In a move that should surprise nobody, Apple has sort-of admitted to iPhone antenna problems in their press conference this morning, claiming it affects a small number of users, but they claim to be working hard to fix the problems that they have confirmed. They’ve offered free bumpers (that have until now been a $30 accessory) to all iPhone buyers, and are offering to waive any restocking fees for anyone who wants to return their iPhone 4. Whether or not there’s going to be a hardware fix for future iPhones, Steve Jobs says he doesn’t know yet whether that will happen.Interestingly enough, I finally got my iPhone 4 yesterday, and when I was at the Apple store, I was looking at the bumpers and thinking, “it’s too bad I’m not here tomorrow, because I’ll bet I can get one of these for free tomorrow.” Well, I was wrong. I’ll have to sign up for them to send me my free bumper next week. I could have bought one yesterday and received a refund, however.
In Jobs’ defense, some iPhone 4s do in fact seem to perform worse than others. My wife’s phone dropps calls much more frequently than her iPhone 3G did. Mine seems to be an improvement over the iPhone 3GS. I have made a point of paying attention to not bridging the two antennas with my finger, however. Maybe they’ll develop some kind of diagnostic and offer a replacement for the worse phones without having to do a full recall.
After a week of playing with my wife’s iPhone 4 and a day of mine, I can say that I won’t be taking Steve up on his offer to let me return my phone. Antenna problems or not, I’ll have to say I agree with Consumer Reports: The iPhone 4 definitely has problems with reception, but I still think it’s the best smartphone on the market. And the bumper really does seem to solve the problem in real-world conditions, which is why I was sure that Apple would try to solve the problem by giving away bumpers.
Im in the UK, i purchased my iPhone 4 on the O2 network at launch.
I haven’t had a single problem with it, if i had i would have returned it. I have infact had a better signal. When im on the train i keep 3G longer, i get better downloads. As for voice calling, again a much better experience than my iPhone 3G and my work nokia. The calls are a lot, lot clearer with no popping, hissing or any other background sound. This is in part due to the extra second microphone. However it’s incredibly clear and people sound like they are in the same room.
Now this may sound like a fanboy rant, however it’s not. I always like to think of myself as platform neutral and will call a problem if there is one. However ive yet to experience anything being reported on the net.
I think this due to two reasons.
The first is the network, from what ive heard the AT&T network in america is really poor, with not very good coverage in major cities and poor network speeds.
The second is that yes i accept there is a problem for some people who have an iPhone 4, however these don’t represent the majority, the majority that are happy with their phone usually don’t feel the need to write a comment about it, which is why i have written the above.
Really it comes down to choice, apple has also said they are offering a 30 day return policy, if the phone doesn’t work then simply return it and get an android or 3GS, both are very capable phones.
P.S. Thanks for the free case steve!
YOu arent seeing the problem because:
1. All iphone 4 have the same antenna problem.The problem is more prominent when the phone is “held the wrong way” and at an area with bad reception.
2. Without the update that just came out, i phone 4 showed a stronger signal than it should be showing and this caused users to assume they have a better reception than they were actually having.
3. You dont observe the problem probably because you are in an area where there is a good reception and the problem is there but isnt big enough to be noticed.
Ive tried holding in both hands how i hold a standard phone and it’s working fine. Perhaps if i was to hold it in one particular way it might start dropping, im not sure as i haven’t really played around with it and tried to get it to drop. This is not to say that some users are not having a problem when they hold the phone.
As i mentioned the O2 network in the UK has got excellent coverage so perhaps i do get a good reception. However ive been getting good reception in the SE of england, Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, Cambridge and london. Traveling on the train the signal has remained stronger (i.e. it doesn’t drop as often and the internet speed is faster). So the signal test has not been limited to my particular home town.
Perhaps without the update the signal is displayed stronger, however i based my review on usage, i.e. making the calls and surfing/net connections and the phone has had a better connection than my previous phone, my experiences with phones mean i don’t usually pay much attention to the signal strength, im really only interested if it’s EDGE or 3G.
I’ve had mine for a couple weeks now and couldn’t understand what all the hoopla was about, my reception is much better than it was before and I’ve yet to drop a call (admittedly, I don’t make _that_ many calls).
In regular usage (despite the fact I’m a lefty) I was unable to replicate all the problems. Finally watching the videos I was able to sort of duplicate the problem. that being I dropped from 3 bars to 1.
Color me happy, dont even think I’ll grab a bumper since I’ve had zero problems.
Same here. Better reception. Can use my phone in former 3gs dead spots.
Reception is everything. I don’t care how many awesome features my smartphone has if it can’t make a damned phone call properly.
And, earth to Steve the Annoying, the answer you give when asked if there’ll be a fix for this clear physical defect is an unequivocal yes, and then you get it done! To do anything otherwise makes a clear statement that you don’t give a fsck about the quality of your products, and that’s not good. Duh!
No, it is not a “clear design problem.” Less than 1% more dropped calls with iPhone 4 than iPhone 3GS. Statistically significant difference in dropped calls? Possibly not. Other phones show dropped bars. Did you see that? Far fewer USERS returning iPhone 4 than returned iPhone 3.
As people have pointed out in various forums, Steve used a clever trick there.
You see, he didn’t say 1% more dropped calls, he said one more dropped call in a hundred. So, if you had 1 dropped call per hundred with your 3GS you would now have 2 dropped calls with the iPhone 4, all other factors being equal. That’s 100% percent increase in dropped calls. If you had 10 dropped calls per hundred (huge number, I’ve never had a single dropped call with my 3GS in almost a year) the one more call would still be a non-insignificant 10% increase.
“Perception”, not “reception”. Unless you are talking about dropped bars, which were shown on three other phones. Not a unique issue for any phone.
No, it is not perception. Calls drop, that’s reality. Calls drop more on the iPhone 4 when this happens in medium to low signal areas (most areas in the US with AT&T). So no, I’m not talking about the dropped bar indicator, I’m talking about the dropped calls. Unlike the indicator, dropped calls are a definite thing. Call drops, no talk. Simple enough?
If you don’t have the phone or haven’t been affected by the issue, do the internet a favor and STFU.
This has truly been one of the most overblown things ive ever seen in my years in technology and living in general. Bought something, doesn’t work, take it back, get your money back, duh! Ranting on the net wont solve the problem, will it?
The problem affected .55% of people, less than 1 percent of 3MM affected. What company wouldn’t love those numbers, imagine the ratio of people that eat at McDonald’s and what their complaint rate is. Guys, please go outside once in a while, there is a world out there. And if you are outside, get of the damned computer.
what? cant handle your favorite company being in a spotlight with something negative?
In the desktop OS space, apple has around 7% market share in the US and around 3% world wide and look at the coverage they get in tech media and blogs. What marketshare do apple have in the smartphone world in the US? world wide?
There are a lot of things from apple that are unreasonably blown out of proportion and you just noticed it now? Can you point to any comment you made complaining about overcoverage of something from apple when it was positive coverage?
you get the attention when the times are great and its only fair to get some of it when the times arent that great.
In other words, you feel personally-threatened by any discussion of anything negative about Apple (also known as “psychological transference”).
I believe the words you’re looking for are “u half no live and u life in ur parents basement.” If you’re going to copy-paste from Remedial Internet Flaming, at least do it properly.
If it was an Android-based phone made my HTC with its guts stuffed into an Apple case you’d still be screaming, just because you had the perception that it was an Apple product and you don’t like anything made by Apple.
Even after the deception was revealed, you’d not be angry at HTC, you’d still be blaming Apple.
Wow. So, in other words, your brand loyalty to Apple is so blind that you can’t imagine even the possibility that there might be valid reasons to criticize an Apple product. Whenever someone criticizes Apple, you can just make the knee-jerk assumption that they’re “anti-Apple”; how convenient that must be!
“Apple has sort-of admitted to iPhone antenna problems”
NO, STEVE DIDN’T!
He said, this phone has no different problems than every other phone out there. He said, no problem, but we want our customers happy. Then he gave HARD DATA to support his assertion.
You should really review the text of some of the live blogs.
ALl phones have antenna reception issues but iphone4 happen to have the worst reception issue and some of it users asked apple to do something about the situation and apple decided to give out free bumpers to these users.
He did admit to it, he just followed it up with showing that other phones have the same problem so it is not that big of a deal. It is a big deal though since the antenna design of this phone got the center stage when the phone was announced as one of its differentiating features.
According to what I saw, he said that they noticed a problem while testing but since “all smart phones” have similar problems, they thought it wasn’t a big deal.
That’s just a different way of saying that it has a problem. He’s a smooth salesman, that’s for sure.
heya,
No, he didn’t give hard data, he gave a silly, prepared speech with a lot of obfuscation, dodging, faked demo videos, and pandering to Apple fans…
His speech had bad statistics, and misleading, vague statements, as well as outright lies – things that RIM and Nokia have now come out, and (rightly) publicly slammed him for.
Look, he values design/looks over functionality, and that’s his prerogative. And the people buying it are fully aware of it, and perhaps that’s what they prefer as well, there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, to come out and lie about competitors products, to try and mask faults with your own products – that’s just deceptive, no matter how you spin it.
Cheers,
Victor
Really? Have you checked out the new DroidX? Compared to just about any high-end Android phone, the iPhone4 is like child’s play.
Look, I’m not a fanboy and I understand the iPhone has its place. There are a lot more games to choose from and I think it’s a nice fit for somebody who finds the Android OS a bit intimidating, but I hardly expected anybody on this site to fall into that crowd. Compared to iOS, the Android platform:
– Is not locked down to a craptastic piece of software like iTunes
– Is not exclusive to AT&T
– Voice search that works for anything in the phone
– Integrates nicely with Google Voice and other Google apps (free texting FTW)
– Is infinitely more customizable
– The apps in the marketplace have a 24 hour return policy
– Google maps/navigation and notification bar vastly superior on Android
In regard to the antenna flaw, in general, companies that sell a $600 device that is flawed out of the box like that usually get blasted to hell. And obviously so with good reason. Apple does it and sheep like Engadget go out of their way to douse the fires with absolutely no reason other than pure brand loyalty.
http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/9206/droidx3.jpg
Edited 2010-07-16 19:08 UTC
I still think the Nokia N900 with Maemo 5 is a better device.
Yes, but apparently you’re a lemur, so what would you know? 🙂
It’s not just about features, and it’s not just about numbers. It’s about user experience. Granted, being tied to iTunes is a big UX minus, but the way I have my phone configured, I only connect to iTunes very rarely. And where I live, At&t is no worse than any other carrier. When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I could barely make a phone call, so I know why some people are pissed about it, but for me it’s not a big deal, and I need GSM anyway because I travel internationally, so Verizon wouldn’t be a good fit for me anyway. I also wish that Apple and Google were on better terms so I could get better integration with Google on the iPhone, but that’s one of many tradeoffs that you need to make with smartphones these days. I’m very enthusiastic about Android’s future, but for now, there’s no Android phone with an overall user experience that’s up to the standard that the iphone has set.
Of course, much of that is subjective, and I wouldn’t recommend against buying an Android phone for all the reasons you state.
The DroidX is the device to beat. Absolutely killer phone/features. Say goodbye, iphone.
Hmmm, Droid X huh? And I can make and call and use data features simultaneously on that right? Huh?
You can, if the network supports it, which it doesn’t. The phone is certainly capable of doing that, because — GASP — it truly multitasks.
As if you can make a call on AT&T’s network without getting dropped anyway.
DroidX? The phone that have an autodestruction switch trigered when it get rooted? The succesor of a phone that have been rooted and USB host mode hacked to make it good then they answer with that? If that’s the best phone on the market, then I would take an iPhone4 over it. Steve may not like jailbreaker, but he wont stop them as long as they don’t steal too much apps. OSX + Unix userland and Android in dual boot is better than Android locked down with a f*cking time bomb in it.
Yeah, Steve will actually be your friend if you think of him nicely. If you say a quiet prayer for him in the evening, he may answer in the morning – or that’s what the legend says.
EDIT: and yeah, there is a huge chasm of difference between freedom with iphone and even locked down android phone. DroidX is a single phone – iphone/iOS is a full auschwitch ecosystem.
Edited 2010-07-16 20:52 UTC
You need to do more research on this… the DroidX does not have an ‘autodestruction switch’ (or if it does, it’s not tured on).
Edited 2010-07-16 21:35 UTC
And here’s the proof:
http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-speaks-droid-x-will-not-self…
Yes, maybe they should take Apple’s approach and try to claim that jailbroken just accidentally/magically brick themselves.
There, fixed that for you.
Being exclusive to AT&T is a US specific issue, people in other countries don’t have that problem. In the UK for instance you can buy unlocked iphones at the apple store, and all the major networks are offering them.
I also find google earth to be better on iphone (3gs) than android (nexus one), i can twist to rotate on the iphone version but not on android, no idea why.
Am I the only one to think that the DroidX is just a plain phone compared to the better looking iphone 4? There are design companies in this world and that’s all they’ve come up with? God!
Edited 2010-07-16 23:18 UTC
You’re missing a big benefit of the iphone which is offline movies.
With a few thumb swipes I can have a new movie on download and ready for when I get on the plane.
Please don’t tell me about how I can copy avi files over from my computer. That isn’t a comparable feature and there is no centralized library of legal avi files. Droid users just make themselves look cheap when they suggest piracy as an alternative to itunes.
Edited 2010-07-18 23:31 UTC
– Is not locked down to a craptastic piece of software like iTunes
yeah, itunes isn’t the nicest software to use on windows, in some ways i hate it. but the underlying tech of it is great. but you got the issue wrong. with android you are locked out. with android you can’t just go to a videostore and buy and put some tv shows or a movie on your device. your locked out of video, and thats how i felt when i had a droid. being locked out of the video market is the main reason why one would want to avoid android completely.
– Voice search that works for anything in the phone
– Integrates nicely with Google Voice and other Google apps (free texting FTW)
i’ll give you that. google voice is perfectly integrated with android. but i can get google talk support with a 3rd party app on my new iphone 4. voice search was kinda cool, but i rarely used it. and never ever used the voice search in public. i mean, lets just announce to the whole world what i am searching for lol.
– Google maps/navigation and notification bar vastly superior on Android
google maps on my droid would take forever to start up the gps on it. i don’t know if i got a bad phone or if it was a software issue. sometimes it wouldn’t locate me, and i would have to restart the phone. this is totally frustrating. on the bright side, android is one of the fastest booting phones i have tried. my iphone4 instantly finds you via gps. as soon as you hit the google maps button you are located. thats how it should work. i don’t get google navigation on iphone like android has, but i can download waze or some other navigation app. maps is usable enough to find your way, and it always works. i miss the notification bar of the droid, that was pretty cool. the iphone will show little numbers besides the icons to show you how many new messages or events you have. that works well enough for me, and i wouldn’t call androids method “vastly” superior.
in reguards to the antenna “flaw” i havent been having any issues with mine. yes i do notice the bars drop when i do the “death”grip. with or without my case the bars still drop. but it still works fine. in fact i get service in basements where my work phone doesn’t work. In general, i am much happier with my iphone than i am my droid. i switched from the droid because the alarm would sometimes just fail to work for no reason.
I guess this has been reported here already:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/consumer-reports-confirms-iphon…
Why the hell does anyone believe anything Steve says anymore? First he said “There is no problem”. Well now we know thats not true because an Apple engineer told him ahead of time there was a problem. Then he said “Its just a software glitch in the bars calculation.” Well thats not the entire problem either, if there even is a mis calculation. The problem is you have two antennae for two different bands. The antennae are exposed and can be short circuited by touching them both. But there is no problem, right? Unless you happen to have sweaty hands….
Let’s not forget Steve’s, “There’s no problem, you’re just holding it wrong” comment. LOL
At least they’re giving away free bumpers. The original plan was to charge suckers $30 per bumper, which cost like 20 cents to manufacture. That would’ve been a huge windfall for Stevie.
$30 for a piece of rubber to put around it. That thing shouldnt be sold for anything more than $4.99 in Radio Shack or something.
You do realize that those popular rubber bracelets (the ones people wear to support breast cancer research, etc.) can be modified with a couple of snips to make your own iPhone 4 “bumper.” I’m starting to think that Apple users have more money than brains!
Edited 2010-07-17 13:16 UTC
“More money than brains…”
Lets see, coverage is pretty lame, phone antenna doesn’t work as it should without a 30 dollar condom, US limited to ATT. Hmmm, wonder what it was that made this conclusion so obvious NOW?
I find it pretty funny that one has to use the equivalent of a ‘cock ring’ around their phone to get it to work as it should. Maybe it is just me, likely is, SJ big bone phone just hurts that much more with this ‘fix’.
Thanks for the laugh!
They noticed too late, obviously, or they didn’t listen.
They obviously sent the thing to manufacturing before making a stab at changes, so they whipped up the bumpers as an easy way to fix the problem. Unlike iPod socks, they had a real need.
I can understand that the product was running late, but Apple don’t test work crap. It’s like being in the defense industry. They test where they know it won’t fail and leave alone the places where it will fail. A lot has gone downhill with the company since before they released Leopard.
They seem to be in such a rush to become more popular and make more money that they only skim the surface on getting to the real issues.
As far as I can see many phones suffer from the same problem as the iPhone 4 and ten minutes on Google turned this lot up:
Nexus One
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=34ae2c1791…
Nokia 2320
http://funsizebytes.com/post/745721120/instructions-from-my-nokia-2…
Nokia E71
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amPG52DVQuk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1gHDa7-X0&feature=related
Nokia 1208
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zsuxbd0L0g
Nokia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RR0AnSMGo
HTC Incredible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpEQH9_A5jw
The issues with the iPhone do of course receive vastly more coverage in the media but that’s because Apple and the iPhone are newsworthy. Remember – trying to work out what is happening in the world by looking at news headlines is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand on a clock.
I totally agree with you about th E71. What a POS.
The only redeming thing about it was the keyboard & texting.
As a phone? Crap. Lost calls by the dozen even with handsfree.
I replaced it a while ago with an unlocked 3GS. Same network. Same place where I live. No dropped calls.
ergo, the phone was a POS.
I really am glad though I don’t have to put up with AT&T. By comparison with them even Orange pretty good and that is saying something.
I am on att and own an iPhone 3gs. I recently gave my 3GS to my wife and bought an N1. I have my N1 for about two months now and I can say this: what the iPhone does, it does best – minus the iTunes anchor. Android, from a user experience wise still has ways to goto provide a cohesive user experience. The software also needs to mature and improve a bit. For example, when I on google maps on the N1 it locates my current position within 2.5km of where I actually am and it take forever to zero in. The iphone zeros in under 2 seconds.
I still love the N1. The USB tethering, sd card mounting, OTA updates, etc. Are worth it. not to mention no iTunes. But it is still no iPhone.
I must be about the only person here who doesn’t have one of these smart phones; I have a basic Telecom R6 and it does all that I need, and better still I can hold which ever way I want in any location around Wellington without the signal dropping out – and tether it to my laptop without having to pay a ‘special fee’ to the carrier:
http://zte.co.nz/main/R6.htm
$149 for the lot and a great phone at that; and for my music player I have an iPod Classic (160GB). Am I going mad being the only person on this forum who seems to have no interest in smart phones? what am I missing out on that everyone seems to be enjoying. It as though there is secret that everyone else is in on except me?
No you are not alone.
I still have a plain Nokia 6310 that I use whenever I go into Government places and the increasing number of commercial places that won’t allow phones with a Camera.
It stays in my car on charge and ready for use. I bought it years ago in the Riyadh Souk for some tiny amount.
And for texting, wonderful. Just the right size for two fingered operation.
If it weren’t for email connectivity then I’d use it more.
Well everyone is entitled to their choices and if a feature phone suits you well you obviously have no problem. But as with everything, you can’t know what you’re missing if you don’t have first hand experience.
For example, with my smart phone I have an internet connection, a browser, e-mail, IM, an office suite, I can ssh anywhere, GPS, the wolfram app, plenty of games etc. Plus all the usual phone stuff (phone, sms, mms). If you don’t need any of these or if you’re carrying a net/notebook all the time, chances are you don’t need a smart phone. But asking what everyone seems to be enjoying is a bit silly. Smart phones have a lot more useful stuff than feature phones.
I didn’t have one until recently, but eventually ended up with an HTC Desire. The advantage over a basic phone is that it’s just easier to use(touchscreen interface) as well as being feature packed.
I don’t understand how people can witter on for hours about smartphones but they are definitely a big step up from their low end counterparts.
No you’re not, too many people just get sucked into the hype and and believe that “They must have one”.
What do I have?
1. A PHONE, I don’t text either.
2. Web surfing while mobile? I have a Netbook
3. MP3 player, I have a Cowon iAudio
4. A Reader, I have a Kindle
I’m not going to waste my money on something that tries to do everything 1/2 assed. Seriously surfing the web or watching a movie on a 3 inch screen? Give me a freaking break …..
If someone needs to get in touch with me, leave a freaking Voice Mail.
My Cowon will blow the iPhone away (not to mention the iPod also) in quality muisc and it’s just a little bit larger than a pack of gum with 32 Gig of space.
Now don’t get me started on the Maxipad ……
I have a $25 dollar phone (Nokia 1200). Battery life is I dunno, a week or so. And I barely use SMS (mostly calls). Games? I love snakes! LOL!
If I really need to kill some time, I take one of the paperbacks at my car (when wife and daughter is at the mall).
When I’m not at work or at not at home, I barely touch a computer. So there, I don’t need an all-in-one device. And oh, I have this old Creative Muvo audio player (that I barely bring).
Why are people actually defending Apple and being gullible to their crap? Most other smartphones need to be cupped tightly to induce a large signal attenuation, while the iPhone4 simply needs a fingertip at the right spot to cause the same issue, as Consumer Report proved. It isn’t the “deathgrip”, it’s a goddamn design flaw.
I can’t believe people actually believe the BS coming out of Jobs mouth. All smartphones have this problem? Really? Then where were the reception complaints about the previous iPhone models? Give it a rest. The only people buying into this crap are the koolaid drinkers. My brother has an iPhone and he’s not an iFanboy so he KNOWS there is a problem and can’t stand the deniers. I guess if you’re so heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem you start to justify the flaws instead of demanding that they be fixed.
Yeah, I am still scratching my head over this one as I have never had this problem with my HTC, nor have I ever heard of this problem being common or known amongst smartphones. Yes there have been cases similar, but that was design flaws…kind of like something something something….Apple?
It is my understanding, both from personal experience, as well as what I have read in the past that iPhones in general have never had great reception to begin with.
Apple is the only one that decided not to insulate their antenna. Shame on them -it’s as if they replaced all their engineers with Art Majors.
of waiting at least 4 months before buying a new model of a device.
Free bumpers? From the company that has billions in the bank? I’m not sure what bothers me more, Apple the company or the cult that waits in line all day for a defective product and then later defends them in forums.
I would switch to Droid if had better games and offline movies. The WP7 phones at least will provide a better platform for game developers and will likely have a movie service tied to Xbox live. Droid is good for business but can’t compete with the iphone when it comes to entertainment.