Somewhere... the throbbing vein on Job's forehead is making him look like an anime character:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Anirage-alternate.svg

They're just holding it wrong.

Apple staff posting comments like crazy on the article

Apple's claim that a software glitch made it show the wrong number of bars doesn't fix the problem at all; it's just a placebo to silence some the the criticism. There is no industry standard for what bars mean on a cell phone anyway. This really just reveals their (Apple or AT&T) previous policy of "Just show them a bunch of bars. It doesn't mean anything, but it'll make them happy." That only came out now because they got called on it. It wasn't a glitch.

The main problem is still a hardware issue. No downloadable update will be able to physically alter the antenna. The best solution would be for all the iPhone 4's to come with the case (which mostly resolves the issue), but there's no way Apple is going to give them away - they'd rather sell them to you for $30. It's a piece of stamped rubber in a box, which means nothing but profit for Apple, but public scrutiny will have to increase even more before Apple gives them away.

Then, internal instructions to AppleCare staff were leaked saying to not give away the bumpers or offer warranty service to fix the problem.

There's already at least three class action suits being filed against Apple, but mostly this looks like some angry customers and law firms trying to get their fingers into Apple's deep pockets. The suit claims (as I understand it) that Apple is being negligent with customer support on the issue and that Apple "knowingly selling a defective product" and "misrepresenting" reception problems.

In response to the suit, Apple is waiving their "restocking fee" of $20 or $30, depending on which model you have, and giving full refunds to any customer returning an undamaged iPhone 30 days from purchase.


My thoughts on all this? Apple made a cool toy, but it has a problem. Apple knew their toy was cool so they could push their weight around and be dicks about it. Don't tell your customers they're holding it wrong. Don't try and say it was a software glitch; man up and admit you made a mistake. It would be easily fixable if you just started giving away those bumpers, but you don't want to because it's a cash cow. Frankly, it's border-line unethical to try and make money fixing a problem you made or knew would be there.

To bash the other side, the firms filing these law suits are nothing more than corporate ambulance chasers. These aren't the kinds of firms that are interested in protecting consumer rights; they make a living out of suing rich people. Thousands of defective products are released every year, many of them knowingly, many of them screwing their customers. Apple just gets sued because they're worth over $200 billion and the lawyers get a double-digit percentage of whatever the payout is.

>>>>>>>>>This just in<<<<<<<<<
From Slashdot: "Apple has done it again. All threads about Consumer Report's iPhone4 non-recommendation are removed or deleted. If it happened once, maybe you'd say it was a glitch. But what if it happened ? Three times? Four times, five, six?"

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/12/apple-drops-consumer-reports-discussion-threads-down-memory-hole/

>> ^JiggaJonson:

>>>>>>>>>This just in<<<<<<<<<
From Slashdot: "Apple has done it again. All threads about Consumer Report's iPhone4 non-recommendation are removed or deleted. If it happened once, maybe you'd say it was a glitch. But what if it happened ? Three times? Four times, five, six?"
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/12/apple-drops-con
sumer-reports-discussion-threads-down-memory-hole/



I don't suppose you actually went to the forums did you? The deleted threads were largely those threads that badmouthed consumer reports itself, not Apple. There are still plenty of threads on the forums discussing the consumer reports non-recommendation. Further, here is an example of a 25 page thread titled "serious antenna problem." I think everyone is blowing the Orwellian implications of this way out of proportion. Apple didn't want to be found guilty of libeling CR on its own site. It's a forum meant for discussing solutions to problems, not ranting about poor reporting by third-party publications.

The stupidest part about this whole debacle is that it is well documented applying a small piece of scotch tape over the gap completely fixes the problem. You don't even need to pony up for the bumper.

Where is *lies. It doesn't matter if it's an easy fix. Apple should send the bumpers to all customers free of charge. It's bad news to get debunked by these guys. All it will do is bring up a class action lawsuit if Apple doesn't do it.

If someone knows, tell me the deal with the bumper. Maybe they already offer them for free, but I haven't seen it around in tech news.

/I want an Android 2.0 though, that thing has some badass features, especially while outdoor traveling (there is a vid on here demoing it. If i find it I'll link back on "vid".

Invocations (lies) cannot be called by kceaton1 because kceaton1 is not privileged - sorry.

>> ^bmacs27:

The stupidest part about this whole debacle is that it is well documented applying a small piece of scotch tape over the gap completely fixes the problem. You don't even need to pony up for the bumper.


Why is that stupid? I don't want a phone where I have to have tape around it just to make it work like advertised.

Doesn't matter how simple it is to fix, the point is, they've gone for form over function in this case, and they've paid for it.

>> ^JiggaJonson:

>>>>>>>>>This just in<<<<<<<<<
From Slashdot: "Apple has done it again. All threads about Consumer Report's iPhone4 non-recommendation are removed or deleted. If it happened once, maybe you'd say it was a glitch. But what if it happened ? Three times? Four times, five, six?"
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/12/apple-drops-con
sumer-reports-discussion-threads-down-memory-hole/

Wow this is ridiculous. Why can't they just admit they have a flaw? I mean look at it this way, the less people buy this phone, the less money they'll lose when they're court-ordered to recall all iPhone 4's.

>> ^bmacs27:

The stupidest part about this whole debacle is that it is well documented applying a small piece of scotch tape over the gap completely fixes the problem. You don't even need to pony up for the bumper.


Yes, youre right...that is pretty fucking stupid that you have to put tape on your brand new phone to make it work correctly.

@Esoog, @spoco2

The phone does work as advertised. Here is an actual sophisticated review of the antenna, from actual tech savvy reviewers. http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

Result, the new phone, while yes the antenna power attenuates, has a better signal to noise ratio than the previous iterations. Further, all phones, not least of which the nexus one, have similar antenna power attenuations. What you all apparently want is a phone that turns you into something other than a big bag of salt water. Sorry, it ain't gonna happen.

Do any of you actually know someone complaining about real actual problems with their phones, or do you just read the Internet a lot?

▄██████████████▄▐█▄▄▄
604;█▌
██████▌▄▌▄▐▐▌███▌▀▀██
600;▀
████▄█▌▄▌▄▐▐▌▀███▄▄█▌
▄▄▄▄▄██████████████▀

Adding video to channels (Fail) - requested by Seric.

@bmacs27, Dude, I read the Anandtech article a few days ago. According the Anandtech guys, held naturally, the Nexus One attenuates 10db compared to 20db for the iPhone 4. That's a fairly big difference.
Also, I'd imagine most of the people on this site read the internet a lot. More of a reader and less of a commenter myself...

@nafhan

It's really not, at least in comparison to the noise level. In fact, that was largely the point of the article. I ask again, does anyone actually know someone with a complaint? Or did you all just read about it in blogs?