Apple To Issue a 'Fix' For iPhone 4 Reception Perception

Lisandro and several other readers let us know that Apple has just released a statement addressing the signal issues a lot of users are having with their iPhone 4. They claim to have discovered the cause for the drop in bars, which is "both simple and surprising" — a wrong formula used to calculate how many bars are displayed for a given signal strength. "Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. ... we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place. ... We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G." Wired notes that there is still a signal drop when the iPhone 4 is gripped in particular ways.

Comments

Re:Dropped calls thing is a myth

[lusiphur69]

My god - why is it no surprise that someone who denies humans influence the warming of the climate is also a HUGE Apple fanboy?

My head just exploded.

Actually yes

[SuperKendall]

...even when held the same way?

I thought not.

Yes, people with no direct experience who claim to offer understanding generally in fact are not thinking as you note in your own status.

Read 'em and weep, Apple Hater

Better data rates EVEN WHEN HELD.

Upload speed 4-10x faster, for example (which has really been nice posting photos and makes posting HD videos practical).

And as I (and anandtech) said, in every day use the phone DOES GET BETTER RECEPTION WHEN HELD NORMALLY. As in, better call quality and fewer dropped calls.

I figured I'd yell there since multiple posts making that very point seemed unable to breach your skull, either it's awfully thick or I'd take off the tinfoil hat if I were you (guess you can't do anything about the thick part, sorry).

Re:Dropped calls thing is a myth

[SuperKendall]

My god - why is it no surprise that someone who denies humans influence the warming of the climate

Whoever said I deny that?

I am simply pointing out the scientists who were supposed to give us evidence of same decided to make up data instead of doing real science. There could be something to humans having something to do with warming, but all we have is speculation and really shaky theories at the moment. Is it wrong to want to see more solid scientific evidence before millions of people's lives are altered?

I guess it's no surprise than an Apple Hater would fail to understand reason and logic.