GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Now that Apple has shut everybody up about the iPhone 4 antenna with free cases, it faces another potential problem: Those cases could potentially cause damage to the handset’s glass body, according to Ryan Block of GDGT.

Block, a well-sourced tech journalist who was formerly chief of Engadget, claims sources both inside and outside Apple told him that Apple retail stores have stopped selling third-party iPhone cases that slide on to the iPhone 4. These cases are prone to particulate matter getting stuck between the case and the rear of the phone, causing unexpected scratching that can lead to cracking of the glass, Block said.

“To put it another way: Apple is afraid you might buy a standard slide-on iPhone case, put it on your phone, and then discover the next time you take it off that the entire back of your device has been shattered by no fault of your own,” Block wrote in a post Thursday afternoon.

Defusing conspiracy theorists, Block added that halting third-party iPhone case sales is not in Apple’s best interest: accessories that have been approved byApple’s “Made for iPhone” program give a chunk of their sales (10 to 15 percent) to Apple in exchange for shelf room at Apple stores.

Despite its hot sales and glowing reviews, the iPhone 4 has seen its share of problems. Shortly after the handset’s July release, many consumers independently reported that covering the gap in the lower-left corner of the device caused significant signal loss. The media piled on this phenomenon, and in response, Apple’s Steve Jobs held a press conference to address concerns by offering free third-party cases to alleviate the issue (an offer that has since expired). The episode has been dubbed “Antennagate.”

Separately, the white model of the iPhone 4 still has not shipped, and Apple has not provided an explanation for the delay.

Weeks after the Antennagate press conference, The New York Times reported the departure of Mark Papermaster, the Apple executive in charge of the iPhone’s hardware. Multiple publications independently heard his departure was a firing over hardware issues related to the iPhone 4, which seems plausible when you consider that the mysterious delay of the white iPhone 4, the Antennagate fiasco and the new potential problem with the iPhone 4’s glass.

Apple did not immediately return a request for comment.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

"Happy Christmas Everybody!" by allerleirau/flickr. Used gratefully via a Creative Commons license

New e-readers, new tablets, and new game console accessories are all wonderful, but even in a down economy, just keeping up with demand will be a serious challenge for many gadget retailers — especially as we get closer to the holidays.

Over at Teleread, Chris Meadows looks at order-to-ship times for two hot gadgets, the Kindle 3 and the iPad. The new Kindle is being staggered out to customers according to when they were ordered (dates from Amazon’s Kindle Community Forum via KindleWorld):

• Orders placed before 8 p.m. Pacific Time on August 1st will still ship by the August 27th release date.
• Orders placed before 10 p.m. Pacific Time on August 5th will ship on or before September 4th.
• Orders placed before 12 p.m. Pacific Time on August 12th will ship on or before September 8th.
• Orders placed after 12 p.m. Pacific Time on August 12th will ship on or before September 12th.

Apparently it’s the new “Pearl” E Ink screens that are the problem; PVI can’t make enough of them for Amazon to ship its Kindles out the door, especially since other companies are clamoring for the screens too.

The iPad, however, which had crazy wait times for months after launch, is finally meeting demand. “Apple basically ran out of product the first weekend and didn’t catch up for months,” Fortune reports: “The iPad 3G launch had to be pushed back, the international roll-out postponed by a month, and shipping delays at Apple’s online store reached as much as three weeks (15 business days).”

But now Apple can ship iPads within 24 hours. iPhone 4? Not so much. Will they be able to keep it up through December? Can Amazon catch up? If demand remains high, it’s not a bad problem to have.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Remember when we actually used to carry a little black book? It may not have actually been black, but a little pocket notebook was essential if you wanted to remember a phone number, address or any of the snippets that today make their way into our cellphones. But what if you could combine the aesthetic of a leather-look book with the power of your phone? With the Little Black Book for the iPhone 4, you can.

The pocketable Moleskine-alike looks like a miniature version of several faux-book iPad cases and is in fact the little brother of the The Case, and iPad cover from Minneapolis-based Pad & Quill. The book comprises a wooden frame (birch) and a cardboard cover swathed in simulated leather. A bookmark-ribbon also sits in the case, but lies underneath the iPhone 4. One tug and the iPhone is popped free of the retaining corners and can be removed.

Yes, I made my own iPod Touch case from a real Moleskine notebook, but it hasn’t fared so well. If I wasn’t the kind of guy who goes commando with any gadget small enough to slide straight into a pocket, I’d probably consider this $40 case over trying to make another one myself.

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The Little Black Book [Pad & Quill]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Not only does a “death grip” cut into your phone’s ability to connect, it also increases the amount of radio-frequency radiation it’s pumping out.

Now you can see exactly how much more radiation your head is absorbing, with an app that estimates the RF output of your smartphone in real time.

Israeli mobile software company Tawkon Monday released a video that shows its app measuring the impact a “death grip” can have on a mobile device’s radiation. Using the app, an iPhone 4, BlackBerry Bold, and Google Nexus One all show a significant increase in RF radiation when held tightly in the user’s palm.

That’s to be expected: Whenever a cellphone has difficulty connecting with a cell tower, it increases its RF output in order to maintain the connection. Anything that interferes with that connection — be it a death grip, stepping into an elevator, or locating yourself in a low-signal area — will increase any phone’s RF output.

So is Tawkon suggesting that the infamous “death grip” can actually be detrimental to the user’s health?

“Tawkon doesnt advocate that the death grip is necessarily unsafe, because final answers on the health ramifications of mobile phone usage wont be known for decades, until researchers have had that time to track long-term usage and impact,” Tawkon co-founder Amit Lubovsky told Wired. ”However, recent studies do indicate a health impact of mobile phone radiation on mobile phone users, especially on people whose usage is termed excessive and cumulative. Until the long-term studies are concluded (decades from now), Tawkon believes consumers should have the right and ability to minimize their exposure to mobile phone radiation.”

Most ongoing studies cannot yet draw a causal link between cell phone usage and physical disorders, and Tawkon should know, since the company follows many of these studies.

The World Health Organization’s Interphone study, <a href="http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2010/pdfs/pr200_E.pdf
“>released in May, could draw no causal link between glioma/meningioma and cell phone use. However, it noted, “There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma, and much less so meningioma, in the highest decile of cumulative call time, in subjects who reported usual phone use on the same side of the head as their tumour and, for glioma, for tumours in the temporal lobe.”

A 2009 study from the Environmental Working Group measured the radiation from more than 1,200 mobile phone models. While the EWG study could not draw any conclusions as to the risks of mobile phone use, it did provide the beginnings of the group’s database of mobile phones and their emissions.

Currently, the group ranks the Motorola Droid, iPhone 3GS, Google Nexus One, BlackBerry Bold 9700, and Samsung Instinct HD as the top five most radio-emissive phones. All of them, however, fall within the FCC’s acceptable SAR (specific absorption rate) limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram (1.6 W/kg).

The Tawkon application gets all its information about the phone’s radiation from the cellular protocol stack that manages the baseband modem.

“We use this information in the form of different RF parameters extracted from the device itself,” Lubovsky said. “We then take into consideration the proximity of the phone to the user –for example if the phone is held against the users ear or on the users lap– to help determine the actual exposure level at any given time.”

“As part of the production procedure we have, each device goes through a long calibration process in an RF lab prior to its release to make sure that our measurements meet the actual values,” he continued.

Tawkon is only available on the BlackBerry platform via App World, Mobihand, and Handango, but not on Android or iOS as shown in the video.

“It works on the iPhone but were waiting for Apple approval to make it publicly available,” Lubovsky said. “Android is expected to launch very soon.”

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Want a reason to jailbreak your iPhone 4? How about FaceTime calls over 3G?

If you’re comfortable jailbreaking your iPhone by letting a website execute unknown code on it via a browser exploit, then you too could make normally Wi-Fi-only FaceTime video calls over the 3G network. The video above comes from the fine folks at 9to5Mac, and shows the hack in action. As you can see, everything behaves just like a regular Wi-Fi call.

9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman writes that “[the caller] couldn’t tell the difference between the 3G FaceTime call and a WiFi FaceTime call; the quality is that good.” It certainly looks better than previous efforts to route calls over 3G using standalone MiFi routers, but given the state of the AT&T network in the US, and the fact that these high-res video-calls will burn through your precious 2GB data-allowance, it’s hard to see why you’d bother, except for quick chats.

To activate 3G FaceTime, you’ll need to pop into Cydia, the jailbreak app store that is installed when you hack your iPhone. Add a new repository (essentially, you add URL to a new app store section. In this case, the url is http://apt.modmyi.com) and install an app called My3G. After a quick setup, you’re done: just leave My3G running in the background and FaceTime should just work.

Due to briefly rendering my iPad unconscious yesterday in a failed jailbreak attempt, and not having an iPhone 4 with FaceTime, I haven’t tested any of this. If you do, be careful, and leave any tips in the comments.

FaceTime over 3G [9to5Mac]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Despite delays, production troubles and having to deal with the whole antennagate non-issue, Apple has managed to gather enough iPhone 4s together to launch the handset in 17 more countries this Friday (the 6th).

If you live in one of these countries, you can grab the be-camera’ed, hi-res phone and try out the bar-dropping death-grip for yourself:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

Unlike the exclusive AT&T carrier-deal in the US, in many countries Apple is making the iPhone available through multiple carriers. This is a lot easier in Europe, as pretty much all telcos use the same GSM technology. In Spain, for example, the Telefnica exclusive is over, with Vodafone and Orange also selling the handset. Prices, I’m sure, will be all over the place, but at least we’ll have a choice. Y’all might have gotten the iPhone first over there in the US, but you are, for now at least, still stuck with the ever-unpopular AT&T.

iPhone 4 Arrives in 17 More Countries This Friday [Apple]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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

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In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, we discuss the top stories from the world of gadgets.

First up: new technology to bring 3-D to your cellphone’s screen.

It’s not quite fully-baked yet, but as Priya Ganapati reported earlier this week, cellphone manufacturers are already looking into technology that will enable cellphones to sport 3-D displays that don’t require special glasses, much like the Nintendo 3DS screen.

Reports continue to pour in about reception problems with the iPhone 4’s antenna design. We think it’s time Apple fessed up to the problem and fixed it, already. (Note: This podcast was recorded before Apple’s Friday press conference, at which the company admitted to the problem — sort of — and offered free cases to all iPhone 4 customers.)

In addition, Gadget Lab’s Dylan Tweney and Brian X. Chen show off two new headsets: The $60 Jabra Halo and the $80 Nox Audio Specialist.

And then we tackle a few reader questions about 3-D displays, how not to hold an iPhone, and the future of digital tablets.

Like the show? You can also get theGadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you dont want to be distracted by our mugs, check out theGadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Labvideo or audio podcast feeds.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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

Does your Twitter/Facebook/IM avatar suck? The answer is likely to be a resounding “probably”. You need a custom caricature, and being a proper geek, you should get it not from the dodgy street-artist with the portfolio of sample “work” downloaded from the internet, but over the actual internet.

That’s just what Dave Lanham, artist extraordinaire and designer at the Icon Factory (the people behind Twitterific and a lot more besides) is doing. Dave is holding FaceTime calls with his iPhone 4 and drawing the portrait of the person at the other end. The hi-resolution Retina display no doubt helps him to see deep into your soul.

The fun started when Dave broke his foot and was left lounging around the house. His friend Gio Gutierrez (right) volunteered for a portrait and then things just got bigger and bigger. Dave is charging $50 per portrait, which you can then use as your online personality (or print on a T-Shirt, we guess, if you are really narcissistic). The demand is likely to be huge, so even if you can’t get on his list, you should check out Dave’s website, which has time-lapse videos of his work being made.

FaceTime Portraits [Dave Lanham on Flickr]

@dlanham [Twitter]

Dave’s website home-page [Dave Lanham]

Picture credit Dave Lanham (Under Creative Commons)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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

The iPhone 4 antenna problem is real. Apple needs to step up and make things right for the customers affected by it, and that may be what the company plans to do during a last-minute press conference Friday.

The press conference will start 10 a.m. at Apple’s town hall in Cupertino, Calif. Wired.com will provide news coverage of the event. You can also follow follow@gadgetlab or@bxchen on Twitter to stay plugged in to the news in real time.

Multiple independent tests have found that the iPhone 4 was more likely to suffer from attenuation (i.e., signal degradation) compared to similar handsets, when held in a very natural position covering the antenna gap in the lower-left corner.

The tests so far, performed by Consumer Reports and some bloggers, aren’t perfectly scientific, but they are consistent and repeatable. They point to the same inescapable conclusion: The iPhone 4’s antenna issues are related to a hardware design flaw.

That’s not a problem that can be resolved with an upcoming software update to correct the way the iPhone 4 displays signal strength, as Apple has promised.

On top of that, the reader reports about this issue continue to pour in to inboxes of several tech publications, including Wired, Gizmodo and Engadget.

Sure, there are lots of reasons to cheer about the iPhone 4. We like it, too, as shown in Wired.com’s very positive review of the device. In that review we did note the iPhone 4 is not a reliable phone, but a great overall device, particularly if you’re among that growing majority of people who use their phones more for Twitter and e-mail than for talking.

And in our own tests, as well as the reports of many readers, the antenna problem is not especially serious. It is likely that it only affects the minority of iPhone 4 customers, either because of quirks in Apple’s manufacturing process or because those users are in especially weak signal areas.

Still, even if the antenna issues are affecting a minority, the minority population for the iPhone 4 is big. Keep in mind this device is on track to be the best-selling phone ever, with sales topping 1.7 million in the first three days of launch.

Apple has long been a brand respected for excellent customer service and rock-solid industrial design. Wired.com believes that Apple should do the following in order to retain the respectability of its brand and loyalty of customers:

Change the antenna design

A full hardware recall, which an analyst estimates would cost Apple $1.6 billion, isn’t necessary. But at this point, Apple can still remedy the hardware defect in later shipments.

Provide free bumpers

On Apple’s support website, iPhone 4 customers should be able to request a free bumper if they report experiencing the problem. It’s an easy enough fix that’s been confirmed to alleviate the problem, for those who don’t mind wearing an ugly bumper.

Replace the phone for those who ask

If iPhone 4 customers bring their handsets into an Apple Store, they should be able to exchange the device for a newer “fixed” model at no charge, as long as they’re under warranty. We think many users will be satisfied with a free case — in addition to providing antenna insulation, it also protects the iPhone’s two glass faces — but for those who aren’t, a replacement phone is a fair deal.

These steps may cost Apple a lot of money, but it’s the right thing to do. And whatever the cost, it’s nothing relative to the long-term damage that this problem will inflict on Apple, if it goes unfixed.

For proof, look no further than the billions of dollars in market capitalization that Apple has shed since the iPhone 4 launch. There’s no clearer sign that the market wants this problem fixed, and now.

We agree.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

In this week’s Gadget Lab video podcast, Brian X. Chen and Priya Ganapati touch on more wireless woes reported by iPhone users. Apparently in some cities the iPhone’s upload speeds were slowing down to a crawl. AT&T has responded and said the drop was due to a software bug that will be addressed but not before angry conspiracy-theorist customers accused the telecom company of purposely capping speeds for the device.

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In brighter news, Ganapati shares her hands-on experience with the Dell Streak, a 5-inch touchscreen tablet device that feels like a supersized smartphone. Perhaps this Dell is aiming to offer a tablet that will actually fit in a woman’s purse unlike the iPad?

And looking further in the future, Chen talks about recent credible rumors that the Apple TV may be getting a software overhaul to run iOS, the same operating system that powers iPhones and iPads. Such a change would pose interesting implications for videogames, TV apps and more.

Like the show? You can also get theGadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you dont want to be distracted by our mugs, check out theGadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Labvideo or audio podcast feeds.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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In this episode of the Gadget Lab video podcast, the usual nerds talk about all things mobile. First, they mourn over the death of the Kin while reflecting on what Microsoft did wrong. They also talk about what Apple apparently did wrong with the iPhone 4 antenna, which loses signal when held the “wrong” way.

Elsewhere in the mobile world, Intel says it’s hoping to ship its first mobile chips in phones starting next year. We’ll see if that ever happens and if their efforts will even matter by then. On the other hand, something we’ve wanted on mobiles devices for a long time has finally arrived: Hulu. Unfortunately it comes at a price.

You can also get theGadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you dont want to be distracted by our mugs, check out theGadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Labvideo or audio podcast feeds.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Many customers are complaining that the iPhone 4’s antenna loses the signal when you hold it a certain way.They’re not delusional: Independent tests lend credence to the issue.

A study led by AnandTech saw a major drop in signal strength when the iPhone 4 was “cupped tightly,” covering a sensitive area in the lower left corner. The iPhone 4’s external band is actually two antennas one for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, and the other for voice and data and according to Anandtech, touching the point in the lower left, where the two antennas meet, causes attenuation.

“The fact of the matter is that either the most sensitive region of the antenna should have an insulative coating, or everyone should use a case,” Anandtech wrote. “For a company that uses style heavily as a selling point, the latter isn’t an option. And the former would require an unprecedented admission of fault on Apple’s part.”

Immediately after the iPhone 4’s release, several customers reported that covering the handset in the bottom left corner caused major signal loss, signified by dropped bars on the screen.

Criticism about the iPhone 4’s reception doesn’t look good for Apple. For years, dissatisfied customers have quibbled about the smartphone’s spotty 3G network performance. Apple claimed the iPhone 4’s new antenna design would significantly improve reception. Already, the erratic behavior of the iPhone 4 antenna has spawned lawsuits.

In a canned response, Apple said all phones experience attenuation when held in different positions.

Is it a non-issue, as Steve Jobs suggests, or is it a major design flaw? Going beyond anecdotal experiences,Anandtech managed to hack together a way to get the iPhone 4 to display actual signal strength rather than reception bars. (The reception bars, many have explained, are a poor indicator for actual signal strength.)

AnandTech then held the iPhone 4 in five different ways cupping tightly, holding naturally, open palm, resting on an open platform and holding naturally inside a case and recorded results for each position. The blog ran the same tests with an iPhone 3GS and a Nexus One.

The results: All phones exhibited attenuation behavior in different positions, but the iPhone 4 did show a greater dropoff in signal strength in every holding position compared to the iPhone 3GS.

However, the blog noted that the iPhone 4’s reception is definitely better in low-signal situations than the other two phones. In short, the iPhone 4 gets a much stronger signal overall compared to the iPhone 3GS and the Nexus One, but that strength is greatly hampered by attenuation when held in different positions.

“Reception is absolutely definitely improved,” AnandTech wrote. “I felt like I was going places no iPhone had ever gone before. There’s no doubt in my mind this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS.”

Corroborating AnandTech’s findings, antenna expert Richard Gaywood ran a different test gauging the iPhone 4’s speed in different holding positions and came to similar conclusions. Gaywood’s tests suggest that the problem is greatest when signal strength is already low.

“I think its pretty clear that there was still a performance penalty from gripping the phone in my bare left hand, despite the strong signal conditions,” Gaywood wrote.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

With its weird reception troubles that seem to be triggered just by touching it, the iPhone 4 is like Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “It could get wrecked, stolen, scratched, breathed on wrong… a pigeon could shit on it! Who knows?”

The best solution so far seems to be Apple’s Bumper case, a $30 strip of rubber that wraps around the steel antenna band and stops your clammy hands from sucking out the signal. But it’s $30. Because of this, Oliver Nelson decided to make his own Bumper from one of those cheap rubber bracelets found pretty much everywhere, or by donating to a charity.

The case is as simple as it could be. Just find yourself a bracelet (look for one measuring “about 1.125-inches long and about 0.125-inches wide”) and stretch it around the outside of the phone. Oliver also made a few cut-outs so he could reach the headphone jack, the dock connector and the mute-button. Done, and you just saved yourself around $29.

In fact, Oliver saved himself the full $30: his bracelet came free, bundled, somewhat ironically, with an iPad charger. Still, even if you pay full-price, its likely that the money will be going to a good cause, and not into Apple’s pockets.

DIY: Ghetto iPhone 4 case from a 99c bracelet? [The iPhone Guru]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

With the iPhone 4, flashlight apps just got a whole lot more useful. Apps like “Dazzling Flashlight 4g” from Cramzy will fire up the new iPhone flash to light your way.

Previously, these apps would do little more than light up the screen in solid white. Some added “features” such as color, strobing and other jazzy effects. The thing is, when most of use an iPhone to light the way to the bathroom in the early hours, we just keep hitting the home button and navigate by whatever photons the unlock screen can provide.

Now the inevitable iPhone 4 versions are seeping into the App Store, and they light up the flash on the back of the handset. This is brighter than the screen (in some cases you can still choose to illuminate the screen, too), but you’ll still have to sleepily find the app before you stumble through your dark apartment.

More interesting is that these apps show us that Apple has provided developers with tools to control the external lamp. As on-axis flash is all but useless for straight photography, I’m hoping that somebody makes a strobing photo and video app that allows for some cool, stuttering image effects.

Dazzling Flashlight 4g [Cramzy via TUAW]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Following the The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg reports that Verizon is launching an iPhone early next year.

Bloomberg cites multiple anonymous sources who claim Verizon will begin carrying the iPhone in January 2011, ending AT&T’s exclusive partnership with Apple.

Bloomberg’s report follows The Wall Street Journal’s article in May, which claimed that Apple is scheduled to produce CDMA iPhones this September. CDMA is the standard used by Verizon iPhones.

Technology publications and analysts have speculated about a Verizon iPhone for years, but the stipulations of Apple’s exclusive contract with AT&T remain unconfirmed. However, it’s notable that two mainstream news outlets are now claiming a Verizon iPhone is due soon.

In response to Verizon iPhone rumors in May, AT&T said during an investor conference that the company was not intimidated by a Verizon iPhone because discounted family and business plans would make it difficult for subscribers to transition multiple devices to a new carrier.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Despite last week’s flurry of bad press surrounding the iPhone 4’s antenna, Steve Jobs is still in a chatty mood about his company’s newest handset. His latest personal e-mail to a customer relates to minerals used to create the iPhone 4 and other Apple products.

In an e-mail to Jobs on Sunday evening, Wired.com reader Derick Rhodes inquired about whether Apple was using “conflict-free” materials to create the iPhone 4. Jobs shot back a reply an hour later stating that Apple was doing what it could.

Hi Steve,

I’d planned to buy a new iPhone tomorrow – my first upgrade since buying the very first version on the first day of its release – but I’m hesitant without knowing Apple’s position on sourcing the minerals in its products.

Are you currently making any effort to source conflict-free minerals? In particular, I’m concerned that Apple is getting tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold from Eastern Congo through its suppliers.

Looking forward to your response,
Derick

Jobs’ reply:

Yes. We require all of our suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.

Sent from my iPhone

Rhodes was inspired to write the e-mail after reading a recent New York Times piece detailing the horrific warfare in the Congo, which sells minerals to the suppliers who create components for cellphones, computers and gaming devices. Grass-roots campaigns have dubbed minerals from such origins as “conflict minerals.”

Jobs has been known to occasionally respond to customers’ e-mails, though in recent months the CEO has sent at least one e-mail each week. Many of these e-mails make their way to blogs. Some social media experts told Wired.com that they believe Jobs’ casual replies have evolved into a PR strategy as a means for the CEO to communicate with the world.

Jobs’ e-mail to Rhodes contains a typo conflict “few” rather than conflict free presumably because he typed it with his iPhone. Wired.com was able to verify the authenticity of the letter.

Rhodes said he felt grateful about receiving an e-mail from the famous CEO.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said. “His e-mails are really concise, so I really appreciate the thought he put into it.”

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple has sold an almost ridiculous 1.7 million iPhone 4 handsets in its opening weekend, running Thursday through Saturday. This breaks every prediction we saw last week, and almost triples the 600,000 pre-orders reported by Apple just a week before the new iPhone went on sale.

“This is the most successful product launch in Apples history,” said Steve Jobs in an Apple press release. Even so, pre-ordering glitches and flat-out supply shortages kept Apple from selling even more. Jobs again: “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

The customer pays $200 (16GB) or $300 (32GB) for an iPhone 4, but Apple gets more than that from AT&T. To find out how much, lets take the prices from the few countries where the handsets are sold unlocked – France, Canada and the the UK. Converted into US dollars, we get the following:

Taking into account that all Apple products get more expensive as they cross the Atlantic, we’ll be conservative and use the Canadian prices. Taking the mean of the two prices (and rounding them) we get US$670. Let’s multiply that by 1.7 million to get Apple’s total sales for the weekend (not counting the newly discounted iPhone 3G or the still-hot iPad). The number? $1,139,000,000, or well over a billion dollars. Not a bad start.

iPhone 4 Sales Top 1.7 Million [Apple]

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Motorola’s Droid X is not out in retail stores yet but one phone enthusiast had taken a screwdriver to the device already.

Max Lee tore down the Droid X to expose its innards and show what’s inside the smartphone. It took Lee about 10 hours to figure out how to take the back cover off but he says it was well-worth the effort.

“You can easily disassemble and assemble the Droid X once you figure it out,” he says. “This should be good for consumers to replace parts if they happen to drop the phone.”

And you can see in the video, overall it’s a pretty easy process for those who may be inclined to do it. Just one tip from Lee: “It’s good to grow your fingernails before you do this. Makes it easy to take the things out.”

It’s also fascinating to watch the camera module pop off and all the components come apart like they are just pieces in an elaborate electronic jigsaw puzzle.

The $200 Droid X (after a $100 rebate and with a two-year Verizon contract) will be available starting July 15 on Verizon Wireless network. The phone has a 1 GHz processor, a 4.3-inch touchscreen and a 8-megapixel camera.

Lee says once he took the phone apart, he found the bottom of the Droid X “has a lot of room to play.”

“Motorola could have made the phone a bit shorter but there would be something sticking out,” he says. “They probably did that for the overall design of the phone.”

Check out Lee’s teardown of the Droid X through step-by-step photos on his blog.

Photo: Droidx.net

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

There’s an old joke about a man who visits a doctor, complaining that his arm hurts whenever he moves it a certain way. The doctor’s response? “Stop moving it that way.”

That pretty much sums up Apple’s response to the people who have complained that holding the iPhone 4 in their left hand can cause signal strength to fall, dropping calls and reducing bandwidth. For these people — over 40 of whom have contacted Wired.com — touching the lower left corner of the iPhone’s metal band is the source of the problem.

Here’s what Sascha Segan on Gearlog.com said Apple had to say about that:

Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your Phone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.

Despite numerous reports from Wired.com readers, we have been trying to replicate the problem without success. According to Wired.com writer Brian X. Chen, if he grips the iPhone 4 firmly in his left hand while downloading a web page, one or two bars disappear from the signal strength indicator. I haven’t been able to reproduce the problem at all.

Segan was able to reproduce the problem using what he calls a “death grip,” holding it “in a slightly sweaty left hand, with my fingers covering the three black lines on the phone’s edge and the bottom left corner in my palm.” In that grip, he guesses, signal strength drops by about 3 to 5 dBm.

Solution: Don’t hold your phone in a death grip, especially if you’re left-handed and inclined to have sweaty palms.

And if you’re one of the people who sees this problem even when holding the phone gently, put your iPhone 4 in a protective case — or add a strip of black electrical tape to the lower left edge. Both break the electrical contact between the phone’s antenna and your skin, and prevent the signal-loss from happening.

Photo courtesy Thomas Barnes

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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We’re back with episode #2 of the new, improved, videographic Gadget Lab podcast. In this episode, Brian X. Chen and Dylan F. Tweney discuss the top gadget news of the week: The launch of the iPhone 4, the rollout of Verizon’s and Motorola’s Droid X, and the public release of Android 2.2, aka “FroYo,” which sports a fully-functional version of Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1.

(It didn’t make it into this podcast, but don’t miss Brian’s video introduction to the iPhone 4.)

We also show off a handful of iPad and iPhone apps: the excellent photojournalism-centric Guardian Eyewitness, an impressive library of medical images called 3D4 Medical, and a photo shooting, editing and sharing app called Camera+.

Oh, and then there’s iKamasutra XL.

And we wrap things up with a plea to save the seahorses. (Seriously: Overfishing may be leading some of them to the brink of extinction.)

You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our mugs, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Wired.com reader Ryan Rhea says he found a way to double the download speed of his new iPhone 4 with nothing more than black electrician’s tape.

Rhea, clearly a graduate of the Home Depot School of Gadget Hacks, simply applied a thin strip of black tape on the lower left corner of the phone’s outer metal band, starting right below the volume buttons and extending down to the edge of the speaker on the bottom of the phone.

That was enough to stop the reception problem reported by many iPhone 4 customers. For those with this problem, touching the lower left corner of their new phone causes signal strength to drop, often cutting off calls and sharply decreasing data download speeds.

Wired.com has not been able to duplicate the problem, although more than 30 readers have reported experiencing it.

That metal band forms the phone’s antenna, as Apple CEO Steve Jobs explained when announcing the iPhone 4 earlier this month. And while touching a radio or TV antenna can often improve reception, by making the conductive surface of your skin into an extension of the antenna, it seems to have the opposite effect on the iPhone 4.

Several readers have reported that putting the iPhone 4 into a protective case, such as the $30 “bumper” case sold by Apple, solves the problem.

The electrical tape achieves the same result at a much lower cost, by putting an electrical insulator between you and the phone’s antenna. In Rhea’s case, his 3G download speed as reported by Testmyiphone.com went from 0.41 Mbps without the tape to 0.82 Mbps with the tape (in both cases, with the phone gripped firmly in his left hand).

The cost for a roll of electrical tape? About $4 for a 66-foot roll of 3/4″ tape, which should be enough to fix your iPhone — and about 790 others.

As a bonus, electrical tape also works great for fixing nerdy glasses.

Photo courtesy Ryan Rhea

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

For some iPhone users, months of waiting in anticipation for the iPhone 4 and hours of standing in line ended in a big disappointment. Glitches forced some users who had pre-ordered their phones to go home without a device in hand — even though they thought they were eligible for an upgrade.

Glen LaFratte, a Dallas, Texas-based iPhone user, is one of them. LaFratte bought two 3G S phones–for him and his wife– last June. To his surprise, when he reserved a pair of iPhone 4s a week ago, he found his wife’s phone was deemed not eligible for the upgrade pricing of $200 for a 16 GB version and $300 for the 32 GB model.

LaFratte says he bought both the 3G S phones on the same day and even showed AT&T store representatives a receipt to prove that. But so far, he hasn’t heard back from AT&T with a fix.

“How much blood do they want?,” he wrote in an e-mail to Gadget Lab. “Apple needs to dump AT&T. I cannot understand why a huge computer manufacturer like Apple lets a cellular company control their pricing and cripple them.”

Apple’s iPhone 4 debuted in retail stores Thursday morning to huge crowds. Meanwhile, a number of users are complaining about network reception problems with the device, especially when the left and the bottom of the phone is touched or squeezed.

Apple had said that any current iPhone customers whose contracts were due to expire this year would be eligible for the lower upgrade price of $200 for the 16GB iPhone 4 and $300 for the 32GB version.

The problems with the upgrade are not widespread, with just a handful of users reporting the issue to Gadget Lab so far.

Among them is Josh Strom, who handles system support for Wired, who faced a similar baffling upgrade problem.

After waiting in line for two hours, Strom found out his pre-ordered iPhone 4 won’t be available for the upgrade price of $200. His current iPhone 3G contract ends this month.

“I am frustrated and really upset with AT&T,” says Strom. “They just couldn’t tell me why I cannot upgrade my iPhone.”

Meanwhile, other AT&T users are discovering that the upgrade pricing may not be for everyone.

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference this year, Steve Jobs made an offer that seemed too good to be true.

“I am thrilled to announce that AT&T is going to make an incredibly generous upgrade offer. If your contract expires any time during 2010, you are immediately eligible for a new iPhone 4 at the same $199, $299 prices if you top up your contract for 2 years. You can get up to six months early eligibility for the iPhone 4,” Jobs told the attendees while introducing the phone.

That declaration, though, left out the fine print. Some AT&T users found that unless your current phone is an iPhone, the upgrade offer does not apply, even if you have another smartphone from AT&T.

Another user, Chris Heery, faced a system glitch that froze him out of the reservation system in the store. He’d canceled his pre-order in the hopes of picking up a phone from the store on the day of the launch. Heery says he might now have to wait until the end of this week so AT&T can sort the issue out and give him an iPhone 4.

If you are eligible for an upgrade and have been denied one by AT&T, let us know what happened. Post your experience in the comments.

Photo: Kevin Aungle yells triumphantly as he exits the Apple store with a 32GB iPhone 4 in Emeryville on June 24. jungle slept in his car the night before the new iPhone was launched and says he waited a total of 15 hours. (Stefan Armijo/Wired.com)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews