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Yup - and this place will post anything that tries to bust anyone BUT Apple's balls and will happily post any old crap if it means a negative Apple story can head south on the front page.

Holy crap! Are you meaning to imply that a site called MacRumors would possibly try to put a pro-Apple spin on most articles!?

That's preposterous!

/s
 
Human and other types of contact will affect signal, especially at the frequencies where these things operate. I have never seen it so pronounced before, however. The effect will likely be more pronounced if someone is close to the edge of a tower's coverage area - signal will appear to be stronger than it really is when unobstructed, but add an obstruction and it pushes the limits over the edge.

With the iPhone 4, the problem could be exacerbated due to physical contact with the antennas, instead of someone's hand just being an obstruction as with the previous models and other brands.

While the iPhone 4's design is a really cool piece of engineering, it's not really smart from a practical point of view, because you don't really want electrical contact with the antennas. Humans conduct electricity (a little bit) and at cellular frequencies, touching the antennas will cause a big enough impedance change to be a problem. I also predict that the external antennas will cause further problems down the road as impurities (moisture, dirt) settle in the spaces between the antennas and start to short them to each-other.

The solution? For the current model, get one of the 'bumper' covers and keep your phone clean. For the future, Apple needs to put the antennas where they belong - at the TOP of the phone behind a plastic panel.

testers is what Apple need, I could tell Apple that the space between the antena (the small blck line) if it will get durty it will short between the antennas remember there are 3 of them 1-gsm 2 wifi 3 bluetooth.
wet hands will do it too.
mr Jobes call me I will work there for free.
 
AT&T's network sucks in some areas. Full stop. I never had any problem when I was down in Beverly Hills/Hollywood, Vegas or Honolulu but your mileage may vary.

This is probably a combination of AT&T's network and bugs in the iPhone 4 radio software. There were similar issues with the 3G when it launched and they were fixed by a new release of the iPhone firmware and changed to tower configuration.

There were some issues with the 3G when it first launched in Canada but Fido and Rogers making changes to configuration and updates to the iPhone firmware fixed it right up.
 
Hopefully the bumper will correct this problem. If it does, Apple needs to give every owner 1 free bumper!:eek:
 
T-mobile uses the same network...

My experience with all the GSM networks is that they are inferior in terms of signal strength compared to the CDMA networks...iphone to sprint or verizon would be great.

TMobile and AT&T use the same radio technology (GSM). They do not use the same network.

TMobile and AT&T each have their own towers and network. In fact, for 3G service TMobile and AT&T even use different frequencies (which is why the iPhone models won't work on TMobile's 3G system).

GSM is not universally "weaker" than CDMA - there are way too many variables involved to make a broad generalization like that. But GSM on the 1900 frequency has very poor building penetration. GSM on the 850 frequency has better building penetration but doesn't handle crowded networks as well. The new iPhone 4 is supposed to switch back and forth between the 850 and 1900 "intellegently" as signal conditions change. So this could in fact be a "software" bug involved with Apple's new "intellegent" 3G management and how it reacts to different skin conditions...

Perhaps certain types of dry or oily or sweaty or thick skin may have different impact on Apple's software signal management, and now that the phone has hundreds of thousands of "testers" we may find much more than Apple could ever test for in a controlled environment...
 
apple engineers had to test these in the field WITH a case, to DISGUISE their phones, so maybe their hands rarely touch the antenna, thus overlooking this issue.
 
Ummm...

This is just a matter of simple physics. The phone is sucking the radio energy out of the air around it. If you have a good wind or a fan to keep the air moving then you won't have a problem. Otherwise, just wave the phone around or move a few feet and it will be fine. If you talk too long or have a long download, you could end up with one of those pesky black holes--then you really have a problem on your hands.

Yeah, I'm going to say wind does not effect radio signals. :eek: But maybe little animals...
 
However, only the iP4 problems caused by touching its case can be solved by holding it with cloth. So whatever problems the other phones have, they aren't the same.

Which isn't to say that the iP4 doesn't have those problems as well, on top of this new one.
 
Gizmodo are idiots. ALL CELL PHONES DO THIS.

I just love how mind bogglinglying stupid Gizmodo writers and editors are. I love how they do video after video, acting like they are doing science, and not one of those morons checked another cell phone. Guess what kiddies? All cell phones since the birth of cell technology get better reception if they are not moving. All cell phones get slightly worse reception when moved around, even if a little bit. It has zero to do with being held. It has zero to do with the antenna, or touching the antenna. Gizmodo is a fscking embassament to anyone that calls themselves a journalist, and Apple should make quite sure they are buried deep deep deep in the ground and never emerge again. We felt bad when Think Secret went down, but we will all laugh and dance on Gizmodo's shallow grave when Apple finally dials their number.
 
I get the same thing with my old RAZR

I have an older model Motorola RAZR and its done the same thing since ATT took over Cingular. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard friends say my phone works as long as I don't try to use it as one.
Different people have differing amounts of static and grounding in their bodies. Humidity levels may play a part in it.

(same things as in holding it with several contact points in your hand and or ear. The bars will start dropping till it loses it, take it away from your ear or ease up on your grip and it connects back up.)

Its real frustrating when those on other networks and phones work all over even inside metal buildings. I've held off on getting an iPhone because if it doesn't work as a phone, it would end up being a real expensive Frisbee.
 
similar issue with 3GS

I've always thought the AT&T bars on my iPhone were suspect. First off, I almost always have full bars until I actually make use of cellular features like phone or data. Then all of a sudden the bars slip away if I am in a bad area. So I think the default is to show full bars when not in use, unless you have zero signal. A bit false, if you ask me.

Well, after reading the reports about the new antenna on the iPhone 4 being sensitive to how you hold the device, I experimented with my 3GS phone. And I discovered that if I put my finger along the backside of the top edge of my iPhone, my signal strength goes up. Sorry - I can't make a vid of it, but it's very consistent.

These reports are a bit discouraging since I've been hoping the new iPhone will improve my reception since there are so many times when I am unable to use my phone or data due to poor signal strength. And please note, I live in the DC area where it really shouldn't be an issue.
 
I love how so many people are being such jerks about this. I've had an iPhone 3g for the past two years and its never lost signal like my iPhone 4 is doing. If I pick up my iPhone 3g I have perfect signal, if I TOUCH my iPhone 4, I completely lose service. I've lost service more times today with my iPhone 4 than the 2 years I spent with my iPhone 3g! I can't even use any of the functions on my iPhone 4, phone calls, texts, internet. If this DOESNT get fixed, ya might as well cancel your phone plans and use this as an iPod and a camera, cause essentially thats all that you'll get out of it. Call me a "Troll" all you want, but this is ridiculous.
 
'While this reader dismisses the claims as "trolling"'

this is the same reader who labeled people saying the iphone would be delivered on the 23rd as "stupid", right? very similar style of communication.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

Apparently this happens on my 3GS. I've had it a year and never notice until I read this thread and tested. Can't say I'm too concerned!
 
Jonny Ive

Jonny Ive and his 'magical' disappearing bars. As if AT&T coverage wasn't bad enough. I did this side by side, iPhone4 vs 3GS (a friend's). 3GS was fine with hands covering everything but part of the screen. iPhone4, it took 2 fingers to interfere with it. Tried making a call on both... 3GS ok, iPhone4 no. Repeated this 10 times, 3GS completed all 10, iPhone4 completed 6.

I can't believe it. Apple is finally a cheap commodity supplier, from China at the lowest cost possible. You can see it in all their latest hardware flaws. How did it come to this so fast, with Jobs still in charge.

I still believe. Barely....
 
Apple = Blonds

well in the stereotypical way..
the solution should have been to either embed the stainless steal bands inside the phone...or coat them with some sort of insulation..no??
why they didn't do it ??
the only answer i came up with is ...style before function..
 
this bad reception thing is stupid. I've been pretty much holding my iphone 4 since I got it at 11:00 this morning and have had full bars all day. I actually have full bars where I live compared to 3 bars with my 3gs. the I'm pretty sure apple didn't put the antenna around the edges without thinking about loss of reception. TROLLS!
 
'While this reader dismisses the claims as "trolling"'

this is the same reader who labeled people saying the iphone would be delivered on the 23rd as "stupid", right? very similar style of communication.

OK, lots of posters here, which reader are you writing about? :confused:
 
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