Post(s) reported. I'd echo the sentiments of the moderating folks here of not polluting the thread with squabbles and non-contributive post. I myself try not to post unless I have something to contribute.

If your SIM is the older version, then yes, you will have to cut through the golden area of the chip. Latest simcards will have the gold chip size smaller and after trimming it down, it will still be possible not to damage any of the gold chip part.

Panicked for a while, because it took the iPhone longer to register and retrieve the Celcom signal. Probably because Celcom is not a supported telco. It registers after that. Also, make sure that after you trim your Simcard, that it seats on the microsim tray properly. I had a "NO SIM" message once but after reseating the sim properly, no more issues after that. Naturally, DO NOT trim your simcard SMALLER than the microsim size, otherwise the sim will be jangling around the tray and won't register contact between the gold chip area and the microsim contact area inside the iPhone. It is best to trim to a size slightly bigger than the microsim size, and then slowly chip away at the size until it fits nicely. I used the microsim I got for my 3G iPad as reference.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 26 2010, 06:09 PM

With the Bumper on, no. For true-nakedness experience, Beavis is the man to enquire.

From what I read, the signal degradation is more of an indication quirks, phone calls are still connected and signal maintained even though the signal strength indicator drops down to 1 bar or zero bars.

I was in the LRT just now, and anyone who is on Celcom 3G knows there is a section of tunnel between Ampang Park and KLCC section where, on the older iPhone 3G[S], it will drop all the way to zero. I was checking my cauliflower farm on We Rule while I was in this section of the LRT rail, and was groaned and fully prepared to see the line drops down to zero and disconnect me from We Rule, but shockingly the iPhone 4 maintained connection and I was able to visit other We Rule kingdoms in my Plus+ friends list! Bear in mind, We Rule connection requirement is the heavier kind, once you lose 3G signal, that is it, it will display "Unable to Connect" and notification popups will appear. I was connected throughout the journey, even though the signal strength bar shows one bar and sometime jumping up and down to zero. I suspect this is another case similar to the "Wifi fluctuation" on the iPad, which is more of an indication glitch than the actual signal strength. Bear in mind, I was using Bumper case all this time, so no variables like "holding it on the bottom corner" thing is disturbing the signal strength.

Someone needs to balance out all the "reception" issue negativity, with others who had not experienced the problem at all. We all know how people LOVE to blow things out of proportion, especially in light of a successful product launch.

I honestly have not got any problem with reception, in fact the opposite happens. I get stronger reception signal instead in areas where historically had been problematic.

Then again, those who had no problems and enjoying their iPhone 4s wouldn't be so inclined to praise as much as the detractors and whiners with their problematic iPhones. They're having too much fun with their units to even bother writing in.

Episode 3 is the most poignant of the three videos. Take that, iPhone doubters/whiners/complainers/secretly-jealous-their-phone-is-not-as-cutting-edge-as-the-iPhone 4-owner! Great find!

Beautiful video, setoyo, great find! I'll be checking back later on how the creator of that video did that on his iPhone 4, got a lot to learn from him.

Here is the video Setoyo found , that is recorded and edited entirely on the iPhone 4, on Youtube HD. Click the resolution button for 720p version. Beautiful!

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 29 2010, 10:55 PM

He must have had a mini-Steadycam setup for the overhead reveal when the train pulls closer and the iPhone 4 flew up to reveal the landscape. Lots of close-ups and pull-aways too. And clever ways of hiding the iPhone from reflection of the window as well. The background music, solo piano sells it even further. Brilliant!

Exactly!
Here's the link that should behind-the-scenes footage of how the video was done. Steadycam rig, pullets and tracks, plus the iPhone was sitting on the train for the closeups, with autofocusing!!? Awesome!

Reporting no problems here, on Celcom, with or without the Bumper.

Hold it as how you would hold it when you make a call. Also if you're having problems with signal strength even when you put it on the table without touching it, then wouldn't it point towards your telco's coverage weaknesses than the iPhone itself?

Look at where all these complaints are coming from. USA. Looks at the responses and the impressions from those who attended the Gathering HERE in KL. Are there any complaints on yellowing display? One complaint on the signal drops, and yet funnily, my iPhone 4, Beavis's iPhone 4, Harmeet's iPhone 4, ksc_3688's iPhone 4, Yuvanesh's iPhone 4 has yet to fail us or drop our calls. I myself have reported the opposite, I get freaking signals in places where calls were dropped before on the 3G[S].

What else do you want us to do to convince you that these complaints are sporadic at best? Out of the 1,700,000 units of iPhone 4, how many of those reported having yellowing display, dropped signals when squeezed? If all these issues are widespread, Apple would have already done a product recall on its iPhone 4, just like how Sony did on their exploding battery issue affecting more than the 500,000 units of their Vaio laptops.

For the love of God, is it so hard to trust you fellow Malaysians, your forum members here that this issue is overblown disporpotionately? Also, notice all these NONSENSE are reported in USA only? The yellowing display issue is the glue drying up, and once dried, it clears up the screen. Read the freaking whole story, and NOT just the juicy bits about the defect. Read why it is yellow in the first place. The dropping signal when held in hand issue, why arent the Germans, the French or the Brits are howling over the internet over this and only the American are b****ing about it? Once you read the big picture, and understand how spotty and problematic AT&T's coverage in the States, and how the American themselves hate AT&T for this, you'd understand why this issue is not the phone, it's the service provider. Why wouldn't I replicate the same results here with Celcom? Or Maxis? In fact, why the hell are you worried about the Americans complaining about their iPhones when you are not getting the American iPhone 4 in the first place, and none of the issues are appearing or being reported and complaint upon by the other users in other countries?

In short, trust your fellow users here. I'm not kissing Apple's butt or reporting misinformation. The reason why the Gathering was planned and held was for you yourself to discern, analyse and remove doubt, once and for all, that all these fluff of complaints are trivial, moot and nonsensical at best. My phone is fine, Beavis's phone is fine, Harmeet's, Yuvanesh and ksc_3688's units are fine. Is that so hard to believe, or are you accusing of covering up these flaws for Apple's sake?

The fact of the matter is, those who shouts and makes complaints the loudest are those who are facing all these problems, and their numbers are far outnumbered by the satisfied customers who had nothing to complain, thus keeping their mouth shut. Only those who had problematic (depending on how they expect their phone to behave) would make the loudest noise, those like us who have perfect phones have no reason to b**** and moan to the top our lungs about it.

I'm free until 11th, if you still dont believe me, come on over, meet me, testdrive the goddamned iPhone 4 and see for yourself that all these nonsense are what it is..."nonsense". Forget the internet reports, their problems their facing is unique to their network infrastructure, network performance on their telco and how it interacts with the iPhone 4 itself. BOTTOM LINE is, those majority of us using our iPhone 4s on Maxis and Celcom are facing none of these issues, and that is what it should matter to you, NOT what is happening to American users on AT&T. You are not going to buy the American iPhone 4s because it is locked anyway, isnt it?

I kept my quiet all this while, but this is the third time, the same question about these "issues" have cropped up, and frankly, it needed to be addressed. Sorry if it sounds a bit exasperated, but folks here asking these questions dont seem to be thinking the big picture, and see how all these howlings of complaints on the iPhone 4 only coming from select part of the launch country and not their own backyard.

Peace, freaking out!

Perhaps to put this nonsense behind us once and for all, I'll report how it is on the AT&T network when I do the "Kung Fu Grip of Death" on my iPhone 4 naked when I'm in the States next week. If I do have dropping signal when I'm there, and none such nonsense when I'm back here in Malaysia or when I'm in Taiwan, what does that tells you doubters then?

Back to you as well, if it is "just an iPhone" why are so concerned with the supposed "flaws" if it wasn't important enough as you portray it to be?

Back to you as well, be open minded and accept people's POV that *gasp* there may be a sizable amount of us present users of the iPhone 4 NOT facing any of the reported problems on local telcos. Is that so hard to believe?

No wonder the term "pessimist" exist for fence-standers in the first place.

No heart feeling here either, and please keep your insinuations direct instead of padding it with the word "seniors". I'd appreciate it if people were to address their issues to me direct instead of whispering behind the back of their hands.

Turn on your Camera app, flick the switch to video, and turn the flash on. It will stay on until the time you set to Auto-Lock is set to. As with all security feature of any iPhone with Microsoft Exchange email set in, the Auto-Lock will have a maximum of 5 minutes before it turns the iPhone off due to inactivity. If you dont have any Microsoft Exchange mail set up, the option "Never" is available, so with that set in, your flash LED will be on, forever....until the battery runs out.

If following your logic, then there's always possibility that they'll introduce new, unexpected flaws into the manufacturing process. New, fast reacting, drying glue, that may not meld the screen properly compared to the slower drying glue that gave out the yellow tint. Hydrophobic antennas that is not susceptible to signal reception degradation, that is susceptible to other tactile interferences. Apple streamlining the manufacturing process by introducing cheaper component/material on later batches to save cost and maximise profit. Yes, that has happens lots of time for electronics because these components are supplied by third party. The Retina Display screen itself is sourced by two companies, LG and Samsung to cover for the unexpected demand surge. Who is to say which screen yields better result?

There is and always will be manufacturing flaws, no matter if you purchase it on launch, or if you wait for the 20th batch. So if that is the case, then why wait? And also if that is the case, then why bother with warranties at all if you're prone to getting select bad units from good batches?

Bottom line is, it happens to everyone. Either you're lucky or you're not. The logic of waiting for next batch and you think you'll be safe from previous batch flaws is a placebo at best. I've had product bought at launch that outperform and outlasts the same product but built 3 years later! Case in point? My Xbox 360 purchased at launch from November 22nd, 2005. 5 years later, and yet, it has not overheated like the rest of the units purchased by folks last year and has kicked the bucket. Am I just lucky or has the manufacturer put extra emphasis on the device QC so that it does not get a bad rep later during the launch to entice further purchase from those sitting over the fence like you? Probably, and fence-sitters like you, after looking over at the design issues being trivial and nonexistant, decides to take the plunge after several batches. That still does make you invulnerable to defects, in fact your possibility of getting a lemon is greater since production numbers have been ramped up and QC goes down exponentially as numbers increases, unless they ramp up the number of QC personnels and tighten up the QC monitoring process, which in both incur additional cost, which most companies would like not to spend on, because it eats into the profit they're already generating on their current processes.

In short, getting it first or getting it last does not guarantee you a defect-free product. The whole line of "wait and see" angle of things is just you yourself wanting to assure yourself that you stand a better chance getting a defect-free product than getting it at launch. Does not apply every time, from the history of things. Take it from me who had been buying electronics and gadgets for more than 12 years. And most of my stuff are from first launches. Go figure.

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Added on July 7, 2010, 11:23 amAs for sticking to Engadget compared to xaw's take on things, you're drawing your line of bias there already.

You're taking it as a tech enthusiast's point of view. Remember, we're all geeks and nerds, we're acclimatised to all these tech specs nerderies and comfortable with tinkering and setting up our gadgets to our likings. However, there's a whole wide world out there, filled with people who aren't like us, who are more inclined to choose a phone based on how easy to use it, WITHOUT losing out on the features that was once enjoyed by tech geeks with their extensive tinkerings. Enter the iPhone.


This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 7 2010, 11:23 AM

I still say it's just a Placebo effect. People just want to reassure themselves that they are somewhat confident to get a defect-free product on later batches. Tell that to a couple of folks here who are on their third iPhone units who are both early adopters and latecomers.

Point is, there are no quantifiable statistics that confirms that buying a product later in its lifecycle assures itself of defects. On the contrary, those who waited, would have the "buyer's remorse" syndrome creeping it, as their units are now somewhere later in the product cycle that a new product revision is looming in the horizon. The early adopters gets their full year usage to get that "bang for the buck" feel for using it for that long and won't feel much of a regretful tinge to upgrade for the next cycle, compared to those who had just bought their iPhones less than 6 months and found out that their "less than 6 months" iPhones are about to become obsolete (relatively).

With every product, early adopters took their chances. It is how you play your hands with Fate that determines if you're willing to continue being an early adopter, or learnt your lessons and "stay on the fence" longer.I am thankful that all my early adopter launch units are working fine as it is, so I could not say I've felt cheated or remorsed by defective first launch units. Others may have more harrowing stories to share here than me, I consider myself very lucky.

Disclaimer: That "less than 6 months" period is my own intepretations of how one would feel a tinge of regret when news of product refresh is coming their way, based on my own personal opinion. Others may feel not compelled at all to upgrade, or feel it is perfectly fine to upgrade even if they just own the currently-about-to-be-upgraded product for that short a period of time.

EDIT: To the post above this post, if you've nothing worthwhile to say, don't post anything, or worse, trollbaiting. Kopitiam-style posting stays in that filthy place only please. Post reported.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 7 2010, 12:19 PM

Guys, we all know better than to respond to trollbaits. Report them, let the mods clean them up, and they'll be on their way out. Let's keep it professional and classy here please.

It's plastic, some part soft, the shiny part harder. The power and the volume buttons are made of metal on the bumper, and it feels nice. I've completed my current scheme of protection, using Simplism front/back screen protectors and the Bumper to cover the sides.