Samsung unveiled what it said is its thinnest, lightest tablet ever: the $399 Tab S5e. Sadly for the company, the tablet appears to suffer from a major design drawback.
It’s been nearly a decade since Apple received a lot of flak for its “you’re holding it wrong” response to problems with the iPhone 4’s reception. But while Apple has long gotten past that particular blunder, it seems that some manufacturers haven’t learned enough from it. Samsung’s latest high-end phones are thankfully safe from such a design flaw but its latest mid-range tablet isn’t. So if you have a Galaxy Tab S5e and notice a drop in your Wi-Fi connection, just remember that you might be holding it wrong.
It appears that when a user’s hand is in this position, it blocks the Wi-Fi signal from reaching the tablet’s integrated receiver. You can always remedy the issue by switching the Tab around so the front-facing camera is on the right, or use it in portrait mode, but it’s still something Samsung should have caught in the testing phase.
According to Instagram user @davidwaner (via SamMobile), when one holds the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e as depicted in the image above — i.e., in landscape position with the front-facing camera to the left — the tablet’s Wi-Fi connection can degrade or drop out entirely.
It’s worth noting that this doesn’t seem to be affecting every unit. SamMobile tried to replicate the issue but never lost the Wi-Fi connection, though the signal strength did drop by 50 percent.
Samsung hasn’t commented on the matter yet maybe waiting till fix the Galaxy Fold or maybe there just holding it wrong.
