If you’ve been on the web or consumed some sort of news in the past two weeks, you probably know about the iPhone 4 “Death Grip,” the reception issue that seems to stem from the phone’s design.  Apple said they’d fix the issue with how signal strength is portrayed on the phone in a new update.  Shortly after, Consumer Reports said it can no longer recommend the phone because of the issue.

Apple sent out the beta of iOS 4.1 to developers today, and of course the claims that it could fix the problems were going to be tested.  Well, it looks like Apple has certainly changed the way the bars are displayed, and has made the first three bars bigger to make them easier to see.  However, the issue isn’t going away with the update.  Placing your hand on the bottom left corner still causes bars to drop, which isn’t terribly surprising given that the problems always seemed to be more of a hardware issue. {Mobile Crunch}

Late on Wednesday, Apple did more than just release a beta of the next OS update.  The company has announced that it will be holding a press conference on Friday morning to discuss the iPhone 4.{NY Times}  There’s no other details about the press conference, but it is a highly unusual move for Apple.  Apple typically has press conferences to announce new products, and those are usually announced at least a week in advance.  Perhaps this could have something to do with the “silent recall” that Gizmodo is reporting.  Or perhaps, as one Mac Rumors forum user has speculated, Apple will announce that it will give current iPhone users Apple Store credit to buy a bumper, and will institute a new return policy for the iPhone 4.  It’s all speculation, but none of it seems too unreasonable.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the iPhone 4 is a terrible phone. Anecdotally, the issue doesn’t seem to affect every iPhone 4 to the same extent (i.e. rendering the phone unusable while holding it). It can definitely be replicated, but some phones do seem to be far less sensitive than others.   But the popularity of the iPhone means that even if 25% of the phones sold have the issue, it still represents a good number of users. Apple’s denial that any problem exists hasn’t helped, but  hopefully after this week the issue will be no more, or at least put aside.  It is starting to become tiresome.

Apple initially issued a statement that all phones have spots on them where holding them will cause signal degradation.  The newest response from Apple reads almost like a parody of the issues.  Apple is now saying that plenty of users are happy with the iPhone 4 and how well it picks up signal over previous versions.  It then goes on to say essentially “yeah, those bars aren’t right, so we’re gonna fix them.”  The claim is that the iPhone 4 as well as the iPhone 3G and 3GS report signal in an inaccurate manner.  The fix then will be to follow AT&T’s guidelines on how the bars should actually work. {Apple}

The fix will come via a software update in the coming weeks, and will apparently show users that where they thought they had great service is probably an area with fairly weak service.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that gripping your iPhone 4 won’t degrade the signal, it probably will, but at least it won’t decrease dramatically according to what Apple is saying.

After having an iPhone 4 since launch, the issue is definitely real.  It’s fairly easy to duplicate the problem that many are showing, even if just as a demonstration.  After buying a recommended Apple bumper, which was recommended (and also adds a nice bit of color) when the issue first arose, the Death Grip is no more.  The phone now gets perfect reception for both the cell network and WiFi (it used to lose one bar) no matter how it’s held.

Still, this points to a design/hardware issue. It’s great that the bumper, or a LiveStrong bracelet as some have found {The iPhone Guru}, can give an uninterrupted connection, but Apple should make it a standard, free part of the package.

Want an international iPhone? Don't count on it with a Verizon iPhone

Now unless a manufacturing change is planned, you’d still have to learn how to hold your iPhone 4 (really, why should a phone require more instruction than most newborns come with?) in that special way that doesn’t kill reception due to the poor antenna placement. But assuming Apple loosens their stance on free bumpers (no free bumpers for you! {Boy Genius Report}), or that the Help Wanted postings for antenna developers {GeekSugar} produce an actual fix instead of denials of the problem, there’s still an issue.

If you travel internationally, an AT&T iPhone may be a better option than on on Verizon, and it comes down to the network. While many of Verizon’s customers are fans of the service across their CDMA network {Wikipedia}, AT&T’s GSM network {Wikipedia} is actually the more popular option around the world.

In many countries in Europe, CDMA networks simply don’t exist. Want to take your iPhone on a trip to London? Paris? While you may be able to get limited use by picking up on a wi-fi signal, you’d be out of luck for actually making calls or sending text messages with any reliability. If you’ve ever tried to take a Sprint phone out of the country, the experience is pretty much the same.

Now that’s not to say, AT&T makes international roaming a walk in the park. While you can expect your phone to work with on of AT&T’s international roaming partners, the over the air updates they use to ensure iPhones aren’t jailbroken mean that you’re pretty much restricted to the partner they choose, and the rates may not be all that great. Data plans in particular, can cost as much as you paid for the phone itself with even moderate use.

It’s not a flaw that’s unique to AT&T. Even though T-Mobile, the other US carrier with a GSM network, has a large network in Europe, roaming outside the country can still cost hundreds of dollars. At the end of the day, however, you at least have the option.

Now if your jaunts outside the States are limited to a brief vacation every other year, the offer of a Verizon iPhone is probably still strong. But if you’re as international as the iPhone 4 is, you might already be with the right carrier.

If despite the antenna problems, and rather ambivalent customer service, you’re still crazy about the iPhone 4, not a fan of AT&T, but need the freedom of a GSM network, there is an option. While countries like Hong Kong get unlocked iPhones by default, that’s quite a plane ride for a phone. Canadian and UK customers though, are also part of the unlocked phone club and can purchase the iPhone 4 legally unlocked and contract free. If you have a friend, or even just a mailing address in either country, you just may be able to have it all.

After a terrible experience waiting 10 hours in line to buy 2 new iPhone 4â€s, the signal issue is a real problem on both of my phones regardless of how they are held. The two phones only get signal strength laying down untouched for regardless how they are held, the signal goes away. There is a serious issue with the conductivity of the antenna. Also the flash is making the picture blurry or rather non existent at all on both phones. I also have 5 Jawbone bluetooth devices and they keep getting disconnected all the time. Were these phones designed to be used or hung on the “right” wall of my living room ? Will they fall down if I hang them on the left wall ? Do I need rubber gloves to use the phones ? Iâ€m returning both of these devices and Iâ€m a dedicated Apple consumer having previously bought about 16 iPhones, 2 iPads, 8 Mac Books, 4 Mac Airs and countless Ipods. Very dissapointed.

From Val on iPhone 4 Problems Continue, Reception Issues Could Take a Backseat to Privacy Concerns

Do the reception and potential privacy problems of the iPhone 4 make it a dealbreaker for you? Let us know in the comments.

Now come concerns about privacy when using Face Time – the video chat application, and exactly how much AT&T and Apple know about you. According to an anonymous Apple employee, iOS4 means that if you were hoping to jailbreak your phone to run unauthorized apps, you’ll have to do it every week. Network updates are delivered over the air (OTA), and let both AT&T and Apple know if you’ve tried to unlock your phone. If you have? No customer service for you, and count on being locked out every 1-2 weeks if AT&T isn’t your carrier.

Early iPhone 4 recipients were the guinea pigs to test the updates, and ensure that the rush of users activating the phone didn’t bring down the OTA update system. Guess they’ve learned something from the pre-order debacle.

The issue that may cause users the most concern, however, are the unencrypted updates sent to Apple about who users are talking to and where they are.

“I will let you off with one last bit of information if your gonna write a story on this and that is Facetime, the iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 Wifi video connecting. The issue is with Wifi is that anyone can get on a Wifi Signal and potentially see what the viewers and broadcasters are looking at without them know, now Apple will deny this and say its not our problem you where not on a secure connection, in my mind I think that its all bullshit.

People should be able to have some type of security during those calls. Worst yet is once a person connects to another person on FaceTime it for some reason non of us in the office can figure out, sends us APPLE a message and says those two people are connecting via Facetime and gives out their location to us. So for whatever reason we need that information just blows my mind. As a consumer why would you need to let Apple know that you are connecting with a person via FaceTime, its non of Appleâ€s business.” {Addictive Tips}

Now to play devil’s advocate, there are some valid reasons for monitoring usage of the FaceTime service. It could be to help law enforcement, in the event that the information is needed to track down a criminal, it could be for less noble business purposes of monitoring usage at a geographic level.

But whatever the good reasons, it raises concern over the just plain creepy prospect of Apple spying on your calls. According to the Addictive Tips source, many Apple employees are passing on an upgrade to iOS4 over the concerns.

Then there’s the issue of the oversharers. Location based social networking has safety issues and oversharing on video chat might be cause for concern here as well. Now the Apple employee didn’t say that Apple can actually see or store the content of video chats (and for all of the issues that surround storing that data, we don’t think it’s likely they’d try); but for teens who already send “sexts” (sexually charged text messages and photos), could sex videos be next? While oversharing isn’t limited to the young, and the prospect of dirty video chat likely won’t be either, the unencrypted wi-fi connection means that the person on the other end of your chat may not be the only one to see what you send. {SFGate}

Keep it clean, Big Brother is watching.

Yeah, about that new antenna design? Cupertino, we have a problem.

Except that a good number iPhone 4 owners aren’t finding the device to be so perfect. The biggest problem comes from actually getting a call out, and seeing as it’s been experienced by users from the US to the UK, AT&T’s sometimes spotty coverage may not be to blame.

One of the iPhone 4 features that was touted by Apple is a metal antenna band on the outside of the phone, that was supposed to improve reception. The problem? It only seems to work if you don’t touch the phone. Oops.

The solution seems to be an iPhone condom. That’s not the official name, but a rubber bumper casing that goes on the outside of the phone seems to protect the antenna from human interference and improve call and reception performance. Put a rubber ring on it!

Apple hasn’t acknowledged the design flaw, and for the moment users are on their own to figure out a solution if they don’t want to spend an additional $30 on the rubber bumpers that would prevent the reception problems, or just don’t like the way they look. A commenter at Gizmodo suggests a coat of clear nail polish. {Gizmodo} If that doesn’t work, you could always try to do something about your incompatible fingers.

The next problem, while not as bad as a phone not being able to make calls when you touch it, is probably equally annoying to the people who’ve been feverishly checking FedEx tracking numbers and stalking out Apple stores (some, getting mugged {Business Insider}) in hopes of being first to experience the new iPhone. Problems of a pale yellow tint, and white “constellation” spots have been appearing on the iPhone 4’s super high definition Retina display.

For the yellow tint, some readers are speculating that it’s a case of the phones being shipped before a chemical used as an adhesive in the screen was completely dry, and that after a few days it should go away. For people who just can’t wait to find out, Apple has been giving speedy replacements to customers encountering screen problems. {Gizmodo}