Get a New iPhone Without the Antenna Issue
You say you want a new iPhone, and you don't want to worry about the whole antenna fiasco. Well, have I got a deal for you! What if I said you could get a new (as in not used) iPhone, and rest assured that you wouldn't see signal issues when you hold the phone, and you wouldn't have to put a bumper on the phone. AND you would save $100 at the same time.
If you've never owned an iPhone, or you're looking to upgrade from the original model, there's a solution: buy the new iPhone 3GS 16GB phone for $99. Trust me, it is fast enough and feature-packed enough for most users. If you can live without FaceTime, and the higher resolution camera isn't that important, it's an interesting option. After all, there are already thousands of accessories, many of which will probably go on sale as the iPhone 4 continues to ship in greater and greater numbers.
While the iPhone 3GS did exhibit the same antenna meter reporting issue, with the recent software update, that's a thing of the past.
Get last month's cutting edge phone, save a $100 up front, and by Apple's own admissions, have fewer dropped calls with AT&T than the iPhone 4.