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Jeez, there's a lot of butthurt people here. I'm very pleased with the antenna upgrade. I'm getting quite bad reception and dropped calls when I'm in a low signal area. That being said I'm not upgrading to 4S and will wait it out till iPhone 5.
 
They improved the antenna, it doesn't mean antenna was broken. Indeed iPhone4 receive much more better than 3GS.

Of course there was a problem with it!

A: I've seen it with my own eyes and done it to mine

B: If there was no problem why make the big thing about the redesign, just say, now available on blah blah blah

C: Why give away the rubber bands for free when you can be making more than a healthy profit on them

D: Best way to have disproved it would have been for them to say 'anybody who is having problems with the phone step forward or forever hold their peace' ... But could they do that? Nope; Why because it had problems
 
What a revealing testimony that Steve Jobs Lied when claiming Antennagate was a myth.

There is not one wit of a chance that Apple would make such a big deal out of what other manufacturers never have a problem with, if iPhone 4 wasn't their worst nightmare as a phone. It certainly was the worst I've ever had.

And it's nothing but a fact when I say I'm a hardcore mobile phone enthusiast with first hand experience via more than fifty new phones that I've personally brought in from all parts of the world. The GSM services of AT&T have made it possible. I would like nothing better than to be able to proclaim iPhone as the finest, but sadly it is not.

The fact that Apple did boast about this new dual dynamic antenna speaks volumes about their prior failures. It is proof positive they fail to "get it".
 
Significant Antenna Upgrades my ass.

16 months for this?

God, I'm so mad right now.

Did you even read the article? Yes, this is a significant upgrade. And the whole phone itself is, this upgrade is just as valid as going from 3G to 3GS. Or were you bitching then too that you didn't get the iPhone 4?
 
They worked out the kinks, put a brand new processor in it that is twice as fast and consumes the same power, and added a voice recognition system that actually seems to work. If someone installed an engine in your car that had twice the horsepower, got the same fuel economy, and added a brand new GPS navigation system, would you complain?

You realise that you are asking this on MacRumors?

Of course they would complain. :D
 
Apparently all those years of imploring customers to ignore specs and functionality, and instead concentrate on style, have worked.

Apple brags that they don't use focus groups. A simple perusal of Apple forums would've told them that people wanted something that felt "new" amidst all the competition, and many (most?) people define that by the screen size and body style.

Moreover, Apple is selling the old model alongside the new. When that was just the 3GS and 4, it made sense. Now the majority out there are going to see the 4S next to a lookalike 4 on a counter, and mostly see that one is less expensive.
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They could slap a telescoping antenna on it, like a StarTac, and I'd still buy it. :rolleyes:

I'm onboard with the changes, and they appear to make it infinitely better than my 2 year old BB. I'll be pre-ordering my 4s at 5am Friday, as there's no way I'm staying up until/waking up at 3am edt. :( I wish they'd start the pre-ordering at a reasonable time. :mad:
 
Apple owns Siri and the technology behind it. Nuance just supplies the speech decoding.

A lot of folks don't realize that this Assistant is really two different techs working together. Nuance's speech decoding and Siri's AI.

Apple doesn't really make this so clear either with their info.

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Apparently all those years of imploring customers to ignore specs and functionality, and instead concentrate on style, have worked.

Apple has NEVER tried to get folks to ignore functionality. In fact just the opposite. They are all about function over specs. It's how they market, how they sell ets

Apple brags that they don't use focus groups.

A statement of fact is hardly bragging.

As for their boards, they are keen enough to know that those folks are not the normal and neither are their desires. The bigger customer group doesn't go on blogs, boards etc. But based on the numbers, they clearly have no issue with what Apple has chosen to give them cause they are buying, and buying and buying
 
Just because they didn't include it on this version doesn't mean they never intend to.
That's correct. Apple history reveals that sooner or later they incorporate the improvements, that have become industry standards.

Take the 15" PowerBooks & MacBook Pro's. Just seven years after hi-res displays became a common option on PC Laptops, Apple made them an option on MacBook Pros.

It's examples like this that confirm Apples claim that they innovate. Better late than never according to the believers.
 
That's correct. Apple history reveals that sooner or later they incorporate the improvements, that have become industry standards.

Take the 15" PowerBooks & MacBook Pro's. Just seven years after hi-res displays became a common option on PC Laptops, Apple made them an option on MacBook Pros.

It's examples like this that confirm Apples claim that they innovate. Better late than never according to the believers.

A comparison that isn't relevant. Apple has approached the mobile space differently by often having cutting edge specs. They'll include LTE as soon as 28nm Qualcomm all-in-one solutions are ready to go.
 
Jeez, there's a lot of butthurt people here. I'm very pleased with the antenna upgrade. I'm getting quite bad reception and dropped calls when I'm in a low signal area. That being said I'm not upgrading to 4S and will wait it out till iPhone 5.

This actually mirrors my feeling almost to a T. I have used various cases from silicone to leather and for the last few months have gone caseless (I am careful with my phones). However, when I am in marginal areas I have to be careful how I hold the phone (I never hold it in any way approximating to a death grip) if I do not wish to have the call drop on me. Probably the most interesting - let's wait for anandtech on this one - aspect in some ways for me is the hope that they have greatly improved the antenna. Even with the Verizon phone, the antennae were still subpar. *This* aspect may be enough for me to move to the 4S from the 4.
 
Faster Data only in AT&T in U.S.?

Guys (and Gals),

This might seem like a stupid question, but I assume the 2X faster data speeds they were talking about during the presentation would only work on GSM, not CDMA, right? And in the U.S., that means faster data is only going to be available on AT&T.

IIRC, when the iPad 2 came out, a lot of articles said that AT&T 3G data speeds were faster than Verizon 3G. So, it seems to me that, if all the above is accurate, then the delta between AT&T and Verizon data speeds on the 4S will be even wider.

Am I off-base here?
 
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So the iphone 4S has two antennas, What can it do?

Will the iphone 4S be able to switch between GSM and CDMA towers, when one or the other is not available, or the coverage is poor (low power), Thereby maintaining communication? This is what I want to know. To me a world phone means that I can sign up with what ever carrier I desire or can afford, and I can use my iphone in a GSM or a CDMA rich environment. Tell me this is possible. I have heard rumors that you have to pick one or the other but you can not have both. If so, why not, since the phone has both antennas.
I live in a state where for the most part the coverage is equal. But I travel into areas of the country that is CDMA rich. My GSM phone does not work well. I am hoping that the dual antenna will solve that issue.
Can anyone comment on this?

they changed the antenna because they put CDMA and GSM in the same unit. That would require changes.

NOT that they fixed a real or made up by the hit hungry media problem

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it seems unlikely they would recant that policy once it was started. Best way to know is to see if there's an option to order one unlocked come Friday.

What I want to know even more is if I can have service on CDMA and GSM at the same time. Well not exactly the same time. But where I live in LA Verizon is THE service to have. But I have to travel to Canada, Australia and England for work over the next few months, none of which have CDMA. I won't be there long enough to break contract with Verizon etc (maybe 3 weeks the longest time) plus I want to keep my voicemail going even if I have to call in for it manually.

So could I buy the phone on CDMA and then when I am outside of CDMA put in a GSM sim card on a local number so my phone still makes and receives calls.

Because that would be way better than carrying two phones.


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I have heard that a unlocked phone can do both GSM and CDMA. Is this true? But, if you then sign up with a carrier, would you then not have to pick a camp. It would seem better if the software in the phone would allow communication to occur on either CDMA or GSM, which ever tower was available or which ever tower was stronger in signal. Kind of like roaming.
Any Thoughts?



Will the iphone 4S be able to switch between GSM and CDMA towers when one or the other is not available, or the coverage is poor (low power), Thereby maintaining communication? This is what I want to know. To me a world phone means that I can sign up with what ever carrier I desire or can afford, and I can use my iphone in a GSM or a CDMA rich environment. Tell me this is possible. I have heard rumors that you have to pick one or the other but you can not have both. If so, why not, since the phone has both antennas.
I live in a state where for the most part the coverage is equal. But I travel into areas of the country that is CDMA rich. My GSM phone does not work well. I am hoping that the dual antenna will solve that issue.
Can anyone comment on this?
 
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I have heard that a unlocked phone can do both GSM and CDMA. Is this true? But, if you then sign up with a carrier, would you then not have to pick a camp. It would seem better if the software in the phone would allow communication to occur on either CDMA or GSM, which ever tower was available or which ever tower was stronger in signal. Kind of like roaming.
Any Thoughts?

The phone will work with both GSM and CDMA but not at the same time. You need to activate an account with AT&T for example to access the GSM network. You AT&T GSM account is not going to allow you to use Verizon's CDMA network.
 
No.

EDIT: At this moment we are pretty sure the answer is no. It seems as though Apple is using the same World Chip that is in the Verizon iPhone 4.

You will have to go to an 4GLTE service to get what GSM has had for years. Perhaps the next Iphone will be 4G LTE
 
Will the iphone 4S be able to switch between GSM and CDMA towers, when one or the other is not available, or the coverage is poor (low power), Thereby maintaining communication? This is what I want to know. To me a world phone means that I can sign up with what ever carrier I desire or can afford, and I can use my iphone in a GSM or a CDMA rich environment. Tell me this is possible. I have heard rumors that you have to pick one or the other but you can not have both. If so, why not, since the phone has both antennas.

No. What you're asking for has nothing to do with the number of antennas on an iPhone. What you're asking for also requires carrier support.

1) The iPhone uses 2 antennas. But it is not that 1 is GSM and 1 is CDMA.
They're both used for GSM and CDMA by receiving twice from two different locations and then doing math to extract a clearer signal.

2) There is no carrier that I know of in any country which has both GSM and CDMA towers. Therefore there is no service plan which would allow for a phone to roam on both tower types simply because a carrier only uses either GSM or CDMA in their domestic coverage area.

3) You can use both CDMA and GSM on one account, as some people do. However it's that they use CDMA at home, and GSM abroad. Never both in the same place. This is called international roaming which is allowed because a CDMA carrier has contracts with an overseas GSM carrier to roam on their network. It's also how you rack up $8000 cell phone bills.
 
MULTIPLE 3GS owners have confirmed to me that the 4s antenna on AT&T is working FAR FAR better than the 3GS -- no dropped calls and no data losses on AT&T.

Hmm, I might stick with AT&T now.
 
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