Steve Jobs on iPhone 4: "Just don't hold it that way"

Dan Warne
25 June 2010, 1:34 PM

Apple's new iPhone 4 has a problem: hold it the way you would normally hold a phone, and your reception will drop to one bar. Steve Jobs has a grumpy one line answer for customers.

One of the iPhone 4's big selling points -- the steel rim of the phone that forms its antenna system -- is proving to be a major headache for early adopters, who say touching the phone causes reception to drop from five bars to one bar, or no reception at all.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the iPhone 4 in one of his trademark keynotes, explaining that the thin black lines on the steel rim separate three separate antennae that wrap around the phone. Apple designed the phone that way to provide optimal reception quality, since there would be nothing directly in the way of transmission.

It seems Apple somehow failed to take into account the attenuation introduced to antenna signals when you touch the antenna. Pundits are theorising that this wasn't picked up in testing due to Apple's secretive policies forcing employees field-testing the iPhone to carry it in cases to disguise it as a previous-generation iPhone 3GS.

Apple's has acknowledged the problem, but says customers should just hold the phone a different way. The company said in a statement to a Gizmodo reader, "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".

Steve Jobs wrote back to one Engadget reader with a terse one-line response: "Just don't hold it that way."

_{Steve Jobs holding the iPhone the way he says you shouldn't}

However, fans have pointed out that it's not reasonable to ask customers to hold the phone in a special way. One even published a large set of photos from Apple's marketing videos showing people holding the phone just how Steve Jobs says you shouldn't.

Responses to Apple's suggested workaround have ranged from incredulous to sarcastic. "Remember, you don't adjust the iPhone to fit you, you adjust yourself to fit the iPhone," said Engadget reader Vexorg. "As an apple shareholder, i find that explanation to be not only unsatisfactory, but down right wrong," said another reader, Yankees. "Steve Jobs has failed me for the last time," said "Lord Vader".

What do you think of Apple's handling of this issue? Does it make you less likely to buy an iPhone 4?

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Mr Ed (New user):

is there a problem with this poll or is it just me?
Q: Does the iPhone 4 reception problem put you off buying it?
A: No way!! That's crazy having to remember hold it the special Apple way.

does the middle answer contradict itself? if so, then the poll probably isn't valid..

25 June 2010, 2:05 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

$teeve Pink (New user):

And to turn it off you need to:

hold it in your left hand raised above your head, standing on one foot, pointing your right foot toes towards the east, with a banana in your mouth whilst pushing the off button with your nose.

25 June 2010, 2:13 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

joelcocks (User):

Wow! This phone is so special there's even a special way to hold it!! Cool, where do I get one??

25 June 2010, 2:16 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Mr Ed (New user):

25 June 2010, 2:25 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Dan Warne (Regular user):

Whoops!! will fix now.

25 June 2010, 3:03 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chad (New user):

bumper solves it, case solves it, putting a little bit of tape over the join solves it. so many simple solutions.

25 June 2010, 3:07 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (New user):

Quoting Chad:
bumper solves it, case solves it, putting a little bit of tape over the join solves it. so many simple solutions.

All of which you shouldn't need to do. Slight signal drop if you hold a phone is tolerable, total signal loss requiring the user to fix it is not tolerable under any circumstance, period.

25 June 2010, 3:25 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chad (New user):

hopefully this means that less people will buy them on release and i can get one easier :) then when everyone has their case on it anyway this will all be trivial.

25 June 2010, 3:27 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

joelcocks (User):

Quoting Chad:
hopefully this means that less people will buy them on release and i can get one easier :) then when everyone has their case on it anyway this will all be trivial.

Don't you mean "When apple fix the stupid thing"?

But hey, if you want to buy a peice of tech that is broken out of the box until you get something else for it, then you're exactly the customer Apple are looking for! Have fun with your broken iphone!

25 June 2010, 3:48 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chad (New user):

would only call it broken if you have no case or bumper.

25 June 2010, 3:52 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (New user):

Quoting Chad:
would only call it broken if you have no case or bumper.

See my previous comment, plus this bonus addition!

Think of it like a new car. You buy this fancy new car after seeing it demoed and it works beautifully. Now, you take delivery of it and you find it has no rear wheels. You try to drive it without the rear wheels, and find it's a fail and that you don't get very far. You ask the dealer what's up, and the dealer tells you that you have to go out and buy the wheels yourself to make it work.

Similar situation.

25 June 2010, 5:09 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

agami (New user):

Your car analogy is flawed. The iPhone 4 is fully functional from the moment you "drive it off the lot".

25 June 2010, 6:01 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chad (New user):

Where the car is head and shoulders above all other cars, and you have some wheels (case) at home that you have been using for 2 years which you can just add to this new car.

25 June 2010, 5:27 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (New user):

Quoting Chad:
Where the car is head and shoulders above all other cars

I would much rather buy a car that comes with all four wheels, or a phone that works properly out of the box.

Quoting Chad:
and you have some wheels (case) at home that you have been using for 2 years which you can just add to this new car.

Ahh... but the iPhone 4 is a new shape. Old cases won't work properly with it, they're designed for a phone with a curved edge, of which the iPhone 4 is not. So any cases that you have for any previous iPhones won't work, like trying to put 4WD tyres on a Commodore (as in, you can try, but if they do fit\work they're not going to do you any favours, or you will have to modify the car)

25 June 2010, 5:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (User):

Quoting Chad:
Where the car is head and shoulders above all other cars

Why is that relevant when talking about the iPhone? It's close to the bottom of the range in it's price range.

Quoting Chad:
and you have some wheels (case) at home that you have been using for 2 years which you can just add to this new car.

Well that's all good for those who kept their "spare wheels". But what about new buyers who expect a product they buy to work as advertised?
And of course what about the laws on requiring products to be fit for purpose? Surely a phone that you can't talk on isn't fit for it's purpose...

27 June 2010, 11:17 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

todd_h86 (New user):

Poll was a bit retarded.... But yeah, just buy a case its got 2 glass faces which you would want to protect anyway.

One of the many condrums with style over function, a case made from glass and aluminum only to be covered up by a case to protect it...

25 June 2010, 4:18 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

agami (New user):

What do I think of Apple's handling of this issue? I'd rather the poll questioned 'What I think of how the Media is handling this issue?'

Every system that relies on an antenna is susceptible to the same signal to noise ratio issues due to obstructions between transmitter and receiver. Since Apple didn't state that the iPhone 4 will have some special hand-penetrating radio tech, I question the the spin.

Effectively, we always have to adapt to a device or tool. All of them come with manuals and usage rules for optimum results. Why we'd expect any less from Apple is somewhat bemusing.

25 June 2010, 5:02 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Phil S (New user):

agami: Wrong. You don't understand the problem, nor have you bothered to read up on the issue.

The problem is that when your hand bridges the plastic separator, you effectively join the two antennas together. This isn't about signal attenuation. Engadget suggest the problem is due to detuning of the antenna since you are bridging antennas running at different frequencies (i'm not sure if this is an entirely correct explanation, but you get the idea).

Hence why inserting a plastic case between the phone and your hand solves the problem (your hand is still there causing the same attenuation).

Also, Apple's solution of holding it differently is just ridiculous. I wouldn't be surprised if they are hard at work redesigning the position of the break so that its not where you hand holds the phone (surely that wouldn't be too hard?)

25 June 2010, 6:15 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

TV Bis (New user):

Quoting agami:
Effectively, we always have to adapt to a device or tool. All of them come with manuals and usage rules for optimum results. Why we'd expect any less from Apple is somewhat bemusing.

I have yet to see a manual for a phone say "you must hold it like this or you will reduce your signal strength".

Have you agami???

25 June 2010, 8:39 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Douglas (New user):

Quoting TV Bis:
I have yet to see a manual for a phone say "you must hold it like this or you will reduce your signal strength".

Nokia manuals tell you that you shouldn't put your hand near the antenna lest you risk damaging it, as far as I am aware. However, I hold my Nokia roughly where the antenna is and I see no drop in signal at all, and as far as I am aware, there is no antenna damage as they seem to think will happen.

Go figure, I guess.

25 June 2010, 11:20 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Pauly (New user):

Lucky we get to wait another month until our stock arrives. Should be enough time to fix this major fault.
I'd be suprised if Telstra approves this handset before they fix the problem.

25 June 2010, 6:27 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

straker135 (User):

Hmm now it all makes sense. Remember Steve had problems with dropped signal and connection freezing when presenting the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010. Remember how he blamed all the people with wifi in the audience and asked them to switch off. He still had problems and got testy that people weren't switching off their wifi. I strongly suspect that the cause was his own hand on the antenna. Photos even show him holding the phone in the non-Apple approved manner. Now he is really grumpy and of course it isn't Apple's fault, it has to be the users who have got it wrong. RDF on full power eh Steve?

25 June 2010, 7:27 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

TV Bis (New user):

Hmmmm, it looks like the honeymoon period for the IPhone is coming to an end.
It is absolutely ridiculous to be told to hold the phone a particular way.
It is a design fault no matter what way you look at it and it was a dumb oversight by Apple.
My little Samsung touch screen keeps its field strength no matter which way you hold it so why on Earth would you have to hold the IPhone in an awkward manner?
Give a company some credit for a popular product and like Microsoft the big headiness and arrogance overtakes reality.

25 June 2010, 8:32 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Joker08 (New user):

So what happens when you put a cover on the phone that blocks the antenna gap area?

25 June 2010, 10:42 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

straker135 (User):

From reports of users the problem doesn't occur when a cover is used and this is now part of Apple's advice. Seems a bit unreasonable to have to spend more money to avoid an (accidental) design flaw with a product but many would buy a cover to protect the phone and screen anyway I guess. I wonder if a simple peice of cellulose tape would do the same job for the antenna problem? Inelegant, but inexpensive.

Addendum: Some users have sucessfuly tried tape over the bottom left hand corner antenna.

26 June 2010, 6:03 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Woodsie (New user):

Typical arrogant big business bull. You buy the iphone to use as a mobile phone and it keeps dropping signal when you use it like one...so you have to either hold it differently than everyone holds every other phone or you have to spend extra on a case. If that's the the solution at least supply a case with the phone for free...but to say you need to buy one.

Those that defend Steve's comments I'm sure are the same ones that would crucify Microsoft if they released a Windows Mobile device in similar circumstances and gave the same response.

27 June 2010, 12:19 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

J876 (User):

To all the impulse buyers out there do your research before you buy your products. When a CEO has to tell consumers to hold their phone in a different way than usual that tells you the product is not up to standard. For a phone with such a high price tag this is not acceptable.

28 June 2010, 1:13 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Eddie (New user):

I was thinking about buying one because I liked the new shape and the metal arround the outside but not anymore as I will not be able to hold the thing that special way. This phone does not work as it should as used by humans so it would be easy to get a refund in full under the consumer laws in the state were I live.

29 June 2010, 4:19 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

mlichief (New user):

Steve Jobs hasn't changed a bit, in the last 20 years at least. He was my first investor and because of my company's efforts, he sold what I believe to be the first major hardware sale of his now infamous Next computer (Sprint). I asked him for $300k in 1992 and he didn't like our application (said he didn't think "...it was a good use of his machine."), so he ended up giving us $30k!!! So, in full disclosure, I must say I am biased, but that is only one of thousands of stories about an extremely bright man treating the rest of the world like absolute morons if they don't completely and fully "drink his kool-aid". It is sad to see that at his age, and with his problems, he has not soften a bit or learn to value others as much as he values himself.

25 July 2010, 10:04 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

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Steve Jobs on iPhone 4: "Just don't hold it that way"

Apple's new iPhone 4 has a problem: hold it the way you would normally hold a phone, and your reception will drop to one bar. Steve Jobs has a grumpy one line answer for customers.

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Mr Ed (New user):

$teeve Pink (New user):

joelcocks (User):

Mr Ed (New user):

Dan Warne (Regular user):

Chad (New user):

Douglas (New user):

Chad (New user):

joelcocks (User):

Chad (New user):

Douglas (New user):

agami (New user):

Chad (New user):

Douglas (New user):

Tin (User):

todd_h86 (New user):

agami (New user):

Phil S (New user):

TV Bis (New user):

Douglas (New user):

Pauly (New user):

straker135 (User):

TV Bis (New user):

Joker08 (New user):

straker135 (User):

Woodsie (New user):

J876 (User):

Eddie (New user):

mlichief (New user):