By now you probably have heard of the death grip of the iPhone 4 antenna that causes reception issues on the new device. Apparently, the problem is more of a software issue that might be fixed this monday with a software update to iOS 4.01.
It took me a day to realize I had the same issue as thousands of new iPhone owners had reported. When I hold my iPhone a certain way, I lose a few bars of reception. Sometimes, it goes as far as completely dropping the signal.
Apple issued a somewhat official and idiotic statement via an email sent by Steve Jobs himself to an unhappy customer. Steve Jobs recommended we hold the iPhone in a different way or that we should buy a Bumper case, which avoids the issue. Krapps wrote a funny article about it should you want to learn more.
iPhone 3GS owners who have upgraded to iOS 4 have a similar issue, which might prove that the problem comes from the software and not from the hardware.
According to Apple Insider, a fix is in the works and should ship on Monday:
Readers report that Apple’s tech support forums originally confirmed that a iOS 4.0.1 software fix addressing the issue would ship early next week (as early as Monday), before the comments were subsequently taken down along with all the other related discussion about the matter.
The fix is expected to address a issue in iOS 4 related to radio frequency calibration of the baseband. Readers who saw the original forum discussions say that the issue is believed to occur when switching frequencies; because the lag is allegedly not calibrated correctly, it results in the device reporting “no service” rather than switching to the frequency with the best signal to noise ratio.
I just hope Apple will not “hide” this issue with a software update but will actually fix it. Thoughts?