Hold Different
Posted on 07/02/2010 11:54:40 AM PDT by for-q-clinton
For two weeks, Apple dismissed rumors of a faulty antenna in the new iPhone 4 as nothing more than scuttlebutt. Any phone has these problems, Apple officials said. Buy a case to fix it.
Friday, Apple came clean: The antenna works just fine. But the software that displays signal strenth doesn't. The company has been using a faulty formula to determine signal strength in its phones for years.
"Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong," Apple said in a letter from two executives posted on its website Friday morning.
The letter went on to explain that there are no problems with the iPhone's antenna -- the only problem is with software that calculates how many bars should be showing. And the software hasn't worked properly since the original iPhone was released three years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcbayarea.com ...
You ain't alone, lady!
Hold Different
We got VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) ca. 1998. A year later my wife signed up with AT&T, When the contract ran out we were HAPPY to have her switch back to VS/T-Mobile. Coverage was not as widespread as the other carriers but dropouts on VS/TM wouldn't blow your ear off the way AT&T did.
T-Mobile was great at customer service, even if they were last in fancy cellphone offerings.
But when it comes to electronics, I am more than reluctant to buy anything with batteries that can't be replaced. Only if it's inexpensive enough, like my 4G Sansa Clip (20G with mini-SD card -- 200 CDs capacity) for ~$40. After a year my cellphone's battery doesn't seem to have the capacity it used to, and I've watched laptop bateeries degrade over time.
If they're dumb enough to buy the explanation, then I guess they're....dumb enough to buy it, and will be happy once they have more bars.
How are you distinguishing between reception and signal?
PLEASE NOTE, if you post a thread on APPLE, iPHONES, iPAD, or Macs, and wish to notify the Apple/Mac,iPhone,iPad list, please have the courtesy to Ping me, so that I may ping the list. Certain anti-Apple persons, notably, for-q-clinton (as in this thread), PugetSoundSoldier, and a few others are deliberately NOT pinging me to their negative, anti-Apple threads... for reasons of their own.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Thank you, for-q-clinton, for the heads up... credit given where credit is due.
I appreciate it. Sorry I was not able to ping the list earlier.
Unfortunately I was getting cut on ... emergency oral surgery. (remember that dry socket? It got a lot worse... Not feeling too well right now.)
Here’s what might be hiding in the bushes, ready to bite the AAPL
Google search for - - update 2.0.2 more bars stronger signal - - and you will find MANY reports of a magical increase in the number of bars shown on the display back in 2008.
Here we find a technical explanation of just why apple might have done this.
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/08/28/the-inside-deets-on-iphone-202-and-dropped-calls/
So - if this “new” fix reverses this, the original problem reemerges for all Apple 3G & 3GS phones, compounded by the new style antenna on iPhone4.
It may be a rough ride for AAPL and ATT
Wow so my comment about Apple giving ATT a bad name is pretty much true. It wasn't ATT that was the primary cause of dropped calls it was the crappy radio code in the iPhone that caused the issue.
Look out Verizon...when you get the iPhone on your network you'll tick off a lot of people as the iPhone drains the cell tower of power because of its buggy code.
That link has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
This "buggy code" was fixed TWO YEARS AGO! Your claim there will be a problem for Verizon when it gets the iPhone is FUD. As usual.
If the extra bars were pasted into the 3G by 2.0.2 to avoid having to recall and rework hardware at that time, they might have royally screwed themselves by admitting to it.
If they had kept their mouth shut about the same screwed up code being in the 3G & 3GS, and simply patched the iphone4 they might have gotten away with it.
Really ? Then riddle me this ...
The problem with the 3G was the towers were maxing out their power, resulting in dropped calls.
The software update solved the problem and somehow people were reporting extra bars.
How can this be ? A maxed out transmitter problem should show LOWER bars when solved ... LESS of a signal to each mobile - everyone plays nicely, gets just what they need and no one gets bumped.
The solution appears to have been to play with the math, make the iphone believe it is getting more signal then it really is so it doesn’t demand more from the tower. This solution avoids the problem while showing more bars then it rightly should.
The problem today as they explain it is that the iphone is showing more bars then it rightly should, and the code used is the same as used in 3G.
Totally different areas of the code... that's how it can be. One has to do with receiving the signal... the other has to do with displaying the relative strength of the signal on the screen.
Correct about different areas, but wrong conclusion.
The Infineon RF deck is programmed before assembly in the finished product, its code is not accessible without tear-down.
Reports like this - http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080813_430402.htm
say “Apple programmed the Infineon chip to demand a more powerful 3G signal than the iPhone really requires”
... and numerous reports of people using the 3G’s field test mode show no increase in received signal strength after updating to correspond to more bars shown.
... and you still have not addressed how a formerly maxed out transmitter would show as MORE bars when it is now providing LESS signal to each mobile.
BTW - it’s deja vu all over again -
“Apple has stated in their release that the new firmware update “improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display.” The question is, did Apple add any enhancements to get better reception or did they simply enhance the signal bar cosmetically?”
Funny - my iPhone has been the most reliable phone I have had, in regards to dropped calls. I have owned Nokia, Motorola, Samsung (Blackjack II - terrible about dropping calls), and an iPhone (3G). The iPhone has had the least troubles with dropped calls.
In fact, my wife’s Samsung Propel drops calls far more often - and I can place/receive calls when she cannot.
Are those your tests? Oh - everything posted on the internet is factual...
Which iOS is your iphone running?
Upon investigation, we were stunned our beeber to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong
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