In our reporting and a video yesterday, we’ve made the point that the signal drop that iPhone 4 customers have observed when they hold their phones the “wrong” way is real — and we’ve called on Apple to do something about it. It a June 24th statement, the company noted that attenuated antenna performance is a “fact of life” for every wireless phone. Apple suggested owners mitigate the problem by holding the phone differently or purchasing a case. But those arguments put the onus on consumers and skirt Apple’s obligation to offer a product that works consistently and reliably out of the box.
We think it’s the company’s responsibility to provide the fix – at no extra cost to consumers.
Our tests, conducted in our labs using precisely calibrated signals, confirm growing anecdotal indications that the iPhone 4’s problems are anything but illusory, as some Apple statements seemed to imply. Our tests found that when your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. We tested several other AT&T phones the same way, including the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre . None of those phones had the significant signal-loss problems of the iPhone 4.
Ironically, aside from these reception glitches, our other tests placed the iPhone 4 atop the latest Ratings of smart phones . But we did not feel comfortable listing a phone with such a problem as “recommended,” and therefore have withheld that tag.
Our stopgap fix for the issues of applying duct tape to the phone—while inexpensive and easily done—obviously isn’t meant to be a serious or permanent solution. The real fix, we believe, should come from Apple. The company has said it will issue a software update that will make the phone’s bars more accurate, though fixing the phone’s supposed metering inaccuracies may or may not address dropped calls. The company will also provide a full refund to users who return their iPhone within 30 days.
But for those who prefer to keep their iPhone, we encourage Apple to step forward soon with a real remedy that fixes the confirmed antenna issue, and not one that involves buying an extra piece of equipment or holding the phone only in a particular way.
