July 2, 2010 – Apple released a letter to iPhone 4 users about the reported wireless reception problems some people were experiencing. Apple stated “gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones.” “But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band.” Because of this large drop some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.
After further investigation Apple has discovered the formula they use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display was totally wrong. From their calculation, the phone displayed 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength (ex. displaying 4 bars when it should be as few as 2). Apple said “Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.” (What???)
To fix this problem, Apple is adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The actual signal strength will remain the same but the iPhone will display the bars more accurately. They will also make the graphic of bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.
Apple will issue a free software update within the next few weeks that will incorporate the corrected formula. Apparently this has been a problem since the first iPhone was introduced so they will be offering free updates for the iPhone 3G and 3Gs as well.
I remember back when the iPhone first came out, some conspiricists were saying the signal strength didn’t seem accurate and they though Apple may have doctored it to appear better than what it actually was. I don’t know, I have no proof, but 3 years later and this comes out, kinda makes you think!
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Founder of Current Photographer, co-host of The Digital Photography Cafe Show, Designer, Photographer, and overall tech geek.