Expert predicted iPhone 4 antenna problem in early June

While some are expecting (hoping?) a software update will fix the iPhone 4's antenna issues, others are saying we're holding the phone wrong. Meanwhile, experts have chimed in on the issue, and apparently one of them saw this coming as early as two weeks before the iPhone 4 was released.

As noted by enGadget, Professor Gert Frølund Pedersen from Aalborg University's Department of Electronic Systems is one of the leading experts when it comes to mobile phone antennas. He was unimpressed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs promises of better reception with the new antenna system on the iPhone 4. After all, it's AT&T, anyway.

Of course, Pederson was not quite so snarky as to point out the failings of Apple's BFF in the U.S. Rather, on the record on June 10th, he pointed out (translated from Danish) that when Steve Jobs said "It's never been done before," in terms of the antenna system, it was a little overstated. You know, kind of like how Apple has seemingly tried to claim it invented video chat.

At any rate, Pederson said that external antennas were "old news." He also said:

"The actual circuit board works as a part of the antenna and the metal frame around the coupler signal into it. But it means that the user can not avoid interfering antenna system with its touch. [...]

Touch means that a larger portion of the antenna energy turns into heat and lost. Thus becomes less efficient antenna to send and receive radio signals."

Prescient, much? OK, why didn't someone from Denmark fly over to tell Apple this? Seriously, there are still those who hope a software fix can eliminate or reduce the problem.

As we noted before, it seems like each release of the iPhone brings these issues, and each disappears or becomes forgotten over time. The only constant is the AT&T network, and even if this antenna issue is fixed somehow, whether with software or with bumpers included in each box, that's still going to be a problem.