Iphone 4 antennas

[182_blue]

i am more than happy with my reception, i get signal in many places i didnt with the 3gs 

[andrewparker]

Yeah, can't say I've had a problem at all.

[Smiler]

Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/02appleletter.html

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Apple  
 

[cmdrfire]

¬_¬
Recalibrating the display to show different levels of bars doesn't take away from the fact that a researcher at University of Wales and some technical guys from Anandtech recorded almost a -19dB attenutation in signal when bridging that area with your hand... but it may make the problem seem less apparent (goes from three bars to one, say). Gizmodo had a well written thing about it but I'm too busy to pull up the link.

Pity, because that external antenna still looks the sex.


/really I should've spotted this as well because I did an entire module on antenna design during my undergrad... but that was almost four years ago now.

[no golf clubs at all]

In shock news today. A phone company releases a product that's not perfect.....for those of us old enough to remember when mobile phones were "portable" and had coilly leads hooking the handsets to the briefcase battery, this is laughable and it's  getting blown out of all reasonable proportion.

Seriously, if this is a problem for you sell it NOW. You'll probably make money if you do at this time. If you don't want to sell go buy a case or bumper it solves the issue dead in it's tracks. I'm sending this post from one now, with a bumper there is NO issue.

I'm noticing a huge wave of anti apple sentiment around which is fine but for me their products just work, sure they are not perfect, however nothing, not even Megan Fox is. 

 

[Jules86]

Why i always wait for apple to update their releases after 6 months!

[winrya]

Why i always wait for apple to update their releases after 6 months!

They won't make any hardware changes. Not at least until the iPhone 5 is announced next June. They have never made any changes to the 2g, 3G or 3GS in the 12 months they ran before replacement.

[Jules86]

Yes but never of those had a large flaw such as the iphone4 does.

[182_blue]

Yes but never of those had a large flaw such as the iphone4 does.

its not a problem though imo, it has better reception than the 3gs ever had for me wherever i am, even with my hands all over it, i get reception now whre i have never had it before 

[Jules86]

Yes but never of those had a large flaw such as the iphone4 does.

its not a problem though imo, it has better reception than the 3gs ever had for me wherever i am, even with my hands all over it, i get reception now whre i have never had it before 

Bloke at work says the opposite, were both on o2 and he cant get anywhere near my reception where ever we go.

Im happy to wait anyway, i wasnt impressed with it, not for the amount it would cost me, other than the screen theres nothing i would use (never use the camera and jailbreak gives me all the functions the phone has)

[182_blue]

very odd, there 5 other people at work with the 4 and they all get better reception !

Yes but never of those had a large flaw such as the iphone4 does.

its not a problem though imo, it has better reception than the 3gs ever had for me wherever i am, even with my hands all over it, i get reception now whre i have never had it before 

Bloke at work says the opposite, were both on o2 and he cant get anywhere near my reception where ever we go.

Im happy to wait anyway, i wasnt impressed with it, not for the amount it would cost me, other than the screen theres nothing i would use (never use the camera and jailbreak gives me all the functions the phone has)

[Jules86]

Hope so mate as the 3GS is shocking, have they sorted the problem out where if you change from 3g to Edge or go through a tunnel or something it takes an age to find reception again, ive waited 15 minutes once!

[182_blue]

Hope so mate as the 3GS is shocking, have they sorted the problem out where if you change from 3g to Edge or go through a tunnel or something it takes an age to find reception again, ive waited 15 minutes once!

not noticed an issue with this at all, then again didn't really notice it with the 3gs