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Jobs says Signal Strength a "non issue"

Did anybody else hear it is shocking people? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/951614/

Do you think you could use something like invisible shield or clear nail polish to fix the problem without one of those fugly cases? My sister is allergic to nearly all types of metals so on the backs of watches and the inside of rings she coats it with clear nail polish and it looks great.
 
picktaylor said:
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see many people totally wrapping their entire palm around their cell phone when they talk on it...that would be really uncomfortable. Plus you don't have to buy the bumper, seems like any case would work and don't most people use cases with their phones? I don't have the problem and can't replicate it so maybe there are just a few out there that are having issues. I just think this whole thing is getting blown out of proportion.
Click to expand...

I always talk with my phone cradled in the palm of my hand. I almost always use my left hand (though I am right handed) because I like to have my good hand free.

How do you hold your phone balanced on the tips of your fingers like a teacup? Because if thats the case I would say your the exception not the norm.
 
jll62 said:
This is the test I've been showing people with my phone and others because there is a tangible difference that people can see with their own eyes. The problem is that I lose my connection pretty quick with and without the Apple bumper. That's not good!

For anyone saying they haven't dropped a call yet, how is your data usage on 3G? Is the phone even usable for that task? I've not yet dropped a call, but my phone is worthless for data usage on 3G because of this damn problem. The rub here is that it's precisely during data usage when we hold the phone in a manner that is most vulnerable to the issue because the lower left corner is tucked into the palm of the hand.
Click to expand...

Wait, does it have the same effect on the other side for data?!?!?!?? Good god apple, would it have killed you to make the phone just like it is now but with black glass covering the steel???
 
merlinw said:
So I guess Apple will release 4.1 in a few days. I guess it will change the way the 'bars' are calibrated, fix a few software issues....
..... and magically change the location of the antenna.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't think so this time. Seems to me that this issue got too much attention for just a software update. A re-design and recall could happen.
 
picktaylor said:
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see many people totally wrapping their entire palm around their cell phone when they talk on it...that would be really uncomfortable. Plus you don't have to buy the bumper, seems like any case would work and don't most people use cases with their phones? I don't have the problem and can't replicate it so maybe there are just a few out there that are having issues. I just think this whole thing is getting blown out of proportion.
Click to expand...

Seriously.... watch a crowd of people at a football game sometime. NO. People move phones around constantly in their hands. You can't put out a phone that can't be really manhandled in the year 2010.

This is a BIG PROBLEM for Apple.
 
AP_piano295 said:
I always talk with my phone cradled in the palm of my hand. I almost always use my left hand (though I am right handed) because I like to have my good hand free.

How do you hold your phone balanced on the tips of your fingers like a teacup? Because if thats the case I would say your the exception not the norm.
Click to expand...

No smart*** I hold it between my thumb, ring finger and against my index finger. I'm the same way and use my left hand, although right handed.
 
picktaylor said:
Would you think a 'fair' solution would be for Apple to drop the price significantly to say $10?

Or would that have collateral damage on all the 3rd party guys by screwing them. Of course I've always thought that all the cases made are way over priced anyway.
Click to expand...

For the 'Bumper' thing? Should be free. In the box with the iPhone.
 
chill1n said:
This absolutely is the definition of hysteria.

All cell phones have always exhibited this behavior. All cell phones, all of them, can be demonstrated to exhibit this behavior. Yet... you and many others still think it's either a design flaw... or there's something defective with your phone.

There is definitely something defective.
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I agree, All $20 phones have shown same trend of reception when held the wrong way. May be iPhone is the first $700 phone in doing so?!!
 
Mugambo said:
I agree, All $20 phones have shown same trend of reception when held the wrong way. May be iPhone is the first $700 phone in doing so?!!
Click to expand...

A cell phone is nothing more than a fancy two-way radio. Many factors will effect it being able to transmit and receive. Even the iPhone. I think it is impossible to make a perfect cell phone (though the iphone is very close) One that works correctly every time. To many variables. We live in an imperfect world, bound by the laws of physics.
 
Just want to say that I spoke to Apple today regarding the issue and the Senior Tech Support guy did unofficially confirm that Apple released the bumpers due to the hand holding interference.
 
Caught this image earlier someplace, thought it was cute even in spite of it being a highly doubtful outcome:

totalrecalls.jpg
 
It does the same thing for data on the right side!!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6oflC4qo8M

So right handed users can't use data, left handed users can't use voice, and if you're typing something you're screwed. :eek:

Why didn't they just make the sides glass (more or less glass covered steel, obviously glass can't be an antenna) and the front and back steel? Now that the sides are the antennas, can't the rest of the phone be metal? The metal on the front and back couldn't touch the sides of course, as many iphone 4 users have figured out. True, it would loose it's signature screen hidden behind glass look, but I just think it would look so cool if the front and the back were steel and the ring was black glass. Think the opposite of how the iphone 4 is.
 
So it appears this case will be closed shortly.

It is a software issue in how the base band code handles switching frequencies, in the case of the hand covering the "sensitive" area. It's not about conductivity. It's all about attenuation.

There are two different cell tower types. One type has the problem, the other does not.

This is why you might have the problem at home but not at work or vise-versa.

It has been shown that the iPhone 3GS also has this problem and it's directly related to the new iOS4.

When Steve said it was a non-issue, I suspect he had an idea it could be resolved in software. No conspiracies here. I am not defending his communication skills. But it's not as bad as people make it out to be.

Please go home nothing to see here. This has only been a fiasco because of the over reaction of some people in this thread.

The media outlets have been responding to us. Keep it up and we will all be like Chicken Little.
 
And what pray tell shall you do if said "fix" isn't what you're swallowing right now instead of the Kool-Aid, hrmmm?
 
danilko1 said:
It is a software issue in how the base band code handles switching frequencies, in the case of the hand covering the "sensitive" area. It's not about conductivity. It's all about attenuation.
Click to expand...

Why would it need to switch frequencies when you touch a particular spot in the first place?

No, my friend, this problem is more complicated than that.
 
Eso said:
Why would it need to switch frequencies when you touch a particular spot in the first place?

No, my friend, this problem is more complicated than that.
Click to expand...

It was explained that frequencies are changed based on what best signal is currently available at the time. The base band code fails to switch properly and the No Service is effectively produced.

I didn't say it wasn't complicated I just repeated what I read from AppleInsider, in a simple way.

I have no idea how this works, what logic is used to choose what frequency.

I suppose the easiest explanation could be related to Automatic Drive in a high performance car, in which the controlling computer doesn't shift right, like shifting down instead of shifting up, stalling the engine. I am not trying to be accurate here frequencies and gears are not the same but the logic could be similar.

Apple is notorious in having WiFi problems on some of their MacBooks, I suspect this is a similar issue. It will all work out...
 
danilko1 said:
It was explained that frequencies are changed based on what best signal is currently available at the time. The base band code fails to switch properly and the No Service is effectively produced.
Click to expand...

Ok, what you are talking about is the phone failing to switch to the better signal and showing no service after it already starts to lose the cell signal.

And what is causing it to lose the signal in the first place? Touching the seam in the lower left corner.

In other words, why would it need to switch to a better signal if touching the phone didn't disrupt it in the first place? It wouldn't.

It's not a software bug. If it were, the iPhone 3GS would display the same behavior when getting down to one bar. Since it is running the same OS, it would try to find a better signal, fail to switch, and display no service. Guess what, it doesn't do that.

Anyone suggesting that this is a software bug that will be corrected by Monday has no critical thinking skills.
 
As noted in my post (linked in my sig) I'm line-of-sight with a cell tower, about as close as I can legitimately get without having potential radiation damage from the RF and signal overload (and AT&T sure as hell isn't going to let me go up there for some up close testing), and my own experiment was done basically as this image clarifies:

theissue.png


and that's just how bad this particular iPhone 4 I have is. That's not inside a building, that's not inside my apartment (about 25 feet from the balcony), that's line-of-sight to the tower itself and the antenna array on it that I'm connecting with and that fingertip on that point bridging those two bands - fingertip, not some damned house key, not a piece of metal, just the skin of my finger and its natural capacitance - kills it in less than a minute.

If they can fix this with a firmware update, more power to 'em but I will continue to declare this thing defective by design, regardless.
 
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