It must certainly drastically reduce their QA matrix to stick with a monolithic image

That doesn't mean anything. The vertical beamwidth of those panel aerials is very tight. Sometimes only 5-10 degrees. If that tower is more than a few stories high you're looking at quite a distance before you're in the aerials 'sweet spot'. With aerial gain it's quite possible you're associated to another tower that's further away, possibly not even line of site, but due to the gain of the aerial (up to 13 dB on some types) you get a stronger signal and that's the one phone choses to associate to.

You can observe this effect (albeit slightly exaggerated) in Piccadilly Gardens. The Sunley building has all the major providers up there, but because they're on the top and the building is 30 stories high, the surrounding area is a blackspot for cellphone coverage because the aerials are actually firing off into the distance and the signals from other base stations further away are weaker and also affected by multipath problems due to building clutter in the locality.

I am quite surprised that all I need to do is touch the bottom left hand side of the phone and the signal dies off quickly. I certainly didn't see this on Nicola's iPhone 4. I don't even need to grip it in my hand tightly, just have it on the desk with a good signal, touch the bottom left and a few seconds later I am down at 2 bars on the GSM network.

I wouldn't be a problem to be honest, but the call quality is much lower then on the 3G, callers have a hard tie hearing me and me them. I'm going to have a go at a couple of the suggestions with the SIM card to see if that helps at all.

Cheers

Cris.

The biggest downside is needing to use iTunes to apply the updates.

So there is a problem with the iPhone 4, how ever the solution is to issue free bits of plastic to every user rather than redesign something that works properly.

If it needs a strip of plastic to work, why doesn't it come with that strip glued in place. One thing I love about this phone is the cool way it looks and feels in the hand, I have never used any form of case on my iPhone and I had hoped I wouldn't have to start now.

Oh well, it's a good job I love this phone so much. My guess to the very low 1.7% return rate is that everyone else working on it at Apple has done such a good job, that despite a pretty big flaw people are willing to live with it if they get to keep their phones.

Cheers

Cris.

Keep the old internal antennas. Change the metal band to a solid cosmetic one instead. Problem solved. iPhone 4.5!


The low return rate is also because Apple gave indications that it would be fixed by a software update which only just came out. Its whether the return rate goes up now that the fairly useless conference is over that is the important thing.

Well, mine is going back once I return from vacation and I'll put my 3GS back into service. While it's probably true that the iPhone 4 is dropping less calls, they didn't address the issue of reduced quality or speed, to the point where the other person on the call can't hear the iPhone 4 user. Technically not a dropped call, so their stats don't count it as a problem. If it only impacted data, I wouldn't mind too much. But again my thoughts drift back to the 911 call, and I don't want to be in a position where my natural way of holding the device costs valuable time when something very serious is happening.

They did talk about return rates being lower then the 3GS, but at this point every iPhone 4 owner is still in their valid return period, so it could go up. I'll be curious to see if they talk about these numbers more down the road.

The solution for now will be free bumpers, or some other cases. I'm sure some of the 3rd party case makers will enjoy that boost. I just don't have a ton of time to wait and see how the others will work though, as I fall out of the 30 day return period at the end of next week. I already know I don't want a bumper due to the other issues it introduces for me in my use of the device.

Some interesting things out of the Q&A:

If they have been working rapidly on an actual fix to the iSpot on the antenna band, September seems reasonable for a revision B of the hardware that may fix the issue. I'm betting they will talk more about it at the annual iPod release event around that time. Until they have an actual fix they can show, odds are they will remain silent and point to the free cases as an interm solution.


Between this Q&A answer, and the earlier part of the event showing death grip impact (covering a ton of the phone) on other devices, it's clear they were still being a bit dodgy on the iSpot. I understand covering the device is a problem and that has never been the issue for me. It's been that one tiny spot placed in a area where I almost always touch the phone when using it.

The Q&A had some other tidbits, readable over here. It's good to see them be somewhat frank about certain things, and overall I'm pretty impressed with the response so far. While I'm returning my phone, it hasn't diminished my high praise of the company much. Apple still stands as one of the few public companies out there that does put the consumer first, and not wall street, enterprise, or others.

I found the whole thing deeply unsatisfying for two reasons.

All their comparisons with dropped bars were against other brands of smartphones. I don't give a toss how well the phone works when I hold it compared to some other crappy phone. I care that it doesn't work as well as my 3G did in the same situation.

Secondly, stop focusing on bars already. We all know that the bars are completely unreliable at indicating actual performance. I don't care how many bars my phone is showing, I care that I am getting a reliable fast data download. It is the 90% drop in data speed that I see that troubles me not the lack of bars ffs.

It is just lucky that I don't make many calls and use it on wifi 90% of the time, otherwise it might have been going back in exchange for a 3GS.

I am pleased that they updated the bars in 4.0.1, at least I get some vaguely useful indication when it would be a good time to avoid the spot.

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/july-2010/

Video already up, along with tons of other info.

Isn't this the exact thing I was talking about in my previous post? (BTW, I'm not directing this at you, just at Apple)

I said I hate when people dismiss this problem with "the iPhone 4 actually gets better reception than previous iPhones." That's what they said here about dropped calls.

I don't know of anyone in the media who has claimed the iPhone 4 doesn't get better reception than the 3GS. This isn't the point! The point is there's this one little problem, and they have to address THAT, not give us spin (did I not say there would be spin?) about how great the reception is.

Oh, and I think that Steve's claim that "no one will buy a large phone" is one of his least accurate predictions yet. I don't think the Droid X will sell in iPhone numbers, but no other phone does. Clearly some people want a phone that size.

*edit*
But you were right, Tom. They did somewhat address this as an actual problem. The free bumpers are clearly the cheapest solution if they did admit there was a problem.

However, it did seem like the entire press conference boils down to "our phone is awesome and way better than our last phone...here's a free bumper for that thing you think is wrong."

What happens if you short between the two sides of the spot? Does it attenuate then?

I'm thinking that it's not meatbag attenuation, but detuning of the antenna because it suddenly becomes much longer when your skin provides a conductance point between the two elements.

If you could run a long piece of wire between the two sides, such that there was almost nothing that could possibly interfere with the signal strength at the antenna, and it still causes a problem, then that would reliably disprove the meatbag theory. Maybe try with a capacitor, too.

Maybe the reason that some people are having problems when others aren't is that some people's hands are sweatier than others.

Also, speaking of other phones:

What is the deal with putting the antenna on the bottom of the phone?!? I complained bitterly about that when I was still putting up with my Crapberry. I had no idea it was so common.

I can trigger the issue with the lightest touch when my finger tip is absolutely bone dry.

Supposedly it allows them to run the radio at higher power. The FCC tests for maximum radiator are measured with the phone held against the head, where the measurement takes place where the users brain would be. So putting the antenna on the lower rear maximises the power they can use and stay under the limit.

Whether that is actually true or not I don't know, but it seems to make sense.

Has someone tried sticking a bit of sellotape across the iSpot, or possibly all the way round (minus the various connector/speaker/mic holes etc.)? Does it make a difference?

Based on the initial murmurs regarding signal problems, I picked up a bumper when I bought the phone, so I can't really comment on the problems. But I can replicate the attenuation fault with the bumper off.

I tried insulating tape and that didn't resolve the issue.

Just watched the stream of the press conference. That isn't the same Steve Jobs who was at WWDC.

I don't think his comment was aimed at the Droid X or Evo. Those are only slightly bigger and still easy to wrap your hand around. I think it was more aimed at the Dell Streak and other "small tablets" or whatever people call them. Since it's got a phone too, that's probably the "hummer phones" he was referring to.

I seriously doubt that's what he was referring to. Steve addresses the competition, and that's the Droid X, EVO 4G, and the Galaxy phones. You don't think he considers a 4.3" screen to be just as absurdly large as a 5"?

Besides, I don't think anyone expects the Streak to be a huge seller. That one is definitely a novelty phone, but I give Dell credit for putting it out there.

Other phones simply don't have issues with their antennas and reception.

Especially Samsung

All phones and all RF antennas have problems when large sacks of water surround them. I don't think anyone is arguing that point. It's a straw man that Apple set up to attack.

That Samsung phone video doesn't show anything other than the fact that the bars go down when she covered half the side of the phone with her finger. You and I both know that bars don't mean shit. I've often had max bars and no connectivity to speak of, and zero bars and perfectly fine connectivity.

Videos of the iPhone clearly show a light touch on the iSpot causes data transmission to come to a halt. (One example of many.) This is, again, clearly a different issue.

It's all the same issue. The only difference is that with the iPhone you have exposed metal making for very easy conductance bridging that black gap over the skin.

The Samsung has a magic sweet spot that is also very easy to cover and/or bridge if holding the phone in one hand (left hand).

There are plenty of reports of people touching the iPhone 4 without dropping the call while still dropping bars. There are plenty of reports of other phones dropping calls or with insanely crap reception.

Is the iPhone 4 perfect? Not by a long shot. My only point is that this issue is massively overhyped. Even taking into account it's Apple we're talking about, it's still all blown way overboard.

I do think that Apple played the best card possible this past week by deflecting the issue off as an industry-wide one, even if their design is the most susceptible. They could have done a better job and perhaps avoided some of the overhype by warning about possible issues framed as a "trade-off" of the new design at WWDC. But that's not characteristically Apple and to assume for a second they'd even consider having done that is absurd.

I think this story will not soon be forgotten, even though the issue is not likely to affect the next generation of products. I don't think it's going to soil the iPhone the same way as the Newton's early handwriting recognition - it was vastly improved in later versions, and to this day, I still think the Newton had better handwriting support that anything else since (especially if you compare processing power and other attributes across platforms).

Show me another phone that completely interrupts data access by the touch of a finger on a particular spot on the case, and I'll show you another phone that has a horrible defect.


As opposed to the only somewhat harder "conductance bridging" on other phones of completely removing the case to get at any conductive thing attached to the antenna?


There are plenty of reports of people getting rear-ended in a Pinto without the gas tank exploding into flames. That must mean that it doesn't happen, right?


Oh, Apple's going to resolve that industry-wide problem, then?

You don't think that in the same location another phone can be attenuated and drop a connection? Umm, ok.

It's an issue, but not the same as the Pinto. It's an issue comparable to driving a Porsche or a Ferrari. Some people just won't be able to handle them and they're not appropriate for all roads.

Now, please don't bring up the other bogus car analogies like the Audi acceleration and Toyota acceleration and braking issues.

Isn't the issue with other phones a capacitive one? I might be getting the terminology wrong though.

I'm not sure why you think Apple is going to solve an industry-wide issue. They'l solve it for their product. I simply think they're going to come out ahead of the industry in the next rev, like they do in pretty much every other facet of their entire product line. Seriously, the iPhone sucks. It does. But there's still nothing else even half as good out there - and I'm being so generous here to the other platforms.

Here's a case Apple will not likely offer - even though it will probably prevent the antenna bridging.

I'd actually prefer if the phone did drop the call, instead of hanging on letting me hear but not be able to talk due to the spot being touched. That's the ultimate reason my iPhone 4 is going back. Its kinda critical for an emergency operator to be able to hear you.

(in before the Bruno/Bitt nitpick thread death spiral with 15 more back and forth posts :-)

Tom, I agree, your issue definitely sucks and it's probably even more infuriating. I've been dealing with my own set of infuriating issues these past few days, including some phone-based ones, however VOIP based.

I'm glad Apple was called out on this issue, since it's an inherent problem with the design they've chosen, even if it is manageable for many (even most?) people. However, IMO, it's overblown and what's really irked me more is the holier than-thou attitudes of other manufacturers. I will say it's uncharacteristic of Apple to mention other manufacturers by name - at least to this degree.

Anyway, if the price were right I'd pick up an iPhone 4 in a heart beat. The fabric on the glove I normally wear on my left hand probably woudn't work to solve the antenna issue, but I'm sure the rhinestones would take care of that.

Overhyped? You don't think that having your data transfer rate drop by a factor of 10 when you pick up the phone is worth a bit of discussion? And that Jobs saying "Oh, they all do that..." is an adequate response?

If anything, i don't think that it has been "hyped" enough!

tanstaafl.

When you take into account what the likely real number of affected people is, then yes, it's overhyped. They've sold 3 million units already. If this was a case that affected even 10% of customers, reports would be even more widespread than they are now. It is being hyped as if it affects all customers all the time.

The issue is a significant one - for those people affected by it. The same issue, though not by touching the antenna directly, affects other phones from other manufacturers.

I'd still rather have an iPhone 4 than anything from HTC. And I'd rather have anything from HTC more than just about anything else by a wide margin. I wouldn't touch a phone by Motorola. Nokia now makes pretty much only disposable phones, everything out of Korea is crap, etc.

Bruno, simple question, do you actually have an iPhone 4 ???

This issue effects every single user from what I can tell, to a varying degree of course. Don't see how it has been over hyped to me. I don't want to return my iPhone 4 as I now have a micro SIM and no other iPhone to swap back into. I suspect I am in the same boat as a large number of users, and what is the point of ringing AppleCare when I know there is no solution for the problem I am willing to accept as an actual solution.

I also don't see why there is justification in the argument because one phone has a design flaw that all the others are ok to have them too. I quite frankly don't care what problems Samsung users have and can't really see what that has to do with the design of the iPhone 4.

Cheers

Cris.

Other phones having issues is no justification for the issues with the iPhone. However, this was all being reported as, "the iPhone 4 has a fatal flaw that no other phone in history has ever had" - which is complete BS.

iPhone 4 comes out in Canada on July 30th. I'd like one. I will not sign a contract with the Canadian piss-poor carriers for any phone however. If I can get one at a reasonable price contract-free then I'm going to jump on it.

There just isn't enough volume of noise to indicate this problem affects even close to half the iPhone 4 population out there. NOte that I didn't say that not all iPhones are affected. This is a design issue, so all the phones are susceptible, but not all customers are going to see it due to where and how they'll use the phones. I have some insight on how product complaints go, having been on both sides of the business a few times. Any number of negative comments will always seem overpower the positive.

You should take your phone back and take back the micro SIM. Since that SIM is for the iPhone, your carrier will have to take it back, especially after Apple has already announced an official return policy and the fact that the phone does have the potential for problems.