After enduring mounting criticsm and even the insult of a pass by Consumer Reports over iPhone 4 antenna and reception issues, Apple held a brief press conference today, featuring Steve Jobs himself, complete with a somewhat candid Q&A at the end. All of this over the external antenna band design of the new iPhone 4 and the loss of signal by touching the antenna band in the lower left corner of the phone, otherwise known as the “death grip.”
Apple responded with some humor, humility, explanation, and education. Yes, the iPhone 4 is not perfect. Yes, signal reception can be impacted by where the phone is held when naked (without case). Yes, Apple is not perfect and they want to improve. It’s important to note that Apple came prepared with some important statistics in their defense:
- All smartphones have reception “weak spots” and they listed several popular phones of today that exhibit similar behaviors
- Apple has received calls of complaint/concern from only .55% of iPhone owners — that’s half of one percent
- AT&T return rates for the iPhone 4 have been only one-third as compared to returns of the 3GS
- Dropped calls on the iPhone 4 are comparable to the 3GS — even though it’s supposed to be a better phone with better reception, etc.
Apple’s response? They are sorry, this is a problem that all smartphones have, they want to solve it first by likely bending the laws of physics, and they will offer free bumpers or case equivalents through Sept. 30th and you can still return your iPhone 4 for no restocking fee within the first 30 days of purchase.
Given that our mantra on this site is to cut through the BS and tell it how we see it, let me just say that I’m glad Apple is addressing this and, quite frankly, I think it’s a non-issue. The iPhone 4 is not perfect, it does have a beautiful design, and cell phone reception — high requency radio waves in general — are part of the dark arts and often seem to exhibit behaviors more resembling quantum physics. I’ve always slapped a case on my iPhones anyway, the iPhone 4 being no exception, so I personally have not experienced any reception problems based on how I hold my phone. Based on the relative few complaints and returns, I’d say this is much ado about nothing.
So, with that said, if you own an iPhone 4, continue to enjoy a great product design, a gorgeous “retina” display, better camera, faster speed, better battery, all of those fantastic apps from the App Store, and your HD video. Enjoy your iPhone and try not to worry about an occasional dropped call — after all, every cell phone experiences dropped calls and…. gasp! …. some of those dropped calls may have happened because of how you were holding your OLD cell phone!
Be sure to take this rumor with a heavy does of tablesalt, but word on the street is that Marco Quatorze, director of value added services at Mexico-based Telcel, speculates that his company and country will receive the current iPhone 4 version and then will receive an improved antenna design iPhone 4 after September 30th. September 30th also happens to be the deadline for Apple’s iPhone 4 Case Program, but this may merely be coincidence.
