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Apple Offers Free Cases To Solve iPhone 4 Antenna Problems
Apple just finished their press conference about the iPhone 4 antenna issues that have been widely reported and discussed in the past few weeks. Steve Jobs started by showing that the problem wasn't limited to iPhones, using videos of the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the HTC Droid Eris, and the Samsung Omnia 2 as examples, all of which dropped bars while being gripped in certain ways. He said, "This is life in the smartphone world. Phones aren't perfect. It's a challenge for the whole industry. Every phone has weak spots." He went on to say that only 0.55% of all iPhone 4 users have called in to complain about reception problems, and that the return rate on the iPhone 4 so far is less than a third of the return rate for the 3GS. Jobs then said that according to their data, the iPhone 4 drops an average of less than one additional call per hundred than the 3GS. He continued by pointing out that because the 3GS was based on the 3G, there was already a large supply of Bumpers, which most customers left the store with. When the iPhone 4 came out, the old Bumpers didn't fit, so stock was lower and fewer customers used them (80% vs. 20%). Therefore, Apple's solution to the antenna problems is to give a free case to every iPhone 4 purchaser before September 30. Refunds will be offered for those who already purchased one. Since they can't make the Bumpers fast enough, they'll be supplying other cases from third parties. Jobs also acknowledged recently reported problems with the proximity sensor, promising a future software update to fix it. Engadget's liveblog of the conference has a ton of pictures and more direct quotes from Jobs. It's worth looking at if only for pictures of Apple's anechoic testing chambers.
Pretty much what we would expect from any company in Apple's shoes. Damage control at minimum cost.
Apple's numbers are suspicious. Everyone I know with an iPhone 4 has the issue(s) but NONE of them have called AppleCare or gone to the Apple store to complain. They have all been patiently waiting for Apple to take care of them.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
From the Q/A:
10:41AM Q: I can't get my Bold to drop right now, maybe you can show me how to do it?
Steve: You may not see it in certain areas.
Yet there's a suspiciously high number of calls on that line where the caller mumbles something incomprehensible and then hangs up.
include $sig;
1;
The Apple taketh away.
And on the third week of the coming of the iphone 4 Jobs said it was good... And gave to all gifts of bumpers to yoke the strength of the signal bar.
And it was good.
So sayeth the wise Jobs.
It kind of bugs me when people admit they have done something wrong but because other people also have problems then it is not that bad. Wonder what Jobs would say if there was a coding error in OS X? Doesn't matter 'cos MS do it all the time? It's the normalisation of mediocrity.
It seems like they're trying to cloud the issue, since there are two problems. One that all smartphones face: Your hand can capacitively interact with the antenna in the phone, and cause signal loss.
The other, that the Apple iphone 4 supposedly faces (And didn't in previous generations): bridging the gap between two different antennas causing noise to be effectively introduced to both, drastically reducing signal.
The thing is, you can trigger the latter problem without your hand being near it by using something metal to bridge the two antennas, I've seen that in action.
A Rubber bumper around the edge is enough to prevent problem two, and problem one just isn't as significant a loss, so it's acceptable.
Did Slashdot really just post some news within an hour of it actually happening? I think I may have clicked the wrong bookmark.
What about the months of testing they did on the unit before they um, I dont know, RELEASED it?
When you put it in perspective and consider the data offered, it is a fairly minor problem.
1) Every phone exhibits signal attenuation to some degree when the hand is placed on/near the antenna assembly, and many can be made to exhibit this same behavior;
2) The dropped call data from ATT shows that the iPhone 4 has performed less than 1 *more* dropped call per 100 calls than the 3GS - an increase, and a sign of a problem, but certainly not in the "IF YOU HAZ IPOHNE 4 U WILL DIEZ" class of problems.
3) 1.7% have been returned so far (about 1/3 the rate for the iPhone 3GS)
4) ~0.5% of the sales have prompted a call to AppleCare about this problem.
5) 3 Million units have been sold so far.
Does this sound like it's a widespread problem where 3 million iPhone 4's are nonfunctional? If all these iPhone 4's were causing call after call after call to drop and just weren't working, the return rate & AppleCare volume would be much higher. Their response is to adjust the signal strength algorithm being used to more accurately reflect the strength of the signal, to offer a free bumper case with each purchase, and to say "if you really find it intolerable, return it for a full refund." If you were following any of the coverage, Steve Jobs actually did offer an apology to "the small number of users affected by this," as well.
What more, realistically, do you expect them to do?
No, they said some people might have the problem that everyone's been blowing out of proportion. But only .5% (not 5 percent, half a percent) of users have even reported the problem.
Most of the people foaming at the mouth about this don't even have iPhones, they just want to see Apple fail.
Because these people have been so loud, the perception is that most people are having reception problems, which is simply not true. For most people the reception is better.
Because the media has created this perception, Apple is giving everyone free Bumpers.
die444die
...it's not a problem, the problem is unavoidable, everybody else has this problem too, and we're going to fix it.
from the WSJ: "[A reporter asks] 'Are you willing to make an apology?' 'You know, most of the customers that have iPhone 4s think it is the coolest thing they ever owned,' says Jobs. To the customers that are having problems 'I apologize to them.'"
This isn't a problem that will obviously show up under any circumstances.
If you're in an area of strong signal strength, like the Apple campus, you aren't going to notice it. If you use it in disguise, like the leaked one was, you aren't going to encounter it, since insulating the antenna from the hand solves the problem. If you don't hold it in a certain way, the problem won't happen. Moreover, this sort of thing happens to all phones, to a greater or lesser extent. Hold it in a certain way, and it'll lose signal.
It's a problem that shows up on the final physical model for certain ways of holding the phone in areas without a strong signal. Assuming Apple did tests under those conditions, a few testers would report a problem. They expected a few testers to report a loss in signal strength, because that always happens. In other words, it was the sort of problem that even a good testing program might miss.
Then, of course, the final physical model was released to millions of people who lived and worked in areas with considerably different signal strengths and who held the phone in various ways, and the problem became evident.
Speaking as somebody who has written software with bugs that shipped with intact bugs, I sympathize. Some problems are hard to find by the QA department, and the only way to become aware of them is to ship and let users doing different things in different environments pound on the software.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
How many of you people complaining actually HAVE an iPhone 4 and are actually experiencing the problem?! I for one cannot chime in on this debate yet because I'm up in Canada and we're not getting the iPhone 4 until July 30. (And you bet I'll be getting one).
I don't understand all this over-hyped apple-bashing. I know there are a lot of haters, but seriously, what more can you ask for from a company. Here's a direct quote from Steve from the Q&A session:
"For those customers we'll get them a case, and if that doesn't work, we'll get them a full refund. And we'll continue to work on antennas that don't have this problem."
Ummm .. they have a solution for you, free of charge. If you that doesn't solve your problem, or if you don't like their solution, they're offering a full refund! I'm not sure how much more they can do. They're not forcing you to buy any of their products.
Did you read that last sentence?! That's right, you actually have a choice!! Yay!
I guess people just like the attention on hating on others?! I don't know. You kids these days, can't be happy, can you?
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
Ask yourself where those numbers came from. .5%)
How does AT&T track dropped calls?
How many people will call support when they are told a fix is on the way? How many people call Apple Care? (thats the
When the calls get into support, how many are redirected to AT&T for "dropped" calls and then classified as a "non-issue"?
If you don't ask where the numbers came from, you can't tell when you are being lied to. If you've worked at any company at all you'd know how bastardized statistics can be -- you can get them to mean anything you want by hand-waving, reclassificaiton, etc.
Of course, for people that don't question, it becomes entirely what Jobs wanted by presenting this data...a "small" issue.
Furthermore, Apple does not admit the antenna is defective and does not intend to fix it.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
He went on to say that only 0.55% of all iPhone 4 users have called in to complain about reception problems
I'm guessing the other 99.45% couldn't get a signal.
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
"The dropped call data from ATT shows that the iPhone 4 has performed less than 1 *more* dropped call per 100 calls than the 3GS - an increase, and a sign of a problem, but certainly not in the "IF YOU HAZ IPOHNE 4 U WILL DIEZ" class of problems."
Ah, the beauty of statistical slight of hand. This number is incredibly misleading and you, as many others surely have, fell for it.
The important and telling ratio is [iPhone 4 dropped calls] / [iPhone 3GS dropped calls]. i.e. how many times worse is an iPhone 4 than and iPhone 3GS.
We don't get that number but we do get this other number that lets us draw a graph of how much worse the iPhone 4 is than the 3GS as a function of iPhone 3GS' dropped calls.
The resulting graph is damning no matter where you look. Let's assume that the "less than 1 more" is ~1 more (if it were less than 0.5, Apple would have been happy to point that out). If the iPhone 3GS drops 1/100, then iPhone 4 drops 2/100, or twice as many calls! The relative performance of iPhone 4 gets better as the iPhone 3GS' dropped calls fraction gets higher (i.e. AT&T's networks is worse). So if i3GS drops 5/100 i4 drops 6/100 which is only 1.2x worse.
Essentially, the i4 is much worse than i3GS or AT&T's network stinks.
Maybe the return rate was low because people wanted to check out the software fix they announced early on?
Wow, way to buy into all the marketing speak.
Every phone can be manipulated into signal degradation, but this phone allows the user to short the antenna while holding the device in a natural manner. Hardly the same thing.
Self-serving comments from ATT notwithstanding, the iphone has always been known to have relatively poor reception. It's a fantastic little device that does everything extremely well except make phone calls. And ATT's comment only cements that this model has the worst reception of all. This is a problem.
No way to verify the figure, but considering the short amount of time this has been out, and the publicity around the antenna problems, it's same to assume that a) not all phones that have been 'sold' have even been unboxed yet, and b) many who would be returning the phones were awaiting word from Apple on a recall or other remedy. In other words, this statistic is meaningless.
Another misleading number. Only a small fraction of people would ever call Apple support about this -- they'd be more likely to blame ATT, or to accept that the iphone just has poor reception.
You could easily turn same number around and completely change the meaning -- 'Within just weeks of the iphone's release, tens of thousands of user calls flooded AppleCare with complaints of antenna problems'.
Ford sold over 11 million Pintos. That doesn't excuse them from releasing a shoddy product that could have easily been fixed before its release.
What percentage of Pinto buyers do you think called Ford to complain about exploding gas tanks? How many of the cars were returned within a month of sale? Do you think other cars could be manipulated into having their tanks explode?
The iphone is a very cool device, but that doesn't give Apple a free pass when they screw something up.
The true problem is that they have a product with a flaw that was touted as the coolest thing in phone design since caller ID.
It was a marketing department screw up -- any antenna designer will tell you that exposing the antenna like that is a stupid idea. But, the coolness factor won out and the engineers had to do what they were told.
I for one am glad that they're getting raked over the coals. Too many times we engineers are forced to go along with stupid ideas: its rare that the full consequences hit back at those making the decisions.
The only thing left for Apple to do to make me happy is to admit that they put a higher priority on making the phone "cool" than on making it functional. Jobs didn't do that today and probably never will.
I've had to go along with way too many of these types of decisions.... Maybe this will be a lesson to others in the future.
And according to Jobs during the Q&A after this announcement, the Bloomberg story (that Gizmodo cites) is bullshit.
In the exact same Q/A an iPhone owner said he couldn't replicate it in the building to which Jobs said that it doesn't really apply to areas with good signal. Like ya know... the Apple Campus. Way to cherry pick. Or do you actually think Apple just made that video up and lied in a verifiable way to the assembled media?
Give Apple a break. Of course they couldn't test the iPhone 4 prior to releasing it, on account that one of their employees lost the prototype which was later found by Gizmodo. How were they supposed to test it without the single prototype they had?
I like my dinosaurs feathery, and my pterosaurs hairy (or is it pycnofibery?)
What was your point?
Yet you were able to walk into an Apple store and ask for help. You didn't have to wait on hold on some toll free tech support number and ask for an RMA number...
They are able to give their full undivided attention to you in within 2 hours. You just need to make an appointment first.
This indicates that other people have went through the trouble of making an appointment and will expect to not have to wait when they arrive. You could have easily made an appointment while in the store, online prior to going to the store, or even call them to make an appointment. I have had my MacBook Pro serviced by them, and I made an appointment. They promptly looked at my laptop when I arrived for my appointment. They identified the bad part and was able to replace it within the time alloted to each appointment which meant I was able to leave the store with a fully repaired laptop within 45 minutes of my arrival. I had AppleCare so price was not an issue.
A coworker had to have the motherboard replaced. He went to the store, and they verified that it wasn't something that could be easily fixed and would need to stay at least overnight. He was pleasantly surprised by a phone call around 5pm that said that if he made it to the store before they closed later that night, he would be able to pick up his repaired laptop.
Sounds about right. I replaced my Sony Vaio with the Apple MacBook Pro because after 1.5 years the backlight on the 17" screen went out. Getting the part from Sony was going to set me back $800 and I still had to do all the repairs myself. So instead of repairing the laptop, I took the oportunity to upgrade, and I made sure I purchased AppleCare with the laptop. The laptop is now over 3 years old and, other than that one visit to the Apple store, it has never given me any more problems. I'm using it now.
Excellent news! I'm glad you were able to save some money. I'm surprised you were able to purchase a new screen for only $120, but as long as the MacBook works!
You do realize it's like taking your car to the dealer for repairs versus doing it yourself with a third-party part that may or may not work. Apple warrantees their repair. You were able to find an inexpensive replacement part and fix it yourself which in the end meant that you assumed all the risk. Luckily everything worked out for you.
So you think you are better than everybody else, and don't need an appointment? Was the staff rude or were you just frustrated that they couldn't drop everything and look at your laptop?
Again I'm glad everything worked out in the end for you.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Just because other phones are poorly designed doesn't excuse this one. Seriously, Jobs is saying "Our phone doesn't work well, but the blackberry doesn't work well either, so we don't have to do a good job".
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
The important and telling ratio is [iPhone 4 dropped calls] / [iPhone 3GS dropped calls]. i.e. how many times worse is an iPhone 4 than and iPhone 3GS.
We don't get that number but we do get this other number that lets us draw a graph of how much worse the iPhone 4 is than the 3GS as a function of iPhone 3GS' dropped calls.
I can give you something very close to that number. I have seen figures for call drops from phones on several different networks. Generally the figures I see are somewhat anonymized to indicate only the baseband chipset used by the phone in question (apart from those made by my employer).
- A good phone drops under 1% of calls, when averaged over several million call attempts. The very best phones (which are usually inexpensive feature phones) get about 0.7% calls dropped.
- A decent smartphone drops something around 1.5-2% of calls, over a similar number of call attempts.
- A high-end Smartphone using the Infineon chipset drops around 2.7% of calls. The only such device I know of is the iPhone (3/3GS).
If the iPhone4 is dropping 1% more calls than the iPhone3/3GS, this implies something around 3.5% of calls dropped, which is a very poor result indeed. My employer gets put under a lot of pressure by networks for any device which is worse than 1.5%.
There is some variation in calls dropped by a given phone between different networks. This is a function of network planning, congestion and/or poor cell-site configuration, as well as the measurement methodology (which differs slightly between networks). However, the relative positioning of different devices in the league table doesn't change so much, and the absolute figures are pretty similar as well.
Designing a touchscreen smartphone with good RF performance is a huge challenge. A noisy high-speed apps processor, multiple radios and the presence of a large metal shield over most of the device (i.e. the LCD) are all major problems for designers to overcome. Oftentimes when I look at device teardowns, it is clear that antenna design was a total afterthought. There are a few companies who consistently do a good job in this area: Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and Motorola come to mind (HTC are nearly there as well) - almost every product from these is above average in performance. Others are far less consistent in RF performance, although their products may be very shiny!
More anecdotally, my Nokia E71 has a far better ability to hang on to a signal in a poor signal area than my wife's iPhone (3G). Your Mileage Probably Won't Vary (YMPWV?)
AC for reasons which should be obvious.
Honestly, I had no idea what AppleCare was until Steve Jobs mentioned it. I didn't know I was supposed to call that phone # to complain instead of ATT. I called AppleCare during his press conference to complain because reception IS an issue with my phone.
Of course, hearing him talk about fixing the proximity sensor made me think that maybe that's my real problem. I don't know if it's AT&T's network that's dropping my calls, or my face. Either way, there are problems.
Hi Dan...
Furthermore, Apple does not admit the antenna is defective and does not intend to fix it.
Its not defective if you cover it with plastic like everybody else in the handset industry. ;-)
And thats exactly the "Solution" Apple has adopted with the bumpers. Bandaid over a Bad design.
But shouldn't phones get better with each release?
These external segmented antennas cause one ADDITIONAL call drop in every 100 calls vs the 3Gs iphone.
Apple is saying See: Only One ADDITIONAL drop per Hundred!
I'm saying: You STILL measure call drops over a Hundred calls?
Bad enough they admit their newer phone is worse than their old phone, but then to admit they are still seeing multiple call drops in 100 calls.
My Nexus One has a full call log and not one call drop. It was a replacement for a iPhone 3G which dropped a few calls per month. Same carrier, Same area. Zero drops since I left Apple.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.