It seems everywhere I go online, there’s another person spouting off on what’s now been dubbed Antennagate.  Most of the commentary is uninformed drivel regurgitated from the myriad sloppy reporting circulating the net.  Some are the usual malcontents looking for something to gripe about, while others are just having a good time making fun of what they see as a big corporate snafu.

All of the fuss has centered on what is being commonly referred to as the “death grip” where a user covers a large portion of the phone while gripping it tightly.  The weak spot, in the case of the iPhone 4 is a gap between the phone’s two antennas.  What’s known is that the conductivity of the average human hand is enough to have an effect on reception when this gap is bridged. (especially when that hand is moist)  Brian Klug and Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech.com explained it best in an article published on June 30th.  That was a full 2 weeks before Bloomberg’s July, 15th article that claimed Apple was warned about the antenna design by senior engineer Ruben Caballero.  Apple CEO Steve Jobs called the Bloomberg article “a crock” and “total [BS].”  (Caballero has not come forward publicly to either confirm or deny the accusations.)

The article on AnandTech.com clearly backs up several claims made by Apple at their recent press conference (July 16th):

• The iPhone 4 isn’t perfect
  • signal can be affected by bridging the gap (worst case -24dB)
• Other phones experience the same kind of signal attenuation when gripped in certain ways
• The worst case signal loss doesn’t occur in normal use even in poor coverage areas.  Exceptions to this are solved by using a case.

So what does all this mean.  Yes, Apple made a design decision that affected the performance of the iPhone 4 antenna.  Does it matter? No.  The new design is more sensitive and generally makes up for the possibility of attenuation.  I’ve confirmed Apple’s claims myself.  When you’re in an area with good coverage, it’s nearly impossible to disrupt the signal. It’s only in areas of strong interference or poor coverage that the so-called death grip has any effect.  (the same goes for the single finger bridging technique.)  There is a problem here, but it’s not as big or important as some in the media want it to be.  Nothing to see here folks… move along.