iPhone 4 dropping calls when held in the left hand

Tom Dunne

...according to Engadget.

It appears that if you hold the phone a certain way with your left hand, your hand appears to mess up the antenna, thus dropping calls. However when used with a rubber case, your hand doesn't make contact, therefore the problem doesn't appear.

That's a bit worrying. Especially for all us right-handers.

IamMetaldave

Already covered in this thread buddy.

stephendevlin

Cut your non working hand off!

seamus

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Especially for all us right-handers.

How so? I hold my phone in my right hand, I won't be affected.

Tom Dunne

Dave Eyesclosed wrote: »

Already covered in this thread buddy.

Ooops didn't see that.

seamus wrote: »

How so? I hold my phone in my right hand, I won't be affected.

Right handed people tend to hold the phone in their left hand (according to the article and my uber-scientific research, as I reach for my phone).

So the lefties will be fine, apparently, as they hold it in their right hand.

Ricky91t

Don't forget this is on AT&T which from what I've heard is a crap network in all possible ways, So I'd only be concerned when it's mentioned on a UK or Irish iPhone

seamus

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Right handed people tend to hold the phone in their left hand (according to the article and my uber-scientific research, as I reach for my phone).

Pfft, then switch hands. I'm a die-hard rightie, and I still hold my phone in my right hands.

Tom Dunne

Ricky91t wrote: »

Don't forget this is on AT&T which from what I've heard is a crap network in all possible ways, So I'd only be concerned when it's mentioned on a UK or Irish iPhone

From the article:

So we decided to test on two brand new iPhone 4 handsets purchased today in the UK.

Looking at the video, it is O2 UK.

Jax Teller

I'd be more worried if safari dropped signal for us right handers
fap fap fap

Drakar

4 inch porn is only good if you're into dwarves.

Soarer

seamus wrote: »

Pfft, then switch hands. I'm a die-hard rightie, and I still hold my phone in my right hands.

Interesting.
So how many right hands have you?
And is it even possible to have more than one right hand, as surely only the rightmost hand would be considered to be the right hand?

The thick plottens!

chrislad

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Ooops didn't see that.



Right handed people tend to hold the phone in their left hand (according to the article and my uber-scientific research, as I reach for my phone).

So the lefties will be fine, apparently, as they hold it in their right hand.

Really? I'm right handed and I hold it in my right hand. Feels weird in my left.

Edit: That can't be taken out of context at all.

djgaillimh

Anybody else find it slightly coincidental that they simultaneously launched a range of $30 bumpers, which cover the antenna band?

I find it hard to believe that this flaw wasn't picked up on in months of design and testing...

Dont be at yourself

I'm a leftie, and I keep my phone in my left pocket and hold it with my left hand. I was planning on getting a bumper anyway though, so hopefully this won't be an issue.

Pulse8

So, any experience of this by the Belfast early adopters?

Ricky91t

This, Is confusing...

After watching this and trying my iPhone 3GS dropped from 3 bars to no service.. Very confusing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Lpt2YkF3Q

AARRRRGH

I wont be getting an iPhone 4 until apple get their sh!t together. Such a simple issue to test before shipping. God know what else they missed that will some to light after you buy it.

jod1983

Ricky91t wrote: »

This, Is confusing...

After watching this and trying my iPhone 3GS dropped from 3 bars to no service.. Very confusing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Lpt2YkF3Q

Just tried this on my 3gs with the new software and same thing happens. So this might not be a 4 problem.

whiterebel

jod1983 wrote: »

Just tried this on my 3gs with the new software and same thing happens. So this might not be a 4 problem.

Doesn't happen on my 3G.

WayneEnterprise

D'oh, this is happening me! The bars just drop away if I hold the phone near the bottom. Warranty replacement methinks.

wez99950

mine does the same. not cool. don't really know what to do now

SolarNexus

Just tried this out on my 3GS, dropped from 4-5 bars to 1-2. On iOS4, weird.

Can anyone try it out on an iPhone before iOS4, it seems like a weird problem to be caused solely by software.

Dman001

Thankfully it sounds like a software issue, at least Apple will be able to fix it easily and fast.

irish1967

I read a year ago that the antenna for the iPhone 3G was in the bottom of the phone and that does effect my signal quite often.
I am used now to holding it half way up especially when on the Edge network.

(didn't watch video as I would wake up the OH and I already have her head done in today talking about the 4 and iOS 4. )

Hogzy

The Official Apple Response is:

Hold your iPhone a different way.

Engadget Article with scan of the email


That IMO is an absolute disgraceful response.
So glad i gave the iphone 4 a skip and went the android route. Bye Bye Apple. I hope you loose alot of customers over this.

Inquitus

Inquitus

brophs

Astonishing, if those emails are real.

Not only do iPhone want to revolutioise the smartphone market, they want to revolutionise the holding-your-phone-in-a-very-particular-way market too.

Outstanding, Apple. Just outstanding.

Fat_Fingers

SolarNexus wrote: »

Just tried this out on my 3GS, dropped from 4-5 bars to 1-2. On iOS4, weird.

Can anyone try it out on an iPhone before iOS4, it seems like a weird problem to be caused solely by software.

Tried on my 3GS, no problem at all. But i'm running 3.1.3 software.

Fat_Fingers

If that was real email from Apple then i'm not surprise when people say Apple doesn't give a S*** about their customers.

I mean it's well known and documented that Steve can be right a-hole but that email is just very bad PR.

Tom Dunne

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

If that was real email from Apple then i'm not surprise when people say Apple doesn't give a S*** about their customers.

I mean it's well known and documented that Steve can be right a-hole but that email is just very bad PR.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. E-mails like that are very easy to fake.

In related news, Apple's new iPhone promotional logo:

dave oc

It's been confirmed as an official response from apple. It's incredible really. How many people who got one from Belfast yesterday is this a 'non issue'? Is this happening on devices here?

Inquitus

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. E-mails like that are very easy to fake.

Aye its an official email, firstly it's confirmed by apple, and secondly gizmodo and engadgets legal teams wouldn't have carried it otherwise.

vinnycoyne

Dave6195 wrote: »

It's been confirmed as an official response from apple. It's incredible really. How many people who got one from Belfast yesterday is this a 'non issue'? Is this happening on devices here?

No issues with mine at all.

IamMetaldave

There are also other videos showing it not happening to other peoples phones.. Although I read on Mac Rumors yesterday that the bumpers Apple are selling significantly reduce this happening..

Narcissus

So it's only happening on some phones?

seamus

It's an unconfirmed issue - it can't be reliably recreated. That is, while someone might be able to demonstrate it consistently on a single phone, they cannot demonstrate it on every phone.

Therefore it's more likely to be a problem with a specific phone, or possibly it's something to do with the person holding the phone.

The email sent to Jobs was vague, light-hearted and cheeky. Jobs responded with an equally cheeky retort. I don't see the problem.

Until there's a confirmed bug here, Apple have nothing to answer for.

A couple of things here that the sites need to check:

1. Can the issue be demonstrated across different people and different phones? I.e. Take 10 people and a 10 phones and see if the issue can be recreated with everyone on every phone.
2. Does this happen with any other metal-cased phones? Unless they've done this it can't be claimed to be an iPhone-specific problem. It may be a standard mobile phone phenomenon.

There are a lot of variables here - it could be down to something as obscure as the level of urea in someone's sweat, or the amount of iron in their blood.

Inquitus

seamus wrote: »

It's an unconfirmed issue - it can't be reliably recreated. That is, while someone might be able to demonstrate it consistently on a single phone, they cannot demonstrate it on every phone.

Therefore it's more likely to be a problem with a specific phone, or possibly it's something to do with the person holding the phone.

The email sent to Jobs was vague, light-hearted and cheeky. Jobs responded with an equally cheeky retort. I don't see the problem.

Until there's a confirmed bug here, Apple have nothing to answer for.

A couple of things here that the sites need to check:

1. Can the issue be demonstrated across different people and different phones? I.e. Take 10 people and a 10 phones and see if the issue can be recreated with everyone on every phone.
2. Does this happen with any other metal-cased phones? Unless they've done this it can't be claimed to be an iPhone-specific problem. It may be a standard mobile phone phenomenon.

There are a lot of variables here - it could be down to something as obscure as the level of urea in someone's sweat, or the amount of iron in their blood.

Apple have acknowledged the problem:

Apple wrote:

"Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your Phone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."

Their helpful suggestion.....buy a case or hold it differently......

seamus

They've acknowledged that it's a problem for any wireless device and therefore not something they can fix specifically. The problem is that there has to be a transmitter/receiver somewhere, so no matter what it will be possible to cause this issue somehow. Maybe the bottom-left corner wasn't the best choice, maybe it is. It works for me - when I'm working with the device, my right hand only covers the bottom-right of the device.
When I'm making a call with my left hand, I hold it in my fingers, not in the palm of my hand.

So perhaps they knew all about this and determined that the fewest number of people are affected by having the transmitter in the bottom-left of the device.

Inquitus

seamus wrote: »

They've acknowledged that it's a problem for any wireless device and therefore not something they can fix specifically. The problem is that there has to be a transmitter/receiver somewhere, so no matter what it will be possible to cause this issue somehow. Maybe the bottom-left corner wasn't the best choice, maybe it is. It works for me - when I'm working with the device, my right hand only covers the bottom-right of the device.
When I'm making a call with my left hand, I hold it in my fingers, not in the palm of my hand.

So perhaps they knew all about this and determined that the fewest number of people are affected by having the transmitter in the bottom-left of the device.

Having the split where it is is possibly the daftest place possible. Indeed the fact it only mainly afflicts right-handed people shows they put no thought into it whatsoever, given left handed people are in the minority, if any thought had been put into it it would be on the btoom right corner

bigjohnny80

Techcrunch were saying it may be down to the frequency that AT&T use.

Has it been confirmed on networks here?

Dades

Dave Eyesclosed wrote: »

There are also other videos showing it not happening to other peoples phones.. Although I read on Mac Rumors yesterday that the bumpers Apple are selling significantly reduce this happening..

Maybe they were aware of this in development... and came up with the bumper concept to hide it... :pac:

BTW, I have just duplicated those coverage issues with my O2 3GS on OS 4.0. Holding (squeezing) the antenna band down where my left hand would normally be, the bars drop the the lowest. If I remove that grip and just hold the phone between my fingers after 5-10 secs all the coverage bars pop back up.

No idea if this was a symptom of 3.1.3, though.

seamus

Inquitus wrote: »

Having the split where it is is possibly the daftest place possible. Indeed the fact it only mainly afflicts right-handed people shows they put no thought into it whatsoever, given left handed people are in the minority, if any thought had been put into it it would be on the btoom right corner

But maybe right-handed people tend to hold their phone in their right hand and gizmodo haven't a clue what they're talking about?

Dades

seamus wrote: »

But maybe right-handed people tend to hold their phone in their right hand and gizmodo haven't a clue what they're talking about?

Right-handed people who hold their phones in their right hand are nearly as bad as those lefty weirdos, tbh. :pac:

mad muffin

Is anyone here with an iPhone 4 actually having any issues with dropped calls?

IamMetaldave

It's actually crazy we are having this conversation though.. That we have to be particular how we hold phones! Don't get me wrong, I'll still get one and hold it whatever way I have to.. but still, crazy!

mad muffin

Dave Eyesclosed wrote: »

It's actually crazy we are having this conversation though.. That we have to be particular how we hold phones! Don't get me wrong, I'll still get one and hold it whatever way I have to.. but still, crazy!

Like I said. Is anyone here having any problems with reception or dropped calls?

No and no one on the UK forums is having any problems either.

it's all done to AT&T's crappy network. they use half rate, where as every other country uses full rate.

ironclaw

I'm on the fence with this one. To be clear, all iPhone antenna's are in the base of the phone nearest the iPod dock connector. Its actually a common thing. Its the same on my N97. I've talked to numerous people who work in Vodafone and O2 who give out about it. Your hand will naturally block the antenna if its in the base of the phone, so its not a iPhone only issue. Many Nokia handsets are affected.

The metal band is the antenna apparently so by touching it you would be lengthening and changing the characteristics it, so if anyone has some knowledge of radio etc you'll know this is a bad thing. Your also covering it so reception will further be reduced.

It seems odd that Apple would design an antenna that is exposed to the world knowing that it shouldn't be touched for technical and health reasons. Even from a safety point of view, I doubt it would have been CE or FCC approved.

It could be a software issue. The software could just be that tad more sensitive to changes in signal strength. So by covering / touching the antenna, your adjusting the signal level received. You may be a only a tiny bit lower in terms of signal strength than before you touched it, but this is translated as 3 to 4 bars of loss.

I'd prefer to see a technical signal db output of the antenna before and after touching. Thats the only way to tell. And trust me, in development this would have been done at a hardware level for tuning and optimizing.

So for me, its a software problem.

cojomo2

mad muffin wrote: »

Is anyone here with an iPhone 4 actually having any issues with dropped calls?

My missus has 1(I sold mine!)....when setting it up at first, I was in my parents house..normally got about 2 bars on the 3gs(meteor)..the iphone 4 initially got 1 bar..then no service..tried everything...eventually, when I tried to select network manually, I had the option of 'Meteor' (which it kept picking by default) or 'Meteor 3G' and voda,o2 etc...

I clicked Meteor 3G and this seemed to sort it, got nearly full bard on Edge..problem sorted.

As regard the other issue, loosing signal when gripping the bottom left of the phone..no problems so far..

wez99950

mad muffin wrote: »

Like I said. Is anyone here having any problems with reception or dropped calls?

I am. On o2, have full coverage, hold the phone covering the left side, bars disappear until the searching sign comes up. when i release after a few seconds it begins to pick up reception again.

mad muffin

wez99950 wrote: »

I am. On o2, have full coverage, hold the phone covering the left side, bars disappear until the searching sign comes up. when i release after a few seconds it begins to pick up reception again.

Weird. I just can't reproduce this problem. No matter how long I hold the phone for.