Egan writes, “From what I can see in the reports, Consumer Reports replicated the same uncontrolled, unscientific experiments that many of the blogging sites have done.”
“I’m not saying that Apple has no h/w problem and they surely have a s/w issue. But I’m still wondering that if the software signal algorithm was not AFU’d in the first place how many, if anyone would talking about this ‘problem,'” Egan writes. “I also don’t know what part of this problem is Apple’s and what part is related to the AT&T network. And we don’t know how the observed effect is, or is not, similar to other devices.”
Egand writes, “We also don’t know if placing a finger on the antenna bridge is detuning the antenna or detuning the receiver itself. And neither does Consumer Reports.”
Full article, which explains in more detail why Consumer Reports’ iPhone 4 study was flawed, here.
MacDailyNews Take: We couldn’t be less surprised.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dale S.” for the heads up.]
These reception and proximity problems may be minor or not, depending on how much is hardware. But then there’s Apple’s method of communicating with its market. The tight-lipped containment of information, released in sudden bursts, has been exploited by Wall Street scoundrels for years, enabling them to launch bear raids almost at will. In this case, there are some real problems with the phone that should have been caught if they weren’t racing to meet the June deadline. But to say “you’re holding it wrong,” if Jobs actually said that, and to say it’s just overstating the bars are not acceptable answers. We’re all waiting in the dark for some unknowable solutions to flaws many of us know are true, while the brand itself is being damaged daily.
I DON’T CARE!
My iPhone stays in a belt pouch with my BlueTooth earpiece (Jawbone = great) and I never touch the iPhone for most calls.
Only way to keep hands free for other things.
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about loss of signal strength, which isn’t necessarily that big a deal. I have a crappy Motorola phone that loses signal strength if I grip it tightly. What I haven’t seen in the news/blogs is whether people are actually dropping calls because of this. I don’t know anyone who has an iPhone 4 yet. Are those of you who have it experiencing a ton of dropped calls that you believe are attributed to this? Is it happening in real world use or is this more of a perception issue?
“A very scared non-Apple world is desperately doing what it can to slow the ever increasing Apple momentum.
THAT is what this is ALL about…”
Macaday- eye in the hurricane. Truth- right on the nose!
That should be the title of every article on this subject: CASE CLOSED.
@jaundiced
Will you be my friend?
Proof of the pudding is in the eating. If u do not return your iPhone the there is no problem h/w or s/w or other wise right? Keyword should be UNUSEABLE.
Tastes great!
I can recreate the issue of bars dropping, but I use the bumber 95 percent of the time. Apple has to do something about this, and I have faith in them. People forget that they said they’re working on the issue. Just give them time, the alternative is worse. Went to a birthday party and my nephew had an evo, everything turned off, screen set to minimum brightness. He said he got used to it and it stopped people from reading his text messages. I looked at my iPhone 4 and was glad that I could keep 3G on and surf the net without having to worry about the battery issue. But then again, I don’t make that many calls, most people don’t as much anymore.
For HEAVEN’S SAKE ..this may be a longish message..
The signal strength shown on a phone is generally the strength which the phone believes it’s RECEIVING from a cell tower ..the phone doesn’t necessarily know how well its own TRANSMITTED signal is being received at the nearest cell tower (unless the cell-tower company is constantly sending BACK signal-strength readings to every phone in the vicinity).
Signal strength bars – whether correct or faulty – generally show the RECEIVED signal from the nearest tower.
When the ends of the iP4 antennae are shorted over (by holding the phone “the wrong way”) calls may be dropped if (maybe) the phone loses the RECEIVED signal from the cell-tower company, or if the cell-tower’s reception loses an altered signal FROM the phone. No-one has yet said WHICH (if either, or both) is the actual reason for signal drop: (a) altered reception BY THE PHONE of the network (phone dropping the signal), or (b) altered reception BY THE NETWORK of the phone (network dropping the signal).
If (b) there may be a fault with the cell-tower company’s reception system. If (a) it may be that the cell-tower company’s transmissions aren’t as effective as before with the design of the iP4’s receiving system.
In the UK, the original iP cell company, O2, often works on updating and adjusting its own performance, which many times results in a “Voicemail unavailable” message being displayed when other compatible, or alternative, cell companies’ transmissions are NOT the reducing availability of Voicemail on an iP.
This all means that (1) this apparent iP4 problem may not be an inherent PHONE problem, but may be a cell-tower company’s problem (towers being unable to adjust to the iP4’s antenna characteristics); (2) it may be specific to a particular network company (in Europe many different, separate, competing companies handle iPhone voice and data calls); (3) it may be a SELECTIVITY problem (if the iP4’s signal-handling reaches more cell towers than other models and so handover between towers may not be being correctly handled, compared with other phones) ..etcetera.
This “dropped call” business may be a CHARACTERISTIC of a combination of some users and some iP4 phones and one or more networks, but it may not be a FAULT of the iP4: it may be inadequacies of some networks or towers to deal with the signal-handling of the iP4.
So attributing blame to Apple may not be appropriate as NO-ONE YET PUBLICLY OWNS UP TO KNOWING THE CAUSE of the apparent problem ..apart from Apple, who have said that the signal-strength reading shown on the phone’s display isn’t a sufficiently accurate guide to actual signal strength being handled back-and-forth between phones and network.
Put it another way: iMovie 1 and iMovie 2 (especially) could handle all kinds of poor-quality DV (digital video) being fed into them. iMovie 3, 4, etc couldn’t reliably “ingest” some poor-quality DV which iMovie 2 happily handled! WHY? Had iM3 and 4, etc, changed the way DV was handled? Yes; they adhered more stringently to the actual published specs of DV, whereas some camcorder manufacturers had been a bit lax in sticking to the published standards. Result? Apple’s standards-respecting newer software couldn’t handle the poor-quality output of some non-standards-compliant devices. Blame Apple? ..Or blame the camcorder makers for not keeping to the rules?
You buy a new car: it slides off the road at corners using your favourite tyres (tires). Bad car? Or maybe tyre (tire) manufacturers hadn’t kept to the actual load/weight stipulations of tire (tyre) standards, but you hadn’t noticed that with your previous, lower-performance car.
Guesswork is pointless: it’s useless pointing the finger at one company (say Apple) or another (say, er, ATT) until the actual supposed problem is really understood: is it iP4, towers, networks – which..?
There is no point in further drivel about this supposed problem until what may be happening is really understood.
Jaundiced wrote at the top of page one: It’s a software problem; it’s a hardware problem; it’a a software and a hardware problem; CR is right or wrong; Apple is right or wrong, or maybe a little of each. Apple is totally right, anybody that disagrees is a tool; Apple is wrong, anybody that disagrees with that is a total fanboy.
Anybody that disagrees with Apple’s position is an idiot or an obvious M$ plant; anybody that agrees with Apple’s position is up SJ’s ass, or at least a fanatic.
There’s a problem; there isn’t a problem; to some there is a problem; to some there is not a problem.
Does this about cover where we’re at with this? Unquote.
ROTFLMAO. Bravo! Yes, I think that about covers it. Still waiting for White . . .
Whether there’s a hardware or software problem is hard to know in this he-says-she-says battle of dueling experts and opinionated nonexperts. But there is no doubt this is a major league public relations fiasco. IP4 is being denigrated in every major newspaper and television news program today, even on Morning Joe (which is populated by iPad/iPhone lovers). The stocks already down over 3% on a day when the overall market is up. I agree with Bob Egan, the author of this article that it’s hard to believe Apple doesn’t have the engineering data on the antenna’s performance. It’s also hard to believe they wouldn’t release the data if it were favorable and conclusive. Their rope-a-dope approach to this issue makes no sense unless there really is a hardware problem and they are hoping just to absorb punishment until it blows over.
Amazing how many retards think their iPhone gets its signals from bars, if told that the phone connects by RF signals they will call you a liar. I’ve yet to see a negative report from a qualified source and by that I mean the knowledge to understand how a cell phone works, and Consumer Report is not a qualified source. I’m surprised Apple hasn’t filed a for financial loss caused by publication of misinformation.
The saddest thing to me is that MS market cap will likely pass AAPL before the day is out. A 27 billion dollar lead is evaporating from this PR fiasco of Apple. I will hate the razing I will get from my anti Apple colleagues. Damn it Steve, get with it please.
+1 for macaday
Macaday is probably right. However, it does Apple no favors to attempt to discredit those people/companies who are trying to understand the problem. It doesn’t matter how small the problem is, it needs to be understood and addressed — not dismissed like some shoddy company like MS would do. It is pathetic that MDN acts like Fox News in cherry-picking only those who agree with it, rather than genuinely trying to understand the problem — all sides of the problem.
Good companies make mistakes. Great companies fix them. I trust Apple will fix this issue.
Apple does not need to recall the iPhone 4. They’ve already said anyone who wants to return it can get a full refund, yet no one is returning it. This is because it doesn’t really have an antenna problem. read the truth here http://tinyurl.com/3628lm4
Mine iPhone 4 works great with or without a case. 4 friends have them with no issues.
The iPhone 4’s biggest problem is not its antenna
Posted July 13, 2010 12:05pm by Eric Benderoff
If Apple (AAPL) continues to sidestep the growing iPhone 4 antenna furor, it risks losing its grip as America’s premiere tech company. Also in today’s App Industry Roundup, experts are starting to talk about an iPhone 4 recall.
Get a grip, Apple
The biggest problem with the iPhone 4’s antenna isn’t whether it’s faulty or fine, it’s Apple.
Apple has so far avoided the serious issue of whether the iPhone 4 has a legitimate hardware problem and instead obfuscated the issue by first telling users how to hold the new iPhone and then blaming a software glitch. As a result, Apple now has a big PR headache on top of an obvious hardware flaw.
If Apple admitted the hardware flaw, its PR problem would start to go away. But it hasn’t, and news organizations including Consumer Reports and Engadget continue to prove the antenna is faulty. Worse, countless consumers have weighed in on the matter … and that’s Apple’s biggest problem.
The iconic computer maker is in danger of losing its grip on the public psyche, an incredible asset it has milked for the last decade to become one of America’s most admired companies. Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, is beloved because of his singular vision and insistence that good design and computing hardware go hand in hand. Jobs utters, we listen. It is a unique power Bill Gates could never muster.
Now Apple is on the cusp of throwing it away, much like it is apparently deleting discussion threads from its message boards about the Consumer Reports story. Apple’s products have reached beyond the fanboys who tolerate the company’s flaws and into the mainstream, where grandparents and in-laws are mad because when they finally buy a smartphone, they expect the phone portion to work properly.
Apple needs to address this problem head on, not blame software oddities. And the sooner it does so, the sooner it can move away from what has become a legitimate crisis for the company.
Is an iPhone 4 recall next?
Yes, the iPhone 4’s antenna problem is fixable — tape! — but is that enough? Many people will use a case anyway to protect their iPhone and not care about the antenna issue, but there’s a growing belief that Apple may need to consider a recall to fix the iPhone 4’s antenna woes.
Interviews with several PR experts on the Cult of Mac website conclude that “the iPhone 4 reception issue presents a Toyota-style PR crisis for Apple, and the company must respond with a more meaningful fix than a software patch.”
“Apple needs to put this fire out now,” Larry Barton, a crisis management expert, told the website. “There has to be a military-like response to this issue. And we have not seen this kind of urgency.”
Later it the same story, Chris Lehane, a crisis expert who earned his stripes managing public relations for President Bill Clinton, said Apple needs to acknowledge and address the problem. “You deal with it,” he said. “Apple must protect its brand image, its crown jewels, at all cost. Apple has enormous consumer loyalty but it depends on whether people believe it’s credible.”
AT&T;not to blame, finally
If there’s a “winner” in this antenna fiasco, it appears to be AT&T;(T). Finally, there’s a reception problem it can’t be blamed for.
Nonetheless, the wireless carrier is still very much involved with fixing the dead spots and slow zones that impact many iPhone owners. At a VentureBeat conference Monday, AT&T;Chief Technology Officer John Donovan said the company “will move heaven and Earth” to meet its customers’ growing data needs. Donovan noted that the wireless industry is in “phase 1” of data management and much work is still being done. Phase 3 will arrive in 2014, he noted, and that’s where video will flow freely and without trouble over wireless networks.
But you can be sure that the complaints will return will before that.
@ ndelc
I’ve had mine for about 2 weeks now. Have dropped 2 calls, and both were with 5 bars on my phone, so I suspect the other person’s phone, since they were both in areas that they complain about the coverage on. iPhone 4 is hands-down the best phone I’ve ever used, following an original iPhone and a 3GS (I unfortunately killed by falling in a lake with it :-[ )
I am so sick of morons commenting on a SIMPLE ISSUE: Shorted antennae attenuation.
1) “I’m not saying that Apple has no h/w problem and they surely have a s/w issue. But I’m still wondering that if the software signal algorithm…”
SKIP the signal algorithm crapware! It has NOTHING to do with the problem. It is ANOTHER problem.
2) The shorted antennae attenuation problem does NOT constituted the plague!
I CANNOT in good conscience recommend Consumer Reports to magazine readers. It is a FAILed magazine, specifically thanks to this ludicrous review. If not for their overblow iPhone 4 lunacy this would be the best consumer magazine on the market.
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Yes folks. The hardware bug IS REAL. It is also SIMPLE to solve, if you even care:
ELECTRICAL TAPE!
ELECTRICAL TAPE!
ELECTRICAL TAPE!
AD NAUSEAM!
Sheesh
I agree!!!. I have been using the iPhone 3GS and now iPhone 4. Till date with iPhone 4, i haven’t seen any issues. The cal quality etc is same as what i used to have earlier. As a normal user, literally there is nothing wrong in the phone for me. The call drop rate etc has been same as it was earlier. In fact its improved a little bit. I have fewer call drops than earlier 3GS. By the way, i use my phone for more apps and internet access like email, calendar, work apps etc. Call is just like 5-10% of my usage. I rarely crossed the 450 minute nation talk plan i have!
You can check my cool Glowing iPhone!!!
http://www.mobileriotgear.com/iGlowPhone-s/146.htm