Hmmm... so Apple is asking you to hold the phone in an unnatural way.
I gotta ask: What's new? Didn't they always make you change the way you hold stuff?
I used to be a PC guy and I had developed what I believed to be a natural way of holding the mouse. I would rest my index finger on the left mouse button and the middle finger on the right button. Then I got my first Mac, a G4 Mini with a Mighty Mouse. I soon realized I couldn't hold it like a normal mouse because if you rested any fingers on the right side, it wouldn't register left clicks properly, so I had to develop some weird British coffee-drinking style of holding the mouse, with one finger sticking out.
Then I got an iMac and this was my first encounter with the new aluminum keyboard, which was nothing like a regular keyboard with a palmrest and normal stroke length – instead it had these strange chicklet keys with a different response. I know they're technically in the same positions as on regular keyboards, but I still kept typing "3proiusefökljaerae2aoijs" if I didn't look directly at the keyboard. It took me a few weeks before it became second nature to type on the chicklet keys. Not to mention the fact that I had to move my desk due to reflections from the window on the glossy screen.
Later I replaced my Dell laptop with a MBP. I'm not gonna suggest my previous way of using the laptop was "natural" or remotely ergonomic, but what I liked to do was to sit on the couch, push my legs up and use them to elevate the laptop. Doing this with the MBP is nigh impossible because it has this sharp edge that tries to cut your wrists open, so it can't be used comfortably in an elevated position. I had to find a new position for 'couch computing'.
And then there's the Magic Mouse... I'm not even gonna start on that one, but if anyone can explain to me how you can hold that thing in a 'natural' way associated with traditional computer mice, let me know.
So why is reprogramming your way of holding the phone such a biggie with the iP4? Is it because it's popular far outside the circle of people who are used to adapting themselves to Apple's products? I don't really see what's new here. Apple makes products that look really nice and different and if that means steamrolling any ergonomic conventions, they won't flinch.
You guys know about the limitations and regulations that the FCC impose when designing a mobile phone?
They impose that the antenna is furthest away from your head, so the only place Apple could put it is towards the bottom of the phone.
All modern day phones have the same situation.
Let's not diffuse the issue here. It's perfectly true that all phones suffer from some level of signal attenuation due to your hand partially obstructing the antenna's clear path. You might lose one or two bars of signal strength that way. But with the iPhone 4 it's not about that. It's about an electrical issue, the fact that you can bridge the two antennas with your fingers. This won't merely attenuate the signal in the sense that your fingers are "in the way", instead it will totally ******* up the very function of the antenna until the signal completely dies. Apples and oranges buddy.
