I hate to get all conspiracy theorist on you, but the rumors were true: Apple's iPhone 4 has antenna problems and now a report from Consumer Reportes confirms what bloggers and customers have been saying for the last month. After performing a number of tests on the phone, the consumer advocate publication has declined to recommend the device. 
I hate to get all conspiracy theorist on you, but the rumors were true: Apple’s iPhone 4 has antenna problems and now a report from Consumer Reportes confirms what bloggers and customers have been saying for the last month. After performing a number of tests on the phone, the consumer advocate publication has declined to recommend the device.
This really isn’t a shock. Apple doesn’t like bad press or admitting failure. The iPhone 4 story just wasn’t something that the company was prepared for or really wanted to deal with.
The flaw that Consumer Reports found is quite simple—when a user places his or her hand over the bottom sides of the iPhone, the signal drops. To back up its claims, the magazine released a video to demonstrate its methods. They used three different phones, bought at separate locations, and tested the AT&T network, determining that the network is most likely not the problem. But the report, while enlightening, raises issues with Apple’s claims that the issue is software-based.
“Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4′s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that “mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength, ” CR’s Mike Gikas writes “The tests also indicate that AT&T’s network might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4′s much-reported signal woes.”
It’s not necessarily a eureka moment, but it is clarifying. What this means is that Apple may have known about the defect all along—especially with the bumper cases that they released with the phone.
Consumer Reports’ remedy for fixing the problem: duct tape. The report indicates that when duct tape or non-conductive material is placed over the problematic area, the issue disappears.
As the adage goes, duct tape can fix everything—even iPhones.
