In one of his trademark one-line e-mail replies, Steve Jobs gave the answer to the reception problems plaguing some early iPhone 4 users: you.
Yes, you. Because if you only knew how to hold Apple’s perfect new device, you wouldn’t be having these issues. The blog Ars Technica e-mailed Apple’s head honcho to ask for an explanation for the poor reception some users are experiencing. “Just avoid holding it in that way,” Jobs replied.
As The Guardian‘s Charles Arthur notes, a number of YouTube users uploaded videos showing the problem. In the one posted above, you can see reception drop off dramatically once the phone gets picked up.
According to a (lengthier and official) Apple statement, the problem occurs when iPhone users hold the phone toward the bottom of the body: “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 Phone 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.”