“If I had to take an educated guess, I suspect pressing one’s fingers across the gap increases the gap capacitance and changes the feed input impedance and electrical length of the antenna,” Positronic_Matrix explains. “It is analogous to holding on to a piano wire with two fingers while it is being struck. Its resonant frequency will shift and its quality factor will drop, resulting in a sound that is off key and muffled.”
“A solution often employed in the field is to preload an antenna. Preloading is including a large permittivity in the design, so when a human puts it close to their body, there isn’t a significant change. The down side of this is that it often reduces bandwidth and efficiency,” Positronic_Matrix explains. “So you can either have a great antenna that takes a hit when your fingers are near it or have one that is not quite as good but never changes. Isn’t it like Apple to choose the former and like the masses to cry for the latter? (wink)”
Positronic_Matrix explains, “Note that if the antennas were designed to be inside the case as opposed to being part of it, they would likely have a loss somewhere between the best (unloaded) and worst (loaded) performance of the existing antenna. It’s all an engineering tradeoff.”
“The best solution is to not touch the antennas at the gap (Steve is right) or to buy a phone cover that keeps your high-permittivity sausages away from the RF sensitive areas,” Positronic_Matrix writes. “Apple made the trade off for you and in my opinion it is a novel and good one, provided it can survive the bad PR generated by the griping gap grippers.”
Full thread here.
MacDailyNews Take: Now we know what Gray Powell was supposed to be testing. 
Apple can correct the bad PR they are now receiving by simply doing the right thing: Free “bumpers” with all iPhone 4 purchases, as opposed to ripping people off to the tune of US$29 for a 29-cent piece of colored rubber. For more of our thoughts on this issue, please read our Take here.
NO DOUBT….
Apple needs to QUICKLY climb down from what is coming across as arrogance (Steve…you have to admit that’s what ‘Don’t grip it like that sounds like)
and offer a FREE rubber case to all purchasers of the new phone OR a subsidized discount on a range of already inexpensive cases. $29..I have basically every product Apple makes…but I will NOT buy the new phone unless and until Apple takes steps to correct this problem…Yes…it’s an engineering tradeoff…who gives a damn? Fix it.
So now will the whining stop Duh…?
Honestly, how many people carry an iPhone w/out a case? Why should Apple give away for free what the masses are going to buy anyway?
> griping gap grippers.
That’s a good one there…
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I’ve had my iPhone 4 since Wednesday — with no case — and this has been a NON ISSUE for me. You have to hold it in such an awkward way for this to happen, that it would just never happen in regular use. Apple designed this right.
@ PR
So your telling me that you actually BOUGHT the iPod sock!?
I like his take. After reading the article below, I’ve decided I don’t want a bumper. I want a clear thin plastic ring that just barely covers the antennas on my iPhone 4.
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/25764/
As soon as someone comes out with that thin clear plastic solution, I’ll buy it. I’m thinking of something so thin that you’d want to replace the ‘ring’ after dropping your phone on cement a few times. They should come in packs of 3 or something, since it’s so thin they market it as disposable. Switch it out every 6 months.
Anyone else think that would be the perfect? Solves this little ‘death grip’ issue and also gives a little protection to our beautiful stainless steel phones. Plus you don’t end up hiding the beautiful design of this phone.
When Sony was king of the hill and sold the most expensive pro gear in the world, customers regularly complained that they should supply cases for their expensive high end gear for free, when they charged a hefty price for these essential and “necessary” accessories too. It never happened.
If Apple would supply some sort of free hand band, there would ( bet?) be whiners that would complain that it’s too this or too that.
before exercising the word “arrogance” so often “to see how it fits’ go check a real dictionary ( not wikipedea) and realize that it’s arrogance, usually only to the ignorant and really common sense if the facts are as stated, despite a possible disagreement.
You want a cover get one of your choice. It won’t change the facts, but might help the problem.
@breeze
No, I won’t stop complaining about this. Not until I can use my phone like I’ve always used my phone (3G and 3GS included), without having to watch where I put my hands & fingers. It’s ridiculous that the most sensitive spot on the case is the one place where people normally hold it. Now if the sensitive spot were, say, along the top edge, I could understand that one. In my location, holding it “normally” results in no data and/or stuttering speech, and sometimes total loss of signal. If I hold it normally while using an app (not Safari or email or anything else that needs data, cause it won’t go), after a minute or 2 I see “No Service”. Means that I can’t get any calls while using an app is what it means.
Yeah, I’m complaining.
How many people actually grip the phone the way it is in the vidoes while they’re actually talking? I’d say none.
I’m left handed, and hold the phone exactly the way it’s demonstrated to show bad reception when I’m dialing, or sometimes surfing the web. But the minute I bring the phone to my ear to actually, you know, talk, it’s virtually impossible to hold it with your palm covering the lower left corner.
And to the people crying “I won’t buy it until they fix this,” I say great. Shorter lines for the rest of us.
As I wrote in another thread Apple can simply not inform every single iPhone 4 purchaser in the whole world that they need scotch tape or a bumper case for the phone to work as it should be.
At the bare minimum this information needs to be attached to a free case which in turn needs to be attached to the iPhone 4 itself in the box sold, this is the cheapest way to fix this problem IMO with regards to damage control.
I suspect most iPone owners wont want a rubber baby buggy bumper around their iPhone but would prefer a more elegant case.
For those that use their iPhones naked then they have a choice, As the article points out, to either have a great antenna or a poor antenna. A rubber baby buggy bumper will give you a poor antenna.
At least the design tradeoff Apple chose left more choices for the consumer.
Hmmm, this is really a mixed bag, some people are experiencing a problem others, not. I`d like to see the actual numbers of people with problems after a week, besides hearing from the basement dwelling professional ihaters who claim to have this problem yet have never owned an Apple product in their lives (and boy have they been a vocal bunch).
I`ve got a month to monitor this until it`s released in Canada, if this is a bad initial batch and the issue is resolved I`m getting one, if not I`m holding on to my current model.
Look, if “some attenuation of antenna performance” is “a fact of life for every wireless phone” then what kind of a magic is hidden in “one of many available cases” since using them solves the problem?
Do they want to say that “iPhone 4 in a case” is not one of “wireless phones” any more since “some attenuation of antenna performance” just stops happening?
This is just BS.
Yes…I have an iPod Sock…I’m not kidding
and I’ve had the hockey puck mouse and imacs, mac pros, macbook pros, mac minis, Xserves, even an apple camera and a newton…remember those?
I have a first gen iPod, 2nd, 3rd, and two iPhones.
and I own a LOT of stock.
honestly…Apple needs to address this with something more than a dismissive comment.
Apple really should have accounted for this problem by integrating a thin rubber (or whatever) shield around the antenna in the first place. That is… assuming doing so would have NO negative impact on performance. If doing so would indeed have led to negative impacts in some situations, then I think Apple did do the right thing in letting aftermarket products provide solutions tailored to individual needs and preferences. Bumpers may be a fine solution for some people who are satisfied with that style and available colors. Me… I’m waiting to see what Incase busts out.
@Wingsy
I suspect the top of the phone is sensitive, too. Isn’t there a gap on the top?
I think WriterGuy has a point. I dont have an iPhone but I have a touch and I dont touch the lower left corner of the rim when I use it.
I suppose Apple could make available a free rubber baby buggy bumper for those that want one. I dont see the necessity of providing one in the box. Sounds like from this article that Apple made a great product again.
Apple has never made an iPhone case until now, and the case just happens to be exactly what is needed to remedy the problem?
Coincidence? I think not…they did not field test this phone and miss this issue…
Find a half inch rubber band and use it as a bumper if you experience problems; if there is no reception problem keep the rubber band in your pocket.
Just put a small piece of electrical tape over the gap. See, I fixed it for you.
@maclouie
Have not seen any problems holding it in any way that does not cover the gaps.
Look at the way Steve holds the iPhone, here:
http://iphonehold.tumblr.com/
I hold it the same way. Or rather, I used to when I used my 3GS. On the iPhone 4, using it this way with 2-3 bars of edge results in Safari stopping completely, or people saying I’m breaking up when in a call, or a complete loss of signal. I have 3 iPhone 4s and they all behave the same.
try a slightly trimmed piece of scotch tape… it will keep the gaps from being bridged and costs next to nothing.
Apple could just issue gift cards towards covers, let’s say $20. I would be happy.
BTW, I bet 90% of users already have or are planning to buy cover, so what’s the big deal.
The only people I know that do not have covers are show-offs, and they are risking dropping and damaging the phone.
Wingsy:
When this renders your phone outstandingly and unusually useless in real life you might consider addressing Apple directly. I don’t think most users think it’s as big an issue, or an unusual one…
I’ve had spots on both my previous iPhones (original and 3GS) that affected antenna reception (ie: for one, if you grip the phone in your hand and put your forefinger on the top edge right between the headphone jack and on/off switch). This is a fact I’ve lived with and made accommodations for since it is “the nature of the beast”.
So complain along with the initial complainers that complained that the iPhone screen is prone to scratches, when you put it in your pocket along with keys ( DUH?) and in the mean time until this complaint renders your iPhone4 as useless as you exaggerate it to sound, (NOT), try putting your finger somewhere else.
Some people avoid drinking coffee or tea because they claim that the teaspoon in the mug always gets in their eye….
@breeze
I have called Apple and spoke with several engineers there about this problem. We probably spent an hour doing various tests. The end result was that they are escalating the issue to god or someone equivalent and will get back to me with “an answer”.
Meanwhile, if I am to talk on the phone I’ll have to modify the way I have always held a phone in order to make it work. The way I hold it isn’t weird or unusual – if you follow the link in my previous post you’ll see many examples of how I do it. It’s quite normal, and it appears to be the same way Mr. Jobs himself holds it.