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ACTUAL Antenna Expert Speaks: iPhone 4 Woes Overblown

diabolic said:
I personally think the problem is being overblown, even if some people might be forced to use a case.
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To be honest I hardly ever had dropped calls with my 3GS even when holding it in my left hand. The two 4s I've had, one replaced a week after I got the first one, both suffer from the issue. Based on the evidence across the net, while it may or may not be overblown, it certainly is widespread. Again, I'm not calling anyone who says their phone is fine a liar. It really is quite possible that there is a manufacturing variance at play here; kind of how some MBP screens were warmer than others. Maybe Apple is getting its antennas from different suppliers, and perhaps the steel used in the affected ones isn't as pure as the steel used in the ones that are fine.

I would be fine using a bumper, if it were provided for free. Paying extra to fix Apple's mistake is ridiculous. If the software fix doesn't, mine is going back a day before my return deadline unless Apple comps me a bumper. I still have a perfectly acceptable mint 3GS sitting at home.
 
darngooddesign said:
To be honest I hardly ever had dropped calls with my 3GS even when holding it in my left hand. I don't know how overblown the antenna issue is, but the two 4s I've had, one replaced a week after I got the first one, both suffer from the issue. Based on the evidence across the net while it may be overblown, it certainly is widespread.
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I live in a semi-rural area and had several spots where the 3GS would drop 100% of the time. Now in those spots my iPhone 4 manages to keep a good connection every time.
 
diabolic said:
I live in a semi-rural area and had several spots where the 3GS would drop 100% of the time. Now in those spots my iPhone 4 manages to keep a good connection every time.
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I know that the 4's antenna is noticeably better than the 3GS'. Now I'm not an engineer, but I do think the software update could fix the issue. Based on what I've read the problem arises from the length of the antenna increasing when you bridge the gap. Its possible that the software could then anticipate the longer antenna and adjust for it. On the surface this makes no sense because everything I've experienced says that increasing the length of an antenna increases reception so who knows.
 
Overblown, yes. But there's an issue, how much more proof do some of you need? I have no issues anywhere but my home, 5 bars to drop. Still happens with a case, just takes longer. Normal right handed use.



Ash
 
Well, I have an EE degree and have only been playing with antennas in various forms for almost 40 years so I'm no "expert" but I think you'd have to be in deep denial to go saying that the iPhone 4 has no more problem than any other phone. I can touch a wire across the seam and drop the signal immediately to zero and back all day, every day. Couldn't do that with the 3GS or the 3G or the Fuze, Blackberry 8800 or any other phone I own. I'm also of the opinion that Apple's "explanation" of the "wrong math" is downright laughable. It's a hardware problem, plain and simple, and it's due to the antenna not being coated with a non-conductive material allowing a hand, wire or anything else conductive to throw off the resonance, ruining reception and transmission. None of this is rocket science. If you think it's not possible, get your hands as completely dry as possible. I mean REALLY dry. Blow dry them so that the skin starts to crack. Now hold onto your water faucet with one hand and, with the other, hold the metal end of a screwdriver and insert it into a wall socket. What? That will electrocute you? Exactly, you're conductive regardless of how "dry" you think you are. All Apple has to do to totally eliminate the actual problem is replace the metal band with an exact replica that's coated with something non-conductive that won't easily chip or flake off. Now when you hold the phone ("death grip" is more meaningless hyperbole since you don't even need to touch the phone to cause this to occur, let alone "grip" anything) the signal may drop a bit like it would with any other phone but it won't drop to nothing and ruin a voice or data transmission like it does now.
 
diabolic said:
I live in a semi-rural area and had several spots where the 3GS would drop 100% of the time. Now in those spots my iPhone 4 manages to keep a good connection every time.
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It seems that the real issue is the fact that people aren't happy having to hold the phone a certain way in order to hold a signal. I can't argue that this isn't annoying. But I also can't argue that my iPhone 4 performs better in areas where my 3GS wouldn't perform at all. If I have to hold the phone differently to achieve this, that is a trade off I am willing to make. But I don't expect everyone to feel the same way.
 
I posted a thread earlier, a positive one, concerning reception and it was quickly moved to the wasteland.


In the meantime whiny little bitch threads go multiple pages and never get combined.

What a bunch of unmitigated ************ :mad:
 
thetexan said:
I know several people with the iPhone 4, as I was thinking at one point of getting one myself. They're dropping calls where they never used to drop calls before, and their data is timing out / dying on them when they're using 3G. Those are real world results. It doesn't matter what Steve Jobs says, or some "antenna expert" says.
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Of course it matters. If you can't identify the underlying cause, then it can't be fixed.

There are many possible reasons. Like maybe ATT is once again overloaded, as they have been with every other release of an iPhone, and is once again dropping calls at rates previously unseen. Or maybe the antenna is fine and there is a conflict between the base band software and the ATT tower software. Or maybe there is a manufacturing defect related to the sim card tray that is manifesting itself as an antenna issue.

Anyone with the problem should welcome independent analysis, assuming they actually want the root issue to get resolved.
 
darngooddesign said:
To be honest I hardly ever had dropped calls with my 3GS even when holding it in my left hand. The two 4s I've had, one replaced a week after I got the first one, both suffer from the issue. Based on the evidence across the net, while it may or may not be overblown, it certainly is widespread. Again, I'm not calling anyone who says their phone is fine a liar. It really is quite possible that there is a manufacturing variance at play here; kind of how some MBP screens were warmer than others. Maybe Apple is getting its antennas from different suppliers, and perhaps the steel used in the affected ones isn't as pure as the steel used in the ones that are fine.

I would be fine using a bumper, if it were provided for free. Paying extra to fix Apple's mistake is ridiculous. If the software fix doesn't, mine is going back a day before my return deadline unless Apple comps me a bumper. I still have a perfectly acceptable mint 3GS sitting at home.
Click to expand...

Why do people believe the apple press release says it's going to "fix" anything related to call loss?

Please read it yourself, not the synopsis on various sites. It is clear as day. They are NOT fixing any signal issues. They are adjusting bars, so that when you put your hand on the antenna seam, instead of seeing it going from 4-5 bars to 1-2 bars and then stop working, you'll see it start at 3 bars. And thus you will now think that is more "normal" as all phones lose signal strength when held.

They do not hide this at all. They say this EXPLICITLY in the press release.

If you drop now. You WILL drop after the software. You will just start with less bars so you will "understand" that the phone didn't actually drop 3 bars. It only dropped 1 bar.
 
Chimpware said:
This article is hilarious. I am an engineer and I would never test anything in my field of expertise so subjectively and publish this type of conclusion, this gu is a joke. A 5 year old would have developed a better testing protocol. It is hilarious that he claims by looking at the bars, which Apple has stated do not reflect the signal strengh accurately, sitting in one place this type of conclusion is drawn.
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+1
 
Billy Mays said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtW6cY_b5ZM

Nope, no such thing as reception issues with the magical iPhone 4. How silly could everyone be? :rolleyes:
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I posted from the Negative Zone with my iPhone 4

Slowly ....... but it worked.

Calls were going thru better than data.

I was at the Country Club Animal Hospital on 72ave in Miami.

I believe this facility was once a hardened nuclear bunker as every other phone I've had as well as others in here would immediately lose complete signal the moment you step thru the door (I've tested the limits)

On 3G I got 64 down and 0 up haha on one test.

The iP4 has managed to overcome the facility.

I tried EDGE but got tired of waiting for the little o to change to an E.

I held the phone in whatever manner I chose.


That thread was moved to the wasteland. Gotta make room for the uncombined whiny bitch threads I suppose :mad:



And if one of you rat**** pieces of **** want to delete this post then man up and tell me who you are :mad:
 
VTMac said:
Why do people believe the apple press release says it's going to "fix" anything related to call loss?

Please read it yourself, not the synopsis on various sites. It is clear as day. They are NOT fixing any signal issues. They are adjust bars, so that when you put your hand on the seem, instead of seeing it going from 4-5 bars to 1-2 bars and then stop working, you'll see it start at 3 bars. And thus you will now think that is more "normal" as all phones lose signal strength when held.

They do not hide this at all. They say this EXPLICITLY in the press release.

If you drop now. You WILL drop after the software. You will just start with less bars so you will "understand" that the phone didn't actually drop 3 bars. It only dropped 1 bar.
Click to expand...

Relax and try reading my post. I didn't say that recalculating the bars will fix it. What I said was its possible that, if the issue is that bridging the gap increases the antenna's length beyond what its optimized for, accounting for this change could fix the issue.

Try not overreacting next time.
 
From article:

The latest design means that today's consumer "doesn't have an antenna consciousness. All of a sudden, we're discovering, 'Oh my gosh, there's this antenna, and we can cover it with our hands and it affects performance.'"

Good point. Someone covering a big-a$$ed antenna sticking out of their phone with their hands would be told to hold it differently too.
 
From the article...

"Webb on Friday ran preliminary tests on the iPhone 4's antenna and reached the same conclusion as Apple: 'Everything's (mostly) okay.'"

Great! I'll wait until everything is okay then. :cool:
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
From article:

The latest design means that today's consumer "doesn't have an antenna consciousness. All of a sudden, we're discovering, 'Oh my gosh, there's this antenna, and we can cover it with our hands and it affects performance.'"

Good point. Someone covering a big-a$$ed antenna sticking out of their phone with their hands would be told to hold it differently too.
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Yes, but that's not a natural way to hold the phone, while cradled in your left hand is.

I bet everyone is acutely aware of the antenna in the latest design.
 
This guy does have good points but his testing technique is very subjective, especially when he's using bars for his results and we now know them to be inaccurate. I like Anandtech's work much better.
 
darngooddesign said:
Relax and try reading my post. I didn't say that recalculating the bars will fix it. What I said was its possible that, if the issue is that bridging the gap increases the antenna's length beyond what its optimized for, accounting for this change could fix the issue.
Click to expand...

I think that nobody knows what the fix will actually do underneath the hood. I don't think anyone here is qualified to explain how the software uses the signal information to maintain or acquire a better connection and how the fix might or might not improve that.

mikethebigo said:
This guy does have good points but his testing technique is very subjective, especially when he's using bars for his results and we now know them to be inaccurate. I like Anandtech's work much better.
Click to expand...

Most of the people complaining are using bars for their claims as well, not dropped calls or real signal levels.
 
diabolic said:
I think that nobody knows what the fix will actually do underneath the hood. I don't think anyone here is qualified to explain how the software uses the signal information to maintain or acquire a better connection and how the fix might or might not improve that.
Click to expand...

What a magical coincidence... neither does Apple. ;)
 
darngooddesign said:
Yes, but that's not a natural way to hold the phone, while cradled in your left hand is.

I bet everyone is acutely aware of the antenna in the latest design.
Click to expand...

Left hand when talking on the phone? Your thumb would be at the top left and your fingers on the right side, pretty much away from the sensitive bottom left corner.
 
mikethebigo said:
This guy does have good points but his testing technique is very subjective, especially when he's using bars for his results and we now know them to be inaccurate. I like Anandtech's work much better.
Click to expand...

Chimpware said:
This article is hilarious. I am an engineer and I would never test anything in my field of expertise so subjectively and publish this type of conclusion, this gu is a joke. A 5 year old would have developed a better testing protocol. It is hilarious that he claims by looking at the bars, which Apple has stated do not reflect the signal strengh accurately, sitting in one place this type of conclusion is drawn.
Click to expand...

Read the article. He qualified it by saying it's subjective and non-scientific and plans to do further testings. At least he had a control (the original iPhone) in order to reach his conclusion.
 
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