Gizmodo
has a thread with nearly 2,000 posts, Engadget
is pushing 900 posts, and Mac
Rumors is nearing 1,000 posts with regards to iPhone 4
reception issues. I have witnessed the same issues with the iPhone 4
that I picked up this morning (yet don't have any such reception
issues with an HTC EVO 4G that I am currently testing or a year-old iPhone 3GS). The iPhone 4
starts off having 4 to 5 bars sitting by itself on a table, but if
you pick the phone up and “palm it”, you may drop down to 1 bar
or even get a “No Service” message.
For those that have just plunked down
$200 or $300 on a new iPhone 4 (or more if you are upgrading before
your contract is eligible), having your cellular connection drop out
while doing something as simple as holding the phone in your hand is
unacceptable.
However, according to Apple CEO Steve
Jobs, those who are having reception issues are just holding
their phone incorrectly. A reader sent an email to Steve Jobs stating
that his new iPhone 4 was having receptions issues when holding it
his hand. In typical Jobs fashion, his response was short and to the
point according to Engadget:
Just avoid
holding it that way.
Apple's official stance on the issue is
the following:
Gripping any
mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna
performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on
the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every
wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid
gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides
of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many
available cases.
So Apple made a phone with an external
antenna that has problems with reception when it comes in contact
with the human body, then blames the consumer for holding the iPhone
4 in a perfectly reasonable fashion. This
seems to be a very puzzling and troubling statement from the boys
from Cupertino which sounds more like a hardware design problem than
a "you're holding it wrong" problem.
Interestingly enough, a user over at Apple Insider has a photo montage from Apple's iPhone 4 commercials that seems to contradict Jobs' "avoid holding it that way" comment.
Interestingly enough, a user over at Apple Insider has a photo montage from Apple's iPhone 4 commercials that seems to contradict Jobs' "avoid holding it that way" comment.
And the little notation about using a
case to fix what is at the heart a hardware issue also is a bit
interesting as well. The bumper case for the iPhone 4 is the first
iPhone case direct from Apple that we can recall -- possibly it was
made available to mask the reception problems.