Apple: iPhone 4 reception problem is a software issue, fix coming in 'a few weeks'

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Whoa, Apple just admitted that there's an issue with the iPhone 4's reception, but it might not be what you think:

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place. To fix this, we are adopting AT&T's recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone's bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see. We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

Sure, the odd way Apple calculates bars has been noted before, but what's troubling is that this is the second time Apple has blamed signal strength / reception issues on software and it doesn't fully explain calls dropping and data degradation when the iPhone 4 is held in a very particular (but common) way. It's also worth noting that Apple in no way admits to an antenna design flaw. Read the full press release after the break.

Via engadget