Apple has added the Nokia N97 mini to their (growing?) list of smartphones that suffer from the now-infamous “antennagate” death-grip. Here we see the N97 dropping from 7 to 3 bars.

Of course, iPhone 4 doesn’t suffer from death-grip but death-touch, a single point of attenuation on the bottom left side. Apple made a trade-off for better overall reception and increased battery size at the expense of that single point of death-touch in low signal areas, but has since attempted to draw attention to the greater, industry-wide death-grip. (Though there’s at least one video out, not from Apple, showing the new Samsung Galaxy S succumbing to a death-finger all its own.)

Meanwhile, David Chartier has started Don’t Hold it Wrong, a log of similar videos as well as manuals where manufacturers point out attenuation areas on many different phones.

It’s not surprising the whole “antennagate” hasn’t faded away yet. It is a little surprising Apple’s still adding to the attention. Video after the break.

Update: as commenters rightly point out, Apple didn’t originally include Nokia on their antenna page but Nokia saw fit to make a statement about it, so now the collection has been rounded out.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Apple adds Nokia N97 mini video to death-grip series is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Following their iPhone 4 press conference last Friday, Apple showed for the first time their massive $100 million dollar antenna design and test labs both on the web at apple.com, and to select members of the media. The images look like something out of science fiction, of Charles Xavier’s Cerebro and the StarGate recreated in blue foam. There are 4 facilities with 17 antenna characterization (anechoic) chambers put together to test everything from 2G and 3G cell networks to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Apple’s site says:

Apple engineers tested iPhone 4 in a variety of scenarios, environments, and conditions in order to gauge performance. They spent thousands of hours in cities in the U.S. and throughout the world testing iPhone 4 call quality, dropped-call performance, call origination and termination, and in-service time. They tested iPhone 4 while stationary, at high and low speeds, and in urban, dense urban, and highway environments. In low-coverage areas and good-coverage areas, during peak and off-peak hours — iPhone 4 was field-tested in nearly every possible coverage scenario across different vendor and carrier equipment all over the world.

Josh Topolsky of Engadget says:

And we get it — there have been people out there suggesting that Apple simply didn’t test their phone before letting it out into the market. Or that they were so bone-headed that they only tested it in those special cases made for bringing the phone to bars, so of course they didn’t see the antenna issue. But let’s be honest — this is a multi-billion dollar company that’s been making wireless devices for a long, long time. This isn’t their first phone, it’s their fourth, and though there have been reception issues with the previous models, nothing suggests that Apple isn’t doing its due diligence on these phones. The truth is, we didn’t need the tour to understand that, but it’s possible some people do.

John Paczkowski of Digital Daily says:

[Ruben Caballero, a Senior Director of Engineering responsible for antenna design] said the iPhone 4 spent 2 years in those labs before it was released to the public. 2 years. The company tested the hell out of the device and any suggestion that it didn’t is ludicrous. Apple was clearly well aware that the iPhone 4 can suffer some signal degradation when held a certain way, but in its eyes that’s the original sin with which ALL cell phones are born. Let he who is without sin cast the first phone, right?

MG Siegler of TechCrunch says:

No matter what your take is on the iPhone 4 antenna — my take is here: it’s real, but not a big deal — there is no question that Apple spends a huge amount of time and money testing these devices. And the fact that the thing people will care most about in this whole 1,200-word post is the passing mention that the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 may have been in one of these rooms, says just about all you need to say about the state of the iPhone.

So our take away is this: Apple has put hundreds of millions of dollars and years of effort into building, staffing, and using a state of the art antenna reception facility. They want to create the best phones in the world, not just the best digital devices. Of course they knew there was a single death-touch point of attenuation on iPhone 4 but decided the benefits of overall better reception, longer battery life, and innovating in the antenna space (which is always a step-forward, step-back game) was worth the trade-off. But they utterly failed to properly prepare users and especially the media for the implications of that trade-off, and then reacted poorly when that lack of prep-time came back to bite them. (Including trying to switch the discussion from specific death-touch to industry-wide death-grip).

The confluence of that technological trade-off, failure to set expectations, and the media frenzy that’s followed has created a huge rift in popular perception probably best exemplified by Consumer Reports — the crux upon which a lot of “antennagate” hinges — not recommending iPhone 4 despite rating it the best smartphone on the planet.

It would almost be comedic if it wasn’t so absurd.

Apple shows off $100 million antenna design and test labs is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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One of the greatest tricks Apple pulled off at the iPhone 4 press conference was changing the dialog from death-touch — a single point of antenna trouble on iPhone 4 — to death-grip — a device-wide point of antenna trouble faced by the entire industry.

Apple for their part did cop to making iPhone 4’s point of attenuation very external and incredibly visible. Steve Jobs called it “x-marks the spot”, but then Apple very quickly moved on from this death-touch to a wider death-grip and demonstrated it on handsets from RIM’s BlackBerry to HTC’s Droid to Samsung’s Windows Mobile.

I initially thought this was a mistake on Apple’s part — that they were spending too much time deflecting onto the competition. Turns out I underestimated Apple, but not as badly as the competition. What Apple very neatly managed to do there was conflate their own widely reported iPhone 4 death-touch into the very real but widely under-reported death-grip phenomena that does indeed affect the entire industry.

What’s more, by those very competitors responding that the death-grip either didn’t affect their devices, was minimal at best, or wouldn’t affect future devices, they cinched it for Apple. They became part of the problem. Why?

Because their devices absolutely suffer from the death grip. Instead of pointing out that yes, Apple was correct, the death-grip was an industry-wide problem but the death-touch was thus far unique to Apple, RIM BlackBerry, Samsung, and Nokia denied the death-grip, thus ensuring everyone with the issue — or just an itch for attenuation attention — would fire up YouTube and make a video clearly discrediting their statements.

HTC for their part just said they didn’t have many reports of the problem. However, as David Chartier points out, HTC effectively white-labels their phones to Verizon and they didn’t make it clear whether the number of complaints they reported included Verizon numbers. This is similar to Apple citing AT&T return numbers for iPhone 4, not gross Apple return numbers. It’s what brought about the saying “lies, damn lies, and statistics”.

My original take on Apple’s press conference was that Steve Jobs should have just stressed that making the iPhone 4 antenna the way they did was a trade-off, better battery life and stronger signal in many cases in exchange for that single point of problem — the lower left hand corner death-touch. Andy Ihnatko made the same point, if more eloquently. Arguably a modern smartphone has any number of tradeoffs — AMOLED screens offer better color and blacks that utterly fail in direct sunlight. (Free sun-screens anyone?)

I still think Apple should have been crystal clear about that trade-off, but it’s looking increasingly like they didn’t have to. In their rush to get comments out in front of the media RIM, Samsung, Nokia, et al have let the conversation get changed from death-touch to death-grip, and they’ve let videos on their own handsets propagate across the web. One look at BlackBerry on Boy Genius, Nokia on Electronista, Samsung on InformationWeek, HTC on Engadget, many others via Daring Fireball, and even manufactures’ own warnings against touching their antennas in their own manuals via 1FPS shows how they’ve become part of a story that last week was all about Apple.

Sure a few sites like Ars Technica and When Will Apple? will raise a fuss over it, but it’s done. Competitors dove headlong into it. And since Apple has now effectively priced the death-touch problem as one free case per phone, all that remains to be seen is if competitor’s denials + customers videos = free cases for other phones too.

So I underestimated Apple but they didn’t underestimate their competition.

Note: this editorial is based on a Twitter conversation with Seth Weintraub from 9to5Mac who is absolutely right, one day college courses will be taught on these PR tactics. Check out his article on Fortune.

Update 1: Dilbert’s Scott Adams comes to the same conclusion, which he calls the “high ground maneuver”, and wonders if Jobs has had hypnotist training.

Update 2: I said above that while many smartphones have the death-grip, only the iPhone has the death-touch. Daring Fireball links to a YouTube video showing the Samsung Galaxy S having, if not the death-touch, then at least the death-finger. Again, from now on no smartphone is safe.

How Apple moved the conversation from iPhone 4 death-touch to industry-wide death-grip is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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And the quadfecta is now complete, with Samsung responding to Apple over the iPhone 4 press conference’s demonstration of the death-grip causing signal loss on an Omnia II.

“The antenna is located at the bottom of the Omnia 2 phone, while iPhone’s antenna is on the lower left side of the device. Our design keeps the distance between a hand and an antenna. We have fully conducted field tests before the rollout of smartphones. Reception problems have not happened so far, and there is no room for such problems to happen in the future”

Apple must be ecstatic. Any company that stayed quiet would have ridden out the story pretty much uninvolved. Any company — now all of them — that spoke up guaranteed their phones a bump in YouTube demos and/or free case requests.

And that “problems in the future” bit? Sigh. Early reports already indicate Samsung’s new Galaxy S-class Captivate and Vibrant are having the same problem. Here’s a sample from InformationWeek:

I have both a Samsung Vibrant and Captivate on hand for testing purposes. In both phones, the internal antenna is apparently located on the back of the phone, towards the very bottom edge. When gripped around the bottom of the phone (with either hand) the signal strength drops almost immediately. The Vibrant went from three bars to zero bars in about five seconds, and the Captivate went from four bars to zero bars in about six seconds. When I let go, the signal returns immediately.

Sure, death-grip isn’t the same as iPhone 4’s single-point touch, but in a media frenzy no phone is safe.

[Samsung Hub via Korea Herald via Gizmodo, InformationWeek]

Samsung responds to Apple over antennagate is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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HTC’s Eric Lin has responded in statistical fashion to Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference where Steve Jobs showed off a Droid Eris losing singnal when death-gripped:

“Approximately .016% of customers [have complained]. We have had very few complaints about signal or antenna problems on the Eris”.

Which could also just mean there hasn’t been the attention or scrutiny placed on signal strength attenuation in the past, and again it will be open season now with any number of YouTube videos popping up showing everything from the HTC Droid Eris to HTC Droid Incredible to HTC Nexus One succumbing to the death-grip, just like Apple demonstrated.

However, HTC does have the forethought to warn customers not to touch the spot over their antenna (see image, top).

[Pocket-Lint via Android Central, Daring Fireball, Engadget]

HTC responds to Apple over antennagate is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The sun has set and risen again following Apple’s unprecedented iPhone 4 press conference, and the folks behind TiPb and the SPE network have had time to listen, absorb, cry fair and foul, and figure out our thoughts. Here’s the post-mortem from your favorite editors and writers at TiPb, Android Central, CrackBerry, Nokia Experts, WMExperts, as well as the Cell Phone Junkie.

Hit the jump to hear what we think, then hit the comments to tell us what you think.

Dieter Bohn, Editor in Chief, Smartphone Experts

Apple has addressed my biggest concern, which is the not-so-vague feeling of distrust, uncertainty, and genuine malaise I was starting to feel towards the reception of my iPhone 4. Until the press conference and Apple’s admission that “we’re not perfect,” I would constantly worry that I was not holding different. I’ve dropped more than a few calls and with previous iPhones and other phones, it never gave me much feeling for concern because I always figured it was just AT&T. However a trip to New York, iPhone 4 in tow, had me at my wit’s end. I was unable to connect calls, keep calls, or get data in anything approaching an reliable manner.

Normally, as I said, I would have chalked it up to AT&T. With this iPhone antenna issue, however, I was constantly wondering if I was just holding the phone wrong. I’d keep trying with increasingly awkward hand positions when normally I would have given up and let AT&T defeat me. When you introduce an intermittent variable that a human may or may not have intermittent control over to a technical problem, what you’re really introducing is a troubling mistrust.

Although Steve Jobs made the kinds of “we love our users” points that you’d expect him to make, I was actually gratified to hear them – because they were combined with an honest admission that the iPhone 4 drops marginally more calls than it ought and that there is a “weak spot.” Now if I drop a call or lose data I have the same sorts of questions that arise with intermittent, human-intervention technical problems, but I have less of a feeling of doubt about the whole thing.

All that said, when signal is medium to strong, I have great reception. Also, when I use an iPhone case, I have no problems whatsoever. So a case it is. That, or per Steve Jobs, I’ll preempt Eminem and see if I can’t get stylin’ with a well-placed band-aid.

Chad Garrett, Writer, TiPb

I think Steve did a great job laying down the facts around the iPhone 4 antenna issue. Frankly I have been tired hearing about this since most users like myself, don’t encounter any issues unless they play show-and-tell with their friends.

Apple made a clear design decision to create a radical antenna design to allow for better reception and internal storage to make the thinnest and arguably sexiest smartphone to date. However, this radical change had unforeseen consequences; every media outlet thinks that the iPhone is somehow broken or flawed if you touch the case a certain way. I can tell you that my iPhone 4 works just fine regardless of how I hold it. I am sure there are people that have issues with their iPhone 4, I am not denying that. But I am betting that everyday people outside of the tech sector are returning their iPhone 4’s for the same reason someone returns a BlackBerry, Android or Palm phone; they just got a lemon. For example, a co-worker of mine is on their 4th Palm Pre due to constant hardware failures (screen, keyboard you name it).

No the iPhone 4 is not perfect, but it is darn close compared to it’s competition. Sure you can touch the “magic spot” and make some bars go down. At the end of the day, no one is forcing you to buy an iPhone 4. Though, with 3 million sold in 3 weeks, one has to wonder if there is not some kind of mind control going on.

Leanna Lofte, Writer, TiPb

First of all, I loved that the press conference opened up with “The iPhone Antenna Song” video. Pure win. As for the content of the conference, it went pretty much exactly as I was expecting. I was never convinced that the antenna issues were a software problem, especially when talk of it being a problem on other devices started to surface. I believed it was hardware related from the very beginning. The problem with the iPhone 4, is that there is a visible line on the device that initiates the reception failure. This makes it psychologically seem like a bigger deal when compared to other phones. In reality, maybe we should be grateful that we know exactly where we shouldn’t touch? Ok, maybe that’s going a little far, but the fact remains that this issue isn’t isolated to the iPhone 4. I was never convinced that Apple would recall millions of phones unless they had a guaranteed hardware fix for the problem, which seemed highly unlikely to me. Apple had to do something to make customers happy and calm down a bit, so free bumpers it is! In reality, this “fix” will cost Apple pennies and it was a smart move on their part.

I was surprised to learn that the iPhone 4 is only 1% worse in terms of dropped calls compared with the 3GS. I wonder if this statistic is skewed in some way, but it’s more likely that I got buried too deep in the hype. My personal experience actually matches Jobs’ claim; dropped calls and reception between the iPhone 4 and 3GS is the same – no noticeable difference.

Jerry Hildenbrand, Writer, Android Central

I can appreciate the candid, old style Steve Jobs way he handled the event. Poking fun at yourself and others, and flashing a big grin is the “work all night in the garage” Steve everyone loves. However, to me the real situation is that signal attenuation was not the issue. A design that places a trouble spot in an area very likely to be touched is the problem, and this was brushed to the side. This is why a rubber bumper can fix the issue on the iPhone4, but isn’t needed on previous iPhones or the competitors products.

For those in areas where “bridging the gap” causes dropped calls or slow data, the bumper will alleviate it, and offering them to those who need one was the right call. There really is no other plausible solution. But ignoring the questions about the antenna design, or deflecting them by showing “bars” from other manufacturers isn’t the response I had hoped for from someone who holds the trust of millions.

Craig Johnston, Podcaster, CrackBerry.com

My experimenting with Smartphone signal issues revealed that all Smartphones (and likely all phones) with internal antennas experience a signal drop when held. If I hold my iPhone 4 in my right hand, nothing happens. If I hold it in my left hand however, I see a 3 bar signal strength drop. My Nexus One has an issue no matter which side you hold it on, and my BlackBerry Curve 8900 suffers a drop too. My BlackBerry Bold 9700 however, sees a signal drop, but not as big. This could be due to the faux leather battery cover, I’m not sure.

My conclusion is that the badly calibrated iPhone 4 signal meter shows an artificially large signal drop which has alarmed people who have not seen such a drop on other phones, even though the drop in signal is likely the same in reality

• Craig’s demo on the Mobile Universe videocast [YouTube link]

Ally Kazmucha, Writer, TiPb

I would have liked more of an answer as to why touching one specific spot causes such an issue, and why Apple didn’t just make the break in a place users are less likely to come in contact with while on a call or browsing the web. Free bumpers will not appease everyone, but as El Jobso stated, if you aren’t happy with your purchase, bring them back for a full refund. I live in an area where service isn’t the greatest, and I think sometimes the service issues are confused with hardware issues. I think it really comes down to what you need to do with the phone and how unwilling you are to part with it. Technology is always changing, if you’re going to be an early adopter, you have to roll with the punches. The iPhone 4 is no different.

Malatesta, Writer, WMExperts

Windows Mobile and Windows Phone may suffer from such occasional hardware inconsistencies (CDMA Palm Treo Pro is just awful for reception, see this doozy of a fix), but having multiple devices for consumers to choose from, instead of just one-flagship phone, gives consumers options. If you’re going to put all of your eggs into one basket, you better make sure that basket is 100% perfect or nearly so. Kudos to Apple for giving away those free cases, but we think that this problem should have never had happened in the first place.

• WMExperts’ response

Kevin Michaluk, Founder, CrackBerry.com

I used to really like Steve Jobs. After today’s BB 9700 slander and antenna propaganda, not so much anymore. So much he said she said mamby pamby I know you are but what am I bull$#!t.

• CrackBerry.com’s death-grip poll
• RIM’s official response

Matt Miller, Editor, Nokia Experts

Steve Jobs said that everyone in the smartphone industry has a problem with reception and the iPhone 4 is a marvel of engineering. I don’t recall him specifically mentioning Nokia, which makes sense since my personal experiences with over 25 Nokia smartphones shows them to clearly have superior RF reception. Even though Nokia clearly shows where the antennas are in their manuals, I find I get excellent reception pretty much no matter how I hold my device.

• Nokia’s official response

Phil Nickinson, Editor, Android Central

Steve Jobs and by extension Apple (or vice-versa) remains the P.T. Barnum of our era. You’re going to get a hell of a show, and some of it might even be true. Apple’s in PR damage control mode, that’s largely a new position for them. Showing a Windows Mobile phone (Samsung Omnia II), an Android phone (HTC Droid Eris) and a BlackBerry (Bold 9700) almost seemed like blatant deflection. “Yeah, we may have a problem, but check out these guys!” There is a larger problem, and that is that everybody — all of us — are trying to become amateur RF engineers. We’re not. We’re not going to be.

I would have paid money to have been at the presser, if things really got as heated during the Q&A as it sounds. Apple’s relationship with the media — mainstream and otherwise — has always been interesting. But Jobs is sorely mistaken if he thinks every media outlet should want to be Apple’s friend. That’s not our job. True, it’s far too easy for false or otherwise trivial information to be blown out of proportion or reported incorrectly. But that’s also the world that Apple’s products have helped perpetuate.

One last thing: Glad Apple spent $100 million or so on testing facilities. But I’d love to hear from somebody at the FCC.

• Android Central’s response

George Ponder, Editor, WMExperts

From the get-go, I think the problem was handled poorly by Apple. I agree that other phones have similar issues but Job’s handled the iPhone’s problem poorly. Job’s initial solution, don’t hold the phone with your left hand, should never have left the confines of his office. I’ve loosely followed the iPhone 4 saga and have only read recaps of Job’s conference. While there are issues with the iPHone 4, Apple customers should be grateful they have a new phone to complain about. I can only hope us Windows Phone owners will be so lucky come October. With a new phone that is. Apple can keep all the performance issues….

Anyways, here’s my two cents.

Apple should have caught this design flaw and while the bumper case will solve the problems, customers won’t be happy. The look of the iPhone 4 (without the case) is part of the phone’s appeal. It’s like using a bumper sticker to cover up a ding on a Porshe’s bumper.

It sounds as if Job’s spent a lot of time pointing the finger elsewhere instead of at Apple for not catching this from the start. As if Apple can do no wrong.

Oh… and what happens after September 30th? Will the next batch of iPhone 4’s have a design fix? Or will those customers get stuck with dropped calls or the cost of a case?

Bla1ze, Editor, CrackBerry.com

I’ve watched the conference video. I simply cannot replicate the issue with my BlackBerry Bold 9700 as Steve Jobs demonstrated. To be fair, I am on Rogers and not AT&T although not exactly sure how much difference that makes.

I’m still not convinced the issue with the iPhone 4 is as big of an issue as some media outlets are portraying it to be. But, to say that the issue does not exist entirely is a farce.

Mickey Papillon, the Cell Phone Junkie

Going into the Press Conference, I figured we would see Apple announce a couple things. First, I did not expect a full on recall, so no surprise there. Thinking about the cost of the bumper and how much of a profit center Apple has with this, i did not expect them to be given out. What I did think was that they would be letting those that had issues return the iPhone for a newer model that would have some sort of Stevie dust on it that would make it work. Actually, i expected them to say they would be insulating the antenna moving forward so that the attenuation didn’t happen moving forward. The fact that they didn’t mention anything about what they plan to do with new devices moving forward was troubling. I assumed they would at least try to make changes (even slight ones) for future ones to calm everyone down.

Regarding the demo of the different devices, showing that they could have the same issue was a cop out. Of course this happens on any phone. It’s a RF transmitter and receiver. What they didn’t cover (which should have been the main thing they talked about) was that your body is conductive, and it de-tunes the antenna when you simply press your finger on the black strip, bridging the 2 antennas. You don’t need a “death grip” on the phone to make it have problems.

Also, I think the proximity sensor issue was downplayed. I (and my wife) have had lots of problems with this. Many disconnected calls, calls put on mute, and DTMF tone transmissions from this flaw. It should be corrected immediately.

Finally, the AT&T HSUPA issue is a big one for certain markets. In tests I ran this week, my 1st Generation iPhone has faster consistent upload speeds than the iPhone 4. Realizing this is only in certain markets, and fixable by Alcatel Lucent, maybe they didn’t think to mention this. However, its one of the biggest reasons for the time being that I am not using the iPhone. AT&T should be giving all customers in these markets credits each month that the issue exists. Sending email is a chore when your upload speeds are only 50kbps, not to mention the 2MB photos that the camera takes. Upload a photo to Facebook while on the go? Forget it…it’ll take you 10 minutes a pic…

Overall, I think they said what they needed to, and this will eventually blow over. However, I still am not thrilled by the continuous denial of issues even existing.

Rene Ritchie, editor, TiPb

This was a no win situation for Apple. Ever since the problem surfaced and Apple and Steve Jobs issued “hold different, buy a case” emails, the win-ship set sale and they weren’t on it. All they could do was damage control, all they could do was try to move the mass media frenzy on to the next story.

Their strategy to do this was humility (showing the video, claiming to be human, apologizing), deflection (showing other smartphones suffer from the same problem), and bribery (free bumpers and cases for everyone).

The humility part worked. They got off to a good start. The deflection stuff didn’t. They spent too much time on what should have been a bullet point. Sure every smartphone has this problem but no other smartphone has an external antenna with such a visible and inconvenient single point of problem. Luckily for Apple, RIM and Nokia have chosen to respond, ensuring they’re now part of the problem. We’ll see if HTC and Samsung are smart enough to sit this out. As to the free bumpers, at first the bribery seems to conflict with the deflection. If there’s no problem, why give bumpers? Simple. People like free stuff.

Apple made a technological trade-off. In order to get bigger battery size and better reception overall, the consequence is that single point of attenuation (sure, design factored into it — but it really is better for battery life and for reception as well). Not stating that was what causes the apparent conflict. However, since the real problem for Apple is one of public perception now, giving away free bumpers becomes a precedent-setting public solution. (One Nokia, RIM, and Apple themselves for the 3GS might later regret).

Overall it was ugly and ham-fisted in parts, and the deflection section weighted far too heavily, but hey — free bumpers. Apple wants to make every customer happy. They’re battered and a little bloody but more than likely they’re past this now.

Phil Nickinson is right, though — heaven help whomever releases the next big phone. YouTube is going to light up instantly with antenna tests, and message boards with free case requests, now and for a long while to come.

• TiPb’s coverage

Jeremy Sikora, Writer, TiPb

Deep down I was hoping Apple was going to be able to pull a rabbit out of their hat and say software update would fix it and those of you with the issue could rest easy. That clearly wasn’t the case and it’s free cases for everyone, which I’ll gladly accept even though I don’t suffer from the “death grip” syndrome.

And your take?

You’re part of team TiPb and the Smartphone Experts community as well, and we want to hear your thoughts. Sound off in the comments!

Apple iPhone 4 press conference post-game – TiPb and SPE sound-off is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have released an official response from RIM to Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference yesterday and Steve Jobs’ demonstration of a BlackBerry Bold 9700 suffering from similar signal-drop when death-gripped:

“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”

CrackBerry Kevin ran a death-grip poll on CrackBerry.com and as of this writing 14% had the death-grip, 72% did not, and 14% saw bars drop but come back.

When you factor in that we don’t know how RIM calculates bars, what dropping and coming back up means, and add the crucial crazy that makes iPhone 4 antenna issues so maddening — that not everyone has them, and the whole situation has snowballed into equal parts fact and frenzy,

Steve Jobs might have done better mentioning the industry-wide death-grip problem as a bullet point and saving the videos for the Q&A if he got called on it because there was every chance it could come back to bite him in the a$$. Likewise, RIM might have been better off not making a public statement, going with humor, and letting the public weigh in for a while because this can now come back and bite them in their own co-a$$es. Why?

Same reason Steve Jobs’ should never have sent that “hold different, get a case” email response. RIM has now cued everyone in a weak signal with a BlackBerry to rev up their YouTube engines and start asking for free cases. TiPb’s already getting email:

I reported last week to [that] I could do just what Apple said in their news conference today, it was nothing against Blackberry. I own a Bold 9700 and a iphone 4 and my statement was it was no big deal. This is my third Blackberry and third iPhone. For you to say you have avoided the problem is in fact a misstatement. Your phone does the same thing without a case on it that the iPhone does and it does no harm to either phone.

Now for the big question Since my Bold 9700 does what the iPhone does are you going to fix my phone because it must be defective.

Thank You, Dwight

TiPb’s own Alli Kazmucha, who’s in a weak signal area, has been able to reproduce the BlackBerry Bold 9700 death-grip as well:

I managed to replicate [the death-grip] on a 9700 in less than 15 seconds, and on a 3GS.

We have bad coverage around a certain area in town, and like Apple said, in poor coverage areas it can be replicated. People forget that key point.

I’ve replicated it on my iPhone 3GS as well.

Nokia and RIM have both chosen to respond. We’ll see if Samsung does as well, and if HTC and Motorola decide to get into “antennagate” as well. One thing’s for certain, Phil Nickinson from Android Central is right when he says any new phone that gets released from any company now is going to be under increased — and in some cases ridiculous — antenna scrutiny.

Good.

Update: Boy Genius shows the BlackBerry 9650 on Verizon dropping to one bar when death-gripped in the video after the break…

[CrackBerry.com]

Updated: RIM responds to Apple over antennagate is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Earlier this week, Consumer Reports concluded that the iPhone 4 has antenna issues and therefore did not recommend it until Apple offered a free fix. During Friday’s iPhone 4 press conference, Apple announced that, through September 30th, they will be providing free bumpers to iPhone 4 owners and offering refunds to those who have already purchased one. However, Consumer Reports still does not recommend the iPhone 4.

Consumer Reports believes Apple’s offer of free cases is a good first step. However, Apple has indicated that this is not a long-term solution, it has guaranteed the offer only through September 30th, and has not extended it unequivocally to customers who bought cases from third-party vendors. We look forward to a long-term fix from Apple. As things currently stand, the iPhone 4 is still not one of our Recommended models.

Wait… what? Let’s back up. Consumer Reports has confirmed that Apple’s bumper does indeed alleviate the iPhone 4’s signal-loss problem. They also stated that they would recommend the iPhone 4 once Apple provided a free solution to the signal-loss problem. This is exactly what Apple has done, yet Consumer Reports will not give their recommendation. Yes, Apple’s solution is only in effect until September 30th, at which point they will “reevaluate” the issue and perhaps “have a better idea,” but why not recommend the iPhone 4 until that date? It seems rather contradictory.

What do you think? Is Consumer Reports being inconsistent, or is their lack of recommendation justified? Sound off in the comments below!

[Consumer Reports]

Even with a free bumper, Consumer Reports still doesn’t recommend iPhone 4 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Well, Apple’s special iPhone 4 press conference is over and it’s all said and done, the facts and figures, the apologies and deflections, the updates and announcements, and quite a bit of downright confusion. TiPb’s iPhone 4 review covered a lot of that — a wondrous handset with a few killer flaws. Taken as a whole, many users will be extremely happy. Others… not so much. It really is the ecstasy with one crucial spot of antenna band agony.

If you missed any of the press conference coverage or you — like us — just want a chance to digest and mull it over, to see if it holds up or falls apart, here’s your chance:

• Apple posts iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference Video, Antenna Information Page
• Apple iPhone 4 press conference post-game – TiPb and SPE sound-off
• RIM responds to Apple over antennagate
• Nokia responds to Apple over antennagate
• Apple iPhone 4 press conference meta-live blog
• Apple sells 3 million iPhone 4 in 3 weeks
• Apple: No software fix for iPhone 4 antenna issues
• Apple on iPhone 4 antenna: only 0.55% complained, 1.7% returned
• Steve Jobs: BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile have antenna problem too
• Apple refunding bumpers, giving free cases through Sept. 30
• White iPhone coming late July, Canada, Australia, 15 other countries coming July 30
• TiPb talking iPhone 4 press conference on ABC15 Phoenix
• The iPhone Antenna Song – Friday fun video

So now the only question that remains is whether Apple’s managed to turn the the bad publicity around, if they’ve done enough to end “antennagate” and get iPhone 4 back on track…

Apple iPhone 4 special press conference round up is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple held a press conference today to discuss the antenna issue on the iPhone 4. To open the conference, they showed a YouTube video titled “The iPhone Antenna Song”.

Even though the song takes Apple’s side, it’s great to see Apple have a sense of humor about this whole mess and give a fan some spotlight. This song also takes a jab at certain blogs… — maybe that’s why Steve liked it so much?

Watch the video after the break!

The iPhone Antenna Song – Friday fun video is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog