Apple was undoubtedly losing sleep over the fact that Consumer Reports refused to “recommend” its iPhone 4 due to the attenuation issues affectionately referred to as Antennagate — Consumer Reports continuously praised the iPhone 4 despite saying it couldn’t recommend the phone — but now the Cupertino-based company can finally sleep easy. Consumer Reports on Tuesday proclaimed that the redesigned antenna system on Apple’s iPhone 4S is no longer affected by the dreaded death grip. &...

LightSquared announced on Thursday that, in cooperating with PCTEL, it has developed a new antenna that will help “resolve concerns over high precision GPS receivers.” LightSquared’s 4G LTE network, which will be deployed in the 1600MHz frequency spectrum with Sprint, has been found to interfere with the frequencies used by GPS and personal navigation systems. The new antenna helps alleviate those concerns, despite speculation that a fix could require billions of dollars and take upwards of ...

Rumors that Apple plans to release an updated iPhone 4 model — referred to on tech blogs as the “iPhone 4S” — alongside the iPhone 5 this fall gained momentum on Thursday evening as images of purported iPhone 4S parts were published by MacRumors.com. The site says it received parts belonging to the iPhone 4S case from supplier iPatchiPods.com, an online iPhone and iPod repair shop. If these components are believed to be authentic, it appears as though the iPhone 4S will feature a redesigned an...

Several alleged internal components from Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 have surfaced on websites belonging to two different online parts suppliers. As reported by MacPost, purported OEM camera lens replacement modules, OEM headphone jacks and other parts now appear on websites belonging to Chinese parts suppliers TVC-Mall and Truesupplier, further suggesting that a launch of Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone is not far off. Genuine iPhone parts have historically appeared on websites belonging to Chinese...

Three images of what is claimed to be Apple’s iPhone 5 have surfaced, supposedly sourced from a Vietnamese forum. While the authenticity of the images is anything but confirmed, they do appear to show a device that is in line with several rumors surrounding Apple’s next-generation iPhone. Most notably, we can see that the display on the device pictured is larger than the display on the iPhone 4, as highlighted by several arrows placed on the images. While the exact dimensions of the screen on the ...

With the iPad 2 rumors now put to bed by the device’s official unveiling, where will Apple fanatics turn for their iRumor jollies? The iPhone 5 of course! The Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News, citing anonymous Chinese sources, states that Apple, Inc. may be considering ditching the very controversial design of the iPhone 4 for its next generation smartphone. The presumed iPhone 5 would sport a milled aluminum backing with the antenna integrated into the rear Apple logo — similar to the orig...

The iPhone 4′s antenna situation truly is the story that just will not die. Now that the antenna gripes of the GSM iPhone has been exhausted, why not move on to the heir apparent… the CDMA iPhone. iLounge has published a seven minute YouTube video showcasing a karma sutra of death grips that can affect the signal quality of your Verizon iPiece. It’s not much of a secret that all cellular phones can be gripped, in one way or another, that will cause their signal to attenuate. And, to be fran...

The hubbub hardly registered a blip on most people’s radar screens, but HTC recently found itself fielding some “death grip” claims related to its HD7 smartphone. The term death grip, in this context, was made famous earlier this year when customers found that a certain grip on Apple’s iPhone 4 would cause the handset to lose signal and drop calls. Apple uncharacteristically addressed the issue with a press conference, claiming most phones suffer similar issues when gripped near the an...

One of our solid Apple sources has just let us know some pretty interesting (and exciting) information surrounding Apple’s upcoming iPhone devices. For starters, we have been told that iPhone model 3,2 — what everyone is assuming to be the Verizon (or at least CDMA-compatible) phone — just hit the “AP” testing stage. This is the very last stage before retail release; final hardware, almost final software. Here is the odd thing, though… the iPhone 3,2 unit, we have been excl...

On the fence about the Motorola DROID 2? Wondering if people are happy with the device? Well, we have been told that the Motorola DROID 2, according to one of our connects, has the lowest smartphone return rate on Verizon Wireless. Not only are people apparently thrilled with the device, but that pesky fluctuation issue with the antenna doesn’t seem to be a problem either, as we have also been informed that the DROID 2 has one of the lowest dropped call rates on the carrier. Who knew.

Mexican technology site canal-mx is reporting that Apple will be reengineering its iPhone 4 antenna design and that the redesigned handsets will be available after September 30th. The news comes courtesy of Marco Quatorze, Tecel’s Director of Value Added Services. Telcel recently began offering the iPhone 4 to its customers and Mr. Quatorze was on the record when he explained that his company would have the same version of the iPhone 4 that is sold in the U.S.; complete with antenna attenuation issu...

Apple took aim at the Motorola DROID X in the latest video to hit Apple’s smartphone antenna performance webpage. In the video, Apple demonstrates that the DROID X, like the iPhone 4, will drop 3 bars when held death-grip style by someone with presumably gigantic hands. Though these videos are designed to show that the iPhone is not alone in exhibiting signal attenuation, they are causing a maelstrom of controversy amongst smartphone manufacturers and owners alike, with each entity defending its platfor...

We’re not kidding, there is actually an app for that. Apple’s iPhone 4 Case Program page is now live. Those who already purchased an iPhone 4 and Apple bumper can hit up the new site to check the status of their rebate, users waiting for their free case can “Download the iPhone 4 Case Program app from the App Store” and select a case at no charge. Have a look for yourself. (more…)

In response to Apple’s antenna-oriented press event, Consumer Reports responded by refusing to give the Apple iPhone 4 its golden seal of approval. The consumer product ratings company commended Apple for taking a first step in solving the antenna problem but denounced Apple’s case giveaway as a limited and temporary fix. Consumer Reports states:Consumer Reports believes Apple’s offer of free cases is a good first step. However, Apple has indicated that this is not a long-term solution, it h...