Posted on 07/16/2010 7:36:37 AM PDT by RachelFaith
As Apple prepared to address the mounting controversy surrounding the antenna of the iPhone 4, one thing appeared clear: the company does not plan to recall the popular device.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ping!
One person with direct knowledge of the phone’s design said Thursday that the iPhone 4 exposed a longstanding weakness in the basic communications software inside Apple’s phones and that the reception problems were not caused by an isolated hardware flaw.
Instead, the problems emerged in the complex interaction between specialized communications software and the antenna, said the person, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
The proof will be in the pudding. Whatever Apple announces today as their "fix" had better be conclusive and work reliably on every unit (except of course any with -other- unrelated individual problems).
If it's anything less than perfect, it'll appear as yet-another-whitewash, which would be incredibly unhappy for all.
I'm not an RF expert, I only dabble. I'll agree that the possibility exists for a software-only fix,... *IF* the problem is a software-only problem.
Long experience tells me that software cannot correct a hardware problem: it can accommodate the problem, it can mask the problem, and in some cases it can ameliorate the problem. But it cannot correct it in a true engineering sense.
I'll cross my fingers for Apple and wish them good luck, if this is the tack they take. But frankly I'm skeptical. I'm sorta hoping they own up to a hardware problem and correct it in a new release; people will believe that. And today, what people believe is Apple's biggest problem.
A software interaction would explain why the perception of low signal and the reality of few actual dropped calls is so different. And most of these cell phones today use no where near the power in watts that the older generations used, so it is mostly software on a very very low signal. Which is why none of the phone have the old radio style antennas any more.
I will be amazed if software can fix such a design flaw. Do you have any idea how that could be done in software?
As I wrote above, software cannot correct flawed hardware. Period.
Depending on the nature of the flaw, software can reduce the problem less severe; in some cases it can make the problem effectively disappear from the user's point of view.
I'm skeptical. If Apple produces a software-only fix, I would require two things:
> ...software can reduce the problem less severe...
software can reduce the severity of the effects of the problem.
Very interesting. I don't know enough about current cell phone technology to comment from a technical point of view, but in general engineering terms, I'll have to agree that your statement would make sense in terms of everything getting smaller and lower-power.
Using software to make the most of a weak signal... I don't doubt that's part of the puzzle.
OTOH, the hand around the phone causing the signal to drop even further -- that's still a fundamentally hardware issue. We'll see if better software can accommodate it.
These days with the way hardware and software are intertwined, you never know. 30 years ago I remember a geek practical joke running around about software being able to fry your CPU, and it was a practical joke because those who really knew the system knew you couldn't do that (crystal-based timing). Nowdays software can easily overclock your CPU or GPU and fry it.
Obviously, software can't fix an issue like the EVO 4G coming apart at the seams. That's pure hardware. But if the iPhone's antenna is software-controlaled to a large extent, it can be fixed. Apple was bragging about its new method of getting better reception, intelligently switching around and such, and that sounded entirely software. It also sounded very complex, the perfect place for a bug that causes the problem.
I agree.
I base my skepticism on the description of how the problem is generated by hand placement. Hand placement isn't software, it's hardware. It's touching the antenna, which any engineer will agree will change the level of the signal, whether receiving or transmitting, by de-tuning the resonant characteristics of the antenna at the frequencies of interest. If the problem is bridging between the two antennas, it gets much more complicated, I imagine.
The actual nature of the problem is that hand placement causes the signal level to drop. Period. That's not software, it's physics.
Now, granted that there are surely some fancy algorithms in the software which deal with widely varying signal strengths. There have to be. And probably there are some fancy adaptive functions that deal with all manner of issues from orientation to ghost-suppression to echo-cancellation and so forth, most of which are way over my head.
But ultimately, the cause of the problem is hardware -- a hand on an antenna. At best, the software will attempt to accommodate (live with), or compensate for, the hardware problem. It cannot correct it, because at the root, it is a hardware issue.
That said, I know firsthand of a large number of hardware issues that were accommodated or compensated for in software, where the symptoms disappeared completely. It all depends on the hardware problem. Some, you can do that. Others, not.
Conference in half an hour.
Your analysis is spot-on. Software cannot fix the hardware, and with independent cell phone antenna experts, and even Apple’s own chief RF engineer stating that it’s a flawed antenna design, I have zero expectation that a software patch will do any more than just hide the problem. Change the bars more aggressively.
I think you’re right, this is going to be a white-wash.
Sorry, a DOCUMENTED FAILURE MODE is not FUD. It may BECOME FUD if Apple releases an actual fix (one that's proven). Until that point, the antenna problem is real, it exists, it is not FUD by definition.
FUD is Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
So, that is EXACTLY what it IS, unless proven to be REAL. Innocent until PROVEN guilty is the American way. Benefit of the doubt.
FUD is when someone says things, yet unproven or exagerated in an attempt to make Fear, or Uncertainty or Doubt effect the behaviors of the people.
Like some troll posting that this is a “FATAL FLAW” when it turns out to be a bug in their own newly designed software and it fixed without any recall.
THAT IS FUD.
Now, if you are right, and it is all hardware, and they have to issue that #3 option you picked and Recall the iPhone en mass, then it is NOT FUD and you win the cookie.
Right now, it is an opinion. One of us will be right and one of us will be wrong by this afternoon. And it will be FATAL FLAW or FUD.
See ya tonight!
So your contention is that the antenna problem is not real? Seriously? Because that’s the ONLY way your position of “it’s FUD” actually can be true.
If the problem exists - regardless of the source - it’s not FUD. Is there an antenna problem, yes or now? No equivocating, no hedging - yes or no?
Press conference started.
Steve opens with, PC World namechecked as listing iPhone as #1 phone, highest customer satisfaction of any iPhone or smartphone ever.
I realize some will blame the RDF, fanboys, cultists, etc but wouldn’t that second part mean this isn’t causing huge problems in real world use?
SOME people have said so.
YOU said it was FATAL and would result in a RECALL.
I say THAT is FUD.
Not that someone somewhere said, I had an issue.
One is an issue. Plain, simple and we will find out now what and how big or small.
FATAL FLAW!! 1.5 BILLION RECALL.
That is FUD.
Get it?
Steve demoed the same issue occurring with Blackberry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris and an unidentified Samsung. It appears the contention is right now that it is a limitation of phones in general.
“0.55% of all iPhone customers have called AppleCare with an antenna issue.”
1/2 of 1% ... Oh thats FATAL alright.
Fatal for the trolls and their empty dreams!!
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