Late Thursday, Apple responded to widespread complaints about bad reception on the just-released iPhone 4 with responses to me and others in the media. The bottom line: there’s a problem with the line on the bottom.
Numerous buyers said that when they held the phone in their hand naturally, the 3G cell signal faded or vanished entirely. They posted videos to the Web proving it, though others had no such issues.
Apple was much happier to talk about the hours-long lines at its stores, many of which sold out of the initial supply.
But finally, after most in the mainstream press had called it a day, the company had this to say: Hold Different.
“Gripping any 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 Phone 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.”
Unfortunately, covering that corner is awfully easy to do. So learn to hold it differently, or pay Apple or others for a little bumper that makes the aesthetically pleasing metallic border go away.
