An Unprecedented Look At Apple's "Black Labs" 125
An anonymous reader writes "Apple recently granted ABC Nightline unprecedented access to its secretive 'black labs' where it puts upcoming products through exhaustive testing."
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An Unprecedented Look At Apple's "Black Labs"
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Re:Hey look, damage reduction! (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple's demo videos seem faked. I have a friend with a Droid X and another with an Eris (I personally have a Nexus One - which is very similar to the Eris) - both of which seem to have negligible signal loss no matter how I hold them (at first using their video as a reference). Eris dropped a whopping 6 db signal when I held both hands around the bottom of the phone - and I have really sweaty hands most of the time. There really is no way to just hold the phone like normal or even abnormal and go from full signal to zero.
The Droid-X actually has two antennas - one at the top and bottom - holding both had similar effect.
I've only been able to handle one iPhone 4 - and just touching the two antennas on the gap for me (again sweaty hands) causes reasonably large signal loss (I really don't know because unlike Android the iPhone doesn't have an actual s-meter buried anywhere it seems).
Re:Considering ... (Score:3, Interesting)
I would not be surprised if one manufacturing plant in China has a poor Quality Control or Quality Assurance division that just is not doing their job. I've seen pictures of iPhones with reversed volume controls on the side, and this lends to that explanation, and to Apple's personal assurances that they've thoroughly tested these phones. A coating of some sort should be sufficient to abrogate any conductivity, and it does not make sense that Apple did not think of that. I might return and take a look at the batch numbers on the back of the iPhones I played with in the store. I'm still not buying one, because I have no idea if I'm going to get one that works or one that does not, and I'm not playing games with the return people. By the time they get it sorted out, if ever, the Next Big Thing will probably be out. I still own the original iPhone, because nothing has seemed worth the upgrade yet.
That's a big claim... faked (Score:5, Interesting)
This is not a defense of Apple, but a statement about how large corporations work. I seriously doubt that the videos were completely faked. As with anything, the results can be spun or manipulated, but there has to be a least a shred of truth, or the lawyer attack dogs would be out by now.
Apple basically called out every single smartphone developer and said "you all suck too!" and posted videos to "prove" it. Those companies all responded so far with nothing but the same tired PR statements. If Apple was actually slandering these other phones and faked the results entirely, I'm sure these companies would love to have some extra cash plus a chance to smear one of their biggest competitors.
Now, Apple's video proof is mostly annecdotal since it's one phone and one hand. Yours is too, however. I know people who say they can't make the Apple Antenna issue happen on the iPhone 4, and I see videos on Youtube posted both before and after the iPhone 4 that point out signal loss issues with other smartphones. All of this evidence is, again, annecdotal.
From a scientific standpoint, you have to admit Apple's doing a good job of basically trying to throw a bunch of "proof" out there and making people pick thru it. It stirs in just enough doubt to make everyone stop and think. The hard core haters and fanboys won't change their mind, but this is like election politics, it's not about swaying everyone, just trying to tilt the balance in their favor.
Re:Hey look, damage reduction! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Considering the stink about iPhone4 (Score:3, Interesting)
Uh oh, I made one of them mad. Hopefully he didn't spill his organic espresso on his vintage Ramones t-shirt, or his underemployed coworkers down at the indie record store will make fun of him.
Out of the two macs I've owned, one ultimately died because the power supply burnt out (which has never happened with any of the dozen or so PCs I've owned in my life), and the other, a macbook, stopped sending data to the screen because of a poorly designed hinge (Apple fixed it once, but would not fix it the second time it happened).
And maybe I WILL play Halo when I get home. It's an excellent game.
Re:That's a big claim... faked (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a very good idea as to how marketing works, I used to work for a marketing^W, sorry Corporate Communications company.
It is far easier to fake the results you want then to go through an elaborate testing procedure and attempt to spin everything. When we need a picture that conveys a certain message we'll send it to the photoshop guys rather then waiting for the right time of day, hoping the weather is OK, meticulously establishing a set, taking a dozen pictures and hoping one is usable.
Faking images is standard operating procedure. I have no doubt the significant drop in bars was a complete fabrication. Apple could not afford to play this one by chance and seeing as no-one has been able to replicated the issue as Apple presented it I doubt the results they showed were real.