Apple looking for Antenna Engineer to Save the Day
Since Apple’s antenna issues are getting out of hand, the mobile phone maker is now making a move to hire someone who can help. On their official website, Apple is looking for an “Antenna Engineer-iPhone” which is, at the very least, an indicator that future iPhone 4 batches will be better than the initial release. Will this mean that users will be able to hold their units any way they want? Maybe Apple should hire someone from Nokia.
For those who have not had access to the web since the iPhone’s release, the “antenna issue” is caused by holding the mobile phone in a certain way. It appears that skin contact with the lower-left corner of its metal band (the one with a black strip) makes signal reception poor, slowly dropping the bar to nothing. This may not be a big deal for right-handed users but left-handed consumers may have to struggle with changing their set habits.
If users have an extra £25 to spare, they can buy a rubber or plastic Bumper to prevent skin contact and improve signal reception. While this does sound like a logical answer to the prevalent problem, Apple has refused to give out freebies to existing users. This is even included in their AppleCare document:
“We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.”
But despite Apple’s stubborn exterior, the company does seem to recognize the gravity of the situation. Their job posting has this appended description for any potential, qualified applicants:
“Define and implement antenna system architecture to optimize the radiation performance for wireless portable devices.”
Does this mean that somebody lost their job over this fiasco? Probably. Will this mean a mass recall of preorder units? Not if Apple can help it. Like Steve said, the antenna issue is normal for all wireless devices. Apple just lucked out because popularity makes them an easy target.
[...] is pretty much common knowledge now that the Apple iPhone 4 comes with a very faulty antenna. While the issue has not been resolved, there have been calls to Apple to find ways of fixing the [...]