According to the NYT, a “person with direct knowledge” of the iPhone 4‘s design indicated that the device’s reception troubles would be fixed by a second software update—one different from the iOS 4.0.1 update made available earlier today: More »
Quirky, the community-driven gadget manufacturer and online store, just put up its Tilt line of iPhone 4 cases for presale. The cases were designed with the ability to prop the phone on a surface either upright or in landscape mode to take advantage of the new phone’s FaceTime feature and retina display.
The Tilt will come in either a purple-and-white color combo or boring black and is listed for $28. With a price point that matches Apple’s Consumer Reports-approved Bumper case, one can’t help but wonder if it amends the phone’s reception issue as well.
Want to support independent designers while getting something to prop your phone aside from a book? Head on over because, according to Quirky, those who contribute to items sold on the site get a cut of the profits. Sweet deal!
Apple’s been pretty vague about what’s going to go down tomorrow at the press conference it’s holding in Cupertino, but we’re going to be there live, covering whatever it is they have in store for us. We have a feeling it’ll have at least something to do with that antenna issue you may or may not have heard about, so strap yourself into your seat, grab an orange soda, and keep it parked right at Engadget for the best, up-to-the-minute live coverage on the internet.
Here’s the URL to check in to tomorrow to see the action as it happens, and here’s what time you’ll need to show up:
07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (July 17th)
Reminder: we’re live from Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference tomorrow, 10AM PT / 1PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dave Winer—the father of blogging and the RSS—has published this article on Apple’s current situation. His prediction: The Reality Distortion Field bubble is “about to burst” and Apple is going to suffer the ugliest shitstorm you’ve ever seen. More »
Look, we get it. There’s a problem with the iPhone’s antenna. But was the open letter to Jobs calling for a “clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem” and a “public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge” really necessary? What, you don’t have better things to do? The full press release (and the Senator’s letter) is after the break.
Continue reading Senator Chuck Schumer writes open letter to Steve Jobs, world is officially doomed
Senator Chuck Schumer writes open letter to Steve Jobs, world is officially doomed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well it’s not the full 4.1 we were expecting… but here’s a little tidbit from Apple. One of the main features? The update “improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display.” Interesting. We’re updating some devices right now, and will report back with what we find.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: It looks like iOS 3.2.1 for iPad is coming down the tube, as well. We’ll let you know what changes we’re seeing!
Update 2: Here’s a quick before-and-after shot of the signal meter. Clearly, Apple wasn’t yanking any chains about changing the sizes of those leftmost bars.
iOS 4.0.1 hitting iPhones right this second (update: 3.2.1 for iPads, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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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.
See Also:
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
What more do we know for sure? Not much. But of course, that stops no one from speculating as to what the company might discuss.
Lance Ulanoff, PCMag’s editor-in-chief, is taking a poll to find out what our readers think might happen tomorrow–and we want you to weigh in, here. Feel free to leave speculative comments below, as well!
As if we needed any more drama in this situation, Bloomberg has someone “familiar with the matter” that claims Apple’s own antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, told Apple management that the iPhone 4 antenna design could cause reception problems, dropped calls, and a serious engineering challenge. Caballero is a senior engineer for Apple with a large quantity of antenna patents under his belt, and while we certainly don’t know the whole story — perhaps his claims were somehow quelled by Apple’s own testing — it certainly adds a twist to this story if Steve Jobs and co. had been alerted to this very real problem during the design phase. The Bloomberg article also claims, from a different source, no less, that a carrier partner also raised antenna concerns before the release. Apple and Caballero naturally did not comment on this report. We’re not really sure about the real-world implications of all this behind-the-scenes drama, but we suppose we’ll see what Apple has to say for itself tomorrow.
Bloomberg: Apple engineer was concerned about iPhone 4 antenna early on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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