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Posts Tagged ‘antenna’

iPhone 4 Debacle: Steve Jobs Needs Better PR

July 20th, 2010 Liam No comments

According to Gary Marshall of Tech Radar, “maybe Steve (Jobs) should blog”.

The man has a point, not that Steve Jobs needs to start blogging sometime soon (though that would work too), but that Apple needs to change the way it interacts with the world.

Sure, they make decent enough products to become one of the largest developer-manufacturers in the world, but that does not mean that the world likes them. Steve Jobs has personally earned a reputation in the industry as the cranky old man who has a distorted view of reality, and the folks at Cupertino under him are not falling far from the Apple tree (and yes, pun intended).

They even went as far as telling the world that they forgo having PR, which is why they take things to a personal level –which is outright unprofessional and bad for their company. They have the option of taking things personally, but that does not mean they can lash out in the very same way.

It would be silly to believe that they have taken 22 days tackling the iPhone 4’s antenna issue and have only come up with such a crude solution. While a free iPhone case has been on the list of solutions early on, it is not something that a company that considers itself a rival to Microsoft and Google would waste so much time on.

There is no excuse that is acceptable at this point. While users will certainly appreciate a full refund, this does not bode well for those avid Apple supporters who have been hoping to use the iPhone 4. These people have remained loyal users to the Cupertino based company, and are willing to stick it out even with a faulty smart phone, and the best that Apple can do is a cheap free case (not even the slightly better looking iPhone bumper).

Apple Should Have Listened to Their Engineers

July 19th, 2010 Liam No comments

Just about a week ago, it was made known that Apple was looking for antenna experts and engineers. At that point, the clamor over the antenna issue was still at a low point and nobody had been pestering the Cupertino based company to move into action. Now, it appears that all the lights are on Apple as over a million iPhone 4 users wait what the decision of the company may be in regards to solving the antenna issue that is plaguing iPhone 4 users.

Recent reports indicate that this all could have been avoided at a much earlier point before the device has been mass produced: Apple was already warned by their own employees that the antenna had design issues.

According to unnamed sources from within Apple, senior engineer Ruben Caballero had already identified the issue early on –presumably, during the testing phases of the prototype. He already aired the issue to superiors, including Steve Jobs (whom we can all assume responded by telling Ruben that he was simply “holding the phone wrong”).

Now it seems that Apple has been taking their people for granted and getting in on the action now is a little too late.

Naturally, Engineer Ruben is not allowed to talk to the public on behalf of Apple, but we certainly would want to know what Apple’s initial reasons were for completely ignoring the warning. In the end, the iPhone 4 ended up with one of the biggest design blunders that have ever happened to the smart phone industry.

For those who have never heard of the iPhone 4 antenna issue, here is a quick summary of the problem. Basically, the iPhone 4’s antenna comes with a weak point –and when this point comes into contact with human touch, it will not be able to receive signals from the network.

Why Apple Should not be Having Problems with the iPhone 4

July 12th, 2010 Liam No comments

It is surprising about how Apple tends to keep beating around the bush with all the possible solutions they can take. Instead of just providing what might be the most logical solution to the situation, they would actually bring out an open letter that only serves as a quick distraction from the issue.

This is the case with the antenna problem, and that is just one of the many things that people find wrong with the iPhone 4. The list of problems is actually much longer, and according got a couple of recent reports two more major issues are about to be added to the list.

Of course, the new problems can be talked about some other time. The issue here is that the iPhone still has other pre-existing issues that need to be addressed.

The first, as mentioned is the antenna issue. The solution is actually quite simply: give people free iPhone bumpers. The accessory is already available worldwide, using it is easy and yes, it actually solves the antenna issue. But instead of taking in a quick loss on the bumpers (because Apple sold so many iPhones), they would rather people be amazed at how low their signal strength is and forget that calls are being dropped.

Another issue is the lack of free sat nav services. Nokia’s Ovi Maps and Google’s Maps already give users that much freedom, but Apple is tied up to TomTom. Skobbler, a new sat nav app, provides free navigation freedom without any issues. Of course, there is no telling how such an app could affect other sat nave based iTunes content.

For those who feel that FaceTime is a big slap in the face of the new front facing camera, they can opt to have their video chats held on Fring. This impressive little social networking app is the best way to connect with friends and families.

Apple’s iPhone Antenna Solution: Fix the Signal Meter

July 8th, 2010 Liam No comments

At the moment, a great number of people in the tech industry are at a loss on how to react to Apple’s solution to the antenna issue that has been bugging many iPhone 4 users.

According to Apple, the situation is a big misunderstanding. Apparently, the iPhone 4’s signal meter (as well as the signal meter on the other iPhones) is showing the wrong information. The meter is actually giving out two bars more than what the actual signal strength is. By this argument, Apple states that the reason why people are losing calls is simply because they are in an area with bad network reception.

While there is plenty of logic in what Apple is stating there are certain assumed facts from users about their complaints.

First off, people who were having their calls dropped are not in areas of low reception. While this is not specifically stated, it is the status quo. In fact, it is uncommon for people to be in a location with no or weak reception; which is what they would be more likely point out if that was the truly case. This alone defeats Apple’s ‘low reception area’ approach -after all, if people were truly in an area with low reception, they would not be complaining about dropped calls in the first place.

The underlying part of Apple’s argument is that if people are given the wrong data (which is basically why they say that the signal meter is not accurate), then there is no way for them to know that they have bad reception. That is assuming that the only devices the iPhone 4 owners have used are the previous iPhone models. But that is not the case. There are plenty of new Apple users, who have experienced the problem, and it is likely that they have attempted to make calls in areas that they know –through other models- have a decent network reception.