Charlie, she's trying to tell you the iPhone's upside down

Seriously, please don't make us start another feature series of dumbass celebs holding the iPhone upside down. We'd have to call it upsidedownPhone or something equally insipid, and who wants that? Just make sure the actors have held the prop -- be it iPhone, BlackBerry, bananaphone, or whatever -- at least once before and everybody's cool, aight?

[Thanks, Adnan K]

[waiownsyou @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:22AM]

lol BananaPhone

[DBrim @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:26AM]

Ring Ring Ring Ring.

[john @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:55AM]

Yeah, I loved the banana phone reference.

[E71 @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:43PM]

You know you're a nerd when you're paying attention to the phone instead of the gorgeous chick.

[euclid @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:23AM]

Ah Jenny. Best Playmate ever.

[me @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:06AM]

couldn't agree with you more!!!

she really is like a fire cracker.

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:23PM]

If only she was as funny as she thinks she is.

Oh well, the pictures help one to forget.

[Camperton @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:06PM]

Long faces and horse teeth. Americans have weird taste in women.

[Hammond X @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:47AM]

I'm an American, and I'm a little sick of the anorexic, need a Philly cheesesteakburger-or-two look.

[giantenemycrab @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:30AM]

*facepalm*

[Jesse S @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:32AM]

Just goes to show the mentality of iPhone users.

[Andrew @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:33AM]

More like the insipid influence of Jenny McCarthy

[Andrew @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:33AM]

TK-421, why aren't you at your post?

[JR @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:43AM]

I noticed this immediately. Was gonna send in a tip, but didn't think it was too important. I'll just pat myself on the back for catching this one.

[ssuk @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:48AM]

Product placement at it's best here... Though I have seen pics where models have been holding Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube controllers upside down...

[Brett @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:53AM]

I saw this when it aired and couldn't figure out why it looked off. It all makes sense now :o)

[Mog @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:50AM]

upsidedownPhone? Nah, !Phone is better. ;-)

[Ryan Block @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:04AM]

Snap! Well played.

[MikeG @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:09PM]

Haha, wicked.

[Chris @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:59PM]

or..

ǝuoɥdı

[podphreak @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:50AM]

Yeah i was disgusted when I saw that.. Charlie Sheen was swept into the iPhone craze like everyone else. What a SHAME! lol

[Lasse @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:02AM]

What is wrong with this picture, it not the iPhone upsidedown... It is the fact that Mr. Sheen is wasting time "talking" on the phone, while sitting in such a car with such a chick!

That's the real issue at hands gentlemen :P

[2shae @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:04AM]

Looks huge holding it to your ear.

[Andrew Barbour @ Nov 23rd 2007 11:53AM]

Can we call it the !Phone when people have them
¿umop apisdn

[Brandon h @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:28AM]

Watch Bionic woman from 2 weeks ago, the bad guy is doing the same thing (I think he's the same guy that plays one of the Cylon models on Battlestar Galactica).

[Hans Luijten @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:01PM]

Noticed the same thing in that episode of Bionic Woman!

[Dro @ Nov 22nd 2007 9:32PM]

I think the reason it's upside down is because the screen stays on. It makes sense, not too many people would be able to differentiate the phone without it's bright screen on.

[miko34 @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:43AM]

I think there is a trend. The main lead in Journeyman had the phone upside down during the pilot episode. They had the "no signal" graphic right side up later on, but that was digitally inserted on.

Why is "Two and a Half Men" still on? I can't watch it. It's horrible. It's like watching TGIF on ABC from the 90's.

[miko34 @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:41AM]

I found it.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/question-of-the-day/journeyman-and-the-iphone-308457.php

[Andrew88 @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:59AM]

Does any think that Charlie Sheen just Might HAVE TO hold the phone like that as to NOT show th apple logo so they wont have to pay apple for using it?.....DUH!!!!

[RedBull Runner @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:55AM]

Usually, They don't pay apple ANYTHING. It's like free advertisement... Product placement. Sometimes a company would PAY the studios/producer/whatever to get their product in TV/Movies etc. But there's been a lot of apple product placement in tv and movies lately. (Transformers was a good example. I saw iPods, Apple Cinema Displays, and Mac Pros at least.)

Theres also been a recent tv show that had the previous gen, white iMac in it, supposedly being used, while there was no power cord to be seen.

[JeffDM @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:31AM]

It's not hard to hide the logo. If you look at the Macs in "How I Met Your Mother", they cover up the Apple logo on all the computers with a foil sticker of the globe. Similar is done with other shows too.

RedBull Runner; Supposedly Apple doesn't pay for product placement, but I think that was PR-speak for giving the production company all the equipment they need. It might be fair to suggest that if the logo is clearly visible, then it's product placement, if they cover it up, it's probably just a pretty prop.

[Torsten @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:00AM]

Seriously? With Jenny looking at me like that, I wouldn't know which way is up either - those pics don't show the cleavage of the dress (yep, watched the episode, sue me). Damn you, Jim Carrey, damn you!!!

[ThePete @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:15AM]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikfletcher/1901251413/in/pool-mock_the_mediatards/

Mediatardation seems to be a chronic problem these days...

http://www.flickr.com/groups/mock_the_mediatards/

[MacroEQ @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:41AM]

After all the complaints about "too many iPhone articles" on Engadget recently, shouldn't this article be on Engadget Mobile? I don't see the point of these tenuous iPhone articles.

[Le Master @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:10AM]

Who gives a damn? It's nice waking up to a good laugh on Turkey Day morning.

[Zut @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:11AM]

OMG!!!1!11 LOLZ0RZ!!11!one! iPhone on da TV?!?!?!?!



Well this is certainly a worthy story for Engadget.

[J @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:46AM]

I actually think I know why many of these shows are having the phone held upside down... especially in the Bionic Woman episode...

I think it comes from a production/direction stand point, where the director wants the glow from the phone's screen to show on the actor's face.

This won't normally happen because of the proximity sensor in the iPhone, near the phone speaker... this sensor turns the screen/backlight off when it detects an object (i.e. your head) is close by, to help you not accidentally hang up on grandma when your ear touches the screen.

So the easy way to keep the glow... flip the phone over, so the proximity sensor isn't activated.

These actors and directors know it's flipped... they have iPhones, and they know the correct way to hold them. I think they must be doing it with a purpose.

As for Charlie Sheen... IDK... I don't see a glow... but whatever...

[Hammond X @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:58PM]

Hey! I stole that explaination from the Register comments and posted it first!

[J @ Nov 24th 2007 1:32AM]

Whoa! Looks like more than one of us works in production and knows what kind of dumb stuff they do in the name of artistic license... oooooo. And... screw The Register. I can't read that poorly designed site... Engadget, MoFo!

[majortom @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:15AM]

he's holding the phone upside down because all of his blood is below his waist. Do you see HER hands? I just saying...

[YanksRock @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:19AM]

I blame the writers that are on strike. If it would have said in the script to hold the phone right side up then he would have.

[mike @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:56AM]

"Charlie, she's trying to tell you the iPhone's upside down" who do you mean by she, the car or the chick. Because the chick sitting next to him seems clueless..

[Luis Menendez @ Nov 22nd 2007 10:00AM]

I think the production team ask him to hold it like that to cover the Apple logo. I've seen lots of Mac computers with the Apple logo covered. Or maybe he's dumb.

[wrabbit @ Nov 22nd 2007 10:01AM]

I've no clue what this article is about. All I know is that finally Engadget posted an article with a photo of Jenny McCarthy in it - the holidays are finally here! ;)

[zargon @ Nov 22nd 2007 10:19AM]

I find it odd that people were even looking at Charlie Sheen or his phone when there was something else that was much better to look at.

[murray @ Nov 22nd 2007 11:35AM]

Exactly... a Ferrari!

[chillwill @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:02PM]

Hey everyone, It's not his fault. It's the Script Supervisors job to catch things like that. She/He is the person responsible for continuity from scene to scene, dialogue, consistent make up, wardrobe etc...

[Seawolf @ Nov 22nd 2007 11:10AM]

These people can't hold a phone correctly, yet they feel it's their duty to tell us how to vote and how to feel about public policy and political matters. Charlie Sheen in particular - 9/11 was an inside job according to him - laughable.

[N30 G30 @ Nov 22nd 2007 11:11AM]

Jobs is reading this post right now, shaking his head, saying, "F*&% this s#%^! I give up! I don't know how else I can make the iPhone simpler to use!"