Originally Posted by Derf
OK, HERE WE GO with the antenna!
Being Ham Radio and understanding how the Antenna works, there is no issue with the iPhone 4. I am sure I will get flamed for this by people who do not understand antennas but with an outside antenna you get better reception with the new phone and when you do touch it and change the wavelength it does change how the antenna works. I will try to make it simple
If you loose all the bars by touching it, you would not have any reception with the previous iPhone. If you have a good signal, the touch will not do anything. The 5 bar is almost 90% of the signal and the other bars are what is left. If touching it makes all the bars drop you will have had a piss poor signal to start with and the regular iPhone and most other phones would have had issues already.
Phil W2LIE would understand the issue well and anyone who had made an antenna. It is not easy to explain, that is why they simply don't. APPLE screwed the pooch on that one with their software and how the levels are displayed by the OS but to people who look to bash iPhone, we are all just simply covering the facts up.