iPhone 4 + antenna = a new blog post?!?!?!!

I am sure you are aware that apple released a new iPhone, and that people have been complaining about antenna issues. But I am forced to assume that unless you frequent tech sites daily, that you don't know the whole story. So I am going to account what has happened. I am not going to give any oppinions until the end, but instead lay the story out as a narrative. I think it makes for a nice story so here we go:

I will be basing this narrative off 9 articles published on Engadget and Boy Genius Report, and I will post all the links at the bottom of the post.

The new iPhone if you haven't seen it looks like this:


There is a metal rim wrapping around the entire phone. You may notice some seems in the rim, these are intentional as the rim is also a series of antennae. Each segment is for different components, one segment is for WiFi, another for Bluetooth, and another for 3G reception, etc. If think an external antenna seems like a bad idea, you're not alone. Two weeks before the iPhone 4 was released a Danish professor who said this: "The human tissue will in any event have an inhibitory effect on the antenna. Touch means that a larger portion of antenna energy becomes heat and lost."


Even if an antenna is internal, covering the area housing the antenna with your hand can hamper the signal, but making the antenna external makes this worse, because your hand can bridge the gap between the seems in the rim and effectively kill all signal because your hand is connecting two different antennae together. Very quickly people realized that you would kill 3G reception by touching the bottom left corner of the phone, which is very common for right-handed people who hold the phone in their left hand so that they can use their right index finger for touch operations. Someone who bought an iphone 4 got angry and email Steve Jobs about the problem, expressing his dissappointment. Steve Jobs (or whatever PR rep handles his inbox) responded saying: "Just avoid holding it in that way."


But apparently apple knew this answer didn't cut it, so they put out a listing to hire antenna engineers the very day this problem was reported. But yet they have told they're reps to try and calm expectations, instead of admitting the problem, and they won't even give customers free bumper (cases). Bumpers can fix the problem because they prevent your hand from touching the rim of the phone. 


Courtesy of Engadget here is some comic relief (gray background added to show what content is the article):

Hey Apple, you're holding it wrong

By Thomas Ricker  posted Jun 25th 2010 1:56AM

We're only holding it in the way that you showed us.

But the problem didn't go away, so apple has had a change of heart, sort of, and waved the 10% restocking fee on returned iPhones. But the antenna problems don't stop there, as many iPhone 4 owners are also reporting that they're phones are getting slower connection speeds than previous generation iPhones, and sometimes even defaulting to EDGE (AT&T's slower 2G network) while previous gen iPhones at the same location are still getting 3G. You ask how slow is this connection, well it has been reported as slow as 5Kbps, to put that into perspective, internet connection is typically quoted in Mbps (1Mbps = 1000Kbps).

But back to Steve Jobs inbox, here is a conversation obtained by Boy Genius Report which they affirm as being completely real:

First email:

[Apple engineer name redacted],

When we spoke, you would not tell me that there is a fix for this phone?

A friend just sent me this: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/06/29/leaked-apples-internal-iphone-4-antenna-troubleshooting-procedures/

I assume there is no fix then. If this is legit, I have lost all respect for apple and just want to go back to Verizon and get a nice Android phone. And don’t tell me they have the same issues, all our co-workers with Androids are just mocking us right now…. “Hey, I am going to go in the basement and continue my call. You can use my office on the 2nd floor so you can get a signal”. You are going to kill your brand over one product. Apple is coming off arrogant and rude. If there is no fix just tell people so they can return their phones. We have work to do. I have bought just about every apple product made in the last 20 years  and this is the 1st time I am ashamed to be a MAC fan.

This is just  sickening,

[Tom]

Here is Steve Jobs’ reply:

No, you are getting all worked up over a few days of rumors.  Calm down.

Our reader’s response:

I am really insulted… “Calm down”…. “rumors”… What arrogance. This is will be marked as the begging of the end of Apple. Seriously, DO THE RIGHT THING. I just had dinner with 3 people who had iPhone 4s we all cant make calls without dropping. There is no rumors it is reality.

Steve Jobs counters:

You are most likely in an area with very low signal strength.

Our reader again:

Stop with [expletive deleted] comments. I have has every iphone made. They all had a bad signal but this is the so much worse X3. The whole country is is in a “low signal strength” in reality… all but apple campus and your house it seems? AT&T maps are a joke. I am in “excellent” to “good” coverage and on my iPhone 1, Iphone 3G, and my iPhone 3Gs, I could  at least make a telephone call. After all, it is a phone. Iphone 4…. 5 bars….. touch the phone… ZERO bars call drops.

Steve. IT DOES NOT WORK! Geezzz I hope this this is not really you. Are we on a different MHz? I have yet to see an iPhone [4] work in Richmond when you hold it in your hand. It is not “isolated”. I was a big fan. But I am done.

Steve responds once again:

You may be working from bad data. Not your fault. Stay tuned. We are working on it.

Sent from my iPhone

And lastly, Tom emails in again:

Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it.

Apple PR quickly denounced the emails as fake, but Boy Genius Report still holds to there authenticity, and I am very inclined to believe them. But instead of speaking for them, just go read this. Not later, but now, consider this part of the post, but just too long to quote.

And now we are left with a PR standoff and a bunch of angry AT&T customers. But now the question I'm sure you all have: How could apple let this happen? And here is my highly educated opinion: I Don't Know!

When (hopefully) the situation is resolved I will do a follow up post. But for now, I hope this was informative, and again, I think this is a good story, and I am very eager to find out some answers.
Here are all the articles used for this post:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/03/the-entire-steve-jobs-email-story-its-real/
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/01/exclusive-conversation-with-steve-jobs-on-the-iphone-4-antenna-problems/
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/02/apple-iphone-4-plagued-by-3g-data-connectivity-issues/
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/02/apple-nixes-10-restocking-fee-on-iphone-4-returns/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/25/hey-apple-youre-holding-it-wrong/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/29/apple-telling-reps-to-smooth-over-iphone-4-reception-complaints/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/apple-responds-over-iphone-4-reception-issues-youre-holding-th/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/apple-hiring-iphone-antenna-engineers-for-some-reason/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/26/iphone-4-antenna-problems-were-predicted-on-june-10-by-danish-pr/
http://images.apple.com/iphone/gallery/images/gallery01-20100607.jpg