Spencer Webb, president of AntennaSys, an antenna design and consulting company:
- The iPhone 4 is not nearly as hypersensitive to “hand” effects as I was being led to believe from the media buzz.
- The iPhone 4 seems to be as sensitive to hand effects as the Primordial iPhone (original iPhone).
In other words, much ado over not much. But what about those bars that drop during the iPhone 4 death grip?
The only worthy metric for the quality of the cellphone is frequency of dropped calls when compared with other phones used in the same manner, over time. You cannot tell the difference between a “one-bar” conversation with your mother, and a “five-bar” conversation.
In some locations I can make the bars drop by a couple by gripping the iPhone 4 a certain way. I could do that on the iPhone 3GS, too. In other locations nothing happens. Why? Does it even matter? What’s really important?
If you are a Bar Watcher, Apple’s letter is going to change your observations. If you are Dropped Call Counter, it will mean nothing. Bar Watching has no value in my opinion; I think it is a waste of your valuable time.
Dropped calls? That’s normal for an AT&T user in New York. So far, the iPhone 4 is far and above the iPhone 3GS in reception (as measured by dropped calls), death grip or otherwise.
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