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I have an iPhone 4 (white 16GB from July) and I have never had this problem- even when trying to force it to happen by intentionally "death gripping". I won't say that no one has had the problem, but no one is going to tell me that every iPhone 4 is effected because I have mine in my hand right now and it does not happen - even with the "death grip".

This is because:

1. You are in a strong signal area
2. You have unusually non-conductive skin
3. Possibly both 1 + 2
 
Why is this news? I thought this issue went away with the Verizon iPhone 4, and the 4s is just a continuation of this?
Don't think I've ever dropped a call or had a loss of signal on my Verizon phone.
 
Why not do the example whilst in field test mode and get some comparable numbers?

And what is that message icon on the right side of the top bar? I thought it was from a jailbreak option - which I haven't heard of one for the iPhone 4s yet?
The looks like it's just on the 4, not the 4S.
 
Why is this news? I thought this issue went away with the Verizon iPhone 4, and the 4s is just a continuation of this?
Don't think I've ever dropped a call or had a loss of signal on my Verizon phone.

It did not go away. Even though the verizon iPhone was better it still was worse than the other phones (other than the AT&T iPhone) to which it was compared to (scroll down):

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4163/verizon-iphone-4-review/2
 
I know there are some people who seem to think the antenna issue wasn't real, but I can say from first hand experience it was real. So let's please not get into the debate about whether it was a manufactured controversy or not. :)

There were two separate issues

a) "death grip" - holding tightly
b) just bridging the lower left band

a) is common in all cell phones
b) is iPhone 4 specific

arn

if the issues are resolved, that's great news!
 
Oh, you mean the problem that was never really a problem anyway? That's some R&D well-spent.

Don't confuse folks with that little fact.

I realize Apple had no choice but to "fix" the problem due to the bad PR, but the fact that they had to in the first place is ridiculous.

And yet they didn't 'fix' anything. The CDMA antenna mandated a change in the arrangement as has this CDMA/GSM setup. That's all. We also saw it with the Verizon phone.

----------

I know there are some people who seem to think the antenna issue wasn't real,

The issue was very much real. Just not has huge as it was made out to be.

And often without any actual service issue. That you only saw one bar doesn't really matter when calls send and receive with no problems.
 
I've dropped more calls with my iPhone 4 than with any other phone that i've owned. I'd say the problem was real. Not to mention the proximity sensor issues... 40 more days until I can scrap this iPhone 4 and get the 4s.

This. Although i'm hoping Tesco Mobile UK get some stock next week and not 40 days
 
The issue was very much real. Just not has huge as it was made out to be.

And often without any actual service issue. That you only saw one bar doesn't really matter when calls send and receive with no problems.

Urgh. This type of ignorance really irritates me. Oh, I have 5 bars, it goes down to 4 when I grip my iPhone 4, oh no, big deal!

Well, how about when you have 2-3 bars? It'll go down to 1 bar, then it'll drop your call because you have no signal. Happens every time I use my iPhone out the Griffin case.

I live in an area of relatively poor 3G reception. Simply just touching the bridge is enough to go from 2-3 bars to no signal. And that is on two different iPhone 4's made a year apart (I got mine replaced recently).
 
This is because:

1. You are in a strong signal area
2. You have unusually non-conductive skin
3. Possibly both 1 + 2

And your point is?

I said in my post that I am not saying people don't experience the issue. I am simply saying that I don't experience the issue. Take it or leave it.

What is controversial about my statement? I don't understand the down votes and this post. I do live in a strong signal area in Maryland. So, your point? I am just trying to say that the issue is not universal. I am sure there are other people living in strong signal areas in the country, no? I am pretty sure that if I cannot replicate the issue, neither can some other people. That said, again, I'm not saying it does not affect some people, so I don't understand the retaliation. I'm sorry that I don't have the issue...? :rolleyes:
 
Perhaps I am missing something here but looking at the comparison with the 4 and the 4S I see the author of the video is using wifi and not 3G.

Here is anandtech again on this (sorry for always posting so much about this here :)) and he tested the iphone 4 attenuation (death grip, held naturally, etc) with 3G and Wifi separately with differing results:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

I have no doubt that the 4S has improved markedly with the antennae, especially the GSM iPhone 4. But why not use 3G?

Edit: OK, he seems to have used wifi on the iphone 4 and 3G on the 4s. So as he says no deathgrip on the 4S which is correct but I still would have liked to have seen dbs with the *3001#12345#* and to have done an apples to apples comparison - the 4 would probably have done worse with 3G as anandtech showed.
 
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And your point is?

I said in my post that I am not saying people don't experience the issue. I am simply saying that I don't experience the issue. Take it or leave it.

What is controversial about my statement? I don't understand the down votes and this post. I do live in a strong signal area in Maryland. So, your point? I am just trying to say that the issue is not universal. I am sure there are other people living in strong signal areas in the country, no? I am pretty sure that if I cannot replicate the issue, neither can some other people. That said, again, I'm not saying it does not affect some people, so I don't understand the retaliation. I'm sorry that I don't have the issue...? :rolleyes:

Chill out. There was no retaliation. You said it didn't affect every iPhone 4. I took that to mean you were saying some handsets had a defect that others did not. In fact they all behave the same way if put in the same conditions.

If that is not how you meant it then no big deal.
 
Chill out. There was no retaliation. You said it didn't affect every iPhone 4. I took that to mean you were saying some handsets had a defect that others did not. In fact they all behave the same way if put in the same conditions.

If that is not how you meant it then no big deal.

I can't be certain why mine doesn't have the problem. But it doesn't. And it is an iPhone 4. That leads me to believe that some other users of the 4 aren't affected either. Whether or not that's due to the phone itself or outside factors like reception (could be) or "skin conductivity" (doubt it) is up for debate. You don't know the answer to that for certain, and neither do I.
 
The Verizon iPhone 4 was the one that introduced antenna diversity, which they require in their phones to ensure a good signal no matter how you hold it.

Apple saw that it was a good idea and continued the same with the new 4S.

I could've sworn that there was an article that said the VZW 4 only had diversity for "send" signals, while the 4S has it on send and receive
 
It ain't over until Consumer Reports sing :) I have yet to see anyone with an iP4S bridge the gap between the antennas with their finger. This should be tested during an actual call because I have a suspicion Apple have been "creative" with the bars on the iP4S.
 
It ain't over until Consumer Reports sing :) I have yet to see anyone with an iP4S bridge the gap between the antennas with their finger. This should be tested during an actual call because I have a suspicion Apple have been "creative" with the bars on the iP4S.

I doubt that. There already was a "readjusting" of the way signal strength was supported (4 was doing it incorrectly and was corrected in 4.0.1 - Anandtech has a detailed article on this). In any event, you do not need bars to test signal strength (bars are an awfully crude way of representing signal strength). To find your current signal strength just dial on your phone *3001#12345#*. This was removed in 4.0 but was reactivated later in 4.0.1 and works fine in ios 5.
 
I could've sworn that there was an article that said the VZW 4 only had diversity for "send" signals, while the 4S has it on send and receive

I thought the VZW 4 had diversity for receive, but probably only transmitted from the bottom to keep SAR levels low.

(The article quoted above agrees with the receive part. I'll see if I can grab the FCC report to figure out the transmission part.)
 
I thought the VZW 4 had diversity for receive, but probably only transmitted from the bottom to keep SAR levels low.

(The article quoted above agrees with the receive part. I'll see if I can grab the FCC report to figure out the transmission part.)

You are correct. I did not even read the article I cited :(
 
Okay, here we are, just for fun. The charts are from the FCC SAR tests; the labels were added by me.

The VZW iPhone 4 only transmitted from the bottom:
sar_vz4.png

The iPhone 4S transmits from either a primary bottom antenna or a secondary top antenna:
sar_vz4s_1.png
sar_vz4s_2.png
 
Not sure if it was a slip, but to state that holding the phone in your left hand is some how "wrong" seems wrong itself!
Just a left handed guy trying to make his way in a right-handed world.:D

Yeah, why is that wrong.
Actually I think most people hold it with their left hand and operate it with their right so when you get a call its to your left ear.
I do, and even if not then what is the problem, right or left, its all good.
 
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