The bumpers are not an acceptable solution to me because then it doesn't fit in any of the docks. The Apple dock and Apple iPhone 4 universal dock adapters will not fit with the bumper on. I still don't understand why Apple doesn't make docks that work with their own cases. It irritates me that I cannot dock my iPad in the standard iPad dock with the Apple case on.
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iPhone 4 Drops Calls when Left Corner is Touched
- Thread starter dagomike
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The bumpers are not an acceptable solution to me because then it doesn't fit in any of the docks. The Apple dock and Apple iPhone 4 universal dock adapters will not fit with the bumper on. I still don't understand why Apple doesn't make docks that work with their own cases. It irritates me that I cannot dock my iPad in the standard iPad dock with the Apple case on.
I confirmed on mine that it is bridging the gap between the 2 antennas that is causing mine to lose signal. So it appears the iPhone bumper case should fix that. Or something as simple as a piece of scotch tape over that area.
Same Exact Problem
I am having the EXACT same problem as in this video - FedX dropped off my iPhone 4.0 yesterday. I can replicate the problem 100% of the time. Hope Apple has a fix ... It will be interesting to see what happens today as 100,000's of people start getting their phones!
If there is not some quick fix for this - I will be taking mine back as soon as the launch dust settles.
I am having the EXACT same problem as in this video - FedX dropped off my iPhone 4.0 yesterday. I can replicate the problem 100% of the time. Hope Apple has a fix ... It will be interesting to see what happens today as 100,000's of people start getting their phones!
If there is not some quick fix for this - I will be taking mine back as soon as the launch dust settles.
I think it's reasonable to suspect that when pressing your palm against the bottom left of the iPhone4's corner, you are bridging the two different types of antennas exactly where Apple put a separator. Some of the received cellular signal may be being taken away by the wifi/Bluetooth receiver circuitry or even corrupted by the circuitry. Try to reproduce issue by holding in left hand but not bridging where there is a seperator.
if, on the left side, you touch just below the separator between the two antennas - no problem - if you touch just above it - no problem - but if you put your thumb on top of the gap so that you make a connection between the two sides - thats when the problem happens.
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)
I can attest to this theory. I can drop bars at will by touching the side inside my apartment where the signal is weaker to begin with, but outside on the street where the signal is stronger, I don't lose any bars and performance does not seem to be affected.
iStudentUK said:possible fix
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Do you have one with an Apple logo though? Then you could charge a large premium!
On another issue... it is not a surprise that not everyone can replicate the problem, the antenna is probably not rendered completely useless, just weakened. So if you have very good phone signal you may not see a real difference. It would be interesting to see how strong the signal needs to be to compensate for the issue.
I can attest to this theory. I can drop bars at will by touching the side inside my apartment where the signal is weaker to begin with, but outside on the street where the signal is stronger, I don't lose any bars and performance does not seem to be affected.
Lolz. Let me explain. You don't understand because you are not an engineer, for those of you saying "but wait, I AM an engineer blah blah blah" (You are not at work right now... so your opinion/professional knowledge doesn't apply here). And for those of you saying "but I AM an engineer AND I'm at work, well you shouldn't be on macrumors and need to get back to work, thus we can infer that your opinion/professional knowledge doesn't apply since you are a terrible employee (and a bad person). So lets wait for the only opinion that matters and all agree that until Steve Jobs says its true, that it is all in your immagination.
*Note: Sarcasm warning. Please refer to first 4 characters.
Don't bridge the gap!
Yep - you nailed it... bridge the gap in the lower left hand corned and the signal drops like a rock ... what a horrific design flaw. No Tape or bumpers for me ... if there is not some sort of quick fix - then back to the Apple Store.
Yep - you nailed it... bridge the gap in the lower left hand corned and the signal drops like a rock ... what a horrific design flaw. No Tape or bumpers for me ... if there is not some sort of quick fix - then back to the Apple Store.
I imagine it would be as simple as pressing a single finger against the gap? Anyone tried that?
Just learn how to hold the phone, away from any sweet spot. One can not make a phone to be held in all possible ways and have the signal unaffected.
Two points that, IMO, are irrefutable:
1) You should be able to hold your phone in your hand and have it function.
2) You should not have to purchase a $29 accessory in order to fix no/poor reception.
Having watched the issue replicated by several different people, numerous times, I am sufficiently convinced that this is a hardware issue.
Obviously cell reception varies everywhere. Some people may see less of an issue, or indeed, no issue at all, due to their proximity to a tower, less network congestion, the way they hold their phones, or various other factors.
However, the issue DOES exist.
Many people have called this a design flaw, and I would have to agree. Placing the antenna on the outside of the device and allowing it to be directly affected by touch was a big mistake.
If you're one of the lucky ones who sees no issue with your device, congratulations! Enjoy your new phone.
If you're one of the not-so-lucky ones, my sympathies.
Hopefully, Apple will do the right thing and compensate you for their mistake.
1) You should be able to hold your phone in your hand and have it function.
2) You should not have to purchase a $29 accessory in order to fix no/poor reception.
Having watched the issue replicated by several different people, numerous times, I am sufficiently convinced that this is a hardware issue.
Obviously cell reception varies everywhere. Some people may see less of an issue, or indeed, no issue at all, due to their proximity to a tower, less network congestion, the way they hold their phones, or various other factors.
However, the issue DOES exist.
Many people have called this a design flaw, and I would have to agree. Placing the antenna on the outside of the device and allowing it to be directly affected by touch was a big mistake.
If you're one of the lucky ones who sees no issue with your device, congratulations! Enjoy your new phone.
If you're one of the not-so-lucky ones, my sympathies.
Hopefully, Apple will do the right thing and compensate you for their mistake.
Well I'm right handed and when I hold an iPhone in the palm of my hand, my fingers are right where the gap is on the bottom left side and that's the natural position for me. I like to know I've fingers supporting the bottom left edge so I don't drop it.
This bit was worrying:
Sounds like Walt had the exact same issue people here are having.
I will take a free bumper. I love the phone and ordered a bumper when I ordered my phone. But understand people that don't want a case/bumper on their phones being upset.
A stab in the dark, but it would appear that you are shorting out the iphone cell antenna to the wifi antenna.
Surely a fix could be made to automatically turn off or disable the other antenna's when you make a call on the iphone?
Mr Jobs, contact me directly for a bonus.
Surely a fix could be made to automatically turn off or disable the other antenna's when you make a call on the iphone?
Mr Jobs, contact me directly for a bonus.
Nail Varnish?
I understand we're not going to want to start 'painting' things on our new gadgets, but my friend has suggested nail varnish.
Would painting nail varnish over the steel rim (maybe just around the gaps) insulate them enough from skin?
This would also not detract from the look and still allow you do use docks.
Then again, would that void the warranty?
It's horrible thinking I might have to do that: £599 gadget and I have to bodge it with nail varnish.
I understand we're not going to want to start 'painting' things on our new gadgets, but my friend has suggested nail varnish.
Would painting nail varnish over the steel rim (maybe just around the gaps) insulate them enough from skin?
This would also not detract from the look and still allow you do use docks.
Then again, would that void the warranty?
It's horrible thinking I might have to do that: £599 gadget and I have to bodge it with nail varnish.
Exactly, just that he didn't figure out the "left-corner reason". It's interestig though, that Apple responded to Walt talking of a software issue.
The behavior on mine seems to be the bars are reduced incrementally to a point about every half a minute. The rate is effected by the material so if I use my thumb it drops a bar. I can get it to drop a bar pretty consistently with my thumb and can sometimes get it down to one 3G bar with my thumb. Again, a nickel works a lot better than a thumb. Part of the problem with measuring this is that oddly just moving the thing a couple of feet results in a difference in the number of bars.
I have yet to go from five 3G bars to no signal at all, even with a nickel, though. I can see this being problematic in low signal strength areas but then again orienting your head can be a problem in those situations.
Edit: I just had a weird observation where while doing a hold with my fingers test it shot down to one bar then back up to four all while holding the phone stationary and holding the phone the same way/not letting go. This really looks like a combination of a software bar bug (or just AT&T sucking) and a shorting the two antennas hardware problem.
I have yet to go from five 3G bars to no signal at all, even with a nickel, though. I can see this being problematic in low signal strength areas but then again orienting your head can be a problem in those situations.
Edit: I just had a weird observation where while doing a hold with my fingers test it shot down to one bar then back up to four all while holding the phone stationary and holding the phone the same way/not letting go. This really looks like a combination of a software bar bug (or just AT&T sucking) and a shorting the two antennas hardware problem.
Not related to a bar "display" issue... trust me...
This is not true ... if I "bridge the gap" and wait for the all of the bars to disappear - I cant even place a call or it drops 100% of the time. Also - my data speeds on 3G go from 1.5 to 2 M and when I "bridge the gap" is drops to 30-50K....
My 3GS never dropped a call in my home - I have dropped calls 100% of the time if I "bridge the gap" on my iPhone 4... just call Apple Customer Service, bridge the gap and BLAM call dropped 100% of the time.
This is a Huge Problem. I will be following closely today...
This is not true ... if I "bridge the gap" and wait for the all of the bars to disappear - I cant even place a call or it drops 100% of the time. Also - my data speeds on 3G go from 1.5 to 2 M and when I "bridge the gap" is drops to 30-50K....
My 3GS never dropped a call in my home - I have dropped calls 100% of the time if I "bridge the gap" on my iPhone 4... just call Apple Customer Service, bridge the gap and BLAM call dropped 100% of the time.
This is a Huge Problem. I will be following closely today...
What the.....!
Just tried the same on my iPhone 3GS and holding the phone in my left palm will reduce signal strength from 4 bars in my home to 1 bar or no connection. Holding it with 2 fingers at the upper portion of the phone restores it to full signal strength. Tried it multiple times and also ran speedtest app to confirm massive reduction in download speed. Mostly downgraded to Edge when covering the left lower part. That explains maybe my many dropped calls as I am used to hold the phone in my left hand. Thanks for the post. Will have to learn to hold the phone gingerly with 2 fingers. Picking up my iPhone 4 later today and will test. Wonder what they will say at the Apple store.
Just tried the same on my iPhone 3GS and holding the phone in my left palm will reduce signal strength from 4 bars in my home to 1 bar or no connection. Holding it with 2 fingers at the upper portion of the phone restores it to full signal strength. Tried it multiple times and also ran speedtest app to confirm massive reduction in download speed. Mostly downgraded to Edge when covering the left lower part. That explains maybe my many dropped calls as I am used to hold the phone in my left hand. Thanks for the post. Will have to learn to hold the phone gingerly with 2 fingers. Picking up my iPhone 4 later today and will test. Wonder what they will say at the Apple store.