“I must say, I was mystified at first. I’ve never seen it on the iPhone unit I’ve been reviewing. I can’t even reproduce it, no matter how hard I try. I’m sitting here right now. I’m wrapping my hand every which way — I’m even holding it with two fists, completely concealing the silver band around the edges — and my four-bar signal strength doesn’t waver. On Twitter, most of my followers seem to indicate the same thing; it’s a problem that just doesn’t exist for them,” Pogue reports. “But clearly, the problem exists for some people. PC Magazine, for example, has been able to reproduce the problem. For them, it happens only if (a) your hand is somewhat sweaty and (b) you hold the phone in such a way that your fingers are covering all three black gaps in the stainless-steel band around the phone’s edge. (For this reason, left-handers seem to be the most-affected population.) In that configuration, signal strength drops a little.”
Pogue reports, “If you do experience the iPhone Death Grip problem, one easy way to eliminate it is to put the phone in a case. Even a ‘bumper’ solves the problem — like the $30 one that Apple sells. It’s a thin rubbery silicon band, available in a range of colors, that covers the metal edge entirely… The paranoid might ask: Why is Apple introducing bumpers now, with this phone? Is it trying to profit from its own design flaw? Or, less conspiratorially: Shouldn’t Apple at least offer free bumpers to people who are having the Death Grip problem? I’ve asked Apple about the problem three times, and nobody’s gotten back to me…”
Pogue writes, “This doesn’t seem like a problem that Apple can fix with a little software update; it’s baked right into the design of the iPhone 4 itself. And considering the hysteria that surrounds the phone, combined with ignorance about the nature and probability of the problem, it could wind up being a huge black eye for Apple and the phone.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Only time will tell if this huge black eye will go away on its own (not likely) or if Apple will have to “take a loss” on those 29-cent (probably even less) rubber bumpers for which they currently overcharge US$29 by including one in every iPhone 4 box as they should have been doing all along.
WOW!!! I cant Believe MDNs takes lately, they say they first want to join the law suit against at&t;and apple then they are making fun of the iphone 4 bars getting dropped. Wow what happened to the crazy fanboys???
I picked up my 32 GB iPhone 4 yesterday. It’s absolutely lovely, but haven’t used it to make many calls yet. I’ve been able to replicate the disappearing bars symptoms by holding the phone in my left hand. Hand wasn’t particularly sweaty, but probably has some moisture. Haven’t had time to check on ability to make call or keep a connection with my hand there and zero bars. I’ll do so in a couple of days. The plan was to get the Apple bumper but they were sold out at the AT&T;store where I bought my phone. And where there wasn’t a line yesterday, although on the other side of the mall there was an enormous line for the Apple store.
Sure hope that if the disappearing bars represent lost signal and affects calls, an insulator helps. If that doesn’t help, Apple has a really huge problem on its hands. This phone is brilliant in every other respect.
And what is this about left-handers being most affected? I’m right handed, usually hold the phone in my left hand so I can dial with the right, or write while I’m talking.
I have had my iphone 4.0 for 2 days and everything works fine. I don’t have a case yet, but when more come out I will get a case.
I understand a carefully piece of scotch tape solves the problem for those who have it as well. Perhaps Apple could put a little dispenser in ever box.
@ grh–
Yes! That jumped out of the page at me too!
Please add to this list, the difference between a screen saver, and a wallpaper.
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carefully placed…
Can you say: Class Action Suit? Inevitable.
I think this reception issue is a myth. I certainly haven’t noticed nor has my wife or mother and we all have the iP4. Not only that but the folks at USAToday, WSJ, NYT, Consumer Reports and Engadget have not been able to replicate this problem. The only people are some random people on the Internet.
Steve Jobs knew of the problem but too late to halt the Chinese assembly line. Steve Jobs was worried that he would be found out as something less than brilliant. Quick fix was to invent the rubber band. Steve’s marketing mind figured if they charged $30 for it people would think it was an optional add on worth $30 when the truth is you need the thing so the phone will work. That’s fraud.
Now, the truth is out and Time ought to put Steve on their cover again – this time covered with egg.
Worst blunder since the ATT deal and with the same device.
No magic or revolutionary anything here unless you call this rolling lie revolutionary.
Want proof? When Pogue doesn’t get his call returned, it’s because Steve is out of excuses, has no new dismissive one liners, and has no where to turn except to admit they’ve screwed the pooch with iPhone 4.
If Apple included a bumper with every phone, then we all would bitch about whatever color we received- pink anyone?
Or are they supposed to crank out millions of black ones?
Trouble us, THIS IS NOT UNIQUE TO IPHONE. So,… Suck it up, and grow up.
@Scy
Really, engadget has a video of a phone they have doing it. Think b4 u post or at least do some research or bring your head out of steves ass.
Sent from my iPhone 4 that does it also
This is very easy to reproduce on my new iPhone4, I can’t believe anyone within Apple considered this product ready to ship?
With the bumper only the cable that came with it works. Even older USB apple dock cables or new dock won’t. My expensive car radio won’t plug into dock connector. So the bumpers are also a bad design.
Hey, don’t call me “some random people on the internet”.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> If I had the time I’d make a movie of it and show you. But here’s what happens, to ALL THREE iPhone 4s that I have:
In an area with 2-3 bars of Edge, I hold the phone with 2 fingers and start a download via Safari. Works fine.
Hold the phone as in a normal grip, like these examples, in the middle of a nice running download:
http://iphonehold.tumblr.com/
And safari’s blue progress bar immediately stops. After 30-60 seconds Safari says the server is not responding, and a few seconds after that the phone says “No Service”.
I can do the same in a voice call, and when I grip it the “normal” way people tell me I start to break up, and soon I have no signal.
Forget the signal strength bars. Holding it like Steve holds it and I have no service. Simple enough?
All 3 of my phones.
I have _no_ problem reproducing this issue, including having dropped calls / no network.
I’m annoyed, but am willing to see if Apple comes up with a fix in the next update.
@ Whatever;
Have another drink- You illiteracy might be mitigated once you’re thoroughly wasted.
On the other hand, you might just pass out stone cold drunk on the floor before reaching the keyboard, sparing us from your tripe.
In either case, it’s a “win-win” for MDN readers- Cheers!
MDN is right. The only way Apple can at least partly extricate themselves from this mess is if they include a rubber bumper for free with every iPhone 4 shipped. But in the longer term, a redesign of the aerial/case is required.
I still can’t help but wonder – did Apple not discover this flaw, or did they know about it before they shipped, and hoped that nobody would notice or mind?
Based on my experience, the reception problem is location dependent. There are 20 miles between my house and my office. At home, I can easily duplicate the reception problem; bridge the gap on the lower left side of the phone, and the reception begins to drop after just a few seconds.
When I tried to show someone the problem at work, no matter how I held the phone, the signal strength never dropped. I couldn’t believe it.
I went to the local Apple store to pick up one of Apple’s bumpers, and was unable to duplicate the problem there either.
Back at home, the signal drops like a rock when I hold the lower left corner.
So, what’s up with that? Is it purely a function of initial signal strength? Are different cell towers using different frequencies, some of which are more susceptible to the problem? I’d like to know for sure.
Ok all the trolls now, party is over! You can leave now.
@ubermac
Your name says it all! No matter how much evidence is shown to u or is out there u wouldn’t believe it.
I can’t make mine replicate the problem either…It works beautifully and damn it’s sweet looking….
The bashing is coming from the Giggle Android camp as usual, as if they have room to talk with their beloved EVO and it’s magical “separating screen” issues or it’s colorful yellow vertical line issues…Or the fact that android is a convoluted mess or………..
NEWS FLASH!!!
The iphone 4 is NOT PERFECT.
In other news, Sprint ships phones with features that can drain the battery in less than an hour… and gets a pass.
I guess it’s time for beleaguered Apple again.
I can replicate this on all three of the new iPhones that are in my house tonight, all purchased in different states. It is a very valid problem. Other than that, it is truly amazing.
I went to the local Apple Store today, just so I could play with the new iPhone 4. Amazingly cool. The screen is incredible; it’s like looking at “real life.”
I tried very hard to do the “death grip,” in many ways, including cover the entire bottom of the iPhone with my both hands. I could not get this problem to happen. I wanted to try it on another iPhone 4, but there were too many others waited to play with all the display models.
Also, while experimenting, I found it uncomfortable to to hold the phone in a talking position while intentionally trying to cover those gaps. Whether in my right hand or left hand, I naturally kept my fingers well above the gap as I held the iPhone by the side edges. So there is no way this would be a problem for me, even if I could get it to occur.
I think this is all way overblown, and most of the online “noise” is from people who don’t even own an iPhone 4. In contrast, most of the people who actually own an iPhone 4 are probably oblivious to this issue because they “have a life” and don’t bother reading Apple or Tech news sites for no reason. They are not having any problems with their iPhone 4 so they are happy and silent. As usual, the silent majority is not heard.
It’s like the iMac screen issue from last year. By the time Apple sold a million of the new iMacs, a few hundred customers reported having problems with the display and made some noise. The media amplified the noise and Apple supposedly had a major problem that is affecting “most” iMac customers. Everyone got paranoid and started talking doom. But in the big picture, 1000 is 1-in-1000 out of a million, or 0.1% of 1,000,000. Even if it was as large as 10,000, that means 99% were having no problems. I don’t know what the actual numbers were in that case, but it’s safe to say that the vast majority of customers where silently happy iMac users. History repeats…
Got my phone about midday. Just blown away by the display. Improved sound quality in both directions. Fantastic camera. Nice battery life. I tried for hours to replicate the problem and finally did by putting my fingers in just the right places and squeezing tight. Not my favorite way to hold it. I don’t think this is going to be a problem for me, but I’m sure some hateful folk who want to put a hickey on Apple will be all over it.