Apple keeps antennagate alive with Droid X's 'kill switch' (video)
By Ross Miller 
posted July 23rd 2010 7:20PM
posted July 23rd 2010 7:20PM
posted July 23rd 2010 7:20PM
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Sad move Apple.....nut up and own the issue. You drop calls and data not just bars.
@Seven2k
Apple = Fail. Give it up Steve.
@Seven2k As do other phones, fact wise this phone is less than one call worse per 100 then it's previous gen brother.
A phone that never received press like this for its antenna.
Looking at the customer complaints about is being ridiculously low(especially concerned with antenna issues), and the return rate being a fraction of the 3Gs, this phone is doing fine.
I see no reason why Apple can't show that other phones do that same thing. They shot back? so what.
Source** Apple Press conference.
@Seven2k No they don't.
@Seven2k Honest question here. Have they ever done a live demonstration of this, or do they just keep making videos like this one, where for all we know they're blocking the signal some other way?
The reason i ask is because i keep hearing people say that they can't reproduce this with their phone, and unfortunately apple has never tried to this little trick with a phone that I own :(.
Thanks in advance to whoever answers my question.
@Seven2k is this what happens when steves ego is bruised? he behaves like a kindergartner and blames his classmates for having the same problem, instead of just saying sorry, like an adult.
@Seven2k
Don't you understand? Other phones also drop calls when you merely touch the wrong place...oh wait, they don't.
@XChrisX
go ahead and call them and tell them they are wrong
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-iphone-4-antenna-issue-iphone4-problems-dropped-calls-lab-test-confirmed-problem-issues-signal-strength-att-network-gsm.html
@Seven2k
0 calls dropped with my iPhone 4. Honest Truth.
Why do you guys without iPhones keep telling us how our phones are performing??
Why even bother making these videos? It's not like Apple has big inventory of iPhones they need to sell. These things sell out as soon as their in stock. No one other than people who post on tech blogs and forums seem to care.
@Ellianth One more thing:
Engadget, how about you guys do your own squeezing test of all the phones that apple has shown in their little videos and see if there's any funny business?
Do it mythbusters style and hold the phone like how people hold the iphone to make it lose signals (very lightly) and then give it the apple death grip like in these videos and we'll see how honest these things are.
*goes to read another article*
@benerrol
the thing that concerns me most with these "ads" or whatever you want to call them is that, to a techie person (engadget reader viewer) they seems malicious and pointless, but to the average consumer who knows nothing other than what they see from friends or the public media(tv commercials etc...) these "ads actually are helping apple since they dont know any better (they being the consumer).
and as such a arguably defective product will still sell well.
On another completely unrelated note, Apple needs to release a new iPod touch with iOS 4 and the same look of the iPhone 4.
@rmbrown09
wow i just did that with my EVO and guess what i went form 2 bars to 4. I guess the EVO gets stronger ummm.
@benerrol Yet they are making making $3.25 billion dollars in a quarter, yep.......they really ARE a fail.
YES, Mr. Jobs. We understand that other phones have a DEATH GRIP. If you find us another phone that you can kill by touching it in the wrong place with your PINKY FINGER, then we're interested.
You sound like my friend that we all call "Tampon" because he argues about everything, even after everybody has accepted that you're wrong and moved on.
@Seven2k Except they have even less dropped calls than the last iPhone.
The media made some shit up, and you ate it up.
@Seven2k Notice that the status bar doesn't show 3G at all? Apple had to tinker with something in the settings to reduce the signal most likely.
@rmbrown09 "they shot back"
no they didnt shoot back, in order to shoot back someone would have had to shoot at them first. They are dragging other manufacturers into thier problem that have nothing to do with the issue. It was Apples CUSTOMERS who took the first shot. In turn Apple took shots at their competition. Think of it like this. You get caught running in the house from your mom and get yelled at so instead of saying you're sorry and it wont happen again you say "well joey, and bobby did it too!!!" - bad look apple.
@Seven2k
The sad thing is that I was just reminded of the iPhone's issues thanks to this.
Sometimes its best to shut the hell up and not speak unless spoken to...
@Seven2k Where were you a-hole when Motorola ran that cheap shot ad? Why not scold Motorola?
@1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA
Its about the new quarter. They are afraid that they might see lost in sales. Since Android is on the rise this all they can do to convince defectors to stay.
@Seven2k The bars are for calls and data you dummy
@iPhone 4
its funny cause its true...does PC vs. Mac ring a bell. If Apple wants to talk smack they should learn how to take it also.
@Ellianth I can tell you that even with both hands around the phone , in many different ways ive tried to recreate a death grip on my droid X and can't get it to drop even one bar. Ive tried pretty hard too. I'm calling BS on this vid. This kind of nonsense is why i won't ever own an apple product. The Droid X isn't perfect but i have never encounter ANY signal loss even when trying to do it.
@Seven2k
even with those drop bars, Verizon's reception is still better.
@spaz4322 "the thing that concerns me most with these "ads" or whatever you want to call them is that, to a techie person (engadget reader viewer) they seems malicious and pointless, but to the average consumer who knows nothing other than what they see from friends or the public media(tv commercials etc...) these "ads actually are helping apple since they dont know any better (they being the consumer)."
I'm a professional electrical engineer and these "ads" don't seem malicious or pointless to me.
Before this press conference, these forums were littered with posts saying "the iPhone can't make calls when you hold it lol!!1!!"
Ever since Apple started posting these videos, that kind of hyperbole has disappeared. If nothing else, the fact that they've forced iPhone critics to make more nuanced arguments is a benefit to us all.
@Sil BP makes that in about 2 days. But they are a big fail. Money != non fail
Apple are acting like some 'tard on the internet who can't stop arguing with someone.
@Seven2k
i'm waiting apple to make one of these videos for the evo. the antenna is on the very top so they'll probably use some magic trickery to get the signal to drop or just say that "you hold big phones on the top".
@cannoli
So should we call BS on the Antennagate issue because the majority of iPhone users can't replicate dropped bars either?
@Seven2k I've tried the death grip with my iPhone 4 and I gain a bar as well. Does that prove anything conclusively either? Obviously not.
All of this is clearly dependent on the individual and the signal at the location they're doing the test. But as others have alluded to, the strategy here isn't to badmouth other companies and their products. It's to frame Apple as the only company that tells the truth to its customers.
B.S.? Maybe. But effective.
@spaz4322
I'm not understanding your comment. Apple showing that these popular smartphones have the same "issue" they're phone is having (not in the sense of the same unique design flaw) is confusing the consumer?
I feel like if anything its fair for Apple to make the videos to continue to show people how overblown this issue is. It's not like Apple is saying, don't buy the DroidX or Nokia, or BB Smartphones. They're just simply showing how it's not something sooo new, or sooo drastic or sooo uniquely specified to the iPhone 4. So much that you're device doesn't function as a phone.
That's what I get from these videos.
@Seven2k Dude are you serious they just did this? Apple? This isn't a sarcastic comment, but wtf Apple?
At this point, if they keep releasing shit like this, the public will never forget...
This is very low Apple. I had some respect for your integrity on the issue a week ago, now it's just sad...
@rmbrown09
"I see no reason why Apple can't show that other phones do that same thing. They shot back? so what."
That's the thing though. If it really is .5% why do they keep releasing these??????? I already forgot about the whole thing until this shit showed up....
@DefPoet
BP makes $3.25 billion in two days?! Are these Zimbabwe dollars we're talking about?
@Ellianth To my knowledge, Apple has not done a live demo of phones losing signal strength. They have not even shown a live demo of this happening on one of their own iPhone.
I own an iPhone 4 I do have the deathgrip antenna issue. However, it doesn't always do it. You've got to be in certain places for this to happen. I tried to show a friend of mine how it drops bars, but it just wouldn't do it at that point in time. However, he has a Blackberry Bold and he tried the deathgrip on it, and it dropped from 4 bars to 0 bars within 5 seconds.
So Apple do have a point regarding the physics behind attenuation. However, I don't think it is right for them to drag-down other companies into their own issues. But having said that, I would love to know who discovered this issue with the iPhone 4 in the first place, as the 3G AND 3GS has the exact same problem, but I guess everyone was distracted by the lack of other things, such as:
- MMS Messaging
- Cut, Copy & Paste
- Flash
...and whatever these people could think to complain about.
I still can't believe that the antenna issue reach national and international news!
@Seven2k Shut up and just recall it.
@Ellianth I just tried to preform the "Death Grip" on My droidX and surprisingly I gained bars, I tried it multiple with different grips and I am not able to replicate what this video is showing.
@Seven2k Im sorry vote me down or whatever, but you are all being babies about this. there was a problem on the iphone, steve admitted it and offered free cases which no other companies did, he showed phones having the same problems so people wouldnt think it was just apple, you said a next gen phone doesnt, he just proved it. no matter what he does your going to hate him, what does he have to do besides give you free cases? what do you want?!
@Seven2k
If no one can replicate Apple's tests performed on other manufacturer's phones, will this lead to Antennagate II?
@Seven2k No need to, Consumer Reports is a huge joke. I don't worry about not having reception in an isolation chamber, because guess what?! That's not where I use my phone. I have never had any reception problems, and not one dropped call. But this is engadget where all of the android fanboys will bitch about everything apple, until their earnings reports come up. Highest ranked or not your comment is a joke, and holds no weight in the real world. iOS is good, Android is good, end of story.
@Seven2k
That video is ridiculous. Who actually holds their phone like that? If you have to palm half of the phone to get the signal to change, it's not really a problem. With the iPhone you literally need just one finger, on one corner, to change the signal. There's no comparison in opinion. (I will say that this whole thing has been blow out of proportion, but Apple surely isn't helping themselves either.)
Like many people have said, trying to point fingers at other people claiming they have same problem still doesn't fix YOUR problem. This is starting to be one of the most childish things I have ever seen. Grow up Apple, and spend your time/money in a wiser fashion.
@Seven2k
apple clearly did everything in their power to get the phones to show the results they wanted. Apple why does the Droid X not show it is currently connected to 3g?
@Seven2k
So true. The funny thing about being on Verizon is that I haven't look at bars in years, because I never drop a call, ever.
@Seven2k
Go to youtube and seach up technobuffalo. He tried to replicate these issues on a number of phones, including the x, and couldn't. Acually the x was one of the few on the clean list. I trust him more than apple.
@rmbrown09
Apple's press conference as a source?! They are biased dumbass. They are making "studies" and videos slamming competition to make them look innocent. How can you possibly believe that those videos are true and not inaccurate or trying to pull wool over idiots' eyes like yours? They are doing a childish tactic to avoid admitting fault and paying for their design flaw.
@Ellianth Why is it that real iPhone 4 owners that can't reproduce the issue on their phones get lowest ranked, but your comment is highest rank. What's the difference here?
Never had a dropped call either, with no case and I always hold at bottom. I see bars move, but don't loose calls. People really need to stop believing Androids fanboys about these kind of things.
@xbit Hahaha, yeah they are acting just like you guys! LOL!
@Seven2k
I tried to replicate that grip on my droid x in my office.
Normal, I get a consistent 2 bars.
With the grip they showed, I get 3 bars. Thanks for the tip for better reception apple!