Dissatisfied early adopters of Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S5e are finding the tablet’s Wi-Fi disconnecting if held a specific way.
Brand focused blog SamMobile is reporting users are having their devices lose connection if the top left (bottom left in landscape) corner of the Tab is covered, reminiscent of Apple’s infamous 2010 “Antennagate” debacle.
The issue appears to be with the placement of Wi-Fi components, meaning a software update won’t offer a fix.
While social media users have reported complete disconnections, SamMobile’s attempts to replicate the fault resulted in a 50% dip in strength rather than a complete dropout.
A halving in connection quality still represents a significant flaw in the design.
Samsung issued a replacement device to at least one user, who quickly encountered the same problem.
It’s unknown whether the issue affects all models.
One user reported no issue on their LTE enabled device when compared with the Wi-Fi only model, a report contradicted by others.
Another user reported the problem exacerbating specifically on 5GHz networks.
Wi-Fi problems will likely continue until Samsung can change the component configuration, if they decide to do so.
In the meantime users experiencing problems will have to follow Steve Jobs’ advice and “just avoid holding it in that way”.
