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MacRumors Poll: iPhone 4 Signal Loss by Region

Don't know if this has been addressed, as I'm not going to read 300 comments, but where is the face time on this guys iPhone 4?!
 
Voice of reason

source: http://www.thomas-fitzgerald.net/20...d-the-bigger-issues-in-technology-journalism/

By now you’ve all heard reports that the iPhone 4 has a “terrible design flaw” that makes it useless for calls once you pick it up. Well, ok, I’m exaggerating a bit but you’d be forgiven for thinking that with the way this story has spread like wild fire. Now, I don’t doubt that some people are having an issue with this, but I’m amazed at the way this story was reported and the way it was picked up by the mainstream news media. First of all, Gizmodo were pushing this big time on Thursday, along with any other story they could find to paint the iPhone in a bad light (including, surprise surprise, you drop it and it breaks). Big surprise. From there other blogs started picking up on it and then it reached the mainstream media. What amazes me about this is that, first of all, most of the people reviewing the phone never noticed an issue with it and that most reviewers had noticed improved reception.

Secondly, as has already been pointed out, the same thing happens to existing phones. When Apple said this in their email they were set upon by bloggers for being dismissive of the “fatal design flaw” but they’re telling the truth. I tried it with my iPhone 3G and it does the exact same thing. Hold it in the bottom left corner and the signal drops. I’ve had my phone for over 2 years and I never noticed this issue until someone pointed it out and I tried to replicate it. But what I find really telling about the reporting on this is that virtually none of the mainstream media reports into this did any research or looked even remotely into the issue. They just reported on the Gizmodo story coupled with a few anecdotes from viewers or readers who were having reception issues. I’m not trying to down play the problems of those who are having problems, what I’m annoyed about is the complete and utter lack of perspective. For a start, a little bit of research would have found out that the Nexus one had the exact same issue when it was launched. But where was the outrage there? Where was the massive controversy about the Nexus being “flawed”? Why wasn’t this pushed as the main story by Gizmodo for several days? It certainly never reached the mainstream media, and yet according to the people experiencing the issue, it’s pretty much the same.

The problem is now that regardless of the extent of the reception issue, it will forever be seen as the “design flaw” of the iPhone. Anyone who tries to point out that other phones do in fact experience this are immediately branded as fanboys. It’s amazing how people are so eager to buy any controversy that involves Apple that they loose all sense of reason or balance. It’s gotten so bad lately that I’ve almost given up blogging about Apple and the mac, two subjects close to my heart. It seems that people are only interested in expressing phoney outrage at some inconsequential thing Apple does and creating giant controversies out of insignificant issues (I’m not talking about the iPhone 4 reception issue here before people start giving out about that I’m saying it’s an insignificant issue – although for many people apparently it is). It’s amazing to me how there has developed this complete disconnect between the impression you get about Apple from reading technology sites and publications, and the reality on the ground. The tech press (particularly tech blogs*) has lately been overwhelmingly negative about the Cupertino company, and yet contrast that with hundreds of thousands of people queuing for an iPhone 4. We’re given the impression that the iPhone is a terrible platform for developers and that its atrocious policies mean developers are abandoning it in droves for Android, and yet contrast that with WWDC selling out in 8 days.

I think the root of the problem, or at least part of it is the way a story spreads. It often starts on a blog when someone publishes their opinion on something that Apple has done. The problem with a lot of blogs though (and I’m talking big publications who call themselves blogs, not the average independent blogger) is that they often report opinion as fact. This “fact” then gets picked up and reported on as news and hey presto, instant controversy. A perfect example is the so called controversy of the iPhone 4’s retina display. Someone found a so called “expert” from some display firm that no one had ever heard of before this who disputed Apple’s claims about the retina display. They expressed that in their opinion Apple was incorrect. However it wasn’t reported that way. It was reported that Apple was misleading customers. This simple act of turning an opinion into a fact quickly spread across the web and became the latest in a series of “controversies” to engulf Apple. A few days later though many more “experts” chimed in with their views on the matter. Most defending Apple’s position. In the end a some scientist from NASA claimed that Apple’s statements about the retina display were in fact true. Yet you still hear grumblings on the web about how Apple are misleading customers about this.

Another problem with many of these stories is the fact that many bloggers* seem to be missing the word “allegedly” from their vocabulary. Take the infamous Gizmodo and the iPhone prototype story. They happily took the word of some random guy that he just found the phone and that everything was on the up and up with his story. If a real newspaper had run that story (and they wouldn’t) they would have said that the phone was “allegedly” found in a bar. And yet as this story spread there were, and still are many, people who happily side with Gizmodo and the random guy (who in the light of the information released by the police seems somewhat shady) and believe their version of events verbatim, even over the evidence released by the police. They prefer to believe the conspiracy about Apple rather than the far more down to earth and realistic version of what probably happened. The thing is, they did have a legitimate story there and they could have handled it very differently. The real headline should have been “Guy claims to have iPhone prototype and is attempting to sell it”. They could have cooperated with the police to recover the phone and that should have been the story, not, look at us, we one upped Apple. The real story should have been outing the guy who was trying to pawn it off not the poor engineer who allegedly lost it.

I could go on and on with examples of how the technology press has taken something innocuous about Apple and blown it out of all proportion. I guess at the heart of it all is a desire to see something (in this case Apple) successful humiliated in the same way that tabloid and celebrity gossip rags earn a roaring trade. The tech press has become the silicon valley equivalent of hello with certain bloggers becoming the paparazzi that camp out outside some starlet’s home going through her garbage in the hope of finding some incriminating pair of panties or something. In the real world Apple’s customers (the vast majority of which don’t read technology websites or magazines) continue to buy Apple’s products at unprecedented rates and continue to be enamoured with the consumer electronics maker, all the while tech pundits are desperately trying to get the perfect shot of Apple with it’s knickers down.

(* before some bloggers start giving out that I’m unfairly targeting them, I’m not. I’m talking about the so called “blogs” that are really just online magazines calling themselves blogs because it allows them to get away with far more than they would if they tried to be real magazines)
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ALL YOUR RECEPTION ARE BELONG TO US
Don't be fools. Utilize your skepticism. Don't make sweeping conclusions based on fractured reports that have no frame of reference.
 
rhanley said:
Just because it's a non-issue for you, doesn't mean that's the case for all. I hold my phone as I've always had and the call drops.. I have to continually remember to change my hand position on the phone when I'm on a call -- usually it starts getting really choppy before it drops, so if I'm quick enough, i can keep from losing the call, but this is most definitely a serious issue for me, and I will revert to an older iphone if a case (which I've had to purchase) doesn't resolve the issue for me.

It's hard to change your phone holding position that you've used for 3+ years...
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Still obsessing I see. Take the phone back already.
 
BobVB said:
Of course not, they don't have to buy the phone. I don't hold a phone like I'm a princess, I don't have doll hands. I grip the phone with it's center of gravity in the center of the grip and that puts the amply large meaty base of my left thumb right up next to the shorting gap.

This is a design flaw that escaped detection because Apple has a cell tower on their campus and the field phones were in cases. They can fix it by stopping the shorting via a non-conductive coating or giving away bumpers to those that want them and fixing the code so it can handle the rapidly dropping signal strength of a short.

But to say that people are holding the phone wrong?! It's their phone they can hold it any way they want and it still should work.
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EXACTLY THANK YOU NO ONE SEEMS TO GET THIS
 
I started chatting to a random chap in the O2 store today about the signal problems whilst looking at the demo models. Within a few minutes all of the demo models were occupied by different people holding them in all sorts of different ways. None of us could get the signal to drop by even one bar. The screens were all perfect too.

I had a chat to the sales assistant who came over to see what on earth we were all up to, and he's heared of the problems, but had no actual customer complaints.

I had a play with another one about an hour ago and neither my friend or I could make the signal drop without extreme measures. In normal operation it was perfectly fine.

:apple:
 
inhrntlyunstabl said:
chill1n said:
source: http://www.thomas-fitzgerald.net/20...d-the-bigger-issues-in-technology-journalism/

:)
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A joke of an article. I see someone is paying some bloggers to start spinning the reception issue as if ALL PHONES suffer from the issue. They do not. It's also tiring to keep reading how people think that everyone is out to get Apple and be mean to them. Grow a pair please. Apple made it's bed and it will sleep in it. This stands for ANY COMPANY that makes a FAULTY PRODUCT. Period. It's not because it's "Apple". It's because Apple's CEO decided to get mouthy and call it a NON ISSUE and pretty much slap it's customer base across the face with an asinine excuse - "Don't hold it that way". WTF? You mean, don't hold it like your ads/videos and you yourself hold it? Really Steve?

Enough said.
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I was sorry to see that the InvisiShield iPhone 4 version didn't have a covering for the edges - just the front and back. having something like that around the bezel would likely fix this.
 
-SD- said:
I started chatting to a random chap in the O2 store today about the signal problems whilst looking at the demo models. Within a few minutes all of the demo models were occupied by different people holding them in all sorts of different ways. None of us could get the signal to drop by even one bar. The screens were all perfect too.

I had a chat to the sales assistant who came over to see what on earth we were all up to, and he's heared of the problems, but had no actual customer complaints.

I had a play with another one about an hour ago and neither my friend or I could make the signal drop without extreme measures. In normal operation it was perfectly fine.

:apple:
Click to expand...

As it was explained by many posters, 5 bars is a very vague measurement. All signal strengths above certain value are indicated as 5 bars. If you have a very strong signal, even if the strength drops by 10x it may still be a 5 bar signal. However, once you buy this phone and go some place else (with weaker signal) you'll see it
 
its all your own faults. its not designed to be held that way! hold it the exact same way master jobs tell you or else
 
You are proof of what the author speaks!

AbSoluTc said:
inhrntlyunstabl said:
A joke of an article. I see someone is paying some bloggers to start spinning the reception issue as if ALL PHONES suffer from the issue. They do not. It's also tiring to keep reading how people think that everyone is out to get Apple and be mean to them. Grow a pair please. Apple made it's bed and it will sleep in it. This stands for ANY COMPANY that makes a FAULTY PRODUCT. Period. It's not because it's "Apple". It's because Apple's CEO decided to get mouthy and call it a NON ISSUE and pretty much slap it's customer base across the face with an asinine excuse - "Don't hold it that way". WTF? You mean, don't hold it like your ads/videos and you yourself hold it? Really Steve?

Enough said.
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Actually, Fitzgerald produced a well written, well thought out, and completely reasonable article.

You are incorrect... In the past few days, a number of scientific articles have appeared that confirm that all cell phones can reproduce this effect, and it's likely Gizmodo is going to be sued into oblivion for libel.

I've been saying it for years, but in 2010 they've outdone themselves...

Gizmodo is excrement.
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DiveN4Gold said:
I was sorry to see that the InvisiShield iPhone 4 version didn't have a covering for the edges - just the front and back. having something like that around the bezel would likely fix this.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately Ghost Armor (with kiosks in many Seattle area malls) is the same. Hopefully they will change their marketing in light of the shorting problem.
 
smarch said:
I wish all of the reporting on this "issue" would stop! like steve says all phones have some signal loss when you hold them different ways, I love my iPhone 4 more than life itself, I want everybody else to get one, i want apple to sell a billion, and stupid people LOVE to feel 'smart' they aren't getting one because they heard 'doesn't that phone not make phone calls when you hold it hahaha blahblahblah. my phone loses some signalwhen you cover that gap, but I just don't hold it there and it works fine for the most part even if I do. it's just like with other iPhones when I would sit there trying to figure a good way o hold it when I was in a basement or something

STOP MAKING THIS THE STORY. THE STORY IS THAT THE IPHONE4 IS AWESOME!!!!!
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Hate to burst your bubble smarch, but my phone completely drops the signal. Disconnects. No voice, no data. I've been using MAC since they were first released. I have an iMac, 2iPads, 3 iPods and I've given them as gifts. Love them! Absolutely love them! But Jobs is too arrogant for me on this one, and if they do not fix this phone, i say bring on the lawyers and let's see what they knew and didn't know about this piece of crap before they released into the market.
 
AbSoluTc said:
inhrntlyunstabl said:
A joke of an article.
Click to expand...

Let's take a different route then. OMG - the 3GS has same problem, always had.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNSSxxnSweY

I replicated his test on my 3GS perfectly. In the 1+ years of use, I have never noticed it. I'm right handed but hold in my left always. I've had about a dozen dropped calls in that time. When that happens, I physically move, usually about 30 feet, maybe change my grip or go to speaker phone so I can watch the signal meter more carefully and call completes w/o issue. Prior to iPhone 3GS, had various smartphones... I had dropped calls then too - about same rate. Instead of going back to test these or theorize, I'll just say I've learned to live with the occasional drop call and not dive too deep into reasoning why.

What's the difference? Why the sudden craziness? Because it's technically fascinating (if not, then you'd apply a workaround vs. just talking about it). And this doesn't just apply to the iPhone 4. Do you have this issue with the iPhone 3GS, or ANY other phone... WORKAROUNDS are many: return phone, buy case, hold differently, move to better reception, send Steve Jobs an e-mail with another possible solution. What is not a solution is to continually complain on forums. Again: return phone, buy case, hold differently, move to better reception, send Steve Jobs an e-mail with another possible solution, or if you organize - try a class action lawsuit.

The most Apple will do, and should do possibly, offer a discount for the rubber bumper case for those reporting the problem or money back. I doubt they will change the design if it helps with overall reception. And unless enough mass develops (which this sort of conversation is certainly helping to drive), there is no incentive for them to change anything.

I'm not an Apple troll or fanboy, just someone who works with IT organizations all the time on critical and non-critical issues. The amount of resources wasted on the non-critical ones always amazes me. This would have gone the way of the 3GS reception problem if it weren't for the 'critical' nature of the hype.
Click to expand...
 
chill1n said:
AbSoluTc said:
Actually, Fitzgerald produced a well written, well thought out, and completely reasonable article.
Click to expand...
Well other than ignoring that the complaint is not about normal holding a cell phone attenuation that is. Doing that is just fanboy obfuscation

You are incorrect... In the past few days, a number of scientific articles have appeared that confirm that all cell phones can reproduce this effect, and it's likely Gizmodo is going to be sued into oblivion for libel.
Click to expand...
Hardly. Shorting out the antenna has nothing to do with mass obstruction of the antenna - as long as the problem can be caused by bridging the lower left gap, it's not the problem you are saying absolves them or condemns Gizmodo.

Even the National Enquirer printed the truth occasionally.
Click to expand...
 
lilo777 said:
As it was explained by many posters, 5 bars is a very vague measurement. All signal strengths above certain value are indicated as 5 bars. If you have a very strong signal, even if the strength drops by 10x it may still be a 5 bar signal. However, once you buy this phone and go some place else (with weaker signal) you'll see it
Click to expand...

Indeed, but my house insn't exactly a mobile phone hot-spot. Infact, O2 is the only network you can get a signal with in my house, unless you stand in the magic spot in the kitchen or go into the garden. Both my 3G and the 4 were showing three or four bars of signal strength at the same time. By holding the phone in a normal manner we didn't experience any signal drop or a problem with two calls to different people.

:apple:
 
Bubble burster

sneezingdog said:
Hate to burst your bubble smarch, but my phone completely drops the signal. Disconnects. No voice, no data.
Click to expand...

Hate to burst your bubble, but this doesn't mean anything. You can make no intelligent or valid conclusions about the design of the phone based on this limited fractured and incomplete observation. In order for it to mean something, we need data about your location, location of the tower, state of the tower, and about a dozen or more other variables.

If there is something wrong with your iPhone 4's reception, you have no way to determine this.

But I can show you how you can see if there is actually nothing wrong.

Go find a tower and sit close to it... with a clear line of sight. Check your iPhone 4 and confirm you have all bars lit up. Make a phone call. Touch the "death spot" that causes the call drops. Did the call drop? No? Then your phone is fine. ****. If you are dropping calls it is exponentially more likely that it is evidence of spotty cell, not a defective phone.
 
It does seem to be the bottom left corner. When I hold mine touching the bottom left corner it does drop the signal down.
 
chill1n said:
If you are dropping calls it is exponentially more likely that it is evidence of spotty cell, not a defective phone.
Click to expand...

This is the problem with blind advocacy, the practicers always paint themselves into corners they didn't intend to.

So you are saying that a since a 3GS owner who had no problems now does is because... (wait for it...)

The iPhone 4 has worse cell reception than a 3GS?

You don't really believe that, right? Wouldn't it really be better to say the 4 is a better phone with affixable bug?
 
Dammit Cubs said:
Dude,

Can people just understand that this problem does exist but people are only seeing it if their signal is already FLAKEY! That means your house has very good coverage, you should not see this. but if you have a building that has TONS AND TONS of reflection points and the signal fluctuates already, then this short of the 2 antennas will drop the gain to a point where it can't be turned back.

If you don't believe me, i'll do a test.

LOCATION DOES MATTER!!!!! stop doing the same test in the SAME LOCATION.
Click to expand...

Actually, no it doesn't.

I have two iPhone4's. Mine has issues and drops out all the time. The other is perfect with little to no issues. I do notice a slowdown in data on the 2nd phone, but it never loses 3g signal.
 
I'm in Rockville, MD and don't have the issue. I can make the bars go down if i bridge all the notches on the rim to connect the antennas and cup my hands all around the phone, but I don't expect to be using the phone in that configuration too often.
Still, if I experience the issue in other areas, I may have to go back to using the phone in a case/InvisibleShield. Too bad, I like my iPhone like I like my women - nekkid. No plastic wrap.
 
chill1n said:
Hate to burst your bubble, but this doesn't mean anything. You can make no intelligent or valid conclusions about the design of the phone based on this limited fractured and incomplete observation. In order for it to mean something, we need data about your location, location of the tower, state of the tower, and about a dozen or more other variables.

If there is something wrong with your iPhone 4's reception, you have no way to determine this.

But I can show you how you can see if there is actually nothing wrong.

Go find a tower and sit close to it... with a clear line of sight. Check your iPhone 4 and confirm you have all bars lit up. Make a phone call. Touch the "death spot" that causes the call drops. Did the call drop? No? Then your phone is fine. ****. If you are dropping calls it is exponentially more likely that it is evidence of spotty cell, not a defective phone.
Click to expand...

I have a data card from ATT and a BB using ATT. No problems with either. No problems with the iPhone (in the same location), until I pick it up. Then it drops the connection. No data; no voice. It becomes an iPod with a monthly service charge.

The story isn't how awesome the iPhone is. The story is that Apple released a phone into the market and advertised it by showing people (including Jobs) using it in their hand, when it completely fails to work that way.

Get real here. A phone that you can not hold to use isn't merchantable and should be recalled if it can't be fixed through a software update. Apple needs to be accountable to its customers, and arrogance from the CEO is a complete non starter.
 
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