Fallout from Apple's iPhone 4 "Bar Situation" Continues

[iDan]

I've been watching the recent saga of Apple's iPhone 4 receptions issues quite closely and here are my thoughts.

• The iPhone 4 has serious and real issues when you bridge the gap between the external antenna portions on the bottom left.
• The iPhone 4 (and previous iPhones) have been lying to you about the amount of bars of reception they have.
• The iPhone 4 under normal conditions actually is a better phone/antenna design.

Continue reading the entire article: Fallout from Apple's iPhone 4 "Bar Situation" Continues - iPhone 4 Forum

 

[iDharma]

As a left-hander, I hold my iPhone using the very grip style that Jobs says is wrong. My view is that I am a user/consumer and a good design would take into account that many users will find it most comfortable to hold the phone that way.

I find the software aspect of this more disturbing that product ergonomics. I am very perturbed that the iPhone has been programmed in a way that provides misleading data on reception. I wonder how long Apple/AT&T have known about this (~what did they know and when did they know it?). Have they been intentionally misleading consumers for all this time?

Jobs'/Apple's dismissive attitude about the whole thing makes me feel, at this point, that I will more likely buy a Droid for my next smartphone.

 

[MikesTooLz]

Nothing here has changed, their way of thinking is that they do what they want and if people like it they buy it and if not than they wont buy it. Guess what, people are buying it.

Thats what steve said himself.


Dont get made and just complain about it, use your money. If people were to stop buying iphones apple would sure make changes to get them to sell agian.

 

[Seadog]

People are tripping over perspective and ignoring facts. The reception drop is not an unusual problem with cell phones, any cell phones. What is making a big hoopla is that an antiquated equation is causing an appearance of a worse problem. Of course looking at things objectively is not a common trait today.

 

[Wolffmann34]

First iDharma, you may have read an email exchange between a consumer and jobs, it turned out that was bogus, and those dismissive comments are still circulating the news though.

Second, very few people use the iPhone without a case, in fact I saw the exact case I have on my 3Gs redone for the iPhone 4.

Third, the data speeds are a lot faster and they are dropping less calls. It all sounds like an improvement to me.

People already have plenty to complain about AT&T is an awful cell provider with a seriously outdated network, anytime something new comes out there will always be naysayers. They should just be glad they are not stuck with junk like a droid.

 

[FahQ]

I don't see what all the fuss is about really. If it makes calls great, if not then it's no good. The 'number of bars' is pretty worthless to know honestly. It will either work or it won't. Seems like most people are freaking out because they are perceiving this as a problem as opposed to having their phones just not make (or drop) calls.

 

[keroro1979]

My mate at work has just upgfraded from his 3g to a 4, and he's left handed. As soon as he got his phone, he got it in a silicone case (as he did with his 3g), and he has no problems.

We tested it without the case, and unless we intentionally put our fingers over the bottom, it was fine.

I have ffound in the past that holding some phones in certain ways has the same effect - was a fuss made over that? no, I just didnt hold it like that.

How many people dont have cases on a device worth £500 anyway??

And the email to Steve Jobs thing - the guy responds PERSONALLY to consumers emails?! Really?!

Whilst it may be poor design, does it warrant such a backlash?

 

[Hasty]

It's a great design.
Most of the fallout is just apple bashing.
If it doesn't work for you in your area just return it for a full refund.
Problem solved.

 

[MikesTooLz]

The issue isnt the iPhone. The issue is ATT.

For some odd crazy reason the apple has set the signal bars to show 5 full bars if the signal is at 5% or more. (5% is all you need for a good call) Bridging the gap between where the two antennas meet on the new antenna will cause around 5% signal loss just like with other phone if you block the antenna with your hands.


if you got poor ATT coverage and are only getting 5% or 6% signal, the phone shows full bars, but then when you bridge the anteenas and loose 5% signal it drops down to zero or one and the bars go down.




You may say well, why is apple doing this? Originaly the bars were more accurate to what the actual signal was but apple got a ton of complaints about not having 5 full bars all the time when other phones did. This didnt mean that the iphone was getting worse reception, it was just showing the signal strength accurately. Apple then came out with a firmware update saying it would fix problems people were having with poor signal levels. This fix im suspecting was the change to just make everything above 5% signal to show as 5 full bars.