Fucking magnets. How do they work?

I adore Apple. I own the iPhone 4. This is a real problem. It happens with my phone too. I can consciously keep my hand away from The Spot, but that shouldn't be necessary. The comments from the big fanboys -- they know who they are -- minimizing this as a fringe, network-based issue are entirely off-base. Maybe Apple rushed to market this iPhone following the disclosure of the prototype. Who knows? But this is an actual problem. By the way, great video.

Um, how about manual focus. That game me a headache.

Great vid! You should do the same test again while doing continuous network pings every second and document it in a video. It would be really interesting to see whether no packets get through or just a lot less, and how long it takes exactly until the packets stop and start again.

What happens if you put a piece of scotch tape over that part of the antenna?

I tried the same thing on my iPhone 4 and the speed with which the web page loaded did not change.

Man, I can't recreate it. That is weird.

As Dan Dilger explained over at AppleInsider, the 5 bars measures not the total strength of signal reception (like a gas gauge measuring the entirety of fuel in a tank) but more like the equivalent of only a quarter tank to an empty tank. Meaning your phone might show 5 bars but you might have the equivalent of 8 bars in signal reception (over the top of what you need to maintain a connection).

What this means for the iPhone 4 magic spot (touching the point that connects the antennas), if you are in a strong 5 plus bar area, touching that area will have no effect (this is what I have found, at least) and you will not be able to replicate this video. However, if you are in a weak 5 bar area (on the cusp of 4 bars, say, or less), then touching that spot will have that effect.

I think this is the difference between those who can replicate this and those who can't.

I just tried the exact same thing and could not repeat, so my iPhone 4 does not have this problem. Wish I knew is this random or it depends on when it's made.

iPhone 4, bought on UK Apple Store, when used in Serbian mt:s 3G network.

Hi,

Can't reproduce it either... Even when having only 2 bars, puting my finder(s) on the spot, even taking the iPhone in my hands very strong, no way to reproduce it... I never lost the signal, neither saw it decrease... Maybe it could be with AT&T network only ?

I'd like to see someone who is having this problem run their phone in Field Test mode to see what their actual cell tower strength and frequency is. And then compare between when it works and when it doesn't work. Just dial *3001#12345#* and hit call.

Even though it is true that if you touch the antenna of any cellular phone you would notice a dramatic change in reception, but Apple should've known that. Apple's engineers should've known that. Apple's hardware designers should've known that. They placed the antennas on the sides on the phone that normally people would touch while holding the phone. It's weird how every Apple employee who was part of the iPhone 4's new design missed it....or ignored it....or solved it with selling bumpers ($$$$).

I've been able to reproduce this from both home and work. This should make everyone say WTF and get at least a little angry at Apple - even if it doesn't affect you specifically.

If you can not reproduce this in every area, then methinks it is not the problem you think it is.

I can reproduce this problem at will, both at home and work.
Normally, I can see 5 bars but 'holding the phone that way' causes the bars to drop and eventually I get the 'lost network' error message.

It is a flaw in the antenna design, as both the Blue tooth and the Phone antennas are a part of the metal rim around the outside of the phone. They are technically two separate antennas, and the place that you put your finger in the video looks like the place in the specs I've seen where the ends of the two antennas have a small gap. By touching the phone there you effectively connect the two antennas, and this causes the problem—you basically short the phone antenna by linking it with the bluetooth one. This could be confirmed by checking whether or not Bluetooth devices also lose their connection with the phone, as it should screw up the bluetooth antenna as well.

Cameron
Hi, have you seen this?
youtube.com/watch?v=G-c3Q5USrqE
The guy makes same actions but without any signal problem.

Cameron doesn't answers...

I feel a note of caution by calling it 'The Spot' - it could mean that if Apple can get people to know about it and accept it as a 'character' of the phone (neuro-marketing) that they won't need to recall the phones (it's probably a hardware issue) - probably best to keep calling it 'one of the iPhone 4 anoying bugs' to keep the presure on them to fix it.

Odd, I just tried this - no problems at all. I have some wavering connection, but whatever I do I never lose connection.
On o2, UK.