iPhone 4 3G Reception While Asleep

[abnospam]

Hi Everyone - my apologies if this has been brought up, I just got my iphone 4 and haven't been on these forums much until now.

So, in my house my 3G iPhone always got 4 or 5 bars and my iPhone 4 largely gets the same, except when its asleep it seems to drop to one bar. I turn it on, see the one bar and by the time I get to launching the Mark The Spot ATT app, it has risen to about 4 bars. Anyone seen this? Is it simply a display thing or is the phone really losing signal.

p.s. I have a bumber on and I can verify this behavior with my phone on a desk (not in hand).

 

[ontheDL]

Same thing happens to mine. It's always at one bar when it's sleeping on my nightstand. When I pick it up, it shoots up to 5 bars.

 

[socbrian]

my Iphone 3g does that too thou and im in a very very good 3g coverage area

 

[King Luis]

thats interesting.

i'd guess a display thing or maybe the phone drops the power to the antenna to save battery and is just on to receive signal. if that makes any sense.

since it doesn't need to transmit (like surfing the web), its in a standby mode just waiting for it to get something. once it does or you wake the phone it bumps the power to the antenna giving you full signal...just a thought.

 

[socbrian]

thats interesting.

i'd guess a display thing or maybe the phone drops the power to the antenna to save battery and is just on to receive signal. if that makes any sense.

since it doesn't need to transmit (like surfing the web), its in a standby mode just waiting for it to get something. once it does or you wake the phone it bumps the power to the antenna giving you full signal...just a thought.

pretty much my thought too. maybe ill look up the code one day if i get some time

 

[abnospam]

I've also noticed it tends to be deep sleep rather than just sleep. e.g. if I black out my phone and then turn it on 30 secs later I don't really see it, but if it is sitting there for 30 mins and activate it, then I see the low bars.

 

[ffuuman]

sorry for the bump?

i have this problem too! when i take it out of deep sleep, not ~1 minute sleep, i get 1 or 2 bars. then it slowly goes up as i'm using it. this really bothers me because it has never happened with all my previous-generation iphones.

i thought i was alone on this and had a defective iphone, so i took it to the apple store for a replacement.. DENIED. because it requires a deep sleep and doesn't happen every time, i was unable to replicate the low bars at the apple store. pretty frustrating.

apple should tell us if the new iphone has new power-saving features like this, or at least their "geniuses".

 

[itsmemuffins]

How is this a problem?

Has it stopped you from receiving phone calls?

 

[just1ed]

I have the same problem. The signal reduces to 1 bar when it is on standby, normal is abour 3-4 bars.

It will be a problem if someone calls while the phone is on standby and the reception does not increase, quality of the call will be affected?

 

[smg30]

I have this low bar behavior on my iPhone 4, too. I first noticed it when waking up in the morning. I had been wondering if it is a "power-saving feature," as well. Problem is I have had at least a couple calls go directly to voice mail - the calls never rang to my phone and don't show up in the recents log. I've had the phone a little over 4 weeks. This happens at my home where I have typically 2-3 bars (occasionally 4) signal strength whether holding the phone or not. I have reset network settings, more than once, which has not shown any improvement. I have been wondering if this is a hardware, software or AT&T signal problem. Prior to my iPhone 4, I had the original iPhone for 3 years and never noticed this behavior (though, the AT&T signal strength would vary). I'm running 4.0.1 currently and had same issue with 4.00 (no jail break).

 

[Chunkycat]

Poltergeist!!!

apple should tell us if the new iphone has new power-saving features like this, or at least their "geniuses".

I don't think it's a new "feature". I've never seen this on my phone and get calls/texts just fine when it's sleeping. And considering the fact that there aren't that many replies on this thread, I'd say this is uncommon. If it doesn't impair normal use of the phone, just forget about it. Do you really care how many bars your phone's showing if you can receive calls?