Toby Weston - The Blog

I'm not entirely sure how Apple always manage to turn around any issues they have to be software related. The latest being the iPhone 4 antenna issue where if you hold it a certain way with your left hand then the phone will report there is a signal drop. People have reported this to be just a drop in the amount of bars to actual calls dropping out.

The new iPhone 4 has never seen before design which has the antenna situated around the outside edge of the phone with small grooves set at 3 points. This is intended to give the best quality reception. It seems though that holding the phone covering the small grooves will actually show the correct signal being picked up.

Apple say the problem is in no way related to the design or how the iPhone 4 Antenna antenna is made. It is down to "the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong".

The way i look at it is that the signal i see on the screen when not holding the phone must be incorrect as apple also say "Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars.". Holding the phone in the manner being reported seems to be the only way to get an accurate reading of what the signal is. So if you are in a low reception area then it will report a correct signal or 1 or 2 bars.

How does this apply to the people who are also reporting dropped calls when they hold the phone? If holding the phone only makes the signal display correct (with the addition of a minor signal reduction) then surely if the call connects then it should continue. Especially if its a weak 3G reception with a 2G backup. This comes back to calls dropping when there is a transition between 3g and 2g, another issue that Apple have had in the past.

I have tried to reproduce the problem on my phone but cannot seem to get anything other then a 1 bar drop. Although it is rather strange that I do have full signal most places I go. Usually in the 3g areas.

The other thing that makes me wonder is that they released the "bumpers" for the new iPhone. A cover that goes around the outside of the iPhone to protect it. The perfect resolution if you were to have an issue with signal while holding the phone in a certain way. Hmm...

I was told by an Apple store representative that the reason for this case was the way the glass on the phone was set on the outside square with the end of the phone. Knocking the phone on the edge could potentially damage the screen.  Another odd product considering "the same type of glass used in the windscreens of helicopters and high-speed trains. Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultra-durable and more scratch resistant than ever."

I remember reading a while back that Apple were trying to stop sales of the screen protectors for the iPhone 3G/3GS because it gave the impression that he screen was easily damaged when infact it could withstand a lot. Something I agreed with. I wasn't rough with my phone, but felt it would survive under slight strains. Surely releasing a bumper for the new iPhone 4 gives the same impression, that it needs an additional protection, that the phone may get damaged easily either on the antenna or the screen itself.

Or maybe they needed something to cover up the antenna so that when people hold the phone it doesn't cause the signal to drop ;)

As you can imagine everyone is throwing round theories as to why Apple have ended up in this situation. Unfortunately they are unlikely to accept the official response to the situation.

"We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising."


"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. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place."

"We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same - the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused."

 

So with some recommendations from AT&T, Apple will be releasing software updates in the next few weeks to fix the issue. This will apply to iPhone 3 / 4 and will give a more realistic reading of the signal.

We will see how the update works out and whether it has really resolved the problem.