Apple hits back over iPhone 4... but offers free cases

Why not free rubber gloves?

A partial admission that there is a design flaw in the idiotPhone 4 then. A pair of rubber gloves everyday for every customer would surely be a good option, since gullible people will swallow anything!

By BornOnTheCusp on 16 Jul 2010

PCPRO to fine another star

I note that pcpro awarded the maximum of 6 stars for performance to the Iphone4. Well, now with this Heath Robinson fix from Apple, will pcpro conjure up a seventh star for performance?

By noddy14 on 16 Jul 2010

Why do huge companies like Apple think that they can treat customers like idiots. They've acted like schoolkids in a playground - "It wasn't just me - it was them as well". That is the most bizarre statement from a company that takes pride in quality and thinks they are the best. In that single sentence of "our competitors have the same issue" they have brought themselves down.
All they had to do from the outset was state - we've got two issues: a software one which we can fix and for those people having issues a soft case. It would have been forgotten about weeks ago. Amazing stupidity.

By drummerbod on 16 Jul 2010

what about the other 99.45%

OK so if only 0.55% of calls are about signal issues, what the hell are the other 99.45% of complaints about! is there another problem people are having?...

By jamieostrich on 16 Jul 2010

Apples does the right thing (finally)

But spoils it with churlishness and ill-grace.

Doesn't Steve Jobs know that all messiah's must spend 40 days in the wilderness?

By Lacrobat on 16 Jul 2010

not impressed

I find it curious that Jobs cites signal issues with other phones. I can't help feeling that if another company was offering to fix a signal problem by offering a case, Apple's response would be something like..."You don't need a case for our phones, our phones just work..." Apple would be ridiculing another company that offered a case as a means of getting a decent signal.

I am a potential Apple customer, never had any Apple product before but tempted by iPhone4. The signal problem per se hasn't put me off because many people seem to have no problem at all with it. However, Steve Jobs attitude does put me off. It is laughable that a company who employs such talented engineers and designs such beautiful hardware, thinks it can advocate a case to solve a signal problem, and still maintain credibility as a company.
Jobs attitude has made me think twice about the iphone4, I am now looking at the HTC Desire also.

My Sony Ericsson contract with 3 runs out in a couple months. The customer service from 3 has been lousy, but they are the only network I've tried thus far that gives me a good signal virtually anywhere, so I'd put up with lousy service for a good signal.

For similar reasons, although Jobs attitude annoys me, it wouldn't stop me buying the iphone4. If I got an iphone4 that worked properly, I could put up with the company being arrogant.

By stormN on 16 Jul 2010

If trolls ate soup..

"Waiter, I don't like the soup. I want you to make it better."

"This is the best we can make it. Perhaps we can offer you some salt."

"I paid good money for this soup. It should taste good without salt."

"I'm sorry. 99.5% of people love the soup but we want everyone to be happy so we'll give you a full refund on your meal."

"I don't want a refund. I want a better soup."

"We're trying the best we can and the soup is as good as it's going to get."

"then I'll just sit in your restaurant and whine until I get the soup I want without salt."

*Copied technome's comments from another site but thought worth repeating..

By ihsan on 17 Jul 2010

@ ihsan

Sorry, but I think it's more like:


"Waiter, this soup is delicious but has made me throw up. What on earth is going on?"

"There is nothing wrong with the soup, sir. It must be the way you are eating it"

"I paid good money for this soup - it should not make me throw up."

"Sir, I there is a flaw in the recipe of this soup which very rarely affects its consumption by a tiny proportion of our customers, but only if they eat it in the wrong way. You could buy these anti-vomiting tablets from us, which will prevent you form throwing up."

"I don't want to buy anti-vomiting tablets. I want a soup that doesn't make me throw up."

"Well, sir, are you aware that several other soups from other restaurants also make you throw up? But they aren't quite as delicious soups as ours, sir, so I really don't see why you're complaining."

Seems to be more my take on it.

By bioreit on 17 Jul 2010

Question...

Who buys a 500 quid phone and *doesn't* put it in a case?? I wish I had their job, lifestyle, empty pockets etc.. etc..

By petermillard1 on 17 Jul 2010

Get a Grip!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

But seriously, what a lot of nonsense. I am not an Apple fanboy but what is wrong with him defending his product on the basis that this is an industry problem? Apple have been singled out in the playground.

I own an HTC hero for the last year and great phone and OS but I have lost count of the number of times a call did not ring, outgoing calls take three attempts, I hang up with my cheek during a call etc.etc.

We put up with these foibles because these are sophisticated devices that provide numerous other benefits. This has become a media circus and a bandwagon for moaners and apple haters to hook themselves onto.

If you don't have an iPhone, exercise your free choice and don't buy Apple if you think they are unique in this issue. If you have one and it is distracting - take his refund and get a different phone with other foibles. Finally if you have one and don't see the problem (99.5%?) then move on and enjoy your life.

Steve, you have won me over with your common sense honesty. My replacement will be an iPhone4 (without a cover - why spoil the looks?).

By jefferson30 on 17 Jul 2010

Apples or Pears

Apple make beautiful products and have created great products.
My £20 PAYG Nokia doesn't ever lose signal regardless of how I hold it.
What's my point? Everyone screws up - it's how you handle it that counts. Isn't that right BP?

By drummerbod on 17 Jul 2010

It is not going to go away ...

until Apple gives us the technical detail - most of us will not understand it, but it will get independent technical experts on their side.

As I deduce it, Apple's line is that all phones vary in performance according to how they are held. Apple exacerbated this by screwing up the algorithm for the signal strength meter so it exaggerated a small reduction in signal strength making it look larger.

This is all very well, but their problem is that they have introduced a novel antenna design which looks to moderately technically literate people like it would give this very problem - so people are looking for it and unsurprisingly many find what they are looking for.

Apple needs to explain why putting the antenna in electrical contact with the user's hand is not a problem. It needs to explain what the insulated gaps in the band are for and why bridging them with a sweaty finger is not a problem (are the two sections antenna for different radios, or is one section just decorative?). We can see that RF coupling and shielding will occur with all modern handsets (since they stopped fitting a proper external antenna), but why is DC electrical coupling not a problem? Does the "buffer" help by increasing the distance and so reducing RF coupling or by eliminating the DC electrical contact? If the latter, Apple have screwed up big time and a thin lacquer coating over the metal strip would work as well as the buffer without disrupting the aesthetics.

This reminds me of the London Millenium footbridge. Anyone who knew about bridges would look at it, shake their heads, and say "that's gonna wobble". So when it did wobble, this confirmed people's expectations and the story just would not go away until all the detail about mass dampers and fundamental frequencies was out in the open.

By JohnAHind on 17 Jul 2010

Me

"Who buys a 500 quid phone and *doesn't* put it in a case??"

Erm me. My thinking has always been why buy a stlish phone and make it look crap by sticking it in a case.

By JStairmand on 17 Jul 2010

Full Circle

@JStairmand

...which is why my rubber glove solution is clearly the one for you!

By BornOnTheCusp on 17 Jul 2010

how much is this soup? I'm starving

By TimoGunt on 17 Jul 2010

So what have we learned?

That the whole situation has been blown out of all proportion? That the iPhone 4 is no less affected by the way you hold it than other smart phones? That having a bumper case mitigates the situation? Or that Apple needs lessons in good PR, regardless of how much they say they love their customers?

By lokash20 on 17 Jul 2010

Antennagate

In a market where all smartphones are fibbing about signal strength to appear to have a more sensitive phone than a competitor, it is unfortunate that Apple have been the company that has triggered the debate on this issue, given that Apple so often appears as 'high and 'mighty. Any discussion about signal strength of smartphones is doomed until there is some accepted standard of logarithmic readout for the S meter - as is standardised in amateur and commercial radio transceivers. Apple played this trick to the full with the software 4.0 and was caught out. The drop in signal strength on the Iphone 4 with its original very skewed signal strength indication is a drop that happens on all smartphones - it was just falsely emphasised on OS4.0.
But now that is fixed so that the s-meter reads better (not yet fully accurate).

Let the conspiracists claim all they like. This is a technical magazine and a good technical explanation should suffice.

Lets see Nokia, Blackberry, HTC et al lead from the front with correct reading s-meters!

And let us have a sensible debate on the advantages and disadvantages of a metal case vs plastic case for strength and durability vs internal and external case antennas - not some tabloid shock horror of Apple deceiving and cynically manipulating us poor users by making us pick up the phone.

By Michal on 18 Jul 2010

five stars for a broken phone!!!

Sorry PCPro but I think you are loosing the plot!! How can you give a phone 5 stars when it has be proved that it has connection issues. The primary function of a phone!!!! On PCPro get real and get sensible!

By dorana1 on 18 Jul 2010

‎"So, in sum: there is no problem, all phones have this no problem, a case fixes this no problem, free case to fix your no problem. Got it!"

By jagdipa on 18 Jul 2010

hmmm..

The problem with all this for me has been Apple attempting to show that the iPhone 4 is no worse than any other phone when held. Actually though, these results are slightly falsified as the HTC puts their antenna in the top and they have since shown you need to hold the phone upside down and back to front to cause a similar affect.

@jefferson30: As a fellow HTC owner I used to sympathise with your plight but have found that changing your settings to GSM only (removing 3g) greatly inproves signal quality.

By mrbadger on 18 Jul 2010

hmmm..

The problem with all this for me has been Apple attempting to show that the iPhone 4 is no worse than any other phone when held. Actually though, these results are slightly falsified as the HTC puts their antenna in the top and they have since shown you need to hold the phone upside down and back to front to cause a similar affect.

@jefferson30: As a fellow HTC owner I used to sympathise with your plight but have found that changing your settings to GSM only (removing 3g) greatly inproves signal quality.

By mrbadger on 18 Jul 2010

All Phones have this problem ?

I'm confused.
From what I gathered it was a design flaw. So if all phones have this problem then it makes sense to say that they have the same design flaw. I know that these firms patient everything they do so either a company is gonna get a big payout for infringement of a design flaw or Apple is talking out of their bum again... even then that's corporate slander and equals payouts to the competitors.

As for Smartphones... I'll stick with the E71 untill after Christmas... hopefully the carbon nano-tube batteries will be in place by then and I'll get me a HTC... you'll need the new battery design for the specs they are talking about.

By JmLing on 18 Jul 2010

Get a refund. Use a case. Don't hold it that way or how bout even don't buy it?

@bioreit

I think your version was apt but I'd want to expand on that last bit:

"Well, sir, are you aware that several other soups from other restaurants also make you throw up? We're damned proud of our soup and think it's the best soup out there.. We've suggested you eat the soup by not sticking the spoon down your throat so deep to cause you to throw up, we'll give you free anti-vometing tablets and we'll offer you a full refund.. And if that doesn't work for you then you're welcome to go to the many other restaurants.”

“Fine. Then I'm going to spend all my time outside your restaurant shouting that your soup is flawed!”

@bioreit

I think your version was apt but I'd want to expand on that last bit:

"Well, sir, are you aware that several other soups from other restaurants also make you throw up? We're damned proud of our soup and think it's the best soup out there.. We've suggested you eat the soup by not sticking the spoon down your throat so deep to cause you to throw up, we'll give you free anti-vometing tablets and we'll offer you a full refund.. And if that doesn't work for you then you're welcome to go to the many other restaurants out there.”

“Fine. Then I'm going to spend all my time outside your restaurant shouting that your soup is flawed!”

“No need to sir, we've put a sign up outside our restaurant informing people about the flaw so that we don't get people like you in here anymore. We'll see how that effects our restaurant and re-evaluate the situation in September.. In the meantime, we've got our new deserts to be thinking about..”

By ihsan on 18 Jul 2010

and so far...

...nobody has asked what the results are for other brands of phone subjected to the same tests.

By Steve_Cassidy on 18 Jul 2010

@jamieostrich

I hope you're not a statistician. The % is of all owners, not just out of the ones who had complained about something.

By halsteadk on 18 Jul 2010

I don't think this soup analogy thing is working. Sticking spoons down your throat is so far from holding a phone in your hand so you can make a phone call it's unreal!

By TimoGunt on 19 Jul 2010