Say What?! iPhone 4 Loses Reception Bars When Held by the Antenna Band?

[Michael Essany]

Talk about holding one's calls.

Apparently, if you hold the iPhone 4 by the antenna band, you'll lose your bars, your reception, and maybe even your call. As this video making the rounds showcases, holding the handset with your fingers pressed upon the antenna throws off your cell reception and effectively reduces your bars all the way down, in some cases, to zero.

Of course, it isn't yet clear if the real issue relates to an inaccurate showing of bars or a significant problem with the actual antenna. But as thousands unbox their iPhone 4s and activate the long awaited updated smartphone, you may want to give your device the finger so to speak and play the home game version of this video demonstration.

But as Paul noted earlier in his piece "iPhone 4 Screen Defects Reported," in every new product, manufacturing defects are almost inevitable. So as scattered but undocumented complaints similarly surface, there's a good chance we'll know in the coming hours and days if this example is an isolated incident (and let's hope that it is)... or if this is the first real bug and potential nightmare for the 4th generation iPhone and its customers.

[Conas]

Really? So it's a hardware mistake, and wouldn't be fixable with an update, right? That stinks

[Moosestache]

Yes that happens to me if I hold the sides of the phone the signal drops. I usually sort of cradle the phone with it resting in my hand, as I do that the signal bar will drop after maybe 5 seconds. After I release it the bars go back up. I tried it on my wife's phone and it does the same thing.

[Shumdit]

I see a class action lawsuit coming......

[KartRacer]

I was just about to post this in the forums. Mine does this without fail every time. Though I live in a crappy area as far as AT&T goes, and I'm on EDGE max three bars most times, I wonder if better covered areas have this problem. Even does this on wifi if I hold it right. Weird.

[dthomp22]

Oh wow. This is going to be HUGE.

[beantown6171]

only happens when i touch the left side, i think the bumper case will solve this issue, my bars go all the way down to none,

[SwatPac]

That sucks balls. I hope this is just a firmware issue. I don't see how it could be, but then again, I don't make iPhones or software.

I dont get this though. Usually when i touch a T.V or Radio antenna, the signal gets better. Why is this different? Can someone explain?

[bobright]

Health wise isnt that NOT GOOD?

[Vandale]

This is why i never get any thing when it first comes out. I learned my lesson when i bought an Xbox 360 Elite when it first came out for 500 dollars...

[dthomp22]

Health wise isnt that NOT GOOD?

How so?

[Poseidon79]

Holy crap!!!! That's why I've dropped 10 calls today! I just did the test 5 times in a row... This is not good...

[flintoff]

I knew this ganna happen when I first heard abt outside antenna thingi can't belive it's acutelly turned out to be soo true

what if ur phone drops and antenna band gets damaged?? Ur screwd u can't even get replacment for that. You have spend bucks n bucks to changed that.. Not soo good news

I might stay with my 3gs and just enjoy ios 4.0

[zYxMa]

It's not even 24th yet (well, in Europe is :P) and we get bad news already.

[iphone925]

Oh wow =)) what a crap =)) So now I am thinking my Iphone 4 is ready to be picked up tomorrow first thing in the morning and I am going to try it in front of them and see what they say about it =)) HA HA =)) I Hope there is a easy fix to this APPLE should come up with a FIX SOON and this seems like the end of there well earned reputation how can they make such a big mistake

[Moosestache]

I guess I can always return it.

[nkgneto]

Apple knows this...They sell a $30 fix it's called "Bumpers"

[sobeniceguy2]

I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago and ordered a case to have in hand at the time of my phone delivery tomorrow. Just like back in the rabbit ear days of tv your body contact can either improve the recepition or make it worse just like the tv signal. Hence, apple came up with the "bumper guard" cases to address this issue I presume. I have some background in electronics. :-) Simply put impedance is the factor here.In this case the bodies impedance.

[Cer0]

Didn't Apple come forth with an official statement on this. Saying it is a bug and even though you say "No Service" in the top you still have full service that it showed before.


(Meh, can't find it now)

[iphone925]

Oh if the fix is so called BUMPER its still not good cause i don't like the Phone with things on em I hope there is a fix to the actual antenna system if that's what is causing it I have my fingers crossed i hope it's a software issue or something ehh !!