The Live Indian Entertainment Blog

Apple continues to say that all cell phones lose some signal when held in your hand. This, in fact is true. It's the severity of that loss on the iPhone 4 that seems extreme. Now we have some numbers to bring to the argument, with a review that clearly details the issue.

While all the iPhone 4 reports normally is "bars", as opposed raw signal strength (RSSI) in dBm, and the Field Test mode ha been removed in iOS4, Anandtech basically jailbroke the iPhone 4 so they could get a numeric readout. The results were interesting.

They compared an iPhone 4, an iPhone 3GS using iOS 4, and an HTC Nexus One. They tested under the following conditions:

• Cupping Tightly
• Holding Naturally
• On an Open Palm
• Holding Naturally Inside Case

All of the phones showed signal attenuation when held. However, the key is probably the difference between the iPhone 3GS when held normally and the iPhone 4 when held normally. The iPhone 4 exhibits signal attenuation of 19.8 db, vs. 1.9 on the 3GS. That is a huge difference.

Additionally, in terms of the iPhone 4's signal bar display, which is all most consumers have to use, a phone will register from -51dBm, which is standing right under a tower, to -113dBm, which is where a phone will disconnect. Nearly 40% of possible range, from -51dBm to -91dBM is reported as 5 bars. This possibly shows why folks aren't reporting a drop in signal strength; they are seeing attenuation, but the bars don't show it.

It also shows why bars can't be trusted in terms of signal strength.

Finally, Anandtech some sort of non conductive coating on the antennas. The alternative, they noted, would be "bumpers for all," but Apple heavily touts its design and "bare metal" is the way they want to go; any such "bumper-fest" would be admitting a mistake.

Take a look at the full review; it's very interesting.