Nokia ribs Apple's sensitive phone design

Nokia started the week with a jab at claims of Apple's iPhone 4 antenna problems. Poking fun at Steve Jobs' assertions that people suffering the problem were just holding the phone the wrong way, Nokia suggested that customers could hold their phones any way they like and showed four examples. Unlike certain other phones, signal quality remains the same.

"The key function on any Nokia device is its ability to make phone calls," Nokia joked. "After all, that’s why we know them universally as mobile phones... One of the main things we’ve found about the 1 billion plus Nokia devices that are in use today is that when making a phone call, people generally tend to hold their phone like a... well, like a phone. Providing a wide range of methods and grips for people to hold their phones, without interfering with the antennae, has been an essential feature of every device Nokia has built."

The source of Apple's problem has been identified as the gaps in the corners of the phone, particularly that on the bottom left; obscuring this and creating a bridge between antennas with one's hand dims the signal. However, whether it's actually an inherent flaw or a software bug isn't clear; iPhone 3G and 3GS users claim to have replicated the issue themselves after iOS 4. Allusions have been made to a possible firmware-based fix coming as soon as this week.

Nokia's claims may themselves be distorted as users have produced similar behavior on other phones, including phones of its own, like the E71.

By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, industry, Nokia, mobile phones, Apple, iPhone 4