Review: iPhone 4 Arrives to Lousy Reception

June 25, 2010 by admin

Thousands of Apple fans, myself included, lined up throughout the nation this week, eager to be among the first get their hands the latest iteration of the iPhone. And while the phone arrived to much fanfare Thursday morning, the reception (or lack thereof) it received when customers brought it home left much to be desired.

One of the key new features of the device is its new design, replacing the plastic shell of the previous model with glass and a stainless steel band that wraps around the device. The stainless steel component also doubles as an antenna, something Apple CEO Steve Jobs boasted as “brilliant engineering” in his June 7th keynote address to software developers.

And while audience members responded to the new antenna design with ooh’s and ahh’s, reality sunk in quickly on launch day as YouTube videos surfaced demonstrating the phone dramatically loses signal when a hand covers the bottom left side of the unit. Watch one of the first demonstrations of the issue below:

My own experiences mirror those findings of the video author. Holding the phone with my finger or hand on or near the bottom left of side of the unit is enough to quickly reduce a strong signal to a weak one. The phone dropped significantly more calls this evening in my home as compared to the previous model, the 3GS.

As early adopters flooded the Internet with complaints throughout the day, Apple acknowledged the flaw in a statement released to popular gadget blog Engadget:

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.

Jobs, who of late is known for responding directly to customers who email him, advised a disappointed customer to “just avoid holding it in that way” according to the Engadget article.

A solution may only be an additional $29 away. Other iPhone 4 owners today reported that adding Apple’s new rubber “bumper” accessory was enough to prevent a user’s hand from interfering with the antenna. This of course adds some additional bulk to what Job’s describes as “the world’s thinnest smartphone” but should correct the interference issue.

That major gripe aside, the iPhone 4 is an impressive and well built product. Its new high resolution display is exceptional, and the phone’s ability to shoot and edit HD video complete with motion graphics is simply unmatched in the industry at the moment.

New AT&T customers and those eligible for an upgrade can purchase a 16 gigabyte iPhone 4 for $199, or a 32 gig version for $299. Supplies will be short for the next several weeks.

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