It seems to me: if the signal degrades when the antenna is bridged why not an aftermarket antenna to vastly improve performance. A slim coil made in an un-obtrusive manner might make it a wonder receiver. Hmm I'm thinking.
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Jobs says Signal Strength a "non issue"
- Thread starter samcraig
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OMFG! I just caught this. Thank you. THIS video made the ENTIRE thread worthwhile!
Right now I'm so happy.
I'm sure it will last right up until I drop my first call...
Yah, the Hitler video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h3Ogt2L44Q) is killing me right now, my stomach is hurting pretty bad from laughing so hard the past few minutes, it's so damned accurate and well written, don't miss it.
I see rumors of a potential iOS 4.01 firmware update now starting to appear, supposedly for release on Monday and once again I'll go back to what I've been saying all along:
This is and always has been a known issue but it was "discovered" way too late in the product development: skin contact with the metal band and bridging that gap are causing severe signal loss and potentially loss of service completely. Apple was stuck for a solution, couldn't just scrap everything and start from scratch so a solution was found: the bump case.
The Apple created, designed, and sold - and they're still the only company making such a "band of rubber" that surrounds and covers only the metal band that's the heart of the issue - is their solution to the issue of skin-on-metal contact. While many people are NOT having problems, I would hazard to say that the significant number of people that ARE having the problem - and more by the minute as more phones are sold and put into use - is most definitely a real world issue.
My long post previously in this thread of my own experience with my iPhone 4 and the fact that I can drop from 5 bars to 1 with a fingertip ~250 yards line-of-sight from a cell site/tower that I can almost hit by throwing the phone at it is all the proof that I personally need to know "This phone is defective by design..."
Apple caught the problem but were basically unable to fix it because the only seriously workable fix is either disabling that metal band as an antenna completely - which is something the firmware fix might actually attempt, re-routing the signal in another way somehow - and offer up the bump case, a big rubber band that is designed only to stop the skin-on-metal contact (it doesn't do anything else for the phone, and again nobody else makes such a "rubber band; everybody else makes cases that cover all the sides completely (save for the buttons, headphone/dock connection/speaker/mic) and the full back as well.
The sheer existence of the bump case is the proof that Apple knew of this problem for a long time now and simply had no fix for it other than to prevent skin-on-metal contact. Steve Jobs' rather curt response of "Just avoid holding it that way." is a slap in the face to the intelligence and faith of every person that now owns or considers purchasing an iPhone 4.
It's defective by design, period.
I see rumors of a potential iOS 4.01 firmware update now starting to appear, supposedly for release on Monday and once again I'll go back to what I've been saying all along:
This is and always has been a known issue but it was "discovered" way too late in the product development: skin contact with the metal band and bridging that gap are causing severe signal loss and potentially loss of service completely. Apple was stuck for a solution, couldn't just scrap everything and start from scratch so a solution was found: the bump case.
The Apple created, designed, and sold - and they're still the only company making such a "band of rubber" that surrounds and covers only the metal band that's the heart of the issue - is their solution to the issue of skin-on-metal contact. While many people are NOT having problems, I would hazard to say that the significant number of people that ARE having the problem - and more by the minute as more phones are sold and put into use - is most definitely a real world issue.
My long post previously in this thread of my own experience with my iPhone 4 and the fact that I can drop from 5 bars to 1 with a fingertip ~250 yards line-of-sight from a cell site/tower that I can almost hit by throwing the phone at it is all the proof that I personally need to know "This phone is defective by design..."
Apple caught the problem but were basically unable to fix it because the only seriously workable fix is either disabling that metal band as an antenna completely - which is something the firmware fix might actually attempt, re-routing the signal in another way somehow - and offer up the bump case, a big rubber band that is designed only to stop the skin-on-metal contact (it doesn't do anything else for the phone, and again nobody else makes such a "rubber band; everybody else makes cases that cover all the sides completely (save for the buttons, headphone/dock connection/speaker/mic) and the full back as well.
The sheer existence of the bump case is the proof that Apple knew of this problem for a long time now and simply had no fix for it other than to prevent skin-on-metal contact. Steve Jobs' rather curt response of "Just avoid holding it that way." is a slap in the face to the intelligence and faith of every person that now owns or considers purchasing an iPhone 4.
It's defective by design, period.
We should have known what time it was when Jobs introduced the bumper during the WWDC.
Honestly, when has Steve ever talked about an accessory on stage?
Honestly, when has Steve ever talked about an accessory on stage?
I am right handed, but no how hard I try, I always hold the phone in my left hand. I guess it is because I am either writing or typing with my right hand while on the phone.
I'm a HUGE Apple fan and not a troll. This story was on the New York Times front page and ALL the network newscasts. Juan baby-- you got this one WRONG.
All of the crybaby complainers on this thread are going to cause the phone to now be weak for everyone at all times, regardless of how you hold it.
They will make some firmware adjustment that lowers the signal so touching it wont matter anymore. So rather than have 90% of people with no problem and very high speed data and great reception and 10% of people with a problem, we now get 100% of people with lousy reception and slow data transfer speeds.
This thread has failed epically and any update should totally be optional.
They will make some firmware adjustment that lowers the signal so touching it wont matter anymore. So rather than have 90% of people with no problem and very high speed data and great reception and 10% of people with a problem, we now get 100% of people with lousy reception and slow data transfer speeds.
This thread has failed epically and any update should totally be optional.
You mean the other OBLIVIOUS people that have no clue what is going on? Those people?
Yeah -go play with your iDildo jobs. You know, the one with the suction cup because if you try to hold it, it goes flat.
Where are you getting these numbers, sir? Regardless, I'm not sure this reasoning stands a chance. And, on the contrary, I believe this thread has been an epic win. As it gives us a chance to make humorous an otherwise tragic flaw in both the phone itself and a CEO's epic fail of a response.
Still, no need to be so grim. Things will make a turn for the better.
But I do agree that OS updates should be optional. I'm not sure how easily Apple could force updates on people.
It's true. I'm right handed as well, but I hold the phone in my left hand and navigate it with my right hand. And when i'm ON the phone, I hold it in my left hand.
Apple Says to Stop Holding Your iPhone With Your Hand Like an Idiot
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/06/apple_says_to_stop_holding_you.html
Great title. Apple should want smarter customers.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/06/apple_says_to_stop_holding_you.html
Great title. Apple should want smarter customers.
You mean the other OBLIVIOUS people that have no clue what is going on? Those people?
Yeah -go play with your iDildo jobs. You know, the one with the suction cup because if you try to hold it, it goes flat.
LOL!
Really is a non-issue
Jobs was being honest, maybe too direct, but honest. It's a known issue with anything that has an antenna...example: I work with live music production and we have to tell people to change the way they hold a wireless microphone because some people hold it too low, touching the antenna and causing signal loss. fPeople are making WAY to big a deal out of this.
Jobs was being honest, maybe too direct, but honest. It's a known issue with anything that has an antenna...example: I work with live music production and we have to tell people to change the way they hold a wireless microphone because some people hold it too low, touching the antenna and causing signal loss. fPeople are making WAY to big a deal out of this.
I gotta say, with the exception of Danny DeVito as the penguin, I don't know anyone who would hold their phone in such a way that this would happen. I have probably 10 co-workers who just got on and none of them are having any problems. Lefties too.
You see how those two are holding the phone? With their finger, and not their whole hand? That's how nearly everyone will hold the phone, lefty or righty, and they'll never have an iota of problem. Also, who doesn't get a case? [cue 800 replies of people who "don't have a case".]
Sorry, but the amount of degradation that entirely too many people are experiencing, including myself as I just explained above for the second time is nothing like any other cell phone or radio communications device I've ever used, and I've been a licensed Ham for 30+ years now.
I can effectively cause my iPhone 4 to completely and totally lose service with a fingertip - I don't know of any other device that does such a thing.
And no, using the fingertip to turn the phone off or disable the cellular circuit is not what I mean and people understand this. Simple fingertip contact on that seam of my iPhone 4 causes a complete loss of signal and then loss of service even in spite of me being line-of-sight with a cellular tower only a few hundred feet away and the closest one by far considering the other ones surrounding me are in directions that are completely blocked in a 300 degree arc behind me during this testing.
I face the cellular tower that's basically about 20 feet higher in altitude than my 3rd floor balcony is and hold the phone in the right hand with 3 fingers, none of them touching any metal component of the phone nor the capacitive display itself - and then touching the lower left hand seam and losing signal in 30 seconds and service in ~45...
Sorry, that's a manufacturing defect, period. I have a Motorola slider phone as well as my Wife's piece of crap LG (all using AT&T's tower that I'm ~250 yards from) and the only way I can cause any service interruption or signal degradation with them is to yank the SIM cards out - they just work, 24/7.
Can't say that about this iPhone 4 I'll be returning in a few days. I'm just keeping it long enough for Apple to drop their so-called "fix" so I can test that when it's available.
Defective by design...
There's an obvious software fix here, the phone will detect when you are bridging the gap and you'll get a video of Steve telling you not to hold it that way until you stop it. I gather there will be an option in the settings screen to have a slightly softer video of Jonny Ives telling you, in his breathless manner, that the magic will not work unless you move your fingers just an incredibly tiny amount.
(note for UK users these will both be replaced by a authoritarian voice telling you to "Mind The Gap").
Um, last I checked, Steve Jobs is still pretty high up on the Apple chain, right?
He emailed several people that exact answer.
That they were holding the phone wrong.
Sorry, as I'm sure you understand I have not read every single post on this thread. Yeah, there is a difference in just touching your fingertip to it and completely losing signal. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out...