Jobs Moves to Quash iPhone Antenna Questions as a Non Issue

Lonnie Lazar ()

Jobs Moves to Quash iPhone Antenna Questions as a Non Issue

How to hold your iPhone.

Buzz in the blogosphere as hordes of consumers began using their shiny new iPhone 4s on Thursday was all about whether Apple might have a problem on its hands with the device’s antenna. With some uncertainty as to how widespread the problem might be and as to whether it could be something hardware or software related, it does appear possible to hold the iPhone 4 in such a way as to cause it to lose reception and drop calls in progress.

A Macrumors reader reportedly emailed Steve Jobs about the issue, asking “What’s going to be done about the signal dropping issue. Is it software or hardware?” — to which Jobs initially replied in his classic, koan-like manner, “Non issue. Just avoid holding it in that way.”

In a more considered followup response that some are considering an “official statement” from Apple on the matter, Jobs called the problem “a fact of life for every wireless phone,” and advised users to “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. ”

No matter how this plays out in the coming days and weeks one thing certain is that, be it truly a hardware problem or merely a software issue — it’s not going to make AT&T any new friends in the U.S.

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About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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Posted in iPhone, News, Top stories |

  • Max

    I think I should be able to hold the phone the way I want, never had to hold any phone in a special way till now.that would be so annoying If I mistakely hold it from lower left and calls get dropped in the middle of conversation. Totally design flaw

  • Ron Poynter

    A small piece of clear tape over the black bar solved the problem for me. Of course, you can get a case if you want. Still you would have thought Apple could have devised some way to cover the bar without taking away from the design of the phone. I will say the overall reception on this phone has been excellent.

  • lnf1557

    Nokia for years now have always advised people on the best way to hold your mobile phone to achive maximum reception.

  • Jeff

    I’ve had to be mindful of the way I hold every cell phone I’ve ever had. Apple is right – it’s the way they are.

  • Total BS

    Just don’t hold the phone in the way you naturally would. That is a bullshit answer. Steve Jobs joked that people thought the design was very un-Apple like and then he said the frame was the antenna. Well, it’s turning out that the doubters were correct. I guess ATT is probably happy about this. They can now blame Apple for crappy reception.

  • Tristan

    Jeff & lnf1557, you guys need to stop drinking the kool-aid.

  • whatthehellrupeopletalkingabout

    We had no less than 4 new iphones activated today, all of our family. We were all very concerned about this rumor as we already have pretty iffy 3G reception in our neighborhood to start with, so as soon as we got our shiny new phones we all immediately checked that issue, trying to hold the phone in every imaginable way, with either hands. NONE, of our iphone4 showed any lessening of the 3-4 bars we all displayed no matter how hard we tried to cover and touch as much of the metal frame/antenna on the iphone. Not only could we not repeat the issue, but all went to sit in our respective cars, in our carport, where we typically could not initiate a call reliably, and all of us suprisingly managed to place a call successfully with a full 1-2 bars!!

    Moreover, a few hours later, when my neighbor David stopped by to share his excitement with his own new iphone4, he wasn’t aware of this so called issue, and we also tried to weaken his signal strength by holding the frame the way it supposedly trigger the drop, but no go, he also had a steady 4 bars on his iphone! Now, I know that a mere 5 iphone sample is not much to stand on, but the fact that none out of 5 manifested tells me that it is definitely NOT a widespread issue.

    So I either call complete BS on this “issue”, or some google sponsored fandroid faked that youtube video to start some negative buzz on the iphone4 launch! What a bunch of losers!

  • StarFox

    It seems to only happen in areas that already have poor signal strength, but not in regular areas. And it also fares better in other areas too.

  • Dee

    I’m guessing the problems Steve Jobs had at the WWDC wasn’t bad wifi; he must have been holding the phone in the wrong place!! HA!!!! Hindsight is 20/20, now we see what the real problem was! Guess he couldn’t exhibit a brand new phone, with a bumper. You would think: the blue death-stars’ (ATT) spotty service and a flawed antenna by Apple would push them to at the least offer the bumpers for free! We didn’t make the phone or the cellular service, they did. Correct me if I’m wong, shouldn’t it work without HAVING to buy extra stuff!!

  • http://nzhomegeek.wordpress.com John

    Well, no we know why NOONE ELSE MAKES THE BIT YOU HOLD THE ANTENNAE! Duh!
    Damn radio is so wierd. For the remote unlock on my car, the key normally only works within a meter of the car. I have found if you hold the metal point of the key against your head, range can be extended to 15 or 20 meters!
    I’d say the issue might depend on how dry your hands are, how dry the air is, how much other radio interference is in the area, what band the phone is actually homing in on etc.
    I still think this is a design flaw, a bridging point like this should never be where you fingers get to it just holding the damn thing! But hey, the earbuds dont fit a regular human ear, the mighty mouse roller ball can’t be cleaned, the magic mouse just cant be held comfortably at all, you cant plug a usb stick into the keyboard USB ports, and you cant use an unpowered mic in a Mac Mini!
    Jonny Ives needs to go have a good human anatomy lesson!

  • Jeff

    @Tristan,

    No Kool-Aid here. I’m just saying that with every cell phone I’ve ever had, I had to be careful of where I held it lest the reception be affected. I’m not saying this was a great design decision on Apple’s part (it wasn’t), but people shouldn’t act like the iPhone 4 is the only cell phone to ever be affected by this type of problem.

  • Jae

    Ron Poynter, on June 24th, 2010 at 6:55 pm “A small piece of clear tape over the black bar solved the problem for me.”

    That’s cool. I’m sure it does (truly not sarcasm). However, I just think after shelling out “2 bills+” for a phone, you shouldn’t have to go “Macgyver” and have to add tape, buy special cases which just “seem to fix the problem” (how coincidental), etc. I think we’ve all had more than one cell/smartphone over the years. I’ve never had a problem when I wrapped my hand around it or moved it that I had such a serious degradation like that. What seems more disconcerting is that it doesn’t seem like a surprise. They were aware of this design flaw and basically were like “eh, it’s the iphone, people will buy. Just make a case and we can charge them extra.”

    I’m by no means an Apple hater. I have 27″ quad-core imac, a few ipods at home, getting a MacPro and likely an ipad soon. I like their general design and stability of their products. However, this just seems really, really devious and underhanded to me. In perspective, if the phone were say $75-$100, and you could get a bumper to improve the phone, then, okay I guess I could live with that. It’s still not right, but, we all know you pay a premium for Apple products, so this is no excuse at all. Especially with the yellowing, and allegedly “durability” of the glass (Aluminosilicate). I’ll give it to them it’s probably durable, but we’ll see how things pan out. Quite honestly, I feel it’s a double-edged sword. If it’s just an “oversight” (giving them a huge benefit of the doubt) and they fix it in the future, or even next release, then great. If not, this is going to seriously erode people’s confidence in that product, namely people who are on the fence about going to the iphone or another smartphone (Droid, etc). My wife and I have been looking to get the new phone, but after this we’re going to wait…but, likely get the Droid X. Wish I weren’t making that statement, but hope things turn around. I truly want this to be a successful product because it’s a good product, not simply because people bought it (aka just sales figures). Just because it sells, doesn’t always make it a great product.

  • Bruno

    Iphone 4 death-grip is a lie, every phone drops bars if you hold it. Just try gripping your 3g or 3gs and you’ll see the bars disapearing…

    I belive the problem is that ios4 is more precise about reception and small variations are more evident…

  • Jae

    “Iphone 4 death-grip is a lie, every phone drops bars if you hold it. Just try gripping your 3g or 3gs and you’ll see the bars disapearing…

    I belive the problem is that ios4 is more precise about reception and small variations are more evident.”

    I would have to argue that. “Every” is a strong assumption. Perhaps in relation to the iPhone 4 and/or other iPhone models, yes. I held the sides of my wife’s BB Storm (yes, crap, I know..lol) for a full 2 minutes and there was no signal degradation in anyway. If it’s a “universal” cell phone issue why was there no noticeable effect? Right? If this is truly as Jobs claims, just a “phone issue” it should do it on any phone/model. But, then again, I don’t recall BB selling “bumpers” at $30 a piece that just happen to “fix that problem.” Sorry, I call BS on Apple. Well played. Well played.

  • Mac

    relax,,,Apple is great at exploiting its own customers!!….we love paying $29 for a cute rubber band to fix the antenna problem!!,,really!!…and,,we have a choice of colors!!…ty!!

  • firesign3000

    Oddly, the way shown in the diagram is the way I’ve held every cellphone I’ve ever owned, even going back to the handset on my first one which was a bag phone.

  • Dale / Commercial Diver GOM

    does that rubber cover help reception or restrict it?

  • Hickey

    @Bruno

    So, it was a lie, huh? BTW, how’s the Kool-Aid taste?

  • http://houstonmiataclub.com Mikeymx5

    Glad all you stood in line to get your apples worth… should of bought a Palm Pre its a much better phone, and they have much better tasting Kool-aid.