Published on behalf of Ticklemepinks.
Yes, the iPhone 4 was released yesterday in retail stores across the US and some people are already pointing out issues. Some have already broken the phone due to glass being on both the screen and the back cover or many are saying if held a certain way that you will lose bars (reception).
John Rettinger of tech blog site Technobuffalo.com has shot a video trying to replicate this problems, which he manages to do. Initially when he first did an unboxing video he tried to reproduce the problems to no avail but later due to comments on his youtube channel he was told he wasn’t holding it the right way.
During his next youtube video seen HERE you can see once held a particular way you will lose your reception bars at about 1 bar per every 2 seconds, then he makes a call and does the same thing which results in a call drop. That being said, no phone comes without it’s bugs/issues, and Apple might have a firmware patch they need to work on in the near future.
According to Engadget, Apple’s official response is that you’re holding the phone the wrong way or to get a case.
Their official statement:
Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.
I’ve had issues with some phones getting a worse signal when holding the phone a certain way, but I’ve hardly ever had it completely lose service. If I take my Nexus One in an area where I have 3-4 bars of At&t service (similar to the YouTube video above), and cup my hand over the bottom of the phone (where the antenna is), I MIGHT lose 1 bar, but I’ve never gone from a nearly full signal all the way down to nothing. Sure, most people aren’t going to hold their phone that way, but it still seems like a major design flaw.