if you look in the video from this guy, he tells you the problem. its when you cover the little black lines around the outside. mainly the left one. try it. there is no doubt about it. wrap your hand around the phone without covering the lines. than put your finger over one and youll see its the problem.
all credit goes to this guy
Very cool...it was not instantaneous but when I covered the black lines my signal slowly crept down to 2 bars and then when I uncovered them they went back up to 5.
**Bummer, was just showing my husband and while I was holding the phone on the sides, without the lines covered, signal strength slowly dropped all the way to one bar.**
There are going to be some really HAPPY case manufacturers as if this is how every phone will work, everyone will want a case around the phone. I already planned to buy a case, so this won't be a problem for me, even if my phone suffers signal loss from touching the antenna........
I like my iPhone 4, but I have a feeling that the issues are just starting. I have had all models of iPhone and I could tell right out of the box that this one doesnt have the same finesse and manufacturing care that the others did.
The others felt smooth in your hand. This one feels smooth on top and back, but sides, well, it feels like you are holding a piece of moderately sanded glass... which you are. My hands are actually hurting slightly from holding it for a long time.
The antennae trouble. Yep. My guess is everyone is going to have that, and like someone said, thats probably why Apple made the bumpers.
I like it. Ill keep it unless the reception issue causes too much of an issue (its definitely a design flaw in my opinion).
I put it in my old 3G case, and only dropped from 5 to 4 bars when holding it. Without the case it dropped to 1 or none when I held it. Looks like cases will be REQUIRED and should be PROVIDED by Apple due to this design flaw. How can this not have been caught during testing ? ? I don't understand.
This is NOT acceptable. This is a major design flaw. I was so excited to receive my iPhone 4, and now I am dropping every call I make once my signal degrades far enough. How did this possibly make it through QA?
I posted this in another thread about reception, but thought it was worth reposting here as well:
An early iPhone 4 review by Walt Mossberg reveals a few key issues with Apple's latest and greatest.
Walt Mossberg has posted an early iPhone 4 review where he concludes that Apple's latest and greatest can't be recommended for voice calling if you live in an area where the predecessors have struggled to provide an acceptable experience. He goes as far as saying that Apple needs to team up with a second carrier in the U.S.
_*As far as signal reception is concerned, the good news is that Apple has told Walt Mossberg that there's a bug in iOS 4 that in some cases presents no bars in areas where the signal is strong enough to make phone calls. Apple plans to fix this bug down the road.*_
Furthermore, despite the iPhone 4 being powered by a back-illuminated sensor, Walt Mossberg says he's seen better images produced by other phones, though it produces better images than the iPhone 3GS. With patented Kodak technology to play an increasing role when it comes to processing images, for instance in Nokia and Motorola phones, we guess Apple's iPhone without such technology will be a step behind the best of the best in that regard.
Walt Mossberg also notes that while the iPhone 4's Retina Display may not compare to the human retina, Apple's claims of delivering a great display is still valid. He also reports that while not having done a precise battery test, the iPhone 4 perfectly handled heavy usage during a day without requiring a power boost.
The rest of the iPhone 4's new features should also be in line with what was expected.