Apple believes there is no problem with signal
Posted by James MacArthur to Mobile Phones on 01st July 2010 - 1 Comment
No matter where you look on the internet recently its all news on Apple's latest product the iPhone 4. Initially news stories were all about release dates and then supply issues.
However, no sooner has the product been released there is a whole slew of posts reporting on signal loss and degradation. According to both Apple and Mr Jobs himself there is alternately no issue, and a slight issue due to users holding it wrong.
Holding it wrong? It's a phone! How are you meant to hold it? It is not like people are holding it upside down, back to front or in their mouth! No! The way we have all been holding our phones since they first appeared on the market is now the problem. Seriously, it is not a design flaw on their part, its your hand that is the problem.
How stupid of us to think that we should hold the phone in the most practical and comfortable way! Nope, what you have to do is keep your bottom two fingers from touching the phone.
Apple has released a solution for this issue. What is it? Simple, spoil the asthetics of the phones design by BUYING a rubber enclosure from Apple for $30 which will stop your fingers making contact!
I personally am not sure that this particular marketing idea is going to work very well for Apple. Already there has been numerous posts everywhere offering peoples own versions of how to overcome the problem ranging from clear plastic sticky tape over the guilty area, to elastic bands holding the phone to your ear, to cutting off the two fingers that help cause the problem. These solutions may seem a tad extreme, and you may be asking yourself 'Why should I have to do anything to fix what is an obvious design flaw?' and the answer is you shouldn't!
Take my advice, take your new iPhone 4, carefully wrap it up in its original packaging and return it to Apple with a strongly worded letter for a refund. Then take your money and go out and buy something decent, from a company that values your custom.
Just because it's Apple does not make it good! If you must, just must have the kind of functionality that comes from having an iPhone, why not try out one of the new Android phones? They offer similar functionality, better upgrade options, open source platform, an easy warranty system and better street cred, as you will no longer be an Apple zombie.
Comments (1)
I don't know the specifics, and I'm sure Apple won't tell all, but it seems that if the signal strength would normally be just over two bars the software is displaying four.
If this is the case then a smaller drop in signal, say from 2.1 to 1.4 bars would be shown as a big change from 4 to 1 bar. All phones suffer from signal loss under different circumstances so this may not be as big a problem as it sounds.
Also, don't forget that Apple faces this level of complaining whenever it launches a new product and things always settle down after a while. One thing's for sure, it doesn't seem to harm their sales!