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Apple Antenna Engineer and Carrier Partner Expressed Early Concern Over iPhone 4 Design
- Thread starter Mosi
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_recall
Please, indulge yourselves:
A product recall is a request to return to the maker a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues. The recall is an effort to limit liability for corporate negligence (which can cause costly legal penalties) and to improve or avoid damage to publicity.
The 3 major recalls in 2010?
McDonalds recalled the Shrek Forever After cups due to risks of Poisoning from the Paint.
Toyota recalls several million vehicles because of faulty accelerator pedals that may cause runaway acceleration and faulty software that may cause braking to be delayed.
Main article: 20092010 Toyota vehicle recalls
Johnson & Johnson recalls 43 over-the-counter children's medicines made by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, on April 30, 2010.[8]
Main article: 2010 Johnson & Johnson children's product recall
Now, can you imagine there was another entry:
Apple recalls over 2 million iPhone 4s due to faulty antennas dropping calls and losing signal, which lead to customer inconveniences and vocal altercations at the company's genius bar.
LET'S PLAY A GAME NOW FOLKS, WHICH ONE OF THE PREVIOUS 4 ENTRIES DOESN'T BELONG?
Please, indulge yourselves:
A product recall is a request to return to the maker a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues. The recall is an effort to limit liability for corporate negligence (which can cause costly legal penalties) and to improve or avoid damage to publicity.
The 3 major recalls in 2010?
McDonalds recalled the Shrek Forever After cups due to risks of Poisoning from the Paint.
Toyota recalls several million vehicles because of faulty accelerator pedals that may cause runaway acceleration and faulty software that may cause braking to be delayed.
Main article: 20092010 Toyota vehicle recalls
Johnson & Johnson recalls 43 over-the-counter children's medicines made by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, on April 30, 2010.[8]
Main article: 2010 Johnson & Johnson children's product recall
Now, can you imagine there was another entry:
Apple recalls over 2 million iPhone 4s due to faulty antennas dropping calls and losing signal, which lead to customer inconveniences and vocal altercations at the company's genius bar.
LET'S PLAY A GAME NOW FOLKS, WHICH ONE OF THE PREVIOUS 4 ENTRIES DOESN'T BELONG?
LOL. Someone needs to issue a massive recall on high school diplomas.
Awesome. Do it. In the meantime, I'll be happily making calls all day long on my iPhone 4. Which I've been doing since launch day.
Sorry that my actual, real-world experience (and that of the entire Engadget staff, and other online reviewers, and countless others on this forum) is harshing your hater mellow.
Why call a press conference to repeat what they've said in a press release already? Makes no sense. Then the press conf would just about free bumpers and that doesn't make sense. That also would've been done through a press release. It's bigger than that.
Love whistleblowers
does anyone believe this information should of been kept confidential?
You single screenshot is not proof of anything.
Every single phone drops signal when held. The iPhone 4 is more sensitive, however, end performance is still improved.
This test was done in a controlled environment, with another phone to compare performance. You have no proof a 3GS would have better performance. A single test also proves nothing.
Just read the article. They only tested in one location? It has been widely reported that if you're in an area of good coverage, it is nearly impossible to repeat this issue.
What is the difference then? In areas that had sub-par coverage and yet had no problems on previous models. Most people would say that the majority of AT&T's network is sub-par!
Areas where my old iPhones worked fine now don't when I pull them out of my pocket they have lost signal or the signal is very weak and has dropped to EDGE. When typing a simple text or email, in a normal manner, it drops the signal down. Hell, in some areas all I have to do is touch my pinky to it to bring it from 5 bars 3G to searching!
I'm also suspect of his report. Several times he referred to the control phone as an iPhone 3G, not a 3GS. Then at the end he called it a 3GS as you used in your quote. Since he was using a simple metric of data speeds, this is a huge difference as the iPhone 4 has a much faster 3G chipset than the iPhone 3G! Also using data speeds is pretty amateur for an RF engineer. Even at TUAW they were able to hack the iPhone 4 into showing decibel readings to compare an iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS to confirm there was an issue. Erica Sadun even wrote a custom iPhone app that gets this info and displays it on screen!
Well it seems obvious it doesn't work as *designed.* It wasn't *designed* to reduce the signal by some 20dB when held in a certain manner. At least I don't think it was.
But you do illustrate that the issue can be as clear as mud. Cell phone service, almost like old TV Antenna reception, seems to come and go with the breeze sometimes. For reasons unexplainable you'd lose a call when you're in a great signal area, or get great signal in areas that others have no service at all and normally you don't either.
With that in mind, if it weren't for the scientific testing done to replicate the issue, I could have it and never know it, because I'd just think "oh this is just a cell phone being a cell phone." Little would I know that the revolutionary antenna design was actually *causing* an issue that is being masked by the layers of other issues that consumers have come to expect from cell phone service over the years.
If the analysts are right and a recall really would cost $1.5 billion, I just can't see Apple doing that.
Having said that, I have no idea what they will do. Guess we'll just wait and see!
You're missing the point here--your example is correct. I just used the car example because rarely (and I mean rarely in the overall yearly releases across all car manufacturers) do you see cars released by major car manufacturers having catastrophic issues within one month of their introduction. if they're having that many problems, they probably should not be in the car making business... so while your argument can be valid, it would probably not happen.
the difference is that you're in a 2000 lb vehicle doing 60mph on a highway, vs. a 30 gram piece of glass/metal in your hand that has little to no safety issues. do you see the difference?
I wonder if Apple's decision to put the antenna on the outside had anything to do with the Nokia antenna configurations patent dispute. It could have been a preemptive decision to avoid further litigation/having to pay a hefty licensing fee.
If a case is not an acceptable fix for you, return your phone for a full refund. Everybody who bought an iPhone 4 is still within the 30 day return period, as the phone didn't show up until June 23 at the earliest.
There seems to be many levels of concern for apple to address. I forsee Apple having a 3-fold approach to this problem.
1. Sending out bumpers to those who want them.
2. Offering a long and difficult process of exchanging the phone for an upgraded model
3. Offering a thank you to those who don't care about the phone's issues.
I really don't understand how anyone could overlook the antenna problem. That is such basic science, no basic knowledge. What a major mistake...unless it wasn't a mistake. I'll bet many knew about the issue, but the powers were so attached to the "awesome" metal frame that any problem was denied and overlooked. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to be a problem for many iphone owners. The media is making it into more of a problem.
Bottom line: This is the best Apple has to offer right now. They intentionally chose this design and either live with it or pick something else until the Iphone 4 gets improved.
1. Sending out bumpers to those who want them.
2. Offering a long and difficult process of exchanging the phone for an upgraded model
3. Offering a thank you to those who don't care about the phone's issues.
I really don't understand how anyone could overlook the antenna problem. That is such basic science, no basic knowledge. What a major mistake...unless it wasn't a mistake. I'll bet many knew about the issue, but the powers were so attached to the "awesome" metal frame that any problem was denied and overlooked. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to be a problem for many iphone owners. The media is making it into more of a problem.
Bottom line: This is the best Apple has to offer right now. They intentionally chose this design and either live with it or pick something else until the Iphone 4 gets improved.
The main issue that apple is facing is that this is not an isolated problem across all devices, so they can't exactly announce a recall. their best remedy is to allow customers to come in and get a refund up to 90 days out from their date of purchase, and no questions asked replacements at the genius bar.
by the 90 days out, i am sure (or I would hope rather) this company will have rectified any issues with the antennas and be able to provide a customer with an adequate service replacement.
by the 90 days out, i am sure (or I would hope rather) this company will have rectified any issues with the antennas and be able to provide a customer with an adequate service replacement.
The Bumpers were a "Plan B", theres no reason for apple to introduce a case for the iPhone when there so many third party manufactures making cases for their products anyway. If **** hit the fan, apple knew they had an available solution to the problem.
The thing I dont get is why call a press conference to say you're giving away free bumpers?
The thing I dont get is why call a press conference to say you're giving away free bumpers?
Wow a press conference.... its like a movie.
BTW... There will be NO RECALL... so don't start posting about how there will be one!!!!!!!!!!
Its a freakening signal issue that is 100% avoidable and fixable by the user. Recall is just stupid for such a non-critical issue.
How do I fix it ?
Not really
Post market movement (as well as pre market) - major players that can truly affect the stock (such as institutions) can cause extreme volatility if it is truly bad news. Look at a real time stock quote after their quarterly report/conference calls and see how much it rises/dips...
Post market movement (as well as pre market) - major players that can truly affect the stock (such as institutions) can cause extreme volatility if it is truly bad news. Look at a real time stock quote after their quarterly report/conference calls and see how much it rises/dips...
iPhone 4 disappeared from Dutch carrier site
T-Mobile, the only official carrier here in the Netherlands has removed all information related to the iPhone 4 from it's website. Strange considering the fact that the iPhone 4 is supposed to be launched in the Netherlands later this month.
T-Mobile, the only official carrier here in the Netherlands has removed all information related to the iPhone 4 from it's website. Strange considering the fact that the iPhone 4 is supposed to be launched in the Netherlands later this month.