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Is the problem really that bad? I feel like this is just TechCrunch exaggerating to get a story. Three people I know personally are having no antenna problems,

by cmelbye 16y ago

Is the problem really that bad? I feel like this is just TechCrunch exaggerating to get a story. Three people I know personally are having no antenna problems, and I've heard the same from many others. Are they just lucky?

holman 16y ago
No. Your mileage will vary, of course: a large part of this is rumored to be tied to how strong your AT&T signal is, so it may be I live and work in areas of relatively strong signals. I very rarely have experienced a signal strength problem with iPhone 4, however. Admittedly, I was a little concerned at launch — if I tried hard enough I could reproduce the signal problem — but I've found it just hasn't mattered in normal usage of the phone. I think it'll eventually blow over, and I think we're starting to see signs of this in the Apple press already. I suspect Jobs knows it's a relative non-issue and is trying to brush it off as such. Unfortunately, it is an issue new iPhone users are concerned about and his words sound callous in that light. It likely would make more sense for Jobs to sit on his words and instead quietly ship the upcoming 4.01 release, but hey, it's Jobs.
- flatline 16y ago
  Yeah, when I got the 4, I couldn't reproduce the problem at work, but I have a strong signal there. At home, I can set the phone down and it gets four bars. If I cover the bottom gaps, it will drop to "Searching..." in about 30 seconds. Touching the rest of the case will take it to one bar - pretty much unusable. I had similar problems with the 3GS, they just weren't as bad. I'm still glad I bought it, my biggest beef is that I can't just bitch about AT&T's coverage any more.
jaaron 16y ago
Yes it is an issue, but no it's not that bad: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2
- Nwallins 16y ago
  http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/500x_steve-jobs-full-bars.jpg http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/500x_s...
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
BigZaphod 16y ago
It's a real issue, but it only manifests itself in areas of low signal strength. I can get my phone to go to No Signal just by holding it at home, but at the coffee shop I frequently work from, I cannot reproduce it. My guess is that for all the bitching we tend to do about AT&T, they might actually have pretty decent coverage in general and it's only the people with homes or offices in the lower-power zones on the fringes of a cell's coverage area that see the problem.
- yesimahuman 16y ago
  > they might actually have pretty decent coverage in general and it's only the people with homes or offices in the lower-power zones on the fringes of a cell's coverage area that see the problem. My friend with Verizon gets full 3G in the middle of Nebraska. I barely get Edge. No contest.
  - BigZaphod 16y ago
    Um. Okay. All that proves is that Verizon has better coverage in the middle of Nebraska. My speculation is that the reason there hasn't been an enormous outcry about the iPhone antenna issue from the general public is that maybe AT&T is actually doing a pretty good job of covering the majority of their customers and so they don't even notice. The fact that there's areas where other companies have better coverage hardly disproves that.
matwood 16y ago
I believe it's an issue. I'm also starting to think it's a manufacturing problem that primarily effects first or second shipment phones. I just got my iphone yesterday and cannot replicate the problem. I thought maybe I was in a good signal area so today I went to an area where I know signal is poor. When not in my hand the phone sat at 3 bars. If I touched the spot I could get it to bounce around from 2-3-4 bars. Never once did it go to no signal. Also, no matter what hand I hold the phone in my particular grip doesn't naturally touch the spot. A friend of mine who also just got his phone has has the same experience as I have. No real issue. Another friend who received his phone on launch day can touch the spot and go from 5 bars to no signal in minutes. The only commonality between the 2 phones that appear to have no problem is that they were bought at best buy from a very recent shipment. The phone with the problem was bought from Apple and received on launch day. IMHO, the biggest problem with the whole situation is how Apple has handled it. Clearly some people have issues, but Apple being Apple has been arrogant about the whole ordeal. This is one time where a little communication would go a long ways. I'm going to guess they still aren't sure of the exact problem and that's why they have been totally quiet on the issue (other than SJs typical quips). Also, the whole design defect thing needs to have some logic enter the equation. Do people really think that the phone went through an entire hardware design cycle and a group of engineers never thought to test of the phone was held? Even the worst developers I've worked with and managed do better testing than that. I think it's much more likely that there is/was either an issue with software and/or manufacturing.
jsz0 16y ago
To understand the problem I think everyone needs to have a really good concept of 1.7 million devices sold. It could effect 5% of the owners and that's almost 100,000 people. If 10% of those people are very upset about the problem and e-mail tech sites, post to forums, etc can we really get a good idea of the scope of the problem? 10,000 people being vocal online could represent 100,000 real problems or it could represent 1.7 million real problems. There's really no way of knowing. The lack of some massive army of people returning their iPhone 4s makes me think it's probably closer to the 5% mark than the 100% mark.

by cmelbye 16y ago

holman 16y ago

No. Your mileage will vary, of course: a large part of this is rumored to be tied to how strong your AT&T signal is, so it may be I live and work in areas of relatively strong signals. I very rarely have experienced a signal strength problem with iPhone 4, however. Admittedly, I was a little concerned at launch — if I tried hard enough I could reproduce the signal problem — but I've found it just hasn't mattered in normal usage of the phone. I think it'll eventually blow over, and I think we're starting to see signs of this in the Apple press already. I suspect Jobs knows it's a relative non-issue and is trying to brush it off as such. Unfortunately, it is an issue new iPhone users are concerned about and his words sound callous in that light. It likely would make more sense for Jobs to sit on his words and instead quietly ship the upcoming 4.01 release, but hey, it's Jobs.

flatline 16y ago
Yeah, when I got the 4, I couldn't reproduce the problem at work, but I have a strong signal there. At home, I can set the phone down and it gets four bars. If I cover the bottom gaps, it will drop to "Searching..." in about 30 seconds. Touching the rest of the case will take it to one bar - pretty much unusable. I had similar problems with the 3GS, they just weren't as bad. I'm still glad I bought it, my biggest beef is that I can't just bitch about AT&T's coverage any more.

jaaron 16y ago

Yes it is an issue, but no it's not that bad: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

Nwallins 16y ago
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/500x_steve-jobs-full-bars.jpg http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/500x_s...

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

BigZaphod 16y ago

It's a real issue, but it only manifests itself in areas of low signal strength. I can get my phone to go to No Signal just by holding it at home, but at the coffee shop I frequently work from, I cannot reproduce it. My guess is that for all the bitching we tend to do about AT&T, they might actually have pretty decent coverage in general and it's only the people with homes or offices in the lower-power zones on the fringes of a cell's coverage area that see the problem.

yesimahuman 16y ago
> they might actually have pretty decent coverage in general and it's only the people with homes or offices in the lower-power zones on the fringes of a cell's coverage area that see the problem. My friend with Verizon gets full 3G in the middle of Nebraska. I barely get Edge. No contest.
- BigZaphod 16y ago
  Um. Okay. All that proves is that Verizon has better coverage in the middle of Nebraska. My speculation is that the reason there hasn't been an enormous outcry about the iPhone antenna issue from the general public is that maybe AT&T is actually doing a pretty good job of covering the majority of their customers and so they don't even notice. The fact that there's areas where other companies have better coverage hardly disproves that.

matwood 16y ago

I believe it's an issue. I'm also starting to think it's a manufacturing problem that primarily effects first or second shipment phones. I just got my iphone yesterday and cannot replicate the problem. I thought maybe I was in a good signal area so today I went to an area where I know signal is poor. When not in my hand the phone sat at 3 bars. If I touched the spot I could get it to bounce around from 2-3-4 bars. Never once did it go to no signal. Also, no matter what hand I hold the phone in my particular grip doesn't naturally touch the spot. A friend of mine who also just got his phone has has the same experience as I have. No real issue. Another friend who received his phone on launch day can touch the spot and go from 5 bars to no signal in minutes. The only commonality between the 2 phones that appear to have no problem is that they were bought at best buy from a very recent shipment. The phone with the problem was bought from Apple and received on launch day. IMHO, the biggest problem with the whole situation is how Apple has handled it. Clearly some people have issues, but Apple being Apple has been arrogant about the whole ordeal. This is one time where a little communication would go a long ways. I'm going to guess they still aren't sure of the exact problem and that's why they have been totally quiet on the issue (other than SJs typical quips). Also, the whole design defect thing needs to have some logic enter the equation. Do people really think that the phone went through an entire hardware design cycle and a group of engineers never thought to test of the phone was held? Even the worst developers I've worked with and managed do better testing than that. I think it's much more likely that there is/was either an issue with software and/or manufacturing.

jsz0 16y ago

To understand the problem I think everyone needs to have a really good concept of 1.7 million devices sold. It could effect 5% of the owners and that's almost 100,000 people. If 10% of those people are very upset about the problem and e-mail tech sites, post to forums, etc can we really get a good idea of the scope of the problem? 10,000 people being vocal online could represent 100,000 real problems or it could represent 1.7 million real problems. There's really no way of knowing. The lack of some massive army of people returning their iPhone 4s makes me think it's probably closer to the 5% mark than the 100% mark.