The good news - reports of the iPhone 4 having massive issues with reception and dropped calls in the United States are not as common in Singapore, as local telcos have pointed out that a stronger mobile network here alleviates the problem.
The bad news is, Apple's latest toy does suffer from receoption issues to a certain extent, compared with other phones.
Holding the phone with your left hand will cause the signal bars to drop gradually, as covering the lower-left corner of the slim device with your palm affects its antenna.
If you are indoors, 40 seconds is all it takes for the bars to fall from five to one. You do not even have to hold it tighitly, to mimic an actual Death Grip, as it is commonly called.
Outdoors, the bars do not fall but as soon as you have overhead cover, be it seated in a restaurant or on a bus, the bars start dropping.
However, voice calls are barely affected. When bars fall from five to one, calls can still be made, in fact, the bars do climb back up once a call is connected.
Issues with calls occur when reception at a location is already weak to begin with. Covering the antenna further reduces the weak reception and both incoming and outgoing calls cannot be made.
Outgoing calls will stall and incoming calls will not connect. If you happen to move from good reception zone to a weaker one while on the line, be prepared to lose that call.
This happened to me at a supermarket in Serangoon. the call started off well but about a minute after I stepped into the supermarket, i lost the other party. Without the Death Grip, the phone alternated beween two and three signal bars.
The bigger problem, though is with data connectivity. A reduction in the signal bars greatly hampers the download speed of the phone.
Whether I am downloading apps from the App Store, checking my email or refreshing my Twitter application, I noticed onger load times with a lower number of signal bars. Often, a server error display will pop up.
As I am right-handed, I always hold the phone with my left hand. The moment I hold the phone with two fingers at the top and bottom, the bars climb up and downloads are restored. Aside from the reception issue, Apple has delivered a well-made device. The retina display is extremely sharp and it is easier to read small fonts compared to iPhone 3GS.
Battery life also lasted longer. With push email, games and constant Twitter updates, the 3GS barely lasted eight hours. The iPhone 4 clocked 10 to 12 hours before I needed to plug it in.
Although video calls are not new, Apple's new FaceTime feature- which allows video calles to be made across Wi-Fi between two iPhone 4 devices - is pretty impressive.
White the phone will not indicate if the other party is on Wi-Fi, you can easily switch to FaceTime mode during a regular call. Voice pick - up is sharp even if you hold the phoneaway from you.
The rear camera has also been upgraded to a 5-megapixel one, which allows for video recordings of up to 720p.
When used with a flash, colours do appear unnatural, displaying a brighter red or orange hue.
Verdict: A phone should fulfil its basic functions of making calls, so you have to decide if the apps and better design really justify the iPhone's price tag.
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