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

[atomicbatteries]

actually my reception seemed to get worse. Not with regard to the bars mind you, which are noticeably less than they were, but now my holding it in the "wrong way" makes the bars diminishing more substantially than it did in the past before update. SO I dont know what to think.

I think I know the Times source and if it is who I thin it is its a at the tippy top, so in a few short hours we will see what kind of song and dance they will sing.

TO the naysayers and the ones here that "have no issues", you know what, instant Karma's going to get you baby.

When this fix, if it is a fix comes out, your phones will now go on the fritz and we'll see who starts crying bloody murder and recall!

HAHA Just jiven wid ya brotha.

 

[Rend It]

The entire hysteria and quasi-testing has involved watching the bars. Very little to none of the testing involved making and dropping calls, including the Consumer Report testing.

People should have spent more time using their phone and less time molesting it while running speedtest.

While true that a lot of the testing was focused on bars, or perhaps the slightly more reliable signal power in dBm, there were plenty of actual call and data rate tests performed by tech blogs and users. Cnet did a nice piece (surprisingly) showing that the iPhone-to-landline voice channel completely dropped out when touching the antenna gap. I personally don't distinguish between dropped calls and calls that cut out or become garbled; they're both extremely inconvenient. In some ways, maintaining a bad connection is more annoying than just dropping it altogether.

Another example of real-world tests of the reception problem is the fact that many iP4 owners (not everyone, and not necessarily a majority) had previously owned iPhone 3Gs and 3GSs. After upgrading, they experienced poorer call quality and were unable to make calls in places where they had no trouble with the 3G/3GS.

As for the software fix (the one this thread is based on), it's believable, but it would mean that mobile phone chips are WAY more advanced than I ever imagined. If so, my prognostication is that we'll still see a combination of minor hardware fixes (people can either have their phone repaired or simply exchange it for a modded one) and the software update. NO major redesign or major recall.

I still think the $30 to $50 gift certificate to the Apple Store is much more likely, however.

 

[gkarris]

G5 Powerbook...

There - I said it....

(*runs off screaming*...)

 

[Lord Vader]

No recall huh? If this is true "those who know better than others" made fools out of themslefs. Design flaw ...

 

[Rend It]

There were plenty of posts along those lines, all met with flames from experts who registered in June and July of this year.

Awesome.

Too bad the "member" and "regular" labels are based on # of posts and not length of time contributing/commenting.

 

[Peabody]

and all of you people of knowledge how come we never heard your voice and you theory about how fixable this issue is , until now , you all come out or the woods...

I've said it before and I'll say it again here: The 3G baseband is just a cluster#&$@ and has been for years now.

Totally a "software" (read: 3G baseband) issue and will be fixed. I cite previous threads within the last month I started...go look 'em up!

 

[aohus]

the fix is inside the matrix. Neo (Steve Jobs) will get to the bottom of dis.

 

[vile]

Geesh iphone4 case becoming more confusing than lost.
I have to say im rly excited about this conference, I have no problems with my ip4 (no yellow dots, proxy fine, antenna fine) but I hope Apple doesnt ******* up big time.

 

[Tiberius]

Doesn't matter.....

It doesn't matter what Apple does tomorrow, hardware fix, software fix, free bumper, recall, free replacement or free new car... There going to be people out there who won't be happy no matter what Apple does to fix the problem.

Even if Apple fixes the ALL iPhone 4 issues, some people will always find something wrong with their ip4.

 

[Heijtink]

So why does Apple sell iPod socks? Because Steve knew iPods would get chilly at night?

DESIGN FLAW COVERUP!

Uhh.

Steve: Okay folks there seems to be a design flaw that has been revealed by normal use of the iPod. It seems to scratch pretty easily.
Folks: Yeah I have the same thing.

And they all show their iPods

Steve: Jonathan, how come that your iPod still looks like new?
Jonathan: I keep mine in a sock at all times.
Steve: Brilliant! We will start selling your socks to the public to cover up the design flaw. Nobody will be able to resist not to buy one of these socks along with their iPods.
Jonathan: They do tend to smell after a while though.

But Steve already ran off yelling: You design some nice socks Jonathan I will look for a partner to knit those wonderful socks!

Jonathan to the other folks: I was only joking.

 

[shen]

Thankfully, since the MR forums are mostly populated by cellular hardware engineers, I know this is impossible.

After reading all the threads on this issue, i have come to an important conclusion...

Titles like "macrumors 6502" actually mean "known troll."

 

[Neuroguy]

All that is needed is a software fix

I heard that MBA hinge problems and the white macbook turning yellow could have also been managed with a software fix

 

[DMann]

Hopefully, this will quiet the armchair engineers and experts who've been exclaiming "Fatal Design Flaw" with such (wishful) certainty.

Stay Tuned.

After reading all the threads on this issue, i have come to an important conclusion...

Titles like "macrumors 6502" actually mean "known troll."

Non-pertinent, politically motivated sigs can also be highly revealing.

 

[GoodWatch]

It doesn't matter what Apple does tomorrow, hardware fix, software fix, free bumper, recall, free replacement or free new car... There going to be people out there who won't be happy no matter what Apple does to fix the problem.

Even if Apple fixes the ALL iPhone 4 issues, some people will always find something wrong with their ip4.

And some people will never find anything wrong with Apple

 

[tomccabe]

Uhh.

Steve: Okay folks there seems to be a design flaw that has been revealed by normal use of the iPod. It seems to scratch pretty easily.
Folks: Yeah I have the same thing.

And they all show their iPods

Steve: Jonathan, how come that your iPod still looks like new?
Jonathan: I keep mine in a sock at all times.
Steve: Brilliant! We will start selling your socks to the public to cover up the design flaw. Nobody will be able to resist not to buy one of these socks along with their iPods.
Jonathan: They do tend to smell after a while though.

But Steve already ran off yelling: You design some nice socks Jonathan I will look for a partner to knit those wonderful socks!

Jonathan to the other folks: I was only joking.

Portable electronics get scratched?!?! Perhaps I'll start a company that sells cases and be the first to cash in on this! Even better, I'll design a laptop that stands up to the rigors of being carried around and dropped. I think I'll call it the Tough Notebook. Really, I can't believe Apple's amazing team that was able to come up with the idea of protective cases before anyone else!

 

[firewood]

if this is fixable by software update then apple should prove it on stage LIVE.

Get an iphone with 4.0, then install the iphone 4's fixed software on stage live then cover the palm and make phone calls see if they drop, then have people from the crowd come up and try it thereselves.

Right after Steve gives a magic hand signal to the AT&T exec in the audience (under threat of speeding up the Verizon deal), who then scratches his nose, causing AT&T engineers to immediately turn up the power on the nearest cell tower by 24 dB.

Look for fried birds on the ground around Infinite Loop after the press event.

 

[Blue Fox]

Is it just me, or has the 4.0.1 software sort of fixed it? I used to be able to get my iPhone down to "no service" after about a minute of holding it in my left hand......now, it just goes down to 2 bars and stays there. So all in all, I'm fixed!

 

[Full of Win]

Is it just me, or has the 4.0.1 software sort of fixed it? I used to be able to get my iPhone down to "no service" after about a minute of holding it in my left hand......now, it just goes down to 2 bars and stays there. So all in all, I'm fixed!

Is has not fixed the issue of the caller on the other line saying that I'm dropping out.

 

[nmhallworth]

I think they're just going to try and spin it as a feature:

On the magical, new iPhone, you can hang up calls quicker and easier than ever, thanks to a super-responsive 'hang up switch' built into the iPhone's casing.

 

[cliveren13]

Steve Jobs

Oh high n mighty Steve Jobs please **** n piss on us because we believe anything you tell us on this site and we try and find a way to not accept the truth that you n everyone knows iphone 4 was rushed out because apple is scared of HTC so put out a ****** product because there are apple heads out there that will accept anything. TOO BAD FOR US

 

[DMann]

I think they're just going to try and spin it as a feature:

On the magical, new iPhone, you can hang up calls quicker and easier than ever, thanks to a super-responsive 'hang up switch' built into the iPhone's casing.

I'll take one!

This feature has yet to be activated on mine.

 

[starstreak]

Riiight... They way we hear people getting fired for looking at Mr.Jobs Apple stuffs the wrong way, I'm sure all these people close to source are gonna talk.

Either he's going to tell us he's working on it, or that they know of a fix, but will find some way of not using the word recall. Like, some phone are defective as some peoples phones work. But bring it into Apple and we'll fix it at no charge...

I'm NOT an expert, but I can't see how a software fix will cure this without either using more power to compensate the signal loss or something.

I must be old as I remember how touching a tv attenna would cause the signal to change. And now, most items with an attenna uses some sort of rubber over it to shield it from contact. Like a wi-fi attenna. No bare metal.

 

[Tiberius]

U r right

And some people will never find anything wrong with Apple

I do have issue with "death grip". I got the bumper, so no major issue but waiting for "fix" soon.

 

[catmistake]

Bars superfluous.

The press conference tomorrow is Apple's announcement that they have procured the cooperation of all cell providers and phone manufacturers worldwide to adopt a new open standard in cell technologies, specifically for the symbols used to represent signal availability. After a massive firmware push to all basebands on all cell phones everywhere within the next couple weeks, all cell signal displays will no longer be represented by the confusing and difficult to see 0-5 bars. From now on, in the area where you normally check to see if you have enough signal to make a call, there will now either be a "YES," if there is enough signal for calls, or a "NO," if you are not receiving enough signal. Once the update is in place, you will no longer have any issue with antenna attenuation or left-hand phoning.

 

[gr8tfly]

You software writers need to understand some basic radio electronic theory to understand why this is occurring. Unfortunately software can't change the laws of Physics, not yet anyway.

That's quite the generalization. I know many engineers who do both software and hardware design, who are also HAMs (myself included - have the book, too).

That said, you should know (assuming you have the handbook to go along with the license, and/or other technical training ) software can have quite a lot of control in RF systems. It can modify filters, amps, mixers and even perform active antenna tuning. I don't have experience with current cell devices and design, but the technology for software controlled and defined RF systems has been available for decades (I've worked on many such systems over the years). My current amateur radio transceiver (IC-746PROIII) has many software controlled features - including an automatic antenna tuner. So, unless you (or anyone else here?) have specific knowledge of what the RF devices used in the iPhone4 can or can't do through s/w, I wouldn't be so fast in excluding a fix executed solely in s/w.