Good news for iPhone 4 users who prefer to let their handset roam naked: It's now possible to claim a $15 settlement in lieu of the free bumper that Apple gave away over the antennagate debacle.

Apple improved the antenna design in the iPhone 4S in an attempt to kill the notorious Death Grip problem in the old iPhone 4. Did it work? Yes. OH YES. There is no death grip in the iPhone 4S.

With the iPhone 4S, Apple says it will deliver an iPhone that works anywhere in the world, and with fantastic reception.

We'd heard previous reports that the Verizon iPhone 4 was susceptible to the same death grip issues that rocked the original iPhone, but now industry heavy Consumer Reports confirms it: the death grip is back. According to CR:

You'd think that after protracted debacle of the AT&T iPhone 4's attenuation problems, Apple would have made absolutely certain to fix the issue completely before the Verizon version hit. But this iLounge video indicates otherwise. Antennagate 2.0?

According to a patent, Apple is hoping to move the iPhone's antenna behind the Apple logo. This could potentially solve the attenuation problem that has plagued the iPhone 4.

Today is September 30, the last day of thefree case program that fixes the iPhone 4's antenna design problem. So if you didn't get yours, now it's the time to do it following these instructions.

As expected, Apple has reevaluated their iPhone case initiative: "We are discontinuing the free case program on all iPhone 4s sold after September 30, 2010." But they'll still give you one if you complain.

"There's an awful lot of hoopla about that iPhone antenna." Why yes, there is. And while there's much to criticize about Apple's response, we're glad to see they've stopped pretending the problem doesn't exist.