patrick.net

Troy says

simchaland says

All Apple and Steve Jobs has to do is create something that is maybe 1/2 step further than competition, name it with an “i” in front, and the mindless “fanboys” spend zillions of dollars waiting hours in line on the day of release. They don’t bother to question, do I need this new gadget?

You don’t know what you’re talking about. I actually detest the phone part of the iPhone (instead buying iPod Touches, one in late 2007 and one in late 2009), but Apple’s handheld platform is an impressive tour-de-force of consumer technology.

Hahahahahahahaha! Spoken like a true fanboy. I was a big fan of Apple until about the early 2000s when Windoze caught up. Now there is essentially no real difference in the capabilities between Apple branded products and non-Apple devices. Oh the specs look pretty, but are they really worth the extra megabucks to have the "Apple" brand and the (i) stuck in front of a generic sounding name?

Couldn’t they have thought of a better name? I’m not sure I play enough video games to live up to the name of this phone.

They thought of that name to conjure up image of more power, capability, functions. in contrast to Apple. I think the name is fine to deliver that message.

However, I don't think most people really care about all that packed power, most people just want to get their e-mail, stock quote, weather, facebook, shopping, music, text, games and phone. Apple got that down pat along with avenues for cash flow like itunes and apps. Hence Apple computer Inc. is now unofficially Apple Iphone company.

The only thing it doesn't do well that leaves a lot to be desired is almost always runs on Flash and hence the editor's for magazine like golf and GQ always knock on it. We know what that is without directly saying it.

btw. the iphone 4 does not have an antenna problem, just a signal strengh display problem. Apparently, AT&T's network is weaker than it looks. They have such a large user base here yet their infrastuture is still lacking. San Francisco market is an absolute cash cow for AT&T.

SF ace says

btw. the iphone 4 does not have an antenna problem, just a signal strengh display problem. Apparently, AT&T’s network is weaker than it looks. They have such a large user base here yet their infrastuture is still lacking.

A signal strength display problem that corrects itself when you touch the lower left side? From what I've been hearing/reading, there are some cases where you touch the lower left and the phone will instantly go to 0 bars. Zero bars is actually an understatement. It actually goes to No Service.

I've always felt that ever since the iPhone came out, that the AT&T network went into the slums. I feel they did not have the capacity to maintain the reliability (which they once had before IMO) with all these added iPhone subscribers taxing the network so hard with the data.

SF ace says

They thought of that name to conjure up image of more power, capability, functions. in contrast to Apple. I think the name is fine to deliver that message.

But it just feels so kiddy. It would bring me back into the days where I had a clear white see thru pager case.

"From what I’ve been hearing/reading, there are some cases where you touch the lower left and the phone will instantly go to 0 bars"

Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place, hence the display is out of whack, there was never 5 bars, it was always 0-1 bars.

But you're right about the AT&T network as I always felt it was slower than advertised, even with 3G and 5 bars especially in San Francisco. I knew the network is running at full capacity just looking at the sheer number of people with the device, but I wonder how much of that was San Franciso not allowing AT&T to upgrade vs. AT&T using resource from San Francisco and invest into other areas.

The iPhone 4 has a f—ing killer high-DPI screen
I've been pretty critical about the lack of screen resolution on the previous gen iPhones (2.5 times less than the industry-standard 800x480 droid smartphone). I must admit they made my jaw drop with the new 960x640 display; I bet you could read patrick.net on that without scaling or resizing. And add to that, in emerging markets, most people access the internet on a smartphone. Should get interesting (still like Nokia and open source, don't leave them for dead yet...)

SF ace says

“From what I’ve been hearing/reading, there are some cases where you touch the lower left and the phone will instantly go to 0 bars”

Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place, hence the display is out of whack, there was never 5 bars, it was always 0-1 bars.

But I'm sure there's an "app" for that.

They're talking about rolling out a fix for this "bar display problem." Apple is trying to argue that the iPhone 4 isn't showing enough bars to reflect "true signal strength." At first Steve Jobs told iPhone 4 users to simply not put their finger on that lower left side. I don't know about the rest of you, but it all sounds fishy to me.

simchaland says

At first Steve Jobs told iPhone 4 users to simply not put their finger on that lower left side. I don’t know about the rest of you, but it all sounds fishy to me.

Actually the two issues are connected. Like all cell providers, AT&T fakes the bar display since this is an unregulated area and people make buying decisions on how many bars they have.

Handling the phone's frame does interfere with the physics -- this is the same as touching a radio antenna back in the day.

The interplay comes because people are surprised to see so many bars disappear when they interfere with the radio reception. If the bar display was accurate, they would lose fewer bars in weak areas and would not be surprised.

Here's a good description of the problem. The short of it is that by touching the bottom left corner you create a physical connection between the wifi antennae and the "cell service" antennae. This causes ~ 20db loss of signal. By comparison, the iphone3gs loses ~2db of signal while holding it. So while Apple was inflating the signal being reported, it doesn't fix the actual problem of signal loss, just the users perception of it.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

Depends on the actual strength of reception for that special touch to be noticeable. Apparently people in strong areas do not see loss of functionality, that is also a function of the bar display calculation, which ramps the bars up quickly and then levels off in the higher strengths.

SF ace says

Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place, hence the display is out of whack, there was never 5 bars, it was always 0-1 bars.

Well after Apple "fixes" it, it will go from constant 1 bar when holding it the correct way, to 0.13 bars when holding it the incorrect way? Fake reception is fake reception. Thinking you came out with an antenna design that is a breakthrough with such simplicity and failing is another. One should think if it was that simple, that it would have been done years ago.

I predicted that Apple would "fix" this problem with a software update since day 1. Apple does not disappoint me. I was hoping he'd release a software update that smooths out the signal bars so it doesn't update as frequently; more like updating every minute using the average signal strength; where if the display is at 1-2 bars, that it would show it only for 5 seconds before displaying more bars pending a new average.

Steve Jobs thinks his market segment consists of gullible fools :) The iPhone 4 was a bad apple.

And for everyone with a non iPhone, head down to your local AT&T store and demand they fix your Motorola RAZR, Samsung phones, LG, and anything that was available from AT&T and demand they put in the "right" calculation for reception :)

Vain says

Thinking you came out with an antenna design that is a breakthrough with such simplicity and failing is another. One should think if it was that simple, that it would have been done years ago.

The antenna design is in fact an improvement over the previous generation.

"From my day of testing, I've determined that the iPhone 4 performs much better than the 3GS in situations where signal is very low, at -113 dBm (1 bar). Previously, dropping this low all but guaranteed that calls would drop, fail to be placed, and data would no longer be transacted at all. I can honestly say that I've never held onto so many calls and data simultaneously on 1 bar at -113 dBm as I have with the iPhone 4, so it's readily apparent that the new baseband hardware is much more sensitive compared to what was in the 3GS."

The problem is just the bridging of the antennas by holding it in a certain way. I think this got thru testing for several reasons -- external tests were with rubber holders, hubris at wanting a clean ID, and further hubris that "don't do that then" would be enough of a response.

Steve Jobs thinks his market segment consists of gullible fools

Man, Apple comes out with a killer phone and the shit they get for it is impressive.

I think part of the problem is Apple's/Job's handling of the problem. What would be nice is if they would acknowledge the actual problem, and provide a case or offer to apply a protective film over the corner. Rather, Jobs comes out telling people to hold their phone differently, and then denies there is a problem altogether. Then an internal memo gets leaked telling customer service reps to deny there is a problem and to not provide a case to resolve the issue.

When my wife's Macbook's harddrive failed out of warranty, it got replaced at the Apple store because they had recalled the HD's in them. Not only did that get replaced, but they put on a new casing as the old one had cracked and put on a new keyboard and trackpad. With the handling of the Iphone4, I wonder if I would get the same level of service today.

Ahh, I get it. This is the same as Bill Gates telling Windoze users that glitches are "features." I'm sure that this antenna and its peculiarities are "new and improved features" on the iPhone 4. Muhahahahahahah!

I'm reading about more problems with the iPhone 4 and in particular the sensors that it uses. I'm sure glad I did not go the iPhone route. My Driod Incredible is sitting here working just fine. I understand that the Android 2.2 is going to give the Incredible 720P HD video. I have a Vadeo HD camcorder and I like doing HD videos.

They got it wrong. Jobs tried to say avoid holding it that way, or get a bumper. Subsequently, he claims it was a software issue.

Is the article correct or did they have the two switched around? It sounds better the way pcworld wrote it - with this way, it seems Apple has admitted there might be a problem with the hardware. But this is not the case; they're saying this is all a software issue.

LOL! Toys for the masses.

Vain says

But this is not the case; they’re saying this is all a software issue.

Yes, it's a software issue. Sure it is.

HTC EVO for the Mutherlovin WIN! A phone needs to be able to make calls first then do the "smart phone" stuff well second.

Damn, what's up with Apple? They messed up with hardware and now they're telling that someone messed up with software too? Good luck with the software update that makes the bars look bigger.

The smartest phone I ever had was my old samsung flip phone. It can call no problem, and it somehow magically shut itself down, or battery got drained when the wife calls. Best feature ever. LOL.

As my motorola Q got bricked few days ago, I need new phone cuz I hate to pay bill when the thing is crapped out. HTC EVO is one of the best thing in the market now, would be perfect if three things are there.

If it had AMOLED screen, camera can shoot 720P that looks like 720P, and that darn SERO works with it. Yup, I am kinda spoiled.

seaside says

Good luck with the software update that makes the bars look bigger.

But if the bars look bigger, your reception improves, right? right?

At least that's what they want you to believe. I find it incredible that this terrible handling is coming out of a company that normally has everything in order and handles itself well in the marketplace. It seems that Apple is the new Microsoft as someone said above. That's sad.

Designed in America. Manufactured in China with shoddy hardware. Programmed with buggy software in India, China, and America. Sold to the sheeple of America. I guess Apple is joining a long list of high tech corporations who are sacrificing quality to make a quick buck. It's a sad time in the tech world.

The software issue was just a diversion tactic that doesn't seem to have worked. Now they have both hardware AND software problems. Jobs was hoping his customers were as dumb as he thought. But he was disappointed.

It was not the Chinese's fault. We have a couple copies of iPhone 4's which designs were stolen from the manufacturing plant. They have no antenna problem. They probably saw Apple's design flaw and spoke nothing of it. They weren't paid to think, only to assemble :)

I don't think Apple was ever a good company. They just got lucky once off the original iPod. That's why everything that has came out after that had an 'i' in front of it. Just think back to the Apple 2 E computers. Pieces of sht right? I know my elementary school used Apple 2 E's, and my middle school used Macintoshs because they were donated, not because they wanted to pay for them.

LOL. I made about $300,000 on my $6,000 Mac II investment in 1989. That sucker was so important to me that I hand-carried it on my plane to Japan in 1992, and in Japan it helped me run my teaching business right through 1995.

Six years of front-rank service life with almost no diminishment of utility compared to the competition.

The Mac II (and the Mac Plus before it) was a hella capable combination of hardware and software. Windows didn't really become competitive with it until NT4, 10 years later.

Apple II's were kinda crappy, I admit. Apple lucked out with the first-mover advantage wrt a decent home computer + the Woz disk drive gave the company an immense usability advantage until the IBM PC came out. By 1983 the Apple II's wad was shot, which is kinda funny since that's when my highschool got a room full of new IIe machines.

As for the iPod, Apple's "luck" was simply being first to put all the pieces together correctly and getting that same first-mover advantage it got with the Apple II and the Mac. Some might call that skill, actually. Apple was the first to see the importance of the 1.8" hard disk for PMPs, and so came to market with the first pocket-size PMP that could hold gigabytes -- days -- of songs. Other PMPs had gigabytes, and other PMPs were pocket-sized, but Apple was first to have both. Plus the playlist management software, firewire connection, and iTunes Music Store were all important contributors to Apple's eventual dominance.

Android was a crap feature phone until the iPhone came out and schooled the google team on what a smartphone should be.

Apple II was not a piece of shit. Back then, it has wonderful cassette loader and roadrunner was fun. When a friend of mine showed me a guy made of little dots in his new green monitor, I knew I want it.

Apple has been known as very efficient supply chain management company. Samsung CPU and memory, LG display and camera unit, some taiwanese PCB and modules, assembled in china, designed in USA, then sells to everywhere in the world. Apple coordinates all of that. They know whom to contact, where to squeeze in order to get cost down, maximize the profit.

There's two types of phone in the world, the iphone and the rests.
Whatever! No Flash for iphone. Flash is for porn anyway.
Don't hold your phone that way. Hey, there. Do I have to teach you how to hold? dumbass?

The bottom line is this. You earn if you can make people dig your stuff. Apple were able to do that.

Nobody does that better than Jobs. He is wonderful creature of the God.
Apple is wonderful company in many ways, can do many things others can't. I just don't like that "wonderful" part.

theoakman says

I think Apple simply builds things to expire and is very bad a controlling when they do.

Maybe if Apple built majority of the computers out there last century, the Y2K scare may have come true. Intential back doors/expiration dates.

If they are allowed to put a Carrier Lock on the phone, I don't see why they are not allowed/not willing to put a lock on the phone after a certain date.

fyi:

Steve Jobs Says Apple Knew About Antenna Grip Issue

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs says the company knew that its iPhone 4 would lose signal when held a certain way and didn’t think it would be a big issue. He offered customers a case to fix the problem.

Jobs said Apple is “working our butts off” to figure out the problem, which he called “Antennagate.” Some rival phones have the same glitch as the iPhone 4, he said today at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-16/steve-jobs-says-apple-knew-about-antenna-grip-issue.html

Honesty suddenly becomes the best policy when lies didn't work?
Cares about users? haha.

Maybe the fanboys will get in lines over night to get the "free" rubber cases to "fix" the problem. They'll only do this if there's an Apple Logo on the rubber case though. Did he promise that there will be an Apple Logo on the rubber case? Will it be called the iRubber? Or will it simply be called the iCase?

Yeah, I was kinda of dumbfaced when Apple stock goes up right after Jobs said people will get free case.

I feel like it is ok to slap his face and offer free bandaid.

The case better be of good quality otherwise, that would be an iJoke.

seaside says

Yeah, I was kinda of dumbfaced when Apple stock goes up right after Jobs said people will get free case.
I feel like it is ok to slap his face and offer free bandaid.
The case better be of good quality otherwise, that would be an iJoke.

I think that fanboys will be very upset if the iRubber or iCase doesn't display the Apple logo prominently like it's displayed on the iPhone. Let's all be real about this. The main reason why so many want this thing is that it's got an Apple logo on it so others can see you have an iPhone and be in "awe." (Or laugh, like I do.)

The software problem will be fixed when they get I-vista up & running. :)

Simchaland, this thought came from looking at your picture. I think Toys R Us can sell a stuffed teddy bear with a hole in the back that people didn't see. When people complain, Toys R Us offers a free t-shirt for the bear to cover the hole instead of sewing up the hole for them.

I can't believe he's getting away with this. The phone should be recalled, and everyone that bought the iPhone 4 should get a free 3GS for putting up with his BS. They deserve to go bankrupt from this situation.

This thread is getting pretty far from the reality of the situation. Not that I care, but damn. What I said two weeks ago:

"The problem is just the bridging of the antennas by holding it in a certain way. I think this got thru testing for several reasons — external tests were with rubber holders, hubris at wanting a clean ID, and further hubris that “don’t do that then” would be enough of a response."

was pretty much the deal in the end. Party on, Apple haters!

seaside says

I feel like it is ok to slap his face and offer free bandaid.

Love it... LMAO

The cool thing about the i-4 is that it's the latest, greatest item from a company that continues to set the standards. Unfortunately, this one seems to have a glitch. I doubt that it'll affect the company much at all.

It's the coolness factor Apple has going for it.

simchaland says

I’m just dumbfounded

Apple's advantage is that its taking its historical design sensibilities its people honed with the original Mac and NeXT projects and applied it to the phone market, a market that in 2006 was still in the stone age.

People aren't buying the new iPhone and iPad blind, we know what they offer us.

The rest are just modifying what was cool and innovative in order to stir up more marketing hype

Actually, if they didn't continually upgrade their product they'd fall behind their competitors and you'd start complaining about that. I can see your game here : )

when I look for gadgets I thoughtfully consider my needs first. If I don’t need it, end of story, I don’t buy it.

Me too, actually. I've gone with iPod Touches (2007, 2009) since I don't see the value-add of the $2000 data plan and I have a $80/yr phone that handles my actual phone needs. Plus I actually like separating these functions.

But as a PDA, the iPhone is still well-ahead of its competitors. Microsoft was so far behind they had to throw everything out and start from scratch.

Android suffers from platform fragmentation and the divergence between Google's control and the control exercised by the actual phone manufacturers and network providers. Apple has none of these issues, it's been very good with backwards and forwards compatibility and the iPhone userbase is very aggressively kept updated to the latest and greatest OS.

and this 4G thing becomes a reality and we have devices that allow me to do just about everything I want on them reliably and cheaply

3G or 4G doesn't really make a difference for the use case of a phone. Watching streaming video on a handheld device is not what the phone is all about, though of course the live videocam thing would benefit from 4G so if that is a useful feature for you waiting for 4G would be advisable.

As a PDA, the iPhone is already "reliable" and "cheap". It's the dataplan that makes it expensive, and as I said above that is solved by going with the iPod Touch models.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-YesqzvNk

it's in Mandarin, but pretty understandable.

Troy says

As a PDA, the iPhone is already “reliable” and “cheap”. It’s the dataplan that makes it expensive, and as I said above that is solved by going with the iPod Touch models.

See, and that's just it. I have no need for a PDA. Back in the day, I tried a Palm and I used it for about three months then it got mothballed. I just don't see the allure, honestly. I find my calender book (using paper and pen) much more efficient, cheaper, and much easier to replace if lost. I keep all of my contacts in my mobile phone, an LG Rumor 2. It meets my needs. All my appointments are in my paper, spiralled, day planner. Viewing appointments on tiny screens is not my idea of efficiency. I like being able to see my entire week, day by day, spread out so that I can take in the entire map of my week. PDAs just don't do it for me.

And since the iPhone is a phone first and foremost it should be able to make and keep calls instead of dropping them on a terrible network. If it were intended mainly as a PDA they should have called it an "iPDA" and be done with it.

The iPhone isn't cheap at all, IMHO. Nothing Apple puts out is cheap, either in cost or construction, usually. That used to be their main selling point as far as I'm concerned. They're supposed to have better quality than the rest. Now, they're just another manufacturer of smart phones.

Yes, yes, yes, when they came out with the first iPhone they were innovative and "cool." Now there are so many other phones that are even better than the iPhone that sell for less than the iPhone with quality that is on par with Apple on better networks than AT&T.

To me, the iPhone looks like a very expensive toy still. I have almost no need for it's many "apps." Therefore, it would be a waste of money for me. And, the other smart phones that have surpassed the iPhone are less costly but still expensive toys to me because I have almost no need for their "apps."

Again, I wonder how many people who own these phones really use all of the features and "apps" to their fullest extent and actually need the functions of these phones. To me, it seems that most people who have these iPhones and many other "smart phones" own them just because they think they're "cool" and they "desire" to be part of the iHype.

This is where Apple's marketing brilliance shines through. They turned a "want to have" into a "must have" for many people when they introduced the iPhone. They've convinced millions to buy more phone then they actually will ever need because these people have been duped into believing that this expensive toy is a "need."

That's why it's so bizarre how Steve Jobs and Apple have handled this "antenna" problem and the other problems on the iPhone. Oh, there are other issues with the iPhone4 besides the antenna. Normally Apple and Steve Jobs are so good at handling their marketing that it's really out of character for them to blow this public relations nightmare so badly. I think they underestimated their customers' intelligence and over-estimated the amount of goodwill they had built up with their brilliant marketing. That is a very rare gaffe for a company that normally has their PR under control.

Now they sound just like any other high tech company or service provider who tries to wiggle out of a tough spot by trying to pull the wool over their customers' eyes. They got caught. Let's see if they can pull themselves out. Let's see if this free iRubber "fixes" their image with their customers.

I still have not read any articles about reaction to Apple's decision. Maybe they are smart and asked that no articles be written about it. Because if 1 person is still furious, it can be a chain reaction. Jobs wants everything to think that everyone else is satisfied with his response. This whole Apple scene is all about bandwagon. Nobody buys items until they find out 3 million phantom buyers have bought it already.

I got my iphone 4 about 2 weeks ago. I had the iphone 3g ( not 3gs). It is only a marginal improvement. The pros : battery life, camera , video, and processor speed. It did not "wow" me like when I first got the 3 G two years ago. I haven't had any antenna problems but ATT service is much worse than Verizon

On my 3GS, battery life sucked until I updated to iOS 4. I guess anything can be fixed by software nowadays, including antenna design flaw.