Steve Jobs: You're holding it wrong

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/25/iphone.problems.response/index.html?iref=NS1

Hours after its iPhone 4 went on sale to excited crowds Thursday, Apple found itself responding to complaints that holding the phone by its metal edge causes mobile reception to suffer. The company's response, in a nutshell? You're holding it wrong.
"Just avoid holding it in that way," Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote in an e-mail that was making the rounds on the Web on Friday morning.
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Really??
 
The question I'd have is whether this is a real-world issue, one that many users are tripping over in normal usage, or whether this is a "learned about it on the web, verified it on my phone" issue.
-harry
 
mantakos said:
The question I'd have is whether this is a real-world issue, one that many users are tripping over in normal usage, or whether this is a "learned about it on the web, verified it on my phone" issue.
-harry
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Honestly, does it matter? If the problem is there, and its verified, Apple needs to fix it.

FWIW, Apple's own advertising shows people holding the phone the "wrong" way.
 
Regardless, and even if you an Apple fan, that was about the crappiest thing I think I have from a CEO (barring BP's of course! LOL) in a long time.
 
The story I saw implied that if held like a traditional phone, the "bars" dropped to zero in some cases. One of the comparisons were made against a pervious version of the iPhone. If held like a tea cup (dainty with finger extended), it didn't lose any bars.
They put the antennae along the long side. Your hand seems to interfer with it.
 
SkyHog said:
Honestly, does it matter?...
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Well, as a potential customer, what matters to me is what's going to happen when I use the phone as I normally do. If I have to watch an internet video to learn the proper way to grasp the phone in order to make it drop a call, then I'm looking for something to complain about. If I find that I'm continually dropping calls based on normal usage, then that's a problem.

Based on what I've seen, it only seems even remotely possible to drop a call if I'm holding it in my palm, which implies that I'm talking and doing data at the same time, something which many phones on other carriers aren't even capable of doing in the first place. So this really doesn't seem to be a major problem for voice.

On the other hand, if during normal data usage, web browsing, etc, using a "normal" grip (where I define "normal" as "however _I_ normally hold it"), it's continually losing 3G data connectivity, then it's a major problem to me.
-harry
 
mantakos said:
Well, as a potential customer, what matters to me is what's going to happen when I use the phone as I normally do. If I have to watch an internet video to learn the proper way to grasp the phone in order to make it drop a call, then I'm looking for something to complain about. If I find that I'm continually dropping calls based on normal usage, then that's a problem.
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The problem affects people who grip the phone in a normal fashion. More accurate is to say that iPhone 4 users must buy the phone, then research how to hold the phone so that it doesn't fail. That's bad.

Based on what I've seen, it only seems even remotely possible to drop a call if I'm holding it in my palm, which implies that I'm talking and doing data at the same time, something which many phones on other carriers aren't even capable of doing in the first place. So this really doesn't seem to be a major problem for voice.
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Assuming that's true (and I don't think it is), AT&T and Apple advertise that as a major feature of their service.

On the other hand, if during normal data usage, web browsing, etc, using a "normal" grip (where I define "normal" as "however _I_ normally hold it"), it's continually losing 3G data connectivity, then it's a major problem to me.
-harry
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And this is happening.
 
SkyHog said:
The problem affects people who grip the phone in a normal fashion. More accurate is to say that iPhone 4 users must buy the phone, then research how to hold the phone so that it doesn't fail. That's bad.
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Is it your assertion that the million+ new iPhone 4 owners are seeing frequent call drops? How did you determine this?
-harry
 
This is a non-story. Reception is better than it was with the old iPhones; the sensitivity of the bar display is just greater, making people believe that reception is worse when it isn't.
 
sba55 said:
This is a non-story. Reception is better than it was with the old iPhones; the sensitivity of the bar display is just greater, making people believe that reception is worse when it isn't.
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That's the first I've heard. I'm hearing true reception issues.

Citation please?
 
Give a man an unbelievably-capable piece of technology that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago, and listen to him ***** about the lack of cupholders.
 
flyersfan31 said:
Give a man an unbelievably-capable piece of technology that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago, and listen to him ***** about the lack of cupholders.
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Capable?

Its a phone that loses reception and can't make phone calls. That's not really "capable."
 
SkyHog said:
Capable?

Its a phone that loses reception and can't make phone calls. That's not really "capable."
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It has an i for a prefix. That makes it an iNfallible piece of equipment with every one of them containing microscopic pieces of the stones that were brought down from Mt Sinai. How dare you question Apple. How dare you question.........God!!!
 
One of the reasons I never bought an iPhone was that most of the people I knew who had one complained about spotty signal, including a friend of mine who owns an AT&T franchise. He says that's the number one reason for iPhone returns.

Maybe I'm being old-fashioned, but it seems to me that a cell phone, no matter how technologically sophisticated it is in other ways, should be able to reliably make a phone call.

I think I'll be sticking to my BlackBerry for a while longer.

-Rich
 
silver-eagle said:
The story I saw implied that if held like a traditional phone, the "bars" dropped to zero in some cases. One of the comparisons were made against a pervious version of the iPhone. If held like a tea cup (dainty with finger extended), it didn't lose any bars.
They put the antennae along the long side. Your hand seems to interfer with it.
Click to expand...
But nobody has proven that the bars dropping means you can't use the phone or that calls drop. My 1st gen often works when I have no bars. I would guess that the bars are the 3G signal indicator and you don't see how good the EDGE signal is.
 
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SkyHog said:
Yes, then its capable.

Are they free to people that are affected?
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When I bought my new car, it only worked for a few days and then it stopped. I called the dealer, furious. He said I needed to put gas in the car. I demanded that he give it to me for free. He refused. Now I'm stuck with an incapable car.
-harry
 
mantakos said:
When I bought my new car, it only worked for a few days and then it stopped. I called the dealer, furious. He said I needed to put gas in the car. I demanded that he give it to me for free. He refused. Now I'm stuck with an incapable car.
-harry
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Wow. Now that's a stretch. If the car had a defect, like everytime you touched the key, the car would die, and the solution was to put a rubber bumper over the key, I would expect them to pay for the bumper.

Gas is required fuel for a car.
Rubber Bumper is not required fuel for a phone.
 
mantakos said:
When I bought my new car, it only worked for a few days and then it stopped. I called the dealer, furious. He said I needed to put gas in the car. I demanded that he give it to me for free. He refused. Now I'm stuck with an incapable car.
-harry
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That would be a far more apt analogy if someone complained that after a few hours of use the battery died, and the retailer told you to just change the battery...oh, this is an iPhone...nevermind.
 
I'm just glad that no other new products, like airplanes for example, ever have teething pains. Makes it easier to pile on the manufacturers of those that do.
 
A digital camera that beats stuff pros bought for $10k only a few years ago.

GPS capability that only the military had a few years ago that can pinpoint your location.

The ability to search your immediate location for pizza, get the phone number, dial it, and get pizza (Kent knows what I'm saying!)

A phone that can call someone on the other side of the world that fits in your shirtpocket? And we thought those briefcase-sized phones were less than 2 decades ago.

More computing power than an Apollo spacecraft.

The ability to check POA forums for posts about iPhones.

A tiny color screen that can display legitimate quality color TV and movies -- on a freakin' phone!!! Man, I remember the first color TV my family got and I thought that junky huge box was neat.

Game playing capability, like X-Plane. Shoot, I remember being flat-out astounded, thrilled, and mesmerized by Pong. When Intellivision came out I figured that was just the biggest deal since sliced bread (and beat my Atari all to hell). Now you have true flight physics on a little bitty phone.

This crap is mindblowing. If I have to buy a little protective case so the thing gets better reception, I sure as hell ain't going to complain. Perspective, baby, you need some perspective.
 
SkyHog said:
Wow. Now that's a stretch. If the car had a defect, like everytime you touched the key, the car would die, and the solution was to put a rubber bumper over the key, I would expect them to pay for the bumper...
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And this is a problem that happens "every time"? Every one of the million iphone 4 users woke up this morning to find that their phones fail "every time"? Because every iphone 4 user holds the phone with their sweaty palm wrapped around the lower left corner, and always in network conditions where the reduction in reception causes a dropped call?

Or is this something that effects only a few and very seldom? Should Apple offer ergonomic keyboards for free to everybody because a few people have some trouble typing on a regular one?

If a product requires a $30 accessory to work the way I like it, in the way that I use it, then I consider the product to cost $30 more, and decide whether it's worth that price. The idea that it's "incapable" because it's possible to use it without the $30 accessory (soon to be an $8 aftermarket accessory) is silly. I wonder if the people who slept on the sidewalk overnight to be the first to get one would say "no deal" if it cost $30 more?
-harry
 
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Do your knees and jaw ever get sore? Linda Lovelace would be jealous of what I see going on in here.
 
From what I understand it's mostly an issue if you hold it like a traditional phone, in your left hand, on some iphones, in some areas of weak signal. I wouldn't jump the gun on this one. It's only causing issues in rare circumstances.

I don't buy **** the first day it comes out for reasons just like this. Apple isn't the only one that makes small revisions to fix issues on a new product. Damn near every product undergoes changes that the consumer doesn't even really know about during it's lifecycle.

The difference is that an Apple issue is BIG NEWS. ZOMG. PUT IT ON CNN RIGHT NOW!!!! Come on. Don't we have more important things to worry about?
 
One of the advantages of myopia is that you can focus intently on the small things.

jesse said:
From what I understand it's mostly an issue if you hold it like a traditional phone, in your left hand, on some iphones, in some areas of weak signal. I wouldn't jump the gun on this one. It's only causing issues in rare circumstances.

I don't buy **** the first day it comes out for reasons just like this. Apple isn't the only one that makes small revisions to fix issues on a new product. Damn near every product undergoes changes that the consumer doesn't even really know about during it's lifecycle.

The difference is that an Apple issue is BIG NEWS. ZOMG. PUT IT ON CNN RIGHT NOW!!!! Come on. Don't we have more important things to worry about?
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Do they have an app to jam cell phones within 100 yards of me on the highway? If so, where's the Kool-aid? I'll buy one in a heartbeat!
 
wabower said:
I'm just glad that no other new products, like airplanes for example, ever have teething pains. Makes it easier to pile on the manufacturers of those that do.
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Think back 3(?) years ago. A company that had never, ever made one came out with a mobile phone with a revolutionary interface. The phone part was not outsourced. They engineered it completely in house. This company was going come out with their first attempts at the product and complete against the products from companies who not only made that product as their primary product, but had been making them for over 20 years.

Amazingly, the phone not only worked, it took over the industry and had sales volumes that were unimagined.

Repeating: There was not a single report that this first attempt at producing a competitive phone into very mature industry had made a product that failed to work.

So they proceeded to bring out new models of the phone every year since and and each time took snipes that the features they invented that competition still didn't have could be better and the features that random people dreamed up were not there.
 
mikea said:
Think back 3(?) years ago. A company that had never, ever made one came out with a mobile phone with a revolutionary interface. The phone part was not outsourced. They engineered it completely in house. This company was going come out with their first attempts at the product and complete against the products from companies who not only made that product as their primary product, but had been making them for over 20 years.

Amazingly, the phone not only worked, it took over the industry and had sales volumes that were unimagined.

Repeating: There was not a single report that this first attempt at producing a competitive phone into very mature industry had made a product that failed to work.

So they proceeded to bring out new models of the phone every year since and and each time took snipes that the features they invented that competition still didn't have could be better and the features that random people dreamed up were not there.
Click to expand...

Name one thing that the iPhone has that no other phone does?

App Store: Android/Blackberry
Phone: Every phone
Data: Every phone
Touchscreen: Every phone
MMS: Wait, does the iPhone even do MMS natively yet?

I can't think of a single feature that is unique to the iPhone.
 
SkyHog said:
Name one thing that the iPhone has that no other phone does?

.
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Has a tent city outside their door and a line around the block waiting for the doors to open when they start selling them?
 
SkyHog said:
Name one thing that the iPhone has that no other phone does?

App Store: Android/Blackberry
Phone: Every phone
Data: Every phone
Touchscreen: Every phone
MMS: Wait, does the iPhone even do MMS natively yet?

I can't think of a single feature that is unique to the iPhone.
Click to expand...

Flash.

Oh, wait, never mind. :idea:
 
SkyHog said:
Name one thing that the iPhone has that no other phone does?

App Store: Android/Blackberry
Phone: Every phone
Data: Every phone
Touchscreen: Every phone
MMS: Wait, does the iPhone even do MMS natively yet?

I can't think of a single feature that is unique to the iPhone.
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There was no Android when the iPhone came out. Yes, MMS is fully supported.

I do think that Apple made some interesting decisions but in the end they really built a market where there wasn't one before. I doubt there would be an Android had Apple not created the iPhone.
 
mikea said:
... The phone part was not outsourced. They engineered it completely in house....
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Well, let's not get carried away. Break open an iPhone and you see a bunch of little chips with the names of other companies emblazoned on them, including the name Infineon. I'd guess the signaling software is third-party as well.
-harry
 
SkyHog said:
Name one thing that the iPhone has that no other phone does?

App Store: Android/Blackberry
Phone: Every phone
Data: Every phone
Touchscreen: Every phone
MMS: Wait, does the iPhone even do MMS natively yet?

I can't think of a single feature that is unique to the iPhone.
Click to expand...

Can you say 600dpi screen resolution?

NO phone had a touch screen until the iPhone had it and showed them how it could/should be done. Same with an app store.

Finger zoom. If a phone has it, guess where they got it?

I have two Windows phones had several Nokias I can tell you that the web browsing was unusable until it was done on the iPhone.

The spinning select thing is patented so nobody else is going to have it for quite a while.
 
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