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Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna unravelled

iphone 4 cases“When it was reported that the new iPhone 4 was making use of the metal band around the phone for the ‘antenna’ and if you held the iPhone wrong the signal disappeared or got weaker, there as a flurry of articles about this method of antenna placement,” Andrew Seybold writes for Forbes. “Soon after, Apple announced that part of the problem was that their software formula for determining signal strength—i.e., showing how many ‘bars’ of signal was available—was in error and that in reality the signal strength was really lower than that being shown.

“What I have not seen discussed is the entire issue of the antenna, and its placement on wireless devices,” Seybold writes. “There are a number of interwoven issues here, all of which can help explain the problems encountered.”

“The transfer of radio signals to and from the antenna and the radio receiver and transmitters, and the efficiency with which that is accomplished determines how well the device will perform,” Seybold writes. “For voice the difference will be a clean completed call or a noisy dropped call, for data services the better the signal strength the higher the data rate you will obtain in both directions. If you device is not designed properly your results will be worse than someone standing next to you with a different and better designed device.”

Seybold writes, “I am not saying the that the iPhone 4 was not designed properly, but it does appear to me that their goal was to provide for better performance and a better data experience for their customers, and if the ‘fix’ is to put a rubberized case around it to keep hands from touching the metal portion of the phone than that is a simple enough ‘fix.’ If this type of a fix does not prove to be workable, ie, there is something more involved, then I am sure that Apple and the network operators will figure it out and come up with a fix.”

There’s much more in the full article – recommended – here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “JES42” and “Jersey_Trader” for the heads up.]

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