The iOS 4.1 Beta which was released earlier today seems to include AT&T's formula for correctly calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength.
With this new update, bars 1, 2 and 3 are also bit taller so they are "easier to see." The baseband, or modem firmware has also been updated to 02.07.01. Gamecenter has also been reported to be included in the new beta.
After investigating iPhone reception issues Apple said they were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.
Image via BGR
With this new update, bars 1, 2 and 3 are also bit taller so they are "easier to see." The baseband, or modem firmware has also been updated to 02.07.01. Gamecenter has also been reported to be included in the new beta.
After investigating iPhone reception issues Apple said they were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.
Image via BGR