Good point about the frequencies. I hadn't thought about that, but it is entirely possible that the antenna on the iPhone4 is flawed at one or both of the US frequencies. Of course it is possible that this is not the case.

But as to your other guess, no, I rarely see anyone with iPhone cases over here. And there is nothing in the news regarding reception problems over here in languages other than English, except for the occasional techno-blog. The US reception issue is unknown by the main stream in Europe. So people have no reason to purchase a case unless they are concerned about protecting the glossy back. I would never buy a case since it makes it more difficult to slip the phone into my pocket.

So it is still a minor mystery as to why US customers have this problem. We still don't know for sure if it is the phone or the network. Maybe when the unlock becomes public and lots of people start using their iPhone 4 on the T-Mobile USA network we will see something different?

I'm a long-term Apple user, like their products, I try to do sensible things and I don't believe everything that Apple says.

I don't remember the last time I've had an issue with a cellular phone or reception, 3GS worked flawlessly. With the iPhone 4 I get all the bars at home, 3G data flies at 4.5 Mbit/s but if I hold the phone I usually hold it I can get the phone to drop from 3G all the way down to GSM. My 3G uses 2100 Mhz and GSM uses 900 Mhz.

I have yet to experience a dropped call with the iPhone 4 but I've managed to enable keypad, mute and speakerphone with the iPhone 4's proximity sensor problem. I haven't looked the videos enough to learn the "death grip" but I know from experience that the iPhone 4 is not the quality of product I'd expect from Apple.

Returning the phone to the Apple Store is pretty difficult as this was phone was purchased in the UK and Apple doesn't take the EU-wide guarantee & service seriously. And I'd rather have the phone working than return it.

I may cover the antenna with a thin film, use a bumper or even sell the phone but we'll see. From Apple's reputation point of view I would like to see Apple talk less bull .... about the issue and do something for real. They are getting a lot of negative press and feelings for their behaviour.

For the avoidance of any doubt I'm in the UK and visited a UK Apple store and had the problems on one of their in-store demonstration phones.

Yes, there is some sort of antenna issue, but apparently its not clear how many people are having a real life problem because of it.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/y...is-not-broken/

What's interesting here, is that the most vocal critics in both of these threads here on FT do not own the product and have no intention of purchasing the product as far as I can tell.

I played with 2 of them that my friends have, since I'm in the Bay Area this week. Yes, I noticed the bars dropped when I held it with the death grip. I asked them both if they have dropped calls or not. Neither have had a dropped call.

-David

As I have said before I will consider buying an iPhone 4 - when they fix the problem.

A couple of questions:

[1] Does your anecdotal evidence in your sample of two trump the many reports of those who say they do have a "real life" problem?

[2] What in your mind - specifically - constitutes being a "vocal critic"?

Does being disloyal to the hive simply asking questions constitute being a "vocal critic??

Believing there is a "hive", or feeling the need to post a comment about a "hive", pushes you closer to the "vocal critic" than anything thing else you have said so far.

Here is the difference:

I happen to currently own, for example, a Sony TT, which itself replaced a Sony SZ [my only two Sony products to date] and save for the fact that the TT was - by any measure - quite expensive it has been a great machine, not perfect, but does pretty much everything I need it to but - and this is a big but - if it comes to pass a Sony [or any other] product I own has some type of problem I expect Sony to fix it, ameliorate, or compensate me for the problem or I will look elsewhere next time I am in the market.

What I don't do is go into reflexive defense mode to try and soft-pedal the fact that they made a mistake because I am afraid that admitting there is a problem in some stupid tech product I just bought somehow reflects badly on me as an individual. I could not care less if someone wishes to post on the web that they think Sony products are crap, I couldn't care less if people post that they think that Sony is evil incarnate. Such criticism means nothing to me, it doesn't affect me nor does it in any way undermine my confidence in having made that purchase.

You could answer this post by saying that the Sony TT was a $3K POS and that the CEO of Sony was a neo-Nazi who kills puppies in his spare time it it wouldn't affect me in the least.

The same cannot be said for a large cadre of Apple fans.

Anytime - anytime - someone on the web posts even a minor criticism of Apple or their products, even ones that are valid and verified, there will inevitably follow a torrent of Apple fans logging on to attack the poster who dared to criticize Apple, to use emotion based arguments to "explain" how that person doesn't know what they are talking about, how Apple is the best at everything they do, and that said poster isn't even worthy of owning an Apple product.

Just read the comments section of any news article that discusses the iPhone 4 problems, CNN, NYtimes, Engadget, CNet. The responses from the Apple loyalists - and that is an apt description of - make them sound like a bunch of fundamentalist religionists. Apple themselves have even scrubbed comments critical of the iPhone 4 off of their forums.

If that isn't indicative of "hive" behavior then I don't know what is.

Oh, and I hope that Apple does fix the iPhone 4 before I am in the market in the next two months as it looks like otherwise it could be a front runner.

"Apple to hold iPhone 4 press conference this Friday"

Engadget

It should be interesting - to say the least - to see which way Apple plays this.

[A] There is no problem, you are holding it wrong, all cell phones do it, you want a bumper - that will be $30 please.

[B] Its all AT&T's fault, blame them, claim your free "goodwill" bumber and stop bothering us.

[C] We are so sorry, we screwed up, we will extend the return window to 6-months out and no restocking fee, please don't hold this one against us.

or

[D] Introducing the new iPhone 5 [$50 exchange credit for iPhone 4 owners].

You know, I don't think my post was personal or disrespectful, so let's keep things that way, ok?

I didn't claim that my personal testing applied to the 2 million+ iphone 4's that they've sold. Did I? The thing is, if you have one and are having a problem, then tell us about it. If you don't have one, well, who are you arguing with and why? Frankly it seems like it's just a lot of hot air.

Regarding that "member of the hive" comment, I have the same model laptop that you have (Sony TT) running software from Redmond. That's just my travel laptop. My main home machine is a Sony FW, the others are all various home PCs. I don't have any macs. My own personal computers are all currently running windows and I have a server or two running linux. So does that make me a member of the hive? What was that BS all about? It was complete misdirection, because it has nothing to do with the thread whatsoever.

nmenaker posted a youtube video with evidence showing the signal strength as defined by the bars displayed on the phone going down when they shorted the gap on the lower left of the phone. I asked if they ever had a dropped call. I don't think there was an answer. stimpy has posted that they can't reproduce any part of the problem in France with their iphone 4. So, I'll ask again, in normal use, who has had problems with dropped calls because of the antenna problem?

They announced a press conference for Friday at 10AM. I predict that no matter what they say or do, there will be lots of people that will let us know how much they (continue to) suck.

That's ok, I think certain airline and hotel loyalty programs suck that lots of people here like. But I don't go out of my way to prove that they suck for anybody else, I just know that they suck for me. Maybe they won't suck for me next year. I don't know. I'll keep an open mind about it. But I can post reasonable things about why I think program A is better than program B for me, or why program B is technically flawed without insulting anybody that thinks program B is the best program in the world, even though they just had a 100% devaluation and logarithmically increased redemption levels for awards.

There's nothing wrong with some reasonable, constructive criticism or posting your opinions here. I think there is something wrong when the level of posts becomes a fetish for some people, and they take it personally and then accuse anybody that disagrees with them of being a "member of the hive".

There's clearly something going on with the antenna/signal problem. Is it fixable in software or a design flaw that needs the "bumpers" for some people? That nobody knows yet. The rest is mostly crap as far as I'm concerned.

-David

I suggest that you go back and reread my posts.

I never once accused you or anyone else here personally of anything.

I was in fact commenting specifically on the throngs of Apple fans at large who set upon anyone on the web who dares criticize Apple.

If you feel that that applies to you then that is on you because I never said or even suggested this.

This was a combination of an honest and a rhetorical question to any and all hardcore Apple fans out there. If I were asking this of you specifically then I would have written, "Did/do you…" just as I did in the question above this one.

What does constitute being a "vocal critic" vs. just asking questions? This is a discussion board. We discuss things. If you have or had an answer to that question from your personal perspective then you could have posted just that.

And yes I do believe that a large number of hardcore Apple fans do in fact have a hive mentality on this subject but I have no idea whether or not this applies to you personally.

In this post I in fact list the actual site locations of the types of posts I am referring to.

Not once did I mention you.

No need for you to be defensive…

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We're all going to take a bit of a time out here and calm down.

Thanks.
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