How are people defending this? at all?
Fair enough if you don't have a problem phone, or you live in an area and move around in an area with signal so strong that it does not degrade no matter how you to hold it. However, that is not a defence. The fact of the matter is that there is a blatant design flaw here. It applies to enough phones to stop me getting one. It is not like it is isolated and the chance of getting problematic one is low. I tried 3 in the Apple store in birmingham today and they all presented with the same fault).
If you have to change the way you hold the phone then you acknowledge there is a problem but accepted it. I do not accept that, why would anyone accept that? You spend all that money on it, don't you want it to be perfect? We are not talking about something minor here, the phone struggles to make phone calls simply by picking it up! I will not be fob off with "change the way I hold my phone". I will hold it every damn way I feel thank you very much, nor will I accept getting a £25 bumper as a solution. What if I want to use it as it is out of the box? A £10 phone doesn't need to any after thought fix, why should a £600 phone? Frankly, if Apple accept the bumper IS a solution then the consumer does not need to pay for that solution from his own wallet. Even if this can be fixed with the bumper, I am voting with my wallet by not getting it until they fix it. Out of principle.
I like apple stuff, but I hate this phone, and the company is losing respect by the minute.