X

Turn a rubber wristband into an iPhone 4 bumper

Awesome DIY project! It takes all of 6 seconds to complete--or maybe 6 minutes if you decide to cut a few holes. Either way, it'll solve the antenna issue.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
Form and function: stretch a wristband around your iPhone 4 and you've got both a bumper case and an antenna fix.
Form and function: stretch a wristband around your iPhone 4 and you've got both a bumper case and an antenna fix. Oliver Nelson

There's one surefire way to solve the iPhone 4 antenna problem: don't let your hand or fingers come in contact with its metal band.

Easier said than done, right? Unless you're willing to constantly use the speakerphone, a headset, or a pair of gloves, your only viable option is to keep the iPhone in a case--or, as some have discovered, wrap it in a rubber "bumper."

iPhone Guru blogger Oliver Nelson crafted a clever DIY iPhone 4 bumper solution out of one of those rubber wristbands you probably have sitting in a junk drawer.

It's a pretty straightforward project: stretch a wristband around the edge of your iPhone and presto, you're done. If you're handy with an X-Acto knife, you can cut holes for the headphone jack, mute switch, dock connector, and so on.

Oliver Nelson's iPhone 4 "ghetto case."
Oliver Nelson's makeshift iPhone 4 case. Oliver Nelson

Neat, but does it work? Says Nelson: "My reception is substantially better after having wrapped my new iPhone in this ugly but functional abomination."

Ugly? I dunno, I think these neon colors look pretty spiffy framing the iPhone, at least in Nelson's photos.

Alas, though I have a whole basket of these wristbands sitting right here, I don't have an iPhone 4 on which to test-stretch one. If you're able to put this cheap, clever solution to the test, hit the comments and let me know how it fares.

Know of any other DIY fixes for the iPhone 4 antenna issue? Let's hear about those, too!