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

[Anuba]

"Stay tuned."

While some take this as a hint that a fix is coming in the near future, I think it's simply an Apple in-joke. They mean "stay tuned" as in "don't detune the antenna by touching it". The "fix" will simply be a pamphlet entitled "Stay tuned" with instructions on how to hold the phone.

 

[rhanley]

haha.... Now it appears the guy who claims these emails were between him and Steve Jobs has been shopping them around to the highest bidder who apparently was "Boy Genius Report". Can anyone say "lack of credibility"?

And all the people here who got worked up based on this crap.HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I don't think many of us needed this email thread to get worked up -- I just have to try and make a call from my house and wait for it to drop to get worked up .

I'm still at the point where Apple has stated there is no issue, and nothing further... This is really why I'm worked up -- I just want a statement, even if it is to tell me nothing will be done and I need to live with it or return it for a full refund.

 

[fox10078]

A touch hypocritical when every single "hater" on here is proclaiming that the way Jobs holds the phone in the keynote, which incidentally cuts off the signal, is the way everyone holds their phone.

At the end of the day, people are going on at the people who don't use the phone the way Jobs did in the keynote and trying to belittle those who hold it differently ... "Princess" comment ring a bell? It's hypocrisy.

At the end of the day, people come here to bitch about Apple now. They don't sign up here to discuss new products, they come here to run down Apple products at any opportunity regardless of how warranted it is.

I'm by no means a fanboy. I love Apple products, I enjoy Apple products, and I've been buying Apple products for a decade now from all their markets (Mac, iPod, and now iPhone).

Honestly though, it's getting tiresome on here now. Some people just want to argue, want to moan, want to bitch, want to complain, and seem to "live" for their daily dose of "Apple Fanboy Battering".

I support Glasgow Rangers, but I wouldn't go to a Glasgow Celtic forum and post. I see no point in coming on a Apple/Mac forum if you're main objective is to bitch about Apple and their products.

Agreed, I mean for god sakes we are talking about inanimate objects here, some of you act like Steve Jobs just stole your first born.

 

[deejaywestbrook]

Jobs replied yet again to claim that the customer "may be working from bad data" and reiterate his earlier suggestion that customers should "stay tuned." Jobs also noted that Apple is "working on it", although it remains unclear exactly how the company is planning to address the issue.

.....LOL! Anyone else imagining all the kids that got "swallowed" at the WONKA CANDY FACTORY? And then, there's "Charlie" the last one, the one the was the most patient and stood in the longest lines, and made it through all the obsticles he had to go through. Only to hear Willy Wonka turn around to him and yell, "TOO BAD, CHARLIE!! YOU LOSE!! GOOD DAY!!"

Maybe before this is all over, We'll win a tour the "top secret" APPLE-FACTORY.....(WOW....No one's seen Steve Jobs in a top hat, lurking around have they)??

That's what all this makes me think of!

 

[marksman]

+1, Its hilarious, fanboy's back up Apple no matter what. Fact is, Apple is in the wrong, there is no doubt about that. People should not be having reception issues, and those who are having them should get a refund. Apple's being so arrogant lately, and Steve Jobs is still denying there is an issue.

It is an issue, I've seen it everywhere, people are having signal & transmission issues.

Yes this is the first time anyone has ever reported a reception issue with a cell phone...

Or wait.. maybe every cell phone that has ever existed has had comparable reception issues.

If your phone doesn't work for you take it back. It is that simple.

 

[JediZenMaster]

Agreed, I mean for god sakes we are talking about inanimate objects here, some of you act like Steve Jobs just stole your first born.

This is what happens when a society becomes materialistic. As much as i enjoy my apple products life is more important than apple and the iPhone and believe me i've given apple alot of money over the years.

No one cares about people we place more value on material goods than each other. Look at the way people attack each other over this.

 

[Andreafea]

I'm a lefty

Anyone that holds their phone in their left hand will have this problem.

Yup, I'm the lefty and guess what: I'VE GOT PROBLEMS MR. JOBS!
It is an issue

 

[-aggie-]

That's how I hold my phone as well. Any other way is not holding it normally.

Damn. I haven’t been sticking my index finger up ilke that. I must be holding it wrong.

Are you friggin’ serious?

 

[Roessnakhan]

haha.... Now it appears the guy who claims these emails were between him and Steve Jobs has been shopping them around to the highest bidder who apparently was "Boy Genius Report". Can anyone say "lack of credibility"?

And all the people here who got worked up based on this crap.HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I think everyone was already worked up based on recent e-mails ("non-issue", "don't hold it that way"), which were confirmed as real.

 

[koruki]

so why is everyone who is crying about this not return the phone? Did I miss something?

 

[BobVB]

A touch hypocritical when every single "hater" on here is proclaiming that the way Jobs holds the phone in the keynote, which incidentally cuts off the signal, is the way everyone holds their phone.

No, that's a strawman - they are saying it should be one of the ways you can hold the phone and have it work at least as well as the last iPhone.

you can balance it on your nose, hold it between your teeth for all I care, as long as the way it could be held it can still be held and expected to function properly. That Steve and the ads show it this way is more an indication that the 'you're holding it wrong' meme is a desperate backpedal for a known product flaw.

At the end of the day, people are going on at the people who don't use the phone the way Jobs did in the keynote and trying to belittle those who hold it differently ... "Princess" comment ring a bell? It's hypocrisy.

Oh grow a skin, you're pretending you're so sensitive you bleed when the rain hits you. I am fully ok with you 'holding it like a princess' as long as you aren't expecting me to do the same (and for the record you aren't holding it like a princess - I would have never ever thought of anyone holding a phone the way you do - I was referring to the 'fingertips around the edges' technique you see in the movies and some people here have advocated as 'normal'.)

Honestly though, it's getting tiresome on here now. Some people just want to argue, want to moan, want to bitch, want to complain, and seem to "live" for their daily dose of "Apple Fanboy Battering".

OK that confuses me on several levels - one, you don't need to read this thread if you don't want to and its pretty obviously what its going to be about. 2) Are you talking about the mindless support for a defective product that the fanboys are subjecting the Apple customers having legitimate complaints with, or are you complaining about the irate customers standing up to the fanboys?

I support Glasgow Rangers, but I wouldn't go to a Glasgow Celtic forum and post. I see no point in coming on a Apple/Mac forum if you're main objective is to bitch about Apple and their products.

Hmmm they make a bad product good customers will bitch. Fanboys are a blight on a company not an asset. And since I have only had Apple computing products since the Apple ][, had a first day Mac in 1984 I really don't see how anyone else is more qualified to come here and 'bitch' over a faulty product, do you?

 

[wongster41]

i've never seen so many ignorant apple fanboys. wow, seriously? This is no 'minor' deal, when your phone call/or web surfing stops because you're holding the phone a certain way is a big effing deal. I don't have this issue with my iPhone 3G.

Even if the call is not dropping, the the signal is still reduced hence killing the battery life on your phone. It amazes me how others can bash people because messiah steve said its not an issue and to get on with our lives.

I just returned my iPhone 4 today and now back on the iPhone 3G, a lot of people in a couple of days who have rational thoughts will probably take the same approach and return the phone and wait for a fix or worst, jump platform. (i hate android

But no one in their right mind will stay in a 2 year lock with AT&T if they're having reception issues with their phone like I did.

 

[JediZenMaster]

i've never seen so many ignorant apple fanboys. wow, seriously? This is no 'minor' deal, when your phone call/or web surfing stops because you're holding the phone a certain way is a big effing deal. I don't have this issue with my iPhone 3G.

Even if the call is not dropping, the the signal is still reduced hence killing the battery life on your phone. It amazes me how others can bash people because messiah steve said its not an issue and to get on with our lives.

I just returned my iPhone 4 today and now back on the iPhone 3G, a lot of people in a couple of days who have rational thoughts will probably take the same approach and return the phone and wait for a fix or worst, jump platform. (i hate android

But no one in their right mind will stay in a 2 year lock with AT&T if they're having reception issues with their phone like I did.

No need to start name calling because it will get you banned but if that works for you then good. Don't get pissy at people because their iPhone works okay?

Because it's real hard to feel bad for someone who calling people names. If your iPhone is not working then take it back or wait for a fix.

But don't insult me or others because i'm not going to apologize that mine works. And i feel bad for you and others that you let your life become consumed with a electronic device. Life is too short and iPhones will come and go but life will only go.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

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.

Why does everyone hold it from the bottom where you are gripping 20% of the phone....

try moving the hand up..Its alot more natural.

....no problems really with my phone.

 

[iMacoo7]

"retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it."

I see cooler heads prevail.

From what I see this is a case of that is similar to feature removal. Such as when everyone went up in arms when firewire was removed a while back from the MacBook. Of the hundreds that complained, only a few really used it and would even use it. It was just a case of complaining because they can.

The iPhone 4 seems to read out signal strength differently and seems to be more sensitive in areas that have weak signal. All its doing is reflecting signal strength differently. Its not an actual physical "meter". Unless people are dropping calls like crazy, its a non-issue. I only hear a few cases of dropped calls, which frankly would probably happen with any phone. If its a real issue Apple will address it. All I see now is a probable software update that reflects signal strength differently.

Agreed

 

[rtdunham]

And I will return my phone -- but I would prefer to wait for Apple to issue a formal response -- and I feel that is only fair, isn't it?

If Apple comes out and says there is nothing they will do and firmly state this is not an issue (without a 'stay tuned'), I will happily return the phone and go back to my iphone 3G -- I will miss the speed and display, but at least I'll be able to make calls from my home .

Are there really people out there that feel Apple shouldn't comment on this, officially?

Apple HAS commented officially. You and others aren't satisfied with the response. More satisfying comments may or may not be forthcoming.

Why not return your phone now and IF apple comes out with a solution that satisfies you, buy one then? That's so easy, and would solve all your problems. All this apparent sadomasochistic pleasure perplexes me (I'm not singling you out, there are a number of people here who are driven to apoplexy by their phone's reception challenges, yet aren't content with putting on a bumper or case, or returning the phone, either of which solves such problems without the teenage drama, storm und drang). It's starting to remind me of teenage movies about girls in boarding schools, hissyfitting about this and that: I watch them with my daughters, and think, "but why don't they just....?"

Let's all keep in mind AnanndTech's testing, the most detailed i've seen (remember this is a review that also is highly critical of the antenna problem and argues apple should give away bumpers or apply a coating to the antenna). Still, its review concluded:

"... the iPhone 4 performs much better than the 3GS in situations where signal is very low, at -113 dBm (1 bar). Previously, dropping this low all but guaranteed that calls would drop, fail to be placed, and data would no longer be transacted at all. I can honestly say that I've never held onto so many calls and data simultaneously on 1 bar at -113 dBm as I have with the iPhone 4, so it's readily apparent that the new baseband hardware is much more sensitive compared to what was in the 3GS. The difference is that reception is massively better on the iPhone 4 in actual use.

"With my bumper case on, I made it further into dead zones than ever before, and into marginal areas that would always drop calls without any problems at all. It's amazing really to experience the difference in sensitivity the iPhone 4 brings compared to the 3GS, and issues from holding the phone aside, reception is absolutely definitely improved. I felt like I was going places no iPhone had ever gone before. There's no doubt in my mind this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS."

 

[sslanchi]

I'm by no means a fanboy. I love Apple products, I enjoy Apple products, and I've been buying Apple products for a decade now from all their markets (Mac, iPod, and now iPhone).

From a rant about hypocrisy lol

 

[Evilution]

Yes this is the first time anyone has ever reported a reception issue with a cell phone...

Or wait.. maybe every cell phone that has ever existed has had comparable reception issues.

If your phone doesn't work for you take it back. It is that simple.

Oh yea, but usually people take their phone back because they didn't think it was going to be as good as they thought. But in this case you got a million phones that have the same issue. Take it back or wait for them to fix this?
And yea, if they don't fix it by the return date I think the majority will be returning it and the ones that keep it past the date, they will regret it when they get to a location that the death grip kills their signal.

 

[BobVB]

Apple HAS commented officially.

I must have missed that - do you have a link?

When I talked to the Apple Expert last Friday they said they knew about the problem and were working on it - that's as official an  statement as I have.

 

[marksman]

Please make a Youtube video of you standing under an AT&T tower demonstrating this. I'd love to see people try and defend this when you "lightly touch" the side of your insulated phone and lose four bars. It would get at least a million views. Do it!

I second this. I want to see this video.

LMAO. People are so silly. They say the most outrageous things.

 

[WeegieMac]

No, that's a strawman - they are saying it should be one of the ways you can hold the phone and have it work at least as well as the last iPhone.

you can balance it on your nose, hold it between your teeth for all I care, as long as the way it could be held it can still be held and expected to function properly. That Steve and the ads show it this way is more an indication that the 'you're holding it wrong' meme is a desperate backpedal for a known product flaw.


Oh grow a skin, you're pretending you're so sensitive you bleed when the rain hits you. I am fully ok with you 'holding it like a princess' as long as you aren't expecting me to do the same (and for the record you aren't holding it like a princess - I would have never ever thought of anyone holding a phone the way you do - I was referring to the 'fingertips around the edges' technique you see in the movies and some people here have advocated as 'normal'.)


OK that confuses me on several levels - one, you don't need to read this thread if you don't want to and its pretty obviously what its going to be about. 2) Are you talking about the mindless support for a defective product that the fanboys are subjecting the Apple customers having legitimate complaints with, or are you complaining about the irate customers standing up to the fanboys?


Hmmm they make a bad product good customers will bitch. Fanboys are a blight on a company not an asset. And since I have only had Apple computing products since the Apple ][, had a first day Mac in 1984 I really don't see how anyone else is more qualified to come here and 'bitch' over a faulty product, do you?

I never once told you how I expected you, or anyone else here, to hold your iPhone. In fact you're the one who quoted me replying to someone else, so if anything your own insecurities shone through by the very notion you quoted me replying to someone else.

Of course people have the right to complain, but this forum (not just this thread, which I am well aware I can "keep out of") has turned into a cesspool of anti-Apple nonsense. You cannot enter a thread or comments section for a front page story without it descending into near anarchy because people simply want to find any, tiny, little thing to have a right good bitch about and basically wind up people.

As for having a Mac in 1984, that's neither here nor there. My first Mac was a G4 iMac, this isn't a competition to see who got into Apple first and is therefore more entitled to bitch and complain.

Complaining about a product people are disappointed with is natural. But there are a hell of a lot of people on here who probably don't even own Apple products, have never used Apple products, yet come on here to get involved because they "hate" the company based on hearsay and opinions of others.

 

[pixilad]

I really don't see what everyone's problem is to be honest.

I've had an iPhone for 2 1/2 years so i'm kinda used to having no reception.

 

[donlphi]

So they still think the software is reporting a wrong amount of bars, when there is more bars than it claims. Well lets hope it is fixable with a software update then.

This is not the case at all. It is really bad reception to no reception. In fact, 3G will not work.

I live in the Seattle area with amazing AT&T coverage. If I come near that bottom left antenna line with my hand, my reception goes down the crapper.

I don't care if it doesn't work. I'll return it and buy it when it is fixed, but I would like to save a trip to the Apple Store if I had confidence that it was going to be a simple upgrade. The way I see it is I have 30 days to return it and go back to my previous AT&T contract.

I usually like the cryptic Steve Jobs, but I'm not liking him these days.

 

[JediZenMaster]

I second this. I want to see this video.

LMAO. People are so silly. They say the most outrageous things.

Yep , Kids say the darndest things dont they?

 

[Roessnakhan]

I must have missed that - do you have a link?

When I talked to the Apple Expert last Friday they said they knew about the problem and were working on it - that's as official an  statement as I have.

They might be implying that an e-mail from the CEO - from his corporate account - is an official statement. Which I'm inclined to agree with.