
Apple letter about iPhone 4 - ukdm
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/02appleletter.html
======
boredguy8
<http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/there-is-no-spoon.html>

"Probably the biggest thing I’ve taught the team at Apple is that people never
know what they’re supposed to think about anything. This is true in Hollywood,
in the book business, in the art world, in politics. And especially in
technology.

"So we put out a new phone and everyone is sitting there wondering what they
should think about it. What I realized many years ago — and honestly, it still
amazes me — is that most people are so unsure of themselves that they will
think whatever we tell them to think.

"So we tell people that this new phone is not just an incremental upgrade, but
rather is the biggest breakthrough since the original iPhone in 2007. We say
it’s incredible, amazing, awesome, mind-blowing, overwhelming, magical,
revolutionary. We use these words over and over.

"It’s all patently ridiculous, of course. But people believe it."

....

"Which brings me back to iPhone 4 and the antenna issue. Right now you’re
confused. You’re worried. You don’t know what to believe. You just wish
someone would come along and tell you that everything is squared away and
there’s nothing to worry about."

"Well, stay tuned for that. And remember: There is no spoon."

~~~
jgfoot
Fake Steve was eerily prescient here. From June 24: "First of all, this is not
a big issue. If you’re experiencing this, most likely it’s not the phone at
all — most likely you’re just living in a place where there’s bad reception,
in which case the solution is simple: you need to move."
[http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/you-assholes-need-to-
stop-s...](http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/you-assholes-need-to-stop-sending-
emails-to-me-about-this-antenna-issue.html)

Compare that to the real thing: "Users observing a drop of several bars when
they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very
weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously
displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were
never real in the first place."

~~~
boredguy8
Dan Lyons has been covering tech for a long time, so he'd hopefully get some
things right. And this isn't the first time he's been spot on--his blogs on
Schmidt's involvement on the Apple board are amazing and hilarious.

But every time he's right these days, I think it's karma balancing out how
wrong he was on SCO-Linux.

------
ttol
I could care less about the signal problem. The proximity sensor thing is
insanely annoying. I am much much more likely to end the call or put it on
mute than I am to drop the call due to reception issues. I've exchanged the
phone once already and the replacement phone has the same issue. At first, I
thought it was my face (shape? texture?), or the way I was holding it (am I
suppose to push it with force against my ear to make sure zero space is
between the phone and me?). No luck. Right now, _all_ my calls have issues
with it unless I put it on speaker phone. But then, I shift the problem from
my end to the receiver's end (other side: "what? I can't hear you, can you
repeat that, wayne?"). I'd rather them fix how the proximity _works_ , than
fool around with how the antenna _displays_.

EDIT: It seems Apple introduced the bar bug in OS update 2.1 that "improves
the accuracy of the 3G signal". Graphical representation of that is here
(Source: Gruber): [http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-
hopefull...](http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefully-
shows-that-im-not)

So, RDF was hard coded into the bar display (50% = 5 bars?), and the sudden
drop shows up if you're at the floor of that green bar, then you use your hand
to cover the phone and force it to drop slightly, it will go into freefall
mode since you're now crossing the threshold. Fix is to remove the RDF.

~~~
d_r
I second that. I love my iPhone 4, but the proximity sensor problem causes me
to accidentally mute calls, call random people in my contacts list, etc., etc.
It is beyond frustrating and I'm surprised there hasn't been a greater mention
of this.

There is a lengthy thread on Apple forums about this issue, with no
resolution:
[http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2475509...](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2475509&start=660&tstart=0)

~~~
ttol
yea, while the antenna is arguably theoretical/subjective (apple: faulty
formula / world: rdf?), the proximity sensor is very real and affects calls
_now_. i too am also surprised people are focusing on antenna and not
proximity.

------
ZeroGravitas
This doesn't seem to jive with AnandTech's testing which ignored the bars
completely and installed some software to read the signal strength directly.

Their conclusion was that the iPhone 4 had better reception overall than the
3GS for various reasons, (a fact which Apple seem to be clinging to like a
life raft) but that the external antennae was still faulty even when held
"normally" and if fixed would make a major difference in areas with poor
reception.

~~~
bombs
I believe that both Apple's letter and AnandTech's review show us that we
shouldn't be measuring signal strength (either numerically or with bars).

AnandTech said _"That brings me to the way that signal quality should really
be reported - Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)."_ [1]

I found a good comment on MeFi that discusses the bars' uselessness for CDMA.
[2]

[1] <http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2>

[2] [http://ask.metafilter.com/60227/What-do-cell-phone-
reception...](http://ask.metafilter.com/60227/What-do-cell-phone-reception-
bars-mean#906507)

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Anand doesn't mention it explicitly, and neither do you, but I'm assuming that
signal to noise ratio drops when you short the iPhone 4 antennae too otherwise
his conclusion doesn't make sense:

 _"At the end of the day, Apple should add an insulative coating to the
stainless steel band, or subsidize bumper cases. It's that simple."_

~~~
sounddust
The problem is that Anandtech's conclusion is out of place with the rest of
their article, even if you take into consideration the shorting of the
antennae.

The iPhone 4 loses 24.6dB of signal strength when cupped at the bottom vs
17.7dB for the Nexus one. If Apple should be required to add an insulative
coating to the stainless steel, then shouldn't Google also be required to make
their phone thicker (or make other adjustments) until it reaches the 14.3dB
reduction of the 3GS?

If Apple is required to subsidize a bumper case, to bring the signal reduction
down to 7.2dB, then shouldn't Google also be required to subsidize a case
(even with a case, Google's signal reduction would still be 7.7dB).

Also, the iPhone 4 can hold a call quite well at the absolute minimum signal
level of -113dBm. If the Nexus One can't do this, then should we demand that
Google recall the Nexus one until it can do so?

This whole issue and the hundreds of news stories around it are ridiculous.
This is not a black-and-white issue of the antenna working or not. The phone
has a weaker signal for some people, and a stronger signal for others,
depending on how you hold it and where you are. Take that into consideration
when choosing a phone. If it's not working out for you, then just return the
phone and buy one you like.

~~~
jmackinn
What does the Nexus One have to do with the iPhone's antenna issue? There is
no oversite body that is 'requiring' anyone to do anything. It's not Nexus One
owners that are complaining about the antenna issue, it's iPhone users.

~~~
illumin8
Actually, the people I've heard about this non-issue the most from are Android
evangelists and Apple haters that are looking for any reason possible to trash
Apple. So it might make sense to compare it to their beloved Nexus One in a
head to head comparison.

------
alttab
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1477924>

jobs did exactly what I thought they would do. Change perception, not
reception.

~~~
tomerico
They actually did the opposite, they didn't change 1 bar to display 5, but 5
bars to display less.

~~~
viraptor
That's not what the parent claimed. He claimed they changed perception. Which
way did it change is not really important. They change what you see, but the
reception / what really happens stayed exactly the same.

------
TallGuyShort
To phrase that another way, it's not that covering the antennae gives you poor
reception, it's that you've always had poor reception but didn't realize it.

Doesn't seem right to me, as I thought I had hear complaints about calls being
dropped upon covering the antenna - not just fewer bars.

~~~
wtallis
Nobody would be that surprised if hugging the antenna causes a call to be
dropped when the signal was already marginal, but if you thought that the
signal was strong, it would be a big disappointment. The iPhone 4's design,
which doesn't make it at all obvious where the antenna is, compounds the gap
between what the user thinks is happening and what actually is.

~~~
flatline
"...which doesn't make it at all obvious where the antenna is..."

Ironically, I now have a much better idea of the iPhone 4's antenna location
than that of any cell phone I've owned since they had protruding antennae.

------
yummyfajitas
Oops, our phone isn't broken, we just "mistakenly" said the network didn't
suck when it did.

~~~
jrockway
When Apple was writing the signal strength algorithm, they forgot to account
for the reality distortion field.

~~~
ttol
Actually they put in the reality distortion field in. Currently, ~50% of the
dBm = 5 bars. Now the fix is to take the reality distortion field out.

~~~
ttol
not sure why the downvote. backup source is:
[http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-
hopefull...](http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefully-
shows-that-im-not)

the RDF was put in back in '08 via OS 2.1 update to "improve the accuracy of
the 3G signal".

------
jonknee
This could very well be the least anticipated mobile phone software update
ever--now with less bars in more places.

------
lutorm
Just did this experiment with my Nexus One: Lying on the couch: -75dbm. Held
by the top away from body: -70dbm. Held by the top by ear: -75 - -87dbm,
depending on which direction I face. Held across the bottom by ear: -75 -
-97dbm, depending on direction.

So it seems that in the worst case, holding it across the bottom attenuates
the signal by about 10dbm, i.e. by a factor of 10, compared to holding it
across the top, which is about the same effect as the relative position of
your head vs. the tower.

It's weird, though, that in the best case, holding it by the bottom has no
effect at all on signal. You'd naively think that the best case would be when
the phone is on the side of your head facing the tower, in which case the hand
across the bottom should make maximum difference. I guess this just goes to
show how nonintuitive the results are of loading the antenna with a bunch of
conductive goo of strange shape...

------
joblessjunkie
I actually believe them.

I can't recall ever seeing my iPhone report 2 or 3 bars -- it's always a very
low or very high signal indication. And yet, so many times I've gotten bad
performances at "full signal"...

~~~
ttol
This is because right now, ~50% of the range = 5 bars. See:
[http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-
hopefull...](http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefully-
shows-that-im-not)

------
bombs
_"As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged
iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of
purchase for a full refund."_

This is more pragmatic than bitching on the Internet (I concede a difference
between investing and reporting these problems and merely bitching) or class
action lawsuits[1]. Vote with your wallet, eh?

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1478105>.

~~~
jokermatt999
Would there be issues with an early termination fee or the contract?

~~~
bombs
AT&T have a fee-free 30-day cancellation policy [1]. AT&T will refund any
activation fees, but you're still liable for any usage fees.

If you cancel after the 30 days, there is an early termination fee of $325.00
(minus $10.00 for each completed month).

[1] [http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-
service/specials/iPho...](http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-
service/specials/iPhone3G_ATT_terms.jsp)

------
earcar
Hilarious "Translation From Apple’s Unique Dialect of PR-Speak to English" by
John Gruber: <http://daringfireball.net/2010/07/translation_iphone_4>

------
cesare
What a strange coincidence.

Just after releasing a phone that uses a metal ring all around the chassis as
an antenna (which is something that perplexed every engineer living outside of
the reality distortion field as soon as they saw the first pictures of the
phone), they discovered that they've always used the wrong algorithm to
calculate the signal strength.

~~~
gfodor
Not really a coincidence: users are much more likely to complain about this
problem due to the new antenna design being so prominent in the marketing. If
Apple never said that the antenna was the metal rim (and assumingly are
telling the truth here) then people would not be forming these theories.

~~~
Terretta
It's interesting to me the language calling it a "metal rim" and "metal band",
when Jonathan Ive says it's a solid slab of metal, that the groove is machined
in. The iFixit teardown makes it appear that the groove is machined in as
well, and the metal you see is all part of a slab.

I contrast Ive's comments and iFixit's teardown with the Keynote presentation,
and think someone's simplifying something in the explanations.

~~~
confuzatron
From what I've seen, on the right hand side, the groove is effectively 'fake'
- designed to create a symmetrical look. One part of the rim is small (3G),
and the other is larger, (WiFi) and has the 'fake groove'.

------
AndrewHampton
Maybe I'm missing something, but if the problem is just the software that
displays the number of bars, why does the iPhone 4 drop _more_ bars than other
iPhones which are running the same software?

It seems like there's still a problem with the antenna design that was just
made more obvious by the software.

~~~
gregn
I think what's obviously going on is that Apple was deliberately displaying
more bars in areas where there was week signal in an act of deception to try
and make up for AT&T's crappy network.

------
woodrow
Does anyone else feel this letter seems strangely/hastily/poorly written for
corporate communication?

It uses terms/expressions like "totally wrong", "Their big drop in bars", "the
iPhone’s bars", pretty much anything that mentions "bars", etc.

Or do you think this is just about keeping it colloquial, so it sounds like a
real email from one of your friends?

~~~
gte910h
Steve Jobs always writes colloquially. I can see that trickling down.

~~~
woodrow
Sure. But, in my opinion at least, his "Thoughts on Flash" seemed much more
carefully worded than this.

Everyone refers to signal strength as the quantity of "bars" they have, so I
suppose this is the colloquial way to write this. But sentences like "Their
big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first
place." just boggles my mind that it made it through Apple PR.

This is the same company that has the following boilerplate on the bottom of
their press releases: "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the
Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple
continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X
operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads
the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has
reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and
has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of
mobile media and computing devices."

~~~
imajes
"Thoughts on Flash" would have gone through several lawyers, as there's a real
chance of a serious lawsuit in that instance. This one would be more marketing
driven and would probably only get a cursory review.

------
zenzo
From paragraph six, "We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they
will be easier to see."

It's a psychological thing. A few extra pixels do indeed give the illusion of
better network reception, albeit the actual level doesn't change.

Similar to designing progress bars, the actual progress is hidden from the
user. Instead, the user is presented with the illusion that the process is
progressing faster than it actually is.

~~~
ttol
good observation. i'm wondering why bars are not equally the same height
across. the quantity alone should be enough (1 vs 5) to convey strength. with
the height being variable, it seems to make things seem worst in the worst
possible way -- 5 will still be 5, but when its a 1, because the height is so
much shorter, it _seems_ worst than 1. what is the upside to variable height
when you already have variable width in terms of number of bars? it's not as
if there's an algorithm that determines the correct _height_ for that
particular signal, as there is a (faulty?) algorithm to determine the correct
width (bars).

~~~
mctavjb9
"Bar rendering" debates and the actual signal (yes, a physical quantity!) that
the phone sees from the AT&T network are non-issues with a BlackBerry thanks
to its wondrous ability to display RSSI directly:
[http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/04/22/converting-
signal-s...](http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/04/22/converting-signal-
strength-from-bars-to-rssi/)

Someone should write an iPhone app...

~~~
ttol
looking at this screenshot of blackberry,
[http://www.cellphones.ca/news/upload/2009/01/blackberryvoice...](http://www.cellphones.ca/news/upload/2009/01/blackberryvoicemail2.jpg),
it also has variable height along with variable width. what is the benefit of
variable height vs uniform height?

------
agotterer
So you're also telling me that my 3G reception is actually worse then I had
previous thought? All those places I get 4 bars are really 2? I guess this
explains why I often got dropped calls when I have "full reception".

Wonder why they didn't mention the proximity problem. From what I have heard
that's actually more annoying then the signal issue.

~~~
KirinDave
With the proximity problem, it's very cut and dry. "Yes, we will fix it."
isn't much of a press release.

And the only reason Apple made this PR release is to get ahead lf this story.
I've had people ask me if I'm returning my iPhone because "I heard it can't
make calls when you hold it wrong" or other crap. They're just trying to
respin the story that the public has latched onto.

I think it's funny to imagine what would happen if Apple didn't tell us what's
wrong and just released an update. Suddenly the voodoo bars work better and
everyone says, "Oh wow Apple's firmware engineers are geniuses! I no longer
lose 4 bars when holding my phone!"

------
Encosia
I'm surprised that anyone considers this explanation reasonable. The real
problem people are seeing with the iPhone 4 is measured in throttled bandwidth
and dropped calls, not bars of signal.

Using a speed test app, I measure 2-2.3mbs 3G downline bandwidth with the
phone sitting on my desk. Holding it gently in my left hand, the speed test
drops to _0_ and eventually fails. I can also reproduce that data transfer
failure by lightly touching the left and bottom sides with two fingers.

This focus on the displayed signal strength is somewhat insulting
misdirection.

------
bsaunder
hmmm... looks like they are backing out the 2.1 OS fix that "Improved accuracy
of the 3G signal strength display". That always seemed fishy to me.

<http://gizmodo.com/5048905/iphone-21-update-available-now>

Especially entertaining is the update note at the bottom:

 _The "3G signal strength display" fix certainly seems to have done something
for my iPhone 3G: it's sitting here in the same place on my desk, and has gone
from two bars of 3G signal with the 2.0.2 software to a whopping five bars in
version 2.1._

~~~
illumin8
Yep, they effectively made the signal strength meter useless in that update so
that users would psychologically feel that they had a good connection even
though AT&T's network was terrible in places.

When your phone shows 5 bars yet you still get dropped calls, distorted sound,
etc, you know there is a problem with the signal strength meter.

They might as well have just made it 1 bar, either you have signal or you
don't. But there may be something about the placebo effect, or maybe
illiterate tech reviewers would actually write "my iPhone has more
bars!1!1!11!1!"

------
mbreese
I particularly liked the reminder about the return policy. I think that was
put in there as a hedge against those class-action lawsuits. It makes no sense
to sue over a product that you can still return. And now, the issues are so
well documented that I doubt anyone buying a phone now could claim to be
oblivious to the issues.

------
damoncali
"We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to
see."

Translation: Don't worry about the signal, we have BARS!

~~~
KirinDave
It'd be pretty badass if they just got rid of this phony bars metric
altogether.

------
kilian
" _This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid[sic], Nokia and
RIM phones._ "

Droid phones?

~~~
mbreese
Does the Droid have an antenna?

Edit: I didn't understand your original comment. Rereading it, yeah, that
doesn't make much sense. Perhaps the dear leader only cares about the Droid
family on Verizon. Well, more likely they just didn't want to acknowledge the
existence of Android in a press release where they are delivering a mea culpa.

~~~
ritonlajoie
upvoted you, because I don't know how to downvote...

~~~
borisk
You've just won my personal Comment Of The Year Award :D

------
proee
This is going to make AT&T look even worse. Maybe apple knew this algorithm
was in place all along and now they are telling AT&T that they can't play
games anymore.

Apple is now placing the blame on AT&T by saying that the problem is actually
low bars (i.e. the network).

Brilliant way to shift the blame.

~~~
ttol
Apple put the algorithm in place via OS 2.1 update back in '08.
[http://www.newsoxy.com/technology/apple-
iphone/article11156....](http://www.newsoxy.com/technology/apple-
iphone/article11156.html)

If you don't remember, back then every blogger was saying things like "my
signal has improved drastically with this update!!11!!1one".

This is what the graphical representation of that update was:
[http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-
hopefull...](http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefully-
shows-that-im-not)

As you can see, over 50% = 5 bars. AT&T's recommendation = more accuracy and
less reality distortion.

Next update, you should see OS 2.1's 3g signal update reversed to what it used
to be.

~~~
aliston
Why is a -50dBm S/N ratio considered a "perfect signal"?

Edit: dBm as a unit for SNR doesn't make sense, which is why I was confused.
The Y axis is overall signal strength, not S/N ratio.

------
grok2
It seems like Apple solved a "perceived" problem with their phone (it is
probably a problem with all phones, but never so heavily publicized like for
the iPhone4) by fixing the the source of that perception. Clever.

But the solution doesn't really address the real complaint -- that holding the
phone in some ways seemed to change the number of bars shown. It seems like
overall the bars display will be conservative now, so people just won't
perceive such a large drop in the number of bars.

~~~
ttol
Actually Apple seemed to have biased the iPhone's display of bars to show 5
bars when the signal falls in the top 50% of the range. As Gruber noted, the
exposed antenna in iPhone 4 highlighted the downside to that issue -- when
you're near the floor of the 50% range, you suddenly go down in bars
dramatically.

So the fix is to make what was fake before, more accurate.

Source (from Gruber): [http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-
hopefull...](http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefully-
shows-that-im-not)

------
linhat
Apple should have said: "Since AT&T has such a crappy reception in most
places, we now give you the illusion of having an improved connection!"
instead of "We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be
easier to see."

------
cninja
Does anyone know what "AT&T’s recently recommended formula" actually means?

~~~
TallGuyShort
AT&T:

b = (int)5s/100; // where b is the number of bars, and s is signal strength

Apple:

b = (int)5s/100; if(b > 2) b += 2;

------
r0h4n
My palm is pretty big, and when i fully cover my nokia 1100 cell phone, not a
single bar of network is lost. Stop Covering up Apple, and admit that you guys
committed a mistake.

~~~
moe
That's no fair. The 1100 was manufactured during an era when cellphones were
built to make _phonecalls_.

Today they are built to be fashion accessoires, which naturally leads to
different design trade-offs.

Sure, your 1100 may have the best reception of any cellphone ever produced.
Sure, your battery may last 2 weeks under normal use.

But what does that help you in a real emergency, like when you urgently need
to edit a video on the go?

------
joecode
I have trouble believing this is just a display issue. Has anyone done
experiments to show this is a hardware, rather than software issue? It seems
that my 3GS reception actually got much worse after I upgraded to the 4.0
firmware. This would explain the widespread perception that the iPhone 4 is
worse than the 3G/3GS, since previous owners would have been running the old
firmware.

------
yumraj
Am I missing something here, but if there is a bug in how they calculate bars
shouldn't it apply equally in all the cases.

for example, if signal == some-weak-signal, then bars = 5 then, if signal ==
some-weak-signal - 1 (for example), then shouldn't bars = 4 instead of bars =
0 (or 1).

This seems like horseshit to me. Though it seems people are buying this
explanation, so as far is Apple is concerned, it worked.

~~~
jsz0
Bars are a very basic representation of a complex set of logarithmic
measurements. I don't think it's all that simple. They're probably doing
something like a 95th-percentile calculation on top of that. You don't want to
change the bar signal meter for every normal fluctuation in RF. Otherwise the
bar meter would constantly be moving up and down all the time. From an RF
perspective it's also not as simple as just looking at the signal level. You
can have great signal levels and poor SNR for example.

------
gojomo
They should just replace the 'bars' indicator with:

'thumbs up': All's OK

'thumbs down': You're holding it wrong. Or AT&T is failing your area. But it's
not our fault.

------
naner
> To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula

Clever. As I was reading this my mind started reeling "What if they
intentionally showed more bars to make AT&T's crappy network look better than
it really is?"

I bet they anticipated the rumors this might start.

~~~
ttol
Could also be because the antenna was weak so they compensated by making it
appear better than it really is.

------
DarrenMills
"We were tricking you into thinking you had better signal than you actually
did since the first iPhone, so we're gonna stop that and fix the problem by
making the weak-bars look taller."

------
kevinholesh
It's great to see Apple taking on the problem head-on. I'd much rather see
honesty from a company than have them deny it and sweep it under the rug as if
it were never a problem.

~~~
ivenkys
"taking on the problem head-on" - my reading of this was just the opposite.

They are attempting to put a different spin on the whole issue , its not that
the phone has a faulty antenna or you are "holding it incorrectly" - its that
we display incorrect number of signal bars, nonsense.

A correct- taking the problem head-on approach would be - "We apologize for
the mistake and are aiming to rectify it in the next software update. Thank
You."

~~~
treblig
I believe that comment was dripping with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

------
jasonneal
This makes no sense to me. Maybe I'm ignorant, but it sounds a lot like going
to a mechanic because your car keeps turning off and they offer a new paint
job to fix the issue.

~~~
blaix
I don't know if this is really the case or not, but what Apple is saying is
more like going to a mechanic because your gas gauge keeps dropping to E when
you hold the steering wheel a certain way, and the mechanic informs you that
your gauge has been reporting more gas than you actually had _for several
years_.

~~~
Psyonic
But its only been reporting more gas than you actually had _for several years_
because Apple chose to lie to you in 2008 to make AT&T's network look better
than it is.

~~~
blaix
Precisely. But to keep the analogy going: because Apple chose to lie to you in
2008 to make that hybrid look like it gets better gas mileage than it actually
does.

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ashitvora
Apple thinks we are fcuking idiots

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rdez6173
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.

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.

------
est
it will be a costly lie.

------
16s
Apple Math. Think Different :)

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shareme
does not jive with my own exp using android, RIM, and Nokia..

~~~
vaporstun
I don't know about the Droid or RIM phones, but here is a video of a Nokia E71
exhibiting the same signal drop behavior when being held:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amPG52DVQuk>

------
napierzaza
Finally, can we all accept that it's bars and not reception we were ever
talking about. Every single iPhone 4 user has had their phone for less than a
month.

So return it already, don't sue.

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hackermom
This is all kinda bad, but... really... if you're so convinced that your phone
is b0rken, why not just stop yapping and go make use of your return policy?

add.: yes, YOU, DOWNVOTER! Solve the problem you're holding in your hand
instead of just focusing on pointing your finger at Apple - enough people are
already busy doing that 24 hours a day.

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suckerfish
So when my iphone displays 1 bar my signal strength is really MINUS 1? Great!

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ritonlajoie
man ! they are good at that...

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ghurlman
So.... they're fixing the way I hold my phone through _software_? Can they do
anything for my racquetball game?

Dubious indeed.

------
wdewind
Naturally it's a software problem, not a hardware problem. Patchfix! w00t.

------
OoTheNigerian
_As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged
iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of
purchase for a full refund._

