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iPhone 4 Reception Issue? [Video]

Ok
this is from the engadget website review

He is holding the iphone 4....

upclose.jpg




http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/22/iphone-4-review/

view these videos, he is holding and on facetime.
 
Travisimo said:
Think about it. If it's going from 4 bars to NO SERVICE, it means you can't make or receive calls. And what happens when you're in an area where you don't get 4 bars? It'll go to NO SERVICE even quicker.

It seems very unlikely this is a software problem, which means this will be an explosive public relations nightmare for Apple. I'm seriously thinking of waiting things out, even if it means I don't get my phone tomorrow as planned. I know Apple has good customer service and will take care of the problem, but it could be quite involved, including a long wait while they test and confirm the problem, and then decide how to remedy it (send in your phone, recall, etc). You really could be stuck with this problem for some time, and I don't want to risk that.
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True, but you *could* basically get to use an iPhone for however long it takes, then get a completely new one when they fix it and send it to you. Or maybe they'll send everyone free bumpers? I mean are they legally bound to send us new ones?
 
vertigo235 said:
It doesn't seem to have anything to do with having trouble passing through the body.

The problem seems to be when you touch to two antennas together.

The left side is wifi/gps the right side is for the cellular network.

Touching both sides at the same time seems to affect the signal.
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Well, higher frequencies have more trouble passing through solid object, but the wifi/bluetooth could be interfering with the GSM signal.
 
Is there a difference between holding it in your left hand, or your right hand?
The videos/pictures I've seen are all people holding it in their left hands.
 
Psood21 said:
I think apple knows about this problem and that is why they introduced bumper. think about it why would a company like apple go into cover business when there are ton of other manufacturers doing it for relatively cheap..
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I agree!

I got my phone this morning and I noticed it in about 15 minutes. I've been trying to play with this all day and it doesn't look good.

Then again, the thought crossed my mind when they showed the design at the WWDC and I just wanted to believe that someone had thought about that (especially if you're transmitting on the Wifi antenna, etc.)

I'm actually a bit concerned that it might be doing damage to the cell radio receiver to be blasting it with an adjacent Wifi tranmission like that while it's in reception mode.
 
After some testing, I can avoid the dropped bars if my hand doesn't contact the phone at or below the line on the left side. Once my hand slides down and contacts that black separation, I drop. Can anyone else confirm this?
 
I have tried to replicate the problem here, in South Florida, to no avail.

So far, seems to have better phone reception, and the GPS is far, far better than my 3G. It locks on almost immediately, whereas the 3G used to take a while (I use various running apps when I run, and with the 3G, it took until I was out of the lot, onto the sidewalk until it locked on, and sometimes not even then-the 4 locked on as soon as I walked out of my condo)

Just FYI-I rarely had a problem with dropped calls, living both in Boston, and here in Ft. Lauderdale. More issues in Boston than here, but even then it was rare.

So far, very impressed with this iPhone 4!
 
Nrwrit3r said:
True, but you *could* basically get to use an iPhone for however long it takes, then get a completely new one when they fix it and send it to you. Or maybe they'll send everyone free bumpers? I mean are they legally bound to send us new ones?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess you're right. I could just use a bumper until they fix it and perhaps get an entirely new phone. Or maybe they would even do an advanced replacement so we wouldn't have to be without a phone during the exchange.

On the other hand, it took Apple a LONG time to acknowledge the yellow tint issue on the Late 2009 iMac's and I would be totally discontent until this issue was resolved. I just don't know if I want to go through that. If it wasn't for my love of Apple products, I would just pass on it and get something else. But this phone seems to be the real deal.
 
I dont have the phone yet but call me crazy. Apple (supposedly) has tested this phone for an extensive period of time. They also made a big deal of the fact that the antenna surrounding the phone would improve signal. I doubt that there is any hardware issue with the phone.

It's probably some combination of ATT not being prepared for the iphone 4 and what I'm sure will be an upcoming software update to make sure the reception levels on the phone stay high.

Again, I don't have the phone yet but thats just my opinion. Hope it works out for everyone.
 
Polo5 said:
Wow, I tried to replicate this problem with my iPhone 3G and it actually does the same thing, it went from 5 lines to 1 line. I then tried to replicate the problem with a plastic case that I have and it went from 5 lines to 3 lines. I'm not as worried as when I initally read the first post as I would have never noticed that problem if it wasnt for this thread. I havent had a dropped call or bad service where I live since I got my iPhone 3G almost 2 years ago.

Good observation though....
Click to expand...

Interesting, I've just tried it on my 3GS and notice the same sort of thing.

This is in a weak signal area though and it goes from 2-3 bars to 0-1.
 
cheese0 said:
Is there a difference between holding it in your left hand, or your right hand?
The videos/pictures I've seen are all people holding it in their left hands.
Click to expand...
No drop holding it with my right-hand. Seems to be an issue with the left-sided black separation line.
 
Now i am just sad. With the yellow spots on the screen and the reception issues. i might just stick to my money a little bit longer..
 
Mine is doing it too, but there are some inconsistencies. I've been using the Speedtest app to get a direct measurement of data throughput, with the phone in my hand and the phone on the table. In general, holding the phone drags the numbers way down or halts data altogether, but not always and not right away. I can get some good numbers while the phone is on the table, then pick it up and grip both sides of the antenna, run it again and get good numbers, then run it another time and the numbers go way down. I'm thinking that the problem might be that hand interference is confusing that "special new software" we've heard about which checks channels for interference and picks the clearest channel regardless of signal strength. If that's true, it would explain why it hurts signal in some situations and not others, and why it doesn't IMMEDIATELY affect results in the Speedtest app I'm running. It would also mean that this CAN be fixed through a software update, maybe even an OTA carrier update, or perhaps a software update on the cell tower side. I hope they hurry.

I'm in a known area of marginal AT&T signal to begin with, and I suspect that's one of the factors triggering this issue. To clarify, with my old 3GS, I'd get a widely varying signal from full bars to one bar, sometimes 3G sometimes Edge. On my iPhone 4, it's basically the same thing but worsened, and occasionally no service.

Once I get home tonight, where I've always had 5 bars, I'll see if this remains a problem. Sure hope not.
 
I've tried and I can't even get a single bar to disappear when picking it up. There's something strange going on here.

EDIT: Correction, I was just able to replicate it by wrapping my hands all the way around, although it doesn't happen when I'm holding it normally.
 
Unfortunately I'm having the same issue. I'm typing this message on my iPhone 4 and while holding it the bars seem to drop rapidly. :( The rest of the phone is great though!
 
Just got my 32 gig iPhone 4. No yellow smudges, no dead pixels, but I have the antenna issue. Just simply holding it in my hand causes it to lose all signal causing it to make no calls, receive no calls or texts etc. Ouch. Good game, Apple. Good game.

For me though, if the phone is on my desk, its 4 bars. If its even just sitting on my hand without me gripping it, its NO SERVICE. This is ridiculous.
 
klovering said:
I've tested my new phone with 3G (WiFi on and off) and with just Edge on. They all have the problem. I go from 4-5 bars to none. We got 2 phones today, they both do it.

I did shove my old Incase slider case on the phone, no problems! Sounds like Apple needs to buy all of us a bumper case!

Kinda p*ssed at the moment...
Click to expand...

So, to be clear, are you implying that it is impossible to make a phone call on your iPhone 4 that lasts longer than 15 seconds when you hold it in your hand?

Personally, I could care less how many bars I have, because I know from owning many cell phones for many years that the amount of bars being displayed typically has little to do with my ability to make or receive a phone call. So I guess that is at the heart of my question; can you still use it as a phone, or are you gauging by the bars whether or not you could theoretically make or receive a call. I ask, because in the reviews I've read from various places (WSJ, Engadget, etc.), they don't seem to mention any more difficulty making or receiving calls than with previous iPhones. Walt said it was hit or miss. On the contrary, Engadget reported that it was much better.

We're all being led to believe by you guys that you can't establish a call for more than 15 seconds after picking it up. Yet, no reviewer has mentioned anything similar. Just trying to understand the real world implications.
 
s0vereignT said:
I've tried and I can't even get a single bar to disappear when picking it up. There's something strange going on here.
Click to expand...
Might be how you're holding the phone. Try holding it left-handed and have your hand touch the black line on the left-side of the phone.
 
Would be nice if someone intentionally held the phone making contact with only one antenna, and then hold normally to see if there is in fact any issue.

I am also seeing this (for the first time actually) on my 3G as well. 4 bars if on the table, 3 if held (and 10+ seconds go by). Just signal attenuation through the body? (edit: am implying the signal passing through the hand is degraded a bit as a result)

In other words, is the external ip4 frame just a red herring and there is some other culprit at work.
 
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