On Reception – The iPhone 4 hysteria – The Real Life/Lab Test Conundrum

by Ed Dale on 13. Jul, 2010 in General

I’m well aware that Apple are not infallible.

Exhibit A – The Mighty Mouse – Jon Ive and co were out to lunch when they put that shocker out. I still twitch when I think of the dirt attractor ball. (the new mouse is awesome)

Exhibit B – Mobile Me – For two terrifying weeks my email archive was gone forever. I got it all back but it wasn’t fun.

But today – we need to get real fast about this iPhone 4 thing.

To say I’m a power user of the iPhone is an understatement – I actually developed a shoulder condition because of the amount of time I held the thing. I run my business off the iPhone – I could not imagine doing business without one.

As a tragic – I actually got an iPhone 4 shipped from the UK to Australia and have been using it extensively in the past two weeks in places that no phone should rightly get reception, let alone the “flawed” iPhone 4.

But first, let’s take a baseball bat to the Elephant in the room – The Consumer Report published in the US in the last couple of days – lets just accept this lab test is spot on.

(I wonder how you can test call drop outs in such an environment – I don’t give two hoots about signal db’s – can the phone A – make the call and more importantly B – once the call is made, not drop the call.)

Ok, if you touch the iPhone in the right place you experience a signal degradation – check

BUT IS THIS A PROBLEM?

Hear me out.

I’m fortunate enough to live in Australia – we have the best iPhone compatible network in the world – the Telstra Next G network – I so wish my fellow iPhone lovers in the UK , Japan and the USA could experience what a network can do that actually takes complete advantage of everything the iPhone can do. The range, coverage and performance of the network is without question – the best in the world.

(I’m fortunate enough to travel for my day job and have experienced the joy of trying to use the overstressed AT&T network – If you think verizon could have coped better – you’re on drugs, but I digress)

Here’s the thing, out the front of my home there is a vortex of Next G misery – every time I pull my car in front of my house for the past five years, Blackberry, Nokia, First three iPhones – the call was cut mercilessly. You could set your watch by it. Regardless of phone, on the best network in the world, my call dropped.

Enter the iPhone 4.

For the first time in four years, the call kept going!!!

I was stunned.

Actually, the first time this happened – I was on a 3G SKYPE CALL (I can’t tell you how well this works on the Next g network – the voice quality is out of this world) – when I released the call didn’t drop – i immediately applied the “Death Grip” on the iPhone 4 – it just kept on rocking.

I called up a mate on the cell network as soon as I got off the Skype call – and i must have looked like a total tool trying everything I could (in a known dead spot for cell phones, I hasten to add) to “death grip” this phone into dropping the call.

EPIC FAIL – my death grip musn’t be up to snuff – the iPhone kept up it’s noise cancelling enhanced magic and the call kept going.

I grabbed my 3gs – made the call – and it dropped with in 20 seconds…

REAL WORLD SITUATION NUMBER 2

I actually received my iPhone when I was having a break in Far North Queensland. We go up each year and being an iPhone tragic – know that once I get up in to the World Heritage Dainetree Rain Forrest – the cell coverage goes south…

Just for laughs, I pulled out my iPhone 4.0 at Thorton’s Beach (google it – it’s miles from anywhere)- and it had signal! My wifes iPhone 3gs – NADA.

As I’m sure scared out of their wits iPhone 4 owners the world over do as soon as they are faced with one or two bars signal – I immediately applied the death grip….

Did the call drop, did my twitter access die – NO!

This to me is the crux of the issue – the iPhone 4 has better day to day real world reception than the iPhone 3gs -

Jimmy Fallon – the tonight show host – jumped in a car in New York for heavens sake and went to his favourite call drop spots in Manhattan and sure enough – the phone kept on trucking.

Apple have sold two million of these things – for goodness sake – if there was a real world usage problem – with calls dropping out every time the damn black line of death was touched – we would have riots in the street (or at the very least least one Oakland footlocker would be smashed up).

If you’re in a weak transmission area, on AT&T and the phone is struggling to make a call AND you touch the antenna then the call MAY drop – but it’s not happening in REAL WORLD PRACTICE.

Please, ask user after user, in the real world, with real world use, If the iPhone 4 is better than their prior phone. The answer will virtually be the same. The iPhone 4 is noticeably better and the noise cancelling microphone is awesome (no one even mentions that feature- which is just the way Apple wants it! It just works).

Even breathless tech bloggers who can demonstrate the magic disappearing bars quickly add they “themselves” cannot make calls drop.

Don’t get me started on how much better wi-fi reception is on iPhone 4

In real world use, this phone is OBVIOUSLY better than the 3GS.

If you could make calls drop by applying the death grip on demand – like I said, there would be riots in the streets – the fact of the matter is you can’t, so why would Apple recall their best performing phone ever???

It doesn’t make any sense.

The iPhone 4 is by far the best phone I’ve ever owned. Facetime is a game changer (I’ll save that debate for another day)

It would be a tragedy for the pitch fork wielding tech bloggers chasing page views to win this. They are ignoring the real world experience of millions of iPhone 4 users for a lab test not undertaken in real world conditions.

Ed


  • I could not agree more. I got so sick of all the negative hype that I recorded a set of ten speed tests to clarify the issue in my own head. The bars dropped right down, but the data rates did not (or did, but only slightly).

    Bravelittlememe.com
  • WOW, a rational thinker with facts that make sense! well done ed! I am on Telstra on a 3gs and agree the service is flawless. I cant wait to get the iPhone4
  • I favour the iTalkin grip
  • removed to re-post as a proper reply.
  • Keiffus
    100% agree with you. This has been my experience even here in the U.S. I have had FAR fewer dropped calls compared to my 3GS and I live in Chicago. I know of 3 other people with i4s and none of them are complaining about the reception. Plus one of them is left handed! This is truly the BEST phone I have ever owned. I really couldn't say that about the 3 previous iPhones because I always experienced frequent and maddening dropped calls. This whole "Antennagate" is much ado about nothing!
  • Ed
    I'll be in Beechworth on Monday week. While I won't have an iPhone 4, I'm happy to come to your deadzone to test with my 3GS and my wife's Nokia ;)
  • Anti iPhone hysteria, pro-iPhone hysteria: two sides of the same coin. Come on Ed, you contributed plenty to the pro-hysteria, can you really be surprised that its met with an equally opposing level of BS?

    With all the talk and all the hype - plus Apple's deliberate fetishization of their products - the iPhone became, like the majority of recent Apple products, a product that had a great many of its benefits in the emotional, as opposed to hardcore technical, realm. Its a bit like a pop star. And the minute an object stops being merely a product and becomes some kind of wierd thing to obsess about...it doesn't matter if its pro- or anti-, you have entered that weird world of BS that is best avoided by anyone who has a grasp of rationality.

    Glad your phone works. I know a few people whose iPhone 4's work fine too. I'd just rather people stopped talking about it and got on with the real world. It is a 4 inch piece of plastic and metal.
  • You see Ian - Its more than that - it makes the way I do business possible - I use my iPhone the way Eric Clapton plays a solo. It's an invaluable business tool.

    Ed
  • No doubt, but a tool is just an object with a purpose. The iPhone has become much more than that to many people - its now a lifestyle accessory, and being an early adopter carries currency (in certain circles). Obviously Apple exploited that market, but the flipside of playing to that are these extreme reactions and hysteria...you can get love and kisses, or you can get bit on the arse ;) I generally filter out both extremes. Its just a tool, albeit an extremely adept one. :)
  • jumpboy
    Spot on article. I've been happily using my iPhone 4 in all my normal areas. Rock solid reception despite all my attempts to affect the signal with various "death grips." Having said this, I did find one location where a death grip did affect the signal -- inside my town's public pool building. It's a very humid environment, and when I grip using my clammy hands, the signal does go down. Of course this might seem somewhat concerning, if it wasn't for the fact that I NEVER got any signal in the pool building with my iPhone 3GS. I'll definitely take an iPhone 4 which gets reception in dead zone areas, than a previous iPhone or other phones that got no reception at all. If this signal is somehow affected by abnormal gripping in abnormally humid conditions, it's really a non-issue for me since it's not a real world situation (and it's still much better than not having had any signal to start with!)
  • Ed, I suspect that few people outside of Telstra's R+D lab know just how far ahead of the game Telstra really is.

    An industry-insider mate recently visited the lab on business and saw a demo of the telco's current (and ready to go) mobile network development. Believe it or not, it's at least TWO generations ahead of anything out there. To say my mate was gob-smacked would be an understatement.
  • Telstra have got the mobile network spot on and the iPhone 4 on it is poetry in motion - the upload speeds are awesome for content creation, Skype, Audioboo - basically all the things I do

    Ed
  • @Ed: Please read. I love my iPhone 4. I've had two 3GS iPhones, a 3G and an original iPhone. All have worked decent in my house, though it is in a low signal area. I would drop calls occasionally, but not enough to be a real problem.

    Enter iPhone 4. I pre-ordered and received my iPhone 4 on launch day.

    With a Bumper case on, it's by far the best reception phone I've used in my house. Better than any of the iPhones, my Blackberry devices before that, and a few Nokias. I have not dropped a call yet on the iPhone 4 with the Bumper on, it's amazing. I have had this same experience in other low signal strength areas where I didn't get coverage at all before, the iPhone 4 with a Bumper works great.

    Without a Bumper case on, I cannot make a call inside or directly outside of my house. It's horrendous. I had a few calls connect, but they would only stay connected for a few seconds. I thought I had a bad unit, but my wife's iPhone 4 is identical. I have never seen a phone perform this badly in or around my house. It doesn't matter if I touch the bottom left corner or not, I can hold the phone by the sides with 2 fingers, and the second I touch that antenna it's over with.

    Luckily I always use a case, so this doesn't affect me, but I literally could not use my phone until my Bumper arrived unless I put it on speakerphone and did not touch it. I made all of the calls with the phone sitting on my desk. If I was a purist who refused to use a case, I would be forced to return the phone.

    I think that most people are in a strong enough signal strength area where they aren't affected by it. For those who are right on the edge, and refuse to use a case, it is a big problem. Honestly. I just don't think that demographic is very large.
  • I wonder if this is not a manufacture fault on some phones - think about if 2 million phones shipped - even .005% fault rate in production is a lot of phones...
  • Chistian1122334
    Dude,

    Ever been to Oakland? Us black folk got bigger things to worry about than the inner-workings of the latest high priced tech gadget for yuppies. But hey, thanks for the racism.
  • I have been to Oakland lots - the kids love Fairyland on the lake. I was agreeing with you! -the point was the hysterical media was trying to suggest that full scale riots where occurring in Oakland - when a footlocker got trashed. It was blown out of all proportion and was bluntly appalling - So it was quiet the opposite to a racist suggestion - I have many many failings, racism isntt one of them.
  • sdfisher
    A reference to Oakland riots is not racist. It's a reference to current events: last week, specifically.

    But hooray for ad hominem attacks, right?
  • USAZippers
    Yeah? So fix your own damn problems then. Us yuppies are putting bumpers on our phones, what are you doing?
  • RidleyGriff
    Have to agree with you here. I can demonstrate the data-stoppage-by-black-strip effect if I'm looking to see what the issues are... but I've never encountered it in actual usage. Nor have I run into any voice call problems. And I hold my iPhone in my left hand. On AT&T. In Los Angeles.

    This is starting to feel like certain pundits are trying to force me to be angry about a device that works great for me from top to bottom. To that, there is nothing to say, other than simply continue to use the phone with zero issues, and to continue to recommend it to friends and family -- none of which are experiencing any problems in their real-world usage either.
  • GadgetGav
    @ Andrej Mikula @Ed, yes, it really is that bad in the US. I'm sure there are so-called "third world" African nations that have better 3G coverage than AT&T provides in many US metro areas...!
    I'm in Cambridge MA, right in the heart of the MIT area and the network here cannot cope. I can barely get an EDGE signal at my desk, 15ft from a 3rd floor window and never see 3G indoors. It would be great if we could get the kind of coverage that you have in Slovakia or the remote north of Australia.

    The problem is that "a weak transmission area, on AT&T and the phone is struggling to make a call" really is the day-to-day reality for a lot of iPhone users. If that's the world we live in, then it is "REAL WORLD PRACTICE" to experience this signal loss... I put a case on mine, so I don't see it, but I can recreate it at home and I normally hold the phone in my left hand in just a way that would bridge the insulator strip. The iPhone 4 is certainly better than the the 3GS in many ways, and I don't think people will return it in large numbers because these positives outweigh the negative, but on AT&T (the *only* carrier we're allowed to use in the US remember) weak signal is common and the dB drop caused by bridging the antennas is a real issue.
  • "...Even breathless tech bloggers who can demonstrate the magic disappearing bars quickly add they “themselves” cannot make calls drop..."

    Are you sure? check this video: http://www.allnewsmac.com/2010/06/24/iphone-4-comes-with-major-design-flaw/
  • Dimitiri

    One video - where are the thousands of others showing this global phenom odf call drop out - Im not for one second saying that its not an issue for a tiny percentage of people. BTW did you notice anyone have these issues outside?

    Ed
  • I'm an enormous iPhone fan, and do love my iPhone 4. With that said, however, claiming that nobody can make a call drop when death gripping the phone is a bit bogus. I can do this whenever I want.

    In my office, for example, I have a full 5 bars displayed on my phone. When I hold it in my left hand (touching, but not intentionally, the black strip) it will drop down to the final bar and drop a call and remove my ability to access the web.

    I've tried holding the phone in the exact same position while touching the black antenna strip and while not touching it and ran speed tests. I'd get great performance (over 1.4Mbps download) without touching the strip, but when I touch it the test won't even begin.

    I was, on a daily basis, affected by the death grip for the iPhone. It happened to me every day in real world usage. I can make it drop calls, prevent new calls from being placed or received, and kill my internet access... all in the real world and in a 5 bar area. The same goes for my wife's iPhone 4 at home and my mother's iPhone 4 at her home. It is 100% reproducible at each location. I can't do this on my 3GS. It never happened on my wife's 3G. My mother never had a problem with her 3GS. I bought an Apple Bumper Case for my iPhone 4, which alleviated the issue.

    I love just about everything about my iPhone 4, but I am kinda pissed that I had to spend $30 to fix an inherent issue that affected my daily use of the phone.
  • JohnDoey
    You don't really have 5 bars if you can block the antenna with your hand. Apple has already explained that. In iOS v4.0.1 you will likely see 1-2 bars in your office. In my office, I cannot make calls with any cell phone unless I go to an outside window.

  • In some cases, you are correct. If the iPhone only displays 1-2 bars in my office, then there is a serious issue with its reception. Other 3G phones on AT&T and my iPad display 5 bars and do not fluctuate. Early reports of the new iOS developer release with the signal bar fix that came out today indicate that iPhones now report less bars, but still drop to one or less when covering the antenna. I can even get it to drop to nothing when holding the phone in an AT&T store, where every other 3G phone displays 5 bars.

    Are all of those non-Apple phones affected by this supposed iOS signal strength display software bug?

    I understand that you're basing your assumption on what Apple has said, but I believe that real world experience is likely more valuable. I would love for this to be a software issue, but it's quite clear that it is not.
  • I have to agree. I can actually use my iPhone in my house to make calls. No other phone I've ever had has let me do this. (UK User on Vodafone network BTW)
  • Guest
    What version of iOS are your running on your 3GS. if not 4, you should upgrade and see if you get the dropped calls
  • I was using ios4 on the 3GS

    Ed
  • Many people are unaware of RF Physics governing your phone. There are so many factors affecting the signal recovered at the detector and ...my lord the polarization of the sending and receiving antennas, the S/N not of the voice or data channels but of the control channels...oy! It's amazing it all works. Stand here, fine, Step left, no go. Hand up, fine, down, no good, touch here, no good, touch there gets stronger. Oh yes.
  • Not had any issues with mine at all, both in the UK and here in Girona (on hols at the mo in Catalunya, Northern Spain). If anything it's got much better reception than my older 3G - and it's lightning quick on the apps (big noticeable difference on the speed and quality of the camera).
  • Jon
    Nice review.

    I'm with Optus so I'm still tossing up whether to wait this one out and see what happens or just get one when they launch here.
  • I am as big of a fanboy as you and would love to be able to jump to Apple's defense, but I have to disagree here. I am one of those people who happens to hold the phone the way that Steve doesn't want me to and I tend to drop calls when holding the phone just so. Don't get me wrong, I am not turning in the phone or anything as the upsides of the device way outweigh the dropped calls, but I am a bit disappointed in Apple's lack of response (or more honestly acknowledgment) to the issue. I'm getting a case and I am sure that will take care of my woes, but they aren't doing themselves any favors with their signature silence or even with Steve's terse emails. They don't have a lemon here, but they have a pretty serious flaw. They made one smart move with the no reshelving fee, but this problem isn't going away anytime soon and they are better off addressing it (and probably giving away those "livestrong" bracelets of a bumper case they are selling as most people tend to put a case on their iPhone anyway). I'm certainly not going anywhere as an Apple consumer or even a fan boy, but they dropped a ball here and they need to deal with it rather than have it hanging over their head.
  • Are you dropping more calls in NYC with the 4 than you did with the 3gs? NYC cell coverage is a dog with fleas.

    Ed
  • No, in fact the reception is actually better than the 3GS (although amen on the wonderful description of our crap service). It is strictly an issue of holding the phone the way I tend to naturally hold it (working on that). They say it only happens when signal is already low and lets face it NYC already suffers from that particular shortcoming.
  • Your observations are spot on - I have been telling people for a while that the iPhone4 isn't as bad as some pundits make out. Yes, there are problems WITH SOME OF THEM, but not all. With over 2,000,000 sold, do you really think a company like Apple would sell a product that they hadn't tested ?

    Those I have spoken to that have the phones on Telstra have similar experiences - unfortunately I'm on Vodafone (for a variety of reasons) and their coverage sucks pigeon farts. So *I* will be one of the people that has the problem - BECAUSE OF THE NETWORK !!

    Now, if Telstra can just drop their prices to match Vodafone, I'd switch in a flash..:)
  • Actually the iP{hone 4.0 might hold some Joy with the expanded band coverage on 3g.

    Telstra prices have gotten way better (still expensive) and for me in a business capacity the quality of service makes it a no brainer.

    Ed
  • Still way too expensive for the average punter..

    BTW, could you tell me the 4th and 5th digits in your iPhone's serial number ? Trying to collate a list of phones that do/don't have the reception problem and you're the first I've heard of who doesn't.

    I'm thinking they may have rolled out a fix for later production runs already.

    Jon
  • I just don't get all this stuff about networks. I live in Slovakia and have perfect coverage. But... it's like coverage is not even an issue here. You have 3G basically everywhere and you don't even think about it. It's like having electricity at home :) Is it really that bad in USA?
  • yeah, it sucks.
  • When your in the middle of San Francisco and New York and you can't make a call - it's very real.

    Ed
  • In the USA and Australia it SUCKS. Check Telstra or Vodafone websites for Australia and have a look at their coverage maps - Verizon and AT&T for the US is similar.
  • Mobile Coverage in Australia for such a large place with a thin population is really pretty good. I can get a full NextG connection on the whole length of the Highway between Sydney and Melbourne - that's 1000kms. Considering the target population on most of the journey, that is excellent.
    The iPhone 4 with HSUPA built in is going to fly on the NextG network when it finally gets here
  • It's OK if you are with Telstra and can afford their exhorbitant prices and shitty service, but Vodafone and Optus are bad - even though reasonably priced.

    The AMCA is actually considering a suggestion I made which is to apply the same rules to cell towers as to landlines - Telstra could be required to allow rival companies access to their NextG infrastructure on a cost-neutral basis. THAT would make other companys more competitive and prices cheaper.
  • Hahahahaha I'm sure you hold a lot of sway with the AMCA... The whole reason Telstra invested $3 billion dollars and counting in the Next G network was to have the extra coverage as a competitive advantage... Do you think without Telstra's exorbitant prices they could have afforded to build their network? Clearly if they could then Optus of Vodafone would build a network that big too...

    Also the whole open access regime for fixed line phones in Australia came about from Telstra having a monopoly over the existing phone network and inability of competitors to build their own networks... This is not and has never been the case for mobile networks, Telstra built the Next G network with their own money from scratch only 5 years ago... There is nothing stopping Optus from spending $3 billion and building their own network, the issue is it's not profitable for them and they know it hence why they spent only $500million on their 900mhz expansion.
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