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iPhone 4 Drops Calls when Left Corner is Touched

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I found one of those in my mother's bedroom. It smells funny, what IS it?
 
Apple have produced a phone that is NOT fit for purpose.

Apple need to replace all these units, or fix it in a software update.
 
In the UK our national radio station (Radio Five Live) has a female presenter called Victoria Derbyshire. She has in five minutes disproved the adage "bad publicity is better than no publicity" - by having four new iPhone owners .. three of which are not happy at all with the actual reception issues. "I was going to get one", she said. "Until I heard these terrible stories - I think I'll wait 'til theyre resolved, now".
The new purchasers waxed typically enthusiastically in hyperventilated tones over the superb-ness that IS the iPhone but all concurred ... this problem has to be sorted ASAP.
One of these said that Apple in the UK are giving out FREE Bumpers as a work around ... but the concensus of thought being ... Apple have made a major cockup and have to come clean.
In that small section of her programme she has probably set back Apple's reputation by about five years ... the problem being that the folks' being interviewed were all experienced past iPhone owners and all of them said that depspite the new iPhone 4 being fan-dab-a-dozy in top features - they could not forgive Apple for rushing this phone out. As one said "The problem is, Apple are notoriously secretive re new products. The prototype iPhone 4s were all case-sheathed so the problem never happened... now they go and release it and this happens!"
Luckily no one mentioned the yellow-blob-screen issue or the scratch-prone casing .... but lets say they did Apple no favours - even tho' they are quite justified in voicing their real concerns.
Personally-I dont think this IS an issue. Most folks use a case - problem solved. And it'd be a right tosseur who didnt protect their £600 phone anyway .... but its still bad hype and could REALLY hit Apples reputation and consequent product sales.
And as another owner said "To date, all Apple products 'Just Work' ... but not in the iPhone 4's case"
I think Steve Job's best case scenario (best case ... geddit?) - is to issue two statements -
1) This issue is not an issue and is too minor a problem to address-if a case is fitted and the right hand is used... no issue
2) BUT if you are left-handed or are a case phobic freak ... we will supply FREE Bumpers with every iPhone

The latter solution will cost em.. but compared to a Nissan Brake recall it's peanuts. Yes they are WAY over priced at £25.00 but considering to make them is only £5.00 this is negligible.

So - Apple.
Do NOT underestimate the upcoming impact of this faux-pas. Acknowledge it and 'solve it' with a free Bumper bundle. Good.
Underestimate how important it is to agree that this is an issue (but NOT a recall job or a Version 2 upgrade kinda thing) and for those who feel it intrudes into their iPhone enjoyment can 'resolve' it by shoving on a free Bumper. Or just buy a case.

Right thats THAT sorted for him ...
Now .. pass me the file on the Yellow Blob Situation ... I think that will take me a LOT longer to sort!!! :D
 
Originally Posted by jb007clone View Post
The issue is often not apparent in areas with excellent reception. Anecdotal reports from earlier in the day pretty much confirm that. A good test would be to find a location where your phone gets less than full reception (maybe 3-4 bars) and try to see if you can replicate the issue
Click to expand...

I only have 2 bars here in the office. No matter how I hold it, or how long I hold it, I can never get it to lose more than 1 bar and never does it go to searching. I have even tried the key trick showed and it still won't lose but 1 bar
 
Pretty pathetic that MacRumors are backing Apple. ie front page article.

Nokia 6230... REALLY? :rolleyes:
 
BruceEBonus said:
In the UK our national radio station (Radio Five Live) has a female presenter called Victoria Derbyshire. She has in five minutes disproved the adage "bad publicity is better than no publicity" - by having four new iPhone owners .. three of which are not happy at all with the actual reception issues. "I was going to get one", she said. "Until I heard these terrible stories - I think I'll wait 'til theyre resolved, now".
The new purchasers waxed typically enthusiastically in hyperventilated tones over the superb-ness that IS the iPhone but all concurred ... this problem has to be sorted ASAP.
One of these said that Apple in the UK are giving out FREE Bumpers as a work around ... but the concensus of thought being ... Apple have made a major cockup and have to come clean.
In that small section of her programme she has probably set back Apple's reputation by about five years ... the problem being that the folks' being interviewed were all experienced past iPhone owners and all of them said that depspite the new iPhone 4 being fan-dab-a-dozy in top features - they could not forgive Apple for rushing this phone out. As one said "The problem is, Apple are notoriously secretive re new products. The prototype iPhone 4s were all case-sheathed so the problem never happened... now they go and release it and this happens!"
Luckily no one mentioned the yellow-blob-screen issue or the scratch-prone casing .... but lets say they did Apple no favours - even tho' they are quite justified in voicing their real concerns.
Personally-I dont think this IS an issue. Most folks use a case - problem solved. And it'd be a right tosseur who didnt protect their £600 phone anyway .... but its still bad hype and could REALLY hit Apples reputation and consequent product sales.
And as another owner said "To date, all Apple products 'Just Work' ... but not in the iPhone 4's case"
I think Steve Job's best case scenario (best case ... geddit?) - is to issue two statements -
1) This issue is not an issue and is too minor a problem to address-if a case is fitted and the right hand is used... no issue
2) BUT if you are left-handed or are a case phobic freak ... we will supply FREE Bumpers with every iPhone

The latter solution will cost em.. but compared to a Nissan Brake recall it's peanuts. Yes they are WAY over priced at £25.00 but considering to make them is only £5.00 this is negligible.

So - Apple.
Do NOT underestimate the upcoming impact of this faux-pas. Acknowledge it and 'solve it' with a free Bumper bundle. Good.
Underestimate how important it is to agree that this is an issue (but NOT a recall job or a Version 2 upgrade kinda thing) and for those who feel it intrudes into their iPhone enjoyment can 'resolve' it by shoving on a free Bumper. Or just buy a case.

Right thats THAT sorted for him ...
Now .. pass me the file on the Yellow Blob Situation ... I think that will take me a LOT longer to sort!!! :D
Click to expand...

I hope they take a huge hit. I hope they have to try harder and make a big comeback because I do not like the direction Apple has been heading in.
 
RichL said:
I hope they take a huge hit. I hope they have to try harder and make a big comeback because I do not like the direction Apple has been heading in.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think that theres maybe been a bit TOO much jingo-ism and condescension of late from Mr. Jobs ... "just make it .. they'll like it anyway even if theyve not even seen it or know what its for ..." attitude.


Apple have built their to-date excellent reputation on fantastic products that DID live up to the hype ... the danger is when you start to believe your own hype that standards slip ....
 
@Hackum nailed it.

hackum said:
Isn't it too much of a coincidence that bumpers were revealed days before the iPhone started shipping. And these are specifically designed to cover the side/edges of the phone. When have Apple done anything like this before.

They CLEARLY are aware of this problem.
Click to expand...

They didn't *miss* the problem. They just noticed it too late.

Apple knows about design. All their other products are designed to stand alone and not need any accessories to function perfectly.

For those who think it's an iOS bug, I think you'll be disappointed.
 
I have a black bumper on order (ordered when I ordered the phone, but will not be delivered until Wednesday!).

However yesterday I purchased an ifrogz "luxe lean" case from Best Buy - it has tiny slits or vents on the side - apparently it still allows my skin to touch the metal enough because I still have the signal loss issue when gripping my phone with my left hand.
 
From Walt Mossberg's review (where he slams ATT&T for the problem):

Yet, in some places where the signal was relatively weak, the iPhone 4 showed no bars, or fewer bars than its predecessor. Apple says that this is a bug it plans to fix, and that it has to do with the way the bars are presented, not the actual ability to make a call. And, in fact, in nearly all of these cases, the iPhone 4 was able to place calls despite the lack of bars.

However, on at least six occasions during my tests, the new iPhone was either reporting “no service” or searching for a network while the old one, held in my other hand, was showing at least a couple of bars. Neither Apple nor AT&T could explain this. The iPhone 4 quickly recovered in these situations, showing service after a few seconds, but it was still troubling.

Just as with its predecessors, I can’t recommend this new iPhone for voice calling for people who experience poor AT&T reception, unless they are willing to carry a second phone on a network that works better for them.
Click to expand...
 
hackum said:
Isn't it too much of a coincidence that bumpers were revealed days before the iPhone started shipping. And these are specifically designed to cover the side/edges of the phone. When have Apple done anything like this before.

They CLEARLY are aware of this problem.
Click to expand...

I agree that it rings fishy that this is the first time Apple has ever done a "case" (if you can even call it a case) for an iPhone. But in fairness, they were mentioned on June 7th at the keynote. Still, I do believe that the antenna issue was known to them well before release, but possibly too far into the manufacturing process to stop production.
 
Sorry, I tried searching this and the other massive threads so pls don't dog pile me but can someone point me to where we've discussed and eliminated as a suspect the changes in the core networking APIs in iOS4 that deal with tower signal selection?

Those have changed and seem to be doing something different with respect to choosing between strength of tower signal and quality of same which could explain why this happens at the house but not at the office for me.
 
my bars always drop from 5 to 2 or 3 and 50% of the time I drop my phone calls in areas I never did with my 3GS. I waited in line with a friend last night for her phone and she has dropped all 5 calls that she has made with her phone. We are located in Charlotte, NC and AT&T service was fine with her 3G and my 3GS.

Apples quality control has really sucked lately. Their service is still great, but I just want a product that works the first time. I dont want to have to get 2 or 3 replacements...
 
I can recreate this problem. It happened to me on my first very first call (dropped mid sentence) and I was like oh great. At least now I know how to prevent it, but it is still such a sham....errrr, shame.
 
bmwhd said:
Sorry, I tried searching this and the other massive threads so pls don't dog pile me but can someone point me to where we've discussed and eliminated as a suspect the changes in the core networking APIs in iOS4 that deal with tower signal selection?

Those have changed and seem to be doing something different with respect to choosing between strength of tower signal and quality of same which could explain why this happens at the house but not at the office for me.
Click to expand...

Networking APIs don't know where you're touching the phone. Many people's guess is that the issue is across all iP4s, but that those with great signals don't see the hit. Those with weaker signals to begin with see the worst degradation.

If you have a super strong signal, and your phone shows 5 bars, who's to say it wouldn't show 6 in your area if it could...7 or 8 even. A great signal might be off the chart as it were. If you short the antenna, you could still show 5 bars if this were the case. But if you have a signal that just hits 5 bars or less, you will see a drop in strength when you short the antenna.
 
mcdj said:
Networking APIs don't know where you're touching the phone. Many people's guess is that the issue is across all iP4s, but that those with great signals don't see the hit. Those with weaker signals to begin with see the worst degradation.

If you have a super strong signal, and your phone shows 5 bars, who's to say it wouldn't show 6 in your area if it could...7 or 8 even. A great signal might be off the chart as it were. If you short the antenna, you could still show 5 bars if this were the case. But if you have a signal that just hits 5 bars or less, you will see a drop in strength when you short the antenna.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's my hope that software tweaks could help this issue (even if proven to be related to the antenna design down the road).
 
I got my iPhone 4 yesterday and I have to say I'm super disappointed. First off, the disappearing signal issue when I hold the phone is incredibly annoying. It doesn't matter if I hold it in my left or right hand my iPhone 4 loses its signal . It is hard not too hold it in a way that wont make the signal drop. The way I naturally hold the phone covers both of the bottom antennas. It is ridiculous that crApple would release a product with such a major weakness and then turn around and tell people that they are holding it wrong. I saw on another post on MR that people had similar problems with other phones but I bet those people did not spend $300 for their phone. My previous phone was an iPhone 3G and I never had the slightest problem with it. The other major gripe I have about the iPhone 4 is the speaker sounds terrible compared to my old iPhone 3G. It seems that the iPhone 4 was poorly designed and it super cheaply made. I plan on taking mine back and going back to my iPhone 3G.
 
I must be one of the lucky few. I can't force it to drop calls or change into lower bars.

Ironically, while it was laying on my desk being activated, I noticed that it started as 1 -2 bars ( at first freaked me out), but then it slowly went up to 5 bars ( I get great reception at my house and work, luckily).

I'll have to check this when I'm in an area that is not as good in signal strength, but since Wed AM, I haven't had any signal issues.
 
Bumpers and the signal issue

I thought the bumpers were a bit odd when I first saw them on Apple's website, but they make more sense now. Why only protect the frame ?
It seems clear now that Apple knew about this signal issue and is offering a "stylish" way to avoid it. For about $30.00, I'd rather buy a case.

Having direct contact with any antenna will alter its receptiveness.
I remember playing with the old bunny ears on top of old televisions.
This problem should not come as a shock.
 
mcdj said:
I agree that it rings fishy that this is the first time Apple has ever done a "case" (if you can even call it a case) for an iPhone. But in fairness, they were mentioned on June 7th at the keynote. Still, I do believe that the antenna issue was known to them well before release, but possibly too far into the manufacturing process to stop production.
Click to expand...

Exactly !
The bumpers are a clear indication that Apple knew about the problem, but it was too late to do anything about it (except offer the bumpers).
Perhaps this iteration of the iPhone should be called the iPhone Don't Touch.
 
JrMac said:
Exactly !
The bumpers are a clear indication that Apple knew about the problem, but it was too late to do anything about it (except offer the bumpers).
Perhaps this iteration of the iPhone should be called the iPhone Don't Touch.
Click to expand...

I'm starting to think the same thing. It should have been included for free.
 
How can it possibly be a software issue?!? You can't touch the damn software and it sure as hell isn't on the side of the phone! It's the damn hardware because it's a physical problem!!
 
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