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Comment by sev | Hacker News Reader

I got mine yesterday and noticed the reception issue while holding the phone from it's sides immediately. I hope it's only a software related issue.

EDIT: I was just on a call, holding the phone from it's sides, and I was stationary in a good reception area. The call hung up. So it's not just the bars showing incorrectly, it's actually losing reception. Btw, it takes approximately 30 seconds of holding it from the sides for the bars to completely go down.

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Most of the pundits think it's a hardware issue that may result in Apple's first major recall.

Do they? I've seen more people saying they expect it's just a software/presentation problem. Not that I think there's any particular reason to expect either group to know what they're talking about.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/06/new-iphone-4-anten...

Ars Technica usually know what they're talking about. I tend to trust them

I worry about the conditions apparently needed to reproduce this (and the fact that I still can't reproduce it). Even Ars' explanation includes "consciously" holding the phone in a different way than you naturally would and licking your hands before doing so...

> a software/presentation problem

As in

  int fix_antenna_problem(int bars) { return bars < 5 ? bars + 1 : 5; }

? :)

I don't see how this could be a software problem.

…in the form of free bumper cases for all.

Certainly not their first major recall -- I remember my iBook's battery being recalled as part of that exploding battery debacle. There was something with poor soldering of motherboard components, too, that affected the generation of iBooks previous to mine.

I wonder if Apple could keep costs down here by shipping those rubber bumper cases to everyone. Unless this is some bizarre feedback issue that can be fixed in software, I don't see how Apple could recall the iPhone 4 and truly fix this short of a major redesign. And I'd hate to see that happen, if for no other reason than it would seem such a waste...

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