Apple To Hold iPhone 4 Press Conference 324
teh31337one noted an Engadget report that Apple has announced an
iPhone 4 Press Conference for Friday at 10am PT where presumably they will address all this wacky antenna stuff that has been happening.
Wht they will tell us (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:lolwut (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is that AT&T installed a tower right behind the Cupertino HQ, which provides them with excellent signal strength while on their campus.
The phones that made it out into the wild were apparently disguised as iPhone 3Gs, and because of this testers were unlikely to see this problem. As we're now aware, putting a case on it hides the defect. Their famous secrecy caused this problem for them.
New iPhone team slogan: "Test different[ly]"?
If rumours are to be believed.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Some googling found this:
http://gizmodo.com/5586256/is-apple-silently-recalling-the-iphone-4-now [gizmodo.com]
I think I first heard it via The Register.
Glass, glass everywhere (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm interested to see if they say anything about the glass on the new iPhone.
From what I've seen so far, the device cannot withstand a simple 6ft drop test onto a concrete floor. This is a fairly standard test, isn't particularly hard and ensures that the phone survives the daily wear and tear of being out and about all the time.
To be clear, we're not talking about throwing it onto the floor here, but if it slips out of your pockets and bounces on the floor then there is a (not unrealistic) expectation that it'll survive - especially when you've paid several hundred UK pounds on a phone and tied yourself into an 18 month contract.
I appreciate my data is anecdotal at best, but I've seen quite a few people now with shattered fronts or backs [technmarketing.com] caused by a simple drop onto the floor.
Re:Worst Case Scenario: (Score:3, Interesting)
Netscape 4 was amazing... But it was the IE 6 of Netscape... When it was new it was a really great Browser New Clean UI, with great new HTML features added in. The problem was Netscape 5... Errr. Mozilla 5... Err Netscape 6... Took Years to deploy. By the time it was out IE 6 was already out and had 2 versions underneath it.
Netscape 4 was a good browser. It only seems like it sucked because it was the latest and greatest version for Way too long.
But version 4 seems likes a troubled version for some reason... I think it is because of the following reason.
Version 1. It is brand new Shiny and clean.
Version 2 With significant new features to make it usable.
Version 3 Usually with a lot of stability and bug fixes. Usually a mature product.
Version 4 The product is mature and needs to be Revamped and look like a new version 1. An attempt to get people to want a new version. Usually causes new bug and problems.
Then it usually repeats the Process of 3 and 4... It is kinda like the oppsite of Star Trek Movies where the Odd versions are the good ones.
Windows 1... New Proof of concept
Windows 2... Adding stuff pepole would need
Windows 3... Useful enough to be practical
Windows 4 (95)... New Interface popular but people have suffered
Windows 5 (98)... Signifant Improvement became the Standard quickly
Windows 6 (ME)... Crap
Windows 7 (XP)... (Windows 2000 was more of a server version of windows XP was the consumer version) A good version of Windows
Windows 8 (Vista)... Crap again tried a New shiny interface but forgot CS101 classes on how to copy files.
Windows 9 (7)... Branded to try to forget ME, and Vista as a version. So far I would say it is a good version of Windows.
Re:Will be a hard pill to swallow... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well to make a long story short hot and cold air make steal expand and contract. Also, steal is a pour insulator. Not only did this house pop, creak, and groan when ever the heat or AC was turned on, the house needed them all the time because it got full sun in summer and high wind exposure in winter and the whole structure was built like a giant heat sink.
The lesson of this story? Design for functionality first, and if your design is highly functional it will have a cool all it's own.
Re:lolwut (Score:5, Interesting)
Given that they cannot make new iPhones fast enough and people are not lining up to return their new iPhones, who can blame Apple for their response?
I know about 20 people with new iPhones and all of them are thrilled. When I ask them about their reception they all tell me that they have never experienced a problem unless they go out of their way to try and reproduce the phenomenon (engineers, so you know they will try)... but even then, no dropped calls. All of these people, BTW, had older iPhones previously and they all say the the new iPhone has far superior call quality - contrary to the Consumer Reports claim.
I don't have an iPhone and have no interests in one (which makes me somewhat like 90% of the people complaining about the iPhone). In fact, I quite dislike the iPhone, for other geeky technical reasons. I'm not an Apple fanboi, though I do own Macintoshes (full disclosure). However, I think I'm pretty objective, so sorry if this sounds like I'm defending something Steve Jobs said... My Samsung also has a death grip where reception is greatly diminished. Similarly, my Blackberry before that had one (maybe two). In fact, as far back as I can remember, every cell phone I've ever used has had reception problems when I held it in certain ways in certain conditions. Usually I can detect this before my call drops and shift my grip. I'm not convinced that the new iPhone is any worse.
Re:Worst Case Scenario: (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, Netscape 4 was a disaster. I can't even remember how many updates were pushed until it was usable.
From a developer point of view, it had so many bugs that makes IE6 pale in comparison. There was a resize bug that mangled the content if the window was resized and developers had to trigger a page reload by javascript. Absolutely-positioned DIVs did not display properly unless they had a border. And this is just some stuff I can remember. Then there were proprietary tags, like LAYER.
Netscape Communicator 4 made me use IE4 and Outlook. That's how bad it was.
Re:If rumours are to be believed.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'm curious to what they'll announce (Score:5, Interesting)
It's one thing to point out a product flaw, it's another thing to point out an APPLE product flaw. There seems to be a circle-jerk sadistic kind of glee in a lot of coverage about the problems. It borders on ridiculous ridicule of Apple/Jobs/iPhone "fanboys" etc. and I now add a large grain of salt to just about all of it. If you've read the comments so far, you no doubt know what I'm taking about.
And yes, I meant "ridiculous ridicule". for example, cnn.com was presenting video of some dweeb wrapping his phone in duct tape. It's ridicule of the iPhone, but it's ridiculous in and of itself. After seeing stuff like that, it's easier to think the complaints are overhyped or even bullshit.
So I figured I'd try the phone myself. I want the new processor, better camera, etc. and I know from previous experience that Apple is a safe bet to do right by the customer (even more so if I'm within the return period :) ).
Re:I'm curious to what they'll announce (Score:5, Interesting)
I am happy with my iPhone 4, but.... (Score:3, Interesting)
... I will gladly take a handout, in whatever form.
Today I was in a restaurant I go to every week. For the first time ever I actually had a signal in the restaurant. My 3GS never once got a signal here. I didn't try holding my iPhone with my left hand, but I don't doubt I would have lost the signal had I done so, because it was only 1 bar. I was able to browse the web (a bit slowly) and even play a 48 kbps AAC+ audio stream while doing so.
So, sure, pick it up with my left hand or otherwise bridge the gap and I'm sure I'd have had had no signal, but then that's exactly what I had before regardless of how I held it or didn't hold it with the 3GS - no signal. The iPhone 4 gave me a signal as long as I was careful not to bridge the gap. I don't see how you can view that as worse. Maybe if worse = better, then it was indeed worse.
If you read other recent posts of mine you'll see that I've had similar experiences all over the place. My iPhone 4 picks up a signal in more places, and the signal is usable and reliable in more places. It is a better phone.
Now... I will be happy if they announce a fix, perhaps requiring a recall. If they are going to make the phone even better, I'm all for that. Also I'll be happy if they say we get a $30 credit at the Apple store too. Sounds good to me. I'll also be fine if they just say that people are reporting that they are happy with the phone, because I am very happy with mine. Actually, no, I'll be disappointed, because who doesn't want a handout?