Hasta La Gadget!

If you think the proximity sensor on your iPhone 4 has been acting wacky, don’t worry, turns out you’re not crazy: Apple has just committed to fixing weirdness in the next software update at its press conference today. Problems have mainly revolved around the sensor failing to detect your face when you’re on a call, leading to accidentally hang-ups, mutes, and so on as your ear makes contact with the screen — not too cool. Then again, if you’ve been staying off your phone lately for fear of dropping a call, well… maybe you didn’t notice.

iPhone 4 proximity sensor fix in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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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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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A recent survey of 4,028 US consumers by ChangeWave has thrown up a number of illuminating statistics, which you might consider as predictable as they are informative. The chief takeaway is that people are keen on buying smartphones like never before, with 16% of respondents saying that they’ll be taking the plunge within the next 90 days, which marks the biggest increase in the survey’s history. Secondly, and crucially for vendor loyalists, Apple and HTC seem to be the biggest beneficiaries (or are they the stimulants?) of this interest, with both improving their share by over 50 percent between March and June of this year. RIM and Motorola have taken a tumble in that same timespan, while Palm has sadly failed to register even a single percentage point. We can definitely see the Droid X and BlackBerry 6 remedying things for the big boys, but Palm’s route out of ignominy seems a little less straightforward. You’ll find a chart of customer satisfaction — dominated by Apple in imperious fashion — after the break, and the full breakdown at the source link.

Continue reading Apple and HTC lead charge as smartphone market looks set to grow and grow

Apple and HTC lead charge as smartphone market looks set to grow and grow originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While SMS and mobile email are great, they still can’t match the emotion, interaction, and intonation of a live conversation with someone — that’s why our phones still ship with microphones and speakers, apparently. Of course, this is much more difficult when one of the parties is deaf or hard of hearing, which is where video relay services come in. With the help of a videophone or your computer’s webcam, you can make a call with a live translator, who speaks your signed ramblings out loud to the hearing person on the other end. Of course you’re usually stuck at a desk when doing this, but now ZVRS is going to be supporting calls made from the iPhone 4 over FaceTime. It might not be quite as sexy as Apple’s goosebump-raising iPhone 4 commercial, since the phone obviously makes two-way sign language calls possible, but if the person on the other end doesn’t have an iPhone 4 or doesn’t know sign language, ZVRS seems like the next best thing. The new service will launch on July 26th. Check out a video of it in action after the break, the actual call starts at 2:25.

Continue reading ZVRS to support live sign language translation via iPhone 4’s FaceTime for calls between deaf and hearing users

ZVRS to support live sign language translation via iPhone 4’s FaceTime for calls between deaf and hearing users originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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