| By observing the fluidity of Long Island Sound, though, you can be sure that no one has dumped ice-nine into the Gulf of Mexico. Similarly the existence of a single functioning production iPhone 4 proves that there's no fundamental design flaw in the frame-as-antenna idea. I've also had no reception problems with my iPhone 4, despite trying everything I've read about or can think of to provoke them. Licking fingertips, grasping the phone in a position no human would ever use, sitting in my bathtub where I'd surrounded by several layers of metal lath, etc., etc.: I can get the indicated signal strength to drop somewhat (but not consistently), but I have never been unable to make a call during these experiments. I am forced to conclude one of three things: 1. Message-board habitués are very loudly complaining about a tiny or nonexistent problem with an Apple product. This would be strange, because normally you can take all criticism of Apple and its products entirely at face value, and people never swarm out of the woodwork to complain about the performance of Apple products they don't own. Insert sarcasm punctuation mark here. 2. There is a design flaw, but it's a subtle one that results in a higher-than-expected rate of manufacturing defects, causing some people's phones to have more reception problems than one would normally expect. 3. The iPhone 4 performs about as well as every other mobile phone, which means: less than perfectly. Hype about the antenna means that this is resulting in an inordinate amount of public complaining. Or, most likely: all three of those. |