Originally Posted by Mara

I'm a bit sceptical how they are going to fix this in software. The antenna design is pure HW, and no amount of SW fixing can overcome HW limitations...Let's stay tuned and see what the final solution is.

Originally Posted by Crashdamage

You're right that this is strictly a HW problem, stupidity pure and simple. Anyone who's ever tried to adjust a set of rabbit ears knows a hand touching an antenna does strange things. This is a textbook case of designing for form over function, the 'cool' factor overruling how well it will actually work. Despite a (somewhat) deserved rep for ease of use, etc. Apple's made a lot of poor decisions like this, since before the friggin' 1-button mouse.

It's already out that Apple's idea of a 'fix' (other than a band) is a software patch which basically does nothing but make the phone search more for a stronger tower signal. That may help little, but of course at a cost of battery power.

Originally Posted by ysss

I wonder if how much settings you can tweak on the 3G radio?
Is there different channels to manually switch to, to optimize the range/power transmission? How about different algorithm of error handling that can be employed to reduce this?

I've read wildly differing report that I think there's more than just the antenna that contributes to this issue. One report says they can make the iPhone 4 lose signal even when it's in the same room as an AT&T repeater, but some also say that they can grip the iPhone 4 til the signal bar disappear but phone calls can still go on clear as day.

Originally Posted by Mara

The "bars" do not really mean anything. They are just a quick visual indicator to a non-tech people to judge if they have reasonable signal strength. Even with no bars nornally means there is still signal, althought weak. In digital world weak siignal is still perfect as long as it is clean but just "weak". At opposite example the signal can be strong but reception can be bad? How is that possible? Let's say an example that you have multipath reflection (nearby building?) where direct path and reflcted path mix. There you have strong RF level but the signal is still "bad" The receiver can not de-modulate the signal due to too high EVM etc... where the constellation points are all over the map. For more info this page may shed some light that it is not only the "bars"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrat...ude_modulation

Originally Posted by ysss

Thanks...

But didn't you just diminish the importance of iPhone 4's issue by this passage? The consistent theme throughout this issue is "grip bottom-left corner" and "lose signal bars"; but the bit about interruption toward actual calls/data transfer activity is a bit mixed. "No bars" don't always mean "No call/data" from the reports...

That's the only thing keeping me from dismissing Apple at this point, heh.

Originally Posted by Mara

Yes, there are diffferent channels but they are pretty close to each others. I don't think that can solve the issue, though may help few dB... In borderline reception conditions few dB improvement can make day and night difference in BER (Bit Error Rate) and dropped call or "good call". When reception gets weaker the phone supposed to change to lower modulation schemes that are more tolerant to RF signal errors, thought you will lose data throughput. I thnk the best way to test this is to actually have data link up and monitor the throughput speed. (like some speedtest web site...) The voice can still be transferred in pretty crappy network conditions but data will slow down to a crawl much earlier.

The "bars" do not really mean anything. They are just a quick visual indicator to a non-tech people to judge if they have reasonable signal strength. Even with no bars nornally means there is still signal, althought weak. In digital world weak siignal is still perfect as long as it is clean but just "weak". At opposite example the signal can be strong but reception can be bad? How is that possible? Let's say an example that you have multipath reflection (nearby building?) where direct path and reflected path mix. There you have strong RF level but the signal is still "bad" The receiver can not de-modulate the signal due to too high EVM etc... where the constellation points are all over the map. For more info this page may shed some light that it is not only the "bars"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrat...ude_modulation

EDIT: This document is actually easier to understand:
http://chapters.scte.org/cascade/QPS...d%2016-QAM.pdf