With a good-sized chunk of the gadget-consuming world now bowing their heads—either because they’re busy fiddling with the new iPhone or because they lined up for hours outside an Apple store and came out with nothing—on iPhone 4 launch day, a good number of people have been reporting about a couple of flaws in the iPhone 4. Some have been complaining about discolored, “blotchy” Retina displays, while a lot more have been reporting signal loss and dropped calls (the mobile phone world’s “blue screen of death,” we suppose). While both problems look like fatal flaws, a couple of simple solutions should solve them.
Problem #1: the screwed-up display
They’re apparently caused by the rush to get the new iPhones off the factory floor and into your hands for launch day. According to the source (apparently a person who’s connected to either Apple or Foxconn, the company that manufactures them in China), the quick turnover from factory to your doorstep didn’t allow enough time for the screen’s bonding material (called Organofunctional Silane Z-6011) to dry properly.
The fix
According to the source, it’s pretty normal. All you have to do is wait a few days for the stuff to dry, and it should be completely cured. So just go ahead and use it, and it should be clean and clear in a few days.
Problem #2: signal loss and dropped calls
It’s caused in part by the iPhone 4’s design, and in part by, well, with how god designed us. Apparently, the iPhone 4’s antennas for the Bluetooth/Wi-fi/GPS and GSM/3G meet at a point along the lower-left edge of the phone. When your skin “bridges” these two antennas—which is bound to happen if you’re right-handed and hold it in your left palm—the signal drops, as shown in the video below (from Insanely Great Mac).
The fix
Either get one of those rubber bumper cases, or just don’t hold it what way. The first solution should come easily, since you’re bound to look for a way to protect your new iPhone anyway. The rubber along the edge separates your skin your skin from making contact with the two antennas. The second solution? Well that’s from Steve Jobs himself, in a reply to a fan who emailed him about the issue. (Here’s how the “conversation” went:)
Hi Steve,
So, um, just got my iPhone 4. Its lovely and all, but this ‘bridge the two antennae to kill your reception’ thing seems to be a bit serious. If I bridge them with my hand or with a piece of metal the bars slowly drop to ‘Searching…’ and then ‘No Service’.
Its kind of a worry. Is it possible this is a design flaw?
Regards
- Rory Sinclair
His reply:
Nope. Just don’t hold it that way.
I texted someone from the phone and noticed reception dropping as I texted, down to ‘No Service’, so I emailed again:
Actually, its not calls that concern me, but i’ve just been writing a text and its very natural for me as a right-handed person to hold it that way, with the part of my hand at the base of my thumb covering the point the antennae meet, and it kills the reception each time.
I mean, pretty much as soon as i move my hand it comes back, but its pretty crazy… is this the reason Bumpers exist?
– Rory
Another one-liner is my prize:Just don’t hold it that way then.Hmm.. I persevere:Well, yeah, thats what i’ll do, but you have to admit thats a workaround, yeah? I mean, normally there aren’t limits to how you can hold a phone. I seriously dig the phone, its totally amazing, but I think this is what many would call a design flaw.- Rory
His last reply:Sure there are – every phone has these areas of sensitivity, depending on the location of the antenna. Some phones even ship with labels warning customers to not cover certain areas with their hands.
To be fair, this isn’t really just an Apple-specific problem. Jobs is right when he mentioned that a lot of other phones suffer from these signal problems. We just didn’t expect them from the new “wonder of the tech world,” and certainly not as easily. Props to Steve Jobs though. How many other CEOs would be willing to answer a random dude’s email during a big launch day?
So yeah, just get the rubber bumper thing ASAP.
Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPhone 4, Mobile Phones
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