Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on August 15, 2011
Antenna-Aid Makes iPhone Reception All Better
“Apple made a boo-boo. Make it all better.” So reads the excellent tagline for the Antenna-Aid, a vinyl sticker for the iPhone 4 which covers the troublesome spot on the phone’s antenna-strip and may or may not improve reception.
The stickers, which come in a six-pack for $5, “work like magical” and a come in “colors you can see with the human retina.” What’s not to like? They’re even printed to look like band-aids, although their efficacy is not certain: The blurb states that the stickers are “for entertainment purposes only.”
Kidding aside, I’m interested in one of these to solve an iPad problem. Any snug, slide-in case for the iPad catches on the orientation-lock switch, which could conceivably cause some damage after a while. Currently I have a scrap Scotch-tape over the switch, but why use that when I can spend $5 on an Antenna-Aid?
Antenna Aid [Antenn-aid via Twitter]
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 20, 2010
Video: Hilarious Animated Synopsis of iPhone 4 Saga
There’s really nothing I can say to make this amazing video any more entertaining. It really is the best thing a tech-nerd like you or me is going to see not today, but this week. A recreation of the entire iPhone story compressed into two hilarious minutes, the CGI-animation from Taiwanese NMA News characterizes Steve Jobs as a be-cowled Darth Vader and AT&T as a literal ball-and-chain around customers’ ankles.
I really don’t want to spoil the surprises, so just watch for Steve’s solution to the antenna problem (inspired by Alexander the Great?), and the police raid on the “Jason Chen residence.” Fantastic stuff. One warning. Put your coffee, or any other liquids, down, and away from the computer. You will spill them.
Reality distortion field remains strong with Steve Jobs after antenna-gate [NMA News on YouTube via ]
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 19, 2010
Inside Apple’s Antenna Design Lab
After a press conference Friday addressing the iPhone 4’s antenna, Apple gave journalists a private tour of its radio-frequency test facility to provide a glimpse into the process of designing wireless products such as iPhones and iPads.
Led by Ruben Caballero, a senior engineer and antenna expert at Apple, the tour gave about 10 reporters and bloggers a peek at Apple’s custom-built wireless testing lab, which consists of several anechoic chambers to measure frequency of each device in various settings.
The tour was held after a press conference, in which Steve Jobs attempted to mitigate a media thunderstorm surrounding the iPhone 4’s purportedly flawed antenna by offering free cases to customers. During the conference, Jobs reinforced his original position that every phone has reception issues when held in certain ways, and he said a flawed software algorithm was making the iPhone 4’s attenuation look worse than it actually was.
Apple called the lab a “black” lab because it was a secret facility that even some employees were unaware of. The company made the lab public to show the world that Apple takes antenna design and wireless testing seriously.
“This is the most advanced lab for doing RF studies that anyone in the world has,” said Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing at Apple. “The designs we do wouldn’t be possible without it.”
Each test chamber is lined with blue pyramid-shaped styrofoam designed to absorb radio-frequency radiation. A robotic arm holding gadgets such as iPads and iPhones spins 360 degrees while a piece of analytics software (ironically running on Windows XP) visualizes the wireless activity of each device. Caballero said each gadget is run through a chamber for at least 24 hours.
In another process Apple also has people sitting inside test chambers, holding a device for about 30 minutes while software analyzes its wireless performance to evaluate its interactions with the human body.Synthetic heads, hands and even feet (think Nike +) are used for some of these tests as well.
Apple’s testing lab looks similar to Celecom’s cellphone radiation testing lab that Wired.com visited last year. Manufacturers who create wireless products must gain certification from an independent lab, which verifies that each device meets acceptable radiation standards set by the Federal Communications Commission.
The difference with Apple is it built its own lab for the sake of having full, granular oversight on the design (and redesign) of its products. Prototypes go through several iterations and tests before they’re finalized into Apple products. (Of course, having its own lab also helps Apple better guard its secrets.)
Before the iPhone 4 became an official product, prototypes of the device were tested in chambers for about two years until Apple settled on a design, Caballero said.
“It’s not trivial to design antennas,” said Caballero, reminiscing on the days older antennas had a single frequency.
After “passive” testing of devices inside isolated chambers, eventually Apple engineers drive around a large van containing synthetic hands gripping gadgets, with a laptop in the back running wireless analytics software to determine how the devices perform in real-world settings. Sometimes humans sit in the car seats holding the devices, too. During the tour, Apple showed a van containing a table full of synthetic hands gripping iPhone 4 devices.
“To do the most challenging design in the world, this is what we have to do,” said Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of Macintosh hardware. “This is hardcore stuff.”
Apple earlier today also posted a description and video of its test lab.
Photos courtesy of Apple
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 17, 2010
Amid Media Meltdown, Apple Holds iPhone 4 Press Conference
Negative press about the iPhone 4 spiraled out of control after Consumer Reports said it could not recommend the device because of its faulty antenna. And now Apple has invited select journalists to its Cupertino campus, presumably to set the record straight in a press conference beginning 10 a.m. PT Friday.
When the iPhone 4 hit stores June 24, numerous anecdotal reports spread across the web with customers claiming that covering the lower-left gap of the phone caused a significant drop in reception, as signified by cellular bars.
In a letter to customers, Apple said the reception loss was an optical illusion caused by a software algorithm that was making the cellular bars exaggerate the iPhone 4’s signal strength.
Later, a few bloggers and Consumer Reports replicated the problem with testing and concluded that the iPhone 4’s external antenna design was more susceptible to signal degradation (when held the “wrong” way) compared to other phones.
That conclusion compelled Consumer Reports to give an ugly “can’trecommend” to the iPhone 4 giving a big black eye to Apple, whose products traditionally earn high ratings from reviewers across the board. Duly, Apple’s stock dropped nearly 8 percent on Wednesday morning.
When inviting members of the press to the event, Apple only said the topic was “iPhone 4″ and gave no further details. Some journalists have predicted that Apple would reinforce its stance that the device’s antenna issues are related to software, and not hardware, which would eliminate the need for a recall. There’s a chance, too, that Apple will offer customers free bumpers if they report experiencing the antenna issue.
That scenario would be the most obvious, but there’s still room for surprise. Apple historically has never held a press conference amid a flurry of negative press, so anyone’s guess is as good as ours.
Wired.com will be providing news coverage of the conference in Cupertino. We’ll keep updating this post as the event unravels, so stay tuned.
Photo of Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 16, 2010
Bloomberg: Steve Jobs Was Warned About iPhone 4 Antenna
Steve Jobs was tipped off by Apple’s wireless expert about potential antenna problems of the iPhone 4 early in its design phase, according to Bloomberg.
Ruben Caballero, a senior engineer and antenna expert at Apple, told executives that the device’s external antenna design could lead to reception problems, a source told Bloomberg. The publication also cited a carrier partner who voiced similar concerns about the design. Both sources wished to remain anonymous.
Apple did not immediately return a request for comment.
Though the iPhone 4 has received positive reviews from critics, the device’s antenna design has repeatedly been under fire in the press. The device sports an external antenna contained in a steel band laced around the phone, and several customers and bloggers have reported that covering a gap in the lower-left corner causes reception loss, sometimes resulting in dropped calls.
Bloomberg’s report suggests that Jobs was well aware of a possible problem but steadfastly went forward with the new design.
It seems plausible that Caballero would voice such concern, because when the iPhone 4 was announced, a few antenna experts predicted that the external design would cause issues.
In response to the first wave of complaints, Apple’s press relations team published a letter claiming that the iPhone 4 was exaggerating both the highs and lows of its signal strength due to a software calibration issue. The company promised that a software update would remedy the problem.
However, the tipping point occurred when Consumer Reports said it could not recommend the iPhone 4 after running extensive lab tests and confirming that the iPhone 4 was more susceptible to attenuation than other handsets.
Late Wednesday evening, Apple PR invited select members of the press to attend a Friday press conference regarding the iPhone 4. The company did not share further details on what would be announced.
In an editorial, Wired.com staff argued that Apple should fix the hardware issue in future shipments of the product, as well as offer affected customers free cases or bumpers.
Wired.com will be covering Apple’s press conference Friday beginning at 10 a.m. PT. Stay tuned.
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 15, 2010
iPhone Update Fixes Antenna Issue… With Bigger Bars
Apple has made a beta version of iOS 4.1 available to developers and it includes revised modem firmware which addresses the infamous antenna problem. How? By making the bars on the signal indicator bigger.
The image above was put together by MacRumors forum member Macduke. By taking before and after screenshots of the bars and combining them in Photoshop, Macduke came up with the graphic you see. You can clearly spot the difference in the first three bars. The smallest is now twice its original height, presumably indicating that the signal strength has doubled (kidding!).
This is the change that Apple promised in its press release about the iPhone 4’s antenna. Here’s the relevant part, which comes right after Apple admits it was displaying too many bars to make reception look better:
To fix this, we are adopting AT&Ts recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhones bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see. [emphasis added]
The new modem firmware is numbered 02.07.01 (the old one was 01.59.00), and may or may not improve actual reception. It seems unlikely that iOS 4.1 will be released to the public as soon as Friday (when Apple has an iPhone 4 press conference scheduled), as the update doesn’t just contain a modem fix but also brings new features: the Game Center game rankings app, along with tweaks to the spell check (you can switch it off) which will need to run through the usual rounds of beta testing.
Apple could release another, smaller update, and there are rumors to support that. Apple blog Razorianfly reports that there may be a 4.0.1 update, and this could come as soon as Friday.
It’s going to take some fancy PR footwork by Apple quieten the increasingly mainstream chatter about iPhone 4 signal strength, but if anyone has the PR department capable of such a feat it is Apple. I’m of the opinion that the new antenna design is actually better, and that Apple simply got busted for finessing the bars to make the signal look better.
Signal graphic [MacRumors Forums]
Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4 [Apple Press]
iOS 4.1 Beta Includes Apple’s Announced Signal Bar Changes [MacRumors]
iOS 4.1 (Beta 1) Now Available Worldwide [Razorianfly via Mac Stories]
Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 15, 2010
Consumer Reports: iPhone 4 Best Smartphone Despite Antenna Issues
The iPhone Death-Grip may be getting all the press, but it isn’t enough to stop Apple’s latest handset from knocking it out of the park in Consumer Reports’ latest smartphone round-up.
As honey-voiced Gadget Lab editor Dylan Tweney wrote yesterday, the antenna issues, which causes the iPhone 4’s signal to drop calamitously when it is held wrong, led Consumer Reports to say that it “cannot recommend” the phone to buyers.
Yet despite this seemingly fatal flaw, the iPhone 4 still tops the new Smart Phones Rating chart which was also published yesterday, ahead of BlackBerries and Android devices. What’s going on?
Apple got points for pretty much everything else on the new handset, from the front-facing camera to “sharpest display and best video camera we’ve seen on any phone”. The Consumer Reports blog post also points out the battery life (which bests the already high-scoring iPhone 3G) and the new game friendly gyroscope. Most of these features can already be found on many other phones. Consumer Reports just points out that Apple is implementing them better than anyone else.
These scores, along with Consumer Reports’ own fix for the Death Grip (a strip of gaffer tape), show that you may as well ignore griping about the antenna. I imagine that actual calls are a tiny part of iPhone usage anyway. You’ll need to pay to access the full smartphone report, and the teaser image on the front page seems to still be showing a previous report where the 8GB iPhone 3G is on top.
Lab tests: Why Consumer Reports can’t recommend the iPhone 4 [Consumer Reports]
Photo: Yutaka Tsutano
Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 13, 2010
