Steve Jobs on iPhone 4 Reception: 'Avoid Holding It In That Way'

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Posted June 24, 2010 at 9:15pm by iClarified

Just as Steve Jobs responded to the iPhone 4 reception issues, the company issued a formal statement on the matter.

According to Engadget, Aram sent Steve Jobs the following email:

I love my new iPhone 4(nice work) but when I put my hand on the steel bands I lose all reception. It appears to be a common issue. Any plans to fix this?

Jobs replied,

Just avoid holding it in that way.

Apple has also released a formal statement on the matter.

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.

Do you think Apple is in the wrong here? Or is everyone making to big a deal as they try to find flaws in the iPhone?

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Steve Jobs on iPhone 4 Reception: 'Avoid Holding It In That Way'

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Virtual-Oz - June 25, 2010 at 7:53pm

Listen to the glorious words of our all master! Thanks Mr Jobs - I always thought it was MY fault! And now here I have the proof - it's my hands! Sorry to ever doubt any Apple product. I will really chastise myself well tonight. Hail Apple! Hail Apple!

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Nick - June 25, 2010 at 9:49am

One thing I always recommend to people after buying a new iPhone, especially when upgrading to a newer iPhone, NEVER RESTORE YOUR BACKUPS FROM THE OLD IPHONE. I've seen so many problems on the iPhone from restoring backups from previous models to the newest model, and even sometimes when you reinstall and restore the backup to the same phone. Sometimes it's just better to start from scratch, so if you are having problems, I would try restoring the firmware and DO NOT restore your iPhone backup.

Nt02 - June 25, 2010 at 6:30pm

Start from scratch every time?! You must have a ton of time on your hands. Also, monk like patience.

AGR - June 25, 2010 at 11:24pm

wow... to that ONCE A YEAR, that indeed is a herculean task.

ernstlustig - June 26, 2010 at 10:33am

Do you love your iPhone or not?

Mike - June 25, 2010 at 8:52am

I set mine up as a new phone did not use backup of my jailbroke 3gs and have five bars of signal. I can touch the phone all over and I don't lose one bar. Have not tried it away from the house yet.

Kaveh - June 25, 2010 at 6:37am

ridiculously stupid

zelle - June 25, 2010 at 3:47am

Please tell me you all don't seriously think Steve Jobs has time to respond to random personal emails. He obviously has someone to check his emails for him. Blame that person for the response.

turim - June 25, 2010 at 3:43am

It has happened before, and it happens all the time: Design and construction isn´t always in the best of symbiosis... Someone should get back to the drawing board and make things right for the next revision. How about the main antenna on the top? Or does that warm your ear and brain too much? Hope for a fix in the future, because I want an iPhone 4...

detective sims - June 25, 2010 at 3:41am

That was dumb on Jobs' part, customers will not be happy I know that!

Sebbo - June 25, 2010 at 2:37am

Profit and greed before proper UAT, you Could probably blame the analysts for putting too much commercial pressure on share price & company performance. Then again Steve and the board should know better, back to my 1st point

Andrew - June 25, 2010 at 1:20am

Patient: "doctor my arm hurts when I do this, what do you suggest"? Doctor:"don't do this" :)

David - June 25, 2010 at 1:19am

For any other company this would be a catastrophe. I can't wait to see how Jobs can turn this lemon into lemonade. It's probably not a bad idea to wait several months before I upgrade. I see the possibility of a recall on this model. As for iOS 4... what a disappointment. I really don't a huge leap in performance or productivity.

Michael Beck - June 25, 2010 at 1:17am

Yeah, I am with you. I have planned on getting the bumper case from the start.. but that is a dumb response.

V - June 25, 2010 at 4:51am

It will affect you too ! The bumper case won't help, the hand is still conductive and is covering a rather huge area around the phone. It is not like a metallic key that inspite of being very conductiove is rather small compared to your normal hand.

wittybob - June 24, 2010 at 11:35pm

Buy the new app for the iPhone4, called iUpsideDown, then flip your springboard upside down, this leaves the two "gapped" areas on "top", and not blocked. You know, that can't be an original Steve Jobs reply. I was expecting a.... "no"

Juac - June 24, 2010 at 10:12pm

I own the iPhone 4 and currently haven't had a problem as of yet. It could possibly be the fact that I bought the bumper for it and put it on at the store but I've have full 3G reception with no failures.

Me2010 - June 24, 2010 at 10:24pm

This issue is for when you actually touch the metal antennae where the notch is; thus bridging the connection between the two.

Rooboy - June 24, 2010 at 10:01pm

I think someone is a little cranky.... maybe you should take a soother with you when you go to bed tonight.. don't forget to ask your mommy to warm the bottle before she tucks you in too.

mmc - June 24, 2010 at 9:46pm

that wasn't what I would expect from apple Pride comes before a fall ....

V - June 24, 2010 at 9:37pm

I guess that confirms the hardware issue! Thanks SJ.

JSON - June 24, 2010 at 9:32pm

It's true in regard to reception drop while covering the antenna, but if the design make it so easy to loose connection while holding the phone in a comfortable fashion, it's a pretty dumb design if you ask me. How bad is the reception drop if held normally? -5dBm or 1 bar, I say suck it up, use a damn bluetooth. It's more drastic, we may have a lemon with this glass that seems almost more breakble than the previous models.

Me2010 - June 24, 2010 at 9:23pm

I think Mr. Jobs needs to offer a formal apology for how he handled that email. He's not just speaking for himself but for Apple as a whole and for its investors. There is a lot of ways he could of handled that email and he chose the worst way. As an iPhone fanatic, I was taken back by what he said and it would seriously make me consider getting the iPhone 5 (already have the 4) if this is going to be his attitude to his screw ups.

GB - June 24, 2010 at 9:26pm

Could you imagine he closed with this new easter egg at his keynote.. AND THERES ONE MORE THING... IF you hold the iphone in your left hand, and accidentally cover the bottom left corner of the phone, you lose all reception... Its magical... lol PS, iPhone Roadie since 2G, and plan on getting the iPhone4