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So is everyone having the antenna issue?

I tried a bunch of phones in the store and they all went from 5 bars to 1 bar.

Didn't matter if I held it with left or right hand. Same effect.

To reproduce,
Hold the phone so that one side is pressing into your palm. Make sure it covers the seam separating the antennas. Ideally have one or more fingers wrapped around the other side again on the seam to make a connection between the antennas.
Squeezing some seems to make it worse. Likely that sweat probably makes it worse because your skin conducts more the saltier and wetter it is.
The critical part is to hold it in that position for at least 15 seconds, maybe longer. The signal strength seems to slowly drop. If you only do it for a few seconds, it won't show the drop and will recover quickly. Once it starts dropping, keep holding it. It will slowly drop one bar at a time.

This may sound like something unusual to try, but it turns out holding it close to the seam is the normal way I hold my phones and it pretty common. I tested it in an Apple store with very strong signal. At home I have marginal signal where my iPhone 3G would often drop calls. I can't imagine what the iPhone 4 would be like. I already couldn't rely on my iPhone 3G at home.
 
AnotherLabRat said:
I have it everywhere I go. 5 bars to zero if I hold it long enough. Consider yourself lucky.

Can anyone explain Apple's reasoning behind the bumper? The problem according to them is that our hands/fingers are attenuating the signal. So their solution is to add a layer of plastic/rubber to the mix.....in addition to our hands/fingers.

Is that new math or something? :confused:
Click to expand...
Primarily its caused by your skin conducting the signal between the two antennas. If you put anything non-conductive between you and the antennas that breaks the path and prevents the problem. It doesn't matter how thick it is.

The bumper case is ideal. You can't touch the antennas anywhere.

But even a little scotch tape is enough to break the path.
Likewise any non-conductive clear coating, even a paint or clear coat would work.

But it seems hard to imagine how to fix it without a significant hardware redesign of all existing phones. Even coating with clearcoat isn't something easily done in a store to millions of phones.
 
Cant replicate it and havent been able to replicate it wherever i went so i guess im lucky or theres some manufacturing issue that will be remedied in the very near future.
 
I find it VERY hard to believe this many people are not seeing the issue. So far 5 people I know who have the phone are all having this issue so I would question if the people who say they don't are really testing it the correct way.
 
Held it for a minute, 5 bars to 4, wow this is some bad stuff.... :rolleyes:


For those that are seriously having issues and aren't Giz drama queens, hopefully Apple makes it right for you.
 
I think it depends on location. I didn't think I had the issue until I went up to school today where I traditionally have very poor signal to begin with. I was getting 4-5 bars in places where I usually get 1 or none which is GREAT, but I was finally able to replicate the "death-grip" problem. I didn't call anyone though to see if it dropped any of my calls. My phone is naked btw.
 
Put me down for being extremely impacted.

I can take a call from perfect quality, and as I inadvertently switch it to my left hand (which is my dominate hand) within 30 seconds it goes to no service and 'searching.'

Remove my palm from the side of the iPhone 4, and quality returns to full bars.

Talking with a tech from Apple gave me little hope on the situation. I think they should at least provide a free bumper or something to alleviate the issue in the short term, because it's really impacting my usage of the iPhone 4.

There is one other datapoint to add, as well.. Do you guys who can replicate this issue easily notice any wiggling in your home buttons or having to press it harder then you think you should? My home button wiggles, and feels a bit like you can press the button down half way, feel it click, but the press doesn't register.. It's as if the home button has two modes depending on how hard you press it, one not doing anything :p
 
cmoski said:
Put me down for being extremely impacted.

I can take a call from perfect quality, and as I inadvertently switch it to my left hand (which is my dominate hand) within 30 seconds it goes to no service and 'searching.'

Remove my palm from the side of the iPhone 4, and quality returns to full bars.

Talking with a tech from Apple gave me little hope on the situation. I think they should at least provide a free bumper or something to alleviate the issue in the short term, because it's really impacting my usage of the iPhone 4.

There is one other datapoint to add, as well.. Do you guys who can replicate this issue easily notice any wiggling in your home buttons or having to press it harder then you think you should? My home button wiggles, and feels a bit like you can press the button down half way, feel it click, but the press doesn't register.. It's as if the home button has two modes depending on how hard you press it, one not doing anything :p
Click to expand...

Home button feels more solid and easier to press than on my 3GS or 2G.

For those that are having issues, did you pre-order and have it delivered or did you pick it up on launch day?
 
dmelgar said:
I tried a bunch of phones in the store and they all went from 5 bars to 1 bar.

Didn't matter if I held it with left or right hand. Same effect.
Click to expand...

I don't have an iPhone 4 but I went to the store to check them out as well. I was able to reproduce the problem simply by putting one finger directly on top the seam. The bars dropped one by one, and I could not use the data connection.

It seems someone had turned of 3G on the demo model I used, and I could only repro the problem if 3G was enabled, EDGE worked fine (maybe they were trying to hide the issue?). Looks like it is a certain frequency that is the problem and because different areas have different 3G bands, that may account for some people not being able to replicate.
 
Another thing I should mention, since I know all the "top" news networks are hanging off our every posts.. In my usual daily drive, there were two places my calls would be dropped. The last 3 days, since getting my iP4, I've driven the same old route and have been able to maintain the same call all the way through.
 
After watching the keynote again, particularly the part where wouldn't connect to wifi, the ATT signal did not appear to have any noticeable drop.

I think it's either a bad batch if phones or a software issue. Completely unable to reproduce the problem.
 
cmoski said:
Put me down for being extremely impacted.

I can take a call from perfect quality, and as I inadvertently switch it to my left hand (which is my dominate hand) within 30 seconds it goes to no service and 'searching.'
Click to expand...

I'm right handed, but the way i hold my phone, i cover the seam. this left hand/right hand thing is silly. I should be able to hold the phone they way i want to. 30 dollar bumpers is not a solution. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills in this thread. Is there really something wrong with the phone
? my phone? or is everyone in this thread "doing it wrong" you have to hold it for at least a minute.
 
Dsr1205 said:
I'm right handed, but the way i hold my phone, i cover the seam. this left hand/right hand thing is silly. I should be able to hold the phone they way i want to. 30 dollar bumpers is not a solution. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills in this thread. Is there really something wrong with the phone
? my phone? or is everyone in this thread "doing it wrong" you have to hold it for at least a minute.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. It is unfair for Apple to ask us to purchase an additional ugly 'thing' to fix a problem they created.. Inadvertently or not, it passed Q&A. They need to step up and fix it. :apple:
 
puggles said:
Nope...can't replicate it at all...
Click to expand...
I don't have it in my own house where I cannot make my phone go lower than 5 bars despite how hard I try. But at a friends house I get little to no service and at one point it did seem to get worse when I was purposely trying to produce the problem.
 
I am having the issue in different places but not in my home. My home has always 5 bars. I tried to do it and it would not drop, maybe 1 bar. So my guess it is location specific.

I hope they issue a real fix soon or it goes back to Apple. I just don't get that my iPhone 3G worked perfectly when it came to signal issues (dropped calls happen but I got used to them) but the new one feels like a downgrade.
 
I don't have any issues when I'm on a call, and I'm sure most of you don't either. I agree with Jobs, if it's happening to you, don't squeeze the hell out of it trying to recreate it. If you hold it and use it like any other cell phone, it's a non issue.
 
I can reproduce it but only if I try hard and not all the time, only sometimes (though it is consistant when I can).

I really do think your hands have to be at least slightly moist for it to work (it's like a parlor trick :p).

Honestly, I think unless it actually is causing you to lose calls under normal use, it's not that big a deal. Some people I'm sure it is (those who live in weak signal and tend to hold the phone that way) and I can understand why they are upset. But I think a lot of people it doens't really affect that badly but they've discovered it and are freaking out about it despite the fact it's not losing them calls, it's just a "flaw" (sounds like they would have to have somewhere on the phone you can't touch and keep good signal from what I've been reading) they found and aren't considering really how much that flaw affects them.

I do think it's a ridiculous solution to just say, "Just buy a case". Why should I have to buy a case to use my phone (particularly if I like my phone being naked). I'm more likely to just avoid holding it that way (but realize it's a compromise. But for me I like the phone enough and it's a small corner the benefits are worth the compromise. Your mileage may vary).

Sure, I'll be happy if Apple finds a fix (especially if all I have to do is download an updated OS). But I'm happy that at least for me it's not a huge deal (as it is not losing me calls and I do hold my phone in my left hand. I'm not left handed but I prefer to listen out of my left ear, I think it's cause I've lost more hearing in the right than the left).
 
JohnnyQuest said:
I don't have any issues when I'm on a call, and I'm sure most of you don't either. I agree with Jobs, if it's happening to you, don't squeeze the hell out of it trying to recreate it. If you hold it and use it like any other cell phone, it's a non issue.
Click to expand...

Trolling a bit? :p

One thing I've noticed.. If I grip the phone with my left hand during the initiation of a call, it will drop entirely (not the slow degradation we've spoken about previously).

Try to grip the phone using the so called 'death grip' and begin a call.. For me, the result is a 90% drop rate before the call is connected out of 10 trials (to Apple's own support line, no less).

Sort of feels like 1st grade where they gave us right handed scissors.. There is a reason I never learned how to cut paper until I found left handed scissors in the 2nd grade, hahaha.. They told me to hold the scissors differently, too..
 
If I work at it I can make the onscreen indicator dip but I can't negatively impact performance or make a call drop.
 
I have this issue and it's bugging the crap out of me.
So are we just suppose to accept this as part of the design? I love the look of the phone and didn't want to use a case but I guess I have to now.

This is irresponsible of Apple to just say use it in a case. If that was the intended way to use the phone, they should have included one with each purchase.
 
Yesterday I had 0-1 bars on my iPhone 4 where as my iPhone 3GS had 3 bars right next to it

Now it's stuck at "Searching" and I can't even get a 3G signal
 
Just stop holding the phone so wieldy.

I have been practicing this all day, and I don't understand how some of you can hold the phone so awkwardly and unwieldily.

You can easily hold an iPhone with two or three fingers, which allows you better placement and maneuvering. This not only helps with the signal but also likely with the proximity sensor.

I just don't understand why anyone would hold the phone with a palm death grip wrapped around the phone be it right hand or left hand. it is awkward, uncomfortable, and unnecessary.
 
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