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iPhone 4 Signal Issue Can Be Fixed With a Software Update?

musio said:
We've had to wait so long for this update already that Apple would have put any 'fix' in 4.0.1.
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Two weeks is "so long"? I swear people act like this phone has been out for a year. They explained exactly what the 4.0.1 update was for and a larger 4.1 update is already in beta. Reading the linked articles is generally a good idea before posting.

EDIT: I bought a Griffin Reveal case the day after launch. It has a well known defect that causes pictures taken with the flash to be washed out an useless. Griffin's response to me (they, just like Apple did not seek me out to tell me about the issue) was to "check back at the end of July" to see if the fixed case was ready. This is completely fine to me as a consumer. Why, if such a trivial and easily recognizable problem takes over a month, do sone people expect that a complex, mathematical and technological issue "should" be fixed already after "so long"?

I could be wrong
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Probably.

Apple would be stupid to either 1: come out with loads of different bug fix updates for one problem
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Oh, it's one problem? Do elaborate on your knowledge of the technical specifics of this.

not announcing that there will be another firmware update to fix this drop call issue
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Reading is fundamental. Plus I think I heard something about Apple making some sort of public announcement at some point. Maybe there's something about it out there somewhere.
 
My brother just got his iPhone-4 and brought it over tonight. This is the third iPhone-4 I have gotten my hands on to test out.

The first two showed no attenuation issues worse than any previous phone I have owned, with the signal dropping slightly when held, and then bouncing back while still in the death grip (something I also saw reported by another MR poster).

My brother's phone did the same thing and even at times increased the number of bars when I attempted to bridge the antennas. I even attempted to bridge the antennas with a stainless steel knife blade instead of my fingers since I figured that would be more conductive. Even using metal-to-metal I could not trigger any signal loss.

We even tried the speedtest.net app with and without death-gripping the phone. Regardless of what we did we could not affect the data rate for speedtest.net.

I have now tested 3 different iPhone-4 units in 3 different locations. One of those locations has very shoddy 3G coverage since my iPhone 3GS often switches to EDGE in that location. In all cases iPhone-4 has shown no signs of issues. And the two previous owners I spoke with (friends of mine) claim no issues with dropped calls. My brother has not used his iPhone-4 enough to have an opinion on that.

So what I want to know is this..... What are the factors that trigger this issue?

1) Does the person using the phone matter? One poster said that he went to an Apple store and when the manager held the phone there was no issue, but when he held it the same way the signal dropped.

2) Does the location of the test matter -- this seems to be already confirmed by Apple as they have said if you have weak signal to begin with you could drop a call (hence iOS 4.0.1)

3) Does the specific iPhone-4 unit play into this? Are some units better than others.

I still cannot resolve the matter of the Consumer Reports test video which should be very credible. I'd really like to know what factors trigger this. And I am starting to believe that maybe Apple had the same difficulty I did in reproducing the problem.

All I can say is that with what I have seen with actual devices, I want to get one regardless of what Apple says tomorrow. To me, seeing is believing, and I have seen enough units with no way to reproduce the signal-drop issue that I am beginning to think it is being exaggerated or is only affecting a small number of people in specific areas who seem to be rather vocal.

I'd love to be able to confirm this issue that so many posters are having, but so far all first-hand evidence I have gathered is to the contrary.
 
dbwrobel said:
Not sure if this makes sense but I read the initial story and though about it a bit....

The death grip may in fact attenuate the signal (one that is already assumed to be low); by doing so the iphone calculates the signal to be next to nothing/zero and says ok drop the call. With the bumper, it keeps the hand from attenuating the signal hence alleviating the problem. With a software fix, if it would truly make the phone calculate the signal correctly it may in fact solve the bar/call dropping issue (provided that this is how the phone internals communicate with each other - ie. the call is dropped if the phone CALCULATES the signal to be bad, not necessarily what is seen by the user). This also somewhat makes sense due to the fact that not everyone is having the issue.

If this was the case, has anyone tried the grip in a spot where the signal is known to be very high?

Anyway, thats my crazy theory if it makes any sense at all lol....
Click to expand...

It was not your crazy theory, it was also mine before you:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=10422697&#post10422697

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=10422895&#post10422895

Greetz
 
Hmmm am i the only one skeptical of this guy (Apple sent him to do damage control). Out of the blue he's come out and done a u-turn on the story thus far. Lets hope its the truth and not PR damage control. Doubt it though because the fix would have come in 4.0.1 or 4.1

*Yes i'm a cynic if you hadn't noticed*
 
The bug has been around since the first iPhone in 2007. Does not come as a surprise since I have posted many times the exclusive agreement was also hiding a long-standing bug.
 
BC2009 said:
My brother just got his iPhone-4 and brought it over tonight. This is the third iPhone-4 I have gotten my hands on to test out.

The first two showed no attenuation issues worse than any previous phone I have owned, with the signal dropping slightly when held, and then bouncing back while still in the death grip (something I also saw reported by another MR poster).

My brother's phone did the same thing and even at times increased the number of bars when I attempted to bridge the antennas. I even attempted to bridge the antennas with a stainless steel knife blade instead of my fingers since I figured that would be more conductive. Even using metal-to-metal I could not trigger any signal loss.

We even tried the speedtest.net app with and without death-gripping the phone. Regardless of what we did we could not affect the data rate for speedtest.net.

I have now tested 3 different iPhone-4 units in 3 different locations. One of those locations has very shoddy 3G coverage since my iPhone 3GS often switches to EDGE in that location. In all cases iPhone-4 has shown no signs of issues. And the two previous owners I spoke with (friends of mine) claim no issues with dropped calls. My brother has not used his iPhone-4 enough to have an opinion on that.

So what I want to know is this..... What are the factors that trigger this issue?

1) Does the person using the phone matter? One poster said that he went to an Apple store and when the manager held the phone there was no issue, but when he held it the same way the signal dropped.

2) Does the location of the test matter -- this seems to be already confirmed by Apple as they have said if you have weak signal to begin with you could drop a call (hence iOS 4.0.1)

3) Does the specific iPhone-4 unit play into this? Are some units better than others.

I still cannot resolve the matter of the Consumer Reports test video which should be very credible. I'd really like to know what factors trigger this. And I am starting to believe that maybe Apple had the same difficulty I did in reproducing the problem.

All I can say is that with what I have seen with actual devices, I want to get one regardless of what Apple says tomorrow. To me, seeing is believing, and I have seen enough units with no way to reproduce the signal-drop issue that I am beginning to think it is being exaggerated or is only affecting a small number of people in specific areas who seem to be rather vocal.

I'd love to be able to confirm this issue that so many posters are having, but so far all first-hand evidence I have gathered is to the contrary.
Click to expand...

My suggestion (based on the info in your post)? Get to your nearest Apple store first thing tomorrow and pick it up. It is simply the best piece of technology I've ever owned (and gadgets are a weakness for me).
 
MacRumors said:
The person said the problems were longstanding but had been exposed by the design of the iPhone 4. All cellphones can be affected by the way a hand grips the phone, but well-designed communications software compensates for a variety of external factors and prevents calls from dropping, the person said.
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There are only 3 ways that this is not BS:
1. Adaptive antennas (which AFAIK the iPhone does not have)
2. Fallback algorithms from say 3G to Edge/basic GSM, the latter two require lower SNR IIRC.
3. Increasing Tx power *if* it is an uplink issue.

Unless it's one of the above I see no way that the Apple employee statement can be true.

Azathoth. RF engineer.
 
Can i make something clear to everyone that feels the need to post a completely BS theory?

You are not conducting the antenna to the other, the problem is attenuation. Why do people not understand this?

"hurr put my finger between them both so they bridge durr."

/facepalm
 
Azathoth said:
There are only 3 ways that this is not BS:
1. Adaptive antennas (which AFAIK the iPhone does not have)
2. Fallback algorithms from say 3G to Edge/basic GSM, the latter two require lower SNR IIRC.
3. Increasing Tx power *if* it is an uplink issue.

Unless it's one of the above I see no way that the Apple employee statement can be true.

Azathoth. RF engineer.
Click to expand...

In your opinion os there *any* way, no matter how likely, that this can be solved to a reasonable extent with software?
 
Now I know what’s going to be said later on today if this is anything to go by.

Deny Deny Deny hardware problem... all software problem... how do they explain why they made a plastic band that only covers the metal parts when the glass is the only breakable part of the phone lol
 
macintoshi said:
lol, by the way, what the hell 6502 means in understanding words? :apple::rolleyes::apple:
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From teh faq:
How do user titles work?
User titles are based on post counts:

Newbie => 0 - 29 posts
Member => 30 posts
Regular => 100 posts (minimum required to post in the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum)
6502 => 250 posts (minimum required for access to the Marketplace forum)
6502a => 500 posts (minimum required to have an avatar)
65816 => 1,000 posts
65832 => 1,500 posts
68000 => 1,505 posts
68010 => 2,000 posts
68020 => 2,005 posts
68030 => 2,500 posts
68040 => 3,000 posts
601 => 5,000 posts
603 => 10,000 posts
604 => 15,000 posts
G3 => 20,000 posts
G4 => 25,000 posts
G5 => 30,000 posts
etc....
Demi-Goddess, Demi-God or Contributor => Member who has contributed to the site and has chosen to use one of those three titles.
(Moderator) suffix => Member who is also a moderator
(Moderator emeritus) suffix => Member who is a former moderator
macrumors god => administrator
The numbers come from the increasingly powerful microprocessors used in Apple computers over the years. The 6502 and 658xx are from the Apple II family, 680x0 were used in early Macintosh systems, 601 and beyond are PowerPC chips.
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Oh. +1 vote for 6502 meaning troll :)
 
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I am intrigued, but I understand people's skepticism at this point. The fact is that those affected by this need to see results. All the good stories in the world aren't going to salvage this for Apple. Whatever the fix is, it needs to work, and fast.
 
mabaker said:
Loving how the Android fanboys are spinning this issue against Apple while they themselves have got phones that are of highly questionable built quality like this SELF DESTRUCTING Droid X:

http://digg.com/hardware/Droid_X_actually_self_destructs_if_you_try_to_mod_it
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I wouldn't be surprised if Apple were to eventually do the same thing. I do find it interesting that we (iPhone users) would give grief to the Droid X users about their inability to root their phones (so far). Only a few folks would be affected (those that root their phone) much in the same way that only a few iPhone folks would be affected if they (Apple) permanently broke our JB ability.
 
"According to The New York Times, the signal attenuation issue is the result of an interaction between communication software within the device's operating system and the antenna, an issue that could presumably be addressed with a software update."

I say *********.

"The source also indicates that Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not learn of the signal issue until after the iPhone 4 began shipping, seemingly refuting a report from Bloomberg earlier today claiming that Jobs had been tipped off early in the design process that the antenna design could cause a problem."

I say ********* again.

It's a design issue, thats what happens when the antenna is on the outside of the phone.
 
The signal issue is a hardware design flaw. Unless they coat the metal with something, many people will hold it so the antenna is shorted with the ground, like Sith Lord Jobs did during the dog and pony show.

The only way a software update is going to fix this is if it makes the iPhone send a subliminal message of Jobs whispering "don't hold it that way" over and over.

------
Sent from my Apple IIe, featuring the mighty MOS 6502
 
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