According to reports, Apple released its iOS 4.1 beta to Developer Program members late Wednesday, thereby giving the iPhone and iPod Touch coders their first experience of the upgraded software.

As per the early reports, the beta does not include support for the iPad. When Apple had released the iOS 4, a few days before the iPhone 4 was launched, the company had said that it intends adding iPad support later this year.

Though there has been no formal disclosure about the details pertaining to the beta – largely because a non-disclosure agreement binds the developers from revealing any details -, Apple had earlier promised that a software update will essentially address the signal-related issues plaguing the newly-released iPhone 4.

Users of the iPhone 4 have been complaining of antenna issues with the handset – whereby the signal strength indicates an artificial high, while the users actually witness a degradation of the handset’s signal.

Though Apple had claimed iPhone 4’s antenna problem will be addressed by the software upgrade, which would supposedly connect two metal pieces together to rectify the signal loss, tests of the iOS 4.1 indicate that the upgrade has not been able to resolve the issue that results from the so-called “death grip” – holding the phone in such a way that its exterior antenna gets obstructed - of the handset.