According to a new ChangeWave Research survey, the so-called “antenna-gate” problem of Apple’s iPhone 4 notwithstanding, the satisfaction ratings for the new device clearly indicate a high degree of customer approval.

Noting that the iPhone 4 “is outperforming almost every other smart phone in the industry, in terms of overall customer satisfaction and meeting owners' expectations,” the Wednesday-released report by ChangeWave Research revealed that that the iPhone 4 owners are actually experiencing “fewer dropped calls” as compared to the owners of the preceding iPhone model, the iPhone 3GS.

Going by the ChangeWave statistics, based on a survey of 213 people during a 10-day period last month, 72 percent of the iPhone 4 owners said they were ‘very satisfied’ with the smartphone, and 21 percent owners said that they were ‘somewhat satisfied.’ 

Furthermore, ChangeWave data also reveals that the iPhone 4 actually performed better than the iPhone 3GS in terms of the dropped calls – while the iPhone 4 owners experienced dropped calls 5.2 percent of the time, the 3GS owners reported dropped calls 6.3 percent of the time.

Moreover, the antenna problem does not appear to have affected the sales of the iPhone 4, with the Apple CEO Steve Jobs disclosing that over 3 million units of the handset had been sold in the first three weeks, and that the company was finding it difficult to meet customer demand.