New iPhone reception problems...

[Paddy]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/iph...-firmware-issue

This doesn't sound good...

[RHPConsult]

I was very interested in Mossberg's high and almost unmixed enthusiasm for the elegance of the iPhone. He as much as said it's raised the "bar"    for everyone else in terms of quality and breadth of functions. OTOH, AT&T especially in NYC – and little does he know, in SE Ohio! – took his main hit for dropped or no service. He seemed serious in sortof suggesting that if you live in NYC the solution is to get your soon-to-be-treasured iPhone4 and another on a 2d carrier for those "difficult" situations.  

These data here are a big surprise! I was hoping to be able to get my daughter one for a birthday gift. Will have to see.

Meanwhile, I'm still in a quandary on why my home Airport net has its vexing periodicity of failure, even with 1 AEBS (latest vintage) and 2 (count-em 2) Expresses "extending" it! I wonder if the Dane's data has anything to say about that?  

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

This doesn't sound good...

I think you need to re-read that article. The problem is not the sound, it's the antennae. BTW, from the video's I've seen, Steve is/was pretty proud of the way they put three different antennae in the iP4. Only one is completely isolated, the lower left one. There is a metal frame inside that connects all the antennae to the appropriate radio, but he touted the fact that this design actually makes the antennae part of the structure of the unit...steel and glass, two of the strongest materials available for consumer products.

While the 'skin touching the antennae' may be the problem, it could also be the capacitance coating/sensing affecting the signal strength. Whatever the cause, Apple may start testing each potential customer before selling then an iP4...

Frankly, I can't imaging not having a case, of some type, around the iPhone. I can't count the number of times I've dropped mine, from several feet, onto concrete (does anyone actually drop stuff on fluffy goose down pillows?! )!!! When I saw this new design, all I could think about was the glass corners hitting the concrete...

[RHPConsult]

I didn't read Paddy's thumbnail appraisal as an "audio" reference, at all. But then, at your age, you can probably leap higher and faster and longer than I when encountering a "conclusion".  

Then, I merely noted that Mossberg was VERY enthusiastic, but didn't apparently encounter the antennae "issue" in his analysis.

[Paddy]

There seems to be a bit of a debate about the issue and what's causing it...

http://www.macworld.com/article/152301/201...e4_antenna.html

QUOTE

By sj660 Thu Jun 24 13:13:55 PDT 2010
The VHF properties of old-style television signals are very, very different than the microwave frequencies in use by cell phones. Everyone who is pretending to be an RF engineer is embarrassing themselves on this issue. Of course your body affects the signal. But does it "short" the antenna? Lol.

Getting past the FUD, this appears to be an iOS 4 baseband issue, not an iPhone 4 problem—there are multiple reports of the same phenomenon on 3GS and 3G models. I suppose their plastic cases are getting shorted out too?

If you have no explanation as to why this occurs on 3GS as well, then everyone's high school physics-level understanding of the metal case (gee, I bet Apple's RF engineers NEVER thought of that... lol) should bow to the principle of Occam's razor: the simpler explanation is that there is a software problem and this is just another round of FUD.

What kind of Apple product launch would it be without everyone telling us Apple messed up everything stupidly and they're DOOOOOMED!

P.S. If you were "shorting" it, then why is it only that one particular connection that's "shorted?" Why not the other combinations? #fudfail

[krissel]

Maybe people should wash their hands more often.  

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

This doesn't sound good...

QUOTE

I didn't read Paddy's thumbnail appraisal as an "audio" reference, at all.

Well, exCUSE me!!! I thought (rare as it mat seem) that "sound" and "audio" were very closely related terms! Perhaps at your age, puns (stupidity? ) or at least immaturity, are no longer easy to "hear?"  

QUOTE

Maybe people should wash their hands more often.

True, even if they don't have any kind of cell-phone... One reason I carry a small bottle of 'hand sanitizer' in my car. We have a bottle on our sound booth at church, also (lots of hand-shaking there, ya kno). "Cleanliness is next to the sound-booth?" Of course, that stuff may eventually help create a new, highly resistant strain of bacteria... Those little buggers are 'smarter' than we are, sometimes!

Finally, the 'health' problem is more serious than the iP4 one, IMHO.

[RHPConsult]

I didn't read Paddy's thumbnail appraisal as an "audio" reference, at all.

Well, exCUSE me!!! I thought (rare as it mat seem) that "sound" and "audio" were very closely related terms!  Perhaps at your age, puns (stupidity?  ) or at least immaturity, are no longer easy to "hear?"    
/quote]

Yur, "excused", Capt'n Wild and Crazy Guy!

Sound can be "conceptual" as in "What about that do you not understand?" Or it can be "physical" as in E= MC2 (now where's that superscript?)

There will be a quiz later.

PS: Now let's leave my immaturity outta this!  

[Xairbusdriver]

I'll have to take the test at the black board, I'm not allowed to have sharp objects like pens and pencils. I can get a note from home if you need one...

[krissel]

Other phones have had this problem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amPG52DVQuk

Another video showing the problem with the iPhone4:

http://www.youtube.com/v/zvH-i7rKPJc&c...%3Cembed%20src=

An explanation and commentary by an antenna engineer:

http://www.antennasys.com/antennasys-blog/...4-antennas.html

http://www.antennasys.com/antennasys-blog/...-like-this.html

[Xairbusdriver]

Now reports about the 'proximity sensors' causing problems. They are supposed to simply blank out the screen when the phone is held in the talking position. But they seem to be causing dropped calls, un-inteneded 'conference' calls, etc. Frankly, I'm not sure why the screen needs to be blanked during a phone conversation. Perhaps the front facing camera can see through the hole in one's head? Maybe just a poorly cleaned ear canal? Maybe to save battery power when a teenager gets connected to anyone! And, apparently, many don't seem to be able to drive without phoning someone at the same time... I never knew there were so many important people with urgent tasks around this area...

[krissel]

That's a battery saving "feature".  Since you can't see the screen while talking there's no sense in it being on.  

[Xairbusdriver]

Now some are saying that the problem may be a sim card shorting out on the internal frame. Some tape around the card seems to help...sometimes. It's causing no end of bad press in this day of instant communications. I hope Apple is working 24/7 on this...but so is BP... Similar cuases; greed, want vs need, etc.

[Xairbusdriver]

<Apple's "answer."> Could be. Stranger things have happened...like meye mayking ann error wonc...

Or, perhaps AT&T's signals are much worse than they seemed?