So. Jobs was wrong.
Punters weren't holding it the wrong way after all.
Apple has sent out $15 cheques to fanbois whose iPhones suffered from dicky phone reception. The Cupertino idiot-tax operation agreed to dish out the small payments after punters lodged a class-action lawsuit over the iPhone 4 "Antennagate" flaw. When the smartmobe went on sale in 2010, its users complained about poor mobile …
"load of nonsense"
So basic Antenna Physics 101 is wrong then? Having the high impedance end of monopole antennas uninsulated and the open end located right where some people may touch them isn't a basic design flaw? Gee, there may be a Nobel Prize for Physics up for grabs if you can write a paper explaining how this would work...
Of course there are many variables, including the relative signal strength at locations you frequent.
There are multiple solutions to this design flaw, from simply feeding the other end, to internally top loading the monopoles to bring the high impedance end inside where it's safe and cozy.
Anyone that knows anything about how antennas actually work would have pointed this out at the preliminary design review stage, if not before.
I don't necessarily care, though I have seen demonstrations which lead me to believe it does exist. That and the fact the infallible Jobs admitted to it and apologized. But then I also know people who absolutely refuse to admit it ever existed simply because THEY didn't experience it.
Paris, not certain she exists since I've never experienced her.
From what I know from discussions with real designers of products like it, the exposed antenna was a pretty bad design in the first place. While there's always a need to not shield an antenna by casing it in metal, exposing it was a way round this however this meant that it could be grounded by contact with the user's hands. The models that didn't suffer from reception problems appeared to have a good quality coating that covers and insulates the antenna, the models that didn't either didn't have this coating or it was poorly or patchily applied.
Those who progressed with the lawsuit were only after money and I feel that $15 was even too much.
If you wanted to make a point to Apple, they should have returned the phones stating they didn't work and leave Apple with a large amount of refunds/replacements and a shedload of iphones they can't sell.
Sadly, I feel a lot of people were blinded by the "Its a shiny new apple product" viewpoint and had to have one, even if they weren't designed/built properly.
Jasper,
A slight correction in your article. "The Cupertino idiot-tax operation..." should read "The Cupertino operation", or preferably just "Apple".
It's a small but important correction, and has the immediate added effect of not making the writer sound like a 12 year old. Unless you are actually 12, in which case good luck; puberty's gonna be a bitch.