iPhone 4 Drops Calls in Left Hand

[MyNameDidntFit]

"Wait, what?" You say.

Exactly. As you may be aware, the iPhone 4 has its antennae in the metal side of the phone -- the left half is the Wifi/Bluetooth and the right is the 3G. So... shouldn't be a problem. However, it has come to the attention of, well, everyone but Apple's testers, that when you bridge the gap between the two in the lower left corner of the phone with, say, your palm... it seems to screw with the antennae and their reception. Resulting in your reception dropping out if you hold it in your left hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03PQyWp0mWE&feature=player_embedded

Awesome, right?




(I feel I should note this is the case with some iPhone 4s and not all of them)

[Lance]

Bloody Apple - biast against us Leftys, that's what it is.

First Flash, now us.

We need to take them out...

[Archangel]

Hurr. It's screw-ups like these that just make me lol at the world.

I still want one, though. Just a newer revision of one, with less badness.

[MyNameDidntFit]

This is the bonus about being in a country that's a couple months behind the rest of the world -- the rest of the world gets all the initial cock-ups.

[Jason]

This is why I never ever buy any high-tech gadget at or around launch... Still, good for knocking those 'Apple is God' types down a peg or three. :D

[MyNameDidntFit]

Honestly, though, how the hell does something this big get past the design phase?

[Archangel]

Well, when you're making the design, you tend not to incorporate someone's hand into it.

But yeah, you'd think someone would have noticed during testing...

[MyNameDidntFit]

Er, when you design stuff that's being held you don't design it to be held?

[Archangel]

When you design a phone, you design a phone. When you design an mp3 player, you design an mp3 player.

Actually, you design each individual component required for the whole, and then once each is designed to perfection, attempt to link them together to form the aforementioned whole. Either way, you design the actual piece of equipment, because that's all you're supposed to be designing.

[MyNameDidntFit]

So, designing a gun, you would not take into account the way it is held?

:/ your logic, sir, it is flawed.

[CemeteryGates]

So, designing a gun, you would not take into account the way it is held?

:/ your logic, sir, it is flawed.


Apparently not, I've shot plenty guns, and though most are average, some were pretty uncomfortable to hold. Pistols, shotguns, assault rifles...

The ones that are designed specifically for great ergonomics (like the gorgeous Luger) are the exception, not the rule.

[Archangel]

And guns have grips and stocks that factor into their design. Most grips double as where you stick yer ammo, too, so they kinda have to be designed.

An iPhone, as you may have noticed, just has a generic plastic black case.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Ceramic and metal, actually, IIRC. Point of the matter is: their design failed on epic proportions and I'm really not sure how, or why, you could justify it.

On the gun point, though, if you hold them in the correct manner they still function properly, even if being slightly uncomfortable. And, Arch, there are many guns that do not have their magazines inserted into the hand grip. Why, then, are they not faced backwards such that you cannot operate the weapon when holding it properly? Oh, right, decent design.

[CemeteryGates]

^Yeah, that's a good point. What a shitty design they came up with this time...

I heard on the radio the other day that Apple issued a public statement in which they said that the problem wasn't with the reception part, but rather, that they had screwed up the algorythm that calculated the bars of reception that you have.
The guy on the radio obviously pointed out how stupid of an excuse that is. So people were in low reception areas while, coincidentally, holding the iPhone with their left hand?

Haven't heard of this statement anywhere else, though, but it's not like I'm following these news...

[Archangel]

Its products are launched with more hype than a new Madonna album and generate small armies of fanboys queuing around the block. As far as they are concerned, Apple can do no wrong. Until now.


The company's messianic following has reacted with fury to problems with the latest iPhone. Now a leaked memo to the company's helpline staff over problems with the iPhone reveal the company's remarkably jaundiced view of its customers.
The phone, launched in the UK 10 days ago, has a fault. Customers who have forked out up to £599 for the gadget find that it doesn't work properly unless they hold it precisely so as not to touch the aerial, which is designed into the casing.
Angry customers have been told that buying a rubber bumper at a cost of around £25 will cure the problem. This weekend it emerged that Apple staff have been instructed not to provide these bumpers even though the problem stems from a design fault. In a leaked memo, helpline staff for AppleCare have been told: "We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON'T promise a free bumper to customers."



The memo suggests that customers should avoid covering the lower left hand corner of the phone when they hold it, and reminds staff to tell customers that the phone's wireless performance is "the best we have ever shipped". The news is a further blow to Apple's reputation, which has already been marred by a spate of suicides at the factory in China that produces its products.



The company is already facing lawsuits from at least three customers, relating to antenna problems with its latest model, but Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, insists that owners need to "just hold it right".



On Friday he released an open letter promising a software fix for ongoing problems with the way iPhones display the strength of their mobile phone signal and admitting: "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 ... 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."


Luke Peters, editor of the technology magazine T3, said: "We've tested it and the fact is there is a signal problem with the phone. The real question is, how did the phone leave their labs? This is a multibillion-dollar company that spends millions on development and they seem to have let something out the door that's not working.
"You can get a bumper to solve the problem, but that's another £25 on top of quite a lot of money you've spent already."


The news has prompted a further backlash against the company, which has come under fire for the quasi-religious fervour of its workers and followers. Nearly 6,000 people have signed up to the Facebook group "I hate Apple", which includes postings of Apple's cultish slogans next to photos of Hitler. One spoof video using shots from the film Downfall with subtitles suggesting Hitler is discussing the new iPhone fault has had more than 300,000 views on YouTube.


Apple expert Christopher Phin, deputy editor of MacFormat magazine, said: "This whole thing has been a PR disaster for Apple; it's shocking. That memo will fuel existing resentment about the company – there's a definite backlash against them."
Jonathan Geller, who runs the New York-based technology website Boy Genius Report, which leaked the internal memo from Apple, said many people were disappointed with the company. He added: "It's tricky because people do have an amazing obsession with Apple and it's become a cultural thing. So when you have a brand-new piece of equipment like that and it doesn't perform as it should, then you obviously react to that."


Apple was unavailable for comment.

Sauce (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/revealed-what-apple-really-thinks-about-its-customers-2017937.html)

So yeah, Apple is basically saying a real big "Fuck you" to all its customers. Makes me lol.

[MyNameDidntFit]

The company is already facing lawsuits from at least three customers, relating to antenna problems with its latest model, but Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, insists that owners need to "just hold it right".

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/06/hey-apple-youre-holding-it-wrong.jpg

[Archangel]

Heh.

That's good.

[Konrad]

So... It's OK for me to hate Apple now, I won't get yelled at for it? Cause I just bought an iPod and I don't even know anymore.

[MyNameDidntFit]

You can hate them. I'll only yell at you if you're doing it with no reason in mind other than "LOLOL BANDWAGON!!" :)