“Shocking Flaw” in iPhone 4 Bumper Cases

We’ve heard a lot about the iPhone 4 “death grip.” Reception problems are said to be alleviated by applying a spot of tape or using a bumper.

But what about those bumper cases?

Ryan McManus took a much-needed humorous spoof on antennagate with his discovery of a “shocking flaw” to using the iPhone 4 with a bumper case:

“The problem is, in a word, friction. While the rubberized front and back of the iPhone 4 Bumpers may protect the device in fall situations, and keep it it from sliding on a desk, this very friction keeps the device from easily sliding in and out of jeans pockets.”

The senior art director notes that because Apple users tend to wear their denims 33% tighter than a PC user and a shocking 90% tighter than a Linux user, sliding that smartphone out of your pants is a huge problem.

This tragic flaw escaped Apple during the testing phase because Steve Jobs wears saggy, baggy oldschool 501s.

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He calls this an “inexcusable design flaw” and is starting a petition to prompt Apple to give bumpers other bumpers, or thinner ones, so they slide better in Levis 501 XX Shrink to Fit 1947 Selvedge Cone Denim jeans.

Via Barbarian Group

24 comments »

About the author

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

If you're doing something new/cool that's Apple related, email her about it.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by Nicole Martinelli.

Posted in Humor, iPhone 4 |

http://satiredienst.de/wirtschaft/0058.shtml joja
The first iPhone 4 users from the users start to immgrate to Europe to be able to actually use their phone, see the full coverage on http://satiredienst.de/wirtschaft/0058.shtml (be careful: humor!).
Chris
It’s not the bumper cases which are the problem.
You are just wearing your pants the wrong way.
Reed Richards
OH, COME ON! You mactards wear skinny jeans, too?
Don Pope
This is no joke. I once threw away an iPhone case for that same problem.
http://ihbs.co.uk Ben
FINALLY! so many case reviews ive seen that they dont mention is this in the review. its my pet hate with iphone cases. surely a hard plastic bumper, rather than a rubber one, would be a good investment. i might be tempted to buy one of those
steven
Are you speaking about Apple’s own bumpers?. Do you even own one of these bumpers? Its not “rubberized” at all. Its smooth plastic and slides easily in and out of my pocket. Just how tight are your jeans?
Maxx Wyler
This is getting ridiculous.
http://www.lugaresdemexico.com/ SiliconTlaco
Que exagerados!!!! No es para tanto!!!!
Kavok
Gate gate gate! Enough of the “gate” cliche. Seriously, don’t reporters have a bigger vocabulary than adding “gate” to the end of words to indicate scandal?
Really..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_%22-gate%22_suffix
STOP THE INSANITY!!!
shock and awe, will you look at that?
Well done Nicole.
Yet another lightweight non-article.
Bravo.
joe blow
This is getting freaking stupid already. I know that it was written to poke fun at the whole situation….but i want the 2 minutes I spent reading this post back.
Nicole, stop reposting worthless blog posts. Seriously…please stop. I know this is marked under humor but still!
Guys who are wearing jeans that are sooo freaking tight an iphone bumper wont slide in and out probably have a burst nad or something.
Chris
Cult of Mac’s articles are so entertaining! I love it! Next article should be how slippery the iPhone’s glass is when you have super dry hands… another design flaw! ;-)
Anyways, skrew the bumpers! Why would I put a $1 crappy rubber band around such a fine and delicate object?
Apple needs to find other innovative ways to fix this antenna issue!
Church of Apple
“…a shocking 90% tighter than a Linux user”
That’s because Linux users don’t wear pants… =P
azurehi
Bubba wear Overhauls…
DM
I’m wearing shorts.
Jeff_R
Has Cult of Mac done a short sell on Apple stock? Although this is supposed to be humourous, the latest posts have almost all been Apple-bashing. Bit dull, really, and not based on real information. (e.g. The so-called recall which is based on bar display rather than actual problems experienced by users. Read the Anandtech article for REAL news on the subject.)
Aaron
Nobody ever said you *had* to wear drainpipes, you damned hipster.
Joe Schuller
I love my bumper, and I was concerned about getting it in and out of the pocket of my jeans. I can say, that with the exception of when I am driving, it has not been an issue. now, if they can make the area around the connector on the bottom bigger so all of my supplied by Apple USB cables would work, I would score the bumber at 11 out of 10.
http://tekunoloji.com Raymond
I’m not a bumper fan. They don’t even protect the back…BTW, how is this even news? Almost any case prevents a phone from slipping out easily – stop wearing such tight jeans is the only solution.
Stephen Agnew
Perhaps Mac users should stop wearing girl jeans.
steven
Oh Cm on Stephen, your just jealous. You KNOW you have closet dreams of being a tight, low cut jean sport’en, thong wearing Apple nut like us….admit it.
sillyname
i am throwing mine out, it just refuses to come out of my pocket. spot on article
steveochk
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call 501s saggy or baggy. They are the iconic, straight leg denim pants and the pockets are quite small.
Bob Baxter
Actually, the bumpers have different textures. Yes, the black one is very rubbery – horrible. But the gay blue one is super smooth. Slips right in yer old pants with ease..