iPhone 4: Most users are satisfied, 'death grip' or not

iPhone 4 earned high marks on a recent customer survey. So much for all that 'death grip' nonsense.

iPhone 4 owner? Odds are you're probably more than satisfied with your brand new handset.

That's the gist of a new ChangeWave survey, which shows that 72 percent of users are "very satisfied" with the iPhone 4 – a smartphone repeatedly slammed for finicky reception problems. According to ChangeWave, the iPhone 4 made a slightly poorer showing than the iPhone 3G S – 82 percent of users were very satisfied with that phone – but a strong showing nonetheless.

"Despite the waves of controversy that surrounded the iPhone 4 within days of its launch, the latest Apple release is outperforming almost every other smart phone in the industry in terms of overall customer satisfaction and meeting owners' expectations," ChangeWave researchers wrote in a statement accompanying the survey.

The iPhone 4 launched in June, with most tech bloggers giving the sleek, boxy handset high marks.

But Apple was quickly deluged with complaints about the dreaded "death grip" – an apparent malfunction with the wraparound antenna on the iPhone 4. Apple sought to tamp down concerns about the iPhone 4 death grip, before finally calling a press conference, where Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company would issue free bumper cases to all eligible consumers.

"We're not perfect, and phones aren't perfect either, but we want to make all of our users happy," Jobs said at the time. He added that Apple had unloaded more than 3 million iPhone 4 handsets since the June launch – and that the number of consumers actually complaining about bad reception was relatively small. "AppleCare data shows only 0.55% have called in about reception issues," Jobs said.