iPhone 4, Worse Antenna Than Other Phones

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This iPhone 4 story is really turning into beating a dead horse – but here’s some solid proof that the antenna design stinks. German firm Stiftung Warentest, a consumer advocate-type firm “described as the German Consumer Reports” gave the iPhone 4 throughout testing and compared it to other rival smartphones. What did they find? It’s awful when you touch it the wrong way.

Apple’s defense (and one quickly adapted by the fanboys) is that “Well, every phone drops signal when touched”, which is true, but none in recent memory or in such a spotlight do it as severely as the iPhone 4. Stiftung Warentest found that the iPhone 4 lost 90% of it’s antenna strength when the ‘weak spot’ was touched. Likewise, the unspecified “rival smartphones” tested by Stiftung Warentest found that they only could lose 25% of signal strength when touched in the right spots.

During the press conference, Steve Jobs said that the Antennagate issue was primarily an “American phenomenon” which our own Chris Smith shattered when he was able to recreate it on an iPhone 4 in Paris.

Of course, Apple is giving away free bumpers and cases to everybody – so it’s really not fair to complain about this is it? Well, whatever the case, it’s a great phone, with one problem when you touch it the wrong way.