Apple Begins iPhone Case Program in App-auling Fashion

Glass_Joe 0 351 Views

The iPhone Case Program was announced earlier this morning, just a week after Apple CEO Steve Jobs addressed the reception issues spreading through the news like wildfire. In his shrugging off of the recent headlines, Jobs explained that only 1.7% of iPhone 4s have been returned and that just 0.55% of owners have called to complain. Regardless of the numbers, free bumper cases were the solution given by Jobs, which allows the external antenna band room to breathe in between the purchaser’s kung-fu grip. It’s now time for you to cash in.

Users in dire reception straights looking to gain better bars will hopefully find a hot spot to download the app released to accept iPhone 4 bumper case requests. You read that right—an app. I’m not sure if making its users download an app to initiate the process in receiving a free case is ingenious or pretentious.

As per instructions via the Apple site:Download the iPhone 4 Case Program app from the App Store.
Launch the app on your iPhone 4 and sign in using your iTunes Store account or Apple ID.
Select your Bumper or case.
[INDENT]For iPhone 4 purchases made before July 23, 2010, you must apply no later than August 22, 2010; otherwise, you must apply within 30 days of your iPhone 4 purchase. To qualify for this program, you must purchase your iPhone 4 by September 30, 2010.[/INDENT]Owners will have the option of selecting an Apple Bumper (available only in black), or from one of the following third-party choices:Incase’s Snap Case (smoke or clear varieties)
Belkin Shield Micra
Griffin’s Motif (diamond and smoke varieties)
Reveal’s Etch (black and black graphite varities)
Speck’s Fitted Case
PixelSkinHD
If you already purchased an official bumper for $29 from an Apple or AT&T store, your options for a refund lie in your respective form of payment:
Credit card:
Apple has already refunded the money to your account. Many users have reported receiving texts from
Cash, check, or gift card at an Apple Retail Store:
You will need to return to the point of purchase with your receipt by September 30, 2010.
If you purchased one from an AT&T store:
Owners must fill out and mail it to Apple before September 30, 2010.
Hate your iPhone 4 for all it’s worth:
Return it to any Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
To help combat the complaints and help better understand issues its users were having, Apple constructed a $100 million building designed as a state-of-the-art testing facility, doubling as a great publicity stunt. Their verdict? Spend $175 million more on the iPhone Case Program.

Photo courtesy of Engadget.

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A short technical addendum to ’s write-up: Apple’s follow-ups in July 2010 changed how the iPhone reports signal bars, but that visual tweak didn’t magically remove the physics of RF attenuation at the metal seam. Independent lab work showed the iPhone 4 could lose a large amount of signal in certain grips, which explains why some users in marginal-coverage areas saw big bar drops while others did not. (arstechnica.com)

Practical checks that quickly show whether the “death‑grip” is real for a particular handset: with Wi‑Fi off, open Field Test Mode by dialing *3001#12345#* (press Call) and note the numeric signal measurement (dBm). Walk the same spot holding the phone normally, then with your hand bridging the seam, then with a bumper/case fitted. A healthy read might be around −60 dBm; numbers near −100 dBm are fragile and can fall into call‑drop territory. If you see ~20–25 dB of loss when you change your grip, that matches published lab measurements and indicates a hold‑related attenuation issue. (macworld.com)

If tests show a real problem, simple mitigations are effective: use a bumper or case (which electrically isolates the seam), update iOS, and compare performance to another phone on the same carrier to rule out a local network problem. If the App Store route to request a case doesn’t appear for your device or region, Apple support and Apple Store staff handled exceptions during the program — contact them rather than relying solely on the app. The overall verdict at the time was nuanced: the iPhone 4 often had solid low‑signal performance but could be unusually sensitive to certain grips in marginal coverage. (appleinsider.com)

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