Hold the phone: Signal strength of iPhone 4 vs 3GS

Despite the ridiculously big 1.7m sales numbers for the iPhone 4, there are still a lot of people undecided between the latest Apple handset and one of the discounted iPhone 3GS models that’s currently being offered. If you’re one of them, you might be interested in this latest signal test.

TUAW’s Erica Sadun developed a custom iPhone app that displays the raw signal strength, bars and what Apple refers to as “graded signal strength.” The tests were run to address the fact that Cupertino is chalking up the iPhone 4′s antenna/reception issue to the inaccuracy of the onscreen “bars.” The 3GS and the iPhone 4 were loaded with the app, and then observed for fluctuations.

The result? Both phones’ reception dipped, then recovered, when similarly gripped by hand and then released. The 3GS, however, didn’t drop as many calls. The tests also confirmed that the signal strength “bars” are indeed inaccurate, as Apple claims — AND that this has nothing to do with the iPhone 4’s lousy reception. (See the image at the bottom.)

If you’re into the nitty gritty, take a look at the TUAW demo vids. The first one is aptly titled “Kung Fu grip of doom,” which shows the signal strength of an iPhone 4 plummeting to nearly zero the moment it’s held in hand. The second vid spotlights the reception of the iPhone 3GS.

There’s also a photo below of the iPhone 4 (left) and the 3GS (right). Both devices are on AT&T, located the same distance from the cell towers, and are loaded with Erica’s app. (They look different, since the 3GS is powered by iPhone OS 3.1.2 and the iPhone 4 is running iOS 4.)

Both iPhones display 5 bars, but:

  • Actual reception is stronger on the 3GS (at -85 dB) than the iPhone 4 (-95 dB).
  • Apple Graded Signal Strength is also weaker on the newer device (29 vs. 45 on the 3GS).

Are you in the process of choosing between a 3GS and iPhone 4? Has this influenced your buying decision? Let us know in the comments.

Via: TUAW (links embededed)

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Grace note:

Through all this, I keep wondering when Apple will finally address this in a serious way. They can’t ignore it forever. After all, it’s one thing to disappoint the tech geek audience; it’s quite another when the core customer is the typical consumer, and national coverage of the phone’s glitches pops up on programs like NBC’s Today Show. That can’t possibly be a good thing.

Cupertino — if you tick off Meredith Vieira and her army of “mom” followers, there may be no recovering from that. You’ve been warned.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Thumbnail image via Gizmodo

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Just yesterday I walked into my local AT&T store with full intentions of getting the iPhone 4S but left with the 3GS for this very reason.

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Wow, TS75. Epic rant! And I definitely can't say I disagree with a lot of your arguments here. Generally, most smartphones, including the iPhone, tend to have degraded reception when held in the "Death Grip." The iPhone 4's situation is worsened, though, by its hardware design and the fact that it's on AT&T's network. For the hardware failing, it would've been good to see Apple be proactive. Forget the bumper cases — they should've at least acknowledged the problem and promised end users they were working on a fix. Later on, this might even include a recall or a free exchange of handsets for a new one (with a protective coating on the external antenna) down the road. This whole mess could've been an opportunity for the company to gain some positive PR by humbling itself to address the concerns of its users. Of course, this would be contradictory to its usual tactics, but then again, Apple's been doing some unusual things this year. As for the carrier situation — most users probably wouldn't have noticed if their reception went from strong to mid-level. That has everything to do with AT&T's coverage and network. To be fair, as Jobs himself stated before, any lone carrier would have had massive fails shouldering the iPhone load alone. But regardless, we're approaching a tipping point now. The handset cannot possibly get any better as an exclusive on this carrier, at least IMO.

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LOL. Thanks for your reply. I admire your dedication to this site that you can reply this late at night! :) You brought out some interesting point here I must admit which I missed before. I don't know if it is my iPad or your website but it seems it happened before as well. Your comments shows more count than the actual comments. Like before replying you just now it showed me 4 comments whereas I see mine the big one and yours reply to mine so just two. Are you referring to these two trackbacks/pingbacks section as count? I think that's the only way I can make two and two together (see what I just did here!) Secondly it seems the phonedog website is so slow on IE7. It could be that my work Internet security blocking some if your scripts but I never get to open your page faster. I just want to throw it in the air for you guys to test because I love your phonedog, todaysiphone and droiddog.

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Hello, my friend. Yes, I tend to work a lot (or is it "play a lot" on this site here?) :-) Yeah, the trackbacks/pingbacks show up as comments. I find it annoying as well, but it's either built into this theme or part of the base structure. I'd love to figure out how to turn that errant count off. Funny you should bring up the PD and network site performance. These are growing pains! That's a good problem to have, but we know it's a problem nonetheless, so we're working on it. In fact, we're on the verge of making some great changes that should help the situation. Thanks for letting us know, though. We're on it!

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Yeah I saw that yesterday. Pretty sad. My question is why are these people still keeping their defective iPhone 4s still? Or even why are these people wanting to buy iPhone 4 in their second round of launch?   I have apple products and the reason I liked them because they were different and sophisticated. But when iPhone became mainstream, I kinda of held myself back. It lost the fun part.   I see people thinking in following categories below: 1) Return iPhone 4 and pay restocking fee and go back to old phone.  2) Return iPhone 4 and get an android phone possibly. 3) Wait for an software fix from apple. 4) Pay additional 30 bucks for bumper which I feel is a rip off. 5) Many have no clue about antenna issue frankly.   And mind you these are the same people who considers themselves to be part of 1.7 millions who bought over that launch day.  I returned mine because I am a smart consumer. I hate AT&T. Period. And on top of that antenna and proximity sensor issues, there is no mercy. Sorry Apple, you deserve that.  And with that I am loosing interest in Apple more and more. Firstly, Apple is very control freak. It is too much for me. Yeah, whatever that reassuring words from Apple about control process is to for integrity of all apps, but guess what there is the issue of iTunes accounts and app store being hacked!  Secondly, AT&T removed their unlimited data plan. I considered it a way of discouraging users from experimenting with any data-heavy applications, something that stifles innovation. And I feel I have been deceived of making a decision to buy iPad 3G for that unlimited data plan which I am stuck forever and it's pretty much acts like a contract to me now. And why would I pay a monthly bill for phone service to AT&T that’s hit or miss, at best? Finally, Open letter from Apple where they admitted about signal strength miscalculation.  All this time, as AT&T advertised “More bars in more places,” there were actually fewer bars in those places.  Anyone else feel like they’ve been deceived?   Apple don’t need to impress anyone on the tech blogs — the kind of people who post on those blogs are not their customers anyway. The people they need to worry about are soccer moms and fanboys. The soccer moms are slightly different here. They are not paying attention to any of these issues at all, and have just maybe kinda vaguely heard something from someone somewhere that there was some problem with the antenna. They don’t know what it is, exactly, or how it all works, and they don’t want to know, because they are busy running to yoga class and picking up the kids after school and they would really like to get that new iPhone 4 because it’s like really good or whatever and one of the other moms got it and she said it’s cool but supposedly there is something with the antenna but she has not experienced it. I see Apple getting arrogant (they are thinking they are untouchable) and complacent which in all ways is a recipe to a disaster. That's what happened to Microsoft in cellphone and portable media player segments.   I see iPhone 4 leaning towards a Windows Vista of Apple!!

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Theses people are keeping their iphone 4s cause we actually own one and realize that all this negative print is hogwash. Yes the bars drop, and no, my reception is no worse than with other phones ... the display is worse but actual call quality is generally enhanced with iphone 4; hence, no mad rush to return what s possibly the best smart phone ever delivered. As you mentioned in your comment you have various personal and emotional reasons for not liking Apple products .. your choice, but I know that you have never owned an iphone 4 and are merely trolling in an attempt to garner sales for Apple's competitors... how sick. The reason you don't see a mad rush to return the device is because those of us who own them, love them and are confident that the small glitch identified will be fixed soon by Apple and very rarely causes any problem at all. And the problem caused is completely alleviated with the purchase of a case. My experience with Apple products and customer service leads me to trust them more than a troll, NBC, HTC, Google, or any other competitor looking to use this to an advantage.

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