Yep, they effectively made the signal strength meter useless in that update so that users would psychologically feel that they had a good connection even though

Yep, they effectively made the signal strength meter useless in that update so that users would psychologically feel that they had a good connection even though AT&T's network was terrible in places. When your phone shows 5 bars yet you still get dropped calls, distorted sound, etc, you know there is a problem with the signal strength meter. They might as well have just made it 1 bar, either you have signal or you don't. But there may be something about the placebo effect, or maybe illiterate tech reviewers would actually write "my iPhone has more bars!1!1!11!1!"