Consumer Reports: 'We were wrong about the iPhone 4' One of — if not the — most respected product-testing labs has reversed its original positive opinion of the iPhone 4, citing results of its comprehensive testing of the Jobsian handheld's pesky antenna. "Consumer Reports has confirmed that the iPhone 4 has an antenna problem," says spokesman Mike Gikas. "We tested multiple …
From anandtech:
The Antenna is Improved
From my day of testing, I've determined that the iPhone 4 performs much better than the 3GS in situations where signal is very low, at -113 dBm (1 bar).
...
I can honestly say that I've never held onto so many calls and data simultaneously on 1 bar at -113 dBm as I have with the iPhone 4,
...
The difference is that reception is massively better on the iPhone 4 in actual use.
...
It's amazing really to experience the difference in sensitivity the iPhone 4 brings compared to the 3GS
...
reception is absolutely definitely improved. I felt like I was going places no iPhone had ever gone before. There's no doubt in my mind this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS.
Yes, the new antenna/receiver design is noticeably better in areas of low signal strength, but that doesn't mean the problems of signal loss due to gap bridging aren't real or can simply be resolved with a software patch. Pushing the reception capabilities of the antenna for a handheld device in this way is a bit like relying on an overclocked CPU to achieve the necessary levels of performance - OK if you know what you're doing, but not really the sort of thing you want to be selling to the general public under the pretence of it being a normal product with no restrictions on how it should be used.
In general Apple have done a damn good job with the iP4 - my wife replaced her 3G with one recently, and in pretty much every area it's a distinct improvement. But that's no reason to let them off the hook for making what is surely a gigantic design blunder with their choice of antenna location.
Very good.
Except what you have done is snipped out the bits where Anandtech also acknowledged that compared to any other phone the iPhone 4 is most affected by the problem of signal attenuation in its class and probably compared to any other mobile phone.
It's a bit like me saying to you "Stalin was a great man." But forgetting to tell you the whole story: "Stalin was a great murdering bastard of a man!"
"The drop in signal from cupping the device with a case on is purely a function of us being "ugly bags of mostly water." A material which happens to be pretty good at attenuating RF - thus increasing path loss between the handset and cellular base station. There's nothing Apple nor anyone else can do to get around physics, plain and simple. It's something which demonstrably affects every phone's cellular reception."
"Add in an external antenna you're essentially forced to touch and bridge to another adjacent antenna while holding, and the signal attenuation is even worse. The fact of the matter is that either the most sensitive region of the antenna should have an insulative coating, or everyone should use a case. For a company that uses style heavily as a selling point, the latter isn't an option. And the former would require an unprecedented admission of fault on Apple's part."
From the same Anandtech article.
Now the iPhone 4's antenna and reception may well be better, except if you live in an area of variable signal quality where the antenna issue may rear its ugly head and reproduce no signal failures.
If this was on a HTC or Microsoft, Google Nexus a fair amount of the real Apple apologists would be crucifying them loudly and at every opportunity, and rightly so. The thing is this time it's Apple that's made a boob and it needs to do something to sort it out.
The fact of the matter whoever manufactures the phone, Apple, HTC, Motorola, Microsoft -- whoever -- accepting a fault like this as a non-issue because defending your favourite brand is of greater importance is ludicrous; people are experiencing this issue and there are a lot of them.
What is more important, defending Apple regardless of what they do, or siding with the consumers who have a reasonable complaint.
My advice would be this to those having an iPhone 4 with this issue, return it. Apple and it's most zealous defenders are at this rate not going to sort the problem out until they launch a new iPhone or quietly fix the issue. Don't put up with it, vote with your hard earned pennies. Windows users did the same with Microsoft over Vista after all.
I live in the UK, and have an iPhone 4 on the network O2.
I've never had this problem, even when i try to recreate the issue, i can't get it to drop signal by anymore than one bar (which is probably unrelated).
The only way i can get my phone to drop signal in an area with signal, is to stand inside a shipping container and lock myself in.
However that issue affects any mobile phone, not just the iPhone 4...
In a nutshell: Sucks to be with AT&T!
The display model I tried was on Vodafone and my friend on O2 has the signal issue also.
We're in a major UK city with excellent mobile coverage on all the networks, and I have never seen any major issues on any handset other than the iPhone 4.
Not trying to sound like I'm trolling, but this is my own personal experience anyway.
Black and white are black and white because of what they do to visible light.... the RF from an iphone funnily enough isn't light, it's a different range of wavelengths, so whilst a black or white plastic case is black or white to you and me, it most definitely isn't to RF radiation..and so the colour of the case isn't going to have a performance improvement or degredation.
But it might be you were just having a joke..
From what I remember of RF transmission line theory from my days at university, they end will only be high imedance, or a steady impedance value if you set-up a standing wave in the transmission line, and to set-up a standing wave would require a steady perioidic signal such as a sinewave to be applied.
Under this condition, you'd have either a maxima, minima or zero at the end of the antenna which would give rise to your constant infinite impedance.
Actually, according to some sources, duct tape was not invented for taping ducts. In fact, it's not very good for taping ducts. I know -- I've tried. Totally and completely useless for taping air conditioning ducting, for example; it falls off in about 10 minutes.
There's some disagreement about its origin but some claim that it was called "duck tape" because of its resemblance to cotton duck, which is a type of fabric.
No waterfowl need apply. But the point is that there's no unquestionable source proving that "duck tape" is incorrect.
As for "ariels", try "aerials" instead. If you're going to split hairs about spelling, first make sure you have your ducts all in a row. Er, I mean ducks.
Just shows, that there are a lot of numpties out there, who will just follow the Jobsian Steve blindly, without any thinking or use of common sense....
Best thing to do is let them buy their crap, be lied to, and best of all dictated what you are permitted to run on your OWN phone, whether you like it or not.
I am for Nokia....
I am fully aware, they make a lot of mistakes, (and have this habit of starting something and not following it through ( the N900 is a perfect example), but in general, they have some good stuff and are not too dictatorial....
@Nokia: I would really like to know, which d$%^&head pulled the plug on the N900....? with just a few decent apps designers and developers, you could have made this phone into the ultimate iPhone-killer.....
But I suppose, there were a few people up the bosses 455es....
Any device (well manufactured) with less moving parts is less likely to break. Easy battery replacement mechanics will fail after many a battery swapping.
A well designed battery should last longer than a cheapo, probably fake Chinese import crap which will most likely burst into flames, explode or leave burn marks on scrotum or other sensitive parts of the body. Jobs would, of course, be first to blame for people's incompetence.
Finally:
The time it takes to actually replace a battery is better spend by PLUGGING THE FREAKING DEVICE INTO A USB PORT OR POWER OUTLET AND CHARGE IT.
If any of you BATTERIDIOTS write ONE MORE COMMENT on iPhone's inability to replace the battery, I will PERSONALLY come to your place of work and LAUGH AT YOU in front of all your colleagues.
You'll still need a battery that can give you a decent amount of uptime once you've removed the plug from the USB. That's where replacing it comes in. As for the mechanics of the contacts, it's fair to say that the battery would only need replacing once every 2-3 years so the idea that the contacts would fail quickly is a bit confusing. I hope you don't seriously think that people want replaceable disposable batteries in their phones.
From a personal perspective, I'd like to be able to replace the battery in my phone because you never know if you'll get a duff battery.
Come on El Reg! Lets just stick to facts. If you want to say that Consumers Reports changed it's mind ok, but saying "One of — if not the — most respected product-testing labs" is an opinion. It almost sounds like and ad for CR. I have read CR in the past and I have bought products they bashed and still been very happy. So which of their iPhone tests is wrong? The first one or the second one.
I really don't give hoot what they say.
As far as the iPhone is concerned, like other posters have commented, I alway buy a case anyway.
...you can rely on the "fanbois" to needle Apple until they:
a) admit fault,
b) issue a fix, and
c) release a revised product with the fault removed.
Not necessary in a timely manner, but eventually. In the meantime, they will suggest work arounds, sometimes at your minimal expense and/or inconvenience and in this case, a protective case which you can buy for around $10.
A protective case is something I have always bought anyway for every mobile phone regardless of the manufacturer because I don't want to scratch the case or screen and want it to survive a fall. I like the Apple idea of having just one model which means companies making cases have only one product design to deal with and as a consequence a better quality accessory.
Because the likes of Moto, Nokia, SE, etc make so many different form factors which are changed so frequently, there is little financial incentive to invest too much into good design.
Now it's time for the latest installment of the Mel Gibson docu-comedy-drama "Life without Oksana" .
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