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iPhone 4 peeps, reception is better in iOS 4.2 GM. (Review)


SpaceGhost

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I am sitting here today at work in my bunker 20ft under ground, I have never been able to get text messages/calls down here. I loaded 4.2 Golden Master last night because I was bored. All of the sudden today I am getting texts! I have 1 bar down here, when normally before it always says "No Service". Since I am getting texts, the bar I am getting I'm assuming is real. Apple has really fixed the Antenna issue with the iPhone 4 and it really is getting really good reception now. I guess the rumor is that the 4.2 update may be here on Tuesday, but could possible be pushed back to the 24th, as they decided to work on the iPad iOS 4.2 a little more yesterday. Other than that, is looks a litlle faster in the animations, I also notice 17 new Text Tones. AirPrint being pulled was a bit disappointing though.
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I can't see how an update can fix the physical antenna problem?

 

I think you're getting confused in between 'antenna gate' and poor reception in general.

 

With the antenna problem (antenna gate) that made big media news, the antenna is the metal trim ring that wraps around the outer edge of the phone. The way antennas work (well) is by being some multiple (or fraction) of the wavelength of the transmitting frequency. This helps due to the phenomenon called resonance. So basically the antenna needs to be a specific length, or many different specific lengths that are multiples or fractions of the wavelength. Because of this the antenna is not solid around the outside of the phone. There is a break in the antenna. When you bridge this gap with some part of your body, like your finger or hand being put around the phone, it shorts out the antenna and you get no reception.

 

This is more generalities because I don't know anything specifically about what they changed with iOS 4.2 that supposedly helps the reception. There is the issue of deciphering what's coming into the antenna. Your phone doesn't just receive a signal of someone talking. It receives some digital, compressed, modulated signal. So there is hardware and software on your phone to turn that into someone talking to you. The issue is when the signals get really small, what's noise and what's the signal? It's like trying to listen to someone talk across 270 during rush hour. So if you can tweak something here and there to filter out more of that noise you can get better reception, especially at low signal levels.

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Me three.

 

AirPrint, Remote phone location (and possibly better reception) might be handy, but it looks like it's mostly just to bring the iPad up to spec.

 

Airprint only works with 3 HP printers. All new ones. Apple pulled the support through shared printing.

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I think you're getting confused in between 'antenna gate' and poor reception in general.

 

With the antenna problem (antenna gate) that made big media news, the antenna is the metal trim ring that wraps around the outer edge of the phone. The way antennas work (well) is by being some multiple (or fraction) of the wavelength of the transmitting frequency. This helps due to the phenomenon called resonance. So basically the antenna needs to be a specific length, or many different specific lengths that are multiples or fractions of the wavelength. Because of this the antenna is not solid around the outside of the phone. There is a break in the antenna. When you bridge this gap with some part of your body, like your finger or hand being put around the phone, it shorts out the antenna and you get no reception.

 

This is more generalities because I don't know anything specifically about what they changed with iOS 4.2 that supposedly helps the reception. There is the issue of deciphering what's coming into the antenna. Your phone doesn't just receive a signal of someone talking. It receives some digital, compressed, modulated signal. So there is hardware and software on your phone to turn that into someone talking to you. The issue is when the signals get really small, what's noise and what's the signal? It's like trying to listen to someone talk across 270 during rush hour. So if you can tweak something here and there to filter out more of that noise you can get better reception, especially at low signal levels.

 

:nod: The programmers have to find an equal medium between battery life and reception. I would have to assume the update turned up the amount of power the phone is allowed to use to find and sustain reception. If you havnt seen any change in battery life then its just technology at work.. Finding a way to efficiently distribute power without impacting battery life.

 

..or ATT has more towers at their disposal and the update added in a new cell site listing that gives you access to closer towers. Not sure how they do their tower updates so Im just guessing.

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nor will they the jailbreak will always have to be a program to run, the jailbreakme.com is a one time thing that only worked for that firmware. There is a version for the mac created by the dev team but right now for the Iphone 4 it wont work, older 3gs's will work with it. Just give it a week
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