I think the iPhone 4 signal issues have been blown out of all proportion - but I also reckon Apple PR has gone completely crazy.
Instead of putting their hands up and saying "hey, it's possible to bridge the antennas at one particular point and that can make the signal drop, but that's the price you pay for the BEST RECEPTION ON AN IPHONE EVER!" they've said that the reason for disappearing bars is "both simple and surprising".
Presumably it's simple as in "let's make something up! Simple!" and surprising as in "we'll be surprised if anyone believes this". In Apple PR land an issue that can be fixed with nail polish, a rubber band or a different grip can also be fixed with… software!
I slept or daydreamed through science classes at school, but even I know that you can't fix software with a hammer and you can't fix hardware with software.
Sure, you can change how the hardware behaves with software - you can change its settings, turn features on and off and so on - but if your PC is on fire you can't put out the flames by typing WATER WATER WATER or recalibrating your How Flamey Is My PC readout.
And yet Apple is expecting us to believe that the iPhone signal problem, a problem that despite Apple's claims doesn't really occur on other people's phones or even other iPhones, a problem that only happens when you change how you physically hold the phone, is fixable with a formula.
Never mind the Reality Distortion Field. That's a Very Fabric Of The Universe Distortion Field.
Incorrect formula
As one bemused iPhone owner wrote to Apple (TechRadar was sent a copy too): "According to your findings the formula for the iPhone is incorrect, and displays too many signal bars. If this were correct then I must live in an area where there is no O2 reception at all, as my iPhone 4 loses all signal if held long enough (if not held I get full reception)."
I'm in the same boat: if Apple's formula shows two more bars than it should, my iPhone hasn't had a signal in two years and I've been imagining every phone call or email I've received since I unwrapped my 3G. Maybe the formula is wrong, but it's not what's making iPhone 4 signal bars drop.
What's particularly crazy about all of this is that it clearly can't be that big a problem or Apple Stores, O2 Shops and Carphone Warehouses would be packed with people returning their iPhones. They aren't.
But by dismissing the concerns of people who do have the problem - and worse, telling them to shell out an extra twenty-odd quid for an Apple-made case that fixes the problem - they're fanning the flames and ruining the iPhone's image.
Apple needs to 'fess up and offer a fix - if Apple hasn't got an alternative way to solve the problem, free bumpers wouldn't cost that much - and move on, because the reception issues are damaging the reputation of an incredibly clever bit of kit.
Even worse, if the public perception of the iPhone 4 is that it doesn't work properly, then it takes some of the cool factor away from being an iPhone owner - and the cool factor is one of the things that makes people buy iPhones over HTC Desires.
The original iPhone was dubbed the Jesus Phone. Apple can't afford version 4 to be seen as the Jesus, What A Crappy Phone.
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Your comments (9) Click to add a new comment
garymarshall
July 17th 2010
9. @jeremydouse - my experience is a bit like that. I'm on a 3G and my wife's on a 3GS, and I can say that they're hands down the worst-signal phones we've ever had. But the iPhone's still the best phone I've ever owned.
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jeremydouse
July 17th 2010
8. My partner and I both have the iPhone 4. Sure signal aint perfect, but Apple's poor PR will become a business school case study. We both run 2 mobiles each - through competing networks and competing smartphone makes - and this issue has been coming for a while even with the 3G and 3G S, we consistently step off planes around the world and travelling even in the UK and the iPhone consistently under performs in picking up signal against Nokia and Samsung. Everything else about the iPhone is streets ahead - so we still love it.
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theheadaches
July 16th 2010
7. I have an iPhone4 and use it to death, like the awesome and exciting new toy it is. I thought about getting a bumper / other case for it, but it wouldn't look nearly as cool. I have no signal issues with it, and I do swap hands when the missus is jabbering on a bit. No problems whatsoever, even at home, where there's never any mobile signal. Best phone I've ever used.
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garymarshall
July 16th 2010
6. Yeah, that's it exactly. This is a very big mountain from a pretty small molehill.
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mupwangle
July 16th 2010
5. The biggest ****-up here is that tonight I was asked by a 70-year old lady who knew that I'd recently bought a new phone if I'd bought one of "those phones that were on the news because they were rubbish". She genuinely was worried that I'd bought an iphone. HTC, Motorola and Samsung have saved millions on advertising in one fell swoop.
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garymarshall
July 15th 2010
4. @slaguru, there are quite a few reports from 4.1 beta now and they're all saying the same thing, that the Death Grip still does its Death Grip thing. Mind you "helps a bit" is still an improvement :)
@ncompass: Doesn't a software fix equal a 'fix'.
Only if it fixes the problem :)
@philbo78: I think you might be offered a voucher for a second one, I'm afraid.
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ncompass
July 15th 2010
3. Doesn't a software fix equal a 'fix'. It just strikes me that Apple have compounded the problem from being just signal related - to being, Apple have been lying to their customers for years. An easy thing to do.
As for cool factor, sorry Apple is not cool, nor was it ever really. It was very good at what it did... I fear greed is a big factor in Apple's thinking these days.
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phibo78
July 15th 2010
2. My iPhone4 is fine and never had a reception issue, however if Apple want to refund my £25 for a the bumper case I bought on release day for a issue that doesn't affect me, you won't see me complaining
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slaguru
July 15th 2010
1. I have the 4.1 beta installed now on my iP4 and its not showing a full signal at all, as opposed to being full all the time before.
However when I test the reception holding it in the 'wrong' way (left hand) I get a signal drop to 1 bar as I did before.
However using iNetworkTest I see that my 3g up and down loads have improved (even with the reduction in signal when I grip the phone wrong).
I would guess that the software fix does not solve the issue, but it seems to help a bit.
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