In these days the iPhone 4 reception problem is a hot topic everywhere and the Apple’s contradictory responses on the issue also make it non-negligible. Since the launch of iPhone 4 on 24 June 2010, hundreds of iPhone users reported the antenna problem which is observed through signal dropping, call dropping and even has transmission issue.
Anandtech’s did in depth analysis of antenna problem by replacing the signal bars of smart phones with numbers which shows more appropriate results to understand the problem.
They reproduced antenna problem on different smart phones including iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and Nexus One and the result was that each smart device has antenna problem but its worse with iPhone 4.
Anandtech Reception Measuring Results for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS & Nexus One.
Anandtech Measuring Reception Without Bars
Annadtech Official Words:
When I set out to characterize and understand the iPhone 4’s antenna issue, I noticed that reports online varied wildly. Some claimed that they were always able to recreate a reception issue created by cupping the phone, yet others reported no change at all squeezing the phone tightly. After acquiring my iPhone 4, the first thing I did was try to fire up Field Test via the widely documented *3001#12345#* dialer code. Unfortunately, like iOS 4 running on the 3GS and 3G, Field Test is absent from the iPhone 4. It isn’t a matter of the dialer code, it’s that Field Test has been completely removed from the applications directory in the filesystem.
For those that don’t know, Field Test variants exist on virtually every phone for purposes of debugging the air interface and baseband. Quality metrics like RSSI (raw signal strength) usually in dBm are reported alongside a wealth of other metrics like SNR and even what adjacent towers are visible to the phone for handing off. It’s a tool usually buried deep in every phone because the amount of data would overwhelm normal mobile users, but is useful for engineers and curious but savvy users alike to find out what’s going on with the cellular network. For whatever reason, Apple really doesn’t want anyone running that tool anymore.
Just about everyone knows that although reporting signal strength in bars gets the job done, it’s an absolutely worthless metric for comparison across devices and platforms due to lack of standardization. Further, iOS smoothes the quality metric with a moving average over as much as 10 seconds, masking how fast signal changes. There’s also the matter of dynamic range, but more on that in a second. Without any numbers at all it would’ve been impossible to understand what’s going on with iPhone 4. On my 3GS, I exclusively report signal numerically, and as a result have a very good feel for coverage in Tucson, AZ where I live.
But I found a way. Undeterred by the lack of field test on iOS 4, I was determined to enable numeric signal strength reporting in the top left where bars are normally displayed. If you’ve ever run a jailbroken iPhone and used SBSettings, or changed your carrier string, you’ve probably encountered the fact that iTunes will back up and restore the status bar configuration across OS restores. See where I’m going?
I took my iPhone 3GS, downgraded to 3.1.3, jailbroke, enabled numeric WiFi and GSM and backed up. I then took my iPhone 4 and restored with iOS 4, but pointed it to the backup of the jailbroken, numeric-GSM-reporting iPhone 3GS. You’ll note that booting and activating the new phone required fittin
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Success ensued, and I had a numeric readout of signal strength on a non jailbroken iPhone 4. The results are interesting.
Before we dive in, let’s talk about dynamic range for a second. For a while, I’ve talked about how iOS reports the quality metric with a compressed, optimistic dynamic range. On iOS, 4 bars begins at around -99 to -101 dBm. Three bars sits around -103 dBm, 2 bars extends down to -107 dBm, and 1 bar is -113 dBm. To give you perspective, for a UMTS “3G” plant, -51 dBm is the best reported signal you can get – it’s quite literally standing next to, or under a block away from a tower. At the other extreme, -113 dBm is the worst possible signal you can have before disconnecting entirely. With a few exceptions, signal power as low as -107 dBm is actually perfectly fine for calls and data, and below that is where trouble usually starts. However, you can see just how little dynamic range iOS 4 has for reporting signal; over 40% of the range of possible signal levels (from -99 dBm to -51 dBm) is reported as 5 bars.
For more Detail Visit: AnandTech