Given that the signal strength isn't all that meaningful in a lot of cases (since, for example, depending on the network, you can still often place calls just fine with even no bars/dots) seeing whether there are 3 bars/dots or 4 of them is practically meaningless in a lot of cases for a lot of people. Perhaps seeing something close to extremes might play a bit more of a role, but even with nice compact and standardized bars it's fairly easy to tell 0 or 1 (or even 2) bars from 5 or 4. The exact count is of much lesser importance (if really any at all) compared to the general gist of the overal strength.I much prefer the dots, easy to see at a glance.
Extended? Don't you mean Edge?
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I bet it looks rather bad with the use of GPRS (when applicable) label there in iOS 7 now too (combined with the dots and some sort of longish carrier name).I now often get "Extended" signal when on my phone. I can imagine that the "LTE", "3G" or what ever symbol will be on top of the Notification Center bar in the lock screen.
I saw a screenshot of that happening to someone. And it looks awful and just...not Apple.