So, you've gone and updated to that new "big fix"
firmware 2.1 -- but is the Kool Aid as delicious as you've been promised? On our end, we're certainly seeing noticeable improvements on lagging keyboards, app switching / opening (particularly with contacts and text messages), moving through menus / scrolling, application installation and iTunes syncing, but has Apple solved the
big issue? The software update page boasts of a "decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls," and while that might make you think you'll see the proverbial "more bars in more places" (and you probably do), it's likely related to another change in this update, namely, "improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display." We know that a lot of you are seeing apparent improvements in signal strength, but is that a matter of updated icons, or a reflection of some crazy voodoo Apple performed on the phone's radio? We're leaning towards the former, but we'd like to hear what you have to say. So what's the deal? Is the iPhone 3G seeing actual reception improvements, or is it just cosmetic? Let us know in the poll below.
posted Sep 12th 2008 1:22PM
getting Full signal in my house.. where it was one or two bars at best before
Same here. I also just noticed that the menus are poping faster.
More bars but value is the same. No increased signal strength for me. Now shows 4 bars of 3g where I would get 0-2 in the house but once again switches to edge when I make a call or use data.
The values (dB) stays the same, but the signal shows different. That doesn't seem very good. Doesn't seem like anything changed except Apple tweaking what they consider "Okay" reception
3G is also better now, at first i though the update was crap but after using my phone for a few hours i can now see it's a solid update, if anyone is holding off on it i suggest you get it
"improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display." = Artificially tacking some extra bars onto the signal display to make people _think_ signal is better.
The real quantitative way to tell whether signal _actually_ has improved is to go into field trial mode, which is worlds more useful than "I have mo@r bars in X or Y location than I did before!?!!"
*3001#12345#* and then touch the Call button to put your iPhone into "field test mode" http://www.wirelessinfo.com/content/Inside-the-iPhone-field-test-mode.htm
RX Lev Full is really what you want to look at, as it reports the signal strength in dB during calls. Just call something stupid like goog-411 before and after the firmware update, in the same place, and see if this actually improves. If it doesn't do anything but the phone is reporting better signal in the barchart, it's just an entirely feel-good fix.
Nerdtalker?
Exactly. I've been saying that for a long time, but no one would dare argue with "the bars".
As an aside, I've also found that testing a few (two or three) iPhone 3Gs in the apple store seemed to confirm that signal strength varies wildly across devices. Just fire up field test on them and check it out.
Let's see if we can't get some people to actually post their Before and After signal strengths. This really is the _only_ way to know, given that they've changed the barchart reporting. I guess a plus is that they've actually told us, otherwise there would be allegations of underhanded attempts to make signal feel better.
@nerdtalker: Awesome suggestion. Have you noticed that the 2.1 field test is significantly paired down from previous iterations?
Nerdtalker - I can enter the Field Test mode but do not see nearly the same menus as the link you provided. I also cannot find the RX LevFull data and many of the pages just say "Unknown" for the values.
Well going by the bars SHOULD be good enough! why lie? okay in this case there's a reason to, if its true puts a lot of distrust in Apple i doubt they would do it though as they can easily be caught out if this is the case.
Guys and girls we can no longer blame engadget for reporting on such articles....
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/12/iphone.update.ap/index.html
At my house I always showed 1 to 2 bars all the time (Yes I know the visual of the bars don't mean anything) but calls always sounded choppy and were always dropped. every time I wanted to make a call I had to go outside, and in Phoenix that really sucks to have to do. I did talk to at&t about it and they were surprised because there was a cell tower right down the street and I should be getting great service. Now, like I said before I know the bars are just a graphic that can easily be changed. but I have been having clean calls all day without one being dropped so far in the comfort of my air-conditioned house!
here at work i used to get 1 bar and shotty service now i have a constant 3. the real test will be when i go to the other side of the facility where no phone i have ever had has had a signal.
Same here, in my house I had the one tiny bar before, and now I'm at almost full signal always. It's made an absolutely huge difference in reception, speed, syncing, everything. *This* is what 2.0 should have been.
OK, FIELD TEST MODE RESULTS:
I put the phone into field test mode before and after the update, and it appears the signal strength got weaker!
I only took samples in one place, but before the update, I was getting between -79 (but only for a moment) and -113, but for the most part, it was staying in the -87 to -83 range. After the update, I have been getting a range that is a little more consistant: -99 to -85, but it has stayed mostly on -93 to -91. Also, there was a short time when it read "No Service" while I was testing it, but then it came back to full bars.
Most of the results were achieved with the phone sitting in the exact same place on my desk, not touching it.
In conclusion, it would seem that the update didn't really improve signal (remember, the more negative a number, the weaker the signal, so -80 is better than -90). However, the signal does seem to be slightly more consistent than before.
Update: Just turned off my wifi so I can see what network I'm on. 3g strength is at -103 and stable.(shows up as 1 bar, same as I've always gotten here) Edge strength is at -89 to -85 stable (shows up as 4 to 5 bars), so it would appear that at least some of the fluctuations I was experiencing for no apparent reason were caused by the phone switching back and forth between 3G and Edge.
The end result is that my test was inconclusive due to my failure to eliminate some of the variables.
Other changes in this firmware: Different 3G and Edge icons, improved contacts scrolling, etc...
I'm now able to get 3G signal in my house - couldn't get any before even though I was meant to.
So seems to work fine for me!
Thanks Stevey boy!
Yes it seems like I am now getting a better 3G signal BUT the update has caused Last.Fm to crash and not work properly.
Me too - Last.fm just hang when I try to use it
so much for for Jobs' promise.
Does it really matter that much?
Well seeing this post is about signal strength I would guess so!
Effin troll.
this was clever...
Well, considering after using the new firmware for a few hours,
I see my phone bouncing from 3 "3G" bars to 4 "edge" bars...
Total improvement over bouncing from 1 "3g" bar to 4 "edge" bars...
Yeah, but bars don't mean anything, they could've just decreased the threshold for each signal level on the display, what'll matter more is making calls.
Back with the first iPhone, I did the jailbreak and then just reversed the order of the bars, so when the phone had 1 bar, it showed the 5 bar icon.. So needless to say, from them on out, I always had 5 bars!
Yeah, but the problem with the iPhone (especially 3G?) was that the reception sucked, not that the signal strength read too weak. All of the rumors were that there was a problem with the chipset. So when they talk about improving signal strength it's about more than just the strength meter.
I've always been okay with the signal on my 1G, it's been as good as any other phone, but it is really choppy near my desk at work, all cell phones are. Today I had a conversation on my 2.1 software iPhone at my desk without even thinking about it -- so I'm guessing they improved reception on the 1G iPhone, even though I thought only the 3G as considered to have 'problems'.
Mostly I'm just happy to have my snappy UI back the way it should be.
In related news, I got my postcard for a class action suit against Verizon for $175 early termination fees -- yay! When I canceled I had over a year in, and Verizon had put out press releases saying that it should be pro-rated, but they charged me the whole thing anyway... Hopefully I get a few cents from the lawsuit.
Slow day at Engadget?
I would think this article would be better suited for Monday seeing the firmware update came out mere hours ago.
People need time to DL the firmware and test the network. Five minutes of testing doesn't seem long enough IMO.
Not only is this post kind of irrelevant, but why isn't there an option in the poll for, "my phone is jailbroken and I haven't updated yet because the dev team hasn't released a new pwnage tool."
In this case full bars doesnt have to mean better reception. give it a couple days in different areas to test.
Yah, but my bars to go 11.
well from my room, i just don't get proper signal. I initially thought it could be something blocking. But other phones are working pretty good.
Not only am I seeing bars where there were no bars before, but i'm also seeing a far greater data output, so it seemingly HAS had an affect on transmission rate as well as visual bar display.
Concur, 3G data was previously no better than Edge data at my apartment; I only had 0-1 bars there. Following the update I have 4-5 bars and 3G is actually comparable to my Wi-Fi connection.
Same here. Simplify now loads songs over 3G just as fast as over my wifi connection!
I was just making a comment on a change i noticed.
How about a couple new polls:
1. "Will Engadget ever learn to make a scientific and useful poll?"
Where's the option for "Well, I see more bars more often, but I can't tell if my signal is actually improved"?
2. "Will Engadget ever give us a way to view poll results without voting?"
Many times I want to see the results of a poll without voting, because either I don't have the product being polled or none of the answers apply for me (see #1). In order to see the poll results I have to skew the results by picking a B.S. response.
I second Eric's comment.
thirded
Dude, just hit vote without making a selection... It'll take you to the results
I was just looking for the link to see the reults, and there isn't one, so yeah I fourth it!
Oh yeah, that worked.
"Scientific poll" is an oxymoron. A poll is about the farthest thing from "scientific". There are no controls, no consistency, and most importantly it's all just opinion.
polls are just stats, which are just mathematics and therefore are always scientific. When controls and logic are applied, they can provide a lot of information and observation. That being said, any stat can be used for a multitude of opposite viewpoints. Engadget should include a view without voting (which can skew opinion before voting and increase standard deviation). That being said, there is always someone who thinks their answer doesn't fit a poll. Above all science though, it is a web poll for the love of jeebus. It should probably be taken with a grain or bag of salt.
@ Zak
But that's one 'moron' we can all live with! :-D
How do you think that any online poll would ever be anything remotely close to scientific.
Why don't you just quit wining about it and realize it's for fun not for friggin science.
The problem with engadget polls is there is always a useless option that throws off the entire result set so it's not useful for anyone. In this case, it's "Where Am I?", simultaneously receiving nearly half of the total votes and killings the rest of the poll. Sigh.
I'm getting full Bars in my office now at work, were before i was lucky to get one or two bars, which also was not constant. A lot of times i would have no signal. If this is acurate, this is gonna be huge for me. meaning i can actually get calls in my office at work now :)
WHY OH WHY i there no copy and paste :(
I still can't make or receive any calls on my iPod Touch, this firmware didn't work!
You have to throw it in a full bathtub and let it sit in the water for 3 hours first. Give it a shot and let me know how it works for ya!
@aaron
I will give it a try when I get home.
@zargon
i can only image why
Before you do that, might just send it over to me! I fix those things :P but it could take like.. some time (A)
@zgmatty
Really, that would be swell, just let me know where to ship it! Thanks a lot!
why such a hurry? I say wait a few days and run the poll
I just updated my iphone 3G to 2.1 and i have a problem with the number formating. Ibought the phone from portugal and use it in Romania with X-Sim and after the update i doesnt show me the names from my addressbook if they number isn't saved with the country prefix, and if it is it doesn't show in the Recent Calls. Anyone have the same problem?
You do and you're going to clean it up....
So yeah, that was a mouthful.
Come on! Somebody else must have bought their phone from portugal and use it in Romania with X-Sim! Help the man!
:-)
D.
I had that problem with the 1st gen iPhone, you have to save the number in both formats for every contact.
I'll wait a few days before upgrading to be on the safe side and I suggest running the poll after a week.
I'm getting 4-5 bars for 3g when I was getting 1 bar before the update. Although when I open safari it switches to edge, same as before. I think everyone that's excited about the improved reception should run a speed test or browse a few sites to see if it is actually faster. From my point of view it seems like apple is trying to be slick by saying "improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display" so it's not interpreted as better reception/speeds.
i live in Houston and even with the state of chaos that Hurricane Ike has created (which causes everyone to jam up the cell phone towers trying to get hold of friends and family) my reception was fine yesterday and even better after the firmware update. i'm impressed.
Engadget should advise us to take a speedtest before we updated to 2.1. Then we could compare. Apple could (in theory) just put a few extra bars in to get us to shut up.
Anyway it doesn't lag anymore and they have finally translated some awkward words into real Danish words, yeaah!
Why?? You just did it for them.
So far, I'm very happy with the 2.1 update. 3G bandwidth speed is still slow here in Portland, OR (470-700 Kb), but the performance fixes are noticable when test messaging, using apps and especially backing up with iTunes. I'm still getting update errors since day 1 when I try to update my apps.
I think the poll is asking whether the data connection is actually faster/more reliable than it was before (in the same locations), regardless of what the signal strength indicator says.
I don't know about you, but in NYC, there are PLENTY of times when the indicator tells me I have full 3g service, but websites just DO NOT LOAD. I was at Shea last week, and for the entire length of the game, I couldn't load a goddamn thing!!! :(
After about 60 seconds of the the "data circle" in the upper left hand corner spinning, I get the dreaded "Safari cannot open the page because the server stopped responding" message...
Sometimes when I have full 3g service, I get absolutely abysmal speeds. ~2kb/sec upload speeds when sending an attached .pdf, etc... GRRRRR.
This is a touchy subject because I'm sure Apple is blaming AT&T, and AT&T is blaming Apple. While I would venture that it is BOTH their faults, all I know is that it's ridiculous. $100/month for a device that receives/sends data "sometimes", and at completely varying speeds, with overall terrible reliability.
I wanna move to Europe.
You might as well stay where you are. The iPhone 3G doesn't work any better over here.
It's all bull.
I went from 1 bar of 3G to full bars and still can't keep an active call (drop). When I do get a call out, when the call is over I notice the phone has gone back to EDGE. Which just happens to be what the great 3G phone is always in because AT&T sucks!
There is without a doubt a major hardware issue with the 3G radio. I can stand right beside a 3G V3xx and it will have full signal and I will have 1 maybe 2 bars and can't make a call. Apple will do anything to avoid a recall of this phone. They have sold to many to even consider it, so they do palor tricks in an attempt to keep us all happy with the signal meter that means nothing at all.
They have just done a great smoke and mirror job.
You're wrong. The radio in the iPhone is fine, as has been conclusively proven by multiple independent tests. It's not the iPhone, it's AT&T.
"There is without a doubt a major hardware issue with the 3G radio."
The independent testing on the radio hardware we all saw reported online a couple of weeks ago begs to differ.
AT&T needs to pump up its 3G network, pronto. Or Apple needs to break the exclusive contract with AT&T and offer the iPhone to a network who will.
weird... cause the 3g (HSDPA) on my ATT tilt works great.... I tether at over 1 mbs
I'll let you know when I get home.
Here's the code for the patch:
If 3G_Bars < 4 then
3G_Bars = 3G_Bars + 2
End If
MsgBox("See? Moar barz!")
Would explain a lot if Apple wrote this in VB
It was funnier on August 18. But it is still funny.
Uh-Oh!!! Won't connect to O2 UK after update...
I actually got full 3G at work... everything is running nicer too and they seemed to have changed a bit the way that the ipod looks. Im loving this update!!
Seems most polls done on joystiq and engadget get most votes for the *waddafuqemidoinhere* choice.
That was Job's Vote
Go to field test mode and see the actual power you're receiving. The bars is replaced with the actual reception value.
Field test code is *3001#12345#*
The lower your value, the better the reception. Good reception is below -85. Just an FYI.
Technically wouldn't it be "above" -85?
3G off, full bars, turn 3g on, no service.... still major connection problem here
Same exact situation for me. My phone used to drop to Edge here at work at least... now it is stuck on "No Service" unless I turn off 3g.
Fan-freaking-tastic, Apple. Well done.
Before I got zero or one bar on the toilet at work, and internet browsing barely worked. Now I get four bars, and I can navigate quickly in 3g!
navigate through what? porn sites? haha.
Thats why ill never handle someone else's smart phone ever again.
Well that's better than if you were in front of the toilet, I guess.
I'd like to know if it truly improves battery life. How long can the battery last after update?
2.1 bricked my phone. try getting support on release date. fun.
Have downloaded and installed. Dropped calls never an issue for me. Strong signal in my metro area. Finally can get to contacts and scroll instantly instead of waiting 5 seconds. The no-scroll contacts was a big problem, glad it's fixed.
I love the way the poll results show nearly 50% of engadget readers are lost! :D
o2 service all day , has been bad with no connections going through on first go, have to try a second call .Generally stagnant behaviour, all in all a crapola weekall roudn for bot hservice provider and gadget maker
My battery meter is still at full after charging this morning (6 hours ago). My 3G is on, WiFi on, bluetooth on. Attented few calls, text messages, browsing. Before the update, by this time I was around 70% left but now it looks close to 100% (ok around 98%).
I'm getting more bars but it drops to Edge quicker instead of dropping the call.
How about a "Click here to see results"
(of course, you can do that by not selecting a radio button and clicking vote)
i HAVE NO SIGNAL!!! When before in had full bars on 3G. ROTTEN APPLE!
anyone going to call Apple out for being behind the 3G issues?
Anyone?
Bueller?
I never had call drop / 3g signal issue with my 3G, Where am I?
Inside Steve Job's panties?
Just wait for iHome to release some rabbit ears and everything will be fine