Apple iPhone news

[sparcboxbuck]

Just got email from the wife... mine is waiting at home in IL while I'm sitting here in FL.

:)

 

[jlb1705]

Lots of problems showing up with iPhone 4s. Needless to say, if you just bought one, don't drop it.

Design Test Note: Fragile Beauty

 

[buckeyefool]

Lots of problems showing up with iPhone 4s. Needless to say, if you just bought one, don't drop it.

Design Test Note: Fragile Beauty

I like how the answer to fixing the antenna problem is either hold it a different way or buy a 30 dollar case for it.

 

[CentralMOBuck]

How's a case going to solve the problems if you hold it the same way as before?

 

[buckeyefool]

How's a case going to solve the problems if you hold it the same way as before?

I don't know ask Apple, they are the ones who gave that answer :) I know it has something to do with the way people hold it in their left hand that blocks something...not sure what, but again that was apples answer to the problem.

 

[jlb1705]

How's a case going to solve the problems if you hold it the same way as before?

Supposedly the problem stems from the conductivity of your own skin and the way it bridges a gap in the steel band when you hold the phone. The case breaks that circuit.

Still, I'm amused by Apple's knee-jerk reaction that it couldn't possibly be a design flaw and a failure to thoroughly test the device. Their response basically amounts to this:

EDIT: Apple's "case" is being called a "bumper". It's basically a Livestrong bracelet that wraps around the edge of your phone and costs twenty-nine times as much. The "bumper" name is key - because apparently you need it not just to get wireless reception, but also to keep the phone's glass from shattering. I've seen this before with other strengthened glass like the kind used to make glass shower stalls and such - you can pretty much abuse the flat sides of it, but if it sustains even mild to moderate impact on one of its edges, it gets obliterated.

 

[jlb1705]

Steve Jobs Shows Cool Antenna Trick to Russian President

 

[CentralMOBuck]

Anyone ever jailbroken an iphone? My little brother wants to do it to his 3g. Does the phone still sync with itunes and do the apps that come with it still work?

 

[fanaticbuckeye]

Anyone ever jailbroken an iphone? My little brother wants to do it to his 3g. Does the phone still sync with itunes and do the apps that come with it still work?

All the native apps, sync, and downloaded apps still work exactly as before. Jailbreaking just opens up additional apps (and other system shortcuts, fixes, hacks, etc) that Apple does not sanction.

 

[Mac]

I'm having a hell of a time with my email since ios4.0 on my 3GS. This morning I had 1 email in my inbox, but it said I had 9, and it wouldn't even show that 1 email for a few hours. Annoying.

 

[jwinslow]

The Best Semi-Solutions for iPhone 4 Reception Problems So Far

Apple has explained that the iPhone 4 reception issues end when people just plain stop holding their devices the wrong way:

If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band.
​

This explanation does fit with the user reports we've received, but the solution isn't exactly comfortable. It's awkward to avoid touching the antenna points on the iPhone—especially because the glass on the phone's back and front is extremely slippery. The bottom portion of the phone just seems like a natural place to hold the iPhone 4 in order to avoid dropping the gadget.
The additional problem is that when you hold a phone for data usage—browsing or apps or email—you're going to almost have to touch the bottom and sides at the same time. Especially in landscape mode. This is a major problem for smartphones.

Solutions (explanations/pics left out):

Use Apple's Bumper Case
Use A Third-Party Case or Skin
Use A Rubber Band
Cover the Antenna Points With Tape
Paint Over the Antenna Points With Nail Polish
...
All These Solutions Are Terrible[/quote]

 

[jwinslow]

iPhone 4 Review

Extremely long, entertaining and solid review by the infamous Jason Chen (gizmodo editor/blogger arrested for obtaining and reviewing the stolen iphone months ago)

Then frustration and practicality set in. Why are there more pixels if I can't see more stuff on the screen? Why are there the same same seven rows of text messages and eight rows of items in the iPod app I saw three years ago when there are four times as many pixels? Photos and videos are great, and text is sharp, but UI elements need to be updated. Only having five emails simultaneously visible is a shame on this screen. At least give me the option.

But the display itself is still better. It has more pixels in a smaller space than all the other phones I've ever used. It's sharp. Tiny text is readable, and everything is just better. I take it outside. It's no brighter, or more visible in the sun, but everything looks great. What more could I ask from a screen?

When looking at the screen, I get the same sensation I do when finishing the last slice of ice cream cake: I want more of it.

As something carried around nearly at all times, I understand the need for a case. People drop things. Keys are absentmindedly shoved, thrown and scraped across its surface. Phones need to be set down. But the iPhone is in more danger of being irreparably damaged than its predecessors. Many previously fine resting surfaces are now verboten. A case might now be mandatory.

Yet to acquire a case would admit defeat. This aesthetic?industrial glass and steel?was meant to be the iPhone's public face. It was never supposed to be stifled by plastic to spare it from harm, or wrapped with rubber to shield the antennas from human interference. If the iPhone were meant to have a case, it would ship with a case. Attached. Out of the box.

Finally, a mass-market video calling device that's going to have enough built-in audience to actually have a chance at success. It's fun. Useful. Futuristic. Easy. My parents could do this. (Until they can't, and have to ask me for help.)
...
The camera and screen are so close that they create the illusion of a camera behind Matt's eyes?so I really feel like we're talking face to face. When Skyping someone on a laptop, they're always looking at me on their screen?away from their webcam. I say goodbye to Matt. The next time I expect to see his face in a phone conversation will probably be in 2011. Voice is enough for most. He's not my wife.

On a drive in a car that's not my own to a place I don't recognize, the Nexus One is along for the ride. There's no free, usable and decent turn-by-turn bundled with the iPhone 4.

The alternative? Fifty bucks for an app. I don't have fifty bucks. Not for this shit. Especially not when my normal car has navigation. The iPhone has been capable of turn-by-turn directions since the 3G added a GPS chip. It's time for a better solution?from Apple.

Can you show me that video chat thing?" "I can't. There's no Wi-Fi here."

Frustration? Anger? Embarrassment? None of the above. I feel like I've let someone down.

There was no limitation in Star Trek. Riker didn't have to have a hotspot set up in order to chat from Farpoint Station. James Bond doesn't have to locate a Starbucks to talk to Q. Batman doesn't...Batman doesn't do anything he doesn't want to. Because it was 70 years ago, Dick Tracy had the entire AT&T network all to himself to make video calls.

More than once my test subjects surprised that I'm switching back and forth between standard hold and speakerphone. The dual-microphone noise cancellation setup makes a huge difference for filtering ambient noises from a speakerphone. But regular calls aren't much better than before, seeing as I'm not surrounded by vuvuzelas.

I keep hearing variations of the same anecdote when discussing iMovie for iPhone 4. "You could barely edit movies on a computer ten years ago."
My head bobs in agreement. Very true. I'm surprised at how quick it is, joining clips, adding themes, making titles and transitions. Exporting? Takes about as long as the clip is, on average resolution.

I discover that the only way to get the full 720p video from my phone to YouTube is putting it on a computer first. Dreams of shooting HD videos from the field, over that faster HSUPA upload, and not having to do extra post-processing at a computer later have vanished. Why would I edit on iMovie on a phone if I have to dump the resulting file onto a computer to upload at full-resolution anyway?

Is this AT&T's doing again?

It's six minutes into the call. The iPhone 4 is smarter, choosing towers that can actually handle calls, rather than just the one with the strongest signal.

The last time I charged the phone was yesterday morning, and it's already past noon today. 20%?not bad. Better than the 3GS, because the battery is bigger. Still, good thing I turned off Bluetooth.

The home screen. The volume buttons. The power button. The screen itself. Everything is crisper, sharper, more angular. All softness is gone. The rounded back, an awkward turtle-shell of necessity, is out. It's hard. It is a hard phone. Thirty times harder than plastic, as the too-often repeated marketing phrase goes. But hard still shatters, as our own intern Ryan saw.

It was designed this way. It's probably a mistake.

The engineers have lost. The industrial designers have won.

Antenna problems, confirmed by Apple themselves, are the symptom of a problem that goes into the heart of Apple's product process. Right brain won over left brain. We all suffer.

I'm making a call, trying to adjust myself to the phone, holding it at the top instead of the bottom, so as to not jeopardize reception. What happened to Apple's iPad marketing, where the device adjust itself to you? Why am I changing the way I've held cellphones for the last decade to avoid a design issue? It feels foreign. It feels like I might drop my phone.

 

[jlb1705]

All in all, I'm happy I got the 3GS a month ago and downloaded iOS 4.0 rather than waiting for an iPhone 4.

I don't have to worry about my phone's durability or how I hold it, and the only practical thing I'm really missing is the better camera. I don't really miss the better screen - it's not THAT much better. Also, I have no use for FaceTime.

 

[Mac]

All in all, I'm happy I got the 3GS a month ago and downloaded iOS 4.0 rather than waiting for an iPhone 4.

I don't have to worry about my phone's durability or how I hold it, and the only practical thing I'm really missing is the better camera. I don't really miss the better screen - it's not THAT much better. Also, I have no use for FaceTime.

I feel the same...although if I did get myself an iphone 4, I probably would have used one of my Livestrong bands around the outside.

 

[THEWOOD]

I think the screen is 100x better than previous iPhones. Everything is faster on this phone, especially when using Wi-Fi. I am right handing but I would always hold my previous iPhone in my left hand and do the typing with the right. Now I cannot do that, very frustrating. Its crazy I can be searching on safari or reading facebook/twitter and i will notice when I hold the phone in my left hand the signal will drop, then I switch and it immediately comes back. I also am scared to death to drop, scratch, break this phone. I still have not taken the plastic it was shipped with on the back off. I went to by a case yesterday and the Apple store was sold out. Great.

Saying all that I would not want any other phone. I love this phone.