iPhone 4 has best cellular reception of any iPhone

Do you remember a successful Apple product launch with as much noise, hype, and hysteria as the iPhone 4? To hear the Androtards tell it, the iPhone 4’s antenna is deeply flawed and will need a product recall. What about the geeks at AnandTech? Not surprisingly, their official iPhone 4 review contrasts sharply with the noisemakers.

From my day of testing, I’ve determined that the iPhone 4 performs much better than the 3GS in situations where signal is very low, at -113 dBm (1 bar). Previously, dropping this low all but guaranteed that calls would drop, fail to be placed, and data would no longer be transacted at all. I can honestly say that I’ve never held onto so many calls and data simultaneously on 1 bar at -113 dBm as I have with the iPhone 4, so it’s readily apparent that the new baseband hardware is much more sensitive compared to what was in the 3GS. The difference is that reception is massively better on the iPhone 4 in actual use.

I’m not a geek, but I can read, and I’m willing to bet that the iPhone 4’s so-called antenna problem is not the result of a hardware or design issue, but more of how cell phone signal strength is measured. When I get five bars do I have 100-percent signal strength? No. When I get one bar, what is the actual signal strength? Gripping, holding, moving any cell phone can result in what is called attenuation, or a reduction in signal reception. When the so-called death grip is applied to the iPhone 4, does a call drop, or, is it simply a reduction in signal reception, which is made worse if the signal is not measured accurately?

 


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