Let me preface this by saying that, yes I do think there is an effect whereby the signal is degraded significantly in certain conditions due to the antenna design, and it can result in dropped calls or stalled data transfers. What I don't think is that it is the earth shattering, universe ending problem it is being made out to be. Both statements are my opinion. What is a fact is that there is a ton of hyperbole and speculation as to what the problem is, how widespread it is, the evil apple conspiracy theory, and what the resolution is or is not. None of those actually contribute to having a rational discussion of the problem.
I'm tired of people telling us to return the phone. That doesn't solve anything. I want the phone that I bought to work as advertised. So for those who are saying return the phone, you either don't have the phone or you have it and you haven't (but you will) experience the dropped calls, internet drop outs.
Actually, it does. In most cases the response of "return it" is to someone who has posted something to the effect of "OMG EVERY IPHONE4 EVER MADE CAN"T EVER MAKE A SINGLE CALL EVER AND APPLE IS EVIL AND THE PHONE IS SO LAME FAIL!" If you bought the product and it doesn't work for you the way you expect then you get your money back and go buy something that does work for you. Otherwise you are just wasting money. Ultimately it is your decision whether or not the product meets your standards in all areas. If it is short in some, then it is your decision whether or not the benefits of the rest of the device outweigh any issues you are having. So now you have decided a) the phone doesnt work the way I expect and I'm returning it, b) it works well enough for me to keep it, or c) it works well enough for me to wait to see if they fix the problem. Problem solved.
I just had a friend try the "death grip" on his phone and he swore it worked and nothing was wrong, then he tells me now he's having issues too. Everyone has a well duplicated flawed device. You're not from a special batch or anything, its flawed plain and simple.
Well, doesn't that just demonstrate how much of an overblown issue this is? I think your friends case is probably pretty typical. If people aren't noticing that there is an issue until they go looking for it, follow the exact steps to duplicate it and then become hypersensitive to it, then, of course, they are now going to see it everywhere. Just like when you see a certain model of car pop up everywhere because someone you know bought one. Just like when you notice a small scratch on your new phone/car/whatever which drives you nuts for days, but you can't really see it unless you are looking for it. Additionally, sometimes just the act of learning how to make it happen can change your behavior so that you exacerbate the problem.
Again, I'm not in any way arguing that there isn't an issue, what I am arguing is that the severity of the issue is being blown way out of proportion. Unfortunately until Apple makes a statement that is reasonable and/or fixes the problem it will continue to be.
Meanwhile, I'll continue happily using my iphone4 that does actually have much better call performance and reception than my 3G everywhere I've used it.
