Nokia: 'we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict'
Nokia's looking to ride the mojo of any negative fallout from today's Apple press conference, slipping out a rather fascinating statement this afternoon. The gist of it is that Espoo's keen on letting everyone know how much blood, sweat, and tears they've poured into perfecting their antenna design strategy over the years, going so far as to say that they "prioritize" it over the physical design of the phone if they need to in order to optimize its call performance -- an opinion moderately different from the "we want to have our cake and eat it too" philosophy espoused by Jobs today. In closing, Nokia acknowledges that a "tight grip" can mess with the performance, though they say they've done a bunch of research on the ways their phones are typically held so that the antennas are placed optimally. Interestingly, there was a stink not long ago about the severe signal degradation some E71 users were seeing when they placed their hands on the lower rear of the phone -- but you can't win 'em all, we suppose. Follow the break for the full statement.
Continue reading Nokia: 'we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict'
RIM co-CEOs pull no punches responding to Apple's antenna statements
Here's the full statement:
"Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple."
HTC fires back at Apple antenna demo with percentage pew-pew
Apple's Friday press conference may have left a bad taste in some rival handset manufacturer's mouths, but not all of them are taking Cupertino's derision of their devices seriously -- HTC's Droid Eris was arguably the most affected by the grip of doom, its bars dropping to zilch when held, but the Taiwanese company's keeping any controversial opinions to itself for now. Instead, it's sharing a simple percentage to help clear the air. Whereas Apple claimed over 0.55 percent of customers called AppleCare with reception-related complaints, HTC's Eric Lin told Pocket-lint the Droid Eris technical support rate was 0.016 percent, nearly thirty-four times lower -- though even with a seven-month head start, we have to wonder if the Eris sold close to three million by the time Verizon brought the axe down.
(HTC earns my respect, maybe I'll get an Android unit as my 2nd phone later this year ...)
Even with a free bumper, Consumer Reports still doesn’t recommend iPhone 4
Earlier this week, Consumer Reports concluded that the iPhone 4 has antenna issues and therefore did not recommend it until Apple offered a free fix. During Friday’s iPhone 4 press conference, Apple announced that, through September 30th, they will be providing free bumpers to iPhone 4 owners and offering refunds to those who have already purchased one. However, Consumer Reports still does not recommend the iPhone 4.
Consumer Reports believes Apple’s offer of free cases is a good first step. However, Apple has indicated that this is not a long-term solution, it has guaranteed the offer only through September 30th, and has not extended it unequivocally to customers who bought cases from third-party vendors. We look forward to a long-term fix from Apple. As things currently stand, the iPhone 4 is still not one of our Recommended models.
Wait… what? Let’s back up. Consumer Reports has confirmed that Apple’s bumper does indeed alleviate the iPhone 4’s signal-loss problem. They also stated that they would recommend the iPhone 4 once Apple provided a free solution to the signal-loss problem. This is exactly what Apple has done, yet Consumer Reports will not give their recommendation. Yes, Apple’s solution is only in effect until September 30th, at which point they will “reevaluate” the issue and perhaps “have a better idea,” but why not recommend the iPhone 4 until that date? It seems rather contradictory.
What do you think? Is Consumer Reports being inconsistent, or is their lack of recommendation justified? Sound off in the comments below!
I need a quick favour from someone running iOS 3 - Can you SSH into your phone and get the icon (icon.png) from Contacts.app? (located at /private/var/stash/Applications)
It's not surprising that after Apple finished explaining the iPhone 4 antenna issues to the press today, the company wanted to go one step further and say "yes, actually, we do test the hell out of these phones before we release them to the public." Though Steve Jobs went over the lengthy and intensive kinds of radio evaluation that goes on at Apple's headquarters, it didn't seem to be enough for the folks in Cupertino. And that, we suspect, is why we were invited (along with a small group of other journalists) to take a brief tour of Apple's Infinite Loop labs. Though we weren't allowed to shoot video or take pictures, we can tell you about what we did -- and what we didn't -- see and hear behind closed doors.
After Jobs wrapped the nearly hour and a half presentation, we were pulled aside by Apple PR and ushered through the center of the Infinite Loop campus -- a new experience for us, since we'd never been deeper than one of the company's small theaters. Once all the attendees had been gathered (folks like Jason Snell from Macworld, Daring Fireball's John Gruber, and a smattering of mainstream journalists from places such as Wired, USA Today and the New York Times), we were led further into the campus (and eventually across a street) into a separate building. After a series of double doors and long, anonymous hallways, we entered a large, warehouse-like lab cluttered with test equipment amid large tables covered in mysterious black cloth (and no, we couldn't look under the cloth). Awaiting us was Phil Schiller, Greg Joswiak, Bob Mansfield, and engineer Ruben Caballero. The latter employee has become a somewhat controversial figure over the last few days, as he was alleged to have known about and communicated concerns over the new antenna design (according to a Bloomberg article which Jobs lambasted as a "crock" during today's press conference). Oh, and there was also an assortment of PR folks, lest the nosey journalists get out of line and require a tasing.
So our group stood in the concrete and steel room -- quite sparse and utilitarian, not what you expect from Apple -- surrounded by giant aluminum cubes (a few of the company's 17 anechoic chambers used for radio testing), and a small army of Apple reps. Ruben began by telling us that the labs used to be secret even to Apple employees -- something they referred to as "black labs." He also informed us that there were 40 engineers working in those labs who were experts and held PhDs in physics, telemetry, and all matter of dark arts that allow the company to continually develop and test wireless technologies. We were walked over to one of the stranger chambers, a box on one side with an ever-tapering portion on the other that made the whole contraption look a bit like a bird's beak. Ruben informed us that this particular chamber would run you about $1.2 million US dollars. Inside, the room was covered in massive teal pyramids of sound and signal damping foam, and there was an iPad strapped to a rotating mechanism that we were told was being used to get an idea of what the wireless performance would be like at any angle. This was a passive test, as opposed to active tests involving humans and real interference (more on that in a moment), and it was being performed using Macs running... Windows XP. When asked why they would still be testing the iPad, Bob and Ruben had a good laugh about having been testing the iPad "for years," and then Ruben smiled and offered a rote explanation about continually testing even after products are in the market. Sure Ruben, sure.
We were shown another chamber opposite the "beak" where an iPhone 4 was jammed into a bizarre styrofoam cube... that was rotating at intervals. Panels in the room were also rotating, while an antenna supported on an arm (this one delivering a cell signal to the device, this being one of the "active" measurements), changed its position periodically. We'd be lying if we didn't tell you we were a little disturbed, it was like a tiny, very clean Saw contraption. According to Phil, what we were looking at was "the most advanced lab for doing RF studies that anyone in the world has."
it's worth noting the progression of testing styles we were presented with, each one introducing a little more variance and human interaction, which brings us to probably the coolest thing we had a chance to see: that room in the picture above.
The third chamber is a bit of a throne room, or the "Stargate" as Ruben claimed they call it at Apple. And it really, really does look like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Essentially, this room is used to test signal in 360 degrees around a subject holding or using a device. The circular structure which surrounds the chair is dotted with single use antennas -- those little yellow plusses you see -- and all they do is tell the tester whether a signal has been received or not around the loop at that position. We can't stress how incredibly isolated these chambers are. Calling them a dead room would not be an understatement. We've been in some pretty dead rooms before, but these are basically foam coffins. At this chamber one of our group started asking about the length of time standard testing takes, but the Apple crew got a little defensive over the point -- they didn't want to say how long or how much they tested particular products. Even when pressed on a "general" length of time for a nameless product, we couldn't get an answer out of them. The company did tell us that products were run through each individual experiment a minimum of 24 hours, but that says nothing for longer term testing.
Ruben and the crew led us through another hallway and into a separate lab where more interference testing was going on using "heads" and "hands." The heads are made of plastic and filled with a liquid mixture that replicates the contents of... well, your head. The hands are made from a kind of high-test foam rubber -- which Ruben pointed out was not "a standard," meaning not something agencies like the FCC regulate -- and are used to test interference in different positions. In the same room we were also shown the custom, $20,000 "foot" that was used to test the radio in the Nike+. Then we were taken to a workstation where the guts of an iPhone were displayed on two large monitors -- from a CT (computed tomography) scan of the device. Ruben explained that when you're looking for a problem in a device, opening it changes what's happening inside, so Apple installed a CT scanner to look inside without altering the results by opening it.
Finally we made our way outside and got a look inside a heavily instrumented van in which Apple testers hit the streets. The vehicle was outfitted with a number of stations for those "heads" and "hands" we saw, as well as spots for human testers to take devices out into the real world and get results. The point here, as with the entire tour, was to demonstrate that Apple takes testing antennas and wireless communications very seriously -- if, in fact, there was any question.
And we get it -- there have been people out there suggesting that Apple simply didn't test their phone before letting it out into the market. Or that they were so bone-headed that they only tested it in those special cases made for bringing the phone to bars, so of course they didn't see the antenna issue. But let's be honest -- this is a multi-billion dollar company that's been making wireless devices for a long, long time. This isn't their first phone, it's their fourth, and though there have been reception issues with the previous models, nothing suggests that Apple isn't doing its due diligence on these phones. The truth is, we didn't need the tour to understand that, but it's possible some people do.
urban_legend
quote:
Originally posted by E2EK1EL
Wow what horse , good job Steve, put down other phones that DONT have the same problem, I just gripped my 9700 and no problems, we have had no complaints about an antenna problem either. What a joke Jobs is.
Why can't apple users just admit that their glorious Iphone 4 sucks for reception and its apples fault. And now you have a nice rubber case to put on it, lucky you.
Why don't they just fix the problem moving forward?
What a joke.
LightsOut
^^^^
agreed, what a bunch of BS Jobs is spewing out...
Apple ed up.....just own up and fix it, don't try and claim everyone elses antenna design is ed up too....
I just did his little test on my bold 9700 and no matter where I choose to hold my phone its full reception everytime. I've also never had a dropped or failed call because of an antenna problem...
RIM'S RESPONSE
quote:
"Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple."
- Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
pwned
kotsy
Has anyone heard if the phones they'll be releasing in camera will have the same antenna problem or will Canada be getting a fresh batch of phones?
VDub
quote:
Originally posted by kotsy
Has anyone heard if the phones they'll be releasing in camera will have the same antenna problem or will Canada be getting a fresh batch of phones?
I think that the new batch will have some antenna isolator that they have come up with installed so we should be alright...
E2EK1EL
quote:
Originally posted by LightsOut
^^^^
agreed, what a bunch of BS Jobs is spewing out...
Apple ed up.....just own up and fix it, don't try and claim everyone elses antenna design is ed up too....
I just did his little test on my bold 9700 and no matter where I choose to hold my phone its full reception everytime. I've also never had a dropped or failed call because of an antenna problem...
RIM'S RESPONSE
"Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple."
- Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
pwned
LMAO I've posted that up yesterday
Positive or Negative News I'll post it, anyways here's how you find the weak spots on your BB.
Can you make your current phone lose signal depending on how you hold it?
With Apple publicly stating specific handsets are susceptible to the same kind of antenna attenuation as the iPhone 4, and RIM and Nokia chiming in, we wanted to know what you guys are finding. Can you reproduce the same effect on your handset? Here is a handset that Apple didn’t specifically call out, the Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9650, and you can see it takes a nice hit when we hold it pretty firm in our hands. I’m pretty sure this has always happened, but I’m not sure I noticed until now. Plus it’s on Verizon. *Gasp*
Apple Explains Smartphone Antenna Performance And Their Weak Spots
At the special iPhone 4 conference yesterday, Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs claimed that every smartphone lose signal strength if you hold it in a certain way and it is not something unique to iPhone 4.
Steve Jobs explained that they have got to the heart of the problem, and that is smartphone have weak spots.
Apple has also published new pages on its website to explain the antenna issues.
Apple explains attenuation and signal loss:
The opposite of amplification, attenuation happens whenever a signal is obstructed. All antennas — including television, radio, GPS, and cellular antennas — can experience attenuation. And with most antennas, the density and composition of the human hand can cause attenuation to a greater degree than some other materials. On a mobile phone, signal loss typically occurs when your hand attenuates the most sensitive part of the antenna. In the photos and videos below, we demonstrate how different grips cause attenuation on many popular smartphones — including iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS
Apple has also demonstrated how smartphones like iPhone 4, RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 8700, HTC’s Droid Eric, Samsung’s Omnia II lose signal strength when you grip it in a certain way.
Apple also published photos to point out the attenuation weak spots for these smartphones and the grip that could negatively effect signal strength.
iPhone 4:
As seen in the screenshot above, the external antenna on iPhone 4 is located in the stainless steel band. The attenuation weak spot is the black strip in the lower left corner of the band.
In weak signal areas, if you grip the iPhone 4 as seen above then it way may negatively affect signal strength.
iPhone 3GS
In case of iPhone 3GS, the location of internal antenna is at the bottom.
In weak signal areas, if you grip Samsung Omnia II as seen above then it may negatively affect signal strength.
BlackBerry Bold 8700:
In case of BlackBerry Bold 8700, the location of internal antenna is at the bottom
In weak signal areas, if you grip BlackBerry Bold 8700 as seen above then it may negatively affect signal strength.
HTC Droid Eris
In case of HTC Droid Eris, the location of internal antenna is at the top.
In weak signal areas, if you grip HTC Droid Eris as seen above then it may negatively affect signal strength.
Samsung Omnia II
In case of Samsung Omnia II, the location of internal antenna is at the bottom.
In weak signal areas, if you grip Samsung Omnia II as seen above then it may negatively affect signal strength.
Nokia N97 mini
Motorola Driod X
Our opinion:
The information that Steve Jobs and Apple has provided should definitely help in educating users about the reason for the drop in signal strength when they grip an iPhone or other smartphones in a certain way.
However, few things are quite obvious from these comparisons:
•Users are least likely to grip the HTC Droid and Samsung Omnia II that could negatively affect signal strength in weak signal areas as their internal antenna is at the top.
•Users (like me who hold their phone in the left hand) are more likely to grip the iPhone 4 in a way that could negatively affect signal strength in weak signal areas.
•Since iPhone 4’s antenna is external, its weak spot is visible, which is not the case with other smartphones. I’m sure many of you would have found out about the position of the antennas in these smartphones only after reading this article.
As John Siracusa of Ars Technica points out that there are few benefits of having an external antenna such as better signal quality (since its not in a casing), better battery life as Apple has been able to squeeze in a bigger battery, better aesthetics, more structural rigidity but it is at the expense of a more visible and sensitive “weak spot”. That is the reason they've had to explain the death grip problem after iPhone 4 was launched and not with earlier iPhone models.
Apple has done the right thing by giving away free cases to all its iPhone 4 customers even though they found that it is affecting a very small percentage of users and offering a full refund to customers who are not happy getting a free case.
At the end of the day, customers will vote whether the trade-off is a deal breaker. Based on the numbers Apple announced yesterday (3 million iPhones in just 3 weeks) it looks like most customers don’t think its a deal breaker.
But I’m sure Apple is working hard to figure out a solution as they don’t want to give users who are sitting on the fence a reason to buy some other smartphone.
Let us know your views in the comments section below.
