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

iPhone 4 Drops Calls when Left Corner is Touched

diogenis said:
hehehe
Is there a chance of some sort of conductivity between those antennae patches through some sort of sweaty hands?
Try shorting them on purpose, then try turning off the wifi
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing. The skin is conducting over that little separation and shorting the antenna. I'd like to see someone wearing a nonconductive glove try the same hand holding positions.
 
smileyborg said:
I fully agree, I have had my iPhone 4 since 1pm today, and cannot reproduce these signal loss issues no matter where my hand is on the phone. Additionally, my screen is flawless. No complaints here whatsoever, except for the usual AT&T coverage issues in some areas.
Click to expand...

maybe you have less sweaty hands?

i hope i'll never have to do a phone interview with my iPhone 4... lol.
 
BertyBoy said:
I heard that the affected phones (dropped calls and brown spots) all have a tell-tale mark on the back, something like "Made in China".

Do the Vietnamese / Taiwanese / Korean knock-offs have these features too ?
Click to expand...
Made in China? That should be "Assembled in China" ;)
 
I just tested it on my new iPhone 4... AND IT'S TRUE!
It happens when your fingers make a connection between the two antenna - either on the left hand side or on the top! Total signal loss - very not cool
 
enemyseven said:
I thought the same thing. The skin is conducting over that little separation and shorting the antenna. I'd like to see someone wearing a nonconductive glove try the same hand holding positions.
Click to expand...

Well, anything is possible indeed, but I can hardly believe such an obvious thing has slipped the engineer nerds. It is so obvious, and it's a pitty if something like that happens, because it gives a reason for bashers to exist. The product is otherwise amazing, and the engineering behind it, a marvel -including the antennae patches-
 
My iphone 4 doesn't seem to be affected. Can't replicate this effect at all…

In UK on O2 FWIW...
 
-=XX=-Nephilim said:
If this is common with all shipped units expect recall... :s
Click to expand...

I doubt it... too expensive for Apple... they will send you one of those bumpers for free (the will spend less than 1$ on the bumper plus the p&p... so still huge profit, and you'll be extremely happy because you got something for free from those who made mobile communication change everything...)
 
So far we have:

  • Prone to scratching
  • Screen discoloration problems
  • Lack of white iPhones
  • Reproducable flaw whereby the signal is lost if touching the bottom left corner of the phone

They better hope the last issue isn't an inherent design flaw that can't be fixed through software updates... or there is going to be a stampede of angry customers demanding replacements.
 
wow

You all really believe this garbage he probably lives in a crappy area to get a strong signal from ATT.
 
enemyseven said:
I thought the same thing. The skin is conducting over that little separation and shorting the antenna. I'd like to see someone wearing a nonconductive glove try the same hand holding positions.
Click to expand...


I have the Same issue with the signal strength and the bottom left corner. I can consistently reproduce this issue resulting in either a dropped call or horribly slow data transfer rates over 3G and Wifi.

On a positive note when I put my iphone 4 in my old silicone iskin 3G case there are NO signal strength issues!! Even when palming the left corner or enveloping all sides of the phone I still had Full Bars. The iphone bumpers or for that matter any silicone/rubber case should do the trick.

As others have mentioned Apple had probably foresaw this issue and came up with the bumpers as a solution. Hmmm.... I wonder though, If I go to the Apple Store and make a big stink over the issue maybe I can get a bumper for free. Actually at this rate Apple may have to give every iphone 4 purchaser a free bumper as I doubt this issue will be resolved by a simple software update.
 
How to hold a cell phone

Every Cell phone must be used properly. Here is the manual from my Nokia 6230i (from 5 or 6 years ago), a great cell phone, great RF, with an internal antenna. Here is Nokia's warning....So hold your iPhones in the proper way when used...Nothing new, except Apple should have given some guidance...and certainly any testing should be done while holding the phone to your face...properly. Every Nokia phone with an internal antenna that I have owned, has the same warning in the manual.

This is RF Engineering...this is life...

http://nds1.nokia.com/phones/files/guides/Nokia_6230i_UG_en.pdf

6230frontpage.png


6230howtohold.png
 
Maybe if the Apple tester spend more time holding the phone in his left hand rather than losing it down the pub, this problem would have been addressed.
 
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