Analysis of Apple's New Signal Bars

Posted Jul 16, 2010 at 8:09AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Apple iPhone 4 Tags: apple, ios, news

AnandTech has posted a detailed look at these new bars and how they differ from the old ones.

Apple has dramatically changed the signal strength to signal bar mapping in iOS 4.0.1 and the iOS 4.1 beta, making the dynamic range not only much broader, but the range values for each bar much wider. The range of signals that correspond to bars three and four are the same width, and bar two is only slightly less. The cutoff value for two bars to one bar remains the same, but every other value has increased. The result is that the worst case drop of 24 dBm no longer makes all the signal bars disappear, but rather two.

Taking a look at the charts below you will see that previously the absolute lowest value any iPhone would report was -113 dBm. With iOS 4.0.1/4.1, the value is now a shockingly low -121 dBm.

It's a shame Apple didn't just 'get this right' to start with, I'm sure Nokia or Sony Ericsson have never been under this sort of scrutiny when it comes to things as simple as signal strength bar formulas.

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Analysis of Apple's New Signal Bars

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