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

[Sean4123]

This issue comes down to if you want to buy a bumper or case for your iPhone 4. If you are willing to, then GREAT. You will be enjoying the hell out of your iPhone 4.

If you don't want to buy a case or bumper because you'd rather have a "naked and pretty" phone that has reception issues and in turn allows you to continue to whine and bitch about it, then by all means do that. Go ahead and whine and bitch until you're blue in the face. Then when the return window is about to pass by, GO RETURN IT! Move on with your lives. Sad lives, but lives none the less.

 

[Anuba]

Well, according to a million other posts, "function normally" means constantly dropping calls because AT&T sucks so much.

Except that the same complaints are coming in from iPhone 4 owners in Japan, France, Germany and the UK, and they don't have AT&T. People are reacting en masse in an unprecedented way because the issue is unprecedented. Is it really that hard to realize that this is something much more than your run-of-the-mill gratuitous forum whining about Apple's products? Previous slip-ups like IP allocation problems on the iPad only made it to tech sites for geeks. The story about the iPhone 4 antenna was picked up by every major news organization and made headline news on CNN. If you don't get that the magnitude is out of the ordinary here, I gotta say your seismograph is pretty insensitive.

I can hold the phone in my hand the way the actors do it and still make a call.

Yeah, which means knocking -24 dB off the signal (which is what happens when you touch the antenna band) isn't enough to kill the signal in your particular case. But that kind of signal strength is a luxury. It's, you know, a mobile phone. You don't get to pick how good the signal is in any given spot. With such a massive attenuation there will be a lot of places where the phone simply won't work if you hold it that way.

By the way, did you know that the food you see in many commercials is made of plastic and never looks that way when you get it.

Plastic? No. Inedible? Yes. I know photographers who have worked on cookbooks and what they do is prep the food with all sorts of ghastly stuff (including hair products) to get the texture they're after.

The iPhone 4 commercials however were more like showing people eating rat poison and looking fine afterwards. They didn't merely massage the truth a little, they took a dump on it.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

LOL!!!!!!!~~~!!!!!!!!!!!

and it's true. It's just a phone. If it doesn't fit your lifestyle.


CHANGE!!!!

Consumers have ALL THE POWER and Lead by example. PERIOD

 

[MacPhilosopher]

The complainer disregards the fact that hundreds of thousands of iPhone 4 users are happy with the device.

Okay. I just had to come back and edit this comment:

If you don't like your phone take it back!!! It is just a phone. Go out and find another device with better reception and be happy. I live in a nation of whining fools!

 

[BobHail]

whoever is complaining about reception must be a perfectionist

Give this guy an award!

 

[Sean4123]

Doesnt matter if they are real or not. The problem is real and affects most if not all iPhone 4's. I have personally seen the problem replicated on multiple iPhone 4's. What I have witnessed is when the lower left side is touched, the signal strength begins to slowly decrease, then it drops to edge and then finally loses service altogether. This is a very serious problem for Apple and you cant tell me that they did not know about this problem. I think they found out a little too late and just decided to roll out the new phone hoping that no one would notice.

Yet another overrated and overpriced apple product.

Oh no doubt. The best reviewed phone on the market is "overrated and overpriced."

Take your phone back.

 

[BobHail]

The complainer disregards the fact that hundreds of thousands of iPhone 4 users are happy with the device.

I wouldn´t be happy with a BROKEN PHONE!

What´s wrong with you people?

 

[WeegieMac]

yes but I am more fascinated by the 'whys' that the 'whats'. Is that how you hold all your hand-held electronic devices? If so, why? and if different, why?

Again, seriously, holding a phone by the edges with my fingertips would never occur to me but it is obvious that many do just that (I always thought ti was more an actor holding a prop thing on TV since I don't see many doing that in real life).

So I am curious if you can figure out why you do? I know why I use mine my way - I enter a number just like I would a calculator and then lift the device to my ear... what do you do differently that results in a totally different holding technique?

No 'name calling' just can't see how fingertip holding even develops...

I don't hold ALL my devices like that, it's how I hold a phone and hold it comfortably. Each to their own. And it's not a "fingertip" hold to the point where you are only touching it with the bare minimum contact possible.

Below is three angles of how I hold my iPhone, 3G before it and now the iPhone 4. Notice on the third shot, the black "line" is visible, albeit just. That's not me "accommodating" on Jobs part, that's how I hold an iPhone comfortably.

 

[tlapple]

Finally..

well this is why i hate apple. love their products, but hate the company and hate SJ. All SJ would need to do to redeem himself is just admit that YES there is a problem, at least for CERTAIN people, in CERTAIN situations, YES THERE IS AN ISSUE, WE ARE WORKING ON IT. Even if they know they can't fix it and smell a disastrous recall coming, at the very least tell us that they are aware of it and are doing something to remedy it. Whoever said about Apple never doing the most obvious thing, I'm starting to realize you're right. Any dumbass can see what Apple's obvious next move should be, yet they ignore it and continue denying everything.

As for the signal issue, I can easily make it happen on my phone, so yes I know it's real. That said, it basically never happens to me. I hold the phone right handed and I've only had 2 dropped calls since I got it, both of which may have been the other person's phones for all I know. However, just because i'm not a victim of the antenna issue doesn't mean I don't care about it. The fact that it's there, the fact that the phone IS in some way flawed, and the fact that I know I can make the problem manifest itself very easily, is still a major negative point about the phone. It cheapens it, in a way. It's like driving a car that you know for a fact will stall if you grip the steering wheel in a strange way, and even though the car is perfect and you never have any problems with it, you still know the problem is there, and that the car is flawed. It makes it less attractive as a product that you spent your hard earned money on.

Finally, someone that makes some sense. I don't even own this phone, but had major signal issues when the 3GS first came out. Some people think just because they don't have the issue, everyone else must be lying, exaggerating, or crazy. Shows you how completely self-centered people are.

Anyways, I headed to an Apple store, curious to see if I could reproduce the antenna problem on the iPhone 4. I chose a random one on display and lo and behold got a full-signal iPhone 4 to read "No Service" in about 30 seconds of holding the bottom left antenna strip.

It's real people. Stop bickering with each other about it and start asking Apple for a fix. We're all consumers who spend a lot of money on luxury electronics -- the only way to ensure quality and accountability from these companies is if consumers stick together and voice their complaints when their products don't work as advertised.

 

[MH01]

He's not awesome or a legend...

the big success stories for Apple have always been someone elses ideas.

With the best marketing in the business and stamped with Made in china but.... designed in California !

 

[chris975d]

I think a lot of people will return their phone (me included), but we are waiting for an official statement so we know whether there is anything Apple can do, or for them to say, "We know it's an issue, you can hold your phone differently, get a case, or return it for a full refund".

I don't want to return the phone only to find that there is somehow a software fix that addresses this issue and makes it less of an issue.

Apple is saying, "there is no issue, but we're working on it"?? Of course people having the issue are going to wait it out to see what happens before having to go through the hassle of returning the phone.

Is this Apple's tactic until the 30 day return window closes, then they'll say our only options are to deal with it, hold it differently, or get a case?

But is that "hassle of returning the phone" worth waiting on Apple, who IS a business (thereby their only focus is to make money), to issue a statement regarding it, and possibly be outside of your return window? If I was unhappy with the phone, and unwilling to use a workaround to make the phone usable, I'd damn sure return it and repurchase it later, if the issues are ever fixed. But even with exploding batteries, graphics card failures, etc, when have you EVER seen Apple issue a recall or fix a problem all at one time? Their approach seems to be to fix issues like that on an individual basis, only when the customer brings the item in. They didn't tell everyone with an affected graphics card to bring the computers in, they just fixed them when the customer did bring it in.

 

[node808]

Oh no doubt. The best reviewed phone on the market is "overrated and overpriced."

Take your phone back.

All apple products are...

I'm not stupid enough to buy the iPhone 4. I've chosen to keep my 3G and unlimited plan until I decided which Android phone to go with.

 

[JediZenMaster]

Doesnt matter if they are real or not.

Yet another overrated and overpriced apple product.

So pretty much your okay with attacking Steve jobs for an e-mail he most likely really didn't send? I guess you really believe everything that you see with no proof eh?

So much for trust but verify and i have some real estate in Golen Heights for sale

 

[pdjudd]

Apple is saying, "there is no issue, but we're working on it"??

No they have not. There has not been one official statement made on Apple's website nor has their been any Apple employee who has gone on the record as saying that. Steve Job's saying something in an email is not equivalent to an offical statement made by a company. Not by a mile. An email from Steve Job's is not an official corporate communication. Nowhere has Apple made any official statement about any signal issue on the iPhone nor has any iPhone been denied replacement or return based on this issue alone (as far as I know).

 

[IndustrialSpace]

This issue comes down to if you want to buy a bumper or case for your iPhone 4. If you are willing to, then GREAT. You will be enjoying the hell out of your iPhone 4.

If you don't want to buy a case or bumper because you'd rather have a "naked and pretty" phone that has reception issues and in turn allows you to continue to whine and bitch about it, then by all means do that. Go ahead and whine and bitch until you're blue in the face. Then when the return window is about to pass by, GO RETURN IT! Move on with your lives. Sad lives, but lives none the less.

You mean to say that one HAS to buy the bumper so their phone works as advertised? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ...seems many of the iPhone ads show a "pretty" and "naked" iphone working just fine. I call that FALSE advertising. Your point is beyond moot and makes no sense at all.

What a GREAT marketing ploy. Create a flawed phone with lousy reception and sell 5 cent plastic-mold injection "bumpers" for $30 (quite a markup!!) and solve the problem. What a racket Apple is running!!!!

 

[pdjudd]

What a GREAT marketing ploy. Create a flawed phone with lousy reception and sell 5 cent plastic-mold injection "bumpers" for $30 (quite a markup!!) and solve the problem. What a racket Apple is running!!!!

All iPhone cases are over priced. That doesn't prove anything other than the fact that Apple want's to make money. That's not a racket, that's a business.

 

[rhanley]

So pretty much your okay with attacking Steve jobs for an e-mail he most likely really didn't send? I guess you really believe everything that you see with no proof eh?

So much for trust but verify and i have some real estate in Golen Heights for sale

I agree these emails could definitely be fake, but it doesn't change the fact that there is definitely an issue, yet Apple hasn't made any comment to state this is an issue.

I will return my phone before the 30 days and there is no doubt in my mind they will waive the restocking fee, but it is still rude that Apple has remained so hush hush about it which is upsetting for the ones having the issue.

And even more frustrating is that there are other iPhone 4 users out there that happen to be a a good location where this issue isn't seen, and they come here blasting the ones that do have the issue -- calling them liars and defending Apple tooth and nail.

That's just not very nice

Golden Heights, huh?? Sounds gorgeous!

 

[node808]

So pretty much your okay with attacking Steve jobs for an e-mail he most likely really didn't send? I guess you really believe everything that you see with no proof eh?

So much for trust but verify and i have some real estate in Golen Heights for sale

I did not attack SJ. I did not say anything about him. What I said was that it does not matter if the emails are real or not. The antenna issue is real. Try it and see for yourself.

 

[rmwebs]

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.

You need to learn to read. I was "whining" about Steve brushing it off as if the phone is worthless (which I guess it is right now!).

I dont HAVE the new iPhone....I never said I did....I was expressing how I felt it was wrong that Steve doesn't give a crap about customers and is happy to take a dump on their face rather than admit they screwed up.

 

[Shin3r]

Yeah, which means knocking -24 dB off the signal (which is what happens when you touch the antenna band) isn't enough to kill the signal in your particular case. But that kind of signal strength is a luxury. It's, you know, a mobile phone. You don't get to pick how good the signal is in any given spot. With such a massive attenuation there will be a lot of places where the phone simply won't work if you hold it that way.
Exactly!!

Plastic? No. Inedible? Yes. I know photographers who have worked on cookbooks and what they do is prep the food with all sorts of ghastly stuff (including hair products) to get the texture they're after.

I use to work in restaurants and Know for a fact that the food used in many commercials is plastic. I even held a plastic taco in my hand once, looked amazingly real. I never talked about cookbooks and I certainly never said that "all" food in commercials was fake. But it's out there so you know.

Things are more complex than you might think and knowing one photographer does not make an absolute statement. I am also sure that there are many people who have antenna issues who aren't self centered, but there are just a buttload of them showing their heads on these forums.

 

[ratz]

It Does Depend on Area's Signal Strength

Where I live the signal strength isn't the greatest, I still have no problem using an iPhone as my phone but the signal isn't great. I do get the signal drop quickly if I 'make sure' to bridge the two antenna's.

The other day I went to see a friend who lives near Detroit and the signal strength was very strong there. I tested the signal drop by bridging the antenna's and it mostly wouldn't drop at all but a few times it dropped by maybe a bar or two from 5 bars.

 

[firewood]

I wouldn´t be happy with a BROKEN PHONE!

What´s wrong with you people?

All new cell phones are broken. They all drop calls. None of them gets as good signal reception as a transceiver with a nice big multi-element Yagi antenna on a boom. Or can get a connection anywhere like satellite phone with an external dish.

But some "broken" cell phones are better than others, depending on how you use them. The iPhone is reported to get a connection at -113 dBm. Can your current cell phone do that?

 

[ppnkg]

This issue comes down to if you want to buy a bumper or case for your iPhone 4. If you are willing to, then GREAT. You will be enjoying the hell out of your iPhone 4.

If you don't want to buy a case or bumper because you'd rather have a "naked and pretty" phone that has reception issues and in turn allows you to continue to whine and bitch about it, then by all means do that. Go ahead and whine and bitch until you're blue in the face. Then when the return window is about to pass by, GO RETURN IT! Move on with your lives. Sad lives, but lives none the less.

Hallelujah! Some common sense at last. +1

 

[Cookie5000]

I'm sure the issue is real or so many people wouldn't talk about it. How many it impacts in real-world situations vs. the number that can reproduce it when trying may be something else entirely.

For me, the only evidence is that I couldn't make a call from my office without dropping on my 3G. iPhone 4 hasn't dropped one yet. So I'm happy, and feel bad for those who can't share the joy because of this issue.

 

[dannys1]

Then why buy a first generation (and this is a first generation of a totally new design) product when you have to have the funds from the sell of the one before it to buy the other? It's just a cell phone, seriously. Not a major life purchase like a car or house (where I can certainly understand needing to sell the previous before purchasing a new one). And does no one keep an old back up phone just in case of need? There are times in owning a glass (breakable) screen phone that it might be broken and/or out of commission for a while (getting repaired, etc). It's a good practice to have an older fall back phone laying around. If not, I'm sure someone you know has an old SIM card accepting phone laying around.

And as far as the "micro-SIM" issue, AT&T will gladly re-issue you/give you an older SIM card for other devices when you return the iPhone 4. They have for everyone else, because you actually have to return the micro-SIM as well. They can't leave you without a SIM card totally.

Also its just a smaller version of a sim card, its not some magical new version - it works in ANY phone.

in the UK o2 are sending out plastic adapters to make the mini sim full size again fi you want to put it in another phone.