I have had my iPhone 4 for just over 2 weeks now and also seen this issue.
At first it happened maybe once a day. But since the latest update to 4.1, it happens pretty much every time it goes to sleep.
And yes, the only way I have seen around it, is a hard reset.
Anyone out there know more of this issue? How many handsets it effects or is it isolated to only a few? Is apple aware of it?