Apple has called a press conference for tomorrow, Friday, July 16. Apple has said that the conference is about the iPhone 4 and all the issues involving the antenna. This issue has escalated since Consumer Reports decided on Monday that it would withhold its recommendation for consumers to buy it because of the antenna. The Consumer Reports magazine said the signal on the iPhone 4 can be lowered just by touching the left hand bottom corner of the iPhone 4. Consumer Reports told Apple that before they it can recommend the iPhone 4 to consumers, Apple needs to provide a free fix.
Apple needs to do something to make customers and Consumers Reports happy. Analysts have estimated that providing the free bumper cases that fix the anntenna issue would cost $150 million. A recall, which is unlikely, could cost Apple $1.5 billion. Whatever they need to do to fix the issue should be done. Hopefully we’ll find out tomorrow after the conference. Check back to this website to see what Apple has decided.
News about the iPhone 4 antenna is all over the internet. Bloggers are constantly talking about holding the iPhone 4 a certain way, called the “death grip,” and losing 4 or 5 bars of signal. But in a PCWorld article, Apple, Inc. released a statement that said there is something wrong with the newest iPhone, but it’s not the antenna.
Apple admitted to using a flawed formula to calculate the number of bars of signal strength. Spencer Webb, president of AntennaSys, did some tests on the iPhone 4 and found that (almost) everything’s okay with it. Webb and a co-worker decided to do some tests of their own. Webb stated that “this was a non-scientific test, but it was done by two engineers who deal with RF devices for a living.”
First, they made a call with the iPhone 4 and held it at the top. They had no problems with the signal dropping. Then, they switched and held the iPhone 4 with the “death grip” by holding the bottom of the the phone tightly. Webb said they were able to make the signal drop 4 or 5 bars but the quality of the call wasn’t affected, and the call never dropped.
After they did this test, they took another iPhone and did the same test on the antenna. This iPhone, though, was a first-generation iPhone. They got the same exact results in this test. This proves that the antenna on the iPhone 4 has nothing wrong with it. Webb states that “any handheld radio device is going to suffer the same way if you put your hand over the antenna. You’re going to cause a reduction in performance, period. That’s not a news flash.”
The transformation of the cell phone from huge antennas on the top of the phone to an internal antenna means that today’s cell phone users don’t have what Webb calls “antenna consciousness.” Covering the antenna of any cell phone will affect its performance, so the news swirling around the antenna of the iPhone 4 really isn’t news at all.