To say that the clamor surrounding the iPhone 4’s reception issues is growing is an understatement.
Yesterday, Consumer Reports came out with this statement, explaining why the group couldn’t recommend Apple’s new handset:
The signal problem is the reason that we did not cite the iPhone 4 as a “recommended” model, even though its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest Ratings of smart phones that were released today.
Today, they followed up with this:
We think it’s the company’s responsibility to provide the fix—at no extra cost to consumers.
Engadget has put together stories about the “iPhone Death Grip” from lots of tech writers around the Internet. This quote by Ross Miller sums up the situation pretty well, I think:
It’s not affecting me day-to-day, but I can most assuredly recreate the problem. ‘Inconsistent, troubling’ might be the more apt description in my case.
In short, not every phone has the problem, while some just exhibit the issue in a low-connection environment. Others do it all the time, regardless of their proximity to an AT&T tower. Madness.
Apple’s forthcoming software fix is related to how the iPhone displays signal strength. In short, Apple claims that iPhones (and presumably 3G-equipped iPads) have a tendency to show more bars than what would be considered an accurate description of their signal strength.
This means that customers who see a dramatic drop in signal strength due to holding their iPhone “the wrong way*” is seeing a more dramatic drop in signal than what they’re actually experiencing.
While no one will know for sure until Apple’s update is out, it should clarify just how many bars are being dropped when the iPhone’s antenna is cupped, possibly making the “Death Grip” effect seems less potent. People should freak out less about dropping one bar than dropping three or four.
Apple has had other products with issues (G4 Cube enclosure cracks, blown caps in the iMac G5, MacBooks with bum hard drives, etc), but the iPhone 4 is their baby, the crown jewel in the current product lineup. This is a rare moment in Apple history.
Even so, I don’t see Apple launching a full-blown recall. I don’t think the issue is widespread enough, nor do I think Apple would ever be able to swallow the “oh, crap, we messed up” pill.
(That said, I think that the company will go about testing and developing future products in a very different way.)
An easy fix — one that many have suggested — is that Apple send out their “Bumper” cases to iPhone 4 customers. The cases aren’t bulky, and resolve any problems related with touching the iPhone 4’s steel band. It would allow Apple to keep producing iPhone 4s as they are now, saving the company time and money in retooling.
I think some Apple executives — and the public — would see free cases as Apple admitting the iPhone 4 is flawed.
And I’m not sure Steve Jobs can do that.
———- \* Steve Jobs’ emails responding to customer inquires about this issue begs one question: Is Jobs doing Apple more harm than good with his email account?