I these iPhone 4 issues are massively blown out of proportion. I'm still on the 4.0 firmware and keep forgetting to update, because I don't need to, everything just works. No dropped calls or loss of signal, etc. In fact my gf uses a 3G on the same network and she has far more issues than I do (I don't have any issues so far luckily).
I doubt there will be a new iPhone so soon as I don't really see the point.
It is most definately NOT out of proportion, the antenna issue is related to exactly WHERE you are in relation to the mobile phone towers, if you have a poor signal (many people do) it WILL affect you.