Support NeoGAF

[Panda1]

The new iphone 5 or 4G whatever it will be called def wont have this issue, the problem i think if they do declare it a hardware problem then everyone is entitled to a fix or money back and it could cost them 1.5bil .

Does the bumper or case COMPLETELY fix this issue? I am about to preorder on this evening and if I cannot confirm that with a case its 100% usable I am gonna get a DroidX - cant find any store with an EVO4 here in stock

 

[drknite]

Apple= Jesus on cross?

:lol

 

[curls]

Jesus, these arguments are getting silly.

duh. every fucking page, like the 3DS thread with the DSi tracking demo.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

I hope not, I want the 4th iPod touch to be immense.

But it is. It is called an iPad.

I kid, I kid.

 

[Ice Monkey]

Actually, I agree with the general Apple PR line that the antenna issue shouldn't be a deal-breaker and people need to stop the fanboy wars about it.

My problem with this conference is that I want an iPhone 4 because my old 3G is a busted up piece of shit, and here's Steve Jobs going "here's a free bumper, we're not gonna silently fix this problem on the hardware level in two to three months. Wink." I'll be pissed when I buy this phone and then September rolls around and wham, no antenna problem.

You should be happy. You will in all likelihood be able to finagle your way into the antenna refresh in september by claiming something as innocuous as the home button being flaky. By that time you'll have used an iphone 4 for a few months with no repercussions other than a 3 month less warranty on the new phone that you would've bought in september anyway. Just don't restore too much and they'll have a wealth of diagnostics to check how the phone has been. I've heard these diagnostics almost always come up with something troublesome that they'll decide to replace. Just make sure you've updated to the latest firmware so they don't push you away with a new firmware restore and tell you to try it out. Even make a bunch of calls the day beforehand and ninja the signal to drop the call. Go in and claim an abundance of dropped calls and they'll replace it.

They may even just look at the model number and be told to just go ahead and replace those. You can't fault them for not telling people all of this, just take advantage of the secrecy.

I just went into the store yesterday and complained about the 3GS overheating issue that's never seemed to be solved for my old 3GS and got a brand new one.

 

[Technosteve]

Does AT&T have to worst network in the world? Or other countries have similarly horrible signals i want to know if it's network dependent or phone dependent

 

[civilstrife]

I agree with Steve that their actual mistake was making the phone's weak spot visible. I think time will tell on this one. The phone's qualities outweigh this (non)problem.

 

[Nazgul_Hunter]

The new iphone 5 or 4G whatever it will be called def wont have this issue, the problem i think if they do declare it a hardware problem then everyone is entitled to a fix or money back and it could cost them 1.5bil .

Does the bumper or case COMPLETELY fix this issue? I am about to preorder on this evening and if I cannot confirm that with a case its 100% usable I am gonna get a DroidX - cant find any store with an EVO4 here in stock

I think if you read between the lines you'll see iPhone 4 post Sept 30 won't have this issue

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I agree with Steve that their actual mistake was making the phone's weak spot visible. I think time will tell on this one. The phone's qualities outweigh this (non)problem.

agreed on all 3 counts.

but really...that thing shoulda been on the bottom. or at least better shielded on the inside. a finger should not be able to drop the signal to searching or break up calls. no 2 ways about that.

 

[theultimo]

Does AT&T have to worst network in the world? Or other countries have similarly horrible signals i want to know if it's network dependent or phone dependent

No. Us Cellular does. However, ATT's 3G speed can bog down in certain places. On Verizon, I have the same issue however.

 

[MassiveAttack]

Does AT&T have to worst network in the world? Or other countries have similarly horrible signals i want to know if it's network dependent or phone dependent

AT&T has a terrible network made worse by the fact that the US is one of the few countries in the world where the iPhone is locked to a single carrier. It's absurd that a country of 300M people has a choice of a single carrier.

 

[Jazzy Network]

Does AT&T have to worst network in the world? Or other countries have similarly horrible signals i want to know if it's network dependent or phone dependent

3G on my 3GS was awful. I jumped ship and am on Verizon now and it seems fast as hell. It's probably more the area you are in.

So I didn't really watch the press conference. So from reading everybody's comments and links, Apple pretty much said "every phone has an antenna"?

AT&T has a terrible network made worse by the fact that the US is one of the few countries in the world where the iPhone is locked to a single carrier. It's absurd that a country of 300M people has a choice of a single carrier.

True, but there are alot of iPhones being used on Tmobile as well. Obviously not close to the amount on AT&T, but maybe about 1/8 or so are using TMobile? Not sure. That's a random number from my ass.

 

[MassiveAttack]

True, but there are alot of iPhones being used on Tmobile as well. Obviously not close to the amount on AT&T, but maybe about 1/8 or so are using TMobile? Not sure. That's a random number from my ass.

I have a 3GS running on T-Mobile and don't have any of the problems associated with AT&T particularly in areas like SF and NY. That said, the percentage of people with iPhones on T-Mobile is miniscule compared to AT&T.

You can buy the iPhone 4 on 4 different carriers in the UK. Hell, you can buy one from Tesco. :lol

 

[mightynine]

Didn't Toyota also try to down play their fuck up by saying people don't know how to drive?

Not defending Apple, but when it comes to Toyota:

The interview comes during a somewhat confusing week of Toyota news. The automaker said it found there was nothing wrong with the electronics in its cars. That came on the heels of a sourced story from the Wall Street Journal which said a government report was finding that computers onboard cars in many sudden acceleration claims showed the driver was pressing the accelerator and not the brake. Meaning the acceleration was caused by the driver, not a malfunctioning car.

But that news doesn't exonerate Toyota from the floor mats issue, or the stick accelerator pedals, which it has admitted could cause the accelerator to remain accelerating even when the driver wanted to do something else.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...toyota-will-educate-consumers-on-their-cars/1

 

[Technosteve]

FYI you can't run 3G on T mobile they have a unsupported base band for 3G

 

[ghst]

I agree with Steve that their actual mistake was making the phone's weak spot visible. I think time will tell on this one. The phone's qualities outweigh this (non)problem.

you certainly agree with what he told you.

 

[drknite]

you certainly agree with what he told you.

ghst
thanks for the laugh
(Today, 05:37 PM)

 

[MassiveAttack]

FYI you can't run 3G on T mobile they have a unsupported base band for 3G

This is correct. It runs on T-Mobile's standard GSM service and EDGE. T-Mobile's 3G service is 1700AWS and therefore incompatible with AT&T. Current rumor is that a new iPhone will be available for T-Mobile in January.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Current rumor is that a new iPhone will be available for T-Mobile in January.

why do we hear these rumors every year and every year people get their hopes up?

it's sad to watch.

 

[Jazzy Network]

He probably means Tmobile UK.

 

[Technosteve]

problem with t mobile is that it uses alot of at&t's towers too i think but 1700 mhz isn't as saturated as at&t but it's not every where like at&t

 

[Maximus.]

Personally I think that the iphone 4 antenna issue has been overblown. Yea you hold the phone in a certain way or squeeze it, the iphone 4 signal will drop, but other phones may or may not have similar issues. Sure some people will be inconvenienced by having to change the way they hold the phone, but by watching a few vids of how the reception drops, that way of holding a phone seems strange.

I have a Blackberry Bold 9700, I saw some clown saying it is 2 years old....its just a few months old. Anyways, I have never had any issues with the signal or reception of my phone. The only time I had an issue was when my providers tower went down for two hours :lol

I still love the iphone 4 though, and would have bought it, had I not purchased the Blackberry Bold a few months before.

 

[Talon]

why do we hear these rumors every year and every year people get their hopes up?

it's sad to watch.

Because we dream of unlimited data consumption

Spoiler

for new subscribers

!

 

[Technosteve]

I think i'm all appled out of apple news, until the new apple tv comes out....

 

[plagiarize]

if it's the same issue as every other phone, can i put a rubber band around those to fix their reception issues?

that isn't a snarky question. it's a serious one. the other phones antenna are behind non conductive plastic right? and people think this will be resolved by a thin plastic layer on the antenna yes?

if those two things are true, it can't be the same issue.

apparently a rubber band is the solution to 'a challenge for all phone designers'.

i guess it 'breaks the laws of physics' too.

 

[j-wood]

I can understand why Apple didn't put the Q and A section of the presser on their website.

Question: I'm holding my Bold by the antennae and the bars aren't dropping. Can you tell me exactly how the tests were done to make it lose signal?

Answer: It will only happen in certain areas.


:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[Jazzy Network]

I can understand why Apple didn't put the Q and A section of the presser on their website.

Question: I'm holding my Bold by the antennae and the bars aren't dropping. Can you tell me exactly how the tests were done to make it lose signal?

Answer: It will only happen in certain areas.


:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

I wish I could've seen that part :lol

Hope it's on youtube somewhere.

 

[Raistlin]

Well ... that was certainly ... interesting.


While I find the 'fix' to be about what I expected and hard to fault, the presentation was certainly lacking. Much of what was said ranged from stat-manipulation to downright disingenuous. Meh.

 

[ringlord]

I can understand why Apple didn't put the Q and A section of the presser on their website.

Question: I'm holding my Bold by the antennae and the bars aren't dropping. Can you tell me exactly how the tests were done to make it lose signal?

Answer: It will only happen in certain areas.


:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Another dude in the Q&A said he couldn't reproduce the problem in his iPhone 4.

Steve said "We're in a strong signal area".

 

[MassiveAttack]

He probably means Tmobile UK.

Nope. I mean T-Mobile US. It's already available on T-Mobile UK.

 

[the_painted_bird]

Because we dream of unlimited data consumption

Spoiler

for new subscribers

!

 

[tokkun]

Since Jobs was arguing that the attenuation occurs with previous smartphones as well, does that mean that Apple's free case/bumper offer extends to previous iPhones, or is it just for people who bought iPhone 4?

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

I can understand why Apple didn't put the Q and A section of the presser on their website.

Question: I'm holding my Bold by the antennae and the bars aren't dropping. Can you tell me exactly how the tests were done to make it lose signal?

Answer: It will only happen in certain areas.


:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

I don't understand what's so funny. This is what has been known since we had these issues? Or are you..

..eh fuck it, I'm going to bed

 

[Gary Whitta]

Didn't Toyota also try to down play their fuck up by saying people don't know how to drive?

Which has now turned out to be true all along.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...534435744.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection

 

[Ice Monkey]

I agree with Steve that their actual mistake was making the phone's weak spot visible. I think time will tell on this one. The phone's qualities outweigh this (non)problem.

Even if the weak spot wasn't visible, there would have been raging EVO owners that were pissed at all the attention apple was getting and pissed at the crazy iphone 4 battery life that would have bought an iphone 4, rented a polar bear and had him squeeze the phone as hard as he could until a change was noticed in the reception.

 

[dLMN8R]

Which has now turned out to be true all along.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...534435744.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection

http://consumerist.com/2010/07/toyota-planted-the-driver-error-story-in-the-wsj.html

 

[Veritas_]

The new iphone 5 or 4G whatever it will be called def wont have this issue, the problem i think if they do declare it a hardware problem then everyone is entitled to a fix or money back and it could cost them 1.5bil .

Does the bumper or case COMPLETELY fix this issue? I am about to preorder on this evening and if I cannot confirm that with a case its 100% usable I am gonna get a DroidX - cant find any store with an EVO4 here in stock

I've been using a Griffin case on my iPhone 4 since day 1. (It's basically the Apple bumper with a clear plastic plate that covers the back side.) I've had zero reception issues, no dropped calls, or other problems. As an anecdote, I've been using a V3 Razor on T-Mobile for the last 5 years or so, and my iPhone has notably better reception.

- Sent from my iPhone 4.

 

[Gary Whitta]

http://consumerist.com/2010/07/toyota-planted-the-driver-error-story-in-the-wsj.html

So the NHTSA report doesn't contain that driver-error data? Oh wait, they don't refute that, just that they weren't the ones that leaked it.

 

[BocoDragon]

Sucks to be Belkin, Griffin, and everyone who makes their money off iPhone cases. With a free-bumper no one needs to buy a case.. unless it's an aesthetic preference.

Also Apple themselves is giving up $30 for the bumper on what was surely all profit. It's probably pennies to make.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Sucks to be Belkin, Griffin, and everyone who makes their money off iPhone cases. With a free-bumper no one needs to buy a case.. unless it's an aesthetic preference.

Well it sounds like Apple will be bulk-buying a lot of cases from third-party suppliers to give to customers so it's actually good times for any companies who can get in on that.

 

[Marty Chinn]

Sucks to be Belkin, Griffin, and everyone who makes their money off iPhone cases. With a free-bumper no one needs to buy a case.. unless it's an aesthetic preference.

Ya, I hope that doesn't delay Agent 18's bumper because that's the one I want to use and hope my headphones will actually fit in this one.

 

[Davidion]

Here's a question: did they specify that it was going to be a bumper, or just "some" case that they'll be giving out?

 

[D4Danger]

Here's a question: did they specify that it was going to be a bumper, or just "some" case that they'll be giving out?

they said they couldn't make enough bumpers so they'll also offer 3rd party cases

 

[BocoDragon]

Well it sounds like Apple will be bulk-buying a lot of cases from third-party suppliers to give to customers so it's actually good times for any companies who can get in on that.

Apple's not gonna buy them from these third party suppliers for $30 though

 

[3rdman]

I'm not disagreeing with you. I think the principle you're saying is sound. I was more mocking people who have already used that counter about Toyota that the phone won't kill you without looking at the core principle behind it. A lot of people have denounced the Apple and Toyota comparison based on the fact that the phone won't kill you.

I really don't spend much time in these threads and I don't mean to make a direct comparison of the problems so I'm sorry if that is old ground...my contention is that they shouldn't be making web pages where they try to minimize their faults by pointing at the faults of others. It's a cheap shot at your competition when they really should be apologizing to their customers.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Well it sounds like Apple will be bulk-buying a lot of cases from third-party suppliers to give to customers so it's actually good times for any companies who can get in on that.

oh? that's cool.

I hope the little place I ordered my $60 case doesn't get hurt in the short term too much from this. this stuff is regular $70-$90. by hand shit. gonna be tough when people are suddenly getting cases for free for the foreseeable future.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Apple's not gonna buy them from these third party suppliers for $30 though

Still it's a shit-load more than a third party might usually expect to sell - this is for EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER - and even at a wholesale rate I bet it's a tidy profit. The markup on cases is insane.

 

[Ice Monkey]

Originally they said that there wasn't a "death grip" problem but a software problem that made people *think* there was a death grip problem. And before that, there wasn't a problem at all.

It took them weeks to admit there was actually an antenna problem... and even then they just said "this is actually an industry wide problem" and not a design flaw.

I get that they have a tight rope to walk here, but their story changed several times in the last weeks.

This is a company. You can't have expected them to say while the iphone is selling like hotcakes "yeah maybe all those internet rumors are true, better not buy our phone....we'll know more after we run our own tests and get back to you in a couple of weeks". They have a 30 day return policy that's still in effect so it's not like they bait and switched anyone.

Fact is every smartphone does exhibit the death grip problem, and they DO point out the iphone 4 antenna strip is the weak spot. Stop acting like they are evil people for not poking at the strip on stage laughing at themselves "LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF ENGINEERS ARE GETTING FIRED LOLOL!" What company in their right mind would ever do something like that?

They are an effing company and they've done more with this press conference than motorola or HTC would ever do. The thing is, if HTC or someone had a problem like this, they are more faceless so everyone would have just expected them to keep quiet, or have some quick press release email months later mentioning they fixed the problem and are shipping the fixed units. Either that or they would have written it off as a failure and just released a new handset a month later like they already do. It'll be another year until Apple has a new phone to offer.

 

[f0rk]

Didn't Toyota also try to down play their fuck up by saying people don't know how to drive? Apple has no more arrogance or hubris than any other company who fucked up. Companies will always spin their fuck ups.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703834604575364871534435744.html

 

[hyp]

so after today any current owners returning their iphone 4?