iPhone 4 update to fix signal issues

The release of the iPhone 4 has seen a wave of iPhones and iPhone 3Gs hit eBay and second-hand retail sites as users scramble to get their hands on Apple’s latest gadget despite the problems with signal. According to complaints and reviews, the iPhone 4 drops signal regularly enough to warrant a software upgrade.

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, addressed complaints by stating that the signal issues are a result of the way users hold the phone. As the antenna for the phone is the handset itself, holding it a certain way can reduce the signal strength. A recent press release by the tech giant, though, indicates that this problem is “simple and surprising”.

While “gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars,” the iPhone 4 drops four or five bars when held tightly covering the back strip of the metal band which indicates a fault and not a common occurrence.

Apple state: “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.” The signal strength is not there to begin with.

To fix the problem, Apple are sending out a software upgrade which will bear American service provider AT&T’s formula for calculating signal strength. This update will be available within a few weeks and will also be available for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

This means that the iPhone 4 available now won’t be recalled to rectify the problem.