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Steve Jobs says hold it different - It's true

realeric

realeric

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
1,165
1,586
United States
Jobs said

Gripping any 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.
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Jobs’ solution to hold the phone differently is a bit unreasonable. But I found the following picture on the Samsung Galaxy S manual. What do you think about it?
 
It depends on the phone. I can grip my BB Curve 8330 anyway, and the signal never dips erratically.
 
Well, you should never hold tight over the antenna, the problem with the iphone 4 is that you don't need to hold tight, just "connect" the two antennas to get some problem :/

For me, this will not be a problem, but what I don't get is why apple did this, it's never good to have people complain about a problem that might not even be a problem. it's bad publicity even though it might not be a real problem when using it normally.

Stupid decision.
 
The problem is, holding the iPhone 4 as in the image on the left (ie the "recommended" way for that Samsung) is precisely how to cause the drop in signal. Your palm touches the bottom left corner of the phone. I can't really imagine anyone holding the phone as in the right - that's just a red herring.
 
I've tried holding my 3GS as shown in the image. It places my thumb far too far up the device that I cannot use it. I have to grip my phone lower down to be able to use it, which on the iPhone 4 would kill the signal. It's either a design flaw, or a very poor design decision.
 
mrochester said:
I've tried holding my 3GS as shown in the image. It places my thumb far too far up the device that I cannot use it. I have to grip my phone lower down to be able to use it, which on the iPhone 4 would kill the signal. It's either a design flaw, or a very poor design decision.
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Agreed. You should be able to use it with just one hand, your thumb able to navigate he screen and easily reach the side buttons. And also, in my opinion, you should be able to somewhat support the phone with your palm slightly under one corner (just as shown in almost all of apple's promo photos/videos).

Bottom line is you should be able to hold it HOWEVER you want to without dropping calls or going from full bars to one (or none). Hopefully Apple will surprise us this week with a simple fix.
 
Figbash Acrobat said:
Hopefully Apple will surprise us this week with a simple fix.
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Once again Steve Jobs is a trend setter. Yesterday right after I concluded the deal for my new Mercedes, the dealer stopped me as I was driving it off the lot. He said, oh by the way, to avoid hearing wind noise don't ever drive faster than 40 m.p.h.

I thought to myself hmm ... makes sense.
 
wirelessmacuser said:
Once again Steve Jobs is a trend setter. Yesterday right after I concluded the deal for my new Mercedes, the dealer stopped me as I was driving it off the lot. He said, oh by the way, to avoid hearing wind noise don't ever drive faster than 40 m.p.h.

I thought to myself hmm ... makes sense.
Click to expand...

A better analogy is this. The dealer stopped you as you were driving your new Mercedes of the lot and said "Oh, by the way, to keep the tires from exploding don't ever drive faster than 40 mph.".
 
I still can NOT believe that the iPhone 4 testers did not report this early!

Heck the guy who left the iPhone 4 at the bar did not do it by accident, he just got tired of dropped calls if he did not hold it right! When you are drunk . . . . . .:eek:
 
Stealthipad said:
I still can NOT believe that the iPhone 4 testers did not report this early!

Heck the guy who left the iPhone 4 at the bar did not do it by accident, he just got tired of dropped calls if he did not hold it right! When you are drunk . . . . . .:eek:
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How do you know they didn't report it? I'm assuming you never worked in any sort of QA (quality assurance) department. Just because an issue is documented does not mean it's going to be fixed... Welcome to the world of business.
 
I'm guessing it wasn't caught. The testers who removed the phones from the Apple campus for field testing (like the guy who left it in the bar) were forced to carry them around in cases that make them look like a 3GS. We already know that cases stop the issue (since your hand can't conduct across the antennas)

Stealthipad said:
I still can NOT believe that the iPhone 4 testers did not report this early!

Heck the guy who left the iPhone 4 at the bar did not do it by accident, he just got tired of dropped calls if he did not hold it right! When you are drunk . . . . . .:eek:
Click to expand...
 
Are we still talking about this?

I can honestly say that this has not affected me AT ALL.

Never had a dropped call and the sound clarity whilst on a call is absolutely superb. Loud and crisp. Much better than my 3GS.
 
Hankster said:
How do you know they didn't report it? I'm assuming you never worked in any sort of QA (quality assurance) department. Just because an issue is documented does not mean it's going to be fixed... Welcome to the world of business.
Click to expand...

After they discovered the issue is when they made the bumpers. Isn't it kinda weird that no other color is available right now and very limited on black? It's because they were made at the last minute.
 
Unless my iPhone 4 is lying to me, I can't get the bars to drop when I hold it like on the right.

3rd way common way of holding it is with the right hand, your first three fingers flat on the back and your pinkie supporting the bottom of the phone. This method allows you to type with your thumb.

Holding with the left hand and typing with the right index finger annoys me. I'd rather type with two thumbs than do this.
 
Sweetbike40 said:
After they discovered the issue is when they made the bumpers. Isn't it kinda weird that no other color is available right now and very limited on black? It's because they were made at the last minute.
Click to expand...

I have seen the orange one in the wild... yesterday in Glasgow...
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Unless my iPhone 4 is lying to me, I can't get the bars to drop when I hold it like on the right.

3rd way common way of holding it is with the right hand, your first three fingers flat on the back and your pinkie supporting the bottom of the phone. This method allows you to type with your thumb.

Holding with the left hand and typing with the right index finger annoys me. I'd rather type with two thumbs than do this.
Click to expand...

In both pictures it would be the left thumb doing the controlling. The right hand wouldn't come into it at all. In the left picture, the hand is too far up the device, meaning your thumb can't reach all parts of the screen and home button. You need to hold the device further down to be able to control it properly. But doing so will kill off your signal. It's either a design flaw, or a very poor design decision.
 
mrochester said:
In both pictures it would be the left thumb doing the controlling. The right hand wouldn't come into it at all.
Click to expand...

That's what they imply, but most people are right-handed so they'll either type with the right index finger or switch to the right hand and type with the right thumb.

The picture on the right is unrealistic anyway because the fingers are blocking the screen.
 
"If you have to hold your phone a special way, you've failed."

-What Steve Jobs should be saying
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
That's what they imply, but most people are right-handed so they'll either type with the right index finger or switch to the right hand and type with the right thumb.

The picture on the right is unrealistic anyway because the fingers are blocking the screen.
Click to expand...

I'm right handed and I hold and control my phone mostly with my left hand, sometimes 2 hands. A design that excludes people who hold their phones in their left hand is a major major failing, regardless of whether they are in the minority or not!
 
mrochester said:
I'm right handed and I hold and control my phone mostly with my left hand, sometimes 2 hands. A design that excludes people who hold their phones in their left hand is a major major failing, regardless of whether they are in the minority or not!
Click to expand...

I guess you're in the minority. Typing with the left hand is awkward for many right-handed people.
 
Apple iMe said:
Are we still talking about this?

I can honestly say that this has not affected me AT ALL.

Never had a dropped call and the sound clarity whilst on a call is absolutely superb. Loud and crisp. Much better than my 3GS.
Click to expand...


sooooo because it has not affected you that means no one can talk about it???? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Obviously it's a BIG issue to those that have this problem, so get used to the chatter until it's fixed.
 
Fuchal said:
If you type with 2 thumbs, you have to hold it further down and your signal is blocked out.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, I still hold it at the top but support the bottom with my right pinkie.

Either way, I still can't get the signal to attenuate even when I hold it in the most detrimental way. This is just like the freezing iMacs, affects some people but not others.
 
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