Other Mobile Phones with Similar Signal Loss Issues

[viewfly]

The problem is NOT that a phone loses a bit of reception when you hold it in your hand. Indeed many phones do that. 5 or 4 bars don't really matter.

BUT:

The problem with the iPhone 4 is that it drops calls and loses the internet connection when you hold it in your hand. And other phones don't have such a issue.

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

The video is not waiting long enough for the slow bar meter to catch up. the bar meters always have a time delay built in to them, but the phone's receptions responds more quickly. That is all you are seeing...4 or 5 'bars' can mean alot...if you are in a weak signal area, which it appear you are in the video. When you see the bar start below 5 and fall more..you are in a fringe area already. The bars are weight to the low fringe end of signal by default.

You negated your own point.

 

[zacman]

Let's see the WWDC keynote again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEXn_8FG75Q

WiFi issues only?

But the 3G loads the website without a problem, only the 4G doesn't work.

"Sorry guys I don't know what's going on..."

YOU HOLD IT THE WRONG WAY STEVE!

 

[zacman]

The video is not waiting long enough for the slow bar meter to catch up. the bar meters always have a time delay built in to them, but the phone's receptions responds more quickly. That is all you are seeing...4 or 5 'bars' can mean alot...

You obviously didn't get my point. If you hold the iPhone 4 in your hand, it loses the internet connection and drops calls. It doesn't have anything todo how many bars are shown. That's exactly my point.

 

[smiddlehurst]

Must admit I'm in two minds on this one. My iPhone 4 definately has worse reception when held than not but (thus far) never to the point of loosing a signal and in-line with pretty much every phone I've ever owned that have all dropped at least a little bit in those circumstances. Do I think that geekdom is over-reacting a tad to this? Yes, but that seems to be the norm with Apple products these days.

But on the other hand, it's not a 'non-issue' and I suspect what's really going on here is there's two issues running in parallel. On the one hand you're probably always going to drop a bit of signal when held in the 'wrong' place, that's just about normal for all phones and isn't a major problem. On the other, and again this is only a suspicion, it's starting to look like there may be a questionable batch of phones out there that drop WAY more than they should. Those DO need looking at and if I were Apple I'd be asking those with that level of problem to drop in to a genius bar and do a bit of on-the-spot testing with a known good unit to see if the problem is handset specific or person specific (i.e. it's something in the particular makeup of an individual's skin and/or sweat that's causing it).

I guess I'm really saying wait and see what happens. If you've got this problem to the extent you're getting dropped calls take it to an Apple Store to be looked at or just return it. Hopefully Apple will pick up their game and give a better explanation once they've had some more time to investigate.

 

[pearboss]

I'm actually glad this happens because it pretty much made me buy a case and that seems like a really good idea for the iPhone 4 at this point considering you drop it once your probably shattereD

 

[KnightWRX]

Every other phone does this, right, if I go purposefully out of my way to hold it in some weird fashion as to block the antenna which isn't positionned right where I put my hand normally.

Seriously guys, stop apologizing for Apple. You aren't getting a free iPhone 4 because you're defending Steve.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

HOW THE ******* ARE PEOPLE MEANT TO USE THE PHONE without touching it? There is a problem and you apple apologist fanboys can't defend this fact.

This the most fabricated post of all. The point is closing the loop in a circuit connection with your hand being the middle between two antennas.

It's not about touching the system, but connecting the circuit. Put an insulator in-between your hand [we are electrical machines] and the phone will change the results.

 

[MH01]

UK based, using Vodafone, I am in a low signal area! I don't seem to have an issue. It doesn't matter how I hold the phone, I still don't get any signal loss when bridging the antennas with my hand.

Did I just get a good one?

On O2 in UK here. At home, no matter what I did, I had 5 bars and could not get them to drop. Though my phone was perfect. Got into work today, which is about a 30 min walk and what showing the guys at work how this was an no issue, and as per Murphy's law holding it in the left had the bars dropped from 5 to 1.

Not to fussed at the moment, unless it starts resulting in dropped Phone calls. My iphone, 3G, 3Gs never dropped calls, so it this starts happening with 4, then its a huge issue. I'll give it a few weeks of testing to see how it goes.

 

[jlluna]

I pais 300.00 Dollars for my phone. I should not get continuos droped calls, And dramatic signal lost. I totally understand that you loose some signal when holding it, but not dropped calls, i am very disappointed with this phone.I am sending mine back to AT&T and using my old 3gs.

 

[KnightWRX]

It's not about touching the system, but connecting the circuit. Put an insulator in-between your hand [we are electrical machines] and the phone will change the results.

Exactly, Apple should've better designed the phone in the first place. They didn't. They decided to put the antenna in a spot where it is easy to short it while holding the phone normally.

Now you get to apply a 10$ fix to your 700$ phone in the form of a crappy looking rubber case or some tape.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)



Are you mad?

You wold be happy with having to go to an Apple store, having to prove you have the issue then pay $9.99 for the pleasure of using a working product at last?

Look at what Nintendo did with the Wii mote covers. They sent up to 4 per houseold for free on a £179.99 console.

I'm sure Apple could give each iPhne user a bumper without breaking a sweat.

No, I'm not mad. Everyone I know has a 3rd party cover on their 3G or 3GS. I am going to buy a bumper. Getting it for $9.99 is saving me money.

You somehow think a Wii remote is equivalent to an iPhone. Now who is mad?

 

[dnaida]

i am thinking about buying an iPhone 4 for xmas.
but i have never dropped calls with my iPhone 3G or with other phones.
but , but , i remember my Nokia 3200 , it was so fckin broken !
I think , apple will solve this problem with white iPhone =]

 

[MH01]

This the most fabricated post of all. The point is closing the loop in a circuit connection with your hand being the middle between two antennas.

It's not about touching the system, but connecting the circuit. Put an insulator in-between your hand [we are electrical machines] and the phone will change the results.

Exactly, though that implies that its a design floor.

Given its a phone, and will be held around the corners in a hand.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-gb; Nexus One Build/FRF83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)



Are you mad?

You wold be happy with having to go to an Apple store, having to prove you have the issue then pay $9.99 for the pleasure of using a working product at last?

Look at what Nintendo did with the Wii mote covers. They sent up to 4 per houseold for free on a £179.99 console.

I'm sure Apple could give each iPhne user a bumper without breaking a sweat.

No, I'm not mad. Everyone I know has a 3rd party cover on their 3G or 3GS. I am going to buy a bumper. Getting it for $9.99 is saving me money.

You somehow think a Wii remote is equivalent to an iPhone. Now who is mad?

That was a comment on the cost but hey ho.

My wife and I both use pouches to keep our phones in so a case isn't the solution for everyone.

 

[Thex1138]

Not Yet....

Ok so there's just one slight detail among all this....

How many thousands of Apple iPhone 4 mobile phones have been sold in the last day...
So if all these users experience this then it's a disaster... if it's a few then it's a bad batch first run out of the factory.... so take it back for a new one.

 

[audioruckus]

I think the issue has escalated because of how Steve initially responded, as he seemed to belittle the issue, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Steve would not make a good customer service rep, unless he had more training.

That said I also think many people are now blowing this issue way out of proportion. Overall I do think this is a non-issue. It's not hard to avoid covering the antenna, and with such an expensive phone, a case is pretty much a given.

Obviously people can be pissed if they want, and return the phone if they aren't happy with it. But in my opinion at least, it's not hard to avoid that corner if you like the device. I'll still be ordering mine.

 

[kiljoy616]

Good to see at least one other phone doing this. I'd like to see ALOT more of the same before I make an opinion. I also will not form an opinion about the iPhone and this problem until I've had enough time to decided if it even affects me or not. So far today and yesterday I have placed several calls and used internet quite a bit...not a problem yet.

I am sure that other phones do this, but the iphone is all people care about.

I don't see lines of people to get the Droid. Even if it did this also who would care.

I have had plenty of phones over time and some have and others have not dropped calls, but until the iphone I never was with ATT which could be why they where few and I never really payed much attention with them, its only since the iphone that this problem seems to come and go and also that I use the phone for more than just simple quick calling.

After all the iphone is really one sophisticated computer and the phone side is but a small part of it.

Has anyone notice if this also happens with the other part of the antenna? Or is it only with the side that deal with the phone. Is wifi affected by holding it in another way?

 

[cdmoore74]

Guys, don’t believe any Android fanboys stating they don’t have the problem. They will do absolutely everything to put Apple down. Nexus One does have a problem even according to Engadget.

The best part about android is that you have more than one model out there. If you don't like evo or nexus you can get Droid and on different network. So please don't group all android users in one group. Not all android users are going to the same hardware issues. Oh and by the way i'm holding my droid on all 4 corners while talking into it.

 

[bigjara]

i think that this is just unfortunate for apple. They tried to do something new, it just didnt work out. Last week everyone thought the new antenna was great.

 

[MH01]

i am thinking about buying an iPhone 4 for xmas.
but i have never dropped calls with my iPhone 3G or with other phones.
but , but , i remember my Nokia 3200 , it was so fckin broken !
I think , apple will solve this problem with white iPhone =]

This will not be solved in the white phone. Thy are not about to run two different models. White ones are already in production, too late to be making production line changes

 

[viewfly]

The Next Step

I think the next step is just to use the phone, being aware of it's sweet spot, like other phones, and see how the phone performs over the next weeks. Most people, like with the 3G and 3GS, will get a case anyways (or invisible shield for the sides). A better idea than forcing the phone to fail in your hand. I intent to go with a naked phone and Sena pouch, even though I bought a bumper too.

Don't forget, it will still behave differently against your face...and some phone designs try to take that into account.

So Don't Worry, Be Happy, and see how the phone performs before in practice over the next week or two.

Probably the biggest mistake in the phone industry was to give the consumer a RF meter to worry about...imagine if you had one for your FM radio in the car?

 

[MH01]

The best part about android is that you have more than one model out there. If you don't like evo or nexus you can get Droid and on different network. So please don't group all android users in one group. Not all android users are going to the same hardware issues. Oh and by the way i'm holding my droid on all 4 corners while talking into it.

Apple users also have a choice. Just involves buying a case or downgrading to a 3gs, 3g etc

If apple gets a cut from case sales, $$$$$$.

Even the BBC are covering this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8761240.stm

 

[Thex1138]

Red Pill, Blue Pill

The best part about android is that you have more than one model out there. If you don't like evo or nexus you can get Droid and on different network. So please don't group all android users in one group. Not all android users are going to the same hardware issues. Oh and by the way i'm holding my droid on all 4 corners while talking into it.

noooooo.....

The best thing about android is strains and groans from the owner/manufacturers to extrenuate and try to clone everything that the iphone represents... and that the iPhone already is... from hardware to software...

Android is a geek phone, simple as that...and developers will never make money from open source... it's already a proven fact, AKA Sourcforge, linux... blah blah blah.

It's nothing to do with fan-ism, it's simple historical fact.

 

[inguatu]

Guys!! It's fine, I found a fix. No need to worry.

View attachment 233606

Really? Why should you put tape on a phone that is inheirently screwed up. That's like buying a couch with a gash in it and you're ok with putting duct tape over the hole because the company says that should fix it?

Why are fanboys such iSheep... mindless zombies. BE PISSED. Why does people always give Apple an out? Demand they fix it.. don't settle for using a peice of tape, which will peel off and leave a sticky mess on your NEW phone.

Also, don't blame ATT for this mess. This is Apple.

With regards to ATT's poor reception and dropped calls, people need to start adding Apple to that blame. Listen, APPLE chose ATT as their carrier. They
supposidly did the research and chose ATT as their carrier. Also, at some point Apple could've easily reworked their contract or said the contract is over due to poor performace from their network which doesn't paint Apple's products in a good light. Apple can do that. Hell, any company working under contract with another can do that. Apple has more and better lawyers than ATT. They could've easily broken the contract with NO breach of contract lawsuit. Did they, no. They still continue to do NEW business with ATT with the iPad 3G. So instead of mindless iSheep chatter about how it's always ATT's fault, blame Apple (or Canaduh).

 

[Augure]

1) Apple started out the day saying this was a software issue. Now they admit it's a hardware issue. They flat out lied.

2) They knew the phone had this problem from get go which is why they left slits for the bumpers. Even so they sold the phone without those bumpers included and no fair warning to consumers about this flaw.

3) They are as of this moment saying "it's your fault, don't hold the phone like that, buy a $30 product to fix our design flaw".

4) I never had a bumper for my 3GS, it was solid enough (made it fall several times, nada), it's ugly, useless and makes it bigger in the pocket. And people were bragging about how the iPhone is so beautiful and thinner even with the obviously ugly antenna sides...

5) For years Blackberry's and other phone's on AT&T never experienced the crazy poor coverage problems that the iPhone did. Many for years have said the problem is due to the iPhone design just as much as it is to AT&T. The fact that the iPhone 4G now has improved reception only makes this point plainly clear. For years iPhone users have suffered through crappy coverage at what now looks to be the hands of poor phone design. Maybe a point that would have been clearer sooner if it weren't for such consumer loyalty to Apple. Consumers instead have blamed AT&T all this time.

5) Despite all of this, Apple fanboy apologist try to find excuses for a compagny that gets their money. (Sucking c$ck is good yum)

That is all just nuts to me and is one of the rarest things you will see in all of retail. This is the first time that Apple has had the equivalent of a BP oil spill and yet it's customers are happy to go swim in the gulf and pay for the privilege to do so.