All of the fuss about the iPhone 4 antenna issue should already be a pretty good indicator of how serious the problem is, but now we have a real, solid authority voicing his concerns on the matter – Steve Wozniak. The Woz. Our geek of geeks. Apparently, when Woz is in a fringe coverage area, the iPhone 4 death grip causes him some problems. Otherwise, in strong coverage areas, he seems to be doing just fine with the smartphone’s antenna.
Here’s what The Woz had to say about his experiences so far:
The first time I tried I was able to duplicate the problem. My wife was driving me to the airport and as soon as I got a short distance from my home, and no longer on wifi, I tried it by accessing a web page (using Safari on my iPhone 4) and observing the progress bar.
As the bar started to proceed I lightly (‘lightly’) touched a couple of fingers to the trouble area and the progress bar froze. When I lifted my fingers the progress bar continued it’s rapid progress. Putting my finger[s] back down halted the progress bar again. Lifting my fingers another time allowed the web page to finish loading.
If you can afford it, carry a second Verizon phone for backup. Another option is to carry a Verizon mifi and rely on Skype on your iPhone. I have used this mifi technique to rescue my own, and others’, iPhones on occasion. If you buy a Verizon Palm Pre, you get free mifi on it so that is possible the best ‘compromise’ solution, to carry a Verizon Palm Pre along with your AT&T iPhone 4.
Wow, Woz is actually recommending a MiFi or a Verizon Palm Pre! A friggin’ Pre! You know the antenna just isn’t working out when a guy like Steve Wozniak, who loves the iPhone more than anything, recommends carrying spare smartphones or other devices on which to connect your iPhone 4.
[Via: MobileCrunch]