Radio and Cell Phone engineers almost universally panned CU's testing rigs when they came out with their original report when it was learned HOW they went about their tests of the iPhone4... and it was also shown they did not test any other phones. They used the iPhone's own five bar signal strength meter as the gauge. . . and sent signals from a dumb radio source at the phone.
Add to this that on the release of the iPhone4 in the rest of the world NONE of the users in those markets can duplicate the issue... none. zero. nada. zilch. No dropped calls, no problems away from AT&T's crappy urban networks in cities where they have not been allowed to build to the demand... or in marginal areas where the AT&T service has not been upgraded to 3G yet. In the rest of the world, where the iPhone4 was released, it works fine... and the users are wondering what the American press was complaining about. Independent tests found the iPhone4 gets BETTER reception than Consumers Reports SECOND best rated phone the iPhone 3Gs... but they refuse to include the iPhone4 in their ratings because of their ignorant engineers' incompetent testing that did not account for the starting point of what was being measured and what was being attenuated... or whether the phone could still connect at those lower bar levels or not.
Apple admitted that the mathematical formula they were using to display the bars was flawed... it was the one they had been supplied BY AT&T... and had been using on the iPhone's since day the first release... and it cut off too quickly. The ONLY change that has been made is to correct that change in bars... and the cut off. The phones work.
Over the years I have determined the “bars” thing is pretty useless. I had an LG phone that always showed two bars from my home and never got any reception, followed by a Motorola Razor phone that never showed any bars at home but got great reception....
Just saying.
I’ve had my 4 for a while now and will attest it is better than my 3G was in reception. Have yet to drop a call and makes and holds solid calls with only one bar showing...I don’t care how the formula is calculated I just care how it works. Happy iPhone 4 camper~