Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

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

I DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO RETURN THE PHONE. ATT SAYS THEY WILL CHARGE A RESTOCKING FEE IF I DO AND I HAVE ASKED MULTIPLE PEOPLE.

And seriously don't say anything about the caps because I'm tired of all you fanboys defending apple. It's not a reporting issue(at least alone) and I should not have to pay a restocking fee period....and even the people that are defending apple should not be able to say anything about that.
 
Chimpware said:
Ahhhh so the "fix" will be out right after our return window is closed huh?

Mine goes back today. More for the lack of customer concern and how this is being handled than the issue on it's own.

Apple, too bad for you, I spend a lot of money on tech crap, guess others will be getting it now. Sad.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Truely shocking.
 
I'm sure this will finally make all the Apple apologists feel embarrassed. (ya right, like anything would).

Apple says they will not do a fix for the reception problem.

They will change the pretty picture of the number of bars shown by LOWERING the number of bars shown.

If you don't like it, Apple advises you to return the phone. They don't need your business. There are plenty of fools who will buy the phone based on Apples PAST reputation for having the BEST products and great CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I'm am shocked w Apple. This is an awful day for everyone who truly loves Apple products.

As I've said and Anandtech said, this is a basic hardware design problem. I thought Apple would try to compensate their customers for their brain dead design, but instead they flip them the finger and tell them we don't need your business, more fools behind you willing to pay us money money money.

Sad
 
uberamd said:
This doesn't fix the fact that the moment I touch the "gap" my data over 3G stops instantly (as seen in the video in my sig).
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. No reception problems in my home, not any in my house...ever. Sadly, this will not fix it.
:(


This sucks. I reallyvwanted to keep my iPhone 4. :(
 
Apple's "Press" release is B.S.!!!!

How can adjusting the number of bars displayed stop me from getting "call failed" when I hold the iPhone 4 in my left hand???? I can make a call from my office just fine with my 3GS holding it anyway I wish, the same call with the iPhone 4 held in my left hand results in the call being dropped after about 15 seconds. Mission control we have a problem! The first step to recovery is admiting you have a problem, Apple needs to attend a few AA classes.
 
GeekLawyer said:
This is better than nothing.

Good to see an official response from Apple that at least speaks to the issue.
Click to expand...

I don't see how this is better than nothing. Seems worse. Apple doesn't care about producing a shoddy product with a basic design defect. Instead they will change pretty pictures to fool the gullible into continuing to defend a lousy product not worthy of the Apple brand.
 
shanmugam said:
oh really, how will I get $5k to $10k i already spend on Apple eco system?

oh please shut up this "I know everything" attitude
Click to expand...

"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."

^^^^^^^^^
Please do that!

Thank you!

Mark
 
And this is precisely why I never buy the first iteration of any new device. I always wait to buy the first revision/model upgrade, so that Apple has the opportunity to iron out the wrinkles.

It's really quite a common trend. When my PC decided it had enough of this world, I bought the Aluminum Macbook within a week of its release (no choice, had to). What happened? No firewire, mediocre LED screen, standard battery. With only the next revision, two of the three were fixed.

Perhaps people should wait to read reviews before they jump on the bandwagon. I'm just saying, it could save a lot of people quite a few headaches...
 
Is there really no restocking fee for the iPhone? Has it always been that way, or is that a new policy because of the complaints?

spiritlevel said:
Could all the the people saying "just return the phone" please explain to me how I can do that without being £200 down?. Or do you think it is right that I should suffer such financial loss due to a company releasing a flawed product?
Click to expand...

While I agree that that's a concern, I'm a bit surprised that someone would spend that much on a new phone so quickly. Seems like common sense would be to make sure the phone is working well first.

Have you contacted apple and asked them about a mobile me refund, or app refunds if you return the phone?
 
deannnnn said:
I doubt that very much.

The majority of people that don't sit on tech sites all day like us may have "heard something about weird signal problems" but it won't stop them from buying an iPhone if they want one because frankly, they don't care.
Click to expand...

...there is very little "tech" going on at most "tech sites"...mostly a lot of obsessing by user-fanatics with little technical training and a lot of pseudo technical "pixel peeping"....its like folks who obsess about digital cameras and specs to take pix at their birthday party; fans who obsess about bicycle components and weight just to ride around their block, etc....we get these "perfect" devices, and obviously get emotionally invested in the purchase, to make us feel better about our "imperfect" lives or superior to folks who don't have them...

and companies, like Apple, Google, Verizon, ATT, Nokia, etc, push these differences to market their products as if 99% folks in the world can ever really tell or to whom it would never make a difference. Businesses are in the business of selling things for more than they cost to make or deliver...no better or worse...and in order to convince you to buy them, they try to convince you of a "need"

in the end, relative to land lines and connectivity, ALL CELL PHONES SUCK and are INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE per device and per minute. But, we love ("need") the convenience and the always "on" aspect and the portability/mobility.....so we put up with crappy quality and crappy connectivity; if we live in a great coverage area, not much of an issue, but if we don't, oh well.
 
I don't understand why some people are so adamently opposed to getting a case for a glass phone. Seriously, you'll own the phone for two years, it's extremely likely that harm will befall it in that time. Get a case, enjoy the segment-leading display, camera, interface, battery life and be happy with your purchase.

And to those planning to return their phone for an Android device because they they the aesthetics are somehow spoiled by using a case - is a bare, plasticky Android phone somehow more appealing?
 
dmelgar said:
I don't see how this is better than nothing. Seems worse. Apple doesn't care about producing a shoddy product with a basic design defect. Instead they will change pretty pictures to fool the gullible into continuing to defend a lousy product not worthy of the Apple brand.
Click to expand...

Not even really that... they're going to stop lying to people about their signal strength. I see it coming already: "After 4.0.1 I now have worse signal than ever before, and my phone still drops calls when I touch the Bad Spot!"
 
I like how everyone in here assumes Apple doesn't know what they are talking about. :rolleyes: If they think it can be fixed, or at the very least helped with a software update, shouldn't we take their word for it? At least until it releases? And if it doesn't work then, we bitch then?
 
Proximity Censor Issue

I ended up buying a "bumper" and my bars are now much better.

That said, I am surprised no one is talking about the proximity censor issue that is much more relevant and VERY aggravating. This is the problem that makes you accidentally call someone you haven't spoken to in years, mute calls, initiate Facetime, etc as your cheek touches the touchscreen. There's even a long support thread about it.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2475509&start=645&tstart=0
 
01grander said:
I DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO RETURN THE PHONE. ATT SAYS THEY WILL CHARGE A RESTOCKING FEE IF I DO AND I HAVE ASKED MULTIPLE PEOPLE.
Click to expand...

"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."

Sounds to me like Apple will take it back and issue a refund regardless of where you bought it.

Mark
 
jntdigital said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; es-es) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

HTC, Motorola, and Nokia are just loving this.

man, Im still rocking an iPhone 2G! I thought I was going to be able to upgrade it.
Click to expand...

I upgraded from an iPhone 2g and I have MUCH better service with the iPhone 4 then I ever got with the 2g. I can use the iPhone 4 in my house and that was never possible before. I have had one dropped call since getting the 4 and it was because of a problem with the other end of the line.

I can make about 2 bars go down using the "death grip" but even then I have much better reception than I ever got with the iPhone 2g.

Very glad I upgraded. This phone leaves the 2g in the dust.
 
01grander said:
I DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO RETURN THE PHONE. ATT SAYS THEY WILL CHARGE A RESTOCKING FEE IF I DO AND I HAVE ASKED MULTIPLE PEOPLE.

And seriously don't say anything about the caps because I'm tired of all you fanboys defending apple. It's not a reporting issue(at least alone) and I should not have to pay a restocking fee period....and even the people that are defending apple should not be able to say anything about that.
Click to expand...

So you are pissed about people defending Apple to the point of keeping a thing you do not want?
Right or wrong is (much of time) irrelevant, people should know what they want, otherwise they are abused.
 
Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the gulf of mexico was never clean. we mistakenly showed that there was no oil. swimmers who thought the gulf was clean probably were just in an area with very weak pollution and were surprised by the sudden drop in water quality. now we will update the arial photographs to show that there was always oil. no clean up effort is necessary.
 
dwarnecke11 said:
I don't understand why some people are so adamently opposed to getting a case for a glass phone. Seriously, you'll own the phone for two years, it's extremely likely that harm will befall it in that time. Get a case, enjoy the segment-leading display, camera, interface, battery life and be happy with your purchase.

And to those planning to return their phone for an Android device because they they the aesthetics are somehow spoiled by using a case - is a bare, plasticky Android phone somehow more appealing?
Click to expand...

A case for me mitigates the problem, but not solves it. I still get dropped calls.
 
labrat1996 said:
Then why did I drop three out of four calls before I got a case and haven't dropped any since? That seems to me to be more than a "miscalculation"!
Click to expand...

I can explain this, don't know if you like my explanation.

Imagine your at the "lower end" of carrier signal, then apply the "dead grip" and you have a dropped call, because the signal drops in the nirwana range.
If you have a bumper, there is now "dead grip", you're signal could still be low, but it will not drop into the nirwana range.

As stated elsewhere every phone suffers from signal drops if gripped "wrong".

I don't know how many phones have their antenna outside, so the iphone has a weak point for sure, but as also stated elsewhere Apple thought it's worth the tradeoff. This could be a mistake.....we'll see
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back