What Weeks Of Real Usage Tells About New iPhone
When I reviewed Apple’s new iPhone 4 last month, I said that, overall, it was still the best of the super-smartphones. But I warned that, in my tests, its performance in making voice calls on AT&T’s network in the U.S. was decidedly mixed.
In some cases, I found it dropped fewer calls than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS. In others, especially in weak-coverage areas, I found that it showed fewer bars of service than the 3GS and that in about half a dozen cases in weak-coverage areas, it briefly showed no service at all, or was searching for a network, while the older model showed some service.
I also reported that Apple (AAPL) told me that it had discovered a bug in the new phone’s display of bars, as opposed to its actual reception, and that a fix for the bug was in the works. Nevertheless, I said that despite the new iPhone’s overall quality, I couldn’t recommend it for people in areas with poor reception on AT&T (T), the phone’s sole carrier in the U.S.
A big controversy then erupted after it was reported that if a user’s hand touched a visible seam in the phone’s antenna, which is mostly external and runs along its edge, the signal-strength bars dropped dramatically. Apple conceded the point, but said this effect, called attenuation, occurred on all cellphones, even those whose antennas were out of view inside the case. It also said the effect on the iPhone 4 appeared greater than it really was because the error in displaying the bars exaggerated how many there were in the first place. It has since issued the promised fix, which tends now to show fewer bars, and to show less of a drop-off when this “hot spot” in the antenna is touched.
So, this week, I am presenting a follow-up on the reception issue. It is based on my real-world experience—not lab tests—over six weeks of daily use with two different iPhone 4 units: the original one Apple lent me for testing, and a second one I purchased on which I installed the fix for the display of the bars.
In weak coverage areas, the iPhone 3GS performed better in a six-week test than the iPhone 4.
As in most unscientific cellphone tests, my experience was affected by many variables, including the locations where I used the phone (in this case, the Washington and Boston areas), and the coverage and congestion on the cellular network at various times and places. So, your experience may differ.
After my six weeks of constant use of two iPhone 4s, I still believe it is, overall, the best device in its class, for reasons including its ultra high-resolution screen; easy, integrated video calling; slick software; strong battery life; a remarkably thin body; and a world-beating selection of 225,000 third-party apps.
As for reception, I am sticking with my initial conclusions. I have found that in areas with average or strong AT&T coverage and capacity, the iPhone performs better than its predecessor and about as well as other AT&T smartphones I’ve recently tested. It still drops too many calls for my taste on AT&T’s heavily stressed network, which has experienced a stunning 5,000% rise in data traffic since the iPhone’s introduction in 2007. That data traffic reduces the network’s ability to handle voice calls.
Just as with its predecessors, I have experienced some terrible calls, which dropped multiple times, especially while in my car, when any cellphone must hand off the call among different cell towers and travel occasionally through weak or overloaded coverage areas. But I have had fewer of these worst-case experiences than with the 3GS, and marginally fewer occasions when the call dropped even once. This experience may not be acceptable to some users, but it is, overall, an improvement.
Outside of the car, in areas where I had good or just adequate reception, the iPhone 4 performed better than its predecessor, dropping fewer calls.
In weak coverage areas, however, I continue to find that the iPhone 4 performs worse than the 3GS. Apple says it has heard the opposite from many of its customers. The company says they report that the new model works better in poor coverage areas. But that hasn’t been my experience. I still find that calls drop more frequently in these areas, and that, occasionally, it either shows no service or is searching for service, though it tends to recover quickly.
The iPhone 4 dropped fewer calls than iPhone 3GS.
One caveat: on several occasions, I have found that even when the iPhone 4 showed only one bar (with the new bar-displaying software) I was still able to make and hold clear calls.
What about the dreaded “hot spot,” a seam at the lower left of the external antenna where the cellular radio is connected to the external portion of the antenna? In my experience, deliberately touching that spot can, indeed, make the bars fall, from say, three to one. But, sometimes, it actually makes the bars rise. In general, I’d say it makes the bars fluctuate.
But touching the hot spot doesn’t always ruin the call, even if it lowers the number of bars. In several cases, when I was already on a call with three or four bars showing, I deliberately covered the hot spot with my hand, and the call continued normally, strong and clear, even though the bars dropped to one or two.
I also spent a few days testing the “bumper” case Apple is now giving away to every iPhone 4 user. It greatly reduced what call problems I experienced, even in weak areas, though it didn’t entirely eliminate dropped calls, which occur even in good coverage.
One other point. A key reason Apple moved most of the antenna to the outside of the phone was to free up room inside for a larger battery, while keeping the phone thin. In my six weeks of experience, the battery life has been outstanding. I have never run out of battery in a day’s use, despite constant, heavy email traffic, lots of Web surfing and app usage, and frequent checking of social networks.
So that’s my six-week, real-world report. Despite the hot-spot issue and the exposed antenna, the iPhone 4 does better than the 3GS for me in decent coverage. But I still wouldn’t advise adopting it as your primary phone if you live, work or travel in areas with poor AT&T reception, or if you prefer a network under less stress.
Find Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.
Comments
Walt thanks for your reviews. I am questioning getting the iPhone 4 for my wife. She currently has the 3GS and has dropped calls all the time. We live in an area that has a weak signal. My real reason for posting is, did the Samsung Captivate hold better calls in weak areas than the iPhone 4? The other question is, is AT&T service weak or is it the iPhones? I feel I get better calls with my AT&T Blackberry.
Posted by kuhar at July 29th, 2010 at 1:28 amWhenever you are in a poor coverage area your ability to make and maintain calls can be a crapshoot. This is a fact no matter what phone or what carrier you have.
Posted by Zach Hudson at July 29th, 2010 at 2:12 amyes, good advice, consider your network. and even better, buy the iPhone 4 and check out your coverage, if not happy, return it for a full refund.. if you think the coverage is working… keep it… easy really.
and pray that you are in a good coverage area, because the alternatives are clunky and lack seamless software user experience. not to mention in some cases horrific battery life, and in all cases less battery life than the iPhone 4.
Posted by honjk at July 29th, 2010 at 2:32 amMy wife and I drove from LA to the Bay Area on I-5 a couple of weeks ago with my iPhone 4 side by side with her original iPhone. We noticed in several places along the way that the iPhone 4 had no signal and was simply “searching” for a network while her original iPhone (supposedly with no signal strength display error) had three bars and had no problem making calls. My conclusion was that the new phone needs a much stronger signal than at least the original to work effectively.
Posted by Norm Wu at July 29th, 2010 at 3:34 amThanks, Mr. M, for another of your typically no-nonsense, tell-it-like-YOU-see-it updates on tech. Your pieces are so much easier to understand than either the impersonal score sheets that hide all the personal sides of tech, or the self-important blowhards who insist that Product X is “unacceptable” because feature Y is not to their liking.
But one point you left out: users (like honjk here) who figure they can have a 30-day free trial of the iPhone while they test their coverage, are playing with fire. While the phone features are imperfect as you say, the rest of it — the beautiful browser, the nifty (mostly free) apps, etc., will have you addicted in no time.
I could only hold out so long while I watched my wife play with hers to read her books, check the weather, look for nearby eateries while we were out in NYC. And the 4 is, as you say, even smoother.
Posted by Walt French at July 29th, 2010 at 3:50 amFor the few years I have been running an iPhone here in Canada I have never experienced the network and reception issues that those south of the border have on AT&T. I guess the rub is that we pay for it with our wallets. Canada has some the highest mobile rates in the world. Not sure though that I would trade that right now for poor network and receptions issues seeing as it is my main work phone.
Posted by jaypiddy at July 29th, 2010 at 3:57 amWELL, WHAT TO SAY？？？？？？？？？？？？？
IN A NUTTSHELL, i-Phone 4's ANTENNA PROBLEM ARE ALL ” AMRICA'S VILLAIN'S FABRICATION “！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
WAKE UP, AMERICANS, REST OF THE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT THIS ” ANTENNAGATE CAPRICCIO ” IN THE U.S.！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
YOU HAVE BEEN CHEATED AND BEEN MADE FOOLED BY ” AXES OF EVIL “, THE SHAMELESS PROTEGES MEDIAS OF ” WALL STREET “( THOUGH, I DON'T BELIEVE ” WALT MOSSBERG ” IS ONE OF THEM ), MILLION DOLLAR HUNTING GREEDY HYENA-LIKE LAWYERS AND ” CAIN ITSELF ” WHO HAS MASTERMINDED THE PLOT AND CONDUCTED THIS SCINARIO！！！！！！！！！！
IF YOU REALLY HAVE i-Phone 4's ANTENNA DEFECT, COME TO JAPAN AND SHOW US HOW YOUR ” DEATH GRIP ” WORKS HERE IN JAPAN WHERE EVEN ” 1 CASE ” OF COMPLAINT AND REQUEST TO RETURN THE PRODUCT FOR ITS ANTENNA FLAW HAS YET TO BEEN REPORTED AT ALL TO DATE！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
AND JAPAN IS NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY TO SAY ” SO “！！！！！！！
＞ its alleged antenna problems were just “a storm in a tea cup.”
In response to India Real Time’s post on whether Indian consumers were ready for the iPhone 4, where tech blogger Amit Agarwal said the reception problem might deter buyers, BUT
IRT reader “Paul” commented, “In Germany where I live and work, there has been no issue!”
Bloomberg
Apple iPhone 4’s alleged reception problem has not deterred its fans, who still swear by it.Varun Krishnan, chief blogger of Indian mobile blog FoneArena, who e-mailed IRT after he read the earlier post, said that the antenna problem was “being blown out of proportion.”
Mr. Krishnan asked a friend in the U.K. to get him an unlocked iPhone 4 and has been using it for the past two weeks.
“The first thing I tried when I received the phone was to hold it at the antenna and there was no problem whatsoever – I even managed to get a download speed of 1mbps on it,” he told IRT.
SO, RETARDED ANTI-Apple-NAYSAYERS HAVING FINGERPOINTING i-Phone 4's ANTENNA DEFECT WANT TO INSIST NOW,
” Apple MUST HAVE SHIPPED ANOTHER VERSION OF ” ANTENNAGATE FREE ” i-Phone 4 TO FOUR COUNTRIES ( FRANCE, JAPAN, GB, GERMANY ) DIFFERENTLY FROM THE CASE IN THE U.S.？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？
THAT'S ” FUNNY “, IDIOT！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
DESPITE THE FACT, ANTENNA RECEPTION ISSUES IN THE U.S. ARE NOTHING NEW, AS WE ALREADY WELL AWARE OF NOKIA'S PHONES ISSUE, THAT ARE RELEVANT TO ALL THE SMART PHONES OR CELL PHONES WHICHEVER MANUFACTURER'S MAKES BE, THEY ( THE MEDIAS AND EVEN THAT BOGUSS RESEARCH INSTITUTE ” CONSUMER REPORTS' ” CONTERFEIT REPORT ) THRUSTING THIS ISSUE ” EXCLUSIVELY ” TO i-Phone 4 DELIVERATELY TO HUMILIATE AND TO DOWNGRADE Apple's REPUTATION！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
IN THIS ARTICLE, WALT MOSSBERG SAYING, “i-Phone 4's ANTENNA RECEPTION CONDITION DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU'RE AND ON IN WHAT SITUATION YOU'RE”, WELL THAT'S NOTHING NEW ABOUT ALL THE i-Phones ( INCLUDING PREVIOUS 3 MODELS ) AND ALL THE OTHER,, EVEN LATEST MODELS OF ANDROID, SMART PHONES TOO IN THE U.S.！！！！！！！！！
“Agreed. My wife's phone (not an iPhone…and we're on Verizon) drops bars and almost calls when she holds it on her shoulder. I'm not barking at LG about it. My LG doesn't get any signal inside the building where I work but I'm not writing LG about it. No…I'm talking to Verizon.
I don't think Apple caught this in pre-launch testing because there wasn't anything to catch. Wasn't there an article out a while back about new sim cards ATT supplied Apple with, a new style? I'm not looking to pass blame here, but I don't think the whole story is out yet. People in other countries are not having this problem and too many people in this country have a perfectly working phone to have it be a hardware issue. It's not the phone.”
＞I discovered a top secret death grip that will blow the lid off the wireless world. If I hold my hand over my wi-fi laptop card, I get a dropped signal. It’s a conspiracy! It’s a scam! All wirelss cards should be recalled. I mean if you can lose the signal just by covering it with your hand, isn’t that fraud? Somebody better get on this. Oh, wait. I’m just getting new information. It’s reality telling me that everyone already knows this and it’s part of wireless life. Man, I thought I was onto something. I thought I could sell my story to Consumer Reports and make a killing. They print crap like that, right?
＞Recently I have switched to Verizon when I got my HTC Incredible. The phone is awesome and smart phones rule, but the poor sound quality, poor reception, and more dropped calls than I care to remember with Verizon makes me despise them. I love the incredible for what it can do. But I hate Verizon for what it can't.
＞P.S. I also got to play with a friends iphone 4. The first thing I tried was to block the reception since it had no bumper. I found that to be an impossible task. The thing had full bars!
＞.Today I was playing with HTC Desire and I could easily kill the signal using the “iphone death grip” on it. And it was a total surprise to me. 4 bars to zero in a few seconds. No wrestling, just a normal grip.
First time I heard about the iPhone's issue I was like OMG, but apparently quite a few phones out there share this issue. It's a pity that nobody treats other phones' deathgrips seriously. Frankly, it's ridiculous. Seems that no-one cares about other phones.
.
Meanwhile I do not care how big an issue it is on other phones, finger vs. a completely casual left hand grip is ALL THE SAME to me. Since the issue is there, one way or another, I'll be getting an iPhone 4.
.
Fingers vs. grips – all the same, since they effect the exact same, so called “normal use”.
THAT'S ” THE THING “！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ PERIOD！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
Posted by M at July 29th, 2010 at 4:10 amWalt thanks for your straight talk as usual.
I am a heavy user of both voice and data on the Verizon Wireless network (currently using the original Motorola Droid), mostly in the Chicago area but including Los Angeles and some pretty remote areas as well.
I can easily count on one hand the number of dropped calls I've had since I started using this phone early this year. I also dropped very few calls with my previous phone on the same network, and the one before that etc.
I'm not much of a cheerleader but it is definitely All About The Network.
Posted by scotta27 at July 29th, 2010 at 4:40 amWhat about the proximity sensor issue? How many times did you inadvertently hang up on people, activate the mute function and/or speakerphone, cheek-dial, etc??? In my experience, this is the *real* problem with the phone, not the antenna. The phone is seriously unusable due to this problem and it is a wonder how/why Apple has not issued a software fix for it yet. If it is a hardware issue, then Apple has a serious problem on their hands.
Posted by avid2000 at July 29th, 2010 at 4:50 amOK apparently I have to be the first to say it. Idiot. There, it's done. Leave M alone.
Posted by scotta27 at July 29th, 2010 at 5:05 amI just think that in general Apple does not do a very good job with radio antennas. My old Powerbook had poor wifi reception relative to other laptops; this was widely known as a weak spot for that model. My iPhone 3g performs acceptably for my purposes. But my son's craptastic Samsung phone often performs better in the same situations, ie: it gets service in weak areas when I have none. Jobs touts Apple as an engineering company, but this is an area where, despite its fancy testing chambers, the company seems to lag.
Posted by mediagrunt at July 29th, 2010 at 5:22 amIf the carrier of the phone you want has unreliable or worse zero coverage in your area, you shouldn't be getting a phone on that network. Why get a phone if the network it's on is terrible for you? If someone wants an Evo 4G (which is exclusive to Sprint) but they have very bad Sprint coverage in their area, they shouldn't get the Evo. This is not unique to the iPhone. Why is it notable? I'm not trying to sound harsh or anything- I like Walt's iPhone 4 review and I have great respect for him and his writing. But I'm just a little curious as to why this situation- that is, if you have bad coverage with the carrier of the phone, you shouldn't get it- is a salient point. Thanks for the thoughtful review. I enjoyed reading it.
Posted by Seb_or_Sam at July 29th, 2010 at 6:04 amIf the carrier of the phone you want has unreliable or worse zero coverage in your area, you shouldn't be getting a phone on that network. Why get a phone if the network it's on is terrible for you? If someone wants an Evo 4G (which is exclusive to Sprint) but they have very bad Sprint coverage in their area, they shouldn't get the Evo. This is not unique to the iPhone. Why is it notable? I'm not trying to sound harsh or anything- I like Walt's iPhone 4 review and I have great respect for him and his writing. But I'm just a little curious as to why this situation- that is, if you have bad coverage with the carrier of the phone, you shouldn't get it- is a salient point. Thanks for the thoughtful review. I enjoyed reading it.
Posted by Seb_or_Sam at July 29th, 2010 at 6:04 amI have travelled through Belgium, UK and France since launch day on various networks and not one dropped call with my iPhone 4. AT&T seems a joke from what you write – dropping calls in strong signal area!
Posted by William D at July 29th, 2010 at 6:21 amHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, BE CAREFUL WHEN Ya SAY SOMETHING NASTY IN A MALICIOUS ATTEMPT TO ASSAULT SOMEONE IN CASE REVEALING YaSELF ” COMPLETELY FOOL or RETARD “！！！！！！！！！！！！
＞ this is the *real* problem with the phone, not the antenna.
O.K., O.K., NOT ANTENNA！！！！！！！！！
I THINK ” REAL PROBLEM ” DOES DEFITELY EXISTE IN ” Ya BRAIN “, NOT WITH ” ANY ” PHONE, BOY！！！！！！！！
Ya DON'T SEEM TO BE A REAL ” SMART PHONE ” USER AT ALL！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
Ya JUST REITERATE ” THE TEXT ” THAT Apple-NAYSAYERS WHINED LIKE PARROT OUT OF Ya POOR IMAGINATION！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
WELL, BUT IF Ya HAVE SOME INTELECT A BIT AT LEAST, COULD Ya EXPLAIN ALL THE READERS HERE, INCLUDING ME AND William D, WHY Ya FAVOURATE *real* problem MATERIALIZES ONLY IN THE U.S.？？？？？？？？？？？？？
Ya *real* problem HASN'T BEEN REPORTED ” ONE CASE ” HERE IN JAPAN, WHY？？？？？？？？？
THERE HASN'T BEEN SUCH CRAZY ” ANTENNAGATE ” FIASCO LIKE IN U.S. AND/OR “Ya * real* problem ” IN EUROPE AT ALL EITHER, WHY？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？
WEATHER？ OR SOME ANGEL FIX THEM BEFORE THE CARRIERS HANDING THEM DOWN THE CUSTOMERS BY HIS OR HER SUPERSTICIOUS POWER？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？
THAT'S ” GREAT “, ISN'T IT？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？
Posted by M at July 29th, 2010 at 7:18 amOh boy.
Reality check – that kind of attitude will get you nowhere. Seriously, there is no one who is going to consider your “point of view” with that kind of… umm… “screaming”.
Okay, people say don't feed the troll. Guess I have to wait another backlash from M. :-)
Posted by fadzlan at July 29th, 2010 at 7:37 amIF YOU DON'T LIKE i-Phone AND THINK Apple's PRODUCTS INFERIOR TO OTHER MANUFACTURERS' MAKE, DON'T BUY THEM, THAT'S IT！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
BUT THE WHAT'S THE CASE ON ITS EVALUATION AND REPUTATION ALL OVER THE WORLD IS COMPLETELY OPPOSITE TO YOUR ASSESSMENT, SORRY！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
Posted by M at July 29th, 2010 at 7:50 amWOWWWWWWWWW！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
TYPICAL AMERICAN BOGUSS PRESSES' ” DOUBLE STANDARD “！！！！！！！！！！！！
SHAME ON YOU！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
THE CENSORSHIP HERE IN THE U.S. IS MUCH MUCH WORSE THAN IN CHINA！！！！！！！！！！！！！
Posted by M at July 29th, 2010 at 11:36 amWhat a juvenile response!
Posted by Aadhil Shiraz at July 29th, 2010 at 12:42 pmWonder how the iPhone 4, with the bumper case, compared to the iPhone 3GS with regard to reception in weak signal strength areas?
Posted by grwisher at July 29th, 2010 at 12:43 pmWHO IS CENSORING ” THE ARTICLES ” AMONGST MIDNIGHT IN AMERICA？？？？？？？？？？？？？
I'LL SEE TO IT THAT WILL BE DELETED AGAIN！！！！！！！！！！！！！
MY FIRST POST AS FOLLOWS:
IN A NUTTSHELL, i-Phone 4's ANTENNA PROBLEM ARE ALL ” AMRICA'S VILLAIN'S FABRICATION “！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
WAKE UP, AMERICANS, REST OF THE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT THIS ” ANTENNAGATE CAPRICCIO ” IN THE U.S.！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
YOU HAVE BEEN CHEATED AND BEEN MADE FOOLED BY ” AXES OF EVIL “, THE SHAMELESS PROTEGES MEDIAS OF ” WALL STREET “( THOUGH, I DON'T BELIEVE ” WALT MOSSBERG ” IS ONE OF THEM ), MILLION DOLLAR HUNTING GREEDY HYENA-LIKE LAWYERS AND ” CAIN ITSELF ” WHO HAS MASTERMINDED THE PLOT AND CONDUCTED THIS SCENARIO！！！！！！！！！！
IF YOU REALLY HAVE i-Phone 4's ANTENNA DEFECT, COME TO JAPAN AND SHOW US HOW YOUR ” DEATH GRIP ” WORKS HERE IN JAPAN WHERE EVEN ” 1 CASE ” OF COMPLAINT AND REQUEST TO RETURN THE PRODUCT FOR ITS ANTENNA FLAW HAS YET TO BEEN REPORTED AT ALL TO DATE！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
AND JAPAN IS NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY TO SAY ” SO “！！！！！！！
＞ its alleged antenna problems were just “a storm in a tea cup.”
In response to India Real Time’s post on whether Indian consumers were ready for the iPhone 4, where tech blogger Amit Agarwal said the reception problem might deter buyers, BUT
IRT reader “Paul” commented, “In Germany where I live and work, there has been no issue!”
Bloomberg
Apple iPhone 4’s alleged reception problem has not deterred its fans, who still swear by it.Varun Krishnan, chief blogger of Indian mobile blog FoneArena, who e-mailed IRT after he read the earlier post, said that the antenna problem was “being blown out of proportion.”
Mr. Krishnan asked a friend in the U.K. to get him an unlocked iPhone 4 and has been using it for the past two weeks.
“The first thing I tried when I received the phone was to hold it at the antenna and there was no problem whatsoever – I even managed to get a download speed of 1mbps on it,” he told IRT.
SO, R*TARDED ANTI-Apple-NAYSAYERS HAVING FINGERPOINTING i-Phone 4's ANTENNA DEFECT WANT TO INSIST NOW,
” Apple MUST HAVE SHIPPED ANOTHER VERSION OF ” ANTENNAGATE FREE ” i-Phone 4 TO FOUR COUNTRIES ( FRANCE, JAPAN, GB, GERMANY ) DIFFERENTLY FROM THE CASE IN THE U.S.？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？
THAT'S ” FUNNY “, ID*OT！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
DESPITE THE FACT, ANTENNA RECEPTION ISSUES IN THE U.S. ARE NOTHING NEW, AS WE ALREADY WELL AWARE OF NOKIA'S PHONES ISSUE, THAT ARE RELEVANT TO ALL THE SMART PHONES OR CELL PHONES WHICHEVER MANUFACTURER'S MAKES BE, THEY ( THE MEDIAS AND EVEN THAT BOGUSS RESEARCH INSTITUTE ” CONSUMER REPORTS' ” CONTERFEIT REPORT ) THRUSTING THIS ISSUE ” EXCLUSIVELY ” TO i-Phone 4 DELIVERATELY TO HUMILIATE AND TO DOWNGRADE Apple's REPUTATION！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
IN THIS ARTICLE, WALT MOSSBERG SAYING, “i-Phone 4's ANTENNA RECEPTION CONDITION DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU'RE AND ON IN WHAT SITUATION YOU'RE”, WELL THAT'S NOTHING NEW ABOUT ALL THE i-Phones ( INCLUDING PREVIOUS 3 MODELS ) AND ALL THE OTHER,, EVEN LATEST MODELS OF ANDROID, SMART PHONES TOO IN THE U.S.！！！！！！！！！
“Agreed. My wife's phone (not an iPhone…and we're on Verizon) drops bars and almost calls when she holds it on her shoulder. I'm not barking at LG about it. My LG doesn't get any signal inside the building where I work but I'm not writing LG about it. No…I'm talking to Verizon.
I don't think Apple caught this in pre-launch testing because there wasn't anything to catch. Wasn't there an article out a while back about new sim cards ATT supplied Apple with, a new style? I'm not looking to pass blame here, but I don't think the whole story is out yet. People in other countries are not having this problem and too many people in this country have a perfectly working phone to have it be a hardware issue. It's not the phone.”
＞I discovered a top secret death grip that will blow the lid off the wireless world. If I hold my hand over my wi-fi laptop card, I get a dropped signal. It’s a conspiracy! It’s a scam! All wirelss cards should be recalled. I mean if you can lose the signal just by covering it with your hand, isn’t that fraud? Somebody better get on this. Oh, wait. I’m just getting new information. It’s reality telling me that everyone already knows this and it’s part of wireless life. Man, I thought I was onto something. I thought I could sell my story to Consumer Reports and make a killing. They print crap like that, right?
＞Recently I have switched to Verizon when I got my HTC Incredible. The phone is awesome and smart phones rule, but the poor sound quality, poor reception, and more dropped calls than I care to remember with Verizon makes me despise them. I love the incredible for what it can do. But I hate Verizon for what it can't.
＞P.S. I also got to play with a friends iphone 4. The first thing I tried was to block the reception since it had no bumper. I found that to be an impossible task. The thing had full bars!
＞.Today I was playing with HTC Desire and I could easily kill the signal using the “iphone death grip” on it. And it was a total surprise to me. 4 bars to zero in a few seconds. No wrestling, just a normal grip.
First time I heard about the iPhone's issue I was like OMG, but apparently quite a few phones out there share this issue. It's a pity that nobody treats other phones' deathgrips seriously. Frankly, it's ridiculous. Seems that no-one cares about other phones.
.
Meanwhile I do not care how big an issue it is on other phones, finger vs. a completely casual left hand grip is ALL THE SAME to me. Since the issue is there, one way or another, I'll be getting an iPhone 4.
.
Fingers vs. grips – all the same, since they effect the exact same, so called “normal use”.
THAT'S ” THE THING “！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！ PERIOD！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
Posted by M at July 29th, 2010 at 12:56 pmIf your wife's “original iPhone” was the first model Apple produced in 2007, then it is using AT&T's EDGE network exclusively, which has much higher coverage density than their 3G network. If you're interested in trying another field test, turn off 3G on the iPhone 4 so both phones are using the EDGE network.
Posted by Chris Stewart at July 29th, 2010 at 1:04 pmWith all due respect it still does not help me honjk. My question is does the network stink or is it Apple's “interpretation/reading” of AT&T's network. I have been looking at other alternatives on AT&T(i have to -family plan an all). I do not recall any phone reviewed on ATT mentioning dropped calls as much as Apples products. To be honest, I could care less about # of apps in buying a phone if the phone does not hold a call or work as a phone. My question still stands is it the phone or the service?
Posted by kuhar at July 29th, 2010 at 1:59 pmWalt, thanks for the follow-up information.
I'm curious about the car testing — please tell me you aren't driving and talking on the cell at the same time (even hands-free)? I'm assuming someone else was driving, but you mention “my car”, so I just wanted to make sure. I'd hate to think my favorite digital review for the the past 15 years talks on his cell phone while driving! Even as a test, it's unacceptable, since no one else should be doing it either!
Posted by sutekh137 at July 29th, 2010 at 2:00 pmWalt, thanks for the follow-up information. I'm still on an iPhone 3G, but it is good to stay abreast of the ever-changing smartphone landscape.
I'm curious about the car testing — can you confirm you aren't driving and talking on the phone at the same time (even hands-free)? I'm assuming someone else was driving, but you mention “my car”, so I just wanted to make sure. I'd hate to think my favorite digital reviewer for the the past fifteen years talks on his cell phone while driving… Even as a test, I don't see that as appropriate or acceptable, since no one else should be doing it either. My apologies if you have mentioned how you do your testing (and confirmed you aren't driving) in previous articles — I know you use, thorough, consistent standards when doing your test, even if it isn't entirely “scientific.”
Posted by sutekh137 at July 29th, 2010 at 2:37 pmI'm a happy Palm Pre user on Sprint. Never in a year has it dropped a call, not even on train corridors!
Posted by anilpetra at July 29th, 2010 at 3:10 pm———-
My question still stands is it the phone or the service?
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uhh, again, simply BUY THE PHONE, if it works, great, if not Return it for a FULL REFUND…. is that some how difficult in your situation? again, find out for yourself… FULL REFUND…..
to answer your question another way, since you apparently skipped that part of the review… the iPHone 4 peforms better than the iPhone 3gs, UNLESS you are in a really bad reception area… and even then, many people found it also worked better, Walt didn't…. using a bumper makes even that BETTER than the 3GS… so yes, it is the network that you need to worry about…
so check it out… FULL REFUND if you find you are mostly in bad spots or not…. simple really.
Posted by honjk at July 29th, 2010 at 4:20 pmDid you copy/paste this from the boilerplate Apple PR notebook? It's nauseating to listen over and over again “our product sucks, but so does everyone else”. Set your own bar and quit blaming your problems on other devices.
Posted by heady at July 29th, 2010 at 4:20 pm——————
talks on his cell phone while driving… Even as a test, I don't see that as appropriate or acceptable
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speaking of “consistent standards”, you shouldn't speak to your passengers either? correct??? is that what you are saying?
if you have a hands free set up, which most new cars have, what is the difference between being distracted by talking to your passenger than talking to anyone else?
and how are you going to enforce that?
Posted by honjk at July 29th, 2010 at 4:24 pm———-
My thinking is that there is a bug in the new OS softwar ewhich Apple is trying to fix.
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hey, maybe it is a bug in your old OS? instead of the new OS… actually i'll save you the suspense, it was a bug in your old OS. your bars were incorrect, now they are.
Posted by honjk at July 29th, 2010 at 4:32 pmReasoned, measured review. Hit the high notes, conceded the low notes, kept overall perspective in view. Well done, Walt.
Posted by Charlie Pratt at July 29th, 2010 at 4:33 pmhonjk, there have been multiple studies showing the difference between driver attention when having a conversation in-car vs. remotely (i.e. cell phone).
Enforcement is a moot point — it's against the law in some states. If Walt were in a state where it is against the law to drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time, would that change your mind? If he stated he was speeding while testing, would that matter?
How about if he had been testing the texting features (hand-typing the messages) as he drove?
Would any of these scenarios matter, in your opinion? Where do you draw the line, and why have states put cell phone and texting laws on the book is no one is getting hurt by this phenomenon?
Posted by sutekh137 at July 29th, 2010 at 4:34 pmalso, here is proof with data to back up Walt's personal observations…
in all cases, the iPhone 4's antenna performed better on average than the 3GS… for the signal strength that they were at… the iPhone 4 did have wider variations, but this was probably due to humidity and sweat on the hand, since the antenna can also be bridged slightly… but the average was better in every case, no matter how the person held the phone.
http://www.antennasys.com/antennasys-blog/2010/...
the only other thing they could have tested was to do this in a really low coverage area… that would have been some interesting data…
there are many reports that the iPhone 4 performed better than the 3GS by personal observations, Walt's was not the case, and i'm sure other's milage will vary… even then, in a bad coverage areas, people do not tend to squeeze their phones tighter…. and they tend to use cases…
it is pretty obvious that the iPhone has a better Antenna design than the 3GS in most cases.. and you can only ask for a little more than that….
which brings up another point, the 3GS has it's antenna in a similar configuration to other smart phones, so by extention, the iPhone 4's antenna is also better in most cases than other smartphones, not just the 3GS.
why the hub bub? because news blogs will feed on any controversy if it gets traction, no matter if the news is false or true… the iPhone is the leader and the leader always takes the arrows first…
yes the iPhone 4 will drop calls, but this mainly has to do with ATT being slammed with data hungry iPhones, ATT is working as fast as they can to increase coverage, but it is a slow and maybe even losing battle, since more iPhones are sold every year, and data use goes up incredibly every year…
Verizon had the luxury of not having as good a phones, so their data usage is like half… and by extension they don't get as many complaints… great…. i guess… either get a network that isn't being slammed, or a phone that can really use data with user experience that is number one.. right now, you can't have both… unless you are already in a good coverage area for ATT, so bend down and pray you are traveling in a good coverage area for ATT.
Posted by honjk at July 29th, 2010 at 5:18 pmAdditional followup:
A couple articles about how talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous (and why):
http://www.livescience.com/technology/050201_ce...
http://www.unews.utah.edu/p/?r=062206-1
More recent article concerning the folks who CAN handle driving and talking:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04...
And an article that agrees with you about enforcement/results:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/29/cellphone.stud...
I understand that enforcement is difficult and that results are iffy at best. I also respect other people's opinions on the matter and am not trying to start any sort of flame war. But that doesn't mean I (or anyone) has to be OK with the status quo or be OK with seeing direct examples of potentially dangerous behavior portrayed in popular media.
Like I said, for all I know, Walt wasn't even driving. But I thought I'd ask because I do think this is an important issue.
Posted by sutekh137 at July 29th, 2010 at 5:18 pmThe iPhone 4 is a very nice phone (if you have good AT&T reception), but the features you describe can be done just as well on an Android phone, often with the same apps. And many of the Android phones will be incorporating Flash 10 this summer, which will give you greater browsing capabilities than on the iPhone 4.
Posted by Josh Kirschner at July 29th, 2010 at 5:41 pmAnother fanboy article!
Posted by yumjay at July 29th, 2010 at 8:29 pmsorry my last post did not post where i wanted.
I know i can return any phone I buy from ATT or any other service. I will do that for sure.
I did read that Walt had more of an issue with a weak signal on the iP4 than on the 3GS hence my question(re-read my first post) We do live in a weak area. Again, I have not read in any other review for any other phone as having dropped calls. I wonder if reviews of other phones have issue with dropped calls. Like two weeks ago when Walt tested the Samsung Galaxy S, I do not recall dropped calls mentioned. So is it the phone and how it deals with the network or is it the network -whether it is the iPhone or any other phone.
Posted by kuhar at July 29th, 2010 at 8:46 pmI also have been finding that it fares worse then my 3g in reception, though I suspect it might be software related. Like Walt I also made clear calls with one bar and sometimes the phone would go from full bars to 0 bars with no discernible reason, wheras my 3g phone was full bars throughout.
Posted by Michael P at July 30th, 2010 at 2:02 amIt may be interesting for US-based readers to realize that in other countries, like here in New Zealand, dropped calls are virtually unknown. I've never had a dropped call to my knowledge on my iPhone 3G and I imagine the iPhone 4 will be the same.
Posted by Duncan Babbage at July 30th, 2010 at 11:32 amI'd love to have Flash on my phone. My wife calls it out as the biggest irritant to trying to see many web sites from her iPhone.
Call me jaded, but I've been following Adobe's broken promises about Flash rather too long. Back in 2008, they were going to have a BILLION smartphones running full Flash in 2009, and as of today, July 30, 2010 (just 30-odd days left in most people's definition of “summer”), Flash runs on exactly zero. Meanwhile, their people and various shills blame Apple. The beta version of Flash on Nexus (the only phone now “supporting” Flash) is buggy, feature-incomplete and a resource hogs; a review sez you have to uninstall it to keep it from bogging you down.
No thanks.
Now Google is in the business of empty promises, repeated by sincere people like you. Most of the Android phones in use today are version 1.X. Google is talking 3.0 but the handset people seem content on shipping new phones with 2.1, not even 2.2 that has some important speedup features. Meanwhile, 2.2 includes “support” for Flash, but NOT Flash. There must be a dozen CPU/GPU/display combos on Android phones and how Google can magically get Adobe off its butt to get Flash on a dozen phones, when they have yet to deliver ONE, is just not something I can understand. I think it's not disingenuous but consciously dishonest.
Nokia made the first smartphone ten years ago; Adobe fired the Macromedia team that put Flash Lite on phones 5 years ago and Apple blew the doors off the stagnated smartphone market 3 years ago; Adobe has not shown any effort to deserve any credibility. Time is passing them, and developers who count on reaching mobile web browsers, by.
Posted by Walt French at July 31st, 2010 at 3:23 am@sutekh137, does it ever occur to you that people like Mr. Mossberg makes moral decisions ALL THE TIME and your soapbox preaching is just insulting?
There is the law, and there is the fundamental law of safety (your obligation to operate your vehicle in a safe manner at all times) and there are your moral obligations. But you pontificate without the tiniest iota of information about actual behavior.
Find something where you can affect people's lives for the better instead of making people resent your stinking projections. Really!
Posted by Walt French at July 31st, 2010 at 3:43 amIt must be nice to get a new phone whenever one comes out. Unfortunately, as a retiree =, when I select a phone, I am stuck with it, good or bad, for the life of the contract,
Posted by reli37 at August 1st, 2010 at 4:32 pmI would like to see a comparison of the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S series phones. I am not an AT&T subscriber but with the possibility of the iPhone coming to T-Mobile-which does provide my service- it would be nice to see a contrast/comparison. I am seriously considering a Vibrant this December when my myTouch 3G contract is up. I love the Android OS though and even though I'm a die hard Mac user, I am not impressed with iPod/iPad UI.
Posted by Trace at August 1st, 2010 at 7:09 pmdid you copy/paste this from your angry journal? i sentence you to 3 days with no internet. relax your balls.
Posted by Anonymous at August 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 pmOkay, but your phone sucks.
Posted by Anonymous at August 2nd, 2010 at 9:38 pmThere was an analyst's report about new parts in the pipeline to deal with the antenna problems, but nothing since. One has to wonder whether Apple will eventually have a hardware modification for new production and then just leave existing owners hanging.
Posted by RBR at August 2nd, 2010 at 8:33 pm