Hi, unfortunately returning an iPhone4 to Orange UK is a NIGHTMARE!!!
I eventually managed to return my faulty iPhone4 yesterday after over two weeks of complaining: +20 phone calls to Orange and Apple, and 6 or 7 visits to the Orange UK store where I bought the phone, and a registered legal letter of complaint... All that trouble because Apple had not acknowledged it as a FAULT, which meant I could not return a phone that was "not faulty" but simply had a bit of incorrect software which was going to be fixed by an update.

Personally I am sick to death of Steve Jobs' lack of integrity, he really gives me the creeps, standing on his stage, smug and lying about his products. This time he has been caught out, claiming this phone has better reception than any of it's predecessors. Last time he was claiming the iPad was the "most advanced piece of technology he has ever worked on" LOL What a bald-faced lie- its an overgrown iPod!

Im upgrading to Android. I am tired of the hype, and this disappointment takes the cake.

Good effort but I personally dont think any of your rant will change any consumer from changing his mind.

A friend of mine pointed this out and drew parallels to "Tragedy of Commons"

You as a consumer, do have a choice where you invest your hard-earned dollars. Nowadays an investment in a cell phone will cost you many hundreds or thousands over the term of the contract (depending on how many "apps" you patronize, and so forth). So I am puzzled why someone would choose to support a company like Apple which:

- Has previously issued software updates to misrepresent and apparently boost displayed signal strength on the ATT network, apparently in order to "fool" its customers into thinking that their phones and the network were working better than they were. And later only admitted to this and corrected this misrepresentation when users were dropping calls with bars still displayed on the screen.

- Produced and hyped the Iphone4 as a "magical, wonderful" phone, mis-designed the antenna and prox sensor, did not test it properly, initially denied that their were problems with it, has STILL not offered to do anything meaningful to compensate customers who may have bought one of these.

- Did a similar denial with the security of users' Itunes accounts after the hack that allowed one developer to remotely vacuum user accounts and boost his 42 apps into the top 50 category. Apparently still has not offered to refund even Apple's 30% cut of the fraudulent sales.

I could go on with other examples of autocratic control at Apple that seems to disregard users' rights, but the central issue seems to be that this can all be avoided by just not patronizing Apple and any of its products or services. There are great alternatives (like Android or Meego-powered phones and tablets) that seem to respect the rights and freedoms of you as a consumer. Can't say the same for Apple or Microsoft products. I am not sure how "bad" things need to get before people stop buying Apple products, but I would have to say, things are pretty "bad" right now.

Consumer Report while pulling it's buy recommendation also called the best smart phone on the market. Guess Nick you should have read all the report.

I have iPhone 4 here in the UK and I have tried everything to get it to lose single. i have used wet fingers and everything to try and replicate the issue.
from what i can gather it seems only to be happening in the US? mmmm I wonder why????

I'm an Apple fan, but by no means a fanboy. I like calling Ferret and his sockpuppets out because a) they're almost always misinformed, and b) it's fun! But yeah, the iPhone 4 really is simply broken. 999 times out of a thousand the Inq is just doing a terrible job. Bue even a broken clock can be right twice a day.

Android is far from being the great white hope though, its accessibility features are, quite frankly, utter shit. I've got an HTC Desire and while it's got a lot going for it, I just can't use it without donning my reading glasses first. Whatever you say about the iPhone there's no denying it's got accessibility that's far better. Bolder, larger default font, high contrast and reverse colour modes, and most importantly of all, full screen zoom without apps having to explicitly support it.

As much as I like the Android platform, unless Google sort this, my next phone will almost certainly be a (fixed) iPhone.

I'm a lefty, I live in the US, and no amount of clawing at my iphone4 with my large left hand can get the bars to move lower, or drop a call. Perhaps it's only a few bad phones, or it's apple envy, or it's a total load of crap. The iPhone has reinvented mobile communications, it rocks, and I bought it because my iPhone 1 finally wore out.
Biggest issue is good phone service among all these tall buildings in NYC. no one has figured that out yet, but it's not an Apple only issue.

Fanbois .. act before they think

Why are they saying it's only left-handed people it's a problem for?

The device like all so-called modern smartphones are two-handed devices (one of their biggest disadvantages imho) and anyone that's right-handed will be holding it in their left-hand and operating it with the right i.e. holding it the "wrong way".

This means the issue will kill data access for the majority of users, but only those "righties" that then decide to dial and then swap hands for the call will be unaffected.

I’ve got an iphone 4 and I’m left handed, I haven’t had any signal loss. My phone operates on Orange in the UK, I think this is an American Network problem.

Read the last paragraph ... Farrell just baited you and you took it hook, line and sinker. Ignore him and he just might go away.

Yes but look at the screen you get as a trade off for not having a phone that makes/receives calls as its primary feature.

Typically funny inquirer article, only biased if you lack any ability to read between the lines.

This is an awesome phone with major issues, I certainly don't have more money than sense so it is not for me.