iPhone owners use nail polish to fix gadget
CHARLES ARTHUR
June 29, 2010 - 10:17AM
Want to know the must-have item for owners of the new iPhone 4? A bit of duct tape - or a dab of nail polish.
The reason: despite Steve Jobs's describing the positioning of the antennae which pick up the mobile signal on the outside of the phone, rather than the inside, as "brilliant engineering", a number of users have discovered that if it is held from the bottom, the signal strength drops off dramatically - because their skin changes the electrical properties of the antennae.
Now, Jobs has informally - and Apple formally - acknowledged the issue: in email replies to owners of the new phones complaining about the problem, Jobs gave a simple response. "Don't hold it that way," he told one.
Apple's statement notes that: "Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others ... this is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."
Some users have found tape or nail polish on the corner is a solution.
With the iPhone 4 having been a sellout in many stores - and Vodafone emailing customers whom it promised supplies to tell them that it cannot satisfy them - the problems are an embarrassment for Apple, which had to overcome early problems with wireless reception on its tablet-style computer, the iPad, when that was launched in May.
Dozens of people have posted videos on YouTube showing how the signal reception for 3G voice and data networks falls off when it is held so that the hand touches the antenna parts on the bottom of the phone. Companies selling silicone casing for the iPhone 4 report that they have already been busier, as word of the problem has spread, than they were for last year's release of the iPhone 3GS.
Antenna expert Spencer Webb said all mobile phones house the antenna in the bottom of the phone, to minimise the radio output near the head so that the phone will pass safety testing by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). "It's a design compromise that is forced by the requirements of the FCC, AT&T, Apple's marketing department and Apple's industrial designers, to name a few."
Apple offers a solution: "bumpers" which fits around the edge of the phone. But at (in the UK) GBP29, they have not pleased people who think their phone should work correctly out of the box.
Guardian News & Media
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-li ... hx.html?autostart=1

Nokia mocks iPhone 4 reception issues on blog
IT HASN'T even been released in Australia yet but the iPhone 4 is already causing plenty of discussion, with some overseas users complaining that reception is reduced when their hand is on the external antenna.
Even Apple chief Steve Jobs has bought into the argument, saying people were holding the phone the "wrong way" in their left hand, then claiming there were no reception issues with the advanced phone.
That raised the ire of everyone from left-handed groups to the makers of covers designed to fix the problem and even keen do-it-yourselfers who found some carefully applied clear nail polish did the trick.
Now Finnish competitor Nokia has cheekily emerged with its own tutorial guide on how to hold a phone, describing four main grips as the Thumb and Finger, the Cup, the Balance and the Four Edge Grip.
"One of the main things we've found about the one billion-plus Nokia devices that are in use today is that when making a phone call, people generally tend to hold their phone like a . . . well, like a phone," the guide says.
"Of course, feel free to ignore all of the above because realistically, you're free to hold your Nokia device any way you like. And you won't suffer any signal loss. Cool, huh?"
Apple fans have quickly countered that while Nokia may be great at making phone hardware, it is way behind on operating systems and applications.
Oh well, intense competition is the key to innovation so maybe this will help us all, even mollydookers. 
 Link here:
http://www.news.com.au/technolog ... 40725#ixzz0sJV65v4z

I think the new iPhone is a revolution one.
But 4G can support only in some countries, but my country.
I think i will try it, if available.
This time it is too expansive.

$3000 iPhone 4 for sale in China
June 30, 2010 - 9:49AM
The latest version of Apple's iPhone is on sale in Beijing's electronic stores and luxury hotels, months before the official launch of the trendy smartphone in China, state media said Tuesday.
Privately imported iPhone 4 devices are available in the capital for as much as 17,000 yuan (US$2500), the China Daily said. That compares to a starting retail price in the United States of US$199.
Vendors were confident customers would pay the hefty mark-up as the iPhone 4, which boasts high-definition video, video chat and sharper screen resolution, is not expected to be officially launched in China for at least another six months, the paper said.
"The iPhone 3G which I am using now can greatly satisfy my needs, but it is still good to have the latest one. It is fashion," Zhao Zhan, 24, told the English-language newspaper.
Fans mobbed stores last week when Apple launched the iPhone 4 in Europe, Japan and the United States. The California-based company says it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices in the three days after its launch Thursday.
China's grey market in Apple products has been developing for years to satisfy demand for the iPhone, which only officially went on sale in China in October - more than two years after its US debut.
China Unicom, the only Chinese telecom operator that offers the iPhone in the world's largest cellphone market, has said it is in talks with Apple to sell the 4G handset and the iPad.
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-li ... -20100630-zk9d.html

Pretty funny how that works. But it seems that it is only the black band between the metal strips that causes the problem.  It will most likely be fixed over time. It just seems like this issue is not really getting people that upset or they would be cosmogony for refunds or a recall.  Good info though

The internet is not safe for anyone with secrets. Three, a HK mobile phone provider with iPhone exclusive provider rights, have posted their proposed price plans on the net

Its in Chinese but you can use Google Chrome to get a direct English translation - https://spreadsheets.google.com/ ... N1SkR4V2Nrc2c#gid=4

Leaked: how Apple 'handles' iPhone 4 flaws
July 1, 2010 - 12:09PM
This post was originally published on mashable.com.
According to documents leaked to Boy Genius Report today, AppleCare representatives are being given a strong company line to deliver to unhappy iPhone 4 owners who complain about reception issues.
Employees are told to say that the device's reception performance "is the best we have ever shipped" and that its critical antenna flaws are "a fact of life in the wireless world." They are told not to perform service on iPhones with these problems and instead to give customers a PR-driven recitative instead.

In a nutshell, Apple knows the phone has problems but will insist that users are simply "holding it wrong."
These statements are dead ringers for CEO Steve Jobs's own assertions that the iPhone 4 antenna and reception issues do not, in fact, exist. "There is no reception issue," he told one user. But the very fact that this document exists suggests that Apple execs know there is indeed a widespread hardware flaw, even if they're unwilling to address it publicly at this time.
Outside the reality distortion field, on the other hand, we and many others have been able to duplicate the issue being discussed: When held by its sides, which are composed of a metal antenna band, the phone's reception quality drops dramatically. iPhone owners in our newsroom have seen reception decrease from five to two bars simply from holding the phone with two points of contact between the owner's hand and the antenna band.
One law firm is even preparing for a class-action lawsuit against Apple and is soliciting iPhone 4 customers to contact them about reception issues.
Also, while some folks have reported that using a bumper case prevents contact with the antenna band and preserves reception quality, AppleCare reps are being told to not give bumper cases to disgruntled users.
Here's the full text of the document as reported:
1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.
a. The iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4's overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS. b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world. c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand. d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band. e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.
2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.
3. Don't forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.
4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.
5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON'T promise a free bumper to customers.
Mashable.com is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on social media news
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-li ... -20100701-zokt.html

I went to a 3 shop on Monday and the idiots there said they don't have anything on the 4G yet !  

The outlets aren't given a lot of info but I was told from a close source that it's gonna be available in HK towards mid-late July.

Does anyone know how to get to sent mail on the new os. It shows all the mailboxes together but not the "sent mail".   By the way, as you are waiting for the phone the odd thing is buying a case is a hard thing to do.  Where are the cases for the new iPhone.

Consumers sue Apple over antenna flaws
July 2, 2010 - 8:44AM
Consumers have launched two law suits against Apple in the United States over antenna problems on its newest iPhone model.
Apple launched the iPhone 4 last week to a huge groundswell of demand. But the launch was also plagued by complaints from some customers about poor call reception on the device when they held it in a certain way.
The problems have been a hot topic on the internet, but it is unclear how many people have been affected. The issue does not seem to have hurt iPhone sales so far. Apple sold 1.7 million new iPhones in the first three days.

A putative class action filed Tuesday in the US District court for the Northern District of California against Apple and AT&T - the iPhone's exclusive wireless carrier in the United States - includes allegations of fraud by concealment, negligence, intentional misrepresentation and defective design.
"The iPhone 4 manifests design and manufacturing defects that were known to defendants before it was released which were not disclosed to consumers, namely, a connection problem caused by the iPhone 4's antenna configuration that makes it difficult or impossible to maintain a connection to AT&T's network," the lawsuit said.
It said Apple and AT&T have failed to provide customer support and customers have been left with only three remedies: "hold their phones in an awkward and unnatural manner," pay a 10 per cent restocking fee and return their phones, or pay US$29.95 to buy one of Apple's cases that are said to fix the reception problem.
The iPhone 4 represents a complete redesign over the previous model. A band around the rim of the smartphone acts as its antenna.
The company responded to user complaints last week by saying the antenna performance of every wireless phone is impacted in some way by the how it is held, depending on where the antenna is located.
Apple and AT&T both decline to comment on Thursday. Apple was advertising job vacancies for antenna engineers this week and a leaked document appeared to show the company is attempting to deal with complaints by instructing support staff to deflect them.
In another purported class action complaint filed on Wednesday against Apple and AT&T in the US District Court for the District of Maryland Kevin McCaffrey and Linda Wrinn said they were sold "defective" iPhone 4 units, which drop calls and data service "when held it in a manner consistent with normal wireless phone use."
Both suits cite emails reportedly sent from Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, responding to iPhone customers complaints' about reception. Those responses were widely circulated on the internet.
In one response, Jobs said: "Just avoid holding it (the iPhone] in that way."
Reuters
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-li ... -20100702-zr93.html

If you look at some previous posts the question was posed as to why the outcry over the antenna was not bigger.  Well finally a class action lawsuit to address the issue.  Problem is this will take years to resolve and most likely the ordianty iPhone owner will never see a nickel.  Article point out still not how widespread te problem is.

It's not about making money for plaintiffs, it's about apple being held to account.

At the end of the day the problem will have to be fixed. Apple is damaging their brand name with these tactics.

If I was considering buying an iphone, I would after seeing these reports, be holding off till the problem had been adequately addressed

[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 2-7-2010 12:35 ]

There's a class action lawsuit against the iphone 4 now in the US because of the antenna problems.

Barely a week since the public got its hands on the iPhone 4, the first lawsuit over it has been filed.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of Kevin McCaffrey, Linda Wrinn, and others on Wednesday, the suit accuses Apple and AT&T of knowingly distributing a phone with a malfunctioning antenna. The iPhone maker and its exclusive carrier partner in the U.S. are accused of a laundry list of infractions, including: general negligence, defect in design, manufacture, and assembly, breach of warranty, deceptive trade practices, intentional and negligent misrepresentation, and fraud by concealment.

The class action suit is latching on to the reported issue some customers are having with signal loss when the iPhone 4 is gripped in a certain way. It's been suggested the problem is tied to the iPhone 4's design, which incorporates the cellular radio into the metal band running on the outside of the phone, right where most people put their hands when holding the device. However, it's still not clear if a software update to the phone would help with the issue. Apple has maintained that it's a problem common to any phone when held in that manner and suggested that customers buy a rubber case as a solution.

The class action suit says: "Almost immediately after the purchase of their iPhone 4 devices, both McCaffrey and Wrinn began to experience significantly reduced reception and performance when handling the phones as demonstrated in Apple's advertisements or as a reasonable person would handle a mobile telephone while making phone calls, browsing the Internet, sending text messages, or utilizing other services provided by the iPhone 4."

As evidence of Apple's mishandling of the situation they cite the internal memo that was leaked to the Web in which AppleCare representatives were coached not to provide warranty service to customers experiencing this problem. The plaintiffs were also not cheered by the news that when a reader wrote to Steve Jobs complaining that if he held the phone in a certain way he lost the signal, Jobs responded, "Just don't hold it that way."

The suit is asking for monetary damages as compensation and that Apple and AT&T be prevented from selling similar iPhone 4's with defective antennas.

Word is people are taking lance Armstrong brackets and cutting out around the switches and power in etc and wrapping that around the phone.  Seems to work.  And lance loves it

Apparently Apple now has admitted the fault and will offer a refund if needed within 30 days

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10490572.stm

So the patch seems to be displaying the correct amount of bars. Or a refund. Does it really matter-- how many people do you think go in for the refund after waiting so long and being on line for hours to get one.   Monitoring the refund claims will tell how serious people view the issue.   This article is the best one yet describing the issue.

Apple to address iPhone 'death grip' concerns, signal strength bars 'easier to see'
                From:
AP July 05, 2010 8:37AM
        •        'Death grip' shows real signal strength
        •        iPhones showed false signal 'for years'
IPHONE-MAKER Apple - "stunned" to find that its iPhones have for years been showing inflated signal strengths - will make the signal strength bars bigger, it said.
Apple's latest model, iPhone 4, can show a sudden plunge in signal strength when users hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone.
Users have jokingly called this the "death grip" for the phone.
That drop seems exaggerated because the phone can wrongly display four or five bars of signal strength when it shouldn't, Apple said.
"Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place," the company admitted.
Yet the statement that the bar display is "totally wrong" is surprising, since there is no standard formula in the industry for translating signal strength to bars.
The company said it will fix the formula to one recommended by its US service provider AT&T through a free software update within a few weeks and apologised to customers "for any anxiety we may have caused".
"We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see," the company said.
However, the "wrong" formula goes back as far as the original iPhone, launched in 2007.
AT&T has borne much of the users' blame for dropped calls and poor wireless performance.
In saying that the phones have been showing too many bars, Apple is putting the spotlight on the network's performance.
If the phones haven't been giving a good indication of signal strength, users may have been missing clues that they should go to a location with a better signal to place a call, or that they're holding the phone wrong.
Apple launched the iPhone 4 on June 24 in the US and four other countries, and users began complaining on Apple's customer support website within hours.
Some outside engineers and users have blamed the iPhone 4's apparent reception problems on the novel design that incorporates its antenna into the case.
But the company said that any phone will show reduced reception if held in a way that covers the antenna, usually mounted at the rear and bottom of a phone.
It maintains that iPhone 4's wireless performance is better than previous models.
Spencer Webb, president of antenna design company AntennaSys Inc., found in cursory testing that switching to the "death grip" took an iPhone 4 from five bars to one. But that didn't interrupt a call in progress.
He said it was too early to conclude that the antenna design is faulty, given that the phone has been out only for a week.
At the same time, Apple could have defused the situation by including a simple card in the iPhone's packaging, showing how best to hold it, Mr Webb said.
Link here:
http://www.news.com.au/technolog ... rfro0-1225887857409

does anyone know if there is an iphone in japan.  also i heard mongering in japan is really difficult for people who do not speak japanese.  anyone have any experience with that?  is there a website with info like this one for japan?

Plenty of information in the global sex compendium at the top of the international section.
http://forum.sex141.com/eforum/v ... &extra=page%3D1