Apple on iPhone 4 Reception: Signal Strength Display Issue Only, Software Update Coming

[Max(IT)]

I understand there may be others out there with bad intentions, but whose to say there aren't Apple employees that browse these boards and try to quiet the storm? These employees have probably been around for years, so should I be shady about anyone with too many posts?

I'm quite sure Apple employees cannot post on this forum by Apple rules.

Let's just clarify a few points:

1. The iPhone 4 has almost twice the attenuation the Nexus One has while holding it naturally (19.8 vs. 10.7). No one cares if you can hold a phone in an unnatural way and cause attenuation when this will never happen in normal use.

2. The Nokia manual you sited simply states don't touch the antennas, which are located based on the diagram shown on the bottom of the phone where you would not normally touch them in normal operation. Possibly you should have fired this off to Steve Jobs before they released the iPhone 4, it would have good advice then.

The overwhelming fact is that the iPhone 4 design is flawed and when used in a normal manner suffers signal attenuation that results in dropped calls and loss of data communications in situations where the signal is anything but very good. These are the simple facts of the situation.

What you keep defining as "normal o natural way" it is NOT natural AT ALL for me.
This is what I call "normal way":
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/9973/dscn1822.jpg

no attenuation here.

Yep. And I don't think this would be as big a deal if Apple went public with more information and tests to demonstrate that, instead of looking silly by pretending there's no problem at all.

fair enough.
Apple should go public with more informations, I agree with you.

Or better yet, design the phone do that when you hold it in your hand normally you are not contacting the antenna? Would that have not made sense if we start by knowing that contacting the antenna will result in signal attenuation?

I say again: the death grip IS NOT NORMALLY AT ALL for me.

BTW, please feel free to explain me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ7t75Uo6qQ&feature=youtube_gdata

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct1nQ2kZNlM&feature=youtube_gdata

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJBWZIUmW8w&feature=youtube_gdata

and so on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1BEWCeVvuA

 

[IndustrialSpace]

What you keep defining as "normal o natural way" it is NOT natural AT ALL for me.


fair enough.
Apple should go public with more informations, I agree with you.

I say again: the death grip IS NOT NORMALLY AT ALL for me.

GREAT!

That is normal for YOU! - NOT everyone else.

Clearly, you have no empathy and possess a very egocentric attitude. If YOU don't have the problem, then it is not a problem and everyone else is NOT normal.

Many of us (myself included) are left-handed and DO hold it precisely that way. It is natural for us. Maybe not for you, but certainly for me. Funn how Steve Jobs holds it like this throughout the WWDC and in many many iPhonr 4 ads. Are they also not "normal" or natural."

BTW, in life there is no such thing as "normal." One day, when you move out of mom's basement and enter the real world, you'll better understand "norms."

 

[AbSoluTc]

I'm quite sure Apple employees cannot post on this forum by Apple rules.



What you keep defining as "normal o natural way" it is NOT natural AT ALL for me.
This is what I call "normal way":
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/9973/dscn1822.jpg

no attenuation here.



fair enough.
Apple should go public with more informations, I agree with you.



I say again: the death grip IS NOT NORMALLY AT ALL for me.

BTW, please feel free to explain me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ7t75Uo6qQ&feature=youtube_gdata

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct1nQ2kZNlM&feature=youtube_gdata

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJBWZIUmW8w&feature=youtube_gdata

and so on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1BEWCeVvuA

So, you hold your phone like that when you are playing games, using the phone for internet, chatting and other things? You walk down the street like that? You must have some really bad cramps after a while.

Nobody holds their phone like that when they are using it for stuff OTHER THAN calls. Well, the MAJORITY of people don't hold it like that. I hold my phone like that to make calls and guess what, it's not a problem. However when I hold my phone in my left hand, it's a problem.

Nice try though. Your phone has the issue as well - you just don't want to admit it. Lol. BTW - were talking about the iPhone 4 here. Not some crap Nokia's.

 

[kdarling]

fair enough. Apple should go public with more informations, I agree with you.

Yes sir, and ATT should as well. If they simply said "We're updating some software and you'll see upload disruptions for a while", or even "Oops we found a mismatch with iOS4 but we're gonna fix it," people would feel better.

Unnecessary secrecy breeds fear, contempt and anger. (And mistakes, in the case of Apple's iPhone testing.)

I say again: the death grip IS NOT NORMALLY AT ALL for me.

BTW, please feel free to explain me this: (videos snipped)

Those videos show phones nearly enclosed by tightly held hands, and thus naturally show a signal drop... especially with their more normal, sensitive bar scales.

No one is claiming that signal attenuation doesn't happen with other phones. It's a fact of life with case embedded antennas.

The difference is that the iPhone appears sensitive to even a single finger covering a rather common location, and just that touch can stop a download in its tracks.

 

[elistan]

Bar algorithm summary

Here's a little spreadsheet I put together to help everybody understand how different phones display signal strength as bars.
The Android information comes directly from the source code.
The iPhone 4 info comes from the Anandtech article.
And the first-gen iPhone comes from me watching my own phone via the field test app.

For what it's worth, by the way, in my house a normal resting signal strength on my first-gen iPhone ranges from -83 dB to -93 dB. (Yes, that's quite a range - 100x. No, I have no idea why.) Holding the phone in my normal speaking position (same as Max(IT)'s picture) results in no to -10 dB attenuation. When signal strength hits -95 dB or below, I start getting audio dropouts during conversations. Holding the phone in the "grip of death" results in -20 to -25 dB attenuation, and often causes complete loss of signal - ie, "Searching..."

Since I've already been dealing for three years with a phone that has a large signal attenuation issue (to hold long conversations I have to leave the phone on the table and use the headphones) I had no hesitation about ordering an iPhone 4 recently. And with its supposedly better connection quality at lower signal strengths, it'll possibly be better for me compared to the first-gen phone. (As long as I don't try to have a conversation while holding it in the grip of death. )

 

[bfar5]

Apparently, neither have some who've been relentlessly critical of the design.

I've experienced no signal problems while touching the antennae, bridging the gap, or using the death grip.

Perhaps it's from a batch which was treated with the allegedly intended non-conductive coating - fewer dropped calls in Manhattan, no dropped calls in NJ, and ridiculously fast 3G download speeds. (~5MB/s) No case required.

With dramatic upgrades in sound quality, screen resolution, camera, video, and processor speed, I've been using the iPad less and less, day to day.

The battery life is also greatly improved - been using it more than the 3GS, and yet, can go through the entire day without a charge.

Best upgrade yet.

I am being totally sincere here. Your phone is better than my IP4. Maybe I really should return it and hope to get a better one and hopefully I'll get one from the same batch as your new one. I have dropped calls, slow upload speeds at times. If yours is working that well without a case... obviously you have a better one than me. Of course, there is no way of knowing what batch I'm going to get a new one from. If I go to the same store as I purchased it from, would it be from the same batch I got my original from? I hope I would get a new one and not one that someone returned. Is there a dropped call log? I wonder if it's just going to be an argument with them. I know I sound like a scared monkey eek eek

 

[Chimpware]

What you keep defining as "normal o natural way" it is NOT natural AT ALL for me.
I say again: the death grip IS NOT NORMALLY AT ALL for me.

Evidently Steve Jobs disagrees with you as well:

Oh well, probably no one has told him this is not a natural way to hold an iPhone, you should give him a call (you just better hope he is in a strong signal area, or has learned how to hold his phone already).

 

[Max(IT)]

GREAT!

That is normal for YOU! - NOT everyone else.

Clearly, you have no empathy and possess a very egocentric attitude. If YOU don't have the problem, then it is not a problem and everyone else is NOT normal.

Many of us (myself included) are left-handed and DO hold it precisely that way. It is natural for us. Maybe not for you, but certainly for me. Funn how Steve Jobs holds it like this throughout the WWDC and in many many iPhonr 4 ads. Are they also not "normal" or natural."

BTW, in life there is no such thing as "normal." One day, when you move out of mom's basement and enter the real world, you'll better understand "norms."

Dude, save your **** for yourself. I'm 40 and you "mom's basement" nonsense is, well, a nonsense.
If I don't have the problem, well, actually THERE IS NOT A PROBLEM, because I don't care about your phone.

So, you hold your phone like that when you are playing games, using the phone for internet, chatting and other things? You walk down the street like that? You must have some really bad cramps after a while.

Nobody holds their phone like that when they are using it for stuff OTHER THAN calls. Well, the MAJORITY of people don't hold it like that. I hold my phone like that to make calls and guess what, it's not a problem. However when I hold my phone in my left hand, it's a problem.

Nice try though. Your phone has the issue as well - you just don't want to admit it. Lol. BTW - were talking about the iPhone 4 here. Not some crap Nokia's.

Oh, very impressed. And Im sure you can easily show me a worldwide statistic about how people hold its phone, right ?
Give me a break.

 

[Max(IT)]

Evidently Steve Jobs disagrees with you as well:

Oh well, probably no one has told him this is not a natural way to hold an iPhone, you should give him a call (you just better hope he is in a strong signal area, or has learned how to hold his phone already).

First two shots: Jobs is SHOWING the iPhone, not USING IT.
Third shot: the iPhone is actually connected with a cable, not so easy to manage it.

BTW I don't give a crap about how Jobs holds his phone. I'm holding it in a different way.

 

[Chimpware]

First two shots: Jobs is SHOWING the iPhone, not USING IT.
Third shot: the iPhone is actually connected with a cable, not so easy to manage it.

BTW I don't give a crap about how Jobs holds his phone. I'm holding it in a different way.

So you don't care how anyone holds their phone and you don't care if anyone else has an issue, so why participate in a community? Why not just stand in front lf a mirror and tell yourself how awesome your phone is?

 

[Max(IT)]

So you don't care how anyone holds their phone and you don't care if anyone else has an issue, so why participate in a community? Why not just stand in front lf a mirror and tell yourself how awesome your phone is?

What I'm saying is that this seems to me not to be a real "issue" but just a behavior of that kind of antenna.
And giving the way I'm holding the iPhone, it definitely isn't a problem for me.

BTW I know that recent development seems to point in other ways, but this IS NOT just a forum where people come to whine in anger, dude

 

[DMann]

I am being totally sincere here. Your phone is better than my IP4. Maybe I really should return it and hope to get a better one and hopefully I'll get one from the same batch as your new one. I have dropped calls, slow upload speeds at times. If yours is working that well without a case... obviously you have a better one than me. Of course, there is no way of knowing what batch I'm going to get a new one from. If I go to the same store as I purchased it from, would it be from the same batch I got my original from? I hope I would get a new one and not one that someone returned. Is there a dropped call log? I wonder if it's just going to be an argument with them. I know I sound like a scared monkey eek eek

You can swap it out now, or wait for a newer batch to arrive.

Apple is good about doing so, and will likely accommodate you until you get one which works without signal drop.

 

[rhanley]

A good article on this issue saying these issues are overblown. From an antenna engineer:

http://www.macworld.com/article/152469/2010/07/iphone4_antenna.html?lsrc=rss_main

The guy doesn't even have an Iphone 4 and I don't need an Engineer to tell me whether this is a major issue or not -- It is a major issue for me when I can no longer make calls from my home, when holding the phone as I normally do. This involves my ring finger resting gently on the antenna separator on the bottom left of the phone.

And should I not consider it a big deal because in order to make a small device that does so much, there need to be sacrifices as the Engineer states? Unfortunately, phone reception is not one of the things I'm willing to sacrifice.

 

[Max(IT)]

Yes sir, and ATT should as well. If they simply said "We're updating some software and you'll see upload disruptions for a while", or even "Oops we found a mismatch with iOS4 but we're gonna fix it," people would feel better.

Unnecessary secrecy breeds fear, contempt and anger. (And mistakes, in the case of Apple's iPhone testing.)

you are right, but giving the huge amount of bs standing around every Apple product's launch, do you blame Apple for being defensive ?
I don't like it, but I'm not surprised at all

Those videos show phones nearly enclosed by tightly held hands, and thus naturally show a signal drop... especially with their more normal, sensitive bar scales.

No one is claiming that signal attenuation doesn't happen with other phones. It's a fact of life with case embedded antennas.

The difference is that the iPhone appears sensitive to even a single finger covering a rather common location, and just that touch can stop a download in its tracks.

no, those videos show phone handled "normally" in the meaning of this thread.
iPhone is more sensitive than others, not flawed in my opinion

Here's a little spreadsheet I put together to help everybody understand how different phones display signal strength as bars.
The Android information comes directly from the source code.
The iPhone 4 info comes from the Anandtech article.
And the first-gen iPhone comes from me watching my own phone via the field test app.

For what it's worth, by the way, in my house a normal resting signal strength on my first-gen iPhone ranges from -83 dB to -93 dB. (Yes, that's quite a range - 100x. No, I have no idea why.) Holding the phone in my normal speaking position (same as Max(IT)'s picture) results in no to -10 dB attenuation. When signal strength hits -95 dB or below, I start getting audio dropouts during conversations. Holding the phone in the "grip of death" results in -20 to -25 dB attenuation, and often causes complete loss of signal - ie, "Searching..."

Since I've already been dealing for three years with a phone that has a large signal attenuation issue (to hold long conversations I have to leave the phone on the table and use the headphones) I had no hesitation about ordering an iPhone 4 recently. And with its supposedly better connection quality at lower signal strengths, it'll possibly be better for me compared to the first-gen phone. (As long as I don't try to have a conversation while holding it in the grip of death. )

Thank you, very interesting
Btw, I think your biggest problem is the AT&T crap network ...

 

[AbSoluTc]

First two shots: Jobs is SHOWING the iPhone, not USING IT.
Third shot: the iPhone is actually connected with a cable, not so easy to manage it.

BTW I don't give a crap about how Jobs holds his phone. I'm holding it in a different way.

What I'm saying is that this seems to me not to be a real "issue" but just a behavior of that kind of antenna.
And giving the way I'm holding the iPhone, it definitely isn't a problem for me.

BTW I know that recent development seems to point in other ways, but this IS NOT just a forum where people come to whine in anger, dude

Lol. Wow. You truly are oblivious! You have an excuse for everything. Damn, why didn't I think of that?

Glad to see you hold your phone like a ballerina. Not many people like you around. Most people hold their phones like they intend to use them - you know - like Mr. Jobs is doing in that 3rd pic that you brush off because he has a cable attached. Lol. Perhaps you missed every single advertisement from Apple. You know, where the people are holding the phone in their hands to USE IT. Lol.

Whatever makes you happy dude. Ignorance is bliss

 

[Tundraboy]

Fixed!!!!!!!

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I think your biggest problem is the AT&T crap network ...

I've just learned that perhaps it's not the network. Recently I was speaking with a our companies district sales manager for Verizon. In passing he mentioned Verizon may turn down Apple for the second time due to iPhone 4's inability to meet the standards for the network. Something that Motorola has excelled at. Therefore we see their close strategic relationship with the DROID brand. Seems that Verizon's market share is climbing nicely as a result. Furthermore they have several other major handset manufacturer's coming aboard with their new Android models this year. Finally, there is a very robust plan in place for even more expansion in all areas during Q1, 2011. I'm sure glad I have both Verizon and AT&T accounts, since their promises to be lots of new smartphones to sample.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

How can Max(IT) say that holding it in your left hand is not normal or natural when Steve Jobs holds it and uses it this way. Not only does he hold it "unnatrually," but the advertisements indicate that users can hold itthis way as well.

Some people drink WAY too much Apple-flavored kool-aid.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

First two shots: Jobs is SHOWING the iPhone, not USING IT.
Third shot: the iPhone is actually connected with a cable, not so easy to manage it.

BTW I don't give a crap about how Jobs holds his phone. I'm holding it in a different way.

Excuses, excuses excuses.

You have a very hostile and aggressive attitude.

 

[Max(IT)]

Lol. Wow. You truly are oblivious! You have an excuse for everything. Damn, why didn't I think of that?

Glad to see you hold your phone like a ballerina. Not many people like you around. Most people hold their phones like they intend to use them - you know - like Mr. Jobs is doing in that 3rd pic that you brush off because he has a cable attached. Lol. Perhaps you missed every single advertisement from Apple. You know, where the people are holding the phone in their hands to USE IT. Lol.

Whatever makes you happy dude. Ignorance is bliss

I'm still waiting for you to show me a worldwide statistic about how people hold smartphones, dude ...

And I say again : I don't care about how Steve jobs holds the iPhones. I care about how I hold it.

Excuses, excuses excuses.

You have a very hostile and aggressive attitude.

Whining, whining, whining.

Maybe my attitude is conditioned by all that BS about an antenna. Who knows ...

Here it works even with a low strength signal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaZdxPp2ldc

 

[ReflexReact]

I'm still waiting for you to show me a worldwide statistic about how people hold smartphones, dude ...

And I say again : I don't care about how Steve jobs holds the iPhones. I care about how I hold it.




Whining, whining, whining.

Maybe my attitude is conditioned by all that BS about an antenna. Who knows ...

Here it works even with a low strength signal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaZdxPp2ldc

Why are you even in this thread? To troll? To argue that because you hold it differently, so should the world? GTFO!

 

[Chimpware]

I'm still waiting for you to show me a worldwide statistic about how people hold smartphones, dude ...

And I say again : I don't care about how Steve jobs holds the iPhones. I care about how I hold it.




Whining, whining, whining.

Maybe my attitude is conditioned by all that BS about an antenna. Who knows ...

Here it works even with a low strength signal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaZdxPp2ldc

LOL that video is hillarious, what is under his hand???? Strangely he never shows the phone without his hand over it.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Lol. So many laughs in here

It is interesting he doesn't ever remove his hand off the phone.

 

[iEdd]

Why are you even in this thread? To troll? To argue that because you hold it differently, so should the world? GTFO!

What? He was holding it the awkward death grip in that video.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

ola, are you dyslectic too?

mmmmmmmm .....straying from this thread........ concentrate people concentrate!

and you?