My take on the iPhone antenna issue

Question

I'll start off by saying I own a 3GS, don't own a 4, have seen one a friend has and know a few friends that have them.
I've had other products (like a knife) that have an optional guard. You can leave it off and "be careful" or you can put it on and have the item be somewhat less attractive. This is my personal take on Apple's reasoning.
You definitely would not want to increase the size of the iPhone by building in a case, because a third part might make a case that, say, was also a checkbook case. So it makes sense for the iPhone to be bare bones, and you have the option of adding a case if you want one.
The mistake, as I see it, was in Apple not including a bumper with the iPhone, +and having the bumper already be on the iPhone when you took it out of the box.+
Had they done this, IMO there would have been no complaints at all.
Message was edited by: NewYorkYogi

Answer 1

I agree the bumpers should have been free and included.
The antenna issue though is very subjective. Steve is right. I have seen every phone i have owned drop bar level depending on how i hold it. This one is more pronounced because we can touch the antenna, usually a radio no no. The idea of the external antenna integrated with the case is quite cool. I use my iP4 in a very fringe area and haven't had it drop a call due to lost signal. In fact it is better than my 3G i replaced. It is better with the bumper. So what happened? Apple took a risk and designed something new. Then Steve hyped it up into the stratosphere. Raised expectation of perfection. It isn't perfect and all the nay sayers had something quite real to pick on. Now here we are.
This phone is an amazing device. Very fast an powerful and the camera is really good. It has a few color issues but nothing that can't be fixed in any photo editor. The result is great photos capture with a cell phone. The video is great as is the recorded sound. Quite usable.
So it has a few quirks, well worth all the positives in my opinion.