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Apple Acknowledges Flaw in iPhone Signal Meter
By MIGUEL HELFT
Apple customers love to complain about the reception on their iPhones. And the problem may be worse than it looks.
Apple said on Friday that for years its phones had been exaggerating signal strength by displaying too many bars — indicating stronger reception than there ever was. The problem, Apple said, is a bug in the software, which it promised to fix soon.
Once it does, it seems, customers will be able to see just how bad reception really is.
The company said it discovered the problem while trying to explain the mystery of the disappearing bars on its new iPhone 4, a week after some users began complaining that when they held the phone a certain way, the bars indicating signal strength dropped off sharply. But Apple said the flaw, which it promised to fix shortly, existed with older versions of the iPhone, too.
For a company that obsesses over every detail of its products, the failure to detect this longstanding problem earlier is astonishing.
Some customers say they are skeptical of Apple’s explanation of the vanishing bars. “I don’t buy it that it is just a simple matter of the meter not showing the right amount of signal strength,” said Bryan Hurst, of Hackettstown, N.J., who upgraded last week to an iPhone 4 from an iPhone 3GS. Mr. Hurst said he had had more problems with dropped calls with the new handset than the old one. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
But Apple disagrees and says there is plenty to like about the iPhone 4. The much-vaunted antenna — designed specially for the new phone — works just fine, the company said. In fact, Apple said, the iPhone 4 is the best ever on several fronts, including wireless reception.
“This is a public relations pirouette,” said James E. Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University, who also questioned why the problem was not discovered earlier. “They are trying to exculpate themselves by saying this seeming flaw is not a flaw because it has been there for such a long time. And the fact that they have to brag about how good the new phone is shows their own anxiety.”
Still, many customers agree that the iPhone 4 is better at making calls than earlier models.
Apple gave its explanation in an open letter to customers on its Web site. Company officials declined further requests for comment. AT&T, the sole carrier for the iPhone in the United States, whose network has been blamed for most of the reception problems, also declined to comment, referring questions on the issue to Apple.
Last week Apple said that people who saw their reception bars drop when they held the phone a certain way should simply hold it differently. That comment was greeted with derision by some users, and with barbs by rivals. It prompted scores of Web videos on how to avoid the so-called death grip on the iPhone 4. Motorola ran ads for its new Droid X saying that one of its great features was that users could hold it any way they wanted.
In the letter on Friday, Apple said, “Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong.” The company said the formula “in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”
The company explained that sometimes the phone showed four bars when it should show only two. It acknowledged in the letter that people who see a drop of a few bars were most likely somewhere with a weak signal. But, the letter said, they are not aware of that “because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars.” The letter adds, “Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”
With the fix, Apple said, “the real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area.” The fix will also be offered for older iPhones, the 3G and 3GS models, which suffer from the same problem, it said.
Like Apple’s previous response, its admission of a software bug — after suggesting last week that the problem had to do with hardware — is unlikely to diminish either scorn from critics or sales of the iPhone 4.
“You can’t make something like this up,” said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company. “The problem is so ridiculous that it is humorous. But none of this is going to have any impact on sales.”
Apple apologized to users “for any anxiety we may have caused,” and said users who were not satisfied with their iPhone 4 could return it for a full refund within 30 days of purchase. No word on whether it will offer a coupon for Zoloft.
By MIGUEL HELFT
Apple customers love to complain about the reception on their iPhones. And the problem may be worse than it looks.
Apple said on Friday that for years its phones had been exaggerating signal strength by displaying too many bars — indicating stronger reception than there ever was. The problem, Apple said, is a bug in the software, which it promised to fix soon.
Once it does, it seems, customers will be able to see just how bad reception really is.
The company said it discovered the problem while trying to explain the mystery of the disappearing bars on its new iPhone 4, a week after some users began complaining that when they held the phone a certain way, the bars indicating signal strength dropped off sharply. But Apple said the flaw, which it promised to fix shortly, existed with older versions of the iPhone, too.
For a company that obsesses over every detail of its products, the failure to detect this longstanding problem earlier is astonishing.
Some customers say they are skeptical of Apple’s explanation of the vanishing bars. “I don’t buy it that it is just a simple matter of the meter not showing the right amount of signal strength,” said Bryan Hurst, of Hackettstown, N.J., who upgraded last week to an iPhone 4 from an iPhone 3GS. Mr. Hurst said he had had more problems with dropped calls with the new handset than the old one. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
But Apple disagrees and says there is plenty to like about the iPhone 4. The much-vaunted antenna — designed specially for the new phone — works just fine, the company said. In fact, Apple said, the iPhone 4 is the best ever on several fronts, including wireless reception.
“This is a public relations pirouette,” said James E. Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University, who also questioned why the problem was not discovered earlier. “They are trying to exculpate themselves by saying this seeming flaw is not a flaw because it has been there for such a long time. And the fact that they have to brag about how good the new phone is shows their own anxiety.”
Still, many customers agree that the iPhone 4 is better at making calls than earlier models.
Apple gave its explanation in an open letter to customers on its Web site. Company officials declined further requests for comment. AT&T, the sole carrier for the iPhone in the United States, whose network has been blamed for most of the reception problems, also declined to comment, referring questions on the issue to Apple.
Last week Apple said that people who saw their reception bars drop when they held the phone a certain way should simply hold it differently. That comment was greeted with derision by some users, and with barbs by rivals. It prompted scores of Web videos on how to avoid the so-called death grip on the iPhone 4. Motorola ran ads for its new Droid X saying that one of its great features was that users could hold it any way they wanted.
In the letter on Friday, Apple said, “Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong.” The company said the formula “in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”
The company explained that sometimes the phone showed four bars when it should show only two. It acknowledged in the letter that people who see a drop of a few bars were most likely somewhere with a weak signal. But, the letter said, they are not aware of that “because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars.” The letter adds, “Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”
With the fix, Apple said, “the real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area.” The fix will also be offered for older iPhones, the 3G and 3GS models, which suffer from the same problem, it said.
Like Apple’s previous response, its admission of a software bug — after suggesting last week that the problem had to do with hardware — is unlikely to diminish either scorn from critics or sales of the iPhone 4.
“You can’t make something like this up,” said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company. “The problem is so ridiculous that it is humorous. But none of this is going to have any impact on sales.”
Apple apologized to users “for any anxiety we may have caused,” and said users who were not satisfied with their iPhone 4 could return it for a full refund within 30 days of purchase. No word on whether it will offer a coupon for Zoloft.
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