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Apple releases statement about iPhone reception, fix due in a few weeks

6 points by aj 16y ago

troygoode 16y ago
tl;dr: AT&T's service sucks more than we thought so we're patching the "bars" on your phone to more accurately convey that fact. You'll still drop all your calls.
- ComputerGuru 16y ago
  I'm getting tired of all these reddit-style "tl;dr" posts (ironically on a very short post in the first place!) where the reader interjects their own (highly biased and inaccurate) interpretation rather than a real summary. REAL "tl;dr" of the TFA: The algorithm used to convert signal strength into an easy-to-understand bar representation is inaccurate with invalid dynamic range. A software fix will be released soon to patch that. Call strength is OK and not affected (drastically) by this issue.  It's not PR bullsh!t, and calls are not dropped. Go read a real (read: written by an engineer and not some blogger "rockstar") and you'll see that the iPhone 4 antenna is good, even at low db readings due to a significantly-improved SNR with the external antenna design. (Note: Never had an iPhone myself, still won't get one. It doesn't suite my needs.) It's exactly as the anandtech review states. 5 bars corresponds to a huge range of db strength, highly out of proportion to the range of all the other bars. If you're on the very verge of 5 bars, gripping it will result in a drastic UI change of reception quality. In reality, it's just a badly-written algorithm.
  - troygoode 16y ago
    You are correct that my post was highly biased, though I'm not certain that I can agree with your notion that it was inaccurate. My post mentions three things: 1) AT&T service sucks. This is obviously a subjective opinion; but it is one I believe I have a right to hold as an AT&T subscriber and iPhone owner. 2) Apple is patching the phone to more accurately convey #1. This is a snarky way of expressing the fact that the upcoming patch will cause the phone to express a more accurate report of your signal strength, which in all cases will cause the phone to have equal or less "bars" than you would have had in without the patch. 3) You'll still drop your calls. Fact: If you are currently dropping calls, this patch will do nothing to address that issue. I'm sorry you don't like the TLDR meme. Similarly, I happen to dislike your use of a fake HTML commment. Perhaps we can work together to construct a list of which memes are and are not acceptable for public consumption.
woogley 16y ago
I don't understand how this explains the people who claim the iPhone 4 has a higher drop-call rate than their 3GS. It also doesn't explain the video which features the 3GS and 4 side-by-side, where they cannot get the 3GS to drop the call at all. Unless, of course, they are implying the software will drop the call itself if it thinks there is no signal? Is that something the software should really be doing?
rdez6173 16y ago
I imagined the signal to UI representation would be a fairly standard algorithm. I'm surprised this issue didn't come up in their testing. EDIT: then again, I really don't know how complicated this can be. It just seems like there have been enough phones released that did (perceivably) display the bars correctly that this should be a non-issue.

6 points by aj 16y ago

tl;dr: AT&T's service sucks more than we thought so we're patching the "bars" on your phone to more accurately convey that fact. You'll still drop all your calls.

ComputerGuru 16y ago
I'm getting tired of all these reddit-style "tl;dr" posts (ironically on a very short post in the first place!) where the reader interjects their own (highly biased and inaccurate) interpretation rather than a real summary. REAL "tl;dr" of the TFA: The algorithm used to convert signal strength into an easy-to-understand bar representation is inaccurate with invalid dynamic range. A software fix will be released soon to patch that. Call strength is OK and not affected (drastically) by this issue.  It's not PR bullsh!t, and calls are not dropped. Go read a real (read: written by an engineer and not some blogger "rockstar") and you'll see that the iPhone 4 antenna is good, even at low db readings due to a significantly-improved SNR with the external antenna design. (Note: Never had an iPhone myself, still won't get one. It doesn't suite my needs.) It's exactly as the anandtech review states. 5 bars corresponds to a huge range of db strength, highly out of proportion to the range of all the other bars. If you're on the very verge of 5 bars, gripping it will result in a drastic UI change of reception quality. In reality, it's just a badly-written algorithm.
- troygoode 16y ago
  You are correct that my post was highly biased, though I'm not certain that I can agree with your notion that it was inaccurate. My post mentions three things: 1) AT&T service sucks. This is obviously a subjective opinion; but it is one I believe I have a right to hold as an AT&T subscriber and iPhone owner. 2) Apple is patching the phone to more accurately convey #1. This is a snarky way of expressing the fact that the upcoming patch will cause the phone to express a more accurate report of your signal strength, which in all cases will cause the phone to have equal or less "bars" than you would have had in without the patch. 3) You'll still drop your calls. Fact: If you are currently dropping calls, this patch will do nothing to address that issue. I'm sorry you don't like the TLDR meme. Similarly, I happen to dislike your use of a fake HTML commment. Perhaps we can work together to construct a list of which memes are and are not acceptable for public consumption.

woogley 16y ago

I don't understand how this explains the people who claim the iPhone 4 has a higher drop-call rate than their 3GS. It also doesn't explain the video which features the 3GS and 4 side-by-side, where they cannot get the 3GS to drop the call at all. Unless, of course, they are implying the software will drop the call itself if it thinks there is no signal? Is that something the software should really be doing?

rdez6173 16y ago

I imagined the signal to UI representation would be a fairly standard algorithm. I'm surprised this issue didn't come up in their testing. EDIT: then again, I really don't know how complicated this can be. It just seems like there have been enough phones released that did (perceivably) display the bars correctly that this should be a non-issue.