I just got off the horn with our own John Biggs, who battled his way through the freezing winds of New York City this morning to bring back all the details of Verizon’s iPhone 4. Seeing as he’s one of the few people in the world who’s had a chance to paw at this thing, I had one question I just had to ask: Did you try to Death Grip it?
He did. And it didn’t work.
For those who somehow missed it or have since forgotten: Back when the iPhone 4 originally launched, it was quickly discovered that holding the iPhone 4 a specific way would cause the signal to drop. While the hand positioning required to hold it this way wasn’t exactly natural (and there didn’t seem to be many reports of people dropping calls as a result) the story still blew up into a scandal. The scandal, or “Antennagate” as we knew it, was big enough that Apple held an emergency press conference of sorts, with the primary message being “Eh, it’s no big deal, every phone has this issue.”
All phones, it seems, except for the new Verizon iPhone 4. Perhaps it’s the new notches in the Verizon iPhone’s antenna; perhaps Verizon’s event was close enough to a tower that even if there was signal attenuation, it wouldn’t show; perhaps John was just holding it wrong… wrong. Whatever the case, John just couldn’t get that signal to drop.
He held it from the top. He held it from the bottom. He put his mitts all over the thing in every way he could — and sure enough, that signal wouldn’t drop.
We’ll have to wait and see how it performs in the real world once this thing launches on February 10th — but at least in one room, on a pre-release model, the issue that every phone has was nowhere to be found.
More Coverage:
Verizon And Apple Began Working Together To Make The CDMA iPhone In 2008
It’s Official: The Verizon iPhone 4 Is Coming On February 10th
So What’s So Special About The Verizon iPhone? Personal Hotspots.
Why No LTE iPhone For Now? “Design Compromises” Apple Would Not Make.
The Verizon iPhone Product Pages And More Are Alive For Your Ogling
Hands On With the Verizon iPhone
Bottom Line: Should You Buy The Verizon iPhone?
One More Thing: The Verizon iPhone Runs iOS 4.2.5
