At yesterday’s press conference, Apple showed videos of other manufacturer’s cellphones experiencing similar problems to the iPhone 4: losing reception when held wrong. Two of the phones demonstrated were from Nokia and Blackberry, who were not impressed at Apple dragging them in to this mess, and have released official statements on the matter.
Nokia [emphasis added]:
“Antenna design is a complex subject and has been a core competence at Nokia for decades, across hundreds of phone models. Nokia was the pioneer in internal antennas; the Nokia 8810, launched in 1998, was the first commercial phone with this feature.Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design.”
Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”- Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
As you can see, neither company is very happy about being cited as examples. At least Nokia acknowledges that grip can effect antennae.
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Nokia can say what they want since they don’t have a smartphone that is competing with iPhone/Android/RIM.
As for RIM, I used my friend’s BlackBerry Bold on T-Mobile and showed her yestreday how I can at will make the bars go down and back up.
The fact that antenna attenuation happens in many smartphones is not new. The iPhone 4 is getting the attention because that’s the only phone anyone really cares about right now.
Sure, the deathgrip can affect any cell phone out there under the right circumstances, but none of them would be affected by casually holding the phone the way the iphone4 is.
Yesterdays demonstration video is wildly skewed to look like all manufacturers suffer the exact same problem, but the truth is, they don’t.
I have tested my nokia 6620 in the same spots I have 2-3 bars on my iPhone 4, with the same sim, and I have no signal problems at all with my nokia. In fact I average 2-3 bars higher on it- and it’s an AT&T branded phone.
Apples press conference was nothing more than attempt to tell their consumers that they are delusional concerning the reception issues. And yet they offered a free case to users. That’s as close to admission as they are likely to get.
I’m happy with Steve’s offer of free bumpers. I love my iPhone 4. The antenna issue is unacceptable – it shouldn’t drop signal that bad when you hold it in a way you’re going to talk on it. And it should not have the interference issue when you touch that one spot.
But the bumper solves it – and for that offer, I’m satisfied.
Now – as to RIM and Nokia’s statements…
I agree with them. It really was kind of bad form to point out competition’s phones – especially the way it was done and the way it seemed. “Hey – don’t pick on us – everyone’s doing it!” And to cite specific examples…. not good. In an ad – maybe. But in an official press conference – I don’t think it’s a good thing. Childish.
Fact is that other phones have this issue too and these other companies are just getting pissed that their own issues are coming to light.
Exactly!! I think that the iPhone’s success over the past 3 years has caused people to expect too much when a new iteration is born. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent and I am very skeptical of big companies when they try to pull the wool over our eyes. I think siting examples of other company’s phones was not done to disparage their brand but to merely show that the same thing happens on virtually all smartphones.
Once cell phone manufacturers started concealing their antennae for aesthetic purposes, issues with reception were bound to surface. I used to laugh at some phones in the late 90′s that still had a whip style pull out antennae but in low reception areas pulling out that whip definitely helped. Too bad they can’t invent some type of retractable antennae that can be used in fringe areas
I do feel sorry for users that are experiencing the problem. I now have a white bumper case (since July 12th) and the only thing it does to my phone is make it a tad wider and offer a small degree of protection. My favorite thing about the bumper is the way it allows you to put the phone face down on a table and not be concerned with the face touching the table. It also looks very nice with the black contrasting the white. Some may not like it but as long as I’m happy that’s what matters most.
I think this is fair that they pointed it out. Apples iPhone gets the most attention to problems then any other phone in the world and when a different smartphone gets a little bad thing pointed out they shouldn’t flip out because Apple gets WAY more bad publicity about small things than any other smart phone.
I agree that Apple should not have shown how a Blackberry and Nokia lose signal in the press conference. Instead they should have some independent media like Consumer Reports to do it – if they agree to. All Steve Jobs needed was hard data – the drop call counts reported by AT&T. That alone is proof that the antenna issue was blown out of proportion. And he was absolutely right in saying that if you don’t like the phone, return it for a full refund. Period.
subzero… you mustve not done your research before opening your mouth. consumer reports has already done their testing. they’ve tested the 3 latest iPhones on the same network at the same location somewhere in new York. and the iPhone 4 was the only one that saw dramatic drops in signal strength. not to mention that the anntenae specialist that was working on the iPhone 4 told Jobs that there might be issues with reception even before they released the phone. I think apple only giving away free bumpers or cases is a cheap fix but as a iPhone user, we shouldn’t have to use a bumper for our phones to work properly. we should all feel cheated!!!
Could someone please bring up the iPad signal bar issue. If you hold your iPhone4 next to your iPad you will notice the iPad always shows full signal bars just like the iPhone4 did before the new software update. It would be nice to see what our true reception is on our iPad just like we now can on our iPhone4 after the new signal bar update. It’s pretty embarrassing when you have a presentation and your iPad won’t pull up a website when showing it has reception by displaying signal bars that are just as fake as the iphone4 was until the new software update. Again just hold your iPhone4 next to your iPad and compare signal bar strength and you be the judge. The iPad and iphone4 are both wireless 3G devices which means they should both be displaying the same signal bar coverage.