Author Topic: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"? (Read 31,407 times)

Josh · « **on:** July 13, 2010, 09:49 PM »

Quote from: "Ed Oswald"

Apple continued to be on the losing end of a public relations battle Tuesday over a "Not Recommended" rating from Consumer Reports for its iPhone 4. Some industry watchers have gone as far as to suggest a recall is something the company may need to consider.

The latest round of bad news was courtesy of Wayne State University Professor Matthew Seeger, who told Cult of Mac that the brand image of Apple could be at risk and said the company will be forced to issue a recall.

Others told the Apple enthusiast site that the company needs to act with more urgency, calling Apple's response so far lackluster and even irresponsible. While there seems to be general agreement that Apple has responded poorly, some see a recall as too harsh a step.

Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner said in a note to clients that he saw the risk of recall as low, saying the antenna issue was not serious enough to warrant such an action. He argued that Apple should be giving out free "bumpers" to those with problems, and wouldn't affect overall profit margins more than 1 or 2 percentage points.

Source @ Betanews

zridling · « **Reply #1 on:** July 14, 2010, 02:35 AM »

Absolutely, but given that Jobs & Co. were busy deleting entire Apple forum topics devoted to this subject for the past 48 hours, it's unlikely unless there's a class action suit. Meanwhile, there's no way Apple is going to give away iPhone bumpers for free.

Josh · « **Reply #2 on:** July 14, 2010, 11:12 AM »

Steve Jobs demonstrates how to properly hold the iPhone4

nudone · « **Reply #3 on:** July 14, 2010, 11:43 AM »

heheh, brilliant.

daddydave · « **Reply #4 on:** July 14, 2010, 12:24 PM »

Haven't there been tons of cellphones with crappy antenna reception? How many of them got recalled?

Eóin · « **Reply #5 on:** July 14, 2010, 12:29 PM »

True, but they weren't designed and built by God himself.

40hz · « **Reply #6 on:** July 14, 2010, 12:34 PM »

The logic of Steve Jobs:

a) To issue a recall would be tantamount to admitting a mistake was made or that there is a design flaw.

b) Apple does not make mistakes or experience design flaws like everybody else.

Therefor...

~~It finally happened to us just like everybody else. This is Apple's first really major design flaw.~~

There is no design flaw because Apple is not like everybody else.

Josh · « **Reply #7 on:** July 14, 2010, 01:14 PM »

Quote from: daddydave on July 14, 2010, 12:24 PM

Haven't there been tons of cellphones with crappy antenna reception? How many of them got recalled?

How many of them work only if you hold it "that special way"?

daddydave · « **Reply #8 on:** July 14, 2010, 01:20 PM »

Quote from: Josh on July 14, 2010, 01:14 PM

Quote from: daddydave on July 14, 2010, 12:24 PM
Haven't there been tons of cellphones with crappy antenna reception? How many of them got recalled?

How many of them work only if you hold it "that special way"?

Some of them don't have a special way! You just return it and get a superior product!

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #9 on:** July 14, 2010, 03:52 PM »

The design is an intentional discrimination against left-handed people -

- We should sue!

Eóin · « **Reply #10 on:** July 14, 2010, 04:23 PM »

Stoic Joker: you should just this suit

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #11 on:** July 14, 2010, 04:29 PM »

Quote from: Eóin on July 14, 2010, 04:23 PM

Stoic Joker: you should just this suit

Hm... Nope, can't do it. That requires that I actually buy one of the silly things (Ick!) before I can join in.

My way all I need to be is left-handed ... and I are.

Deozaan · « **Reply #12 on:** July 16, 2010, 07:03 PM »

Looks like Apple is offering free bumpers:

Quote from: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/Apple-Ready-to-Give-Us-the-411-98555839.html?8889900

Apple CEO Steve Jobs responded to weeks of criticism over a faulty antenna in Apple's iPhone 4, saying that the phone's flaws are no worse than other smartphones. Still, he said Apple would give a free case to all iPhone 4 owners to fix reported signal problems.

Still not happy, iPhone users? Jobs had another solution: Return the phone.

"This is life in the smartphone world," Jobs said. "Phones aren't perfect.

[...]

Then Jobs said the reception problem with the new iPhone exists with several other phones including the HTC Erid Droid Android and the Samsung Omnia II. The demonstrative CEO was also in a joking mood.

"X Marks the spot," Jobs said, mocking the irony of a small mark existing right where the problem seems to occur on the iPhone 4.

nite_monkey · « **Reply #13 on:** July 16, 2010, 09:51 PM »

I figured all phones (even my el cheapo dumb phone) would lose some signal if you covered the antenna... though some more than others (iphone 4)

JavaJones · « **Reply #14 on:** July 16, 2010, 10:50 PM »

The problem with the iPhone 4 design is it puts the antenna on the outside of the phone (which most phones don't do) *and* it's bare metal, not insulated or covered in rubber or something (as some other external antenna phones do). Really this is a major design oversight by Apple. They should have known than putting the bare metal of the antenna on the outside was a bad idea. But they probably thought shiny was better, so...

- Oshyan

zridling · « **Reply #15 on:** July 17, 2010, 04:16 AM »

I was wrong. But I found it funny that Jobs begrudgingly offered bumpers: "If you need one, we'll issue it, are you happy now?"

Weird, angry quote.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 17, 2010, 04:54 AM »

Quote from: nite_monkey on July 16, 2010, 09:51 PM

I figured all phones (even my el cheapo dumb phone) would lose some signal if you covered the antenna... though some more than others (iphone 4)

From what I understand about Consumer Report's tests, the problem on the iPhone 4 seems to have to do with your fingers bridging 2 ends of the antenna that are normally separated by an air gap. That's why a bit of duct tape that covers a few centimeters of the antenna across the gap can 'fix' the problem (and also why the bumper fixes the problem). I think that there are few phones where you can easily 'short-circuit' the antenna in this way.

wraith808 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 17, 2010, 02:26 PM »

So... do people think that the research that was shown was a lie? Also, do people think that with the way the phone fiasco happened earlier, that something like this was never seen before?

He also said a free case- not necessarily a free bumper case. You get to choose which case you want.

Quote from: zridling on July 17, 2010, 04:16 AM

I was wrong. But I found it funny that Jobs begrudgingly offered bumpers: "If you need one, we'll issue it, are you happy now?"

Weird, angry quote.

Source? I didn't see that in the video...

Also... http://www.apple.com/antenna/

Interesting approach.

Deozaan · « **Reply #18 on:** July 17, 2010, 06:36 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on July 17, 2010, 02:26 PM

Also... http://www.apple.com/antenna/

Interesting approach.

Ha! I love how the index finger is stretched way to the top of the HTC Droid Eris. Holding it with your index finger across the top like that has got to be very uncomfortable. No one would hold it like that while actually trying to use it, since you can't actually use the phone in that position (can't text or use the touch screen (look how high up the thumb is) or anything). Also, look at the red mark on the person's thumb. It looks like whoever is holding the phone is putting a lot of pressure on it to make the blood rush to the surface of his thumb.

Deozaan · « **Reply #19 on:** July 17, 2010, 06:55 PM »

Take a look at this and decide for yourself whether that $100 million was wasted:

Quote from: http://www.apple.com/antenna/testing-lab.html

Apple has invested more than $100 million building its advanced antenna design and test labs. Our engineers have logged thousands of hours designing and testing iPhone 4 in these state-of-the-art facilities.

Mark0 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 17, 2010, 07:33 PM »

Speaking of antenna & reception, I think that the GPS sensibility (or, better, lack of!) of the 3Gs model was way even a much bigger thing.
How iPhone's users accepted to have to buy a costly car kit with another GPS receiver inside to use a GPS enabled smartphone as a car navigator is beyond me.

40hz · « **Reply #21 on:** July 17, 2010, 08:04 PM »

Well...I saw Apple's 'press conference.'

What it all boiled down to was little more than Steve Jobs saying T.F.B. and "deal with it."

I would personally like to suggest Mister Jobs hold it "where the sun don't shine."

---------------

[attach]

Mark0 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 17, 2010, 08:37 PM »

This guy called him out already:

Twitter - Marty Mobile

Quote

Not much of an apology from Jobs; and he's simply wrong about other phones being comparable. A little humility would serve him well.

He should know a thing or two!

wraith808 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 18, 2010, 02:19 PM »

More from consumer reports:
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-iphone-4-iphone4-free-bumpers-for-antenna-problem-signal-loss-issue-flaw-press-conference-news-consumer-reports-ratings.html

And a response from RIM:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/17/rim-co-ceos-apple/

Mark0 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 18, 2010, 02:32 PM »

Jobs made a big mistake bringing other phone's giants into question:

Pocket-lint - HTC: Droid Eris complaints nothing compared to iPhone 4

Jobs said that only 0.55% of iPhone's 4 customers called in about reception issues.
HTC now say they instead got only 0.016% of complaints for similar problems.

It's entirely possibile that the numbers refer to differents things, based on differents sampling & parameters from the two companies; but starting the whole confrontation seems a big mistake on Jobs part.