“We got an independent report of a similarly updated phone from a member of our community, so we decided to investigate,” iFixit reports. “We exchanged one of our units (that had been experiencing unrelated problems with its Bluetooth connection) to see Apple has changed the manufacturing process since their initial production run.”
iFixit reports, “Apple has so many iPhones out in the field that it’s very hard to get a feel for what’s going on. They may have just switched to their new process at one of their factories, or they may be rolling it out slowly, or this may be an internet myth. The only way to find out is to check a number of units that have just shipped from the factory.”
“We need your help! If you got an iPhone in the last few days, check the serial number. If the production week is bigger than 27, try checking the impedance of the metal frame with a multimeter,” iFixit writes. “If you hold the leads about an inch apart, the resistance should be less than one ohm. If it’s substantially higher, you may have a unit with the new coating.”
Full article here.
Hmmmm the plot thickens lol
There’s no impedance to sales.
I hope it’s so….
I read this article on my iPhone 4 while inside a large brick building while holding it in my left hand with the death grip.
Got my phone on release day.
*shrug*
Be sure to press the probe tips hard enough to get good contact with the metal band.
Meh. No brainer. Same method would fix existing “problem” phones for a few $ each.
Gizmodo will certainly spin this into some sort of massive Apple conspiracy and that Apple should be nuked form orbit.
Resistance and Impedance are not the same measurement. Impedance takes into account capacitance and inductance as well as resistance, and can’t be measured with a basic multimeter.
I wonder if Apple was shipping the coating all along but some phones (say at different points at manufacture) didn’t get enough or any at all. That would explain why some people are either having a huge problem or no problem at all. Combine that with Apple’s faulty bar calculation and you got a set of hard to trace issues.
I tried scotch tape on my iP4, then I coated the left antennas with clear nail pollish, both very much nonconductive. Didn’t help.
If this is true, I’m glad they’re finally doing something. But this doesn’t look a software fix to me…funny. I’ve lost all trust in anything Apple says (again, if true). The way they’ve jangled this issue makes it a no-win situation in my eyes and many others as well
Sounds like a Meditation Mantra Chant…
Everybody, let’s chant to a resolution to the stories pro/con regarding the iPhone 4 antenna tenuation problem or not…
Everybody chant…
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/techniques/Om.htm
“Well unlike all other mantra, there is no meaning of OM. It is actually not a word, it is a sound. As per Hindu tradition, OM is the purest name of God. It is the sound of the supreme consciousness. So when you reapeat OM, you actualy take the name of God.
Now without going into the further philosophical explanation of OM, let us learn how to meditate using OM. Repetition of OM or AUM dissolves the mind it its divine source. The chanting of OM several time loud, purifies the atmosphere.
Sit in a comfortable undisturbed place. Take some deep breath. Now chant at least 7 times OM in succession. Make each breath last as long as possible. Teak deep breath and chant Oooooooo~~~~~hhhhhhhhhh~~~~~ Mmmmmmm~~~~~. Then again repeat this chanting of OM. Do this for 7 times. After this, stop chanting and sit for a moment of silence. You will be amazed by the inner peace you’ll get in such a small chanting of OM.
Listen the sound of Universe : Let us listen the sound of OM. You are requested to listen carefully. This sound of OM produces instant positive vibrations and takes the listener to a state of mental stillness.
Chanting the OM mantra for 15 minutes daily can produce remarkable effect in you. This mantra will help you to calm the mind, settled the thought process and realize the self.”
http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/techniques/Aum.mp3
@bongo
Apple has said very little on the subject and yet you’re blaming them for all the FUD and confusion?
Now you state you can’t trust anything they say?
You are in good company, because just about everyone who has an opinion on this subject has said as much.
You get your news like everyone else, in bits and pieces, and from the pieces, your left draw your own conclusions. The trouble is, you’re all so bad at it, as evidenced by your comments.
Most, including the author, gets one small piece of the story and their imaginations run away from them.
Honestly, unless you actually own an iPhone 4 or Apple stock, you’d be better off if you’d refrain from saying anything at all.
If you’re like Wingsy, take the phone back and get a relacement, especially if you can’t overcome the flaw. Just don’t sit there, frozen, and unable to think for yourselves.
Okay, coming down off my high horse, now.
“Software fix” indeed.
@now now
Chanting the OM mantra for 15 minutes daily can produce remarkable effect in you. This mantra will help you to calm the mind, settled the thought process and realize the self.”
I can accomplish the same with my morning constitution, without having to invoke the name of God.
Fiber is your friend.
I do not want to sound like a dumb-ass, but I have a digital multi-meter and i admit it is a cheap model, but what number do I set the ohm (Omega) section at?
Choices are: 2000k, 200k, 20k, 2000, 200
That’s why I’m waiting for the white one.
200.
Since they are saying that a defective phone would have less than 1 ohm and a non-conductive coating would increase the resistance, you want to start with 200.
If you see the needle shoot up to 200, then you may want to set it higher.
Thank you, will test now.
I’ve grown weary of this.
1) Apple routinely denies any problem with devices that have obvious, wide-spread problems. This is par for the course and I don’t understand why anyone would SUDDENLY feel betrayed and lied-to.
2) Screwups like this are common for all vendors in the first manufacturing batch. Day 1 adopters of any new device should be thinking of themselves as beta-testers. And when you’re testing for Apple, you should by now assume you’re not gonna get any consideration for your efforts. Rule #2: fast learn rule #1.
I thought there was nothing wrong with the phone, MDN, as long as the user grips it with his toes and stands on his/her head.
Nah. Much ado about nothing. There is no hardware fix in the works. This is not a problem. If it was a problem people would be returning their iPhone 4’s. Instead, people that don’t actually own iPhone 4’s are complaining on behalf of the people that do own iPhone 4’s.
@G4
Exactly, they’re hardly saying anything, when they should be facing the problem head-on. What little they have said doesn’t seem to match up to their actions. If the only problem is the software display of bars, why is the update taking so long? What about the hundreds of video clips showing the problem? No matter the outcome now, Apple will not look good.
P.S. I do own Apple stock, and that’s a large reason for my concern. Now am I entitled to an opinion, Mr.G4?
@Macromancer –
It’s the only way to be sure…
I don’t believe Apple ever said there was not an attenuation in signal strength when bridging the antennae. Appple maintained that the main issue was the reporting of a good signal when there wasn’t, such that a small attenuation may drop calls. If one shows a very poor signal and the call drops, one says “oh well,” or “damn at&t;” and moves on. If the same thing happens with full bars and one sees the bars disappear, one blames the phone. Putting on a coating to help the slight attenuation issue (and the problem may be it was left off some phones accidentally) and issuing a software fix are not incompatible with Apple statements from the outset.
my signal bars drop when i hold my phone in my left hand, with or without a case.
haven’t taken it back b/c i just try to avoid holding it with my left hand over the area.
just b/c people aren’t returning their phone, doesn’t mean there isn’t a widespread problem.
if there isn’t a hardware problem, why is apple changing their manufacturing process?
the software “fix” will just make your bars drop all the way to zero, instead of just dropping to two bars. doesn’t sound like a “fix” to me.
a dropped call is a dropped call, whether there are five bars when it happens, or no bars when it happens.
if i hold my phone in the “death grip,” my bars will drop from five bars to zero in less than ten seconds. when i remove my hand, it goes from zero bars to five in less than ten seconds.
…but apple is saying that the bars are reading wrong. the bars should not be all the way at five. i should only be dropping from three bars down to zero.
is this explanation supposed to make me feel better about having zero bars and dropped calls when i hold my phone in a natural position?
to wolfman –
i own an iphone 4, but haven’t returned it. if i exchanged it, i would just get another faulty phone just like the one i have, since apple hasn’t fixed the problem yet.
i can also just hold the phone another way to alleviate the problem.
it is also a PITA, that i don’t want to go through, to return it.
i like everything else about it.
there is still a hardware problem with the phone.
having not returned it doesn’t miracle the problem away.
@DreamTheEndless
Game over man! We’re…
@coating: I wonder if Apple was shipping the coating all along but some phones (say at different points at manufacture) didn’t get enough or any at all. That would explain why some people are either having a huge problem or no problem at all. Combine that with Apple’s faulty bar calculation and you got a set of hard to trace issues.
I vote +1 for this
@G4Dualie: “Chanting the OM mantra for 15 minutes daily can produce remarkable effect in you.”
From story: “…iFixit writes. “If you hold the leads about an inch apart, the resistance should be less than one ohm. If it’s substantially higher, you may have a unit with the new coating.”
So if you get more than one ohm, you have a new iPhone with the new coating to hopefully resolve the problem and that higher ohm reading can produce remarkable effect in you and on you and for you.
So let’s hope for that better than one Ohm by chanting the “Ohm” chant…
So I say again, Ohmmmmmmmmmmmm. Ohmmmmmmmmmm. Give me that better than one Ohmmmmmmmmm.
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It is unedifying for people to criticise Apple customers who complain that their phone does not work on holding it in a certain way.
If I had spent €700 on an iPhone then I would be unhappy if I had to pay extra to use a case that I did not want or to have to add sticky tape or nail varnish to it.
I make a lot of things out of stainless steel, as a metal fabricator. The band is made of bright probably free machining stainless steel. Much like aluminum, stainless steel naturally acquires a dull oxide coat after exposure to air. This coating does not conduct electricity very well but protects the metal from corrosion, it’s hard, but it can be scratched. So what you may be seeing is a natural protective film that develops on the surface. Have you ever noticed when you take the plastic protective wrap off of a new Ipod touch or older model Iphone the metal is super bright, but after a few days, even with the best care has a slightly duller appearance? This is the oxide, it is a good thing. This is why stainless steel is not used for wiring, it is a poor conductor, and it is especially poor at the connection points.
This problem could just solve itself, and may only be a problem for lefties with particularly sweaty conductive fingers (maybe someone will develop an “app” that can determine who that might be) in which case these folks should get a plastic phone.
I don’t hear anything that will deter me from getting the iPhone4, other than the fact they haven’t come to Canada yet!
Wingsy, you are starting to sound like Lady MacBeth. You doth protest too much. Why is it nothing works for you, the recommended fix of tape, for instance? Have you tried returning the phone for another unit? Or as solarsculptor says, are you a “…left(y) with particularly sweaty conductive fingers…”? Or are you a Russian Spy? Are you “Left Wingsy”?
I can see that an insulating film will increase the resistance of the antenna components, but when touched, the insulating film will in effect become the dielectric of a simple capacitor and the antenna will become capacitively coupled to the finger.
How is that any better than before ?
My feeling is that this rumour is incorrect.
Can’t the sides just be coated with a thin layer of transparent I don’t know what? ( to cover-up the metal) How about that for a solution?
HEY!!!! I wrote this BEFORE I read the above. I DEMAND PAYMENT from APPLE IF this is the solution !!!!!!!
The chance that apple is modifying production process is very probable. While working at AppleCare a while back I learned that every new product (or update to a product) is watched very carefully for the first weeks. We had to log certain issues were seen enough Apple engineers would take a look at it.
If it was a hardware problem (like a macbook where the hard drive is failing way too often) they swap out that part with another one mid-production without saying a thing publicly. I’m sure they are changing production to work on solving this issue, but obviously they will remain silent about doing so.
i can’t wait for an actual, real-life, no BS, HARDWARE fix so that i can cash in on my apple care and get a non signal-dropping phone!
This would be consistent with a post I made here over a week ago: that the solution ought to be one of simply passivating the stainless steel so the surface is non-conductive. It’s fairly easy for owners of V4 iPhones to do so themselves if they really don’t want to add a bumper. Stainless naturally wants to passivate (and does). But one can make the passivation deeper and very non-conductive without appreciably changing the color of the metal.
Really people…….it’s a phone not the cure to cancer. Wow, I sure wish people cover politics like they do their iPhone news. Then you will be informed on what the people in Washington are doing to your life and your tax dollars.
I think a coating is the right way to go, if it doesn’t affect the feel and design of the unit. Bu I guess all old iPhone buyers want a new one so that might be a problem if this report is right and more law sutes are to follow so Apw might want to resolve to a software fix for now and if might actually fix the entire problem. Only Apple knows what’s really going one here.