In a post titled “You @ssholes need to stop sending emails to me about this antenna issue“, Fake Steve Jobs has hilariously addressed the iPhone 4 reception issues plaguing numerous first-world countries. The post is the funniest thing I’ve read all month and I highly recommend checking it out. Here are some choice clips:
First of all, this is not a big issue. If you’re experiencing this, most likely it’s not the phone at all — most likely you’re just living in a place where there’s bad reception, in which case the solution is simple: you need to move.
Or maybe you’re living in a place with good reception but you just need to buy a bumper for your phone and/or wear latex gloves while holding the phone.
Or you can try going bare-handed and just learn how to hold your goddamn phone properly. Either way, it’s no big deal.
AllThingsD says if it’s really true that all mobile phones have this exact same problem, “why haven’t we heard complaints like this about `every wireless phone?’ Why hasn’t RIM issued instructions for a proper BlackBerry handhold?”
The answer, of course, is that RIM doesn’t care about customers the way we do. Honestly, what other company has a billionaire CEO who will sit at his desk for hours and hours personally answering thousands of emails, one after another, telling people how to hold his product? And can I tell you how hard I am fighting the urge to suggest to people that they try shoving the thing up their butt and see what kind of reception they get then?
It’s just brilliant, brilliant stuff. Head on over to Fake Steve’s site and read it in its glorious entirety!
That was pretty funny, but for some reason, I liked the Fake Steve Jobs talk with Randall Stephenson better.
http://www.fakesteve.net/2009/12/a-not-so-brief-c…
-M
As funny as that is, I think the actual Apple response of "you're holding it wrong" is just ten times better.
I saw a comment like this on a message board once, it's an MMO analogy…
"Microsoft is the tank of the Electronics industry. They charged up front, grabbed all the hate with their products, and have done a pretty outstanding job at holding that aggro and keeping the general public angry and focused on them. Apple's the DPS, and for years, they have been happily plugging away, taking their shots and fading, taking their shots and fading. Recently though, they've forgotten that what makes DPS truly outstanding isn't the damage output (though that certainly helps) but the ability to shed as much aggro as you create. Eventually… they'll pull to much… and they'll find out that they're not the tank."
@Larcenous
I thought the same thing. Blaming the consumer is always the way to go. The whole letter was written pretty well though.
I messed around with a friend's Iphone 4 today and could not replicate the reception issue that people are complaining about. I also could not get a yellow tint to appear anywhere on the screen with the flashlight app. I feel that some people got ahold of bad units, which statistically was going to happen based on the sheer amount moved, and the squeaky wheels were voiced.
I can safely say I have no problem buying the device and will not need any kind of insulation to ensure a strong signal.
Problem overblown.
@smartguy Were you trying to replicate the reception issue with voice or data? I've used two iPhone 4s Thursday and Friday. Both of them had the reception issue when covering the lower-left corner. I used Ookla's speed test for numbers.
@Ray
I tried for voice, data, and with wifi. I could not degrade the signal.
@Ray & Smartguy
It could be a minor degradation in signal, so it might just be that it is small enough to downgrade your signal in areas where ATT is know to suck.