iPhone 4 liveblogs … gdgt: http://is.gd/duvSU. NYT: http://is.gd/duvRE. Macworld: http://bit.ly/ay9OAx. Engadget: http://bit.ly/afhz5I.
iPhone 4 liveblogs … gdgt: http://is.gd/duvSU. NYT: http://is.gd/duvRE. Macworld: http://bit.ly/ay9OAx. Engadget: http://bit.ly/afhz5I.
Anyone who doesn’t think Apple has a sense of humor, they played this video from YouTube to kick off the event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIcaejkpD4
Heh, Antennagate, surprised I haven’t heard that use before, especially by Brendan 🙂
“So we could have gone on and on. Most smartphones take a hit exactly the same way. These were all tested in areas of relatively weak signal strength. This is life in the smartphone world. Phones aren’t perfect. It’s a challenge for the whole industry. Every phone has weak spots.Now we’re not perfect. We made it very visible with a little help from our friends on websites. We put this little line here… ‘here’s where you touch it everybody!'”
“In the early days of the iPhone 3GS return rates were 6%… below the average, we were happy with that… so for the iPhone 4? You think half the people must be returning their phones with what you read online… well it’s 1.7% — less than a third of the 3GS returns.”
Free case! Or refund! Totally called that…
So in conclusion (and as I predicted):
iPhone 4 isn’t fundementally flawed, the data backs this up such as:
– Same behavior of dropped signal quality when held occurs across smartphones/cellphones
– Dropped call rate is less than a percent higher than the 3Gs (the difference may be related to the prevelance of 3Gs compatible cases at launch, vs the lack for the iPhone 4)
– Customer satisfaction with the phone is higher than any other phone ever
– Return rates are lower by 1/3 compared to the 3Gs
– Customer service calls account for 1/2 a percent of all iPhone 4 users.
There WAS a software bug that exacerbated the issue, which has been addressed.
Free cases!
Q: Was a recall ever up for discussion?
Steve: We get email from people all over the world about issues. We’re really serious about this. We try to figure this out. We come out to their places with test equipment, we want to see logs. We try to get the info and figure it out…
Bob: For the record, we told them we were coming first.
Steve: And we didn’t break down any doors.
I have to say, the stats really bear out that the issue doesn’t exist.
Although, I’m a little curious about the “there were cases available for the 3GS” argument to explain the less than 1% increase in dropped calls. Do we have evidence that a case actually improves the 3GS’s signal?
I’d simply point out that less than 1% effectively means there’s no difference. I’m not a statistician, but it doesn’t seem statistically significant to me.
If I understand Jobs correctly, it’s not a 1% increase. It’s “less than one additional dropped call per 100 calls.” So, let’s say there were previously 4 dropped calls per 100, and now there are 5 (or 4.9). That’s actually a 25% (or almost 25%) increase.
That said, between the links David posted yesterday and the analysis Jobs gave, it does appear the problem was at least somewhat overblown, and I retract my more extreme comments yesterday about this. I’m not 100% convinced of Apple’s explanation, but at the same time, things are clearly more complicated than I thought based on what I’d read up until yesterday.
P.S. I will say this. I would love to see a detailed scientific comparison of the “death grip” issue on other smartphones by a neutral third party. It should go without saying that I don’t fully trust Apple’s own self-reporting of this issue — and the one question in the Q&A, noting that Apple’s tests shows those phones losing reception with a hand wrapped all the way around them, whereas the iPhone 4 can lose reception just from a light touch on the antenna in some circumstances, wasn’t really answered straightforwardly by Jobs. And it continues to defy common sense that the iPhone 4, with an explicitly external/exposed antenna design, wouldn’t be worse in this regard than phones with antennas that aren’t exposed. The very fact that the bumper solves the problem contradicts that idea, seemingly. So again, I’d love to see some additional testing of that, by a neutral third party, because it seems to be the critically important issue, and right now we are seemingly relying on: a) Apple’s own testing, b) random blogs & anecdotal reports, c) other tests of questionable validity and limited scope. That’s not good enough — Consumer Reports, or somebody, let’s get to the bottom of this.
“No, please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let’s not bicker
and argue about who killed who … ” Can’t y’all just pick up your free swag and leave Jobs the hell enough alone? Jeez it’s amazing how cruel you fanbois can be towards the object of your affection! 😛
Oh, good point, you are right, I misread it (on the 1% thing).
I’d still be curious to know if the cases really improved signal on the 3GS.
As far as “death grip” issues on other phones, I’m pretty sure David has linked to the video of the Nexus One dropping signal completely with your hands lightly cupped around it.
As far as your point about the antenna’s external design vs. other phones, have you read the anandtech write up on this? I think it answers those questions, adn I think I’ve mentioned it before: the iPhone 4 *does* have worse attenuation issues than other phones, but the radio is better.
As far as somebody else getting to the bottom of this, CR did, but they don’t seem to know their ass from a hole in the ground. The anandtech article, while admittedly only using one phone from each generation, does seem to thoroughly explain everything.
“The very fact that the bumper solves the problem contradicts that idea, seemingly.”
A case also alleviates attenuation on other mobile phones as well because it increases the distance between your hand and the antenna, so the fact that adding a case makes this less of an issue isn’t indicative of a design flaw, but a design choice. Rather than wrapping the phones in bulky cases, companies opted for thinner designs, that mean your hand is more likely to interfere, with the companies (including Apple) believing that people prefer thinner phones and will add cases if they choose to.
There really is nothing to get to the bottom of, the physics are completely straightforward and Apples explanation and the data it provides back that up. As for this behavior on other cellphones, I linked to a number of examples NOT from Apple in previous posts.
Maybe I missed one, but I don’t remember seeing any cited examples that looked like comprehensive, scientific, rigorous tests of multiple phones across the board, to figure out exactly how much signal was being lost, under what conditions, with what kinds of grip, etc. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s one thing to say “OMG THIS HAPPENS ON OTHER PHONES TOO!” and “HEY LOOK AT THE PRETTY BARS!” and it’s another thing entirely to figure out the actual comparative impact it has on reception.
Having said, one thing I neglected to do in comment #10, and I’ll do now, is specifically apologize to you, David, for characterizing your reaction as being that of a blind fanboy. I still think the situation is slightly more serious than you’re allowing for, but it’s evident that I was getting a bit swept up in the furor, and things certainly aren’t as clear-cut as I thought, and you’ve got evidence to back you up.
Interestingly, back to the 1% thing, I am seeing it reported as such all over the place, but I think you have a point. We have no idea what percent increase it is.
At any rate, I think it’s a little unfair to accept the premise that there is a problem with Apple’s hardware without “comprehensive, scientific, rigorous tests” while requiring that standard be met in order to show other phones also have problems.
Apple has some information with examples:
http://www.apple.com/antenna/
as well as examples of many Nexus One users complaining of the same thing, including many of them stating the actual measured impact:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=34ae2c179184c33e&hl=en
As far as comparative impact, have you read the anandtech piece I keep talking about? Let me get the link:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2
and the follow up:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3821/iphone-4-redux-analyzing-apples-ios-41-signal-fix/1
Interestingly enough he doesn’t see as big of a drop with the Nexus One, but I wonder if that’s because he’s cupping the outside. The Nexus One problem seems to be related to your hand being over the bottom of the back, according to the videos I’ve seen.
Somethign I haven’t seen much talk of is the idea that while the external antenna might contribute to some problems for some people in some cases, that the overall decision resulted in most people in most situation having a better experiene.
Lets assume that putting the antenna on the outside means that for .5% of people there might be problems because of hwo they naturally hold the phone. That leaves 99.5% of people who are having the same or BETTER experience. You can’t please all the people all the time. Apple made a esign decision that resulted in a possibly worse experience in limited situations, but a definitely better situation in the vast majority of situations. Apple is no stranger to making decisions that alienate some small groups (no Flash, no Floppy Drive, etc.) Yet if Apple is to believed and customers are overall even MORE satisfied with the iPhone 4 than the 3G (and the return data and satisfaction surveys bear this out) then how is it a flaw?
I again point out that had Apple not had a bad algorithm in the first place this wouldn’t even BE an issue because there wouldn’t have been nearly so many dramaticlly dropping bar examples to keep the story going.
This appears to be a textbook example of making a mountain out of a mole hill.