Previously elated customers blogged and YouTubed their reviews of the upgrade to the iPhone 3GS, which detailed two major issues both relating to the external antenna band.
Though unconfirmed, reports are rife in the US blogging community that Steve Jobs allegedly emailed one customer yesterday who complained of the reception fault, saying, "Just avoid holding it in that way."
Engadget.com also claimed to have received the following statement from Apple yesterday: "Gripping any mobile 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."
YouTube and Twitter complaints focused on the absence of reception when the phone was held in a certain way and when the aluminium antenna band was covered.
One American man set up a demonstration of this fault on YouTube under his sign-in name CameronInSoHo, showing how when the device is held with fingers wrapped around the side as is most natural, the reception bars drop to zero.
CameronInSoHo said: "I'm starting with four bars but if I grip the iPhone you’ll notice the bars start dwindling and eventually leaves no bars.
"So these reports are correct – there is a problem with the antenna when holding the phone like this."
The covering of the antenna was also blamed in reports of dropped calls.
Other reported glitches include discolouration, with a yellow tint or spots on the high-resolution screen.
A young British man who claimed to have worked for Apple and goes by the YouTube name TMOMify, also uploaded a video review on the site yesterday.
He was satisfied overall with his purchase but complained that the 720p video recording facility seems useless when you can't upload the video directly to Facebook. "What's the point in that?", he said.
He however concluded: "I’ve paid half a grand for this and have absolutely no remorse. This is the phone of 2010. Technology like this blows me away."
Some US customers complained last week that both handset colours weren't available at the iPhone 4’s pre-launch.
Despite these reports celebrity technology fanatic Stephen Fry seemed delighted with his new gadget, describing the iPhone 4 as having "star quality".
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