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iOS Update May Tackle iPhone 4's Antenna Problems
DJRumpy was one of several readers to point out rumors that Apple will soon be deploying an update to iOS 4 to combat the iPhone 4 antenna problems we discussed last week. This could be good news for users of the 1.7 million iPhone 4s purchased during the first three days of its release. (And no, Daily Mail, Steve didn't announce a recall, though there's speculation that this problem could be a boon for Android.) An anonymous reader notes an analysis of a teardown of the phone, which found that its parts collectively cost about $188, with the most expensive part — the LCD screen — costing $28.50 by itself. In other Apple news, Germany has demanded that the company "immediately make clear" what data it collects from customers, and what use it makes of that data (perhaps spurred by Google's Wi-Fi sniffing debacle).
How a software update will fix an human-caused short circuit.
"All of it," replies Steve.
"Good use," replies Steve.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
All phones have sensitive areas," Jobs wrote. "Just avoid holding it in this way."
Now the iPhone won't have a sensitive area? Huh?
This space for rent.
I call name collision. Please refer to the iPhone/iPad operating system as something other than IOS because Cisco used it first.
I know modern radio platforms have a lot of software flexibility, but the limited knowledge of antennas I've picked up from messing with long-range WiFi and my ham radio experiments tells me this is not something that can be patched out with an OS upgrade.
That is unless the OS upgrade comes with a coupon for a free rubber bumper thingy...
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
AppleInsider article by Daniel Eran Dilger.
Oh dear.
Irrespective of the possibility of fixing the issue in software (on which subject I expect there will be no shortage of ill-informed opining here), Dilger's not what you'd call a trustworthy source.
Names for the fix may vary. I call the fix "Nexus One". You might call it "Evo 4G", or any number of other names. Regardless of what you call it, I'm sure it will work equally well!
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
What? Problem with the antenna? A pure hardware problem that will be solved with the next iOS update, i.e. software problem??? Here i am lost, since when we entered the era of quantum phones?
You're in direct contact with the antenna (unless there's a clear plastic shield on it). Anybody feel a small "burning" sensation on their fingertips yet?
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Do these people still not know how cellphones are priced? A 8GB iPhone 3GS is about $530, and prices for the iPhone 4 are expected to be $600 to $700. The $199 price quoted in TFA is only after you agree to a ~$2000 contract.
The update activates the nanite-producing capabilities of the iPhone. The nanites then patch up the phone and install a neural transceiver into the owner. After that, he will never again complain about any Apple product.
Only Android phones are cheap enough to be provided in 2-for-1 offers.
Android needs a task manager but doesn't come with one. 3rd party task managers are available that can corrupt apps. The most popular Android task manager doesn't show which apps are consuming the battery most.
The EVO 4G judders.
This is the same thing they said about the EDGE/3G wobble in the Nexus One.
The "update" didn't change a fucking thing.
Yeah, how about they fix whatever they broke in iOS 4 for us 3G users. My phone has decresed in speed by at least half since I installed iOS 4...
MABASPLOOM!
"We've fixed the glitch", replied Jobs.
"Wait, but the antenna still doesn't work any better. All you did was make the OS display 4 bars instead of 2."
"We've fixed the glitch."
How could a software update fix a hardware problem with the antenna? Isn't basic physics involved?
I would genuinely like to know. Plenty of people here (who aren't me unfortunately) know how antennas work, anything that could be done without changing the hardware involved?
is competition good, or is duplication of effort bad?
If you do, do you experience the antenna shorting signal drop to zero issue? I'm curious, because 99% of the messages I see about this issue, on all forums, are from people talking about the problem, but who do not make any mention of actually have an iPhone 4 nor even of knowing anyone who has the problem. Now, maybe in fact everyone who has an iPhone 4 has this issue, but I am having a hell of a time trying to figure that out. And I'm trying to figure that out because I've got an iPhone 4 on order and I'd like to know if I should keep it. Android fans declaring, definitively, perhaps spurred on by the speculation of a specialist who doesn't have an iPhone 4 either, that the iPhone 4 has a fatal flaw does not tell me one way or the other. iPhone 3GS, 3G and iPhone owners saying that the iPhone 4 has a fatal flaw tells me nothing. The only people I want to hear from are genuine iPhone 4 users. So... do you have the issue?
--- What?
So I guess Steve Jobs' response to the concerned buyer should have been "Just don't hold it like that......and download the Apple patch."
For a smart guy, he's a fucking moron.
I'm starting to feel like slashdot has turn to some sort of engadget degenerate ... also the only IOS that matters to nerds is the one by Cisco, so this is quite misleading
"I'm sure Steve Jobs will fix this immediately."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h3Ogt2L44Q
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
In other Apple news, Germany has demanded that the company "immediately make clear" what data it collects from customers, and what use it makes of that data (perhaps spurred by Google's Wi-Fi sniffing debacle).
While updating my Ipod touch (3gs) last night I noticed in the tos that you can control which apps have access to the service. I think this is a cool idea but I didn't see anything in the new os that allows me that access. It doesn't really matter that much for me as I usually turn location services off till needed but what is Apple pulling here? I'd be very disappointed if that only works with an iphone.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
it's only 2k if you count the basic phone plan, but by this point pretty much any consumer buying an iphone is either switching from some other form of cell phone or would probably at least get a basic cell phone if they didn't end up with a smart phone of some kind.
Pretend I want to develop an app that runs on an iPhone 4. Until there's an iPod Touch 4, I have to buy an iPhone 4 to test on an iPhone 4. I am satisfied with my current phone plan at $7 per month from Virgin Mobile USA. So yes, it would cost me over a thousand dollars to switch to an iPhone.
Interested to know how a software update will fix an human-caused short circuit.
It's not a short circuit, it's just the fact that the user's hand is physically covering the antenna, and thus interfering with it...
I believe their plan was to send intense pulses down the antenna periodically, felt by the user as a small electric shock, so they won't hold the phone that way any more.
Bow-ties are cool.
keeps the paycheck away.
"I like it when the red water comes out.."
The upcoming OS update might fix it. But if the update is no help, Apple would probably still say it'll be fixed soon, so keep buying them. If the update doesn't fix the issue, this will allow them to sell as many as they can before the update is released and sales drop like a left handed call.
This sentence no verb.
I went down to my local apple store and tested out 9 iPhone 4s. Of those 9, 4 showed the problem, while 5 were perfectly fine. The test was to place my thumb on the lower left spot, thus "shorting" the two antennas. I repeated my test on each one multiple times and it was consistent. This leads me to believe it's a production batch issue and not any of the other theories being floated around.
Any software fix will only be covering up the problem.
Of course, who doesn't use a case though?
The apps ask you when they first want access to Location, which is not really new.
The new thing is when you go to Settings -> General -> Location Services (which might fool you into thinking it only sets Yes/No), where you'll see all apps that use Location Services and you can turn them off and on by hand. A little arrow head next to the app indicates it's used your Location in the last 24 hours. An app won't be in this section without having asked to use Location Services first, but it's really nice to be able to track and revoke Location permissions after the initial ask.
Oops, might have just started something there...
No, it IS a short circuit*. If you bridge the two pieces of metal on either side of the band width a small metal object (a key, paper clip, etc) you get the same effect without blocking most of the antenna.
Of course, my testing is only a single data point, but I've asked other people to do the same and they've seen similar results.
* Ok, I don't think it's really a short. But by bridging an antenna with another piece of metal, you're altering it's length and as a result the frequencies that it will pick up.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
so the gap is on the top of the phone?
I submit the following conspiracy theory to explain the antenna situation:
Apple, in its efforts to thwart unlockers, knowingly ships a defective baseband firmware in iOS4, fully expecting it to be unlocked quickly. Apple then releases iOS4.01 with a new firmware, fixing the horrible issue, as well as the unlocking vector.
Sound possible?
there are ways to test the app using a phone simulator.
Is the iPhone 4 simulator accurate enough to the point where one can test an app exclusively on the simulator and be reasonably certain that it will work on the device? Or is it like Nesticle, the obsolete emulator whose inaccuracies the NES homebrew scene loves to hate?
if you are looking to make a living from your apps, then a $1000 business expense if your apps really take off is not all that huge.
What's the easiest way for someone with a thin credit file to come up with over $2,000 of startup capital to buy what is needed to start a business (Mac, iPhone, iPhone developer certificate, and 24 months of an extra phone line)?
What about fixing folders to be something that is actually usable. Talk about a kludge. It looks like the kind of crap you'd find on Android. You have to click to enter/exit a folder, each can hold only 12 apps, and they are crap ugly. I knew folders was a bad design idea when I heard about it but after seeing it I know it is way worse than I imagined. Why not allow home screens to be grouped by topic and scroll up/down between them similar to the existing left/right scrolling? Why not make them smart so apps can be in more than one and defined either manually or by user-created rules? Doh. Screw iPhone users. I paid $900 for an iPad with 64GB of storage and I can only have eleven pages of apps and folder feature, coming someday to iPad, is horrible.
Multitasking is fine. All the whining is that it isn't like a PC. Folders is a bad implementation because it is to much like a PC.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
It made my Ipod touch (2nd or 3rd gen, I'm not sure which) become much less responsive, pauses a lot when trying to "do stuff" and iBooks is just horribly unresponsive (6 full seconds just to switch the font style). I'll be reverting back to OS3 as soon as I figure out if it can be done without wiping out all my data.
It works really great. Basically, during your call if the quality goes any bad or there is a drop, the phone plays the sound of VUZULELA automatically until the signal is picked up again. This way it never really drops the call, at least not obviously.
No, it IS a short circuit*.
...
* Ok, I don't think it's really a short.
Is this one of those riddles where you have to figure out which villager is the one who lies every time and which one always tells the truth?
But my reading of the situation was that both bits of metal are antennas, and the phone can use either or both. If they set the phone to use both antennas then a short between them would not be important.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
The antenna problem seems just the start.
Many, i.e All the new apps are a bust.
The iOS 4 and iPhome 4 appear a very distant, Gamma, at best, and an experimental model at worst.
Question: Why did Apple release this?! It is likely to take a year or more to fix the various hardware and software problems.
Question: Did Apple release the iPhome 4 becaue Jobs will not live to see it as a completed working device? (!)
A photo of Jobs and the iPone 4 White shows him holding it in his left hand.
Did the "connection - reception problem" at the WWDC result from "left handedness" or "bandwidth crowding"?
...who is completely unable to replicate this problem?
I just really want to be a part of the mob, but no mattery how hard I try I can't seem to hold the damn thing in any way that causes signal loss!
I've tried in calls and out of calls; the bars don't move, the calls don't drop. Do I have some kind of magical iPhone?
-kt
There is no reception problem./a>
Where can you get such a nice screen so cheaply?
I have been looking for screens of varying size for custom tablet projects, but I find it rather difficult to find a good usable screen.
Now the IPhone screen is too small for my needs, but I wonder where one would even start looking for something that good and that cheap.
HTC Droid Incredible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaDE941PzQ
Nexus One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2g5J4qPp54
Nokia E71: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1gHDa7-X0
Nokia 6230: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_RP7Fn1w8Q
Nokia 6720: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ7t75Uo6qQ
You can keep on blaming the phone for carrier network issues in some cities but it does not change facts.
There are videos of the 3G and 3GS upgraded to iOS 4 exhibiting a similar issue if you hold it a certain way in your left hand but the strength of your local network towers is still a factor as I have only been able to bring my 3GS running iOS4 down by one bar from full service while trying to reproduce the problem because I have strong Fido towers all around me. I don't even hold my iPhone that way most of the time when I'm on a call.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Once again, Android had this feature long before the iPhone. . .