patrick.net

Who talks on the phone nowadays anyways? It's so 90's. People text/chat on their iPhones =P

Anyways I don't see how this issue can be resolved without a loss on Apple. I guess they can "fix" it with a software update that reports signal bars with a 5 minute delay so that you cannot immediately draw to the conclusion that it's the phone.

Vain says

Who talks on the phone nowadays anyways? It’s so 90’s. People text/chat on their iPhones =P
Anyways I don’t see how this issue can be resolved without a loss on Apple. I guess they can “fix” it with a software update that reports signal bars with a 5 minute delay so that you cannot immediately draw to the conclusion that it’s the phone.

I'm re-thinking my decision to get one of these new smartphones. I hear the battery life is really bad. I need a phone that will last the day without charging.

My old LG Shine is looking better and better.

I haven't read too much good about the I-4. Perhaps like Vista, it will be shortlived.

DRRRRRROID!

The Jobs response:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=18842

Vain says

Anyways I don’t see how this issue can be resolved without a loss on Apple. I guess they can “fix” it with a software update that reports signal bars with a 5 minute delay so that you cannot immediately draw to the conclusion that it’s the phone.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20008952-501465.html
"It is possible that Jobs is simply tipping the company's hand in advance of a rumored software update to iOS 4 that would resolve the problem."

Just as I suspected :) They will make it report inaccurate reception on the update.

In the future, the year 2020, Apple will make cars. The 2020 iCar. Mr. Jobs, the car wobbles when you make right turns! Response from Jobs: There is no turning problem. Just don't turn it that way.

What a guy. Maybe BP should have hired Jobs to handle the spill. "What spill problem? Just don't drink from there."

Without getting too technical, the iphone 4 is just like the iphone 3gs with a better camera and a little faster, that's it, played it for one minute and it felt and played just like the iphone 3. My 20 word iphone 4 review.

Having said that, nothing wrong with selling almost two million units over a three day weekend as the Iphone appeals to the mass and itunes, iapps, and istore are cash cows. It is another winner.

I'm receiving (or so Verizon tells me) my HTC Incredible today. I have a 30-day trial period where I can use the phone and if I don't like it or the service, send it back for a full refund less a $35 restocking charge. I'll try it out for a week then make my decision. As I said before, my old LG Shine is looking better and better to me. It works and is very rugged.

On a added note, the FCC is releasing 500 MHz of additional wireless spectrum. Wow. Maybe true cost effective wireless broadband will become a reality.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-plans-calls-500-mhz-new-spectrum-wireless/2010-02-24

The "new releases" of the iPhone and the "hoopla" over these releases is yet another example of how consumers have become less and less intelligent and scrutinizing over time. 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? Is this "new release" actually worth the hundreds of dollars you will spend on the "upgrade?" Is Apple really a "premium" producer of technological devices or is it simply a company that uses a whole lot of marketing and hype with a huge dollop of snobbery to capture a certain easily impressed and unthinking portion of people who are mindless zealots who "must" have the next iWhatever at no matter the cost?

I have to admit that their marketing is brilliant and so ubiquitous that I can't turn on the television without seeing an Apple commercial. Also they have occasionally produced real winners that have offered something substantive to consumers. However, more and more, Apple is starting to look like a company that used to be innovative but now is resting on its laurels when it comes to R & D while becoming an organization that is about nothing more than brand, marketing, and image.

It never ceases to amaze me how BayAryans run to Apple Stores at the first sign of anything "new" or "impoved" to spend/waste giant sums of money in order to look "cool" or be "hip" because they have the latest and greatest iWhatever.

In my eyes you simply don't look "cool" after having wasted many hours of hard-earned pay on gadgets you don't need and don't know how to use to their fullest extents. Especially since these gadgets haven't really proved to be any better than the competition's gadgets other than carrying higher price tags, requiring exclusive ties to service providers, and enforcing deliberate blocks to cross-compatibility with other gadgets not belonging to their brand.

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.

Apple SOLVED the "last-mile" problem of "on deck" provision of phones, both their OS and apps. Apple developed from the ground up the content pipeline for music, movies, and 3rd party apps. Apple mobile hardware has always been running at the state of art -- this:

was Android BEFORE the iPhone changed the handheld game.

The iPhone 4 has a f---ing killer high-DPI screen, backlight, and glass process. Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone is obsolete in comparison MONTHS before it even comes out.

Apple has developed their own integrated graphics stack. Its first iteration in 2007 was the very under-appreciated secret sauce of the iPhone that drove its success -- Apple was the first to put a beefy graphics chip in a phone and expose it via excellent API to internal and third-party developers.

In performance, battery, display, size, weight, industrial design, the iPhone is 2 to 4x better than the previous iteration, for the same price. It's a no-brainer upgrade for people coming out of contract this year. The only thing it needs now is USB3 connectivity.

What really will make the Droid stand out however is its ability to run internet flash programs.

Apple prefers app developers use their APIs and system frameworks instead of Adobe's. Apple's runtime is designed to be more efficient and device-oriented than Adobe's wad of code running underneath flash apps. Flash is a net negative to me, it both lowers the bar of UX and introduces performance and battery issues with the phone's limitations in these areas.

A couple days ago some coworkers and I were having lunch and the topic of a certain youtube clip came up. The guy sitting across from me whips out his brand new iPhone4 and spent about a minute trying to play the clip. I waited.... when I did pull out the droid I had the clip playing in about 15 seconds. He says "I can't help it if AT&T sucks here", to which I replied "what good is your phone if you can't use it." Don't get me wrong, if Verizon had the iPhone it would be a tough decision.

This is what I think about when someone tells me they have an iPhone:

This is what I think about when someone tells me they have a 'droid' :

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.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like Apple. I'm a very neutral person. I have an iPhone that I leave at home strictly to use as an iTouch for games because it sucks so much being a phone.

@Vain

lol nice!

Vain says

strictly to use as an iTouch for games because it sucks so much being a phone.

yeah, people say having web access 24/7 is cool and all but I'm literally and figuratively not buying it.

I've got a grandfathered Virgin MVNO voice-only pre-paid plan on the Sprint network that costs me $80.

A year.

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.