On June 24, I officially became one of those guys. As an owner of an iPhone 3G, I was itching for an iPhone upgrade, and from the second information about the iPhone 4 was leaked due to some dude leaving it in the bar, I was licking my chops to get my hands on one. So, I played the game. On reserve day I was able to finally, late in the day, reserve an iPhone 4 online for pick-up on Launch Day at my local Apple Store in down town Salt Lake City, Utah. I didn’t go as far to camp out overnight to get mine – I had one reserved, why trade hours of good sleep just to get my phone an extra hour earlier? – but I did get up and get in line at 6:00am. After 3 and a half hours of shuffling in the line with the rest of the Apple Zombies, I finally got my hands on the much anticipated iPhone 4. . .
Now, the honeymoon is over. I’ve had the iPhone 4 for almost three weeks now. No doubt, you’ve heard the reports of antennae/reception issues, manufacturing faults, etc. This article is not meant to argue the iPhone is better than any Android/Droid/Windows Mobile phone out there. The fact is I like the iPhone and I don’t feel the need to push it on people like an over-zealous preacher. I just simply want to share my experience with the iPhone 4 for those interested (specifically the antenna issue), for those maybe considering buying one, and for those curious about all these “defects” and wanting to know about them from someone who was actually dumb enough to go wait in line to shell out $300 for a phone.
There’s a lot to love about the iPhone 4. It’s fast as hell, has a back-lit 5MP camera that takes some pretty amazing photos, has a front and rear camera, and the operating system is getting better and better with each update (though, admittedly still behind the curve in a few aspects). But for all that’s great about the iPhone 4, it has been plagued with some issues – and one major one. If you have been living under a rock, I’ll briefly explain.
Essentially, the metal bands encasing the outer rim of the iPhone 4 are actually the antennas for wi-fi, 3G, cell phone data, etc. There are little gaps separating these antennas and if you put a finger/palm over the gap on the lower left corner some people can watch their signal bars plummet – sometimes all the way down to “No Service”.
So, essentially, if you cover that gap with your hand in anyway, you are going to suffer signal-loss, which can really suck for a lefty:
Now, from what I’ve read, essentially what’s going on is your hand is conducting interference by creating a connection between the different antennas and causing a significant loss of cell phone signal. So, what’s my experience with this antenna problem? I can confirm it’s real. If I cover that gap with my palm like the picture above, I can watch the signal bars drop from full bars all the way down to one or two, so it does exist. But, the caveat is that I’m right handed, and when I hold my phone with my right hand I don’t grip it like a baseball bat – so I don’t cover that gap, even with a finger. And that’s by habit, not by necessity with this issue, I hold the iPhone 4 just like I always held my iPhone 3G. You couple that with the fact that I hate talking on the phone so I rarely use it as such in the first place, my bad experiences with this design flaw are slim to none.
But that doesn’t make it not a flaw. Apple is faced with a PR nightmare right now. When this issue first came up, Steve Jobs actually responded with “Don’t hold it that way.” Now, while many of us Apple consumers are used to – and find somewhat endearing – Mr. Jobs’ blunt nature, this probably wasn’t the best response for something that is blowing up into a huge issue. How huge? A judge just deemed a lawsuit against Apple for these reception problems (and their lack of response) acceptable and it will go to court; Consumer Reports just reviewed the iPhone 4 and had incredibly positive things to say about it, but in the end, the antenna issues were a deal breaker and they said the could not recommend the iPhone 4; and now, in the media, the word “recall” is being tossed around.
I like Apple. I think they make incredibly high-quality products, but, even though I have had no issues with the antenna, they missed the mark. The iPhone does so much, part of me wonders if Apple kind of . . . forgot about the phone functionality aspect of it all. Remember, Apple? Your product is called the iPHONE. Apple needs to step up, admit it’s mistake and fix it for its customers. SO many people loyally buy Apple products, and it’s disappointing when they make a major mistake with a product we get the “Don’t hold it that way” answer. There are couple of approaches to fixing this:
- Apple can provide one of their rubber “bumpers” for the iPhone 4 to everyone, for free. This bumper actually insulates the antenna and has been proven over and over again by multiple tech websites to mitigate the antenna reception problems – no matter how you hold the phone.
- Recall. It would suck, and it might be even be worse PR right off the bat for Apple, but in the long run, it would be the right thing to do. Fix the problem for all iPhone 4’s that haven’t shipped yet, and allow current owners to come trade theirs in at the Apple store.
Perhaps there are other options here, but Apple needs to own up to a faulty design and fix it.
At the end of the day, I love my iPhone 4. I use it a lot throughout the day for everything from Facebook to Twitter, texting and IMing, and gaming to multimedia. It does everything I want it to do, and more. I would still recommend it to anyone – but I would tell them about the antenna issue and encourage them to either wait until Apple fixes the problem, or buy a bumper with it – which unfortunately cost the ridiculous amount of $30 . . . for a strip of rubber to go around the edge of your iPhone. So, on second thought, maybe just wait until Apple is forced to come around, and come up with a better solution for an issue that is hindering such a potentially great product.