Apple To Issue a 'Fix' For iPhone 4 Reception Perception 534
Posted
by
kdawson
from the iphone-walks-into-a-bar dept.
from the iphone-walks-into-a-bar dept.
Lisandro and several other readers let us know that Apple has just released a statement addressing the signal issues a lot of users are having with their iPhone 4. They claim to have discovered the cause for the drop in bars, which is "both simple and surprising" — a wrong formula used to calculate how many bars are displayed for a given signal strength. "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. ... we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place. ... We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G." Wired notes that there is still a signal drop when the iPhone 4 is gripped in particular ways.
Formula change (Score:5, Funny)
if(bar_count3) barcount=3;
Re:Formula change (Score:5, Funny)
stupid slashdot html ruined that! That'll teach me not to use preview. if (bar_count LESS_THAN 3)....
Re:Formula change (Score:1, Funny)
There are bars in cellphones ? I'm drinking in the wrong place.
These aren't the bars you're looking for... (Score:5, Funny)
Just force hold it next to your ear like the rest of us!
Breaking news (Score:4, Funny)
Goatse man works at Apple.
I mean, they had to pull that out of somewhere.
bars (Score:5, Funny)
Programming is so easy (Score:5, Funny)
that Marketing fixed the bug!
Re:Formula change (Score:3, Funny)
I'm drinking in the wrong place
"Stop drinking that way. Why aren't you drinking Kool-Aid???" -Steve Jobs
Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)
"We need to do something QUICK! The media is raging on this issue! Even the general media!!! Even ads are mocking us!"
"We can design an isolation band to put on the phone, and market it as the next fashionable thing"
"people would rage it's not free and would cost too much to ship out to everyone.. any other idea's?"
"Recall! Redesign! WE HAVE NO CHOICE"
"TOO EXPENSIVE! and we just fired our antenna guys."
programmer: "I can write a tool to detect if they're lefties by usage stats..."
"... listening."
"And then adjust their reception display."
"What do you need?!"
"5 hookers, one masseuse, 2 days of coding and unlimited supply of skittles."
"GIVE THIS MAN WHAT HE NEEDS! Get to work! Good job."
Re:There's an if statement for everything (Score:2, Funny)
If(receptionBars.Count = 1) {
}
log (Score:2, Funny)
I wonder if it took Apple's Three New Antenna Guys to find out that they fail at logarithms.
Re:Breaking news (Score:1, Funny)
Goatse man works at Apple.
I mean, they had to pull that out of somewhere.
He's invaluable to their market research department. He truly represents the average Apple fanboi
Re:Joke (Score:5, Funny)
An iPhone walks into a bar... oh wait it was a guy walks into a bar and leaves his iPhone
He probably had a similar problem to the iPhone when he left .... seeing two bars when there should only be one.
Re:Not so perfect iPhone? (Score:5, Funny)
So, instead of solving the problem, they just downgraded the problem??? Sorry iPhone fans, but it looks like your phone cannot event manage something so simple and base as signal strength!!!!!!
Nonsense.. Apple has fixed the problem of the bars going down by recalculating the scale. This is perfectly acceptable. It's an elegant cost efficient and perfectly practical solution. I mean.. If a warning light is blinking, just take the bulb out. No more warning light, problem solved.. yes?
More accurate version.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Formula change (Score:5, Funny)
Trouble with Bars (Score:2, Funny)
Public and Media: "OMFG! When I hold the iPhone in my left hand I lose half my bars!"
Apple: "No, no, no! It's not that at all! You shouldn't have had any bars to begin with! And in fact, NONE of the iPhones should have had bars!"
Re:Formula change (Score:2, Funny)
You can also just use FORTRAN:
IF(signal_strength .lt. 3) signal_strength = 3
more bars in more places (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Formula change (Score:5, Funny)
Apparently it's more iphones in more bars, if the missing prototype is any indication.
Re:RSimple solution - return it. (Score:4, Funny)
The fix... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Formula change (Score:3, Funny)
And preview. Preview is your friend.
Yeah, it helps to make sure you
Re:Formula change (Score:1, Funny)
I want a phone that goes to 11.
Re:Formula change (Score:3, Funny)
How is that a reply? Every phone does this. A youtube video doesn't change physics.
And the Anandtech article gives actual numbers to verify what I've said.
As for ad hominem, you have no fucking clue what that means. It doesn't mean I said you don't know what you're talking about, it means I attacked you in lieu of attacking your argument. Ad hominem is something like, "my esteemed opponent is a Mormon, therefore you cannot believe his testimony as to whether I was at the brothel last Tuesday evening," not, "you're and damned idiot, and here's why..."
Re:Formula change (Score:3, Funny)
You're labeling me a damned idiot, and even openly stated that you believe that I have a 'bug up my ass' about Apple. You said so a post or two over, remember?
Busted? I think so...
Anyway, I'm specifically replying to your statement that...
There's no way to make a phone that doesn't suffer from signal attenuation when you cover the antenna.
Did you even watch the video? Because it shows two phones, made by the same company, on the same network, in the same physical location, being held in the same manner, achieving different results. That's pretty scientific, in so far as a youtube video can be. He even deliberately covers where the old device's antenna is as well, without that same result.
You're flaming me. And honestly I think you should apologize, if not for the anti-social behavior then at least for not even watching the video you 'rebutted' so handily.
Re:Formula change (Score:3, Funny)
You're labeling me a damned idiot, and even openly stated that you believe that I have a 'bug up my ass' about Apple. You said so a post or two over, remember?
I didn't call you a damned idiot, that was just an example (that's not to say I don't hold that view, I reserve the right to make that judgement). I did, however, say you have a bug up your ass.
Busted? I think so...
Busted for what? Calling it like I see it?
Did you even watch the video?
Yes, and it's not a refutation of the fact that every single radio device the size of a cell phone will have signal attenuation when a human hand covers the antenna. This is physics.
You're flaming me.
You're a fucking troll who's flaming people left and right. You deserve it (and I've been relatively mild until right now.
And honestly I think you should apologize, if not for the anti-social behavior then at least for not even watching the video you 'rebutted' so handily.
Feigned injury. You are a troll.
The video doesn't rebut anything. You can't rebut physics. If that video demonstrates what you seem to think it does, that youtuber ought to be in line for a Nobel prize.