So, the iPhone 4 again. I’ve finally found an article with reasonably published, collected and explained data: AntennaSys’ one. The only thing I’m missing in scientific rigor is testing on multiple locations with varying signal quality.
There are two parts that jump out at you when you see the conclusion:
- The antenna really is better than the 3G S antenna.
- The antenna’s performance really does drop.
That’s an interesting combination.
There’s much evidence that an antenna that was a little bit better than the 3G S, but consistently so without any death grips, would be better received. Having an antenna that you can “short” that easy is annoying on its own; having a good antenna that could be great but creeps down that much by such a simple action gets under people’s skin.
And let’s not forget about the angle of forgoing the issue completely for the sake of a cool solution. This is what people who are very loud about not liking Apple are very loud about ascribing them to do. The cool solution is vindicated a bit by actually being a marked improvement, but still.
I have no idea what happens tomorrow, but I hope that the solution isn’t just free Bumpers. I’m actually planning on getting one as soon as I decide what looks best (the first case I’ve had of any kind for any iPhone or iPod), but it feels second-rate to require such a case and you can’t use the Dock with the Bumper on.
If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never had a single issue with my iPhone 4 even after trying to get it to fail. I know a handful of people that also have them and they haven’t seen any issues either.
I realize that’s anecdotal, but my feeling is that this is just media hysteria. I am unconvinced there is any significant flaw or issue with the iPhone 4. Mine certainly works just fine.
By Samuel Ford · 2010.07.16 00:43
With regards to your first sentence, I don’t need to be placated — I don’t even have one yet, and I’ve said despite that that I’m willing to take my lumps just to get the rest of the phone, by which I mostly mean the display.
It’s been obvious that the issue doesn’t always appear. It seems to be something that in effect only ruins you when you have really poor-quality coverage, which is common on AT&T’s network but not that common here in Sweden on Telia’s network, because our infrastructure is halfway competent.
By Jesper · 2010.07.16 06:40