Just got my iPhone last week and I thought I’d share my thoughts and experience with it.
Antennagate
The story of “antennagate” has died down ever since Apple’s press conference where CEO Steve Jobs acknowledged the iPhone 4′s alleged weak spots in its antenna system.
The myth of “antennagate” states that when you touch the bottom left side of the phone, especially where the black strip is… your signal goes way down and may cause you to drop a call. The science behind it is that the human body is a natural conductor, and once you bridge the two pieces of the antennas (as separated by the black plastic strip) you effectively change the length of the antenna. That length is crucial when you are trying to receive a specific wavelength of energy. People also found by putting a layer of insulation over the antenna joint will ease the problem. Therefore, cases and the so-called “Antenna-aid” methods came to play, and eventually forced Apple into giving out free cases to all iPhone 4 users.
I got my iPhone 4 on August 13th, and went home and began testing these myths of “antennagate”. I found some very interesting results that I would like to share.
- “antennagate” certainly exists in Canada as well, despite other reports.
- One may lose 2-3 bars in an area with mediocre signal strength by bridging the antennas.
- A simple tape or band-aid does not solve the problem. Only a case can effectively eliminate it.
- Myths about Apple applying a non-conductive coating to the phone to solve the problem is bogus.
- I have yet to drop a single call despite numerous attempts to “death-grip” my phone.
- While calls did not drop… 3G data throughput did die.
- I was getting 2-3 bars with my iPhone 3G in this area, but now with the iPhone 4 I get 3-4 bars. The new antenna really is better than the old generation… well when it works.
Before we get into the details one must understand that “antennagate” can only be produce under certain conditions where the signal strength is at around 3-4 bars. When you are in an area where you receive 5 bars (and possibly even more but the phone does not display) you do not experience any noticeable degradation in signal strength. Therefore, you cannot antennagate in all areas and it is true that when you “death-grip” any phone the signal will indeed drop by a certain amount. While it is true that you can ease the effect by sticking a piece of non-conductive tape on the antennas, the tapes are simply too thin to create a radio-penetrable space for the antenna to work efficiently. Therefore, only a case with measurable thickness will eliminate the effect of “antennagate”. The claims and wishes that a non-conductive coating on the phone will help with the issue is completely false. Unless Apple will spray on half inch thick of coating… it will not work.
However, even if you use the phone without a case the drop in bars will probably not cause a drop in calls. I have tried numerous way to bridge the antenna with my finger, my palm… my palms (both my hands)… I simply could not get the call to drop! The phone would work perfectly fine with one bar of signal. The same thing could not be said for the data connection. Once you “death-grip” the iPhone or simply touch the antenna joint, the data throughput goes way down and virtually dies. This drop in throughput was more noticeable with 3G than EDGE.
Lastly, the antenna on the iPhone 4 is noticeably better than the previous generations of iPhones. After updating to firmware 4.0.1, I could not get my iPhone 3G pass 3 bars, in fact most of the time it stays at 2 bars. On the same firmware, the iPhone 4 always get 3-4 bars very consistently in the same area. I don’t think Apple was lying that the phone’s antenna is in fact a better one… at least better when it’s insulated and not obstructed. In addition to signal strength, the data throughput on 3G has improved quite a bit as well. See the screen shot of my speed test: this was done with only 4 bars. However, I was a bit surprised about the awesome upstream speed, but other users in Canada and the US have confirmed to have seen the same thing.
Battery Life
There are many conflicting claims about the iPhone 4′s battery life. Aside from Apple’s official claims of up to 40% improvement over the 3GS, review sites like Engadget claim that the iPhone 4 can live for 38 hours without recharging and that’s under heavy use. However, numerous users claim to have much shorter battery lives than either Apple or Engadget.
From my personal experience, the battery on the iPhone 4 needs some burn-in to reach maximum capacity. When I first got the phone, its battery life was mediocre at best. After 4 cycles of complete discharge and recharge, it got significantly better. Right now it lasts about 30 hours before running down to 5% or lower.
I have:
- 3 Exchange accounts on push email and calendar.
- 1 account on hourly fetch.
- I usually play about 2-3 hours of games.
- Check the web regularly for stock updates.
- Send and receive about 50 text messages per day.
- 5 min or less of talk time per day.
- Network is on 3G and occasionally WiFi.
The battery life improvement over the 3G and 3GS here is definitely not as prominent as Apple had promised. However, it is definitely not bad. If you are experiencing significant lower battery life, I would suggest you do a couple of complete recharge cycles or take your phone back to Apple for a replacement.
Lastly, watch the signal strength on the phone. When you are in a low to no signal area, you might consider turning the phone off or into “Airplane Mode” to save it from constantly searching for network. You may also try to reset your network settings to resolve any conflicts by going into: Settings – general – reset – reset network settings (be sure not to hit any other command there).
Cases
Apple is offering every iPhone 4 user a free case through their Case Program at least through the end of September. For my phone I already ordered the InvisibleShield which is by far my favourite brand for iPhone cases. I also got a free Apple’s iPhone 4 Bumper, which goes super well with the InvisibleShield.
The Bumper is really the best case Apple’s free case program has to offer. In my opinion it perfectly preserves the iPhone 4′s essence of design by overlaying metal buttons for “ON/OFF” and volume controls. That way you still get the great responsiveness of the phone’s buttons and the buttons are not obstructed by the casing.
While the Bumper offers minimal protection of the phone’s front and back, the InvisibleShield effectively compensate for the shortcoming. At last… it looks awesome!
InvisibleShield also gives out pretty decent discounts on a regular basis.
Visit http://www.zagg.com/community/contest.php to get not only a coupon up to 50%, but a chance to win an iPad.
Please feel free to share your experience with this phone in the comment area. I’ll will keep this posted updated as I discover more interesting facts about the new iPhone 4. =)
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