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Apple To Issue a 'Fix' For iPhone 4 Reception Perception
Lisandro and several other readers let us know that Apple has just released a statement addressing the signal issues a lot of users are having with their iPhone 4. They claim to have discovered the cause for the drop in bars, which is "both simple and surprising" — a wrong formula used to calculate how many bars are displayed for a given signal strength. "Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. ... we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. 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. ... We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G." Wired notes that there is still a signal drop when the iPhone 4 is gripped in particular ways.
Apple is both right and wrong here. They're right in that the bar display has been misleading from the start. They're wrong in saying that was some accident. Of course they know about it. More bars makes your phone look good and to hell with giving the user a sane metric for phone reception.
They're right to say that the bare antenna in not a design flaw. They're wrong to conclude that this means it is not a problem. The only proper way out of this is free bumpers and dielectric coating over the antenna on future models. I know Apple likes to charge $30 for their $0.30 loop of rubber bumper case but this time, they could really be in trouble, so they need to suck it up and do what's right.
And if I see one single comment pimping the Android in this story, I'll have all you Android fans know that you have become what you hate. Why can't someone use a product they like for any reason at all? Is that not allowed anymore, or do we all have to care about the same things you care about and use the same phone that you use?
It's well known that the iPhone has never reported reception as it should. So what, they fix this software bug and it becomes apparent to everyone that their AT&T reception sucks. So, is Apple trying to place the blame on AT&Ts shoddy service instead of taking the blame for designing a defective antenna? This is ludicrous.
It's sad, if it was any other manufacturer, people would return these defective phones in droves and there would be a massive recall. Because it's an iPhone people are willing to ignore these issues that should honestly result in a class action lawsuit to extend the return period from 30 days to 60 or 90 days with a free optional rubber bumper. This whole situation is absurd.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
New AT&T logo -- "Less bars in more places?"
AT&T has got to be hating this update. It's going to expose their lack of coverage in a HUGE way.
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
This doesn't change the fact that the signal strength changes with how you hold the phone. If the change manifests itself only in fewer bars, everything will be alright. If actual call quality or reliability is affected, this change won't do anything for that
THIS!
Dear Apple, please note that shifting the blame to your crappy, and exclusive, network partner won't work. You can't mitigate the act of holding the phone in a natural way via software update. The end result is still a dropped call, and with the thing up to your face you're not going to notice what the bars say anyway.
Idiots.
Even if this were a true fix, and I don't believe for a second that it is mind you, but if it were you'd want to sneak it in via security update and THEN start laying blame on AT&T. Not preemptively!
Just flat out moronic.
They are not solving the problem as reported, they are redefining the problem to something they can fix without a hardware recall.
The problem as reported is that the signal strength weakens consistently when the phone is held in a certain way. This is clearly a hardware issue, but hardware issues are expensive to fix. So, Apple fixes a similar but ultimately unrelated problem via a much cheaper software patch and hopes their loyal fan base will just pay attention to the fact that *a* problem has been fixed, even if it isn't *the* problem everyone is complaining about.
Unless Apple honestly believes this software patch will fix the actual reported problem, which I find very difficult to believe, they are acting in an unethical and customer-unfriendly manner in order to avoid the real solution, which would be to issue a recall of their flagship product and fix the hardware.
I have inside information. This is the actual code after the fix:
if (user.fanboy) marketing.damagecontrol.emit("you are holding it wrong");
else if (user.dumberthanthat) marketing.damagecontrol.emit("there was never a reception problem. we just displayed the wrong number of bars");
else if (user.inclassactionlawsuit) marketing.damagecontrol.emit("here is a coupon for $20 off our $30 rubber bumper, which cost us pennies to make");
"His name was James Damore."
Again about that AC activity that always supports the vendor in question, in any discussion.
Man up and log in. It isn't really all that hard.
Apple is making a change to provide more useful information to users of their device. They are not claiming it will keep calls from dropping, but that it will give you information that will help you know when your calls are likely to drop.
Yes, it sucks that the iPhone has antenna issues. Yes, it sucks that they experience disconnections. However, suggesting that Apple is being deceptive when they are doing a reasonable job of mitigating a hardware problem by providing a software update is not accurate or fair.
Oh, and you SUCK for putting me in the position of defending Apple. I don't like Apple's model, I don't like the closed ecosystem, and I don't like the smug, cult-like user community. But this issue is NOT an example of what I don't like about Apple. This is an example of Apple doing the right thing. I encourage this from every company, and suggesting it's bad is overt discouragement to companies that do the right thing.
The problem as reported is that the signal strength weakens consistently when the phone is held in a certain way. This is clearly a hardware issue
All mobile phones will have signal strength weakened when you cover the antenna area with the hand. That's physics, not a design problem. Whether you notice the problem or not depends on how strong the signal from the base station is in the first place.
The problem reported was the number of bars that this lost. e.g. from the article that was linked to from the first slashdot article on this issue:
"Signal drops from 4-5 bars to 'searching for signal...' when I hold it in my palm or cover up the line on the lower left side of the phone," reported a user identified as "yoshjosh" on the thread. "I understand that cell signals may degrade when you cover up the antenna, but I have never seen anything this severe, and I'm not holding the phone differently than I think most people hold their phones. This is a real issue."
Other phones might drop one bar when you cover the antenna with your hand. The iPhone with it's current software might drop 4 bars. That doesn't mean that the signal to the iPhone is dropping more than the other phone. Just that the algorithm used for the display is different.
If Apple is switching to the algorithm that the US carrier suggests, then that is a perfectly reasonable move.
Want to see the same issue with other phones?
Nokia E71.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1gHDa7-X0
HTC Droid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaDE941PzQk
Blackberry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaDE941PzQk
The "fix" will simply allow someone to realize their signal sucks to begin with. If they are showing 1 bar and the call drops then they expect that, but if they're erroneously showing 4-5 bars and the signal drops they think there's a huge problem. I think this "error" is not an error at all, and Apple really set this bar scale like that on purpose for marketing purposes. People always think more bars is better so they calibrate it to show 5 bars even if the signal sucks.
How did this go unnoticed so long? I mean 5 bars on the AT&T network and no one thought that was suspicious?
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
To all the folks unhappy with both the performance of the new iPhone and Apple's response, please heed the advise in this portion of the press release:
"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."
Seriously. Please.
All this ridiculous, over-the-top, self-righteous indignation and emotional hand-wringing over a gadget not meeting your expectations is just pathetic.
Apple has taken a stand on this issue. They say it works as designed and claim the reception is better than their previous model. You think they're full of shit? Great. Quit posting whiney, indignant messages on the internet and return the goddam thing.
If the problem is half as bad as all the stories make it out to be, Apple will be flooded with returns and that will have a much greater effect that millions of lines of internet bitching.
Disclosure: I'm a satisfied owner of several Apple products. I don't own an iPhone and have no plans to purchase one. My wife and I have free-with-subscription LG phones on Verizon. Oh, and guess what? If I hold the phone by the bottom, signal degrades. If I hold it that way in an area with poor cell coverage, service is lost entirely. You think if I submit my sob story to Slashdot, Gizmodo, CNET, CNN, etc. they will make it front page news?
Does it matter if the parent might be wrong?
Every phone I've ever owned, from cheap-o flip phones, to multiple Blackberries, to multiple HTC/WinMo phones, has been able to accurately tell me the quality of my signal, in real time via the "bar" type display. Based on that I would surmise that programmatically translating raw signal into "bars" has long been a solved problem.
So....
a) Apple programmers can't even build a bike shed.
b) Apple programmers have been intentionally obfuscating signal strength from iPhone users.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.