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Users report 'fault' on iPhone 4
- sev 16y agoI got mine yesterday and noticed the reception issue while holding the phone from it's sides immediately. I hope it's only a software related issue. EDIT: I was just on a call, holding the phone from it's sides, and I was stationary in a good reception area. The call hung up. So it's not just the bars showing incorrectly, it's actually losing reception. Btw, it takes approximately 30 seconds of holding it from the sides for the bars to completely go down.
- tjmaxal 16y agoMost of the pundits think it's a hardware issue that may result in Apple's first major recall.
- glhaynes 16y agoDo they? I've seen more people saying they expect it's just a software/presentation problem. Not that I think there's any particular reason to expect either group to know what they're talking about.
- twinwing 16y agohttp://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/06/new-iphone-4-antenna-causing-potential-reception-issues.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/06/new-iphone-4-anten... Ars Technica usually know what they're talking about. I tend to trust them
- ubernostrum 16y agoI worry about the conditions apparently needed to reproduce this (and the fact that I still can't reproduce it). Even Ars' explanation includes "consciously" holding the phone in a different way than you naturally would and licking your hands before doing so...
- huhtenberg 16y ago> a software/presentation problem As in int fix_antenna_problem(int bars) { return bars < 5 ? bars + 1 : 5; } ? :)
- tlrobinson 16y agoI don't see how this could be a software problem.
- Sidnicious 16y ago…in the form of free bumper cases for all.
- Niten 16y agoCertainly not their first major recall -- I remember my iBook's battery being recalled as part of that exploding battery debacle. There was something with poor soldering of motherboard components, too, that affected the generation of iBooks previous to mine. I wonder if Apple could keep costs down here by shipping those rubber bumper cases to everyone. Unless this is some bizarre feedback issue that can be fixed in software, I don't see how Apple could recall the iPhone 4 and truly fix this short of a major redesign. And I'd hate to see that happen, if for no other reason than it would seem such a waste...
- desigooner 16y agoI got my phone today and i tried reproducing the network problem in various ways but luckily, the network holds up for me. I suspect a bad batch of phones which were manufactured with defects ..
- flatline 16y agoYeah, I am currently streaming Pandora, holding the phone with my left hand cradling the bottom, while replying to this post, all on 3G. I haven't been able to get the bars to drop either...
- sev 16y agoCradling from the bottom isn't the problem. Holding it from the sides without touching the bottom, and without a case, is the problem. Remember that the antenna is the metal on the sides.
- desigooner 16y agoThe problems seem to arise from covering the seams so as to say where the frame pieces are connected. If the seam is not covered or touched by hand, there should be no drop in the network. Seems like the antenna's shorting out when the seam is covered by hand. A small piece of scotch tape should do the job as far as avoiding this problem goes until one can get hold of a cover
- rtrunck 16y agoSame here - I simply cannot reproduce the problem others are having... I had a 3G before and my reception is much better with the iPhone 4.
- sv123 16y agohappens to me as well.. I heard buying the bumper fixes the problem. Another $30 to apple from me I guess :|
- nooneelse 16y agoYou are really going to give them another $30 to finish their job of device packaging? If touching the antenna(s) makes the phone fail to function, then a case needs to cover the antenna(s), and that case should be part of the price of the phone to begin with.
- KirinDave 16y agoSo what would you suggest? Pouting loudly? This problem seems over-emphasized. I can get my phone to do it if I hold it in a funny way (and I am a righty but usually lefthand my phone). I'm not trying to make excuses for Apple here, I'm trying to say that this problem's press coverage makes it seem worse than it actually seems to be in the real world.
- nooneelse 16y agoSince when is asking a company to fix a product that isn't working on day one "pouting"? The way people are holding the phones in the demo videos is not exotic or weird. So, yeah, that can sound a bit like an excuse. It sounds even more like blaming the people who are seeing the problem. Maybe their hands just aren't good enough, right? If an piece of electronics needs a case that insulates a part from contact to the user, then leaving that off is incomplete packaging. Simple as that. If the issue is coming from a bad batch of phones or design flaw that is leading to the failure or under-performance of some mechanism designed to deal with that contact to the user, then those hit by this deserve their choice of a new phone that isn't from that batch or, at the very least, a free case. The first Android phone I had would reboot every few minutes while being used, I tried the full reinstall that the technician recommended, but when I walked back in and said it hadn't worked, he didn't blame me. He handed me a new phone (no problems since). No one expects perfection in new hardware rollouts, but it is right to expect proper customer service. Since you asked me, I would suggest Apple fix it in software if that is possible, and/or start handing out free cases like candy.
- sjsivak 16y agoI tried this, and I could only make it work when the phone was without a case. When I touched the metal directly I could make the signal go from 5 bars to 2 bars. With the case on I could not make it change at all. EDIT: this was holding it with my left hand, I did not try it right handed.
- CoryMathews 16y agoYes but this mean you MUST buy a case.
- windsurfer 16y agoFault? No-button disconnect is totally a feature.
- mkramlich 16y agoiRecall: it's like recalls by other companies but ours is shiny and you'll love it! ;)
- mrj 16y agoThey had to have known about this problem. They just decided to sell it anyhow knowing people would buy it, regardless.
- mrj 16y agoHey, you voting me down: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/apple-responds-over-iphone-4-reception-issues-youre-holding-th/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/apple-responds-over-iphon...
- jawngee 16y agoHappens to me but only in areas with a weak signal (NYC). In strong signal I never lose a bar. At home, which is usually a dead zone - I was surprised to see so many bars with the new phone. But if I do cradle it with my left hand, the bars disappear completely within a few minutes. But I cannot replicate it reliably elsewhere.
- rbanffy 16y agoIf I remember my RF classes, it will happen when there is one antenna in the region the phone is. If there are more antennas in different directions, roughly with the same power, the effect should be much less pronounced. Radio is... complicated.
- jarek 16y agoIf I remember my networking classes, a GSM device is normally connected to a single BTS (tower) at a time. (Hand-overs between two towers are the major exception, and they're very brief.)
- rbanffy 16y agoIf your hand blocks the signal of one tower, the phone will switch to the next that is probably not in the same direction as the previously best one and signal strength will, hopefully, not suffer as much from your hand.
- bonaldi 16y agoMade it happen without trying, left hand. Gratis bumpers seem like the quick fix solution.
- astrodust 16y agoDuct tape is the quick fix solution.
- bonaldi 16y agoThey still get mocked for "pick the Apple III up and drop it on a soft surface to reseat the chips", I don't think "duct tape" is going to swing it as a solution for them to suggest.
- rgrove 16y agoActually, yeah: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonko/4731332788/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonko/4731332788/
- jordanbrown 16y agoah I would be bummed to have to buy one of those ugly bumpers, I like apple devices the way they are bare.
- warfangle 16y agoI like certain other things when they're bare, but I'd never want them to go out in public without clothes on.
- mkramlich 16y agoI thought the whole story about how Apple was holding up the release of the white models was a littly fishy. Theory: Apple realized they may have a serious problem at some point after the launch (black?) model was flowing to retail channels, but before they released the white model. So they're hurrying to address it before white ships, at least. This does smell like a recall.
- jarek 16y agoMr. Jobs' take? "Just don't hold it that way." http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/24/double-stevemails-on-iphone-4-reception-just-dont-hold-it-tha/ http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/24/double-stevemails-on-iphone-4...
- sabat 16y agoApple have created a phone "Apple have?" Isn't it ironic that the very people who are supposed to be the keepers of English can't even use proper grammar? Apple HAS created a phone. Apple is a company. Singular. Not plural. There is no earthly defense (er, "defence") for referring to Apple, a company, in the plural.
- steamboiler 16y agoI think it is an usage specific to the UK. Use of a plural verb after a singular noun denoting a group of persons (known as a noun of multitude) is commoner in the U.K. than in the U.S. Fowler wrote: "The Cabinet is divided is better, because in the order of thought a whole must precede division; and The Cabinet are agreed is better, because it takes two or more to agree." Taken from: http://alt-usage-english.org/groupnames.html http://alt-usage-english.org/groupnames.html