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.

Comments

for wlan at least

[dropadrop]

If my 3GS wireless bar is anything to go by I find this fairly easy to believe. It shows anything between full to almost empty reception (not affecting speed) in my home. I've never quite figured out what was causing it.

It is just PR "managing" the bad press ...

[janoc]

Software patch cannot fix signal attenuation from a hand. Why does this look like only an attempt to make the complaints and bad press go away by making the problem harder to notice? If you have no bars displayed, you wouldn't notice that you are losing signal from holding the phone, because you would be under the impression that the coverage is poor. And in an area with a strong signal you do not see the issue anyway, because the signal level is strong enough to saturate the meter even if your hand is over the antenna.

It looks more like a clever way to disguise the problem and push the blame on the carrier by hiding behind poor coverage, nothing more.

It reminds me of Sony (I think it was them) who "fixed" one of their overheating laptop series by having users download a "patch" that would turn off the power management in Windows and make the fans go non-stop. It certainly stopped the overheating, but at the price of shortened fan life and a very noisy machine ...

Re:Formula change

[Xiozhiq]

Well, There are some issues with the calculation of bars. I could pretend I knew what I was talking about, or that I'd RTFAs, but instead I'll just post this link to a FANTASTIC review of iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 3g[s] vs. Nexus One reception under various holding-conditions. ALL phones suffer signal loss when you hold them. The iPhone 4 is just a SLIGHTLY more egregious offender than other phones. That being said, though, it is much better at having a high quality of service even with lower signal strength. Something something something dBm something signal to noise something something.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

Re:Formula change

[Montezumaa]

I can tell you that this suggestion is horseshit. How do I know? I live in an area that has horrible(read: no coverage) AT&T service coverage and my phone is perpetually stuck at either one bar(sometimes) and no bars. Prior to updating the phone to iOS 4.0, I could put the phone into engineering mode and the db level was correct, in regards to db level to bars displayed.

I am not sure what Apple is aiming for, but the public cannot be dumb enough to believe this. While software can have a great effect on hardware, it cannot do anything about mechanical flaws. At least not at this magnitude.

It is like Apple is saying, "Our product is great, damn it! Now, shut the fuck up and enjoy it!" Sorry, Mr. Jobs, but I am just not going to buy the bullshit you are trying to peddle.

Re:Formula change

[toadlife]

Prior to updating the phone to iOS 4.0, I could put the phone into engineering mode and the db level was correct, in regards to db level to bars displayed.

+1

I would bet that the particular code in iOS4 that translates db level into bars was probably originally written for the first iPhone OS and hasn't changed one iota since.

I wonder if the people handling the class action against Apple can subpoena their source code and catch them in this obvious lie.
 

Re:Formula change

[tomz16]

Anand shows that the iphone 4 is SUBSTANTIALLY worse than the 3GS in terms of signal attenuation in four different situations (in one case, by as much as 18db !) This is contrary to Apple's claims that the revolutionary antenna design gives the iphone4 superior RF performance to previous generations.

You are correct that the iphone4 is better than the HTC nexus one in a SINGLE test by 0.5db. It is, however, worse in all remaining tests by 2.5 to 9.1db.

As for signal strength indicators, it has been my casual observation that GSM carriers typically over-estimate the idle "bars" they report. A GSM phone with 1-2 bars is rarely usable for an actual conversation, especially if you are in motion. In contrast, pretty much every CDMA phone I have had could place and receive acceptable calls with 0 bars showing while idle.

Additional thoughts :
- I think it's comical that apple will now make the first 3 bars "taller" to make them "easier to see"
- I believe the fact that they are still selling the 3GS, and specifically re-state that they are willing to take any undamaged phone back within 30 days for a full refund absolves them of all responsibility for this bruhaha... if you keep or purchase an iphone4 at this point, despite the well-publicized reception problems, you have no right to complain, IMHO.