Apple held a press conference yesterday at their Cupertino campus, with much speculation beforehand as to what it might be about. Well, it turned out to be what most people expected: the iPhone 4 antenna problem.
If you’re not up on what this is, let me explain: The iPhone 4 has a metal band around its edge that is intended to act as the antenna (remember how on old phones you could see the antenna sticking out of the top?). There’s a small gap on each side of the case and, if you hold the iPhone 4 across those gaps, the signal drops… losing your call. The problem is, many people seem to want to hold their phone in the “death grip”. So, to put it briefly: when some people hold their iPhone 4 in the way most comfortable for them, it loses its signal.
There’s been much media to-ing and fro-ing about whether the problem exists at all, whether Apple knew about it, what could be done, and whether the iPhone 4 should be recalled and redesigned. Those are some of the issues Apple tackled at its press conference.
So what was the outcome?
- There is a problem with the iPhone 4′s antenna, although Apple say many other cell phones suffer from this as well. Perhaps the iPhone 4 just suffers more severely, or perhaps it’s just unfortunate that the death grip happens to be a comfortable holding position. Whatever the case, at least there’s an admission that there is something up. Steve Jobs does point out, though, that it only affects a very small number of users.
- The solution: free iPhone 4 cases. Apple will give every iPhone 4 owner a free case until the 30th of September, and if you already bought an Apple (not 3rd party) case you can get a refund. This will stop you touching the antenna, and prevent the death grip from happening.
- Apple are also working on problems with the proximity sensor, and the white iPhone 4 will start shipping at the end of July.
- At the moment, there is no recall of iPhone 4, but it’s not completely off the table.
OK, so the problem with he antenna will still be there, but less people will experience it because they’ll have the option of a free case to stop them touching it. What do you think? Smart move by Apple? Or sticking a bandaid on a fatal wound? Have you experienced “death grip” problems on your cell phone? Let us know in the comments.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it`s the right move indeed, but it would be even more right if they did it a bit earlier, to avoid such great scandal.
Holly, android application development
Thanks Holly – yeh I'd come down on the side of saying it's the right thing to have done.
Apparently they've been working on this ever since hearing about the problem – but I wonder how long it actually took to come up with the idea of just giving everyone a case :)