Steve Jobs denies iP4 reception issues!

[peterjcat]

Ok, so what, I should alter my now infamous tagline to say:

"I believe the iPhone 4 is defective because of the design." ?

That would be less annoying to those of us who care about semantics

Though I would suggest "the iPhone 4's design is defective" or "the iPhone 4 is defectively designed" for brevity.

I don't know whether it is or it isn't. I definitely get the signal drop problem, whether I hold the phone in a relaxed grip in my left hand (with or without a bumper), or lightly touch the antenna gap (bumperless only). I am sure there are compromises arising from directly touching the antenna, but it's possible that the phone's reaction to this touch is out of proportion due to a software error. Obviously in modern devices the line between software and hardware is somewhat blurred, and it's by no means true that the only job for the software is to display signal strength in the form of bars.

That said, Steve's "Stay tuned" might just be short for "Stay tuned for a fuller explanation of why I am right and you are wrong", rather than "Stay tuned for a fix".

We shall see.

 

[macintoshi]

Right, show me a video of you shorting it out with a good electrical connection then. A piece of wire will be fine, and bonus points fir sticking a myomeres across it to show zero resistance.

This is not an electrical conduction issue, it stems from rf interference, not
"shorting" a connection.

noway shorting it out, the frequency of the body isn't the same with the frequency of the first antenna and the second antenna. its only influencing but not shorting, if u do it by fingers or hand...

 

[br0adband]

Right, show me a video of you shorting it out with a good electrical connection then. A piece of wire will be fine, and bonus points fir sticking a myomeres across it to show zero resistance.

This is not an electrical conduction issue, it stems from rf interference, not
"shorting" a connection.

One iPhone 4 being disabled by a house key, coming up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvH-i7rKPJc

Note that guy posted that video Wednesday afternoon, also. He even has to adjust it a tiny bit so it DOES bridge the connection precisely... skin-on-metal contact and skin capacitance is more than enough to kill it just as easily.

 

[MH01]

Jobs needs to be:

1) Less ****ing arrogant and
2) More adventurous with his wardrobe and clothes sense !

Lol. Nice post

1. Will never happen. He has a better following then most churches/cults
2. It's his uniform like doctor evil. Always the same

 

[peterjcat]

I was in an apple store today (Denver) packed to the gills with shoppers. Waited about 5 min to play with the iphone4 tried to replicate the signal problem and couldn't. So it is not happening to all iPhone4 like your saying.

Unfortunately, that doesn't follow. If the Apple Store is blasting out a signal at full strength from point blank range, the issue may not have any observable effects even if it is occurring. That doesn't mean the problem IS there either, but it doesn't mean it's not. Everybody needs to be a bit more careful extrapolating from their own experiences.

 

[Mike Reed]

Gizmodo's moment-of-glory by buying that iPhone prevented Apple from doing any further testing in legitimate circumstances. You don't think there's any possibility that a lack of testing might, just maybe, allow for bugs to slip through?

Also I've been up to speed, believe me, you just didn't seem to be. My misunderstanding.

RE: The bumper. If you look at the design one thing it WILL do is raise your phone ever so slightly off of the surface on which it is resting — preventing scratches and micro abrasions from such daily wear and tear. It won't do much to protect your phone from a sudden impact but given the nature of the glass I'd gather that if the impact is too sudden your phone isn't going to survive entirely anyway.

I personally don't think the Gizmodo situation altered Apple's plans in the slightest, at least before their planed announcement date. I think their history of secrecy makes it fairly likely that they would never have allowed any testing to be done off campus without a case for camouflage before announcing the product - Gizmodo or no Gizmodo. Perhaps they might have after the unveiling.

If they did test it like this after they showed everyone what the new iPhone was, how many were already produced and ready for shipment? Thousands? Tens of thousands? How likely would they be to throw them all in a dumpster for any found problem that didn't involve explosions?

The fact is that if a bumper corrects the problem, then the issue is skin touching the antenna. It could not, in that situation, logically be anything else. There might be something they can tweak in the OS or firmware to make it handle signal noise more gracefully, but that's really just a hack that mitigates the severity of the symptom. The problem of someone's skin screwing up the ability of the antenna to do its job well is still very much there. If a bumper fixes the problem then build it on to the phone in the first place.

 

[Champ1]

Unfortunately, that doesn't follow. If the Apple Store is blasting out a signal at full strength from point blank range, the issue may not have any observable effects even if it is occurring. That doesn't mean the problem IS there either, but it doesn't mean it's not. Everybody needs to be a bit more careful extrapolating from their own experiences.

So your saying it's only happening in areas with already a poor signal?

 

[geenome]

May the force be with you Steve

It must be hard to live in a fantasy world like the rich and powerful live in . Unfortunately looks like Steve has convinced himself he can use Jedi mind tricks to convince people his product isn't faulty. "There is no reception issue" "you can go about your business" "move along"

 

[thetexan]

Jobs got so arrogant he now believes he can use the force via email.

 

[MH01]

So your saying it's only happening in areas with already a poor signal?

The conditions are not clear. I myself cannot replicate it in some places of London no matter how I grip it, though at work I can replicate it 100%. The signal at work is weaker.

 

[peterjcat]

So your saying it's only happening in areas with already a poor signal?

I'm saying it seems to happen less in areas with a really great signal

 

[Mike Reed]

The conditions are not clear. I myself cannot replicate it in some places of London no matter how I grip it, though at work I can replicate it 100%. The signal at work is weaker.

I've personally noticed the opposite on mine. Although I can get it to drop signal both at work and at home, I can do it much faster and without having to pay as much attention to where I'm touching it at work. At work I usually see full bars but am lucky to get two at home (when not delivering the death grip, of course)

 

[zacman]

The so called "software fix" Apple is working and testing right now is simply that the iPhone will now use GSM/EDGE more often instead of 3G even if 3G is available in your area. It's because there are less reception issues with GSM than with 3G when you touch the antenna.

However I wouldn't call this a fix as it's just a bad work around for a badly designed antenna. And I doubt people will be happy with EDGE on the iPhone4 when your friend is sitting next to you with a iPhone 3GS and surfing the net with HSDPA without a problem....

So yeah, stay tuned to this "software fix"....

 

[Champ1]

The conditions are not clear. I myself cannot replicate it in some places of London no matter how I grip it, though at work I can replicate it 100%. The signal at work is weaker.

Well I hope the SW just needs to be tweaked a bit but for me I was already planning on using a bumper so ultimately this will not a effect me. But that does not mean I don't feel for the users having problems. I have feeling it will all work out. Apple treats it's customers right. They'll fix it.

 

[ReflexReact]

The so called "software fix" Apple is working and testing right now is simply that the iPhone will now use GSM/EDGE more often instead of 3G even if 3G is available in your area. It's because there are less reception issues with GSM than with 3G when you touch the antenna.

However I wouldn't call this a fix as it's just a bad work around for a badly designed antenna. And I doubt people will be happy with EDGE on the iPhone4 when your friend is sitting next to you with a iPhone 3GS and surfing the net with HSDPA without a problem....

So yeah, stay tuned to this "software fix"....

Ah yes, you would know!

Troll

 

[yodaxl7]

Explain to me how touching the antenna has anything to do with software?

There is a mechanism involved here for the phone to display those reception bars. Perhaps, the bars are not calibrated for the said frequency on the AT&T network or the radios are not calibrated or some bug is causing interferences. Just a guess.

 

[peterjcat]

The so called "software fix" Apple is working and testing right now is simply that the iPhone will now use GSM/EDGE more often instead of 3G even if 3G is available in your area. It's because there are less reception issues with GSM than with 3G when you touch the antenna.

However I wouldn't call this a fix as it's just a bad work around for a badly designed antenna. And I doubt people will be happy with EDGE on the iPhone4 when your friend is sitting next to you with a iPhone 3GS and surfing the net with HSDPA without a problem....

So yeah, stay tuned to this "software fix"....

Certainly that would be an unsatisfactory "fix"! I hope they can do better than that.

 

[Champ1]

The so called "software fix" Apple is working and testing right now is simply that the iPhone will now use GSM/EDGE more often instead of 3G even if 3G is available in your area. It's because there are less reception issues with GSM than with 3G when you touch the antenna.

However I wouldn't call this a fix as it's just a bad work around for a badly designed antenna. And I doubt people will be happy with EDGE on the iPhone4 when your friend is sitting next to you with a iPhone 3GS and surfing the net with HSDPA without a problem....

So yeah, stay tuned to this "software fix"....

Quit spreading fud. troll

 

[zacman]

Ah yes, you would know!

Yeah, stay tuned....

BTW: -78dbA (on table) and -116dbA in your hand (3G). But hey, it's not a hardware problem

 

[DMann]

It's defective by design simply because putting an antenna into contact with human skin - especially an antenna designed to transmit/receive microwave frequencies which is where all modern cell phones operate - is going to cause dramatic signal attenuation and loss, period.

Wrong.

I can grip, completely cover, and bridge the antenna all I want, with both hands, paper clip, and coin, with little to no attenuation of the signal.

Calls are maintained without being dropped.

That is a scientifically provable fact that none of you is going to be able to disprove, sorry.

Yet, it is quite disproven by my own, and several others' experiences with the iPhone 4.

Show me one other device, of any kind that uses an antenna for signal reception and transmission, made by any manufacturer, that works better by allowing human contact with the antenna or is specifically designed to enhance signal reception/transmission because of that contact.

Come on, show me.

The very iPhone 4 which I am using.

Any antenna engineer or anyone that deals with not only communications equipment in general but more specifically microwave reception/transmission hardware is going to laugh you out of whatever box you're keeping yourselves locked inside with such ludicrous concepts.

Apparently, they'll have the last laugh - there is virtually no attenuation during contact.

Antennas just don't work that way, they never have, they never will.

Are you an engineer, by chance?

Defective by speculation.

 

[MH01]

Well I hope the SW just needs to be tweaked a bit but for me I was already planning on using a bumper so ultimately this will not a effect me. But that does not mean I don't feel for the users having problems. I have feeling it will all work out. Apple treats it's customers right. They'll fix it.

Same here. I bought a bumper as I have not owned a phone that I have not dropped over time. I was always going to get it, so for me this is a no issue atm. For those not having some sort of protection on the device, this will be annoying. Though I am skeptical about apple all the sudden selling cases. It would be really sad if they produced the cases to address this issue, and at the same time make a very nice profit. $30 for the bandaid is steep.

 

[alana22]

The so called "software fix" Apple is working and testing right now is simply that the iPhone will now use GSM/EDGE more often instead of 3G even if 3G is available in your area. It's because there are less reception issues with GSM than with 3G when you touch the antenna.

However I wouldn't call this a fix as it's just a bad work around for a badly designed antenna. And I doubt people will be happy with EDGE on the iPhone4 when your friend is sitting next to you with a iPhone 3GS and surfing the net with HSDPA without a problem....

So yeah, stay tuned to this "software fix"....

Come on, Apple wouldn't be that dumb. That would generate even worse press than they're already getting if they tried scamming people like that.

 

[macduke]

Lol, some of these posts are epic. You guys are cracking me up. Keep up the good work!

Also—I hope that Adam Posey stays around. He seems rather informed and polite for a newbie. You guys could learn a thing or two from him.

No worries. This issue will be fixed soon.

Off-topic: Does anyone else have problems when looking at other displays after using your iPhone 4 all day? They all look blurry / pixelated. The iPhone 4 screen has spoiled my retinas! Especially when viewing websites on the iPad. Oh man. I'm really surprised at how it has changed my perception.

 

[ste1164]

Your all saying how much your annoyed with the iPhone and steve jobs etc but most of you have the phone. If you really hate it that much send it back and either stick with the 3GS or another phone on the market.

 

[zacman]

Come on, Apple wouldn't be that dumb. That would generate even worse press than they're already getting if they tried scamming people like that.

They already did exactly the same thing with iPhone 3G reception issues in the past. Also they fixed the "reception bar issue" there by showing 5 bars at -92dbA instead of -78dbA before.