The Real Story on iPhone 4's Antenna

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mike Liebhold <mnl () well com>
Date: July 1, 2010 2:48:20 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: The Real Story on iPhone 4's Antenna

For sharing on IP, If you chose: 

The Real Story on iPhone 4's Antenna

" There's been a ton of discussion lately surrounding iPhone 4 cellular reception. Even before it was officially 
announced, the reason for the stainless steel band running along the outside of the phone seemed enigmatic; many called 
it un-apple and decidedly atypical of seamless apple design which eschews hard edges. The black strips were written off 
as aesthetic curiosities, possibly even markings which denoted a fake.
Then at the WWDC announcement, we learned the truth. The iPhone 4's antenna is the stainless steel band that runs 
around the edge of the phone. The antenna for WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS is the smaller strip beginning in the bottom 
left and running to the top, and the cellular radio for voice and data is the much larger strip running around almost 
three quarters of the phone.

It's a design nod back to some of the earliest cellular phone designs which packed external whips that one could 
manually extend for improving reception. Since then, designs evolved, and until recently virtually all smartphones have 
packed internal antennas at the bottom of the phone. The iPhone 4's external antenna promises improved reception over 
the internal antenna in the iPhone 3GS.

Of course, the caveat is that as with all external antennas, the potential for both unintended attenuation and detuning 
is much, much greater. When I first saw the iPhone 4's design spelled out watching the keynote online, I immediately 
assumed that Apple was going to apply an insulative coating atop the stainless steel. Perhaps even use diamond vapor 
deposition (like they did with the glass screen atop the iPhone 3GS) to insulate the stainless steel from users. We now 
know rather definitively that this isn't the case.
... "  [detailed technical discussion follows]
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2





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