東西 | dongxi

Resorting to duct tape for a fix

Consumer Reports released a report detailing the antenna-reception issues plaguing the iPhone 4.  Their conclusion? Stick with the 3GS, not the iPhone 4. The report continues further to call into question Apple’s recent response and “fix” with the software patch.

Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4’s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that “mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.

The tests also indicate that AT&T’s network might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4’s much-reported signal woes.

The issue, ultimately, is that the iPhone 4 “death grip” (the loss of reception when your hand grips across the phone in certain spots) is a hardware issue, not a software issue. The so-called “fix” that Apple is promising only re-adjusts (and properly displays) the service (or lack thereof) AT&T provides. The issue with the total reception loss (when holding the phone) is a different issue entirely and cannot be fixed without actually physically fixing the phone.

While a relatively easy fix for the phone is to (buy and) use the bumper (sold for $30) or “just avoid holding it that way” (as per Steve Jobs’s suggestion), what’s really at a fault is Apple’s response. Not only has Apple done little to address these issues as they have been coming to light, but the few actions Apple has taken has been misleading and can even be considered as deceptive.

The Apple iPhone, as great as a phone as it is, has a major hardware flaw – one that in fact impacts the primary function of the phone: to make calls. To ask consumers to pay additionally (for bumpers) to fix a mistake on Apple’s end is a failure on Apple’s end to provide basic and adequate support for their own product. While a full recall/replacement of the millions of iPhone 4s already sold may be wishful thinking, Apple should, at the very least, be held to fully acknowledge this product flaw and provide a reasonable solution to their consumers.

[Consumer Reports - Lab tests: Why Consumer Reports can't recommend the iPhone 4]