14 DAY TRIAL // iFixit, a repair shop mostly known for its detailed teardowns, believes Apple is silently fixing the iPhone 4 antenna issue by adding “a nonconductive coating to the metal band on the sides of the phone,” after spotting a Gizmodo report saying that newly shipped units seem to boast a difference in antenna design. Apple has been receiving bad PR in regards to a potentially faulty design of its iPhone 4 causing bad cellular reception.
The Gizmodo report in question has one reader suggesting Apple is doing a “silent-recall” of the iPhone 4. After experiencing proximity sensor issues with his iPhone 4, the user in question talked to Apple to have it replace. He then goes to explain, “Well, when I got the new phone it was different. It was different hardware. The black [plastic] bezel isn't as black on the new one. I couldn't see the proximity sensor at all on the previous iPhone 4, now I can. The stainless steel band on the new phone is less 'steel-y' and more matte. I've also tried to replicate the signal drop and failure. While I can't say for sure that it is entirely fixed, there is certainly huge improvement. I'm guessing they coated the steel with something, took some black out of the bezel and sent them out without saying too much about it.”
IFixit then followed with its own post, pointing out to the Gizmodo report, saying “Reports started surfacing today that Apple may have quietly revised the iPhone 4 to add a nonconductive coating to the metal band on the sides of the phone. This would fix the sudden signal drop from electrically bridging the antennas by touching the band in the bottom-left corner with your hand,” Kyle wrote over at the iFixit blog. “We got an independent report of a similarly updated phone from a member of our community, so we decided to investigate. We exchanged one of our units (that had been experiencing unrelated problems with its Bluetooth connection) to see if Apple has changed the manufacturing process since their initial production run.”
iFixit goes to explain that investigating the serial number on newly shipped units is the first step towards determining where the phone has been manufactured, and whether it is a new version. The second is described, as follows:
“We need your help! If you got an iPhone in the last few days, check the serial number. If the production week is bigger than 27, try checking the impedance of the metal frame with a multimeter. If you hold the leads about an inch apart, the resistance should be less than one ohm. If it’s substantially higher, you may have a unit with the new coating. (Accuracy of multimeters varies dramatically, but we’d expect a nonconductive coating to have a very high impedance.).”
A picture of the respective process is then provided (above). iFixit’s phone read 0.6 ohms upon testing, which essentially translates into no resistance, the repair shop said. Softpedia readers who are knowledgeable in such matters are encouraged to replicate the test themselves (provided they have an iPhone 4 around to test), and post their results in the comments.