Steve Jobs Again Speaks Out on iPhone 4 Antenna Issue via Email

[Evilution]

Everyone is

I have to say again. Scientifically speaking if this were an actual "design flaw" in the phone itself everybody would experience it. Since this isn't the case lets hope a software/baseband fix will solve it.

Everyone is experiencing the problem it all depends on location. I have no prolen at one location and then another place its easy to duplicate.

 

[HyperZboy]

I don't get it. How can it be a "non issue" and just "rumors" but then goes onto say "stay tuned" and we are "working on it". He's contradicting himself.

BINGO!

Another winner. Excellent synopsis of the quotes. They are contradictory.

And a borderline admission of guilt despite the teenage fanboys attempting to defend Apple here blindly.

 

[koobcamuk]

Not worth it. Wow.

He's right, it's not worth it.

That's why I've not bought one - I already have a phone.

Maybe he's dying and is trying to say that family time is worth more than a phone... but most 16-20 year olds don't feel like that about family

 

[BobVB]

So take it back. No one is forcing you to keep it, and there are plenty of other phones out there.

At a cost of $30 because a company put out a defective product and is pretending that its now documented problems don't exists.

I do have a return date set, next Wednesday if Apple hasn't made this right by then. Until then I have duct tape on the sides to make it functional and when asked I let people know that's what you have to do to make the iP4 function reliably.

Enjoy the publicity Apple, you've earned it.

 

[BlondeBuddhist]

"It's just a phone" would ring less false and hypocritical if Steve himself actually considered it just a phone, but given the fact that he markets it as the second coming of Christ and puts an asking price on it that's higher than other phones except ones customized with 24k gold, diamonds or Svarovski crystals, I'd say he's resorting to revisionism now. If it's just a phone, here's an idea, Steve: Remove all apps except SMS. Remove the iPod and video playback functionality. No bookstore. Sell it for 50 bucks unlocked. Then it'll be just a phone.

He markets it as a marketer should. The asking price is in fact right on the same level as other smart phones. $200 is a pretty standard subsidy these days.

'it's just a phone" in this context appears to say, "don't say or do things that will leave you regretting your actions".

 

[AtlasBoy]

But, why can't it just work like any other cellphone. And if you think this happens to any other device, please list them and provide a link that clearly shows this problem.

I never mentioned any other cell phones nor am I going to get into that debate because I don't really care about that. I have a phone that works for me. As for why it does not work like other phones, you need to ask someone who knows - I don't. But the fact remains it works how it works (or not). All the bit**ing accomplishes nothing because at the end of the day it does not change anything. So people can ether decide to keep it, or return it.

PS - My comment about bit**ing is not directed to you kas23. I have not read all of your posts so I don't know what you've been saying. This is more of a general comment.

 

[quagmire]

Exactly the reason I'm starting to hate Steve's attitude.

Unlike him, we don't all have a wad of cash. We spend our hard earned money on a few luxuries which we expect to be just that - a luxury...

He palms it off like its just another failed device and to move on...when you spend £450 quid on a phone you don't just forget about it!

Sorry - I love apple as much as the other 10k+ people reading this thread....but Steve is being a complete ******* about this.

Then go get your money back. You can still return the phone. He's right. It's a phone. Don't like it, RETURN IT!

I have had enough of this whining. Either deal with the problem and "stay tuned" or return the phone and buy another phone to your liking.

 

[space1nvaders]

It's $200.00 out of pocket and a two year contract with *more* drop calls in more places and bad reception is what it is.

I have had less dropped calls and better reception with the new phone. I cannot make the signal lose strength even if I use both hands and squeeze the 3 gaps. I think that people are overreacting.

He's right. It's just a phone. Call AT&T and tell them about the problem. Take it to the Apple store and show someone. Try another phone. Don't post a YouTube video and freak everyone out.

 

[djstile]

Can we stop with the "my phone is fine so it's a non-issue" thing please? I am happy for those of you who are NOT experiencing this issue, but I am - therefore it IS an issue for me - and that is a fact. If it was only my phone, Apple would just give me a new phone, but this is obviously a widespread problem.

Now that that's out of the way, Steve can't have his cake and eat it too - if they want to claim it's a non-issue, fine; but then why would they need to be, "working on it?"

 

[Puddinman]

Way back, I used to own a phone on Sprint. It was pretty cool for it's time, tall, skinny-thin and silver at a time when most phones were the old blocky nokia design. I was always afraid of snapping it in half. I can't for the life of me remember the mfr or name of the phone.

Anyway, I remember the manual specified a precise way to hold the phone in order to maximize reception. You had to hold it with the middle finger and thumb along each side and your index finger supporting the back, forcing your palm away from the phone. Ever since owning that phone, I've held every cell phone that way, up to my current 3gs. I can't even imagine holding the phone the way some people describe the death grip.

I have to agree with Jobs and Apple on this one. Every phone since the time cell phones evolved away from external antennas has had issues with signal attenuation due to hand contact. Some crafty marketers even came up with a dubious fix for it in the form of a metallic circuit-board-looking sticker that you used to place inside the battery compartment rolleyes. As stupid and off-putting as it sounds, the only real fix for this is to learn to hold the phone in a way that won't cause the attenuation. Even the manufacturers of the first "cool" phone I ever owned knew that way back then.

 

[appleoracle]

I find it funny how a lot of people think they're phone cost them $200 or whatever. Don't you realise these phones are subsidised by the money you pay over the course of your contract? That why you have a contract - 24 guaranteed monthly payments, a significant proportion of which is paying off the phoe.

These phones are not costing you $200. More like $700-900.

True.

The guy who flew to england did it because he wanted UNLOCKED phones I would think.

Someone who actually has a clue... Thanks for bringing in some common-sense and knowledge into this thread! It seems like most US customers know AT&T, $200, contract, and that's about it.

the cost here for unlocked phones (which don't come with a contract and give you an idea of what the actual phone cost is was £499 for 16Gb and £599 for 32GB

Right. £509 w/o tax.

 

[guitargoddsjm]

Jesus H Christopher... Reading some of the comments on BGR and here, some people are just ridiculous!

Personally, I 90% agree with Steve Jobs's responses. He's not making false promises, but he's basically saying there's a fix in the works. That guy's complaints were fairly reasonable, but he basically started lashing out at Jobs. I agree, he did need to relax, as it is only a phone. If he hates it that much and can't make calls, it's time to switch devices.

I had an iPhone 3G, and now I have an iPhone 4. I love it. It's way faster, I really like the design (looks-wise), the camera and video, and reception is in general much better.

I do have a few issues:

• proximity sensor is out of whack, I add contacts, 3-way call random people, mute people, hang up, and try to facetime all with my cheek
• design is much less comfortable to hold (compared to the 3G)
• I've experienced a couple dropped calls in the last few days, and I can reproduce the signal drop (I'm a lefty), but in general the reception is significantly better than the 3G

Despite these flaws, I think the device is certainly worth it. I've tried out android devices and usability-wise, they just don't compare (yet). Android has potential, but they need to work on polish.

Like everyone has said... It's not too late! If you don't like it, suck up the ~$20-30 restocking fee and just return the damn thing! After all, it is only a consumer PRODUCT/DEVICE/whatever. It's not a cure for cancer, it's not a health-risk. It's a cell phone.

 

[saschke]

At a cost of $30 because a company put out a defective product and is pretending that its now documented problems don't exists.

I do have a return date set, next Wednesday if Apple hasn't made this right by then. Until then I have duct tape on the sides to make it functional and when asked I let people know that's what you have to do to make the iP4 function reliably.

Enjoy the publicity Apple, you've earned it.

What crappy networks do you have in the US. This is ridiculous.

 

[spiritlevel]

It works how it works. It's ether acceptable or it's not. Decide to keep it as is, or return it. It's just that simple.

But it's not quite that simple.

What about the Mobile Me subscription I just bought?

What about my investment in iApps - including TomTom satnav which is quite expensive?

If I return the phone, these become useless and I am significantly out of pocket.

That's why I want Apple to fix the phone so it works as advertised. If I hold the phone how jobs held it in the keynote, I am lucky if I get 8kbps over 3g.

 

[johng2222]

Nice to be young and right all the time...

Ah, to be young and right all the time - again.

Hey, I just bought a patio grill for $700.00... That I had to put together myself. And, it didn't even come with a grill cover or cooking utensils! So, I don't really get all the bitching about "the ****ing" price of the phone, etc. If $200/$300.00, and the "extra" pay out over the contract life is that BIG a deal for you, then you have more problems than any phone can fix. Plus, I had to change wireless companies a couple of years back because, imagine this, every company's coverage varies over a wide enough area - it even varies from month to month in the same areas.

I'm an Apple stock holder and I expect the value of the stock to go up and down... Even for reasons that have nothing to do with a product or a spokesman's words. I also expect some people to be happy with a particular product and others not... You don't like the phone, return it. And, good luck with your next try. You don't like the company? Sorry, if you get out voted by people who do. It's a numbers thing, that's all.

Life is full of choices, even choices we don't want to make. If you wanted a better phone and were disappointed, take action to get happy and come up with a solution that works better for you. My phone works OK, and the extra features make it a great purchase for me even if the phone part wasn't perfect. I own the stock and generally like the products Apple cranks out, but I'm no slave to products that don't work for me.

Seek practical, not perfect.

Most things require balance. Ranting about your disappointment, after your disappointment is made clear, is just wasting time and energy.

Enjoy your weekend - you can't get the time back.

But, you can get another phone, if that suits you.

 

[Aadhil]

At a cost of $30 because a company put out a defective product and is pretending that its now documented problems don't exists.

It's not a defective product. Just one with a few quirks. I've always had quirks on all my other phones. It's a fact with technology.

 

[JoeBlow08]

+4950943850384095 Its already been posted online showing the curve the new iPhone uses and its already been shown that the new iPhone picks up signal in weaker places.

Unfortunately the public is stupid and doesn't read everything, they only want to read what sides with their ideas. I used to sell cell phones and people ALWAYS brought them in claiming there was a signal issue cause Bobby has the same phone they do and when they are at the same place Bobby has 4 bars and they only have 3. I was amazed when I saw people complaining about signal dropping when they touched then antenna. It's like they never knew that happened to cell phones.

Steve is right, its JUST A PHONE. Instead of crying about it return the thing and get one that makes you happy. Problem solved, yet nobody here wants to do that for whatever reason. EVERYONE right now is under the return period so whats the excuse?

The excuse is that I like the iPhone, I drop calls all the time, so I'm hoping for a fix, if there isn't one by the time the return period is up, I will be returning the phone and moving over to Verizon on an awful Droid phone.

 

[kikuchiyo]

We the consumer and MacRumors subscribers love to be cool and have the latest and greatest...

Speak for yourself; I used the time of the iPhone 4 announcement to get Best Buy to price match Wal-mart's clearance price for the 16GB 3GS; $93 (even lower with a Best Buy gift card, so it still came to less than $100 with a case bought online).

Taken on it's own, Jobs' reply looks awful, but (if it's in fact real) the customer was acting really insane. If he was that upset, a well written, well thought-out complaint would have helped the customer much more.

 

[Xavier]

I used an iPhone 4 and tried to reproduce this signal lose. I could not.

 

[appleoracle]

this ^
BLOCKQUOTE OF THE DAY!


No problems at all with T-Mobile here in Germany.

this ^
EGOMANIAC OF THE DAY!

 

[stukick]

Let the games begin... http://gizmodo.com/5577010/first-iphone-4-class-action-suit-filed-against-apple-and-attin...

 

[Tonewheel]

Jesus H Christopher... Reading some of the comments on BGR and here, some people are just ridiculous!

Personally, I 90% agree with Steve Jobs's responses. He's not making false promises, but he's basically saying there's a fix in the works. That guy's complaints were fairly reasonable, but he basically started lashing out at Jobs. I agree, he did need to relax, as it is only a phone. If he hates it that much and can't make calls, it's time to switch devices.

I had an iPhone 3G, and now I have an iPhone 4. I love it. It's way faster, I really like the design (looks-wise), the camera and video, and reception is in general much better.

I do have a few issues:

• proximity sensor is out of whack, I add contacts, 3-way call random people, mute people, hang up, and try to facetime all with my cheek
• design is much less comfortable to hold (compared to the 3G)
• I've experienced a couple dropped calls in the last few days, and I can reproduce the signal drop (I'm a lefty), but in general the reception is significantly better than the 3G

Despite these flaws, I think the device is certainly worth it. I've tried out android devices and usability-wise, they just don't compare (yet). Android has potential, but they need to work on polish.

Like everyone has said... It's not too late! If you don't like it, suck up the ~$20-30 restocking fee and just return the damn thing! After all, it is only a consumer PRODUCT/DEVICE/whatever. It's not a cure for cancer, it's not a health-risk. It's a cell phone.

Finally...an adult has arrived in the forum!

 

[tatonka]

Anandtech has a great, technical analysis of the "antenna" issue. Reading the number of bars really isn't a good indicator of actual signal strength and while squeezing the phone tightly does decrease the signal, the same is said on other phones. The bottom line is that the iPhone 4 still gets better reception than the 3GS.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

Did you even read the article? Not that I care much either way, I just find it hillarious that so many people cite this analysis as pro-iPhone4.
The article clearly shows that the iPhone4 looses way more signal when picked up than the other phones, especially its predecessor the 3GS. And, all the superior antenna measurements were done with the bumper case on, eliminating the whole bridging issue.
The article concludes that the phone as delivered (without any additional case) is pretty much a design failure.

I don't think the whole antenna thing is so bad .. it is how Apple handles the situation that drives people onto the barricades. I mean seriously .. Mr Jobs response are purely ignorant and arrogant .. somebody should stop him.

T.

 

[atomicbatteries]

I hope it drops $20. Would be a great time to buy.

Anyone outside these forums doesn't seem to know or care. Minneapolis news had a story on how "apple may go to verizon" yesterday. Nothing about reception. Over-played.

Not going to drop, going to sky rocket folks! And Steve is laughing all the way to Bank America!

Apple was added to J.P. Morgan's Analyst Focus List,
and increased the price target for the "overweight" stock to
$390 by December of 2011.

Analyst Mark Moskowitz said it is the growth of the
iPhone and iPad, combined with untapped international
opportunities for the Mac, that will send Apple's stock
soaring to new heights.

 

[aibo82]

I bet Mr Jony Ive is regretting the words in his video of iphone 4! "Iphone 4 is so much more than just a new product, It will have a lasting impact on the way we communicate."

No joke! a lasting impact on the way we communicate Mr ive i cant see this ever being fixed!