Why iPhone 2.0.2 fixed problems for some users

Stephen Withers
Friday, 29 August 2008 03:22

Your IT - Mobility

So this particular issue only arises when there are enough 3G devices operating in a given area to take the transmitter past its limit once the iPhone 3Gs start asking for more power than they really need.

Consequently, if you live or work in an area where the 3G cells are lightly loaded, you're unlikely to see this problem. This explains why it's not so much of an issue in some European countries with relatively mature 3G networks as it is for AT&T customers in the US.

Also, if you have been experiencing this problem and most of the iPhone 3Gs in the cells you use haven't been updated, installing the new software on your iPhone is unlikely to make any difference.

So where users reported that 2.0.2 did provide a significant improvement, it's probably because a sufficient number of other iPhone owners installed the update at around the same time.

Indeed, one indication of whether this report is correct would be if some iPhone 3G users who saw no immediate improvement with the 2.0.2 software find that things do get better over time as more and more handsets are updated.

Taking all this at face value, there's room for a double bout of finger-pointing in Apple's direction. Firstly, for allowing the bug to get into the released 2.0 and 2.0.1 software.

What't the other reason? Please turn to page three.