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

[firewood]

Holding the phone normally (which is always properly) blocks the antenna, if it must to be at the bottom of the phone it should have been inside the phone like the 3GS.

If you like inferior internal antenna's (that require a higher dBm signal to connect at all, worst case, when used properly), then return your i4 and buy one of those other cell phones.

All products have trade-offs. The i4 is thinner, gets much better reception if used properly, and a worst if not. The 3GS gets measurably worst reception if held properly, but somewhat better in a grip of death. The Droid X is a lot larger than either, but has room for bigger (and more!) antennas. In strong signal areas, they all work. Choose your poison.

Note that the users manual for many other smartphones recommend against holding them around the antenna area for best results. Do they still make cell phones with stick up aerials? Maybe you should get one of those instead of an i4?

 

[Simmo2K]

I think that the worst part of all of this is the fact that anyone with a brain should be purchasing a rubber grip for it in the first place.

So why promote a phone that is "beautiful to look at" only to need to stick an ugly cheap piece of rubber on it.. Why didn't Steve show the phone with a bumper at wwdc. The iPhone is a nice looking phone and some people don't wanna cover it with ****** rubber just to make a bloody call!!!!

 

[AaronTheYoung]

My iPhone 4 works fine.

Jobs certainly is frank with his responses, isn't he? This issue has been blown way out of proportion from my perspective. I can reproduce the issue and make my phone drop a bar or two, by holding my hand in a very unnatural position. I can't however, get it to drop a call or a data connection. My phone just keeps humming along. In fact, at my friends house in Manlius, NY I couldn't get the bars to drop at all.

Coverage quality and area definitely have something to do with it.

I'm betting the phone will be demonstrated in the court room and like me, the call won't be dropped and the data connection will run just fine and the whole things just gets dropped. People waste so much time on stupid pursuits. It is just a phone. If it's not working for you, take it back. Buy a Droid.

Lastly, my iPhone has way better reception actually. I can actually get on my wireless connection from the parking lot of my building. 11 floors above me with the new attenna design.

Go Apple!

 

[Tonewheel]

So why promote a phone that is "beautiful to look at" only to need to stick an ugly cheap piece of rubber on it.. Why didn't Steve show the phone with a bumper at wwdc. The iPhone is a nice looking phone and some people don't wanna cover it with ****** rubber.

Here's a hot tip, son. Millions of people with previous iPhones use cases, bumpers, gels, screen protectors, etc.

 

[JoeBlow08]

If you like inferior internal antenna's (that require a higher dBm signal to connect at all, worst case, when used properly), then return your i4 and buy one of those other cell phones.

All products have trade-offs. The i4 is thinner, gets much better reception if used properly, and a worst if not. The 3GS gets measurably worst reception if held properly, but somewhat better in a grip of death. The Droid X is a lot larger than either, but has room for bigger (and more!) antennas. In strong signal areas, they all work. Choose your poison.

Note that the users manual for many other smartphones recommend against holding them around the antenna area for best results. Do they still make cell phones with stick up aerials? Maybe you should get one of those instead of an i4?

Thank you for your opinion, I think I will go ahead and return the phone and get the Droid X, IF they don't provide a solution.

 

[ChazUK]

Two Easy solutions for EVERYBODY:

1. If you dont like it....RETURN it.

2. If you dont like it but for some reason are too stupid to return it stop gripping it like a fu*kin retard and you will get a phone that works.

Geesh...

Why all of a sudden is holding it in a manner that joins the two antennas "gripping it like a fu*kin retard"?

Who wants to see one of the first shots of the original iPhone being held when it was announced at WWDC?

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeWj_6OeCTU&feature=related

Holding it at the base in the left hand is nothing out of the ordinary but now this issue has arisen, it's somehow wrong.

 

[mysticbluebmw]

Ok, you're a fool. Anyone that holds their phone in their left hand will have this problem.

Hold it with your right hand. Problem solved. You'll just have to get used to a left handed five finger Rosy.

 

[guitargoddsjm]

OMG - Someone at Apple has GOT to get a hold of Jobs and keep him away from answering e-mails or phone calls. He is singlehandedly going to destroy most of the hard work on market share Apple has gathered in the last couple of years. He has displayed an arrogant and pompous disregard for what his customer base thinks with these repeated comments about user error, and instructing Apple not to give out bumpers, etc.

You sir, are a moron. Since Steve Jobs took the helm of Apple, their stock price has been steadily increasing. Unless Jobs does something completely dumb (e.g., Tony Hayward), this trend will probably continue. Just go to an Apple store on a weekend and see the zoo in there. Just because a few of your techie friends are returning the iPhone doesn't mean the mass number of consumers who LOVE apple products will. As far as I'm concerned, Android is something that only techies love.

Apple was on the sidelines for years, not offering and relegating cases to third party suppliers. It's proven to be a lucrative commodity; I rarely see an iPhone without a case. While it may seem coincidental, it may simply be the time that Apple decided to jump into this market offering. I can't say for sure, and neither can you.

Exactly. They offered a case for the iPad, why not the iPhone?

Edit: Is it always like this with tons of new users coming and complaining whenever a product is released?

 

[firewood]

I think that the worst part of all of this is the fact that anyone with a brain should be purchasing a rubber grip for it in the first place.

Many people are coordinated and non-clumsy enough that they don't need a rubber grip in all situations.

And holding the i4 properly works better than a thin case or bumper in weak signal areas.

 

[cuttooth]

So why promote a phone that is "beautiful to look at" only to need to stick an ugly cheap piece of rubber on it.. Why didn't Steve show the phone with a bumper at wwdc. The iPhone is a nice looking phone and some people don't wanna cover it with ****** rubber just to make a bloody call!!!!

Then let it get scratched up or dropped, because it's inevitable and happens with every phone that will ever exist. Making an effort to circumvent it at least somewhat is a worthwhile goal.

The first thing you should do with something you care about is protect it. It's not even about making the phone work, it's about the fact that people should be actively protecting their phones.

 

[Tonewheel]

Why all of a sudden is holding it in a manner that joins the two antennas "gripping it like a fu*kin retard"?

Who wants to see one of the first shots of the original iPhone being held when it was announced at WWDC?

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeWj_6OeCTU&feature=related

Holding it at the base in the left hand is nothing out of the ordinary but now this issue has arisen, it's somehow wrong.

Chaz, try to remember, you're dealing with children here.

 

[ruinfx]

what do you think about my theory in this thread?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/957429/

 

[quagmire]

Ii don't need to look, I already know. I have had every version of the iPhone every single one made calls from my house when held without dropping - I could even make them from the basement which is 3 sides underground. The iP4 4 reliable drops calls if held normally.

Again, this obfuscation by the shills that this is about a 'watching the bars' issue is laughable - this is about reproducible dropping of calls in places where the previous iPhones didn't drop them. Please no video links - I haven't watch one video about this issue from the very beginning - you people who live on YouTube need to get a life.

The iP4 is unreliable out of the box. Period. Duct tape on the sides is making it usable, will wait to see if Apple makes this right and if not return it next week to get my AT&T upgrade date reset so when the 'odd this phone version doesn't have the shorting issue' version comes out I can use the upgrade credit for that. Yeah it will cost me a $30 restock fee and probably the $18 nonrefundable upgrade fee AT&T charges but just rankles me too much to reward this kind of behavior.

Live and learn, Apple doesn't stand behind its products.

I have had the original, 3G, and iPhone 4.

If you see the videos, you will see one of them demonstrates that when held the same way as the 4, data slows down to a crawl. What is being experienced on the 4 has been experienced on the previous versions of the older iPhones. Yes, the external design makes the signal strength be more sensitive like anandtech's report stated, but this is not a unique issue with the 4.

I need to get a life? How? I bring evidence to the table and you dismiss it. It seems like you just want to bash Apple and no one is going to get in your way.

 

[BobVB]

If you like inferior internal antenna's (that require a higher dBm signal to connect at all, worst case, when used properly), then return your i4 and buy one of those other cell phones.

Don't be deliberately obtuse - I am going to return it if Apple doesn't make it right. And for my usage the iP4 is a huge step down in connectivity, that it might in theory allow me to call from places I couldn't call before is useless since previous versions could make calls from everywhere I actually did, and this version can't because of its defective construction.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

All products have trade-offs. The i4 is thinner, gets much better reception if used properly, and a worst if not. The 3GS gets measurably worst reception if held properly, but somewhat better in a grip of death. The Droid X is a lot larger than either, but has room for bigger (and more!) antennas. In strong signal areas, they all work. Choose your poison.

Err... if you hold it in a relaxed but secure manner your signal should be fine (for any practical purpose). Any sort of 'death grip', on the other hand, smothers the antenna and results in a very apparent drop in signal.

 

[chris975d]

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.

Exactly. If everyone bitching and moaning about the phone would just return it, I'm SURE Apple and Jobs would do something to fix any issue there might be, as that would directly impact the company's profits. But the funny thing is that most of the people doing the most complaining are STILL USING/WANTING TO KEEP A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT! Take it back! I especially find humorous all the people that mention that it's "detrimental to their business/lose clients because of the call drops of the iPhone 4"...honestly, if using something is going to effect my business in a negative manner, I'm going to stop using it. Not hang onto it just 'cause it's Apple and makes me look cool while I lose business/profits. That's honestly stupid. If the iPhone has too many problems for you to use effectively as a phone, take it back. The pile of returned phones and lost profits WILL make Apple change their tune, if it's a big enough pile. But...very few will. People are lining up to buy the thing even still, after reading about the problems. They may bitch about how it works, but very few will return it 'cause it's an Apple device, and that's the "it" thing to have. And funny enough, most of the same people will line up again next year (or the year after when their contract expires) to buy the next one. So honestly, until the customers stop begging to throw their dollars at Apple, why would Apple change a thing? If all the customers will do is whine a bit, but still buy iPhone after iPhone, why "fix" anything? People HAVE to stop buying them and/or return them before they will do anything about any problem.

 

[JoeBlow08]

Jobs certainly is frank with his responses, isn't he? This issue has been blown way out of proportion from my perspective. I can reproduce the issue and make my phone drop a bar or two, by holding my hand in a very unnatural position. I can't however, get it to drop a call or a data connection. My phone just keeps humming along. In fact, at my friends house in Manlius, NY I couldn't get the bars to drop at all.

Coverage quality and area definitely have something to do with it.

I'm betting the phone will be demonstrated in the court room and like me, the call won't be dropped and the data connection will run just fine and the whole things just gets dropped. People waste so much time on stupid pursuits. It is just a phone. If it's not working for you, take it back. Buy a Droid.

Lastly, my iPhone has way better reception actually. I can actually get on my wireless connection from the parking lot of my building. 11 floors above me with the new attenna design.

Go Apple!

So because you don't have any issues the situation is blown out of proportion, way to be selfish. What about all the other people that are having serious problems, such as, dropping the entire connection after 30 seconds. And I'm in an area of Chicago with great reception. Yes, it's real, very real.

 

[Jimrod]

Oh holy frikken Jesus, after having numerous poor quality calls today despite "5 bars" of signal I now call the girlfriend up only to find out I can't hear her - the reason? My ear touched the "mute" button - I've heard people saying the proximity sensor is crap and now I experience it for myself... That seals it, phone goes back next week - HTC Desire it is. My 3G did everything I wanted it to, this phone has unfortunately been crap as a phone though great with the "toys", Steve got his priorities wrong.

 

[rcandre2]

"Not worth it. It's just a phone."

Steve is such a thoughtless d-bag. What about those of us who earn a living with our phone. I'll be sure to let my clients know that when our calls get dropped.



Sent from my POS iPhone 4

 

[firewood]

Holding it at the base in the left hand is nothing out of the ordinary but now this issue has arisen, it's somehow wrong.

...only in weak signal areas. In strong signal areas (well above -90 dBm), you can hold it any way you want, as they did in the photos.

Or do you expect a company to demo a cell phone somewhere where there is lousy coverage?

 

[Tonewheel]

Oh holy frikken Jesus, after having numerous poor quality calls today despite "5 bars" of signal I now call the girlfriend up only to find out I can't hear her - the reason? My ear touched the "mute" button - I've heard people saying the proximity sensor is crap and now I experience it for myself... That seals it, phone goes back next week - HTC Desire it is. My 3G did everything I wanted it to, this phone has unfortunately been crap as a phone though great with the "toys", Steve got his priorities wrong.

If that's your only beef, I'd hold off on returning it. THAT is a simple firmware fix.

 

[Lestdog]

I'm so glad they're "working on" this "Non Issue".

 

[BobHail]

All of you who are keeping the BROKEN phone are bunch of whiny losers!

What kind of idiot would take this BS from Apple and settle for a broken phone?

Seriously?

Don´t be loser and go change the phone for a working one, ´cause there are ones that aren´t affected with the antenna issue.

 

[Max Book]

The amount of energy being wasted on this is ridiculous! If only people got this worked up over issues that really matter, such as bank bailouts and health care, maybe our country wouldn't be in such a bad place.

Unfortunately, all the Apple lemmings who wasted a whole day standing in line or trying to place a pre-order learned a very important lesson about being an early adopter. Everyone knows that it is prudent to wait for the early adopters to use the product, discover the kinks, allow time for the manufacturer to address the problems, and then buy. It's not just with Apple, but with every company out there. If you want to be the first to own a product, be prepared to deal with issues.

 

[istariphoenix]

Asses! Fools!

Boy, what asses and fools are WE, lowly beings that we are, to expect that an iPhone might actually function as a phone! So sorry for all of our non-issues, Steve...we won't bother you again, we promise...are you there, Steve? Hello? Oh, damn...was holding the phone in my left hand.