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iPhone 4 Major Design Flaw - Antennae & Hands Problem

Ape say it's something they will fix with fw updates, I seem to have it also typing covering up the bottom two antennas seems to take the bar to no signle

I highly doubt that it's something that can be fixed through firmware upgrade. This is very likely a hardware issue which is way beyond software level. We'll probably hear more about it in the following week but I do hope you're right.
 
Yeah I agree, because apple also said that about the 3G drop calls thing but we all know how that turned out
 
One thing no one has mentioned yet is the quality of ATT's signal wherever they are having the disappearing bar issue. Not that it would be the only cause but it may contribute to it. I hope Apple asks those who feel they have the issue to submit their serial numbers so they can get a handle on wether or not it was a bad batch. That would be totally understandable. Real life folks .... they rushed to get 600,000 phones out and if there are a few thousand bad ones out there that would still be less than 1%. The fact that some can replicate the issue and some cannot hints at it , hopefully, not being a design flaw.

but they are all designed the same how can only a few of them only have a problem, i think its more to do with the carriers

What I was referring to was a possible manufacturing issue which happens even to Apple. It's very likely that you can get a "bad batch" when you're manufacturing hundreds of thousands (or in Apples case millions) of units.

At any rate, I got my iP4 and have witnessed the antenna issue first hand while at home. Thing to note though is that I cannot replicate the issue when at my office, which is in downtown Honolulu. I'm fairly certain the issue is tied to the strength of ATT's signal where you're at.
 
Why are we still discussing this?? ALL the phones have the same issue.... and as it seems for most its a non-issue...


So, we just spoke with Apple and got the straight dirt on the reception issues that have been plaguing users today... and it's a little surprising. In essence, Apple cops to the fact there are reception issues with the new iPhone -- namely, that if you cover the bottom-left corner of the phone and bridge the gap between the notch there with your naked flesh, you could see some signal degradation. Yes, you read that right: it's not a software or production issue, simply a matter of the physical location of your hand in regards to the phone's antenna. The company's suggested fix? Move your hand position, or get a case which covers that part of the phone, thus breaking contact. As you can see in the email above which just arrived in our tip box, this is a sentiment which runs pretty high at the company. Here's the official statement:
Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.
We know what you're thinking, and we're thinking it too: this sounds crazy. Essentially, Apple is saying that the problem is how you hold your phone, and that the solution is to change that habit, or buy one of their cases. Admittedly, this isn't a problem that exists only for the iPhone 4 -- we've seen reports of the same behavior on previous generations (the 3G and 3GS), and there is a running thread about this problem with the Nexus One. While it is definitely true that interference is an unavoidable problem, we can't help feeling like this is really a bit of bad design. If the only answer is to move your hand, why didn't Apple just move the antenna position? What we can say without question is that in our testing of the phone, we had improved reception and fewer dropped calls than we experienced with the last generation, and we never noticed this issue. Additionally, when using a bumper we can't recreate the signal loss. So, now we have an answer... all we're wondering is whether or not the company will start handing out bumpers pro-bono to those who are experiencing problems. It certainly seems like the right thing to do.

~engadget
 
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