Consumer Reports, a popular product review and comparison organization has just reported that
, which could cause drop calls in areas with weak signal.
Back in July 2010,
.
The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests.
The problem is similar to the one we confirmed in July with the AT&T version of Apple ‘s (more…)

.
4. They have also noticed that Wi-Fi reception is affected when the Verizon iPhone is held in a different position referred to as the “death hug” something that hasn’t been observed on the GSM iPhone 4.
As seen in this Verizon iPhone 4 antenna attenuation video, the CDMA iPhone 4 can still lose substantial cellular signal strength when held in the prior “death grip” position, as well as Wi-Fi signal when held in a different position, in (more…)

Not surprisingly, rival manufacturers have already been exploiting the negative press that
has garnered in order to promote their upcoming products. A recent ad campaign for the Motorola Droid-X read:
“And most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls.”
on Nokia's website where the Finnish giant took a jab at (more…)

Apple had released a public statement two weeks back to confirm that they’re incorrectly displaying the signal strength, which will be fixed with a
that will provide users a much better indication of the reception that they are getting in a given area.
However, Consumer Reports has questioned Apple ’s claim that the problem is
, which Apple is planning to release in a few weeks.
Cult of Mac spoke to some top PR experts, who have this to (more…)

In a note issued to clients on Thursday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has deliberated upon the several possible solutions that Apple could announce during the press conference. While Munster has confided that he does not have any insider information in this regard, he has nevertheless narrowed down the three most likely alternatives.
Munster claims that there is a 50% likelihood for Apple to offer a free in-store fix that will cover the antenna (more…)

There's no reason, at least yet, to forgo buying an iPhone 4 over its reception concerns. And even if those do materialize, Apple 's Steve Jobs helpfully reminds new iPhone buyers that “you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.”
However, the next day folks at Consumer Reports reported that they were able to replicate the issue:
While we've been (more…)

Bob Egan, an electromagnetic engineer who has experience in exactly the kind of issues that Apple is facing with
4 claims that Consumer Reports study is flawed.
“To even reasonably run a scientific test, the iPhone should have been sitting on a non-metallic pedestal inside an anechoic chamber. The base station simulator should have been also sitting outside the chamber and had a calibrated antenna plumbed to it from inside the chamber.
I have (more…)

AnandTech then ran many tests to find out the signal degradation by holding an iPhone 4,
in their hand in 5 different positions. They observed the following:
Inside a case, the iPhone 4 performs slightly better than the Nexus One. However, attenuation gets measurably worse depending how you hold the phone. Squeezing it really tightly, you can drop as much as 24 dBm. Holding it naturally, I measured an average of 20 dBm.
The drop in signal from (more…)

In the complaint, the plaintiffs have argued that Apple was aware of the inherent defects in the
and that these defects were maliciously concealed from consumers. The lawsuits have sought for damages from Apple besides requesting the court to order an injunction on the company to ”
“. The lawsuit filed in California reads:
“The iPhone 4 manifests design and manufacturing defects that were known to Defendants before it was released which were (more…)

The iPhone user, who posts under the handle
, writes:
“My iPhone suffered from the same green spot effect as the iPhone from the user on MacRumors. Knowing full well, it was a hardware problem I set up an appointment for today at 6:30 PM…the Genius reswaped the SIM card to my phone back and handed it to me. (My iPhone spent 15 minutes with out SIM card while the Genius did all his tests on my and replacement unit, and while he asked for 2nd (more…)