Consumer Reports: iPhone Cover Helps Signal

In what might turn out to be a shrewd marketing campaign for iPhone 4 accessories, a rubber and molded plastic skirt made for the latest version of Apple's handheld has been found to be a possible fix for the phone's signal quality problems.

Consumer Reports reported Wednesday that the cover, called a Bumper, "solves the signal-strength problem," and provides a more fashion-friendly solution than applying a piece of duct tape in a certain spot on the phone, a remedy the publication also says works.

Whether Apple will highlight the report in a iPhone 4-centric news conference Friday isn't likely because Apple's tried promoting this fix before.

Consumer Reports noted phone signal would drop when a finger covered "a small gap in the casing on the bottom left edge of the phone." A Bumper, or piece of duct tape, placed over the gap resulted in "a negligible drop in signal strength," the publication reported.

Even with the Bumper -- costing $29 -- approved as a fix, Consumer Reports still called on Apple to give iPhone 4 customers a solution free of charge, a more likely topic of discussion for Friday's press conference.