iPhone 4 Reception Issue? [Video]

[br0adband]

**** and pay your $30 for the 60 cent piece of rubber!

There is so much truth in this it's not even funny, folks. Those cases don't cost more than this to manufacture.

Wonder how many Foxconn workers are gonna jump over this when the number of bumper orders skyrockets because of this new fiasco... I wonder...

 

[paperboyCCC]

Poor Reception

The first time someone called me on my iPhone 4, the call dropped 3-4 times in 15 minutes sitting on the couch at home where my 3GS and my wife's 3GS have worked forever.

I tried using a bluetooth headset and putting the phone in the same spot - the bars went from 1 bar to 5 bars!!

 

[vertgo]

actually, i barely passed clown school, but at least i know that i should FIRST make a call, THEN pick up the phone. so.....that masters in EE ya got........fail.

Totally, what kind of idiot holds his phone when he calls people? I wear it on a strap around my neck. I usually also wear a shirt with an arrow pointing to the iPhone and the word "F*ÇK YEAH IPHONE" and then an arrow pointing sideways that says "I'm with stupid."

I just assume that whoever is standing next to me uses his hands to make a call, so therefore "I'm with stupid" just points out that fact

 

[Silverado]

No doubt that looks really bad, but in my case, I am fairly close to a tower and always have a strong signal and I'm not able to duplicate that problem at all. In fact the bars never move from full bars no matter how I hold the phone. It must have something to do with the tower locations or signal strength in the area.

Same here. I am unable to duplicate this behavior at all. The bars do not change no matter how long I hold my iPhone 4.

 

[sdsvtdriver]

I have a microcell. I put two iPhone 4's on a desk 3 feet from the microcell. Both have 5 bars and indicate "AT&T M-cell" as the network.

I put my hand, palm up, on the desk under the phone, with my thumb where the volume buttons go, and my other fingers curled on the other side. This lifts the phone about 2". Each phone loses bars, one at a time, over the course of about 30 seconds, until even the "AT&T M-cell" indicator goes away. As soon as I put the phone back on the desk, I'm back to 5 bars.

Same experiment in a different room, on a different floor of my house. Start with 5 bars microcell. Same result.

Turn off microcell. Go outside where I can get 3 bars reception. Put phones on picnic table and repeat. Same results.

These things are broken. (At least my two).

Could you please take a video so we can at least see some GOOD iphone 4's? 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBzjCTLR98

 

[iPadThai]

I just used my friends.

CANNOT replicate this issue.

Must have been a batch of small units. 600,000+ units on launch...think about it. Even with a 5% defective rate, which is plenty normal, is 30,000 units. They account for this type of thing, and Apple MAKES GOOD with defective units. Everyone calm down please.

Also keep this in mind: people are more likely to bitch than praise. There are likely thousands of people with good quality hardware in their hands, enjoying it rather than trolling the forums.

I thought the same thing before - until I tried it myself and was able to replicate it over twice in a row!

HD video for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-b56MdVjo

 

[scrappydoo93]

Well, we can say this is a hardware issue. I just tired it with my 3GS which was on full reception, both WiFi and signal and when i hold it in hand, the signal reduced by a bar and the wifi was reduced by a bar as well. Well this shows that the reception on 3GS hardware is much better than this faulty iPhone 4 reception. 😕

 

[br0adband]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBzjCTLR98

That video appears to be using a Micro-Cell and considering the amount of signal power it radiates - as compared to a cell site that could be miles away - I'd say that video is effectively useless as a demo. If that person redoes the video off the Micro-Cell then I'd attach some significance but, as it is, it's useless for comparison.

 

[blen]

That video appears to be using a Micro-Cell and considering the amount of signal power it radiates - as compared to a cell site that could be miles away - I'd say that video is effectively useless as a demo. If that person redoes the video off the Micro-Cell then I'd attach some significance but, as it is, it's useless for comparison.

Read the full quote, someone couldn't get their broken iPhone to work with a microcell.

This guy did.

 

[gatekeeper]

Confirmed here as well. My 5 bars go to Searching... in no time. Sigh.

 

[Castiel]

Oh, YouTube.
What would the world do without you?

 

[Jr1985]

Is this happening if you hold the phone the way you normally would, or do you have to hold it in some unusual way, in which case it's not that big a deal.

 

[blen]

So interesting thing,

I took my crappy TMOBILE prepaid, $20 phone and held it as I normally would.

Reception drops to 1 bar.

Throw it on the table, back to full (5) bars.

I have completely replicated this issue on a non-related device.

It must have something to do with the phone thinking that there is no apparent reception from human interference surrounding the device, however realistically, there is full service available to the phone.

 

[chylld]

So interesting thing,

I took my crappy TMOBILE prepaid, $20 phone and held it as I normally would.

Reception drops to 1 bar.

Throw it on the table, back to full (5) bars.

I have completely replicated this issue on a non-related device.

It must have something to do with the phone thinking that there is no apparent reception from human interference surrounding the device, however realistically, there is full service available to the phone.

so you're essentially saying that the iphone 4 is no better than a crappy tmobile prepaid $20 phone.

 

[gatekeeper]

Is this happening if you hold the phone the way you normally would, or do you have to hold it in some unusual way, in which case it's not that big a deal.

The way I normally hold it kills my service.. at my girlfriend's house she gets very spotty service (but with the 3G i was actually able to keep service) .. now I have to lay the phone on the bed and talk on speakerphone if I ever want to talk on my new iphone 4..

 

[sdsvtdriver]

That video appears to be using a Micro-Cell and considering the amount of signal power it radiates - as compared to a cell site that could be miles away - I'd say that video is effectively useless as a demo. If that person redoes the video off the Micro-Cell then I'd attach some significance but, as it is, it's useless for comparison.

I was specifically responding to someone that was using a microcell and had the signal issue. Obviously, I have the microcell for a reason. If I turn it off, I barely get any signal with any phone in the house and thus, wouldn't prove anything.

Read the full quote, someone couldn't get their broken iPhone to work with a microcell.

This guy did.

+1

 

[br0adband]

Read the full quote, someone couldn't get their broken iPhone to work with a microcell.

This guy did.

You're correct, I did read the post the first time but I just didn't focus primarily on the guy actually saying he'd gone outside and not used the Micro-Cell... or microcell, etc. 🙂

If people remember, with respect to the possible "hide it inside a case" issue during testing came to this realization:

"Hey, when that guy found the iPhone 4 in the bar in SoCal, the first thing they pointed out was it was hidden inside a fake iPhone 3GS casing..." and then I laughed pretty hard before making that post above (made this comment at another forum just now as well).

Man what a pooch screw this is turning into and fast...

ps
Does anyone find it interesting that Engadget - usually on top of everything that Apple does or anything Apple related - hasn't made a posting about this yet? I expected it from Gizmodo and they're doing ok with it so far but, I wonder if and when Engadget will begin to realize this is becoming a real issue, and quickly...

 

[jpeg42]

So interesting thing,

I took my crappy TMOBILE prepaid, $20 phone and held it as I normally would.

Reception drops to 1 bar.

Throw it on the table, back to full (5) bars.

I have completely replicated this issue on a non-related device.

It must have something to do with the phone thinking that there is no apparent reception from human interference surrounding the device, however realistically, there is full service available to the phone.

I still bet that phone wouldn't block the signal to the point of dropping calls. iPhone 4 does.

 

[blen]

Maybe the human body is absorbing the waves?

Maybe the phone is being 'tricked' that it doesn't have full reception when really, it does?

I'm definitely not an engineer, but try it on your phone - maybe its just the way these waves interact with the human body.

 

[blen]

You're correct, I did read the post the first time but I just didn't focus primarily on the guy actually saying he'd gone outside and not used the Micro-Cell... or microcell, etc. 🙂

If people remember, with respect to the possible "hide it inside a case" issue during testing came to this realization:

"Hey, when that guy found the iPhone 4 in the bar in SoCal, the first thing they pointed out was it was hidden inside a fake iPhone 3GS casing..." and then I laughed pretty hard before making that post above (made this comment at another forum just now as well).

Man what a pooch screw this is turning into and fast...

ps
Does anyone find it interesting that Engadget - usually on top of everything that Apple does or anything Apple related - hasn't made a posting about this yet? I expected it from Gizmodo and they're doing ok with it so far but, I wonder if and when Engadget will begin to realize this is becoming a real issue, and quickly...

I just really find it hard to believe, that Apple's world renowned engineers have overlooked this situation because they were using a case on the iPhone.

 

[zildjianfan]

Maybe the human body is absorbing the waves?

Maybe the phone is being 'tricked' that it doesn't have full reception when really, it does?

I'm definitely not an engineer, but try it on your phone - maybe its just the way these waves interact with the human body.

It's probably more of a current issue. The 3 notches break the antennas, thus incomplete circuits. The human body is conductive so it is bridging the connection, maybe causing a complete circuit

 

[Neil1138]

I wonder if and when Engadget will begin to realize this is becoming a real issue, and quickly...

I wondered the same thing but noticed that engadget merely added the service issue to the screen issue story they made:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/23/poll-is-your-iphone-4-retina-display-seeing-yellow-spots/

 

[irich25]

There is so much truth in this it's not even funny, folks. Those cases don't cost more than this to manufacture.

Wonder how many Foxconn workers are gonna jump over this when the number of bumper orders skyrockets because of this new fiasco... I wonder...

apple maybe forced to give it to us for free 🙂

 

[jpeg42]

I agree, has to be something else. It couldn't be this flawed. Apple called this antenna a "work of genius". But they didn't try it without a case? Interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[blen]

It's probably more of a current issue. The 3 notches break the antennas, thus incomplete circuits. The human body is conductive so it is bridging the connection, maybe causing a complete circuit

A circuit in what? It's waves, not electrical current.