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Apple gives a free case to every iPhone 4 owner
Steve Jobs says the iPhone 4 is the best on the market – but you might want a free case to fix the antenna problem
There's nothing much wrong with the iPhone 4, says Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but I'll give you a free phone case anyway.
The iPhone 4 has been the subject of a media kerfuffle since its release three weeks ago because of an innovative aerial which drops calls when the phone is held in a particular way – dubbed the 'death grip'. So far, the best way to fix the problem has been to purchase a 'bumper' to go around the phone, or a case.
At a hastily arranged press conference today at Apple's Cupertino, California HQ, Jobs explained at length why "the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone in the world, and there is no Antennagate". The presentation and later Q&A are covered blow-by-blow on Engadget.
Opening the press conference, Jobs said: "We're not perfect. And phones aren't perfect either." Except the iPhone 4, he may as well have said, as he demonstrated how three rival handsets, including the Blackberry Bold, also suffered from 'death grip' antenna problems.
Three million iPhone 4s have been sold since release three weeks ago, said Jobs. In that time, despite the bad publicity surrounding the new device, only 0.55 per cent of iPhone owners have called AppleCare, the customer support department.
Jobs went on: the return rate for the new phone is 1.7 per cent – a third of that for the last version of the iPhone, the 3GS. And compared to the 3GS, the 4 drops a mere one extra phone call in every 100.
As if the assembled technology hacks weren't feeling bad enough for making such a fuss about the iPhone's so-called problems, Jobs then explained how much he loved his customers. "We want to make all of our users happy. If you don't know that about Apple, you don't know Apple. We love making our users happy."
Jobs confirms that fitting a bumper - or a case - fixes the antenna problem, so he's giving a free case to every iPhone 4 buyer: "If you got one, we'll give you a refund." ·
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"Jobs confirms that fitting a bumper...fixes the antenna problem" - This is not quite accurate. There are two problems with the iPhone 4, one of them shared by all smartphones i.e. signal attenuation caused by surrounding the antenna with a bag of salt water (your hand). There is an additional problem with the iPhone 4 caused by the exposed metal of the antenna. In tests, the iPhone 4 can suffer just over 20dbm degradation when you touch the junction between the two external antennas, as compared with a bit over 10 dbm just from holding it in your mitt without touching that point. The latter is comparable to all smartphones. In low signal areas, the degradation may cause calls to drop. The bumper or any case helps a little bit with the general degradation, since even with internal antennas it moves the antenna radiative surface a little bit further from your skin, but it mainly helps with the conductive problem of touching the exposed antenna. What you and most other reports fail to highlight is that even taking into account the problem caused by the external antenna surface, the iPhone 4 has demonstrably much better reception than the 3G or 3GS, and also, in anecdotal reports, than other comparable smartphones. It holds onto calls longer in low signal areas, though there are many variables in play and YMMV. I've had no trouble with mine and have used it extensively caseless; it's an awesome phone. Jobs' criticism of the press is quite warranted, since the much greater problem, that of the proximity sensor sometimes failing to disable the touchscreen when the phone is held to your ear, has not been reported in anything like same detail. But they're addressing that in the next update to iOS4.