Jobs tells iPhone users to get a grip iPhone users having reception problems are just holding the phone wrong, according to Apple, which have released an official fingering guide for those who want to be able to make calls. The problem is those pesky users who insist on wrapping their fingers around the phone, specifically touching the side at the bottom left …
"This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."
Newsflash..... It ISNT a fact of life for every wireless device, infact very few wireless device have an antenna you can actually touch, and most put them well way from areas that may be interfered with. I guess they went for a clever design, which was scuppered by idiotic users choosing to hold their devices in a normal comfortable way.
Tools!
"This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."
Well it's not actually the same problem on all wireless phones, it's the iphone aerial in the metal band at fault and their design of this. How you hold an handset will make a difference yes but a normal handset a case won't help at all. The issue is pretty much a sort of shorting out of the wireless signal when flesh bridges one of the gaps between the band sections. One fix a freind has done is putting some scotch tape up the side of the phone to insulate & break the circuit.
Sorry steve it IS an design flaw.
It is a genius line! And to continue along that line, I can see a situation where a right-handed male would need to hold the phone in his left hand, and would also require signal for that errr video stream. But that's perhaps not appropriate here.
There's going to be a lot of frustrated iPhone4 owners out there.
"But it mainly seems to come down to hand size, with the larger span finding an iPhone harder to use (but, if rumour is to be believed, they'll have less need for an iPhone in the first place)."
In order to get the most from this punch-line, I think it should be properly explained to those that don't have the mental capacity to operate a phone without big buttons and or those that require someone else to make it "just work." The rumor in question is the correlation (oh yeah, big words...um "link") between large hands and a certain "male body part" being large as well. In which case, one would not need to compensate (oh big word again..."make up for") for being lacking in a certain "body part's" size, and thus, not have to own the fad fondle-slab.
Hopefully that clarifies the joke, so more than just Droid owners can see the mirth in it.
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"Apple might correctly point out that every phone suffers from this problem to a greater or lesser degree"
What's the word greater doing in there? I've never heard of any phone that suffers to the same degree, let alone to a greater degree.
Apple have spent a long time making UIs that function in an intuitive way, but it looks like this time they've made up for all of those years of doing it right by doing it wrong in a big way.
While it is true that picking up a phone will interfere with the signal a little, you certainly shouldn't lose 3 or 4 out of 5 bars of signal strength.
And isn't it normal to grip the lower left edge of the phone when using it? Left or right-handed it doesn't matter: either your finger or your palm will be there as it's the most comfortable way to hold the phone. Surely Apple can't be advocating getting some kind of RSI just to get better reception?
List of phones I've had in the last 9 years or so that did NOT exhibit this problem:
Nokia 6310i
XDA II
Nokia P900
XDA Orbit 2
Nokia E61
HTC Desire
List of phones I've had in the last 9 years or so that DID exhibit this problem:
...
"the 6310i manual does instruct users to avoid putting their fingers on the upper area of the rear (ooer missus etc.)"
I had a girlfriend give me that advice once, after which the reception got worse ... and the same goes for my actual phone (crazily? *) ;)
(* Well, maybe not. I have the same paragraphs in the manual [unsurprising, it's also a Nokia], despite which the signal reading *doubles* when held as shown how not to! I am in the Aire Valley right now though and I'd hazard that counts for something).
Ok, it may look "nice" having the aerial run round the outside of the device but if that entails the possibility/probablity of loss of reception if part of that aerial comes into contact with the person using it then it would seem pretty obvious that you engineer the design so that that part is in the least likely part of the case to be held and not the most likely place for right handed users.
Maybe its a cunning plan to launch the new Iphone 4R designed for right handed people in a few months time.
So the band around the outside is metal, the antenna, sure, but I'm sure they could find a way to put a tiny amount of clear lacquer or something on it, which still lets near 100% of signal through and looks the same, but crucially breaks the contact between skin and metal?
I'm going to patent that, quick!!
...everything the iPhone can't do, or does badly, is the customer's fault. In an apple-shaped world, the customer is always wrong.
I hope all iPhone customers listen to the word of Jobs and start holding their phones the way Cupertino dictate, which shouldn't be hard as they're used to accepting the Jobsian dictats on where they must buy apps and whether or not they can run Flash etc.
Suck it up, losers!
"the irritating habit of radio particles to act like waves makes things unnecessarily complicated"
While bringing in wave/particle duality earns Brownie points for thoroughness, for all practical purposes you might as well regard phone handsets as emitting radio waves and have done with it.
If you ever have so few photons in play that you need to consider them individually, you're so many orders of magnitude below having a usable signal there's no real point in bothering.
because of Planck's law
E = h f
with E the energy of a photon, H Planck's constant and f the frequency. Only at very short wavelengths (think visible light) do individual photons have a measurable effect (such as the photo-electric effect, explained by Einstein using Planck's law, which got him his Nobel prize (NOT relativity)). At radio wavelengths you have so MANY photons that the statistics of individual photons average out and only the wave behaviour is evident.
... is that it is on O2 mate. What a god-awful notwork that is. Only when my iPhone 3GS took its first breath of Vodfone 3G did it begin to perform for the first time in its short life! So absolutely no surprises there that the iPhone 4 phenomenon is even more expressed than it might be on any other network on this planet!
Don't send it back - get it supplied on another network.
Measured signal quality (as opposed to signal strength) has little to do with the actual network and more to do with cell and antenna design (both at the cell and handset) not to mention environmental considerations.
Even the slightest amount of digging will demonstrate that the issue affects all networks fairly equally; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krt4aRqK5L4 for a demonstration on vodafone.
Having access to both Vodafone and O2, I find O2 in the north of England (particularly in rural areas) performs substantially better then Vodafone on simlar hardware. I'm now using a Galaxy S which is performing (signal wise) far better than my HT Desire does in the same areas on the same network. Horses for courses I'm afraid - up here I prefer to be on O2 and count myself lucky I have two options in terms of network because of my work mobile.
It's not just left-handers wo'll be affected. I'm right handed which means I always hold the phone in my left hand (just like you do in the video) because I use my right hand to dial numbers with. I don't then transfer it to my right hand just to have a conversation. Am I just wierd? Glad I didn't buy one of these things anyway, it's hard enough getting a signal where I live as it is...
I'm interested to know if you're by any chance older. I (and most people I know) do one handed thumb dialing, holding the phone as one might a remote control. I know one girl who does two handed texting (ie two thumbs for speed), but the only time I've ever seen anyone use two hands as in index finger and and cradle, is in 80's movies when dialing land lines. Just wondering.
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Don't understand how being a leftie is going to make this all right...
Surely there's no difference if it's the palm of the hand or fingers that are bridging the band. If anything I'd have expected it to be worse for lefties as that side of the phone will sit firmly in the palm.
Bit of a snigger though if Apple have made a phone that's basically unusable by left handed people. Still, expecting a new Jesus phone to work for those in league with Satan is probably asking a bit much.
This video demonstrates the problem with just a door key - a paper clip would also suffice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvH-i7rKPJc
Note that the antennae are not being blocked by a mass of flesh and bone (head/hand) - it's just a small electrically conductive object that is connecting the two antennae segments together. And when you have a sweaty hand holding the phone in that area I'm pretty sure it will do a fairly passable impression of an electrical conductor.
The head and hands *do* block the radio signals on all phones, this is true, however the iPhone 4 is the only one designed with the metal aerials on the outside. The bluster from Apple about hands blocking the signal is pure smoke screen - it's not the problem, the design is the problem.
However some lacquer on the exterior of the antennae would solve the problem - nail varnish would also do the job for those already with an iPhone 4 - in which case this problem should be addressed as a manufacturing flaw/defect.
So Steve, be a good lad and replace the hundreds of thousands of devices affected by this flaw, it's not that big of a deal...
I think this whole video clip has been doctored and is BS.
Firstly his iPhone is showing full signal strength on AT&T.
Secondly you can't see the end of the key - he could be shorting it with his hand, and using the severed arm of a non-believer to block the signal
Thirdly You don't see him lower a massive Faraday cage over the phone after he zooms in on the screen.
Fourth - its all smoke and mirrors
Joke Alert in case the rampaging pack of fanbois thinks I'm serious as I agree with OP "Neil 7" above :)
When you are unable to admit that you made a mistake. And sorry, putting varnish or paint or anything on the outside of your brand new phone is unacceptable. Its a cock up and a consumer shouldn't have to muck with the antenna to get it to work.
Then again, thats what you (Apple consumers) get for running out like slavering idiots as soon as some new "life changing" device from Apple hits the shelves.
you just don't get it do you.
Apple are always right.
If they design a phone which you can't use then that's your problem for being such a puny waste of human flesh.
People like being told what to do and they are worthless - it explains why some people still vote labour.
Really I think these people should go to a dominatrix every now and then and whip away their worthlessness so they can get on with life at other times.
I hold my 3GS in my right hand, and control the screen with the left, I would have thought it natural for any left handed person to do the same, I tried holding the phone in my left hand and using my right hand for screen control and it just felt weird.
I guess I'll buy one of the current 4Gs when they're all recalled and worth £20, as it doesn't look as if it'll effect me \o/
Or if anyone decides they'd prefer to swap their 4G with my slightly used 3GS, feel free to reply here. :)
It's not just about how you hold it to make phone calls though - most right handed people aren't going to be touching the 'bad' corner when they're using it as a phone, but conversely when they use it for anything else it's likely to be sat in their left hand with the dodgy corner well and truly securely wedged deep into the palm.
I'm right handed and have had no problems making phone calls. However, if I type a text message then the phone's in my left hand, I lose all reception and have to transfer it to the other hand and wait for reception to return before pressing Send.
And I'm also very aware that whilst I'm using my phone for anything else than phone calls, if anyone tries to call me they're unlikely to reach me.
I would never buy an iPhone but this does happen a lot to other phones ... but not to the same extent.
A few Nokia phones I have owned in the past have had diagrams in the manuals pointing out the locations of antenna and warning that touching these parts will reduce signal.
The difference here is that the antennas in Nokia are placed in a non-stupid locations and even if you did touch them they didn't drop the call.
What can you expect though? Apple have only been in the phone business for a couple of years, more established companies made these mistakes years ago. Yet more evidence to reinforce my opinion that the iPhone has a good few years to go yet before becoming a mature device.
so, apart from the Jobsian response being it's usual anti-end user, the question I'd like answered is:
How real is this problem in reality. The iPhone 4 is supposedly got all sorts of schnarfy technologies to make the network handling better - so is it relative? is 1 bar strength on a 4 better or worse than, say, 3 bars on the 3G(S)?
Are all network bars equal?
...it's pretty bad. The video in the original article showed the signal dropping so far that service was lost completely. Another video posted elsewhere in this thread by a reader shows the same thing. The network switching tech - their non-standard method of trying to find a network with the least congestion - can't operate if it can't detect the networks in the first place.
Apple or no Apple, and my usual iPhone sentiments aside, it's a pretty shocking design oversight, and you really wouldn't expect it of any company that huge.
Well, we've just been round the office testing everyone's phones.
We had and N900, an HTC Desire and HD2, several Nokias, a couple of Samsungs and some Sony Ericssons.
We could not find a single phone where the method of holding it affected the signal. Even with one person surrounding the long perimiter with fingers and another covering the back and most of the front most did not drop at all and those that did were only by a bar.
So you are happy to pay hundreds of pounds for the device and then had to spend more money on a case to overcome a design flaw to make it work as it should?
You are calling the other guy the Muppet?
If it were me, I would be seeking a refund right now.
Obviously, exactly the type of customer Apple expects/relies on... ;o)
"Well, we've just been round the office testing everyone's phones."
I've got a couple here that ARE affected by the problem. So your point is?
Besides which, the one in the video is not an iPhone 4, it's a 3rd gen model. I've tested my 3rd gen model and it's fine, so maybe it's a limited problem?
..this great car - called the AppleCarT ! Only downside is that the user MUST, just MUST, lean out of the open side window to see. The front windscreen is this really sexy black.....
If they can't grasp this basic idea then they're too stupid to understand my "Design before practicality" concepts. And that really upsets the AppleCartT.
Mr Jobs would appear to have a bit of a problem understanding signal propagation, that is, the way in which radio signals can be effectively sent by means of antennae. Come to that, it's quite probably that his engineers might need a refresher, too.
The ideal place for a radio antenna on a hand-held RF-radiating device is the top, that is the uppermost, part of the device. Why? Simpler: There's less chance of the antenna being obstructed by human flesh and bone (thus reducing the effective strength of radiated and received RF signals), the antenna is also higher as you raise the device to speak into the devices' built-in microphone (thus increasing the effective range, however slightly, of the device), and it also reduces the chances of RF burns in higher-powered devices (not that mobile phones or hand-held walkie-talkie style radios have much chance of that, they don't tend to generate enough power to do that).
So, what do Apple do? They bury the antenna in the heel of the device, and add to their design error by ensuring that the human hand to come into contact with the shell-mounted wrap-around antenna as well. Um... oops?
Could they have done anything more to reduce the effectiveness of the antenna? Well, yeah, they could have made sure that the transmitter and received weren't actually connected to the antenna, but that's probably a tad obvious, even to them.
Epic Fail, anyone?
I think you will find that most phones these days have the aerial in the base of the device. This is because the FCC dictates a maximum SAR level, and most manufactures have decided to move the aerial further away form the brain .... probably to ensure they pass ....
So not really a apple specific thing
Actually, on most handheld devices, your body acts as the signal's ground plane. Having the driven element in contact with the ground plane is going to cause problems with voltage standing wave ratios (the broadcasting power getting reflected back into the transmitter) rather than your hand itself blocking the radio waves.
I've taken apart numerous mobile phones. All of them have their driven element at the top, back, usually towards the centre. Some of them may have had things like wifi or GPS antennas in wierd places but the cellular antenna has always been in the place where you are least likely to have your hand.
"So, what do Apple do? They bury the antenna in the heel of the device, and add to their design error by ensuring that the human hand to come into contact with the shell-mounted wrap-around antenna as well. Um... oops?"
Err, "design error" is it? It's really hard to cover that part of the phone while also holding it to your ear. I just tried it.
has now reached singularity strength.
While proper mobile phone producers warn against shielding the antenna with the users body,
Apple conveniently puts the antenna in an ergonomically to grasp place.
The whole went through by a classic test cook up (think Mars Polar Lander).
Answers Apple: Get your gritty fingers off or buy a case.
Yeah, right.
In our universe, with class action lawsuits and stern warnings not to touch the antenna,
Apple would have a complete product recall disaster at its hands.
Not holding the phone properly will lead to early loss / damage.
Using a case will only lead your hand to be microwaved a bit slower.
They have to go back to the drawing board.
"Apple conveniently puts the antenna in an ergonomically to grasp place."
Grammatical and syntax errors aside, I just tried to use my iPhone and cover the bottom left hand corner with my fingers - I couldn't easily hold it to my ear AND allow the mic to pick up my voice...
"This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."
So I thought this antenna thing was a "reall cool bit of design" or some such statement? But now they are saying every wireless phone is like this? OK, I know that isn't what they are saying, but in one breath it's "all phones do this" followed in the next breath with specifics about "the black strip in the metal band"... so do all phones have this black strip in the left corner? No! So this problem is specific to the iPhone 4 then? Yes! so not all phones have this problem then?..... erm, no
I think it is pretty poor to explain this away by "all phones experience a loss in signal when you hold them". That isn't the point here. The point is you hold the phone normally, which causes the 2 antennas to be shorted, and the reception fails completely.
Only an iPhone 4 problem. Only an Apple problem.
Or, it is a cunning way to sell more accessories?
"So this problem is specific to the iPhone 4 then? Yes! so not all phones have this problem then?..... erm, no"
I've had the problem on a number of phones.
"The point is you hold the phone normally"
It's really hard to use a phone if you've got your fist wrapped around over the microphone end...
They should have put it top-left, so that it would be above the hand, and would end up top-right when rotated for landscape mode.
You're also a bit wrong in the article about us sinister types - I hold a phone in my right hand, always have done. It makes it much easier if I need to take notes while on a call.
Firstly, I've got one and am keeping it. Secondly, I am left handed and have huge big hands. It hasn't been an issue for me as yet and I have the "bump strip" case on it's way anyway.
That aside, I find it hilarious and quite shocking that this could have got through QA. WTF were they thinking? And labelling the concept as genius just makes Mr Jobs look even more ridiculous.
This is surely an anti-fanbois wet dream...
WFT?? We designed a flaw into the phone that we somehow missed during testing but it is YOUR fault for holding the phone wrong because WE put the antanea in the steel band OUTSIDE of the phone which you were SURELY bound to touch while holding it? Give me a break!! Anyone who accepts this blame game is surely an idiot. I'm holding my Palm Pre Plus right now and despite changing the way I hold it multiple times in both hands, it's not dropping any bars and the signal is fine. So YES Steve it is a design flaw that YOU cannot cover by claiming that your fanboi flock is "holding the phone the wrong way".
looking at the vids, especially the one with the key where the design is clear this seems not to be an issue with signal propogation but one of bridging a deliberately non conductive gap with conductive skin.
The key video above illustrates this nicely and posts around the web of people fixing the issue by taping up that corner of the phone seem to verify this.
It's just a bad batch in the U.K. I had no problem with mine ever since it arrived earlier this week.
I have noticed occasional service issues (mostly indoors, and mostly with 3G) and sometimes I have to switch to GSM to make/take reliable calls, again, indoors on floor 30 of my office building.
But, if I'd hazard a guess (I didn't look into too much of the take-aparts) I'd say both techs use the same antenna.
It's almost time for me to pick an icon. I'll go along with the rest of the haters and choose Evil Stevil, even though I've had no major issues with the unit. Why? Clearly, he not only wants to have his pick of donated organs, but also thumbs as well!
Good luck bullshitting your way out of this one, Jobs. No matter how you spin it, it's not gonna qualify as "fit for purpose", and therefore you're gonna have to do a complete product recall. Hahaha!
I feel a bit guilty about owning an iPhone 3G now, seeing as some of the money for it went to such a prick!
Of course, Apple never does anything wrong, right?
Apple is really trying hard to discourage people from trusting them to develop products that they can feel 100% positive about.
This might explain why I've seen an increase in the number of received calls that mysteriously get dropped by people like, say, my employer, an iphone convert.
Of course, this is perfect for those phone companies that dropped per-second billing - every dropped call means the caller looses the balance of their minute, and has to waste another minute.
Holding the phone wrong... yeah. Tell us another one Apple. How about designing a better antenna, and placing it in a more appropriate place like, say, along the top-edge of the phone?
I wonder if the guys in the QA department were told they were just holding in wrong during the testing phase? This should not have gone out like this. Someone surely must have spotted the issue. In the US they'll no doubt try saying it's all AT&T's fault.
Surely they won't get away with trying to shrug this one off as the users fault. It's going to affect too many people. It's not like its going to a rare event triggered by a weird incantation.
Eagerly waiting for Wired.com to report this so I can enjoy the squirming in the comments :)
its not the first time that an apple product has shown malevolence towards its fleshy owner...
at least its only dropping signal (well, even though that is totally unnaceptable!)....
Many years back I bought a Ti-book the paint on the carbon surround was water soluable so soon ust flaked and peeled off, exposing the carbon fiber... this carbon had the unfortunate side effect of discharging electricity into any wrists that came into contact with it! the effect made much more apperent in the summer with nice salty, conductive sweaty wrists....
But at the end he says
"So, what's an iPhone lover to do? Well, I voted with my dollars. I ordered my iPhone 4 to replace my Original. I already know how to do the Vulcan Antenna Grip on the iPhone, and I am wearing out my current model.
And sometimes an antenna that's not great, but good enough, is good enough."
I bet he'll regret saying that when his calls start dropping. You simply can't expect a user to hold a phone in a certain way every time they use it. They might be unlocking their front door, be hanging onto a hand rail on a train, holding a pint. Heck, I defy anyone who can say they always hold their phone in exactly the same way each time they use it.
"Heck, I defy anyone who can say they always hold their phone in exactly the same way each time they use it."
Here you go then:
I hold my phone in exactly the same way every time - in a usable position.
Covering up the lower left hand corner of an iPhone means:
a, your fingers partially obscure the microphone
b, you can't hold it comfortably...
I have never thrown away any cell phone I have bought and that includes a 8-year old Mitsubishi cell (which perfectly fits WITHIN my four fat fingers) and an even smaller Panasonic which is completely covered when in my hand and, proving Jobs is a liar, they work perfectly WITHOUT signal reception signal level dropping. Ichecked them just before writing this.
Given today's snatch your phone and run social environment, Jobs proposition that hand phones be treated as some British hold a cup of afternoon tea is TOTALLY impracticable. And risky.
The answer for fools who bought Jobs latest iCrap is for Apple software writers to change the software so that increasing signals are IMMEDIATELY displayed but decreasing signal levels are only displayed after 5 or 10 seconds so no users know what is going on.
This is why they are called IDIOT LIGHTS.
Two things:
1, Two of my old mobiles had problems when you held them certain ways (my iPhone doesn't)
2, If you hold the iPhone in a way that covers the bottom left hand corner then you're holding it in a way that's going to make speaking on the phone difficult and probably a little uncomfortable too.
Maybe Apple tried to avoid using the patents of Nokia and others this time (since the earlier exploits didn't maybe go as well as Apple had planned and they were sued), and they just couldn't find a workable solution.
It sounds that Apple must've been aware of this for some time already, which really brings out the nature of Apple's PR bullshit. Maybe they decided to risk it and hope that people wouldn't mind. During the 16 years I was an Apple user I became well aware of the extent Jobs talks shit, so nothing really surprises me about the company. As Jobs gets older he really seems to become more entertaining as his true nature (the God complex) is coming out more and more.
Let's make the worlds coolest looking phone and not worry about it actually working well as a phone.
The big news for Apple here is that if there is one thing people will not accept with a phone it's poor reception. Doesn't matter how cool the phone is, it won't wash. They must have known there was a potential problem. Hopefully the lesson will be learnt.
What makes this doubly funny is that Jobs expects you to cover up your uber cool phone with a case to get round the problem. So even the form is lost. LOL.
It will be interesting to see where Apple goes from here.
So they save costs or build times to make an antenna so weak at broadcasting it can be stopped dead in its tracks by human flesh and a few centimetres (depending on the fatty hands) of skin, bone, tendon etc.
What next, the ipad can't get rid of heat if put on your lap, or held flat etc. You can't get itunes to sync if it is stored next to the PC becaue of the metal case interfering with the cable?
Jobs really is a tool. But as I don't own anything apple related, I can just sit back and grin.
Make the strip break in the middle of the top and bottom and no one would hold it wrong...
As for cases, FFS, I pay for a beautifully designed phone, not to ruin it's look by putting it in a thick silicone condom making me out to be Mr Clumsy..
..do you do the same with your car incase it gets scratched in the car park??
I always maintained that Apple Mice were designed for people without opposing thumbs - those of us with the use of all our digits can handle more than one button. Obviously Jobby is continuing with his secret eugenics program to reshape humanity in a more Apple-friendly form.
I've never owned an iphone but I have owned quite a few different smartphones. never once have I have an issue with signal dropping because my hand came close or in contact to the antenna... 3 fails on that article.. 1 for the author for not pressing the issue with Apple, one for the designer of the device and one for the person who blamed the users!
... and I can't make it do that at all - signal strength remains at Oxford O2 normal - p*ss poor!
I could be very paranoid here and note that we don't actually see WHAT the chap is doing with the lower half of the phone while we're watching the bars go down. He could have wrapped the lower half in tinfoil for all we know. Somewhat less likely if the Jobs has deigned to comment though...
It will all become clear over the next few weeks
Steve
I find the same thing. No matter how long I hold the device covering the bottom left, I do not lose signal. However, if I short it with a paper clip I do (unsurprisingly) lose some bars. Maybe my skin is just not very conductive? I don't really suffer with sweaty hands, so maybe that's why it seems OK for me?
I also agree that you have to hold the phone in a very weird way to cover that spot while making a call, however when I am surfing or checking email I always hold the phone in my left hand and always cover that spot, so i can see it would be a big problem if it effected me.
I'm sure I'll get marked down for not agreeing with the screaming mob, but I'm just relaying my experience. Do I think it's a big problem? Yup. Will I send my phone back if they issue a recall? Yup. Will I be asking for a refund now? Not sure yet, I'll wait to see if the problem effects me, so far it seems OK.
I popped into the Apple store after work to see if this happens with the on display models.
It didn't happen for me, though I felt an uncomfortable tingle in my hand while I was covering both aerials.
A guy next to me commented "just buy the bumper, then"... I responded with "But you shouldn't have to do that just to get basic functionality out of it!". To this outburst, he offered this nugget of wisdom "you have to have a license in order to drive a car".
Analogy Fail Alert!!
It's closer to "you can't start your car until you've had this entirely optional tinting applied to your windows".
Also, remember when Nintendo had a problem with their Wiimotes? They issued free rubber grips to their customers, then packaged them in with all new Wii's... can we expect Apple to bundle a free bumper case with every phone to address their design flaw?
Thought not.
"can we expect Apple to bundle a free bumper case with every phone to address their design flaw?"
It's not designed to be held with your hand over the corner. In fact, it's hard to do it without partially covering the microphone AND holding it at an uncomfortable angle. Which is the crux of the matter.
So not really a design flaw, unless you consider your cars inability to perform well underwater to be a design flaw. If it's not forseeable that someone would want to use it that way, it's not likely to have been something that was factored into the design.
"The problem is those pesky users who insist on wrapping their fingers around the phone, specifically touching the side at the bottom left corner - doing so will significantly affect reception."
I tried holding my iPhone like that - it's retarded - your hand ends up being in a position that stops the mic working properly AND it's hard to hold it to your ear.
So yes, if you don't plan on being able to be heard and don't mind holding the phone in a strange position then you can cover up the bottom left hand corner all you like!
EVen HTC suffers from this.
I put my Hero in a Faraday cage, and it got nothing!
On another note, what happened to the so-called software fix Apple mentioned about this yesterday? It seemed unlikely then, and a lie now. Maybe they just wanted to respond to complainants with "There's an App for that!(tm)... but you can't get it"
i've an old Samsung U600. Covering all the edges with fingers and palms has no effectc on signal strength whatso ever, so i'm guessing this 'feature' must be one of those Apple Innovations that you hear some people go on about.
Maybe for the iPhone5 (released 6 months after release date) they'll extend this as an 'energy saving' feature whereby it turns itself off whenever you touch it. The iPhone6 (released 1 year after release date) will update this with proximity detection so it will turn itself off if anyone is within 3ft of it. Finally by the time iPhone7 comes out (2 years after release date) they will have embedded rudementary sentience (with low self esteem) which will turn itself off anytime anyone looks at it. The iPhone8 feature will be so advanced that even if you buy one you will not be allowed to actually have it or see it, you will be allowed privelaged access to view a high quality jpeg of it, once a month and you bill will be assumed.
Apple - Admire but Don't Touch
Is the AC who's posted the same response to a load of posts on here, commenting on contorted hand positions and microphone covering, an Apple employee or just a rabid fanboy? Or maybe even the great jobs himself?
Every video, or picture, I've seen of this phenomenum occurring seem to show the userholding the phone in a perfectly reasonable position.
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People seem to think that because it says Apple it means quality. Far from it. Those days have long passed although you wouldn't know it from the price tags.
Yellowing cases, expanding batteries, cracked cases, overheating CPUs, burnt power cables, cracked ear plugs. The list of defects go on and on yet people still fork out for something which is little different and often worse than the "cheaper" brands.
At the end of the day most consumer products come out of Foxconn or a similar factory and people who think Apple products are imbued with some magic "quality" really need to cop on. They might appear slicker but its the same old crap.
Now that the aerial is available to the outside world, how long before the first dumb 'external aerial' add-on is put on sale?
Bad enough seeing 2dB external Wi-Fi aerials on sale for wi-fi dongles (hint for those not blessed with a technical education, 2dB is practically nothing). So no doubt Apple Fans will be conned into buying add-on aerials soon.
Apple don't want to sell to people, they want to sell to the people who can afford their products and the upgrade addiction.
If you make it harder for Apple to churn out another overpriced product then it is you who should change to make the product a success.
Apple isn't about meeting customer needs, it's about creating customer demand, if you are negative about what Apple's talented (splutter!!!!) designers tell you is the correct view then it's YOUR FAULT ! Only the true target market can get an Apple product to work properly, so the fact you can't means you aren't worthy and must use a case or tongs to fool it.
1 - Hold it firmly in one of your paws, mittens, tentacles, or by whatever means you name your upper limbs;
2- Stay close to other Apple devices that have the same poor reception, but keep at least two arms length distance in any direction;
3 - Rotate your arm, clockwise or anti-clockwise is not important. But it is important that you feel the bloodstream rushing toward your arms as result of high rotational acceleration. Some bleeding form fingernails is expected if you reach 40 or 50Gs, it is normal and expected;
4 - Release your grip from the iPhone, preferably when your arms are moving upwards, for better results;
5 - Watch it smash into ground, walls, ceiling or other crappy Apple products at high speed;
6 - Be sure it was destroyed and follow step 7, otherwise repeat steps 1 to 6.
7 - Go to a decent store and buy a Nokia. Any Nokia will do.
8 - Repeat procedure for all your friends as necessary.
Had a play with a random blokes new iPhone and try as hard as I might couldn't get it to lose bars. Dry hands sweaty hands fully cupped - no drop. This is more than a design flaw otherwise it would be replicable on every phone. Not being a single identifiable problem on all handsets is probably more of a nightmare for apple to sort out.
It's a feature designed to prevent overload from a nearby signal. It allows the fanatical juvenile user to adjust receiced signal strength via simple hand jesturing. Apple should list it as such and be charging extra for it. The FJs would hush immediately just like they do when nanny corrects them.
Why is every-one so crazy about this antenna thing?the solution for apple is very easy. What they should do is to split the antenna (the metal frame) into two separate pieces wired and connected from the centre. If you place one hand on the left and one on the right, there will be no connection, hence no problem with the reception. Because the wirering is done from the centre of the phone (one wire to the left, one to the rigt) there can never be a "tough" of the antenna which causes the connectivity to decrease.
Does it really need a Dutchman to come up with this?
What's this nonsense I've read (on the BBC) about this being a problem only for lefties (7%-10% population)?
Surely it's a problem only for RIGHT handed people as they would hold a touch screen phone in their left hand and prod away at the screen with the fingers from their right hand - that's 90%-93% of the population!
I'm the cynical type and generally suspect the BBC to be in Apples pocket so the BBC saying it's a problem only for lefties is massively downplaying the scale of this problem.
Signal strength may also be a factor in demonstrating this problem - if you're in a location with a very strong signal (ie. close to a cell tower or Femtocell) then you won't see any noticeable drop, apparently.
"So not really a design flaw, unless you consider your cars inability to perform well underwater to be a design flaw. If it's not forseeable that someone would want to use it that way, it's not likely to have been something that was factored into the design."
Sorry, but this is absolute, unmitigated rubbish. Catastrophic analogy fail.
Gone are the days when tools are designed for people, now we have to redesign people in order to use the tools. Only Apple could think like this.
Oh, just remembered the ancient greeks, who worked out how the universe worked, and if reality did not agree, it was the fault of reality for being imperfect.
Well for the first time I attempted told hold my Blackberry Bold II with the left handing position with the thumbs facing upwards.
RESULT??
EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM. No signal.
After having this phone all year I've decided to DEMAND a refund. How DARE THEY!!! If I want to hold the phone in my left hand I should be allowed. Radio waves - pipple. I EXPECT my phone to be able to transmit 60,000 feet underground and IN SPACE.
I do not think I'm being unreasonable.
Looks like the Daily Mail were caught believing the spoof CEO SteveJobs Twitter account, going so far as to put out a story about an impending iPhone 4 recall!
The following link now being inactive www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Apple-iPhone-4-The-vaunted-gadget-recalled.html Pity I didn't get a screenshot LOL
If you have any doubts that it is a design flaw due to sweaty skin grounding the wireless signal, then stick it in Steve Ballmers armpit during one of his keynote talks. Gotta love Monkey Man to prove a point.
Yes. The antenna comes in contact with moist skin, the skin envelopes the human body and the human body is on the ground making it "grounded". The iPhones electro-magnetic signal is then diverted in to the wet flesh through the human body and in to the ground.
Elementary radio/electrical physics.
Any knowledgeable engineer/physicist understands this, but apparently Apple's paid henchmen had completely forgotten about this. I'm expecting lots of "umm duh" and *facepalms* at Apple, and their PR people quickly instructing Steve Jobs to act like it's no big deal. Steve Jobs tells fanbois to hold it differently and it's no big deal, and they comply and all is well.
Jobs knows he has it good; he speaks, fanbois spend their money and they fall in to line every single time.
"In soviet Cupertino, iPhone holds you"
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This evidence was provided by engadget is just showing an email between a guy and 'Steve Jobs'. It's clearly a fake. Firstly SJ wouldn't have time to reply to an email that quickly himself and secondly if he did reply, it would be far more polite.
Steve Jobs twitter annoucement anyone?.....
Journalist fail.
The reason that the signal drops when you touch the antenna is because the antenna is actually working, and lots of RF energy is actually flowing through it. With most other phones you can put your hand over the antenna with little effect because the antenna isn't actually doing much; the rest of the metal in the phone (copper on PCB, sheilding etc.) is radiating too because the antenna is too small compared to a wavelength. This results in poorer performance from the phone because the RF interferes with the electronics, and vice-versa.
Think about it - when mobiles used to have big telescopic antennas atop them, would you have complained that the signal dropped when you held the phone by the antenna?
Then it's a design flaw to put the antennae in a position where it can be touched - other mobile phone manufacturers insulate their antennae, hence they don't have this same problem (or at least nowhere near this extent).
And isn't it funny how Apple blame the users hand for blocking the signal, yet if you put the phone in one of their $29 rubber Bumper cases the same hand no longer blocks the signal... suggesting the hand was never blocking the signal in the first place, and the phone just needed some insulation on it's antennae - which again brings it back to being a design flaw, pure and simple. The facts are quite hard to argue with, really.
Apple: Cop to your mistake, put some lacquer/insulation on the antennae and replace the (now) 1.7m phones sold (well done on that figure btw, very impressive).
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