***Does The Bumper Solve The Problem???***

[Megalobyte]

I admit, this reception/antenna issue is upsetting and appears to be real. That being said, since I always planned on using a case, which would solve this issue for me, I was going to get the phone anyway, after all, this issue aside, it's a pretty neat gadget, one I've been looking forward to.

But, this fellow made a video that sure seems to suggest the bumper, or by extrapolation, any case you might use to solve this issue, will not solve the problem, in which case, you may own a very expensive phone that can not be made to work properly.

For me, in my decision to get the phone, or wait, this is the most critical point.

So, I'd love to hear from any others who have tested whether in fact the bumper does solve the issue, in as much detail as possible, ie. does it solve it completely, mostly, not at all, etc.. Most say it does, but unless this youtube video is somehow staged, which I doubt, it sure seems like the issue can happen with or without a case/bumper, in which case, it makes one wonder if there's more to it than merely electrically bridging that gap between the 2 antennas.

Here's the video, it's pretty clear to me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFWVih5e_J0

 

[Wegmans]

According to other posts, the bumper does not entirely fix the problem. Some people claim that it is simply a software bug, and a fix will be coming shortly.

 

[Pez555]

the bumper shouldnt even need to fix a problem like this in the first place. its scandalous.

 

[touchmonkey]

More scandalous than the problem is Jobs dismissive attitude and reply.
Kinda like how a cover up us often more damaging than the original sin.
I've not cancelled my order (yet), but am sorely disappointed in Jobs.
His reply will damage him more than the problem, and when you face the end your legacy becomes kind of important. As he all too well knows.

 

[Megalobyte]

the bumper shouldnt even need to fix a problem like this in the first place. its scandalous.

I agree, it's ridiculous, but still, if the bumper or let's say an incase slider does fix the problem, and in such a case the phone actually has reception equal to or better than the 3Gs I currently have (while in the case), I'd buy one, even if I feel the design of the antenna is flawed and really a gigantic design blunder on Apple's part. I like the rest of the phone, and since I was going to use an incase slider anyway, once they're available, the design flaw wouldn't affect me, (even if it bothered me from a philosophical standpoint) but, if the problem exists even with a case on, well then, that would definitely make me think twice about buying the 4.

But, that aside, I'm interested in trying to get an idea if this fellow's video which shows a pretty significant, and classic signal issue WITH the bumper on, is a fluke, or not. (Yes, I know it's odd to call a symptom that developed 2 days ago classic, but you get the point. )

 

[mgmusicman94]

Yes, the bumper fixes the problem.

 

[Megalobyte]

Yes, the bumper fixes the problem.

Did you watch the youtube video linked to above? If so, what do you make of it?

 

[GameraFan]

Bumper helps a bit but does not eliminate the problem for those in weaker signal areas.

 

[Megalobyte]

Bumper helps a bit but does not eliminate the problem for those in weaker signal areas.

If in fact the bumper helps with, but doesn't eliminate the issue, then it seems to me, we're not talking about simply bridging the gap between the 2 antennas, creating a shorting effect, since the bumper should completely prevent that, the only other possibility would then be, your hand is physically blocking and interfering with the signal, which isn't so great, as this new design was supposed to make reception better.

It could be a little of both, the naked phone suffers from both bridging that gap, and, blocking the antenna somewhat with your hand, where the phone in a case only suffers from hand blockage and is thus not totally unaffected, but better than naked.

Much as I want to, I'm not buying the phone until I'm pretty certain the issue is 95% resolved by a case. But the video above sure makes me wonder...

Another questions I have is, are people who are not having the issue, either natively, or because they have a bumper on it that solves the problem, noticing that the 4 has superior reception and/or data speed to the 3gs?

 

[freeman727]

I don't think everyone is having the reception issue. I'm not. My only problem with the iphone 4 is the narrowness, which makes it hard to hold. It should be resolved with a bumper or case.

 

[tritonj]

I don't think everyone is having the reception issue. I'm not. My only problem with the iphone 4 is the narrowness, which makes it hard to hold. It should be resolved with a bumper or case.

that is correct not everyone is having an issue with reception, but as always for the most part it is only those who have the issue who are speaking up and a few without

 

[Megalobyte]

While it may be true not all phones are affected, enough people are having the issue where it concerns me. Plus, this morning at the ATT store, where they're guarding their single IP4 display unit like it's solid gold, when I was deemed worthy enough to actually hold it, with the ATT guy watching me like a hawk, (seriously, and I'm a very respectable, 40 year old guy), I was easily able to get the signal to steadily drop from 4-5 bars to 0 bars when I touched/covered the sensitive area on the bottom left side. So, in my personal sample of one, corroborated by very active threads on all iphone forums, and major news publications, I feel there is indeed an issue here, but, as I said, if a case does solve the problem, and the phone works perfectly in a case, I'll be happy to get one.

The att guy noticed me checking the antenna, and said it's a software bug soon to be fixed, I don't believe that, but I do hope it's true.

 

[frazwr01]

I just posted this another thread -- I had the same issues as the guy who posted the original video, until I tried restoring in DFU mode -- read below:

Looks like you synced from a backup that originated from a jailbroken iphone -- I know this because that's the only way the battery % will show up in iOS4 until it's jailbroken for the iPhone 4... Anyway, my phone pretty much stopped being able to use cellular data last night after syncing from my macbook (which had previously backed up a jailbroken 3g). After the sync, I got some error messages -- but largely ignored them bc everything seemed to work fine. Shortly thereafter, I couldn't get more than ~10kbps over the AT&T network (normally I get ~2500kbps). Soft reseting the phone didn't help. It didn't matter if I was touching the lower left corner of the phone either. Basically, I could only send/receive data via wifi at that point.

Finally, I decided to restore iOS4 in DFU mode. Now everything is (sort of) OK. My signal strength still goes down if I short out the two antennas by holding the lower left of the phone in my left hand, but if I put a silicone case on the phone or if I simply do not touch the lower left corner, all is well...

 

[wpc]

Bumper has worked for me.

 

[deenybird]

Looks like you synced from a backup that originated from a jailbroken iphone -- I know this because that's the only way the battery % will show up in iOS4 until it's jailbroken for the iPhone 4

lol no its not.
Just go to Settings>General>Usage and toggle battery percentage to on.

 

[frazwr01]

lol no its not.
Just go to Settings>General>Usage and toggle battery percentage to on.

Whoops -- I stand corrected.