Apple says iPhones overstate signal strength

Apple Inc. said its iPhones overstate wireless network signal strength and promised to fix the glitch in the coming weeks, Reuters reports. Its admission follows customer complaints about the design of its phone antenna. Apple apologized to customers in an open letter on July 2 and said it was “stunned to find that the formula” it uses to calculate network strength “is totally wrong” and that the error has existed since its first iPhone. Apple, which has sold iPhones since 2007, said it would update its software in coming weeks using a formula recommended by AT&T Inc., the exclusive U.S. provider for iPhone. “Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars,” according to the letter. The company already has had to apologize for delays in online orders of its iPhone 4 and for a supply shortage in its stores since the device hit shelves June 24…

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Early iPhone 4 owners in grip of reception problem

Apple Inc. redesigned the fourth generation of its smart phone, replacing sloping edges with a stainless steel band that wraps around the more squared-off sides. The metal band acts like a sturdy skeleton for the delicate phone, and it does double duty as the device’s antenna, reports the Associated Press. The iPhone 4 went on sale last Thursday morning in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany and Japan. Within hours, some early buyers posted messages on Apple’s customer support website, complaining that gripping the gadget in ways that covered small black lines in the steel band could cause the number of “bars”–the indicator of call signal strength–to plummet. Some people said the iPhone 4 would disconnect mid-call when the phone was nestled in their hands in such a way that the lower-left corner of the device was covered…

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