The new iPhone 4.0.1 software was released 5 days ago as a way to combat the issues currently being experienced by iPhone 4 customers. Naturally the antenna reception issue is the hot concern for owners of the new Apple device, so news of a solution was eagerly anticipated. The first element of the fix was changing the formula that has been used to calculate the signal strength. To me, that doesn’t sound like a solution, it’s merely moving the goal posts so that the signal problem doesn’t look as bad.

Alongside this shift in the way the reception bar is calculated, Apple decided to offer a free bumper case to every customer of the iPhone 4. Certainly not the answer everyone hoped for, but from a commercial aspect it’s definitely cheaper than recalling the entire batch of phones. Which, to be honest, doesn’t surprise me as I think Apple would try every possibility of fixing phones than opposed to having to recall, which would be a P.R. disaster.

However, a software update and a free case doesn’t detract from the possible design flaw that this handset poses. Steve Job’s controversially used competitors products to highlight the possible problem with covering the antenna, as a way to show that this kind of flaw happens quite regularly in the handsets offered in the industry. Whilst this might happen, this doesn’t excuse one handset from avoiding the problems that its hardware has caused.

We would love to hear from Apple iPhone 4 owners and if they’ve had antenna problems and whether iOS 4.0.1 works for them.

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