Comments on: Apple iPhone 4,nothing to see here,move along

By: Network Engineer

Network Engineer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 04:59:16 +0000

Sadly the truth is that in the network the IPHONE is performing the worst we have more problems with these handsets than any other phones. Even the early LG phones performed better. I agree the technology is great and fantastic tools but the overall quality of transmission is poor. It simply does not meet the mark when communicating with the network.
Wifi is fine, but when you hook it up to a 3G network you find that its in the bottom of the tables. Poor handovers, rejected messages, poor communication with Network controller, i am sure they will get there in the end. Thats the beauty of software release but in my opinion the hardware is not up to scratch, they should be working now on the next IPHONE and while doing so really spend more time communicating with the network equipment providers. NSN, Ericsson and Huawei. They may want to actually test it in several live networks before they finalise the product also. I will not buy one and i advise everyone i know to wait for better. Would Steve Jobs like it if we sold him a Bentley, with the following statement “sorry mr jobs the dashboard doesn’t work properly 1 in 10 times you drive, it will switch off.” and “The next software release should fix it for you here is a bit of rubber to put on it until we figure out the problem”. It’s a comedy, If people knew the statistics of how badly this phone performs when using it as a network device compared to other brands they would be somewhat diswayed from buying it.

Mr 3G

By: John P

John P — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:00:26 +0000

We’re never really going to get a balanced view on anything Apple now are we? Fanbois on one side, and the haters on totally the other end of the spectrum. And both shouting as loud as each other. Noisy conflict ….

But the bigger issues as far as I can see are:-

- Apple producing a less-than-functionally-robust design that gives intermittent signal drop in some handsets, in low-signal strength areas. There’s nothing worse than random failures – they’re far worse than something going wrong all the time …

- Apple then trying to pawn off the problem as the network alone, and nothing to do with their h/w

- The usual condescending, arrogant response to customers by Apple. Designed to polarise opinion and mask the real problem. Anyone that has bought it already will be a fanboi / early adopter and is hardly likely to return the handset, particularly with random/intermittent failures and now a bumper to mask the issue when it could occur :-/

- Finally, Apples attempt to drag other manufacturers into the mire of their own making was reprehensible, but not totally unexpected. The so-called “death grip” rarely happens in normal use for handsets, particularly as you need to really grasp the phone to achieve the desired effect. The Apple issue can apparently happen just by touching the area where the antenna bands join, which can easily happen in normal use.

So, the issue won’t change anything really – fanbois will still love Apple products and haters will still hate them. The middle-ground consumer may be slightly affected by the controversy, but Apple have muddied the waters sufficiently to null any negative effect, and will have sorted the issue by rev 2 of the hardware, I’m sure …

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:36:27 +0000

Jobs stats were misleading. He quoted a stat that “less than 1 more call per hundred than the 3GS” was being dropped. That’s clearly designed to make people think its a “1%” problem. Take statistics. Call drop rates are already very low, typically under 2% (2 per hundred). An increase of 1 per hundred would thus be a 50% increase over the 3GS. And, we have to assume that due to Apple’s brilliance, the 3GS drop rates were better than average, right? In that case the difference would be even more severe.

By: Jonathan Jensen

Jonathan Jensen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:53:34 +0000

I’ve yet to buy a smartphone that works perfectly. Buggy firmware, dodgy WiFi, poor speech quality, poor UI. None of them are perfect. Bit like most tech gadgets! You just find the best you can for what you need. Yes, a non story.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:51:33 +0000

Well said Pat.
I think that Apple make some really good products but there are a lot of people just waiting on them to trip up.
We had the same ridiculous stuff with macs and pcs and most negative comments came from people who had not tested both platforms.

This same stupid media frenzy will start again when the Mac gets a virus or the next Mac laptop doesn’t have as good a battery as the last version.

If you want one buy it. If you don’t then shut up.

By: Keith bohanna

Keith bohanna — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:48:10 +0000

I think they have screwed up on a lower visibility issue, the second Gen iPhone 3G which is close to unusable with io4 loaded.

Grand if you were told that and ignored the warning. Not so good when there was no flag of issues in advance and when it is irreversible without a hack.

They are displaying a we do not give a **** on this.

Keith

By: Lisandro

Lisandro — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:11:31 +0000

Jobs is reacting because he knows there is a big problem, and wants to keep selling the defective Iphone Here is how he downplays the problem

2. .55% or around 15,000 people have called to complain about their device.

When you have reception problems you call AT&T not
apple care. like he said
they should disclose the att&t reception complains and see what happens.

3. iPhone 4 returns are running at 1.7% for the period its been on sale

Prior to the conference you coudn’t return the Iphone 4 without a big restocking fee , besides apple has always blamed the reception problems on at&t including Iphone 4, so when you go to return the iphone 4 you are told , “that’s the way technology is, including their competitors get signal attenuation, or dropped calls” So mainstream people end up putting up with reception problems.

- it should also be told that Jobs says that dropping calls is normal, he doesn’t mention how many calls are unable to be made because of reception problems, give us that metric Steve.

- Last but not least, all the new features in Iphone 4 HD video streaming, iphone to iphone video conference are NOT available on the ATT network, because it is slow in big cities, name Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles

By: David McDonald

David McDonald — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:34:18 +0000

It’s amazing this story has been blown so far out of proportion, must be a slow news month eh?

Seems to me a lot of journos are taking great delight in thinking they’re finally seeing a chink in Apple’s armour. Of course Apple are a prime target for hostile tech journalism, mostly from their own success, I believe, but also from that awful business trait of wanting to see one of the ‘big boys’ crash and burn.

Meanwhile, in the real world, iPhone 4 is selling in staggering quantities. Thankfully customers are not as gullible as some tech journos would like to believe and are voting with their feet.

Finances permitting (and if I hadn’t recently bought an iPad) I’d buy an iPhone in a heartbeat, there are just so many excellent improvements, over an already brilliant computer, that they easily negate the relatively minor antenna issue (for me).
I’m currently using an iPhone 3GS and I love using it.
This is important: I don’t just put up with it, or suffer it’s failings, or make an effort to use it’s features – I REALLY enjoy using the device, how it works, how it feels and how it looks. And how it has become so seamlessly embedded into almost everything I do, particularly for my work.

I am indeed a fan of Apple’s products and culture, I’ve used their products since before they were mainstream and they have rarely let me down. Apple are one of the few (maybe only) tech companies that successfully remove the pain of having to use very complex computing devices for everyday (non-geek) folk. That’s no mean feat and I am a fan of any company that can achieve that.

I realise that any mention of supporting Apple is likely to result in a ‘Fanboy’ label, but let me end with this:

These are MY opinions from years of MY OWN experience, anyone else trying to tell me my choice of technology is somehow wrong is simply not qualified to comment – it works well for me and I’m happy with it.
Likewise I’m in no position to tell someone else that their Windows PC/Android smartphone/Netbook, etc. is rubbish – if it serves their needs well.

Personal computing really has become very personalised at this point (and will do even further) so get over the tools you’re using and get on with doing whatever it is you bought them for in the first place.

OK, getting off the soapbox now…

By: Aswath Rao

Aswath Rao — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:58:59 +0000

Regarding criticising the competition, it’s unfortunate but necessary to show that attenuation occurs in all mobile phones.

If only it is true …

By: Todd Unctious

Todd Unctious — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:50:02 +0000

I think it’s priceless publicity for Apple. Even though it is negative, everyone seems to know there is a new iPhone and as soon as they hear from friends that have bought iPhone 4 that it is a non-issue they’ll be looking to buy one themselves.

Regarding criticising the competition, it’s unfortunate but necessary to show that attenuation occurs in all mobile phones.