Apple Explains Smartphone Antenna Performance And Their Weak Spots
Apple Explains Smartphone Antenna Performance And Their Weak Spots
At the special iPhone 4 conference yesterday, Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs claimed that every smartphone lose signal strength if you hold it in a certain way and it is not something unique to iPhone 4. Steve Jobs explained that they have got to the heart of the problem, and that...
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**** off steve jobs with your lies.
cant do that on any of my smartphones, just the iphone 4.
even someone pointed out in the conference that they couldnt replicate the bars dropping on thier Blackberry Bold even though steve the con-man jobs said that phone dropped calls.
when asked steve replied "it only happens in certian areas" bollocks.
so the death grip only applies to certian areas of the globe???? -
But I would never grab any of those phones like that( with the fingers coming out that much from the front) not when I'm calling cuz they would be in the way and when I'm doing something else the phone usually just rests in my fingers and my thumbs do the work even when it's only with one hand.
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all phones have antenna issues. if u tried to cover the antenna, of course u can create some "death grip". honestly, who the helll place the antenna where u normally grip ur phone. other phone makers place their on the back or bottom cuz ur not going to make contact aka death grip while holding the phone for a phone call. btw, usally when u have too many excuses for a problem then u r guilty. free bumper or case, wrong formula 'so iphone2g, 3g, 3gs have the wrong formula?', software update fix, forcefully create distortion on other phone. guilty guilty
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That's because they were in a place where the signals weren't weak (remember Steve Jobs showed videos and didn't demonstrate it on any of the smartphones).
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It's hard to tell who's lying. I have an iPhone 3GS that looses signal when I grip it the way Apple demonstrates it but it wasn't always this way. I always had great reception with AT&T up until about last year. I blame all my friends who started getting iPhones and jailbreaking them to tether. I'm not defending Apple, but I think the overall issue is with AT&T. The reason Apple keeps saying "It only happens in certain areas" is because it does. I drove trucks all over this country and could pin point the areas where my iPhone had better signal than my Verizon USB card. And my brother, who also drives trucks and has Verizon, dropped more calls than me. I just wish Steve Jobs tried the death grip at the conference. It would be odd to see the iPhone 4 lose bars while the Blackberry (assuming its on AT&T as well) didn't loose any bars. Only then can one really judge.
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iPhone4 has a serious defect, it's a malfunctioning phone, dropping calls and signals. Worse it has been iFAKING signals. Thats fraud, showing signals when there isn't, Jobs admited to that.
Consumer report said not to buy iPhone4 because of it's serious defect. What if 911 Droped calls causes real deaths?
AAPL/Jobs has forever been lying and dishonest about their security issues and malfunctioning products, then blame the consumers and media.
AAPL/Jobs has lied about the antena malfunction.
AAPL/Jobs has lied about the nasty emails to customers
AAPL/Jobs has been more dishonest and ruthless and selfish than the Chinese communist regime.
If it was any other company they would have been in more hot water than AAPL is right now.iPhone4 is a marketting gimmic. It is not capable of running on 4G network and does not run on 4G network. Only EVO 4G and soon coming Samsung Epic 4G runs on 4G network
AAPL/Jobs has been forgiven all the time for all wrongs, including on your face lies, and 3rd party blame game.EVO 4G vs. iPhone4 vs Droid, EVO 4G wins hands down easy. See it yourself on this 101 comparison infront of your eyes.
http://skattertech.com/2010/06/infographic-evo-4g-vs-iphone-4-vs-droid-x/comment-page-1/#comment-77677 -
What Jobs said?!!! Must use the case provided free, in order to use the iphone 4?! It is like force you to wear condom whenever you want to have sex. How ridiculous!
I decide to keep my unlocked and jailbroken iphone 3GS, and wait for the new iphone 4a, which will solves all the hardware software design problems.
Genuine apple products at discount price! go to www.theAppleDeal.com
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I personally like my iPhone 4 overall but the whole "all cell phones have this problem" is just a cover for what is uniquely an iPhone 4 problem. While it is true that your hand will attenuate the signal, that is not the root of the primary problem people are having.
By having something "span" the gap between the two antennas you are essentially "shorting" them together. Try putting an iPhone 4 on a table on its side... place a penny (a conductive copper object) across the gap and watch the signal drop. Repeat the same experiment with a case on and place the penny in the same location and it won't. The penny is not large enough to sufficiently attenuate the signal. All Apple had to do was cover the antennas with a non-conductive coating and the whole issue would have been solved.
As the article said, this isn't a deal breaker for me. I use a case to protect the phone so it's not an issue but it irritates me that Apple won't own up and admit that they messed up. Really makes you wonder about those Mac Vs. PC adds where they claimed that windows had problems but tried to cover them up.
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Do you own an iPhone 4 or an Evo?
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If Apple wasn't so concerned about their stock and actually cared for their customers then they would have offered a real solution for the antenna issue although I didn't expect them to recall it. It is a fact that all phones lose signal when gripped a certain way but he should have admitted that the iPhone 4 is prone to such an issue since it's antenna is on the outside. But it's business first so they offer a convenient rubber band that only covers the antenna to remedy the so called non-issue. iPhones boast the highest profit margins of any Apple product so why as a customer should you stand for the way they have handled this issue. They have had more than enough time to manufacture the iPhone since they only release one every year and considering the 3gs wasn't much of an upgrade then you can say they had more than a year. Why does it take three weeks to handle a non-issue and why hold a conference for a non-issue that affects all mobile phones and less than 1% of Apple users? It's really disappointing how they continue to handle all this. It's just a bunch of lies and excuses. If they are confronted by the majority with what is essentially a design flaw then they would be forced to fix it and offer what can only be a better and greater product. But this is Apple and this is prob the end of this. If there is nothing wrong with the design then we should all expect the same design next year as they claim its a superior design without flaws.
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Well I do believe they all have this problem. The only difference is that the iPhone's antenna is out in the open as opposed to other phones which have their antennas inside. That's were the case comes in. Its sorta like putting the antenna back inside but it makes it bulkier. Apple wanted to design a smaller phone, not a brick phone like the Evo.
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I love my 3G and was seriously considering getting the 4 but now i dont think so i have allways appreciated apple products(not loved im no fanboy) but for all that money and no physical solution i find it disgusting what if you want to keep your 4. Ut dont want to ruin the look with a bumper?the answer from Jobs is TUFF ****.for this reason im getting the palm pre plus.yes it isnt the best phone but it aint the worst plus its cheaper and i dont have to pay for basic apps like a video recorder that should have allready been on the iphone when 1st released.so goodbye apple and maybe one day when you get your prioraties right and realise its was us the customers that put you where you are today i might come back so thankyou and goodbye :)
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What the update does is show just how bad att is even with a microcell fifty feet away. Jobs major error was not having multiple vendors from getgo. But the iPhone remIns a remarkable thing,and Apple a very well managed company offering great and beautifully designed products.
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The Battery is so much better in addition to the front facing camera and flash its worth a few dropped calls
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I must comment on these two posts. These two posts perfectly demonstrate the difference between the truth (what CM is saying) and what Apple is wanting us to believe (the response by hxclos).
CM is EXACTLY right about this. I've been saying this same thing over and over on here and the Apple discussion forum for weeks. Apple is trying to pass this off as a different issue that does affect all phones. The problem is the iPhone 4 faces two completely different antenna issues. One being the expected issue that Apple keeps talking about. This does affect all phones and if this was the only antenna issue the iPhone 4 has this wouldn't be an issue, there would have been no press conference and we wouldn't be getting free bumpers. The truth is, this problem is iPhone 4 specific. Apple knows this and is doing their best to cover it up. The sad part is their followers just believe whatever Jobs says without question.
No offense hxclos (I know that you just don't understand the real issue yet), but users like you are exactly what Apple is hoping for. If you believe that ALL phones have THIS problem then Apple's lies are working on you. It really sucks that such a large percentage of people believe this lie. If I had to guess I'd say that less than 5% understand the real issue. Everyone else just thinks that it's a non-issue. The sooner everyone realizes that this is a new iPhone 4 specific issue the better. Until the vast majority realizes this, Steven Jobs and Apple will be off the hook and laughing at us.
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Basically, the had poor engineering (in the name of aesthetics and what seemed a good idea). They compounded that with poor testing. Then added on denial, excuses, and finger pointing.
The fact is, their basic flaw was in thinking that a smart phone is typically used for phone calls. I'm willing to bet that it's primarily used as a handheld computer. Their assumption about holding it in the right hand makes sense for phone calls. People tend to hold it in the opposite hand when using it as a hand held. For a right hand dominated species, that means holding it in the left hand and using the right to manipulate the GUI. Which causes the worst attenuation. And making it even worse, that's the use where the user is looking directly at the bar indicator.
The iphone 4 has many nice features, however, it's core is a radio communication device. The fact that they did such poor engineering and testing on this core functionality is appalling. Oh well, it's not their first "fail": Look at AppleTV and the early Intel Mini's for other grant Apple "engineering fails".
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One last thing, this statement by Apple is once again even more BS. If the problem was just touching the antenna, holding it any way would have the same negative effect. Trust me, they wouldn't design a phone with an external antenna that can't be touched at all. They just made a mistake by somehow not realizing that making a connection between these two antennas causes a problem. That is one scenario. The other worse scenario is that they did know and just released it anyway. Either way, the problem is not what Apple describes in this response, their last response, or their press release. Every legit that they were asked yesterday was completely dodged. If you ask me they stuck to their script and did not answer a damn thing. The Q&A session really pissed me off. You can completely cover the left side of the phone as long as you don't bridge the gap without causing the issue. You can place one finger above the line and one below without a problem. So obviously touching it is not the problem. The second you place your finger over the line which connects the two sides there is a huge problem.
Bottom line: Touching the external antenna, not the issue. Signal loss due to "deathgrip" that affects all phones, not the issue (Although this will cause the main issue of connecting the antennas). This other antenna issue is very convenient for Apple. If this other normal issue didn't exist they would have no way to cover this up. Now they can just pick up any phone, hold it the same way, and show that some bars drop. The difference is the reason behind the bars dropping. That is something that they have yet to and probably never will go into detail about.
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Fk All this explanations don't kill the problem. They failed in some way it happens with every company and its not the first time apple does.
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Well that says it all the touch of the hand affects the antenna so if you put it on the outside your gonna have problems. I returned my iphone for a refund until the come up with a solution. I don't want to be stuck with a bad design for two years. I liked all of the other stuff the camera and music player sounds great too. Oh well I'll stick with my 2g for another year and save my money.
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I actually knew where the antenna is on my 3gs, im getting a 4 anyways.
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i am in an area with a great signal and i just covered the top of my nokia 7500. the signal dropped by 3 bars. i know people think jobs is a c*nt but the man has a point. its just a pity that the iphone 4's weak spot is in a place that is pretty common for people to grab.
thats my 2 cents worth! :)
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(Self)Esteemed Jobs demonstrate is nothing else than a pathological narcissist... Also a little bit retarded as he is talking about love and care - and other "flower power" stuff but he forget to mention that we pay more than 1000 usd to find out that an iphone is just another smartphone, subject to all smartphones antenna problems. So, for more than 800 usd (that's the difference between the manufacturing costs and the retail price for an iphone) we'll get a free bumper and correct iphone holding instructions from the America's worst dressed man. Don't get me wrong - iphone 3 is good, iphone 4 seems to be better, but the way the big boss from Rotten Apple is trying to explain that an iphone is just a smartphone and all these happens just becouse "these are facts of life" makes me think twice before i'll sell my kidney to buy another Apple product...
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Hi iPhonehacks can you please
Call dev team and tell them
We need JB ASAP. -
Maybe you didn't understand me. I agree the problem is with the bridge of the two antennas. It is proven that the bridge doesn't necessarily have to be a hand but any current conductor. I simply said other cell phones purposely keep their antennas inside their plastic shell to avoid this issue. Apple put this outside in the open so the case as a solution makes perfect sense. My 3GS doesn't drop like an iPhone 4 but does drop when you grip it the way Apple has demonstrated. Covering the phone with your hand is like taking your phone in a cave. It's gonna drop the signal unless you build a tower down there thus the reason why Apple is saying this happens in areas with a weak signal. Trust me, I take **** with a grain of salt but I also put two and two together before I talk out of my ass.
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BTW, if you don't believe what I am saying, take any new phone out there and open it up. Bridge the antennas with either your hand or anything that conducts current and you will have the same problem. Why? Again, because Apple designed their iPhone 4 with the antennas out in the open as opposed to inside. Why would they do that? They were simply aiming for the bragging rights of having the slimmest phone.
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Bad Form!
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You'll get it when they're ready sunshine.
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My wife and I received the new 4G Iphones a couple of days ago. With our old 3GS phones, we always had an OK coverage at our home (usually 3 bars, rare drop calls, voice quality was always good). With our 4Gs , we have one bar, searching foe signal is common, and poor quality voice.
We are returning our new 4Gs -
IMHO, what is giving all of us grief is Apple 'letting us down' by obviously BS'ing away about a number of issues.
Fact is that they knew that this problem was likely - they chose to gamble - and lost!
I don't think any of us believe that iPhone 4 isn't a great product. We would have all accepted this flaw if only Apple had stated it BEFORE they launched the product.
Just my take...
