iPhone 4 Signal Loss and Dropped Calls Due to Antenna Design Flaw

iPhone 4 Signal Loss and Dropped Calls Due to Antenna Design Flaw

Cupertino we have a problem!

It seems that the “most precise thing” ever done by Apple, as Steve Jobs referred to when talking about the new antenna, is provoking a drop in signal when the new iPhone 4 is held in the palm. The metal sides of the iPhone are the antenna thus giving the phone the largest cell phone antenna ever. That seemed to be a great idea, especially that no one else was doing it. Perhaps for a good reason.

Unfortunately, sometimes, what seems to be a great idea on paper turns out not to be so great when put in practice! When the human hand touches an antenna in a single spot, it will increase the signal to the antenna due to the body’s approximately 75% water composition which allows us to conduct electricity. However, when there are multiple points of contact it will create a drop in signal due to electromagnetic interference, as the owners of the new iPhone 4 have noticed. The call quality drops, signal bars are lost, and since it’s a design flaw, it’s a much more serious issue than a software bug would be.

Apple admitted the existence of the problem and their customer support representatives are offering a solution: use “bumper cases” to prevent the hand from touching the antenna or avoid holding the phone in your hand! Both are pretty horrible solutions to a hardware problem that should be fixed by Apple.

For years we blamed AT&T for the poor coverage but it seems that they are not the only ones at fault.

In this episode I answer the question “Why did you build a flaw into the Death Stars?”

Video Rating: 4 / 5