The CDMA version of the Apple iPhone can now be ordered on the Verizon Wireless and Apple Web sites – though Apple says the phone, which officially goes on sale Feb. 10, won’t begin shipping until Feb. 18. A shortage of devices, however, isn’t the only issue facing Apple fans nearing the end of a years-long wait for a non-AT&T version of the iPhone. According to a Feb. 8 report from tech site iLounge, the Verizon iPhone 4, like its AT&T predecessor, suffers from “signal attenuation problems.”
In other words: “death grip” strikes again.
While conducting its “standard suite” of performance tests, reports iLounge, it discovered the same problem that launched what CEO Steve Jobs jokingly called “Antennagate”: When the iPhone is held in a sort of hand bear hug, with the user’s hand fully gripping both sides of the phone, it suffers from a loss of reception.
“
What we
’
ve noticed is a dramatic, dramatic slowdown of the speed at which the phone is loading up pages over Verizon
’
s network. We
’
ve also experienced the same thing when doing it over WiFi
–
at least depending on how the phone is gripped,
”
says a reporter for the site in a video exemplifying what he
’
s saying.The quick fix
–
as Jobs so unpopularly also suggested after the launch of the AT
&
T iPhone 4
–
is simply not to hold it that way. Given that the phone isn
’
t a bit of magic unto itself but a device that needs to send and receive signals, whether WiFi or cellular, it makes sense that, gripped in a meaty maw, as the phone is in the video, it might have trouble communicating.Nonetheless, in Apple
’
s development of the CDMA-based Verizon iPhone 4 (versus its AT
&
T
’
s GSM-based phone) it seemed to have taken steps to avoid a repeat of Antennagate. In a Feb. 7 report from analysis firm IHS iSuppli, which
–
like repair site iFixit
–
performed a teardown of the iPhone 4, the phone was found to feature changes to its antenna design. (Images of the iFixit teardown can be viewed here.)
”
While Apple kept the fundamental integrated antenna and enclosure design, provisions were made to improve reception quality,
”
IHS iSuppli analyst Wayne Lam wrote in a statement on the report.
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The new CDMA version employs a dual-antenna design that takes advantage of antenna diversity to improve reception.
”
iFixit similarly noted in a report the same day that
“
change-up
”
from GSM technology to CDMA necessitated an
“
antenna overhaul,
”
though only tell will tell
“
if this new antenna design helps combat the reception problems plaguing the GSM iPhone 4.
”
iLounge writes that the same
“
sanctioned
”
reviewers who originally failed to notice the GSM model
’
s antenna failings, have claimed that the iPhone 4
’
s antenna issue were fixed this time around.So far the site
’
s testing, however,
“
has found that the Verizon iPhone 4
’
s issues appear in the same geographic location as the AT
&
T iPhone 4
’
s, indoors with an average of three bars of signal strength,
”
iLounge reported.As was also the case with AT
&
T
’
s iPhone4, the site adds,
“
Once again, use of a protective case appears to fix the antenna issue, and attenuation may not be noticeable in areas with stronger signal strength.
”
Problem solved.