Early into Apple's official iPhone 4 launch day, reports began to surface confirming that the phone's signal strength dropped when users gripped the phone by the metal
antenna band. A completely natural way of holding the device.
Apparently Apple disagrees, after issuing a statement to Engadget defending the performance of iPhone 4 by urging users to "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner."
"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." - Apple wrote to Engadget.
Video proof of iPhone 4 reception issues was quickly posted by Insanely Great Mac, displaying dropped calls when the users palm pressed against the lower left corner of the device. (video after jump)
The guys at Insanely Great Mac have already been issued a new iPhone 4, claiming that Apple is treating their reception failure as "a hardware issue".
"We went through many hoops and we're getting a
new phone. It appears Apple is treating this as a hardware issue. They
requested to "capture" our device to figure out what's going on." - IGM wrote.
Steve Jobs allegedly jumped into the advice giving game via email, offering an absurd response to one new iPhone 4 owner who asked if Apple had "any plans to fix this." The email was appropriately titled "Your new Antenna system doesn't like my hand."
"Just avoid holding it in that way." Jobs allegedly responded at 4:20 PM on Thursday.
If Apple hasn't figured it out yet, they need to start issuing free Bumper cases to every customer who appear to be seriously "hand challenged" when it comes to correctly holding their brand new iPhone 4.
Since Apple suggests using "one of many available cases", the only fair thing to do is offer users their own Bumper creation minus the $29 fee. It's becoming apparent that iPhone 4 will experience wonky reception at best without the use of a case. Maybe that's what really happened on stage at WWDC 2010 when Mr. Jobs tried to initiate a FaceTime call and Wi-Fi failed.
An iPhone that requires some kind of user handling training session out of the box is an absolute failure. Expecting customers to comply with such nonsense is totally crazy making. Most companies call that kind of hardware problem a defect in any language. Obviously Apple speaks a language of their own.
I see no reason why any iPhone 4 early adopter should put up with wonky reception. We've already played that losing game with AT&T for three years. We may be mindless sheep following around Dear Leader like he's the gadget Messiah, but we're not that stupid. Or are we?
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