News iPhone 4 Signal Problem Verified

If it was truly only a phone, the argument over which hand you use would make sense. But as has been pointed out, sometimes you need to see the screen, and in those cases a right handed person is likely to hold it in their left hand so they can use their right hand for the interface.

 

Sooo, the software update to "correct" the problem is basically a re-write of the way the signal strength is displayed.
In other words a line of code saying - IF [hand is over aerial] THEN [Display full bars, regardless of signal strength].

There, done it for you Apple.

 

When I use my phone I have it too close to my head to see the signal strength D=

 

Not quite the same, but you can still see that from (say) 90dBm to 110dBm, a typical drop in signal from gripping the iPhone the right/wrong way, the power decreases 1250 fold.

nail varnish clear, insulating and non-conductive.

 

the issue is more if the phone already has low signal in the first place (why I am typing this on my new HTC desire in opera when I am in front of my pc is funny)
edit
its an none issue if the phone has good signal it dropping down to 100-110db is and is ok for phone use (data bit flaky) as both my G1 and new fun toy HTC desire (both on t-mobile UK) shows this

just buy the bumper case or get an cover for the phone that you would buy any way as your going to smash it if you do not get one

i wish mobile makers would fix this issue with mobile phones hanging onto an dead horse signal, wish they would make phones Switch when signal drops below 103-100db or 5-6 asu (or for most phones 2 bars) and Switch to 2g as with 3g i tend to find out at my friends house and other locations both of his mobiles and my 2 phones get an incoming call but hangs up when you answer it but if the phones are on 2g only they work perfectly fine, if the phones had auto switched to 2g on weak signal in the first place it would of worked fine and would not require user intervention to turn off 3g

the google phones os seems to make it an low level priority to drop back to 2g when in an phone call (witch also prevents you from using the Internet once it does that until the calls ends as only basic 3g or higher can support Internet at the same time as voice)

the iphone dropping calls as well is also related the the above as well when HSDPA is currently connected as you most likely have low signal to start off with, why i norm tell every one who has an iphone or any phone really, tell the phone to use 2g only unless you want to use the internet then switch it back on so you get 3g if its around

 

First on the use issue that people go on and on about. I've not got a iPhone 4G yet, mainly due to demand though. I like the better voice pickup on phone calls, the nice new screen and the new camera. I'm also kind of tied into iTunes and the whole iPhone user environment now (had one since gen 1). This means switching to an android device would be a bit of a pain in the arse for me and I have an iPhone to avoid just that: being a pita. I'm in the geek category unboutedly, self build watercooled, painted, modded and expensive (at the time), PC with an AV room and all sorts of gadgets! My phone though, is an area I want functionality without fuss and the iPhone delivers just that. Other phone's do also, but reasons are above to back up the simple and easy to use 'Apple-ness' of the phone. I'm in too deep now!!


On topic: I agree with leexgx. This 'problem' will be a non-issue for me. YES I am right handed and YES I hold my phone in my left hand frequently. But it's a non-issue as I will put my ridiculously over-priced (but easy to use and slick), device into a case with a screen protector; because if I got a scratch on my £500 phone I'd be so peed off. For the sake of a £12-15 case (Incipio Feather), I'd rather keep it looking nice and not scratched. Just to say too: I also did that with every other phone I had before I got an iPhone.

I wish the phone would switch quicker to 2G from a weak 3G signal, hopefully the software fix will do just that? Not sure, but whatever I do find that signal strength varies wildly in the area I spend a lot of time (Winchester, Hants). This is partly due to O²'s cr@ppy network and partly due to the phone displaying a strength that's a bit over-optimistic. Software switch and a network switch for me to Vodafone might solve both issues? Doubt it, but you never know!

 

How can you possibly say the issue is "much ado about nothing" when the entire previous article verifies AND quatifies that problem is a big problem??? Not only that but also the issue could (and should) have been uncovered and delt with prior to the phone's release! Has Bit-tech got it's collective head up Steve Jobs Ass or something?

Or am I being just blind or suffering a sense irony failure?

And in case you missed it ...I am an Apple hype free zone!

 

What kempez said is that it's a non-issue for him, not for everyone.

 

Yep thanks Krikkit, it's not an issue for me. I can see why it's an issue for others, although why you'd want to have such an expensive device without a cover is beyond me

 

Then surely by that logic your car should have a cover on it, as should your PC. Sorry for being ridiculous but the kind of logic that mobile phones should be treated as though they were precious is an idea that should have died out a while ago.

 

Be fair: Jobs has never called people 'stupid' for not knowing how to hold a phone properly (in fact, the latest e-mail exchange between him and a disgruntled customer has been outed as faked).

On the other hand, I agree that: "Just avoid holding it that way" or "...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" is hardly a satisfactory response to customer complaints on this issue. For a guy who can be e-mailed by customers, Jobs does not seem to grok the art of customer relations very well (then again, he is a geek).

In any case, now Apple has said 'sorry' (at last) and is issuing a software fix. That they would find a fix I had no doubt of, but the way it handled the affair was dumb and arrogant.

Then again, are any of the other big companies any better? Sony has execrable customer support. Microsoft is as much "my way or the highway" as Apple, and Google seems to have a poor sense of personal boundaries (when it comes to snooping WiFi data).

Here's my problem, crazyceo. What is the alternative? I have alluded before to how I really like Android (ignoring for a moment that it is, in many ways, a blatant rip of iOS4, it is at least open source). Recently, there are even decent hardware platforms for it. But the HTC series still have the battery life of a mayfly. I mean, it is really, really bad. I have spoken to HTC owners and they all say the same thing. Battery life sux.

Windows Mobile? Until its 7th iteration comes along it doesn't need poor battery life to suck. Meanwhile, while Apple storms ahead with the iPhone 4 and HTC/Google are (slowly) catching up with Android devices, we're still waiting for Microsoft to stop dicking about with the Kin and put some decent Windows Mobile 7 devices on the market. Focus, Microsoft, focus.

And here's my point. Apple undoubtedly shows the arrogance that is typical of big successful companies, but it can afford to do so because it is successful, or rather, because the competition sucks epically at putting up decent alternatives.

 

Source please?

He's a ceo(or whatever) too. You would think he would have the common sence to have someone answer his emails for him. Or at least proof read.

I won't buy sony because of the poor support in the past. It really can sink a company. I know that my boycotting them won't hurt them, but it doesn't help them either.

My touch pro would last for 2 days if i stretched it. my touch pro 2 does the same. Fine battery life as far as I am concerned. sure my first cell lasted a week, but I have no problem with plugging the phone in when i goto bed. I know that some of the other phones have HORRIBLE battery life. But don't throw all htc devices into one boat.

wasn't the kin cancelled? Or was that something else?

mmm, a company can only be arrogant for so long. The path you took to get to the top is the same path you should follow to get higher. Other companies will follow in their footsteps if they have to and if they see apple take a wrong turn, it stands to reason that they won't make the same mistake.

 

Sauce.

That would violate his 'I'm in touch with the consumer' image. But he could learn some PR skills.

Those run on Windows Mobile though... I just can't work with that.

No, it's going strong. Squarely aimed at the teenage social networking market for now. It is a kind of springboard to Microsoft's cloud-based alternative to MobileMe or something. The Studio looks snazzy and the whole automatic syncing over the air is indeed pretty good. Then again, so did Wallop. Like I said: no focus. Kin is just a watered-down version of Windows Mobile 7. What MS should have done is to launch Mobile 7 now, with integrated automatic cloud storage/syncing (a cross between Kin Studio and Office Live) and blow the competition out of the water. But MS dicks around with too many ideas at once and as a result takes twice as long to get where Apple already is.

Naah. If that was true the US wouldn't have repeated the USSR's Afghanistan. Arrogance does indeed lead to downfall (as Andrew Grove admonishes) but other companies will not learn from the example of others. The reason? Why, arrogance, of course. They won't make the same mistakes that the others did, because they are smarter/better/stronger...

 

hmm, going to have to take that one with a grain of salt. mgiht be true, might not be. no one will ever know.

I think we had this argument already. To each his own.

I couldn't get into the kin website at work. Didn't like my computer for some reason. But did find the story I was thinking of. Not quite gone but not going anywhere else.
http://www.dailytech.com/Microsoft+Kills+KIN+After+Just+Two+Months+on+the+Market/article18900.htm
I'd just be happy if I could walk into a store in Canada and buy a zune. Curse on my for dropping my 80gb one so many times...

Only time will tell I guess.

 

In my experience, if you put a sweaty finger on the bridge, when the signal is low, you loose connection to the mobile network. For me a more frustrating problem is the faulty proximity sensor on the front that means that when in a call the screen switches on and of randomly, so your ear ends the call or mutes the call or puts it on speaker. Really frustrating, but may be a calibration issue so hopefully dreaded apples will fix that in software. I've ordered a £4 case from Amazon that's the same as a Bumper but also has a back, will report back when it arrives, should fix the issue with aerials. In the past apple support has been really good, they replaced my iPhone 3G 3 times. But the response so far from apple has been terrible. They need to take a better attitude on these issues its just embarrassing for them now.

As far as the signal bars are concerned, according to Anandtech, the bottom four bars are (on a dB level) very close together.

Whereas the top bar covers a large range of signal strengths. All their "fix" is going to do is realign them so their evenly spaced so it doesn't drop down as far (they'll probably make the lower bar lower than its current -113dB)

Overall I'm so frustrated I chose this phone. I wish I had of gone for the Samsung Galaxy S or the Motorola Droid X (if that's available/will be in the UK?) I enjoyed the first 12 months of my iPhone 3G, and it was based on that positive experience that I chose the 4. But it's just been a catastrophe

 

I'm inclined to think it is faked. But that is beside the point. Point is: Jobs could have been a bit more, well, responsive to customer complaints.

Oh, OK... that didn't last. Perhaps MS will get its **** together with Windows Mobile 7 --which it stubbornly refuses to licence for Tablet devices. Dumb, dumb, dumb... The Zune is another example. It is a very accomplished MP3 device that very easily competes with the iPod. But you can buy an iPod just about anywhere while you can't get a Zune even in Canada. I mean, WTF? Microsoft just seems to not have the vision, forward planning and plain business sense that Apple currently has.

History tells us already.

 

They won't licence it to a tablet? why the heck not? It looks like it would work nicely on one.
they really need to pull out something amazing at this point.

Yes, you can't know where you are going without knowing where you have been. Its sad that some people don't pay attention to this though.

 

i personally actually prefer the current signal bar system.

if it's above -91dB, then why should we care what signal is it at exactly? if it's below -91dB, then we do care about how much of the signals are left, therefore a scaled signal bar makes more sense.


regarding proximity sensor issues, i've found a suitable place to put into my ear that will make sure the phone screen stays off. i expect it's another matter of "you are holding it wrong"

 

I thought -113dBm was the minimum level that you could reduce it to?

 

Yeah but apple don't exactly play by the rules do they

and I agree with wuyanxu