
I must at this point say, that I am left handed and when I first got the phone, i did grip it in a way that caused signal loss, and the person on the other end of the phone having trouble hearing me, but after one phone call I just changed the way I hold it, and I have had no problems since.
BUT that's not to say my phone does not drop signal. I have just changed networks here in the UK, and in general I have better signal than before, but the amount of times I have pulled the phone out of my pocket and it says searching... At the top, then instantly brings back 2 bars of 3G is countless.
Just holding the phone anywhere will drop signal, and if you hold down in that corner you can drop massively.
Now, as I said I dont have a problem with it, for calls and texts I have never had an issue, but I cannot deny that the design does a fault, and it does drop signal more than other phones.
It's obviously more of an issue in low signal areas, so just because you have full signal in your area does not mean there is no problem, there is, but your just not seeing it
I think it's a fair thing to do to revisit this issue a year on from release, when it was so blown out of proportion is was unreal.
Whilst it was blown out of proportion massively, anybody claiming the design of the phone doesn't affect the signal quality is very wrong.
Just because it's not an issue for yourself (your not dropping calls etc) does not mean its not an issue.
I know all phones suffer signal loss when covered, but none as bad as the iPhone 4 (in my experience)
I must at this point say, that I am left handed and when I first got the phone, i did grip it in a way that caused signal loss, and the person on the other end of the phone having trouble hearing me, but after one phone call I just changed the way I hold it, and I have had no problems since.
BUT that's not to say my phone does not drop signal. I have just changed networks here in the UK, and in general I have better signal than before, but the amount of times I have pulled the phone out of my pocket and it says searching... At the top, then instantly brings back 2 bars of 3G is countless.
Just holding the phone anywhere will drop signal, and if you hold down in that corner you can drop massively.
Now, as I said I dont have a problem with it, for calls and texts I have never had an issue, but I cannot deny that the design does a fault, and it does drop signal more than other phones.
It's obviously more of an issue in low signal areas, so just because you have full signal in your area does not mean there is no problem, there is, but your just not seeing it
If anything in my opinion the whole fiasco was incredibly poorly handled by apple. They did terribly under the scrutiny. The whole tour of their multi-million dollar foam-lined facility and defensive youtube videos of other manufacturer's products was laughable. In all it was one of the worst PR moments in recent apple history in my mind. They lost their bundle.
We haven't got AT&T in the UK but I still had some problems with dropped calls.
The reception is a bit dodgy where I work but I'd never had any dropped calls with any of my prior phones until I got the iPhone 4.
We did a couple of non-scientific tests with my iPhone 4 and a 3GS which were both running on the same network (O2) and the results were alarming. Just holding the phone lightly cupped in my left hand (not a death grip) would see the signal plummet on the iPhone 4 while the 3GS was unaffected.
The free bumper from Apple fixed it for me and I haven't seen any problems since.
We haven't got AT&T in the UK but I still had some problems with dropped calls.
The reception is a bit dodgy where I work but I'd never had any dropped calls with any of my prior phones until I got the iPhone 4.
We did a couple of non-scientific tests with my iPhone 4 and a 3GS which were both running on the same network (O2) and the results were alarming. Just holding the phone lightly cupped in my left hand (not a death grip) would see the signal plummet on the iPhone 4 while the 3GS was unaffected.
The free bumper from Apple fixed it for me and I haven't seen any problems since.
yeah, i agree with you that in areas of bad reception, the iPhone 4 might be on the more sensitive side.
what i mean is that most of AT&T's network seems to be one big area of bad reception
i , personally, have never had a dropped call with my iPhone 4 (and i own it since release) and used it pretty much all around central Europe.
(i couldn't even get it to drop the signal in a slovenian(!) underground(!) parking garage, netiher high in the Alps nor within central Berlin.)
The iPhone 4 just shows how bad the American GSM Network _really_ is (in certain areas). The phone itself, however, is an awesome phone.
If the same phone model performs significantly differently throughout different coverage Areas (rural vs. inner city AT&T), different Carriers (AT&T vs. European carriers, ...), i wouldn't put as much(!) blame on the phone as I would on the carrier.
But maybe that's just me :/
I live in an area where I've always had issues with cell phone service, due to it being a rural area as well as being on the Canadian border, so when I could get a signal I'd usually lose it due to roaming to Rogers. My iPhone 4 is actually the first phone to provide me with reliable service. I do use a case, so I'm sure that helps, although I've tried to death grip my phone while she's naked and have not been able to cause the signal drop issue. I actually joke that I can't drop a call even when I want to because I was upset with my husband one day and was trying to hang up on him when my screen glitched and I could not end that call no matter how I jabbed that red button on the screen!
I consider myself fortunate and I am grateful to have my iPhone. My husband has a droid and he will ask me why I think my iPhone is better. I tell him "It just works".
I consider myself fortunate and I am grateful to have my iPhone. My husband has a droid and he will ask me why I think my iPhone is better. I tell him "It just works".
I recently picked up a Verizon iPhone 4. I get better reception with it than my first version Motorola DROID, a phone known for very good reception. And I live in a rural, mountainous area where getting reception is as challenging as it gets. I can't speak to the AT&T iPhone 4, but on Verizon, I don't see any issues.
BTW, I could reduce reception on my DROID (and my wife's Blackberry and my coworkers DROID X) depending on how I held the phone. Wow, imagine that my big hand with bones, flesh, water, etc. could block signal. Mind boggling ...
BTW, I could reduce reception on my DROID (and my wife's Blackberry and my coworkers DROID X) depending on how I held the phone. Wow, imagine that my big hand with bones, flesh, water, etc. could block signal. Mind boggling ...
Without a doubt, the biggest POS phone I ever owned was a Motorola Razor, so I am glad the iPhone isn't 'motorola level good'!
Look at your comment. Back to mine. Back to yours NOW BACK TO MINE. Sadly, it isn't mine. But if you stopped trolling and started posting legitimate crap it could LOOK like mine. Look down, back up, where are you? You're scrolling through the comments, finding the ones that your comment could look like. Back at mine, what is it? It's a highly effective counter-troll. Look again, MY COMMENT IS NOW DIAMONDS.
Anything is possible when you cut and paste.
I'm on a computer
Anything is possible when you cut and paste.
I'm on a computer
Well, I know that the iphone has been a better phone for my mom than her previous dumb phone (I think a Nokia actually).
Whatever phone she had before she had to go outside the house to talk to me as it would not get a clear connection inside the house so she couldn't hear people unless she went outside (pretty sure it was the phone as dad's phone didn't have the problem and neither does the iphone which she says she can actually hear people clearly on. Plus AT&T has had good covereage at their house, the only time they had a problem with the provider having bad coverage at the house was Sprint 10 years ago. That improved when they changed to AT&T). Now she does not have that issue.
Probably though her last phone was crap or something happened to it and made it crap rather than saying the iphone is a good phone.
I have never had issue with mine honestly *shrug*. But, I'm not a good indicator as I don't really use the phone that much (I have a phone cause these days you have to. Before I had it I had a dumbphone where I was notoriously hard to reach cause I'd forget to check it for days to see if anyone called me cause I only used it as a phone).
Whatever phone she had before she had to go outside the house to talk to me as it would not get a clear connection inside the house so she couldn't hear people unless she went outside (pretty sure it was the phone as dad's phone didn't have the problem and neither does the iphone which she says she can actually hear people clearly on. Plus AT&T has had good covereage at their house, the only time they had a problem with the provider having bad coverage at the house was Sprint 10 years ago. That improved when they changed to AT&T). Now she does not have that issue.
Probably though her last phone was crap or something happened to it and made it crap rather than saying the iphone is a good phone.
I have never had issue with mine honestly *shrug*. But, I'm not a good indicator as I don't really use the phone that much (I have a phone cause these days you have to. Before I had it I had a dumbphone where I was notoriously hard to reach cause I'd forget to check it for days to see if anyone called me cause I only used it as a phone).
It might be blown out of proportion, but it definitely is an issue.
I live in an area with excellent ATT signal (I have constant full bars), but every time I hold the phone in "the wrong way", the signal significantly drops to the point that I lose a phone call or 3G connection. It is even worse for my girlfriend who lives near the mountains.
I can live with it and change my way of holding a phone (which is the natural way for many people, Steve), but it doesn't change the fact that there is a flaw in the design. This alone is the reason I'm getting rid of it as soon as the next good phone comes out.
I live in an area with excellent ATT signal (I have constant full bars), but every time I hold the phone in "the wrong way", the signal significantly drops to the point that I lose a phone call or 3G connection. It is even worse for my girlfriend who lives near the mountains.
I can live with it and change my way of holding a phone (which is the natural way for many people, Steve), but it doesn't change the fact that there is a flaw in the design. This alone is the reason I'm getting rid of it as soon as the next good phone comes out.
Exactly my issue here in the UK too. For anyone who has not experienced it, you're clearly not in an area where the signal strength is borderline enough to make you drop any bars when you bridge the antenna gap. I can't do it at home, but the same phone in my office can be made to lose signal quite easily.
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Mine does have the antennaegate problem, so does the rest of My family's iPhone 4's, they can drop from three bars to none from just lightly touching the bridge between the antennas. Putting a case on it solved the problem, but that didn't really feel like something I should be required to do just to make a phone call.
A few of my friends iPhones however do nit appear to have the same issue, even on the same carriers in the same places, which leads me to believe that it is a problem with some phones only.
Mine does have the antennaegate problem, so does the rest of My family's iPhone 4's, they can drop from three bars to none from just lightly touching the bridge between the antennas. Putting a case on it solved the problem, but that didn't really feel like something I should be required to do just to make a phone call.
A few of my friends iPhones however do nit appear to have the same issue, even on the same carriers in the same places, which leads me to believe that it is a problem with some phones only.