"Hey Siri" support and possibly wireless charging case alongside AirPower charging mat.
iPhone 4S Includes Significant Antenna Upgrades
Apple has built significant antenna upgrades into the iPhone 4S, saying in the press release announcing the phone that it is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive. We spoke to Spencer Webb, owner of AntennaSys, about the antenna history of the iPhones. He wrote extensively about the AntennaGate issues with the original iPhone 4 last year.
"With the iPhone 4," Webb explained, around the steel band "we had one cell antenna at the bottom. On the top, we had another antenna for GPS and Wi-Fi." This turned into Antennagate.
With the Verizon/CDMA iPhone, Webb believes Apple's designers "moved the GPS and Wi-Fi antennas beneath the back glass and turned the top antenna into a second antenna for the cell phone." This brought spatial diversity to the iPhone. This design helps solve the Antennagate problem, because the phone can switch between the antennas depending on signal conditions.
"If you cover up an antenna, you're probably not covering up both antennas," Webb explains. "Spatial diversity on the receiving side is required for use with the Verizon network."
The Verizon iPhone had 'receive diversity' -- it used two antennas for receiving data, but may have only transmitted on the bottom antenna. With the iPhone 4S, Apple claims to have both 'send and receive diversity' for GSM and CDMA. They're using this diversity as the solution to the antenna problem.
"The iPhone 4S may indeed be the first phone to have diversity on both the send and receive sides, and that is a decently big deal. They still have the antenna around the rim, though, so it's evolutionary, not revolutionary."
Image via This Is My Next
"With the iPhone 4," Webb explained, around the steel band "we had one cell antenna at the bottom. On the top, we had another antenna for GPS and Wi-Fi." This turned into Antennagate.
With the Verizon/CDMA iPhone, Webb believes Apple's designers "moved the GPS and Wi-Fi antennas beneath the back glass and turned the top antenna into a second antenna for the cell phone." This brought spatial diversity to the iPhone. This design helps solve the Antennagate problem, because the phone can switch between the antennas depending on signal conditions.
"If you cover up an antenna, you're probably not covering up both antennas," Webb explains. "Spatial diversity on the receiving side is required for use with the Verizon network."
The Verizon iPhone had 'receive diversity' -- it used two antennas for receiving data, but may have only transmitted on the bottom antenna. With the iPhone 4S, Apple claims to have both 'send and receive diversity' for GSM and CDMA. They're using this diversity as the solution to the antenna problem.
"The iPhone 4S may indeed be the first phone to have diversity on both the send and receive sides, and that is a decently big deal. They still have the antenna around the rim, though, so it's evolutionary, not revolutionary."
Image via This Is My Next
[ 118 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
94 months ago
Wait, I thought there was no problem with the iPhone 4's antenna. How can Apple fix a problem they claimed didn't exist?
;)
They improved the antenna, it doesn't mean antenna was broken. Indeed iPhone4 receive much more better than 3GS.
94 months ago
Wait, I thought there was no problem with the iPhone 4's antenna. How can Apple fix a problem they claimed didn't exist?
;)
;)
94 months ago
Significant Antenna Upgrades my ass.
16 months for this?
God, I'm so mad right now.
Can't wait for you to let us know in every single post on the forums today.
94 months ago
So, Apple's announcement today: "After sixteen months, we've worked out the kinks. Enjoy." :confused: Oh well, life moves on.
They worked out the kinks, put a brand new processor in it that is twice as fast and consumes the same power, and added a voice recognition system that actually seems to work. If someone installed an engine in your car that had twice the horsepower, got the same fuel economy, and added a brand new GPS navigation system, would you complain?
94 months ago
I thought the upgrade was great. I don't get why people are disappointed. Technology only moves so fast. This year a speed bump, next year, a redesign, just like the iPhone 4 and 3GS before it.
As an indie game dev I'm excited about the new graphics capabilities, I LOVE the mirrored air play, and the tech demo that Epic released was very impressive.
Siri also has me interested which is funny because originally I thought it would be dumb, then I saw the video...
I also like the improved browsing speeds and storage bump. Very nice (and realistic) upgrade if you ask me.
As an indie game dev I'm excited about the new graphics capabilities, I LOVE the mirrored air play, and the tech demo that Epic released was very impressive.
Siri also has me interested which is funny because originally I thought it would be dumb, then I saw the video...
I also like the improved browsing speeds and storage bump. Very nice (and realistic) upgrade if you ask me.
94 months ago
Significant Antenna Upgrades my ass.
16 months for this?
God, I'm so mad right now.
So you read and understood the entire press release in less than 1 minute?
I can see by the image it looks quite similar to my current iPhone 4, but I am going to actually read the article and press release before my knee-jerk reaction. ;)
94 months ago
Significant Antenna Upgrades my ass.
16 months for this?
God, I'm so mad right now.
94 months ago
Wait, I thought there was no problem with the iPhone 4's antenna. How can Apple fix a problem they claimed didn't exist?
;)
Thay had to redo the antenna so that they could make it a world phone...
It was a win win ....
94 months ago
Nope, requires the phone to support SVDO (which the iPhone doesn't).
:( this makes me a sad panda
[ Read All Comments ]
Google today announced that it is expediting the closure of its Google+ social platform, which was previously set to end in August 2019 and will now be shut down in April 2019.
The company...
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave 10.14.3 update to developers, five days after releasing macOS Mojave 10.14.2, which addressed an issue with external displays and...
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming watchOS 5.1.3 update to developers, four days after releasing the watchOS 5.1.2 update with new complications for the Infograph face and ECG...
Apple this morning seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.1.2 update to developers for testing purposes, five days after releasing the tvOS 12.1.1 update.
Designed for the fourth and...
Honda consistently ranks as a top five best-selling car brand in the United States, so it's worth taking a look at the company's Display Audio infotainment system and how well it works with...
Google today announced that its Google Maps app for iOS will be updated today with a new "For You" tab in over 40 countries.
"For You" was first announced at Google I/O in May...
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Anki to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's adorable little Vector robots, which designed to be a personal robot...
Last year, accessory company Elago launched the W3 Charging Stand for Apple Watch, which turned Apple's modern wearable into a classic Macintosh. This week, Elago announced the latest iteration...
