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July 16, 2010

As if Apple's iPhone 4 issues with bad reception and antenna problems, coupled with the worst PR-handling in the company's history wasn't enough, now iPhone 4 users are struggling to install the phone's latest software update and they have been complaining strongly about these and other issues on Apple’s support forums.

Apple released its iOS 4.0.1 update late yesterday, and immediately some users began complaining that they couldn’t successfully install it on their iPhones... Clearly, things are getting worse and more complicated for Apple, and some say this will cost the company a good slice of its public image which, up until about two weeks ago, was almost spotless.

“On a Win 7 PC. Plugged the iPhone 4 in this morning and told there's an update. Ran it, and it errored during the install - I now have a brick. Now had to do a full restore, and I guess I'll have to try again,” wrote a very frustrated iPhone 4 user on Apple’s forum this morning.

“So far I've had to restore to factory settings (successfully and now on 4.0.1), but now the phone is having to resync ALL my data - which will take a while,” he added.

Many customers have been reporting firmware problems with the update, which keeps spewing out ‘error 9’ messages... What are error 9 messages? Nobody seems to know for now!

iPhone customer "Paul Dev" said that an Apple representative gave him the following explanation for what had gone wrong. “Error 9: This error occurs when the device unexpectedly drops off of the USB port and communication stops alltogether. This can occur if the wireless device is manually disconnected during the restore process."

"The problem can be resolved by performing USB isolation troubleshooting, using a different USB dock connector cable, trying another USB port, restoring on another computer, or by eliminating conflicts from third-party security software” he added.

Here was the user's response: “Maybe you touched the USB cable in the lower left corner! ‘Don't hold it that way’, okay? Apparently flaky mobile signals weren't enough, with 4.01, they've upgraded wired connections to have the same brilliant reliability as wireless,” he said.

Having read the forum gripes some decided to altogether steer clear of Apple’s update, and for good cause... (!)

“After reading no less than eight pages of #applefail I think I will hold off updating for now and wait for today's press conference. Please note however my apple 'bumper' does not solve the reception drop issue,” said george-young on Apple’s forum.

Overall, and from Day One, Apple has remained very quiet about this latest set in a series of numerous complaints from unhappy and very disappointed iPhone 4 users.

Apple says it will be holding a press conference later today about its venerable iPhone 4. It's been reported that company won't be recalling the darn thing, despite the antenna problems that may have prompted the quick iOS 4.0.1 update release yesterday.

Monday, Consumer Reports has confirmed that the iPhone 4’s antenna is flawed less than two weeks after Apple said the device’s wireless performance was the best it had ever shipped, prompting the leading consumer goods rating firm to decide against recommending the device for its readers.

Consumer Reports confirms that its own internal testing reveals that if contact with a user’s finger or hand on the iPhone 4’s lower left side will cause the signal to degrade enough to lose the connection altogether in an area with a weak AT&T signal.

On July 3rd, Apple had earlier dismissed the problem, saying “gripping almost any cell phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by one or more bars.” Apple claims that its antenna issue is largely an "optical illusion" caused by faulty software that causes the device to overstate signal strength by two bars! (...)

Some wireless industry analysts now think that this will most surely put a damper on sales of the iPhone 4, which up until today have been brisk.

Consumer Reports' testing of the iPhone 4 was performed on three units purchased at separate retailers in the New York area, and in a controlled laboratory environment owned by Consumers Union, the nonprofit group backing the publication of Consumer Reports.

None of the other AT&T phones that were tested in the same way, including the iPhone 3 GS and the Palm Pre, had the signal-loss problems of the iPhone 4, the consumer group reports.

Mike Gikas, a Consumer Reports writer who authored a blog on the test results, said the tests prompted the company to seriously question Apple’s recent explanation for the issue and said AT&T’s network “might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4's much-reported signal problems, but rather the phone's hardware or software itself.”

Gikas said the iPhone 4 got high points for its display, video camera and improved battery life, but said Apple needs to rapidly come up with a permanent and free repair for the antenna problems before Consumer Reports would recommend the iPhone 4 to its readers.

Overall, the iPhone 4’s antenna can be repaired by simply affixing duct tape or another thick, non-conductive material to the bottom left-hand area of the steel band where the problem occurs.

Covers such as Apple’s so-called '$29 bumpers' also appear to solve the problem (!) (?)

But the question is: will iPhone 4 users put up with some 'bumpers' or worse, some ugly duct tape on their shiny new iPhones?

“If you absolutely want an iPhone that works okay and without any "masking-tape fix", we continue to recommend an older model, the 3G S,” Gikas said.

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Source: GHCJ.