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iPhone 4 Signal Strength Indicator Issue Alleviated by Use of Bumper or Case

Lord Vader said:
In my opinion it's a design flaw if all units are effected and that's not the case here. It simply could be a problem with assembly or some faulty materials. Time will tell i guess.
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sigh... but you do not know that all of the phones aren't the same. Everyone isn't in the same exact place when it happens.

Is it really easier to believe that out of 600,000 phones, all mass produced, that half or even 2/3s of them had some manufacturing variance that causes this? Do you think this is Foxconns first time making something?

Apply some simple logic and it seems that this is a problem for all of the phones. The only way it isn't is if they found some crazy problem during manufacturing and changed something. Give it time though - I'll bet that everyone without a case will eventually experience this.
 
NAG said:
Quoting for impact. People are not reading the posts from the engineers who have actual working knowledge of how antenna work (I'm not an engineer).
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Why don't you quote the other engineers posts that say this theory is inaccurate and touching the antenna, especially cross touching it with another antenna, can degrade the signal.
 
songcunzhi said:
I got really tired to read all the critics based on no evidence at all. And all those warfare things between droid and iphone and Zune and... Such nonsense. I will just pick up my iphone 4 tonight, and see whether there is a real problem or just illusive crap that saves some haters from shutting up for a few minutes.
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So, when Steve Jobs says that the new phone is a marvel of engineering -it's an evidence but when people experience dropped calls and decreased download speeds/dropped connections it's not an evidence? I think you got it wrong. Just check all those videos on youtube.
 
Well I am in the city now with full 3G service. My phone will not loose any signal by touching the seam. But if I go into the settings and turn off 3G.
Then I goto full edge and when I touch the side it drops to only 1 bar of service
 
apple has a long history of launch products being subpar quality, macbooks, imacs with yellow screens, now this..
 
Lord Vader said:
Just buy a cheap bumper (who said you can buy only from Apple at 30$) and problem solved. You also will save back of a phone from scratching, because bumper will be touching the surface not the phone. If only all problems could be solved so easy ...
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Yeah but the bumpers look like **** in comparison to the beauty of the phone. I was wondering why Apple was getting into the phone case business. I'll wait for a software fix. Problem doesn't occur when you switch to Edge.

Let's have some good PR Apple - hold your hands up, admit to the problem and fix.
 
bahooki said:
I guarantee you it's an issue with every single phone. The only difference between people seeing it and not is the signal strength in their area. If we took someone who claims they don't see it and put them in my house, they'd see it on their phone. Whatever the fix is going to be will be applied to ALL iphone 4s. If I'm wrong, you can mock me over and over. But I'm not wrong.
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How the hell can you "guarantee" that?

You've got an N of a few hundred, at most, right now, in your oh-so-scientific study, when Apple sold, by its initial estimates, over a million of these things this morning.

You may be right, in the end, but to "guarantee" at this stage is just plain silly.
 
ski1ski1 said:
As I mentioned earlier, AT&T uses two different frequency bands (800 & 1900). This issue might only affect one of these bands. Hence why some users don't experience the issue.
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This seems logical, as I've yet to reproduce the problem.

Hopefully, a firmware update is in the works.
 
Shintocam said:
This is essentially what I was logging in to post but you beat me to it.

Jobs made a HUGE deal about the design of this phone - how it looks, how thin it is etc....and then people here are simply saying - put it in a case - no big deal. It is too a big deal. It's a design flaw plain and simple.

I admit I don't own an iPhone, I have a Blackberry 9700 I very much like. But one of the things I like about it is how it looks and how it feels in my hand (when talking, typing etc....). I do not and refuse to get a bumper type case for it - I just have a hip holster. If I owned an iPhone I'd do the exact same thing.


As others have said, if the Droid or Nexus required a case to work everyone here would be laughing their asses off, but because its Apple the answer is - get a case or tape the side - no big deal. Give me a break, they screwed up on this one.
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I agree completely, this is a huge mistake and needs to be fixed. New phones need to be made without this issue, and everyone who has this issue should get a replacement phone. This issue is absolutely ridiculous.
 
ChrisMurrayOU said:
So what if the case solves the issue? If you design something as good as the iPhone, why should I need to cover it all up and make it bulkier? The best part about the slimmer iPhone is that it's now even less uncomfortable in your pocket.
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That's why they slimmed it down from the 3GS ... so when you put the case on it it's no bigger than the last one.
 
ski1ski1 said:
Why don't you quote the other engineers posts that say this theory is inaccurate and touching the antenna, especially cross touching it with another antenna, can degrade the signal ?
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Because it was the last engineer to post. Do you want me to quote every single engineer?

We got people in here saying things like reset your network settings completely ignoring what is going on. I'm trying to support a discussion between people that might actually have work experience in the applicable fields.
 
Do people actually compare the number of bars showing on one phone to the number showing on another that think one phone is getting a stronger signal?

Those same people likely never got the joke about "my amp goes up to 11."
 
The signal issue is dependent on the individual not the hardware imho.

Each person carries X amount of static electricity. Some people will have very little static electricity running through them and as a result the signal will be better.

Those that carry a lot of static electricity will have the signal problem. This is why the reports vary. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it isn't a hardware problem because I believe it is due to the way the antenna is configured on the phone but there does appear to be a workaround.

Apple's secrecy seems to have bit them in the buttocks.
 
jeff33702 said:
sigh... but you do not know that all of the phones aren't the same. Everyone isn't in the same exact place when it happens.

Is it really easier to believe that out of 600,000 phones, all mass produced, that half or even 2/3s of them had some manufacturing variance that causes this? Do you think this is Foxconns first time making something?

Apply some simple logic and it seems that this is a problem for all of the phones. The only way it isn't is if they found some crazy problem during manufacturing and changed something. Give it time though - I'll bet that everyone without a case will eventually experience this.
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How do you know that half or 2/3rd have a problem? That may be, but there is no evidence to verify that yet. Just some anecdotal posts on the echo chamber that is the modern innerwebs.

Also, Apple says it will sell a million today, not 600,000... I'm betting, with that many phones thrown together so quickly, there were some "manufacturing variances" going on.
 
Steve always hold his iPhone with just three fingers avoiding that problem!

Maybe Apple will give each customer a free iPhone-holding-tutorial at their apple store :D
 
NAG said:
Because it was the last engineer to post. Do you want me to quote every single engineer?

We got people in here saying things like reset your network settings completely ignoring what is going on. I'm trying to support a discussion between people that might actually have work experience in the applicable fields.
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Actually the last engineer to post was below...

As a former electronics technician and and Air Force communications specialist, I'm quite surprised that Apple didn't realize that touching an antenna would change the impedance of the antenna, affecting the signal strength--unless they assumed it would help improve signal strength as has been demonstrated numerous times with AM and FM antennae on radios and television. The problem is that even with those older technologies, it depended on where you touched the antenna and how tightly you held it. There's also the possibility that, by bridging the insulating gaps with your fingers/hand, you create a high-impedance short which would further affect the overall impedance of either antenna.

However, by insulating the steel rim with a non-conducting material like the silicone 'boot' or a leather/vinyl overall case, you eliminate the contact with the skin and retain the engineered-in impedance. It is possible that using some sort of plastic coating or maybe even an anodizing process like that used on the iPods could offer not only that insulating property needed, but also allow Apple to colorize the iPhone in the same way.

Again, I'm surprised that they missed this quite simple issue during their testing.
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jeff33702 said:
sigh... but you do not know that all of the phones aren't the same. Everyone isn't in the same exact place when it happens.

Is it really easier to believe that out of 600,000 phones, all mass produced, that half or even 2/3s of them had some manufacturing variance that causes this? Do you think this is Foxconns first time making something?

Apply some simple logic and it seems that this is a problem for all of the phones. The only way it isn't is if they found some crazy problem during manufacturing and changed something. Give it time though - I'll bet that everyone without a case will eventually experience this.
Click to expand...

Could be both ways and you fail to consider the other one. I'm not saying it's what really happned, that's just what I think happened. I know i can be wrong do you?
 
I got a griffin case n I did notice that the case helped a bit.. So who knows hopefully apple comes out with a update to fix da issue .. Btw any body noticed there home button a bit loose??? Let me kno!
 
You know, when you think of all those suicides at FoxConn...


Suicidal workers tend not to be very big on quality control.

Just saying.
 
mobilehavoc said:
I've always carried all my phones without cases of any type with no issues - it feels good to hold the phone the ways the designers/engineers meant it to be. If the solution to this is you have to have a case, IMHO that's a huge blow against the iPhone.
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Simple solution, put it on eBay get an Android or a Pre. Myself I put my iPhone 4 into the old rubber case I had my 3GS in and now I get 5 bars no matter how hard I try not to. I have a bumper ordered but now sort of liking this old cover. It completely covers the glass back. I did have to drill a bigger hole for the camera, plus one for the flash and another for the front camera but it feels great. Funny thing I can reduce the bars on the 3GS by squeezing with both hands even in the cover. Never even tried that before. Enjoy your naked Droid or Pre, I will take mine fully dressed.
 
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