# The SBHonline Community Daily > Digerati Discussions! >  >  Think (and hold it) differently

## JoshA

Don't hold iPhone 4 that way, Apple says

'Avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band,' Apple says. Users have found that cradling the iPhone in their hand can cause loss of signal.

June 26, 2010|By David Sarno and Mark Milian, Los Angeles Times

A day after users discovered that cradling Apple Inc.'s new iPhone in your hand may interfere with its antenna and cause it to lose its signal, the company has suggested a solution:

Don't hold it that way.

Apple said that some loss of signal from gripping a handset is "a fact of life for every wireless phone," and that if it happens on the new iPhone, users should "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band."

Or if you prefer, the company suggested, "simply use one of many available cases."

Apple redesigned the phone so the steel frame around the handset doubles as its antenna. The left side of the frame is used to broadcast a cellular signal; the right side is for other bands, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

As a result, people who tend to hold their phone in the left hand may be plagued by the signal problems more than those who hold the phone in their right hand.

Though Apple says every mobile phone has similar issues, it's not a phenomenon the gadget experts at ISuppli Corp. have seen before. That's because nearly all smart phones  including earlier iPhone models  have the cell antenna packaged inside the case, along with the circuitry.

But Apple's plan for wrapping the antenna around the phone was to boost its cellular performance, according to comments from Chief Executive Steve Jobs at the phone's unveiling this month.

Gripping the lower part of the phone may interfere with a piece called a radio frequency ground plane, which helps amplify the phone's cell connection. That piece, said ISuppli hardware analyst Kevin Keller, is susceptible to electrical currents  even those from contact with human skin.

Some bloggers quickly ridiculed Apple's response by assembling dozens of images from Apple promotional materials showing actors holding the phone in a way that appeared to be different from what Apple now recommends.

"Apple, you're holding it wrong," read a caption for an image that a blogger posted Friday.

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## JEK



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## JoshA

Apple's iPhone 4 Antenna Glitch: 10 Reasons for Consumers to Push Back

From: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-...h-Back-390866/

By: Don Reisinger
2010-06-29

News Analysis: Apple has committed several blunders in the way it has handled the iPhone 4 and its antenna problems. And now it's time for customers to think twice about letting the hardware company get away with it.

Since June 15 when Apple first offered the iPhone 4 for pre-order, the company has made several wrong moves. It started when Apple decided to allow AT&T to control the iPhone's pre-ordering process.

By doing so, it left a key component in the purchase of the iPhone in the hands of a company that did an extremely poor job of handling orders. From there, the trouble continued. When news broke that the iPhone 4 featured antenna problems, Apple said that consumers should simply hold the device in a different way to cut down on reception problems. It simply failed to make things right from the get-go.

That's extremely unfortunate. As one of the most beloved companies in the tech industry, Apple has a responsibility to address issues the right way. It might not be fair, considering so many other companies sweep issues under the rug, but that's the problem with being the world's most valuable tech company.

When the smaller, less important companies ignore problems, no one cares. But when Apple does it, the company is expected to respond with the right solution. But so far, it hasn't. And consumers are left to wonder why Apple, the company they have had so much respect for, is leaving them out in the cold.

Of course, wondering about that won't do any good. The time has come for consumers to finally stand up to Apple and hold it accountable. Here's why:

1. It'll never change

Apple has shown time and again that until it feels pressure for the issues its product has, the company will do nothing to address them. As unfortunate as that is, it's reality. And until consumers start forcing the company to be accountable for its products' problems, it won't change its tune. Luckily, making Apple accountable isn't all that difficult. Consumers need to voice their opinions in as many forums as possible. They should also consider alternative products if they feel Apple isn't listening to them. The best way to make Apple listen is to vote with wallets.
Resource Library:

2. The ego is annoying

By taking Apple's poor treatment all these years, consumers have effectively allowed the company to have an ego. Unlike just about every other firm that fully understands what it takes to appeal to customers, Apple has the luxury of not really caring. And that general lack of care comes through in the decisions in continues to make. By calling Apple out on those problems, consumers change that. Apple's ego has allowed the company to believe that no matter what it does, consumers will keep coming back. That will only change if they're shown that the past won't necessarily predict the future. 

3. Where's the care?

Perhaps the main reason why consumers should stop taking Apple's treatment is because the company just doesn't seem to care. When faced with complaints over antenna problems, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said consumers should simply stop holding the smartphone as they normally have. The company said in an official statement that consumers should release the death grip or find a case. By showing such a lack of care on Apple's part, consumers are being backed into a corner. If they finally stop taking Apple's poor treatment, the company will have no choice but to start caring.

4. Microsoft doesn't get a pass

In the tech business, Apple gets a free pass for many of the mistakes it makes. But Microsoft is one firm that gets beaten up over the slightest infractions. Even when the company has done nothing wrong, critics come out to pan its actions. It's rather unfortunate. And it's about time Apple is held to the same standard as Microsoft. Yes, Steve Jobs is a flashier CEO and Apple delivers better products than Microsoft, but that doesn't mean that it can't be wrong. If Microsoft gets pummeled when problems arise, shouldn't Apple get the same treatment?

 5. Apple should know there are alternatives worth considering

Apple seems to believe that no matter how much trouble its products might have, the company is in no danger of losing those customers to a competitor. It should be made abundantly aware of the fact that there really are alternatives available right now that can do a fine job of appealing to consumer desire. One such alternative is Google's Android OS. The operating system might not have the polish iOS boasts, but it's awfully close. And if consumers start picking up more Android-based devices because of problems with the iPhone 4, Apple will need to take notice.

6. It's time to try something new

If nothing else, Apple's handling of the iPhone 4 antenna problems show that consumers need to try something new to get Apple to start caring more about them. In the past, simply ignoring the company's faults because its products were so nice might have been fine for some folks. But that mentality has contributed to the issues customers are having today. Apple is simply expecting history to repeat itself, and customers, so far, are allowing that to happen. It's time to speak out and try something new. It's a worth shot, right?

7. Apple should set the standard, not detract from it

Apple is the most important tech company in the industry. It not only has brought the tech sector to the mainstream in a major way, it has ensured that going forward, well-designed and desirable products will be making their way to store shelves. It has set the standard in software and hardware design. Perhaps that's why customers should take issue with the company. Apple is supposed to be the standard-setter, not the company that doesn't live up to its end of the bargain with consumers. As nice as Apple's products are, the hardware company should handle situations like this just as effectively as it creates smartphones.

8. It's good for Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is one of the more interesting CEOs in the tech business. Unlike so many other executives who like to stay in their office and out of the limelight, Jobs thrives on praise being heaped on his company. Any chance he gets, he takes the stage to deliver all the good news Apple wants to share with the world. He has basically created an image and star-like status that no other CEO has been able to muster. But maybe he needs to be taken down a little too. He might have the vision that no other CEO has, but he's not infallible. And as his recent decisions have proven, there is work to be done. It's about time consumers remind him of that.

9. It will happen again

Rest assured that without making a fuss over the iPhone's antenna troubles, there will be more problems with the company's devices. If nothing else, Apple's antenna design problems were overlooked by the company simply because it knew that it wasn't big enough for customers to stop buying the iPhone. But what other simple quirks will find their way into future Apple devices? If customers don't make Apple know that the antenna problem is much bigger than the company wants to admit, they will have a hard time limiting such problems in the future. This is a test for consumers. And it's up to them to respond.

10. It hurts late adopters

If nothing else, consumers should put pressure on Apple today to help those late adopters that will be affected by the iPhone's problems at some point in the future. In every tech release, early adopters pick up devices first. They are not concerned with potential problems and freely accept them if they arise. But late adopters wait until they believe, the device is ready to be purchased. If early adopters turn a blind eye to the iPhone's woes, late adopters will be forced to deal with the same problems when they get their hands on the product. Customers should stick together. That means looking out for those that have yet to get an iPhone.

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## JEK

A tempest in a teacup. 1.7M sold in the first 3 days and probably double that by now. BTW, my signal strength is great no matter how I hold this gleaming hunk of beauty.

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## BBT

I agree I carry BB and iPhone 4 both have same signal. This type of complaining always happens when the company is #1. I love mine.

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## Petri

I don't this wouldn't have popped up so big if it wasn't an issue for some folks or areas.  The 3G antenna stuff is far more compilicated than 1 and 0, or 0 to 5 bars.

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## Voosh

Geez. Just implant the damned thing in the back of my head with auto updates enabled. I'll be as cranky as ever. Honest. 

BTW. BIG ISSUE. All these folks in the USA are rabid about this new "phone." 

QUESTION!! Will they vote this November to keep their rights to have the right to... Too many folks are ignoring the fact that these elections mean a lot. It's not just about re-electing a noble president last year. It's about keeping some sanity and finding something that works for all of us. Saying "no" is a big no. It's us that we want them to represent. 


Hey Mods. Redirect to appropriate thread. Thanks! I gotta get back to real work.

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## JEK

> Hey Mods. Redirect to appropriate thread. Thanks! I gotta get back to real work.



Why? You post so indiscriminately that it makes no difference :)

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## Voosh

:crazy:  

I do care. ALWAYS. 

My wife and I had a semi-argument about if Brenda Lee or Patsy Cline did a certain tune first. I won. We agreed it was darned good fun. We're happy.

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## JEK

I probably have the tune on my iPhone . . . see back on track.

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## JEK

July 2, 2010

Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apples history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they dont know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&Ts recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhones bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same the iPhone 4s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Apple

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## Petri

Interesting to see how it performs when I get back home next week.

iPad and iPhone 4 are quite easily available here in Hong Kong although neither is officially sold here yet, about 15-20% premium in the price.  I paid way too much for the camera connection kit, not to mention it seems to be piece of crap.  Plenty of iPhone 3 and iPad accessories from a few dollars/euros a piece, but just a few for the iPhone 4 yet.  Bought a load to make it easier to sell the 3GS..

People seem to have very mixed brand phones and the norm is unsubvented phones.

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## JEK

I found the camera kit very handy when traveling.

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## Petri

Initial verdict is poor (similar to the iPod camera connection kit) but the jury is still out, probably works better with P&S as intended.  Posting to Facebook works fine through the Facebook App but I'm not sure if there's a way to post e.g. here on SBHOnline.

I hope Apple will officially open the USB for other use as well.

Anyway, my first not so Apple-ish experience was as follows:

First I connected my CF reader to it (Sandisk Extreme with Sandisk Extreme IV Compact Flash card).  Previews look fine and it even recognized that I had shoot in RAW+JPEG mode.  I clicked Import All and after a dozen or so photos there's an error that the attached accessory uses too much power.  Bad luck, one cannot charge the iPod and use the camera connector kit at the same time.  Ok, using a memory card isn't quite the recommended way to use it.

Next I connect the iPad directly to the camera.  Looks ok with the previews and even gives an option to skip the duplicates with the import.  However after a few dozen photos the Photos App crash.

Third try is a charm and it eventually manages to import all the photos.  However now I have three separate events in the Photos library, all with identical "2 Jul 2010" name.  For some reason the Skip Duplicates option didn't work quite well, there are several duplicates in the library or perhaps the JPEG+RAW issue created some confusion.  I wonder if there's a way to see the EXIF details..

The big problem, which I did know about, is lack of decent workflow.  With a laptop, every day I copy all the photos from the camera to two hard drives, either two external or external + internal.  The internal memory on the iPad isn't sufficient when you shoot RAW on a 21 megapixel camera, including occasional FullHD video.  Technically one could do it (jailbreaked iPad already works with external hdd) but right now, Apple doesn't allow it.  Without this issue I could have left the netbook home.

But the photos do look stunning on the iPad screen!

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## JoshA

From http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/...-grip-problem/ 

July 2, 2010, 4:35 pm
Lets Try to Make Sense of the Death Grip

Whoa. Just unbelievable.

Apple has finally announced that its going to do something about the iPhone 4s antenna issuesbut you might not like it. (As you may recall, many iPhone 4 owners, when holding the phone so that it covers the black gap at the lower left portion of the stainless-steel band , see their AT&T signal-strength bars visibly drop.)

Heres what the Apple statement says:

    Some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal bandthe so-called Death Grip. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design

    Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they dont know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

O.K., what!?

Apple is saying that its been calculating how many bars to display incorrectly for years, both on the iPhone 4 and other iPhones.

Look, I dont know where the truth lies. Ive read everything there is to read on the antenna issue: Antenna experts who say that Apple never should have built an external antenna. Software experts who say that the signal-dropping problem is just a cosmetic glitch. Computer-magazine testers who say that all phones exhibit this problem, but just hide it better. And iPhone owners who say everything from Apple should be sued to I cant reproduce this problem no matter what I try to it depends on where youre standing.

On one hand, the number of bars has always been an iffy, unreliable metric. Everyone has experienced a dropped call even when the phone shows four or five bars. So if Apple thinks it can make the bars more accurately represent the bad news about your current AT&T reception, well, good.

On the other hand, you cant help noticing that Apples solutionrewriting the algorithm that displays barsis a win for, well, Apple. It doesnt have to recall anything. It doesnt have to offer free silicone bumper bands to cover the edges of the phone (which instantly fixes the dropping-bars problem). And by asserting that the iPhone has been exaggerating your actual signal strength for years, Apple is basically passing a big bite of the reception-weakness buck to AT&T.

On the other other hand, Apple steadfastly maintains that despite all of the hooplah and controversy, the iPhone 4 still gets better reception than previous iPhones. And sure enough, over and over again, testers, customers and reviewers report being able to make calls in familiar spots where they never could before. Ive seen it, too.

The whole thing is a forehead-slapper. Reaction online is all over the map, a lot of is cynical:

No way am I believing that. Not naive enough! (@rajivvarma)

We should be glad this isnt a hardware hardware issue, or this could be much worse. Fixing software is far easier than a recall. (@morsel_info)

I cant say Im surprised. Im always getting poor reception or failed calls with 5 bars on the display. (@marnen)

Now, in the end, you wont be stuck with a phone with reception youre not happy with; Apple is offering refunds to anyone who wants to return the iPhone 4 within the first 30 days.

But good lord. This ones going down in the history booksor at least the one called, Weirdest Consumer Tech Bumbles, 1980-2010.

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## Petri

Such a joke..

The Apple church will take the explanation as truth for sure.  Why wait several weeks for the update?  Perhaps to include new baseband code to take into consideration the changes in antenna impedance.  Suddenly it works!

Any antenna expert can tell how difficult such an open metal antenna is, they told it before iPhone4 was even shipping, and most people have touched a radio or TV antenna to know it too (Voosh..).  3G antenna stuff is actually pretty complicated.  No doubt one can interfere with the reception on most phones but I don't remember any phone over the last two decades when the antenna would have been so touchable.  Exactly the type of R&D companies like Nokia and Motorola have been doing a long time.

As an iPhone 4 owner of course my wish is that they fix the problem -- and cuts the bs.

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## Voosh

Hey! What's that you say? I just wrap my head in tinfoil and stand outside during a thunderstorm. Great reception.  

Sounds like someone at Apple missed the first day of Antennas 101 class. My old Nokia flip phone gets better reception than my wife's latest greatest. 

Bzzzt. Zap. Huh? What?  :p

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## KevinS

Voosh,

I've actually had an education in aluminum foil,  obtained from a bankrobber who was arrested within the week by the FBI.  

What I learned is that the first thing that you have to worry about is whether they're sucking the thoughts out of your head, or beaming new ones in.  It makes a difference on which way you fold the aluminum foil - shiny side in, or shiny side out.  Those who are particularly masterful can fold up an aluminum foil hat that covers both.

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## Voosh

Re: "Those who are particularly masterful can fold up an aluminum foil hat that covers both." 

That's the secret. Don't tell anyone. 

"They're coming to take me away. Ha. Ha. Hee. Hee." 

(And yes, I just dug up the album with that song and Kathy is ready to shoot me as it's playing. I guess I'll stop since she is a much better shot than me at close range. Very precise at close range. I offered "Monster Mash" as a peace offering. She simply asked "which brain lobe do you want to lose now?" I'm going back to some real work now.)

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## Petri

The Very Hot Weather Warning is now in force. Hot weather might cause adverse health effects.

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## Petri

The package was sitting here on the table when I arrived ;-) 

Cut my old SIM card into micro SIM size with scissors, synced and here we go!  It takes time but I like how easy Apple has made it to migrate from an old to a new phone.  Lost all the Folders, though..

Amazing piece of hardware.  Thin. The display is so crisp.  Feels so fragile with all the glass.  I remember back in the old days when holding a Nokia phone and knowing that it has been tested to break into pieces (distribute forces to restrict damage) when it's dropped.  I don't want to drop this.

Death Grip seems to exist.  From full bars to one, dropping from 3G to GSM.  It didn't disconnect totally but data rate dropped using SpeedTest.  Considering how easy it's to shortcut the antennas, located just where you hold the hand, it is most definetly a design failure.  Sorry Apple, no buying the explanation about bars (which mean nothing anyway because the reception is a combination for SQE and SNR, no absolute truth) -- I get the same five bars with the iPad and the date rate goes up to 4.5 Mbits/s.  The reception is just exceptionally good over here, is today and has been before iPhones arrived.

Interesting to see if the Death Grip is something that will effect the daily use, or if it's just something that you need to deliberately do.

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## BBT

Petri, the death grip on SBH is non existent. I go from 0 bars to 0 bars no matter how I hold it. :p

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## Petri

> Petri, the death grip on SBH is non existent. I go from 0 bars to 0 bars no matter how I hold it. :p



.. and there's the turquoise ocean just waiting to get a grip on the iPhone.  The iPhone will look awesome underwater.

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## BBT

For you I would throw it in but the Nikon does not do well underwater so I could prove it. Of course my "new LG/ Dauphin SBH phone does not do so well on "bars" here.

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## JEK

> Petri, the death grip on SBH is non existent. I go from 0 bars to 0 bars no matter how I hold it. :p



I haven't had time to call on it, too busy with movies, photos and iBook :)

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## Petri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZwUsA0WV4E

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## Voosh

I love my wife. She hates all these phones but had to replace. 

Conversation afterwards - "I gave that guy a lot of sh*t about stupid 3G or 4G - why can't I get 100G? I can do great bandwidth on our radios that we carry. I simply said, we don't pay AT&T for dinky phones and coverage and ya only get that reception flying above towers. Nope, we've never downloaded a movie on "da phones." Never crossed our minds. OK, she says, we're covered. Never a doubt in my mind (I use AT&T on the ground.)" 


Never a dull moment.

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## Petri

You and she did know that iPhone is pretty bad phone but great at everything else? ;-)

Of all the phones I've ever owned, as a _phone_, iPhones will be pretty down at the bottom.  Nokia 2110 back in '94 was one of the best.  It's sort of funny -- that phone over 15 years ago was less than twice the size of iPhone 4 -- and the smallest phone I've had was 8210 ten years ago, half smaller than the iPhone is today.

Back in mid 90's a friend worked at the telco and we had a "mailing list", one could send e-mail to an specific address or an text to a specific number and it would get distributed to a group of friends and to a chat group, in case someone was there on-line at the time.  Just to know what bar(s) it was tonight..  The early days of drinking Apps ;-)

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## JEK

Back in '94 there were millions of fewer cell users.

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## BBT

My new Daulphin LG sucks and I can't see the numbers or letters when you type 0 it ends up an 8. I do love the iPhone 4 in the states. I will say the amount of attention it gets here when I take to lunch is amazing. Its not on sale here yet best I can tell.

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## Petri

> Back in '94 there were millions of fewer cell users.



Maybe in the US but over here every fourth person had a GSM phone back in 1995.  I've been mobile almost half of my life, never given a personal land line number to anyone.

The biggest difference is that back in 1994 you chose the carrier by quality of reception which isn't an issue today (apart from summer cottages, all have voice but who has the fastest 3G data out there in the forest..).  We've never had issues with dropped calls, GSM or 3G.  We were quite lucky as the networks were built by technically ambitious folks in the early days and not by the marketing people who like to draw maps, like it's today.

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## JEK



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## KevinS

Buy an unlocked quadband GSM phone at home, move the SIM card over, and trash the Dauphin phone.  That's what I did.  My Dauphin phone is now a Motorola Razr.

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## Petri

There's something funny about the iPhone 4's proximity sensor.

On a 30 minute call I managed to enable the keypad and press a few numbers, and mute the call, just by holding the phone the usual way around my ear.  The call didn't drop, though.

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## BBT

That was my thought also. I went to look for an old phone like the Razr but ran out of time. This phone cost 42E and acts just like it.

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## JEK

I have an unlocked Android that is only good for that purpose.

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## BBT

So you bring an Android down here? I have the iPhone 4 here and it works great for data. I just hate spending the 1.49 for calls. That why I bought the LG and leave it here.

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## JEK

For my local calls. Get a nice 0690 num.

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## BBT

I did

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## Petri

Fixed the problem..

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## Petri

Just put the iPhone 3GS 32G for sale on a local auction site.  The black 3GS in pristine combination, a water-damages white 3GS for the children, pile of accessories I bought in Hong Kong for about $15.

Starting price 300  (380$), buy-now price 550  (700$).  There were sales end of June for 590  and 650  so it might fetch the full price.  Still no news when iPhone 4 will be available, TeliaSonera says they're ready but Apple doesn't tell when they could get phones.

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## JoshA

CR video with duct tape fix can be found here 

Text below:

July 12, 2010, 1:13 pm
Consumer Reports Says iPhone 4 Has Design Flaw
By NICK BILTON

2:39 p.m. | Updated Added link to earlier Consumer Reports blog post and comments from Michael Gikas, senior editor of electronics at Consumer Reports. 3:14 p.m. Added request for comment from AT&T and Apple.

Consumer Reports said in a blog post and accompanying video on Monday that widely reported signal problems with the iPhone 4, Apples latest mobile phone, were a result of a flaw in the phones antenna design and that it could not recommend purchasing the phone. That contradicts earlier claims by Apple that the problems are a software issue.

The magazine said its engineers performed a series of tests on three separate iPhone 4s inside a controlled lab environment known as a radio frequency isolation chamber. They found that when the bottom left corner of the iPhone was touched, it could sometimes lose enough signal strength to drop calls.

Consumer Reports said the tests led it to conclude that it could not recommend the iPhone 4 to consumers until Apple fixes the hardware problem. It also questioned Apples honesty on the antenna issues:

    Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.

When reports first surfaced of a reception flaw in the new phone, Steven P. Jobs, Apples chief executive, said to a customer in an e-mail that he was simply holding the phone incorrectly. Technology writers lambasted the company for this comment.

Earlier this month, Apple released a statement saying that it had looked into the signal problems and was stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. The company also said it would release a software update to fix the issue and would make bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see on the phones signal display. It did not acknowledge any problem with the phones hardware.

Consumer Reports also tested several other phones, including the earlier iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre, and reported that none of those phones had the signal-loss problems of the iPhone 4. The report also said AT&Ts network did not appear to play a primary role in the iPhone 4s signal woes.

AT&T declined to comment on the latest report, and Apple did not return a request for comment.

The latest comments by Consumer Reports dispute an earlier statement on the publications Electronics Blog that the iPhone 4s supposed signal woes arent unique, and may not be serious.

Michael Gikas, senior editor of electronics at Consumer Reports, said in a phone interview that the earlier blog post was a first impression of the iPhone 4 and that the latest report was based on detailed laboratory experiments showing the phones issues were clearly a hardware malfunction.

We dont believe that consumers should pay extra money to fix the problem, Mr. Gikas said. We think either Apple should supply free cases for the phone or come up with another solution. Thats why we are not recommending the iPhone 4.

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## Petri

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/12/apple...n-memory-hole/

.. I hope they don't cause too much damage.

Love the comment, "Apple fanboys are starting to look like Fox News" ;-)

Perhaps next time Apple will field test the new phones without any covers.  (wonder why there's barely any accessories for the iPhone4 but the bumper arrived day 1 and it's listed before everything else, including the dock, when you order iPhone4 online?)


Sold the year-old iPhone 3GS 32G for 550  yesterday, about 700 $.

From the official carrier with a contract the iPhone 3GS 32G starts from 0  but many people prefer to pay the real price and choose carrier as they wish, instead of getting a "free phone".

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## Voosh

The funny thing about the CR vid/review of the reception problem (which seems right on the mark,) is that they still rate it as the best "smartphone" around. Huh? 


I just want them to tell me which brand of duct tape works best for this.

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## BBT

I took off my case and have tried putting fingers over the "Gap" and even have held it different ways. I see no change in # of bars here in SBH.

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## JoshA

From http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-20010352-256.html

July 12, 2010 10:03 PM PDT
Time for an iPhone 4 recall?
Molly Wood

The mountain of damning evidence is incontrovertible: Apple's iPhone 4 antenna design is flawed. Consumer Reports is only the latest publication to complete a battery of testing and declare what other reviewers have discovered as well: holding the phone a certain way causes repeatable reception problems that, in weaker signal areas, can lead to dropped calls. 

Those lucky folks who live in areas with rock-solid AT&T reception likely won't run into the problem. Those less fortunate can reproduce it virtually at will. Here at CNET, Kent German demonstrated in video how dramatically a hand over the bottom left corner of the phone can affect signal quality--in his first test, his voice drops off completely when he's got the phone in the "death grip."

Everyone's testing. Engadget gets the same results; Anandtech stripped the phone to its guts and found that, "(t)he fact of the matter is that cupping the bottom left corner and making skin contact between the two antennas does result in a measurable difference in cellular reception." Lefties: you're out of luck. One researcher found that oven gloves seem a safe way to hold the thing. And so on and so forth. One Ph.D. in wireless network planning, Richard Gaywood, confirmed the antenna design flaw and said "(t)he best scenario is for Apple to coat the antenna and replace all existing phones with a revised model."

I agree.

But as you know, Apple's response has been less than consumer-friendly. As we know, there's the infamous, "don't hold it that way" advice. The same statement told users to simply purchase one of many available cases, including one Apple sells.

Next up, the company unveiled a "stunning" software problem that over-inflated signal quality...but shortly thereafter, AppleCare started advising customers that any forthcoming software fixes wouldn't fix the hardware-based antenna problem. And of course, the official customer service script, if this leak is to be believed, advises tech support to tell customers that, in fact, the antenna is awesome, but even so, don't hold it that way, maybe buy a case, and no, AppleCare is not to give out a free case, offer any kind of warranty repair, or deal with the problem in any satisfactory manner at all.

Oh, and now Apple is deleting mentions of the Consumer Report findings on its support forums, as it's wont to do when problems crop up that it doesn't want to acknowledge.

Now, I know Apple's selling new iPhones like Rocket Pops on the 4th of July, but this is the kind of issue that's melting into the mainstream, fast, and it's going to leave a stain. When Consumer Reports starts advising mainstream consumer electronics customers against buying your product, you've got a problem, and it's time to address it.

Apple has responded with arrogance and dismissal to the fact that it's shipping a flawed product. And that arrogance and dismissal comes at a time when Android market share is growing up and to the right, self-proclaimed Mac freaks are turning to other platforms, and journalists are daring to write about a geek backlash against the iPhone. Well, if geeks are the canary in the coal mine, Apple would do well to start counting carcasses. And as Consumer Reports goes, so goes much of America.

Apple should recall the iPhone 4 and start disseminating new phones with properly coated antennas--and I'm not talking duct tape or neon-colored rubber bands. A recall would give Apple major goodwill and prove its commitment to the impeccable quality and design principles it's always espoused. Yes, it would be expensive and unprecedented. But wow, would it win back some flagging hearts and minds. I know Apple's not used to having to work for the love of its consumers, but now might be a good time to start.

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## Petri

> Those lucky folks who live in areas with rock-solid AT&T reception likely won't run into the problem.



It doesn't even have anything to do with rock-solid reception.

I have a rock-solid reception, full bars, 3G data at 4.5 Mbit/s, never had anything problems with phones in this rock solid building (Wi-Fi barely goes through the walls) but I can see and feel the iPhone 4 loose reception if I happen to hold the phone "wrong way", even without shortcutting the black strip.  It's just about touching the antenna and changing it's characteristics.

Yes, it still works but the worst design I have seen in 15 years.

Any antenna engineer can tell what's happening (and that's why Apple is hiring many of them right now).

I'm curious to see how much of it can be fixed with a software update.  Also I'd like to see Apple to fix the proximity sensor, just managed to enable the speakerphone twice today while having a call with the phone next to my ear.

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## BBT

The mosquito app works great. Have been testing it the ast few days and it keeps them away. Also the dog that stole a loaf of bread from my kitchen hates it.

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## Petri

Just managed to both mute and enable the speakerphone at the same time today while talking to a friend.

The iPhone 4 is starting to feel like a joke..

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## JEK

One thing it can do is hold a call. I started a call in downtown DC, drove by the main entrance of the CIA (which usually sucks the signal out of the air) and on home without a drop.

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## Petri

> One thing it can do is hold a call. I started a call in downtown DC, drove by the main entrance of the CIA (which usually sucks the signal out of the air) and on home without a drop.



Yeah, I remember having a dropped call back in 2005 when the 3G networks where a bit unreliable.

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## JEK

But you don't have the CIA in your neighborhood. If pre-iPhone I would lose calls as   I drove by. I image a great vacuum cleaner in the sky sucking radio waves in for analysis.

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## Petri

> But you don't have the CIA in your neighborhood. If pre-iPhone I would lose calls as   I drove by. I image a great vacuum cleaner in the sky sucking radio waves in for analysis.



Nope but the iPhone reboots if you drive by Nokia hq ;-)

One thing I like about the local carriers is that they've built their networks pretty well, with engineers in charge instead of bean counters or marketing.  If you'd spot a hole in the network, they wouldn't sell you a femtocell but add coverage for the hole.

They even publish the disruption details on a map;
http://www.elisa.fi/asiakaspalvelu/hairiokartta/
(Quite a few right now due the heat wave, many of the locations don't have any air-co.  But still, not a single total failure, just limited capacity)
If you zoom in, you'll see the exact coverage for that particular problem.

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## JEK

A friend is going to Paris with her iPad 3G -- whose or what SIM should she buy for data? T-Mobile? Orange?

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## Petri

> A friend is going to Paris with her iPad 3G -- whose or what SIM should she buy for data? T-Mobile? Orange?



The choice would be between Bouygues, Orange and SFR.  The last two have the best networks, although I doubt any have trouble in a big city like Paris.

SFR has a "iPad 3G+ Pret a surfer" kit for 9.90.  In the Cellular Data / APN settings the APN is "websfr" for them.  That kit gives you three days of surfing, after that it will cost 6 / day and you need to buy the codes from an SFR store (I think).  The place to enter the code is under Cellular Data / SIM Applications.

Orange has a Mobicarte pre-paid SIM that should also work, it has unlimited internet "Internet Max" for 3 / day.  

France isn't big on pre-paid and they may ask for an address (use hotel's address), or even a local credit card or bank account (used with the post-paid accounts).

I bought this micro sim cutter, http://www.cutmysim.com/
It comes with two plastic covers to use the micro sim in a standard sized slot.

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## JoshA

July 18, 2010
Post-Mortem: No Hair Shirt for Steve Jobs
By DAVID CARR

By now, most people know what happens when your fingers come in contact with the lower left-hand corner of the iPhone 4  are you there?  but it took the touch of an old-line, nontech tester of technology to get Apple to admit as much.

When Steve Jobs took the stage on Friday to defend the iPhone 4 against criticism that it had reception problems, he made his feelings about the press abundantly, peevishly clear.

This has been blown so out of proportion that its incredible. Its fun to have a story, but its not fun to be on the other side, he told reporters.

Even as he apologized and acknowledged that there was indeed a problem, he was joined by Scott Forstall, a senior vice president at Apple, who attacked an article in The New York Times that blamed an interaction with the phones software as patently false, and then Mr. Jobs went on to call a Bloomberg article that suggested the company knew about the problem last year a total crock.

In general, he suggested that media organizations were just making blood sport of a company that had sold three million handsets in just three weeks: I guess its just human nature, when you see someone get successful you just want to tear it down.

Anybody who expected Steve Jobs to wear a hair shirt when he took the stage was bound to be disappointed. That the company responded at all is a testament to the power of at least one part of the press. When he got to the heart of what the company was going to do about the controversy, he cited Consumer Reports saying, The bumper solves the signal strength problem and its suggested remedy of free cases for all. O.K., lets give everybody a case, Mr. Jobs said.

The iPhones antenna problems might have remained a dust-up between Apple fanboys and skeptical bloggers except that Consumer Reports  that stolid, old-media tester of everything from flooring to steam mops for the last 74 years  came out with a report detailing the issue and concluding that due to this problem, we cant recommend the iPhone 4.

How did Consumer Reports make Apple blink? In large measure, the article in Consumer Reports was devastating precisely because the magazine (and its Web site) are not part of the hot-headed digital press. Although Gizmodo and other techie blogs had reached the same conclusions earlier, Consumer Reports made a noise that was heard beyond the Valley because it has a widely respected protocol of testing and old-world credibility. Mr. Jobs acknowledged as much, saying: We were stunned and upset and embarrassed by the Consumer Reports stuff, and the reason we didnt say more is because we didnt know enough.

The organization  Consumer Reports is owned by the non-profit Consumers Union  sells its subscribers dutiful research rather than pithy discourse, and it often goes unnoticed unless you are in the market for a new car or toaster. This time, its tests became an inflection point. (One that many tech reporters say Consumer Reports promoted endlessly, but who can blame them?)

In my five years here, we have never done anything that has gone so viral, so fast, said Kevin McKean, editorial director of Consumer Reports. That is not something that we made up or manufactured. Its by no means a critical issue like some of the product safety conclusions we have reached over the years  no one has ever died from a dropped cellphone call  but it was obviously an issue that affected millions of consumers.

It was a big week for Consumer Reports and a reminder that media that is unsupported by advertising can often have an impact that more traditional publishing, or even the most tech-savvy, enterprises dont. With 3.9 million subscribers to its magazine and 3.3 million paid subscribers to its Web site, Consumer Reports has a combined paid circulation of 7.2 million, up 33 percent since 2004.

To begin with, Apple fought back. Some references to the Consumer Reports findings were stripped out of the support forums at Apple. But there was no way to get the milk back in the bottle: a pattern of stubborn denial that had survived countless stories in the tech press, a class-action lawsuit and a wave of customer complaints gave way to a direct address of the issue, from Mr. Jobs, live on stage no less.

Mr. Jobs may have come around to admitting the problem, but in the presentation on Friday, he also took the time to show videos of other devices from rival companies that he said had similar problems. He implied that Apple was being singled out and that reporters were taking special joy in knocking down the most successful cellphone launch in history.

Havent we earned credibility for the press to give us the benefit of the doubt? he suggested, somewhat plaintively.

So was Apple cornered by an overzealous press, drooling at the prospect of laying Apple low? Hardly. Consumer Reports had already put the iPhone 4 at the top of the recent rankings of smartphones.

We didnt do this testing because of the attention we thought it would receive, said James A. Guest, chief executive of the Consumers Union. This is a product that affects millions of consumers, we heard a lot of complaints about it, and we tested it as carefully as we could and reported out the results.

And in what might have been intended as a salve but came off as a dig, Consumer Reports came up with a remedy for the problem: Affixing an ugly piece of duct tape to the gleaming surface of the iPhone 4. It may not be pretty, but it works, Consumer Reports said on its Web site.

Rather than have its customers queue up for rolls of duct tape, Apple offered to provide a frame around the phone that the company has said in the past added a dash of style to the device. It will now also add a heap of functionality, free of charge. Mr. McKean, editorial director of Consumer Reports, said that giving everyone the add-on, the so-called bumper, was a good idea, but not ideal.

My sense is that when the consumer buys a product it ought to come ready to use, with or without a bumper, he said.

In his barbs at the press, Mr. Jobs continued what A. M. Sacconaghi Jr., an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, called a pattern of hubris. He pointed to the companys denigration of Flash software, its cooperation in sending law enforcement to a Gizmodo reporters home after the site published an early video of the phone, and its restrictions on apps.

The worry is that collectively these issues may over time begin to impact the consumers perceptions of Apple, undermining its enormous prevailing commercial success, Mr. Sacconaghi said.

Perhaps no company could live up to the near-mythic reputation Apple has developed. It still has enormous good will and a huge base of devoted customers willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. In that context, the antenna flaw is probably less important than the flawed strategy of addressing it in the first place.

If you cant attack the message, attack the messenger. Thats a maxim of modern public relations, one thats on display every day in Washington, on cable TV and, last Friday, on stage in Cupertino. But, with its long history and reputation for efficacy, Consumer Reports is the opposite of a juicy target.

E-mail: carr@nytimes.com;
twitter.com/carr2n

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## Petri

This is so f*king annoying..

The fact is that the antenna issue is damn annoying.  Touching the phone drops the cellular performance, even the call quality as it drops to weak GSM reception from a strong 3G.  I'm left handed and tend to cover the phone, the worst possible grip for the iPhone 4.  Every body body is different so the problem isn't really the same for everyone, I just happen to be at the worst end.

In my ideal world the iPhone doesn't have any covers or bumpers, just an ultra-slim leather sleeve.  I've never had a cover on a phone, never will.

Today I had a 8 minute and when I finished the call, the phone was half way sending an e-mail to Laura.  The proximity sensor problem really sucks.  Jobs has said that a software fix is coming soon for it, though.

The options:

1) Return the phone to Apple.  No idea how it would work in practice and I doubt Apple covers the extra costs to have had the phone shipped from the UK.

2) Sell it on a local auction site.  Might get 950+ euros ($1200) for it.  (iPhone4 32G is a 700+  phone, not a $199 phone).

Then send Steve e-mail that I buy a cheap 100  Nokia for now (5230 or C5) and I'll be back when you have fixed the hardware problem.  My reception is just perfect as long as I don't touch the iPhone 4.  The free case/bumper is a lame fix.  The reasoning behind the 5230 is that it could be dirt chip navigation PND with hi-res screen, so I loaned it from a friend..  ok, it could do the job, might get a GPS fix one day, but it's just so bad.  The device probably makes the perfect mobile calls but otherwise, ugh.  C5 would be just a small phone, supposed to be pretty fast too but not expecting any internet-generation stuff from it.

3) Buy something like http://awrapforthat.com/ and live with it.

The iPhone4 is a superior device but it's the sh*ttest phone (or Apple product) I have ever had.

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## Petri

Got a bit desperate after trying an Nokia 5230 ;-)

That ~5 Mbit/s goes down to few hundred kbit/s if I hold the phone in my hand, without gripping but in close proximity.  Instant downgrade to iPhone 2.


PS. The tape doesn't help.  A bumper helps so that it drops only a bar or two.  Anandtech managed to get similar results to the bumper with Kapton tape.

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## Voosh

Kinda makes you wonder what's so smart about a "smartphone."  :p  :crazy:

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## Petri

> Kinda makes you wonder what's so smart about a "smartphone."  :p  :crazy:



.. or what's so phone about a "smartphone"  :p

I'm heading to the archipelago for a few days so it gives the iPhone 4 a few days before it might hit an auction..

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