Samsung mocks 'Antennagate' in Galaxy S ad

This ad is subtle, yet if you have heard anything about the iPhone 4's Antennagate fiasco, you'll get it.

The Antennagate (AKA "death grip") issue, which Apple continues to say affects only a small number, occurs when a user holds an iPhone 4 and bridges the gap between two antennas in the iPhone's external antenna system on the lower-left-hand side of the device.

When the gap is bridged, the iPhone's signal degrades to a large extent, in some cases dropping a call. During last Friday's iPhone 4 press conference, Apple tried to prove that the issue affects all cell phones, and that didnt' sit well with other manufacturers, who told Apple to not drag them "into a situation that relates specifically to Apple."

Here we see the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone simply saying hello. After all, we've just met the device in the U.S., where it was released as the T-Mobile Vibrant and AT&T Captivate, with Verizon and Sprint versions to come. Ah, but it's clear that the ls of the "Hello" have been replaced with signal bars in an apparent dig at Apple. It's subtle, but clear.

In a rather more blatant move, Samsung UK was earlier offering Samsung Galaxy S devices to disgruntled iPhone 4 users.

The Samsung Galaxy S has a 4" Super AMOLED screen, a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird CPU, and Android 2.1 (with a Froyo update scheduled). It's considering, if not an iPhone 4 killer, a solid iPhone 4 competitor.