Apple's iPhone Mea Culpa: We're 'Totally Wrong'

NBC ^ | Jul 2, 2010 | JOSH KLEINBAUM

[for-q-clinton]

For two weeks, Apple dismissed rumors of a faulty antenna in the new iPhone 4 as nothing more than scuttlebutt. Any phone has these problems, Apple officials said. Buy a case to fix it.

Friday, Apple came clean: The antenna works just fine. But the software that displays signal strenth doesn't. The company has been using a faulty formula to determine signal strength in its phones for years.

"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," Apple said in a letter from two executives posted on its website Friday morning.

The letter went on to explain that there are no problems with the iPhone's antenna -- the only problem is with software that calculates how many bars should be showing. And the software hasn't worked properly since the original iPhone was released three years ago.

[montyspython]

I have the older 3GS and a blackberry (considering the droid x), both exhibit the dropped call syndrome on a regular basis.

However, it also depends on where you live as well, I live in the Chicago area and I expect connectivity to be more stable

[Eva]

I heard on the radio that the problem arose from the requirement that congress made, that the antennae be placed as far away from the face as possible and that many of the other newer phones have the same problem, including NOKIA. Then, yesterday, I read that congress is considering requirement that warning labels be placed on phones, that they might cause cancer.

[r9etb]

a) the iPhone 4 has a more erratic antenna design- better in some situations, worse in others, especially when being held, and

Then the simple solution is just not to hold the phone while using it....

[SmokingJoe]

Biggest piece of BS I have heard in a long time.
Apple is still as full of crap as ever.

[Obadiah]

Exactly what I think. Sure Apple can mask the antenna issue all they want through software manipulation, but the physical reception of the antenna will remain the same.

And what of all the poor suckers who truly believe this is all merely a problem with the algorythm used to display signal strength bars??

[JSteff]

Then the simple solution is just not to hold the phone while using it....

Yeah, "but there's an APP for that"

[for-q-clinton]

But they said it was always a problem and not a new issue.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Very interesting. So holding the antenna exposes a bug in the software to show the true signal strength. That is a very odd software bug indeed. I wonder if someone can explain how holding the antenna in a certain way would reveal the true signal strength.”

I think these hidden features are called Easter Eggs... :-)

[for-q-clinton]

My HTC Tilt 2 and before that my ATT Fuze NEVER drops calls. I used to drop calls when ATT bought out SUNCOM in my area, but they have long since fixed those issues.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

That is actually not correct, but it’s a common “excuse” for Apple. The FCC does not mandate any physical orientation or placement of antennas in cell phones. However, they do have SAR requirements (a measure of radiation output) for the phone at different angles.

Note that ALL OTHER new phones pass without this problem, and many (such as the HTC EVO) have antennas right at the top of the phone. The difference is that these phones also have INTERNAL antennas, not external, so the user cannot touch them and mess up the reception.

So, there aren’t any laws or regulations requiring antenna position at all, and every other manufacturer knows how to pass SAR without using external antennas. This is just Apple trying to get any and all excuses out in the public, to protect their rapidly deteriorating image.

After all, according to Steve Jobs, you just have to hold it differently...;)

[antiRepublicrat]

You still ignore your own source saying:

“Reception is absolutely definitely improved,” AnandTech wrote. “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."

The question is reception. Is it good? Your own source says far better than the 3GS despite the chart of relative attenuation. Do you leave that out on purpose?

[KingLudd]

I can’t answer your question. I still use the first cell phone I bought 11 years ago. However, I DO know that if I hold my mouth a certain way, I can really catch a lot of fish.

[for-q-clinton]

Turn it around: AT&T is giving Apple a bad name.

Not according to this article. It is actually the iPhone's BUGGY software that is giving ATT a bad name where people are dropping calls with full bars...but in reality they barely even had a bar.

But then again I believe that's wrong because I can change the radio on my phone and go from 2 bars to full bars without moving my phone. The iPhone radio has issues that are giving ATT a bad name.

I love ATT service and I'm in an area dominated by verizon. In fact, it's to the poing now where I joke on my friends and co-workers because they have more areas we go in common and lose signal with Verizon than I do with ATT. They hate it too because they swore verizon is the best in our area.

[BunnySlippers]

I suspect you’re right.

I live a hilly area, Hollywood, and call signals and dropped calls are bad with both companies.

[for-q-clinton]

Could be that it’s summer. In my area in the past in the summer I always dropped calls (it’s a tourist area) and they didn’t have the tower capacity to handle the summer load.

[antiRepublicrat]

But they said it was always a problem and not a new issue.

I'm sure their algorithm was always off, but I bet it got exacerbated by the new antenna design. That it flips around so much looking for the best reception (even if not best signal) has got to be hard to account for in calculating bars. Apple probably doesn't even have the flipping down perfectly either.

[montyspython]

AT&T has a capacity issue, and they way those chose to deal with it is less than desired.

"...but in reality they barely even had a bar"

Apple is battling the perception issue, AT&T is battling the capacity issue. If the reality is that there really is only one bar, then AT&T apparently can't deliver the connectivity, is that Apple's fault?

[PugetSoundSoldier]

See several posts in this very thread (15 and 20 for example), and many, many others.

In some cases, the iPhone 4 can have better reception; however, it's proven to drop reception when 3GS phones would not. That's all over the Internet, Youtube videos, etc.

Just try to explain this:

Phone on desk, phone held, phone held in case. Cannot upload when holding the phone. Oops.

Apple - even Steve Jobs - tells you to hold it differently. Oops.

Apple recommends a case to help reception quality. Oops.

Apologists for Apple just won't accept any potential for any problems ever for any Apple product, though. Right fanboi? ;)

[for-q-clinton]

I wonder how he knows his reception is better when the software bug on both phones prevent the true signal from being read?