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iPhone 4 Signal Declines While Being Held? A Longstanding Issue?

GaryPDX said:
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.
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call me crazy, but your "physics" sound flawed at best.

Google says you are incorrect.


http://www.windows2universe.org/kids_space/wind_rad2.html
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/529484
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation
 
wow i just released that happens to my 3GS when i put my full hand around my phone but when i use like my fingers not my full hand its better and when not on my hand its full bars. i might be exaggerating but my signal does fluctuate allot.
 
rsocal said:
People all the iPhones have done this, I have had all of them got iPhone 4 yesterday and it does it the same way as my original,3G and 3GS. So don't worry all is fine!!!
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My 3gs drops one bar, I didn't even notice till someone brought it up now. So I am not worried as well.
 
I have the same problem.

I can reproduce this problem, on demand and at will.

On my three year old 1st generation iPhone.

On TMobile.

I am sitting in my living room, with 5 bars. If I put my hand around the phone, I drop to two bars. I take my hand away and go back to 5 bars.

So it happens on iPhone 1, on TMobile. Takes the iPhone 4 and AT&T theories out of the picture.

EDIT: and this is on iOS 3.1.2 - so take the iOS 4 problems out of the picture.
 
I had to occasional dropped call when I had the 3GS. But with the iPhone 4 I can barely talk for more than 30 seconds before the person on the other hand can't hear me because the bars are dropping rapidly.

I really hope this is a software issue.
 
On my 3G it drops from 5 bars to 3 when I hold it. At worst down to 2. On my iPhone 4 it drops from 5 bars quickly to SEARCHING, which if Im making a call halts it, which if Im on a call it kills it, which if Im uploading or downloading data it kills the transfer. This is a major issue. If I hold the phone with my thumb on the bottom and my middle finder on the top, bars never drop.
 
valkraider said:
I can reproduce this problem, on demand and at will.

On my three year old 1st generation iPhone.

On TMobile.

I am sitting in my living room, with 5 bars. If I put my hand around the phone, I drop to two bars. I take my hand away and go back to 5 bars.

So it happens on iPhone 1, on TMobile. Takes the iPhone 4 and AT&T theories out of the picture.
Click to expand...

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.
 
I haven't noticed this on my 4 today or ever on my previous 3G. I think i may have had one dropped call since switching to iPhone/AT&T almost two years ago. In all honesty, I don't talk on the phone much except for work conference calls.

Maybe I'm just lucky and it's my area. My advice is to move down here and buy season tickets to the Jaguars before we lose our team. Seriously, you get more bars and less dropped calls and we can keep our football team! Let's make this happen; will buy you a beer?
 
A little suspect...

Awww. Are Gizmodo's feelings hurt over the whole leak story? Doesn't it seem a little suspect that it's Gizmodo is the one to have said this first? My 3G has always done this. It's just the same old news that everyone has been harping on all along. AT&T service sucks, period.
 
I can't reproduce the reception issue with my own iPhone 4. Nor do I have yellow display issues. Hope I'm in the majority and not the minority.
 
I haven't gotten my iPhone 4 yet, still reserved to pick it up tomorrow morning at the Apple Store (and yes, I'm still planning on doing that), but this is pretty worrisome. I planned to get a ZAGG Invisible Shield anyway, would that be enough to counteract any interference?

Final thought - -
has anyone thought of b*tching to Steve Jobs about this yet? Some emails are in order.
 
I have this issue AND it drops calls because of it.

I can reproduce it over and over. Holding the phone by the glass will yield 4-5 bars for 5 minutes straight. Palming the phone will drop it to 1 bar within 15 seconds - eventually resulting in NO SERVICE.

THIS will be an expensive fix for Apple but I'm sure they can cure it with a firmware "fix", lol... the "fix" being to prevent the bars from dropping when the signal goes low.

Seriously, The first call I made with my iPhone 4 was to my buddy to tell him how awesome the display was... 4 seconds into the call, I was dropped. Out of my 3 next calls, I got dropped again as well. That's 50% drops people - not a happy feeling..Pretty unnerving. Makes it seem cheap and leaves me wondering why on earth I bought another one. Likely the last if they cant straighten this out pronto.
 
On my 3GS...

...only the Wi-Fi signal strength seems to be affected if I surround the phone with my hands. But this makes sense to me because 802.11g is a higher frequency signal than 3G if I'm not mistaken.
 
Krizoitz said:
Ok, this report is from the clowns at Gizmodo so you'll forgive me if I am INCREDIBLY skeptical about its veracity as some sort of wide spread design flaw. Heck maybe it is, anything is possible. Of course its also possible Bill Cosby, Bill Gates, and Bill Clinton will send me a birthday card this year.

Then again, even if it is true, i'm getting a bumper for my iPhone so whatever :)
Click to expand...

Yeah yeah, we get it, the fanboys hate Gizmodo. Yawn. This wasnt reported by them. It was reported by Macrumors.com users on our very own forum. It's real.
 
topmounter said:
Does the bumper case resolve the issue?

Any correlation with sweaty palms?
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It would seam the bumper case would solve this. It would insulate the antenna from grounding/ frequency changes while touching your palm/ fingers. I ordered a bumper at the same time i ordered my iphone 4, but my case hasn't shipped yet.
 
Now u know why the court system hasn't dignified rumor sites with"journalism" status. Maybe someday they'll earn it but today they've returned to the primordial ooze of news reporting.
 
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