
IPhone 4's supposed signal woes aren’t unique, and may not be serious - shawndumas
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-iphone-4-antenna-problems-dropped-calls-att-signals-bars-os-software-bugs-glitches-os-os4-iphone4-reception-problems-in.html
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palish
Lol. I recently bought an iPhone 4 for Emily. We were messing around with it,
and she called me while we were in the same room. So I walked over and moved
her finger to a certain spot on the side of the phone, and I _immediately_
could no longer hear her talk. The call was dropped a few seconds later. Emily
looked at me with an expression like, "Really? They would design a phone like
that?"

So I told her to bust out the scotch tape and use it to insulate the gap. I
then made fun of the fact that she had to tape her $200 phone, and that the
act of taping the phone actually did something useful.

Needless to say, we were both highly amused. :D

... That is, we've both been amused until this very moment. Emily left about
20min to run up to the grocery store, and I've been trying to call her ever
since. Each time I do, it goes straight to voicemail. So I texted her asking
why her phone was off, and she responded with "It's not". She just called me,
and the call was dropped.

This _never_ happened with her old 3GS (now my phone). To be clear, I called
her 2 seconds after she walked out the front door. So the phones were almost
literally next to each other at the time. We live in Petaluma, CA, which is
about 30 minutes north of San Francisco, so it's not like we're out in the
boonies. Our 3GS always reads full bars + 3G, so even with the inaccurate bar
algorithm it should still be at least two bars of reception. Therefore the
phones should always be capable of calling each other when they're almost
directly next to each other.

So.... Strange. I don't know where people are getting evidence that the iPhone
4's reception is _definitely improved_ , but, consider for a moment that
perhaps it's _definitely improved_ in certain areas, but _definitely -worse-_
in other areas.

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k33n
Why are you referring to this Emily like we all know her?

~~~
palish
You don't? Oh.

... But seriously, for the same reason you refer to 'x' in Python like it's
already defined. It's just a symbol.

~~~
iamjustlooking
Aren't you supposed to preface it with a description?

"I recently bought an iPhone 4 for my wife Emily"

"I recently bought an iPhone 4 for my daughter Emily"

"I recently bought an iPhone 4 for my dog Emily"

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palish
I tend to think of her more as a way of life than as a description.

~~~
Groxx
But can you think of her _with_ a description? Or is she inherently
indescribable, aside from being female?

~~~
Groxx
I think I may have broken palish...

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tshtf
Consumer Reports has already posted an update to this article:
[http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-i...](http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-
iphone-4-dropped-calls-faulty-antennas-design-death-grip-iphone4-att-field-
tests-results-experiences-consumer-reports-s.html)

 _As the online debate continues over possible signal problems with the iPhone
4, I've been able, during informal tests over the weekend, to reproduce the
signal loss that's at the heart of the controversy._

------
jonhendry
[http://funsizebytes.com/post/745721120/instructions-from-
my-...](http://funsizebytes.com/post/745721120/instructions-from-my-
nokia-2320-which-boil-down-to)

A Nokia manual has instructions on how not to hold your Nokia phone.

Specifically they refer to the antenna at the bottom of the phone.

Anyway, Apple clearly screwed the pooch on this, and should just give every
buyer a free bumper-thing. They sell the things for $29 but they can't
conceivably cost more than pennies to manufacture.

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jsz0
Hasn't stopped me from planning to get an iPhone 4. I figure, worse case, you
have to be careful to avoid shorting the antenna. I already have to be mindful
not to cover the microphone, speaker, or camera lens when taking a photo.

~~~
cesare
<http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/1633/70.817/> (skip at 0:55)

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jboydyhacker
The biggest problem with all this is the "shocking discovery" that it was all
some sort of signal display issue and implies you won't have more dropped
calls. It's disingenuous because yes under ideal conditions the phone gets
better reception than prior generations. When the problem occurs (which is
most of the time for me), it's a complete loss of signal.

While other phones suffer degradation, few suffer complete and repeatable
dropped calls with such predictability and frequency. The "shock" that Apple
claims seems highly unlikely since I discovered this after 10 minutes of using
it before the problem became well known. The shock is also unusual given that
Apple is making bumpers for the first time ever. It is also a bit of a blatant
assumption that I am stupid enough to believe it's solely a display issue when
I have the phone.

True the gradation can be changed so it's less sensitive to dB loss at lower
bars, but a dropped call is zero bars even if you signal strength is in pesos
or Zimbabwean dollars.

They should try just being honest and telling the truth about it. There are
advantages to the new design and with a bumper you can mitigate both the
upsides and downsides of the design.

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marze
I can't imagine that Apple didn't run these tests long before the external-
antenna design was even selected. Maybe the cool climate of Silicon Valley or
the fake-3GS case the real-world test units were encased in (as in the phone
found in the bar) masked the issue. Strange.

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tlrobinson
I still cannot fathom how this is a purely a software issue, but if Apple
releases a patch that solves the problem I will be very impressed.

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ubernostrum
Loss of signal strength is not a software issue. The way signal strength is
reported, however, _is_ a software issue.

The impression people get when they trigger this, often, is based on the
display going from five bars to zero bars; this implies that signal strength
has gone from 100% to 0%, which is quite far from the actual reality. Changing
the display algorithm to more accurately reflect the signal strength would
resolve this; more likely you'd lose one or perhaps two displayed bars
instead.

~~~
jonhohle
While I prefer an accurate display, I can't help but think that every iPhone
3G, 3GS, and 4 owner are going to think that 4.0.1 made their reception worse.

