Having recpetion woes with your new iPhone 4? Don't blame the device, you're just doing it wrong, suggests Steve Jobs and the rest of the Cupertino gang, who dismissed the reception complaints as a "non-issue."

"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," Apple said int a statement. "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 the many available cases."

The above statement is an expanded version of Steve Jobs' initial answer to an email asking what Apple plans to do about the signal dropping issue. Short and to the point, Jobs simply stated, "Non issue. Just avoid holding it that way."

Spencer Webb, an antenna designer, goes into a bit more detail on his blog, explaining that the iPhone 4 has two symmetrical slots in the stainless frame. When covered, the antenna performance inevitably suffers, he says.

"There is no way around this, it's a design compromise that is forced by the requirements of the FCC, AT&T, Apple's marketing department, and Apple's industrial designers, to name a few."

Caveat emptor.

The iPhone 4's launch day is here, and if you managed to fight your way through the lines and get your hands on one, you may want to consider an insurance plan. Early indications suggest the latest iPhone is a bit more durable than Apple's previous smartphones, but hey, things happen, like dropping one in the drink when out on the lake fishing for bass.

With that in mind, there are some things you can do to protect your investment. AT&T's MobileProtect just announced an insurance plan that will cover your iPhone should it become stolen or damaged, which the company says are responsible for half the claims they process.

Hit the jump to take a look at your options.

Perhaps Apple should send Gizmodo a Thank-You card for helping to hype the hell out of the iPhone 4 weeks before its release, or at the very least call off the dogs and lift the unofficial ban on Gizmodo from Apple-sponsored events. As it turns out, Steve Jobs and company would have bigger concerns with the iPhone 4, like trying to keep up with record-setting orders.

"Yesterday [June 15] Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4," Apple said in a statement posted to its website yesterday. "It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock."

According to AT&T, the only wireless vendor in town officially allowed to carry and service Apple's smartphone, pre-order sales for the iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than they were for the first day of pre-ordering for the iPhone 3GS.

"Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we're suspending pre-ordering today in order to fulfill the orders we've already received," AT&T said.