Screen grabs: Matt Saracen has iPhone trouble, is still really cute

Screen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Poor Matt, this guy has it so hard. If he isn't having relational trouble with Julie Taylor, he's disappointing his dad, his coach (Julie's dad, conveniently enough), his team, or the entire town of Dillon, Texas. Last thing the guy needs is an iPhone telling him he's wrong, so we're going to pin this Friday Night Lights upside-down incident on Zach Gilford, the man behind the cute-shy quarterback legend that is Matt Saracen. You disappoint us, Zach.

[Thanks, EJ]

[derX @ Apr 4th 2008 1:30AM]

....who told you to think about it?

[torqueo @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:12PM]

Uh huh-huh-huh. He said "hard".

[Andrew @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:12PM]

Wait...what show is this? And when did it become acceptable for a grown man to call another man cute? I'm so confused....

[Bassir @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:13PM]

I believe it's just to make sure the Apple logo isn't visible.

[David @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:15PM]

That was my first thought...
WTF Paul. Seriously.

[blueadept1 @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:16PM]

HOLD THE PHONES. ENGADGET HAS SOMETHING TO SAY! Oh wait, just more pointless iPhone news. Who is Matt Saracen? Why did you call him cute? Why is this news? I crave a decent gadget blog...

[Striker @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:18PM]

Or maybe he is trying to get a signal, as the antenna is at the bottom, and turning it upside down increases signal strength. I do this often when I am on hills and inside buildings that are essentially faraday cages to get reception on my V3xx (Fantastic Phone).

[austin @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:19PM]

Friday night lights. Good show.

Matt is the quarterback. When you call a QB cute, it isn't nessacarily a complement. Its kinda making fun of him

[Stevie Wonder @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:21PM]

"...is still really cute!"

Paul Miller = GAY!

[happy_penguin @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:34PM]

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[Oskin @ Apr 5th 2008 1:18PM]

Yeah seriously... what a useless post! First of all, I really don't think Paul said that because he though the guy is cute but more in a sarcastic way!

That being said, the guy is cute... And yeah i'm gay, i really hope you have better things to worry about than that in 2008! Let's say, poverty, war, our planet...

[Alex Padilla @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:27PM]

A few things:

1. Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite non-ESPN shows, so it's AWESOME to see this posted
2. Has Apple been in every Screen Grabs?
3. Apple and NBC Universal have no problems on the air, Macs and iPhones are everywhere in FNL and 30 Rock
4. @ Stevie Wonder: so what if Paul Miller calls another guy cute? It's not gay unless it's meant to be gay. And even if it's meant to be gay, who cares? Do you have a problem with gays?

[nxtiak @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:31PM]

I know how they can fix this. Why don't they use a demo unit that's just the shell and has a fake picture as the screen?
Me thinks they're using real iPhones that's not turned on.

[Seth @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:32PM]

What's wrong with being gay? Are we really still this concerned over who likes who in this day and age? Cause if it's such a big deal then you need to get a life and find something else to worry about ;)

[electronicat @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:33PM]

Oh noes! Da gayz iz takin ova da intertubes!

*yawn*

[ocellnuri @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:34PM]

While I agree that this isn't particularly news, I don't get the homophobic comments.

Interesting point about hiding the Apple logo. Although, if I was doing my 30th take, and trying to remember how I needed to change my inflection on the lines, I might pick up a black rectangle upside down too, especially if I didn't own the phone personally.

[electronicat @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:35PM]

That was in reply to Andrew, BTW (damn reply system)

[torqueo @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:36PM]

"In a thousand years, there will be no men and women, just wankers, and that's fine by me."

[Beau @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:41PM]

Hurrah. now all your interwebz are belong to uss!

[Michael @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:43PM]

Seeing as the actor probably isn't looking at the iPhone with the screen active, I agree with the sentiment that he probably thought the antenna would go at the top.

On my Samsung MM-A900, the antenna is also on the bottom edge right near the mouthpiece. Sometimes during class I have to hold it upside-down for it to get a signal for sending texts.

Why don't hardware manufacturers put the antennas on the top of phones?

[Ryan @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:53PM]

Since when did it become bad?

[Sheesh @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:59PM]

Are we really still this concerned over gay references in this day
and age? Haven't we gotten past that? Why does it matter if someone
else makes silly, totally inconsequential gay references? Would you
make a pretentious "day and age" post if these guys had accused Paul
Miller of being a Nintendo fanboy?

Another thing I don't get: why do folks label other people's gay
references as "homophobic"? What exactly is it that indicates that
there's any phobia at all here? I guess maybe those people are
"homophobicphobes"? Maybe they're frightened of homophobic people, I
don't know.

[crystalsinger @ Apr 4th 2008 12:50AM]

Well, it's the homophobic people who do tend to bash the crap out of us for no good reason... So yeah, I'm afraid of homophobic people.

[lanejasper69 @ Apr 4th 2008 12:04AM]

He has an iPhone, that must mean I'm gay!! I'll ask my wife, she'll know ;-)

Really guys, are the gay comments really necessary to bring into this? seriously...aren't we all beyond that? I mean it is 2008 right? some people just don't "get it"!

Faslane

[Jesse S @ Apr 4th 2008 12:16AM]

New Jersey Governor.

[Striker @ Apr 4th 2008 12:04AM]

There is more space at the bottom, as they don't want an antenna sticking out and there is not enough room at the top, because of the screen(s) and speaker(s). At least on the RAZR (having dismantled one, it never worked again :( ) there is a pattern made in thick copper wire that makes up the antenna and sort of coils around a piece of plastic that is hollow inside. I normally don't have to worry about reception though, as I get 3G at my house and pretty much at least EDGE everywhere I go, and the RAZR has a fantastic antenna.

[Striker @ Apr 4th 2008 12:05AM]

Reply system doesn't work anymore!

Previous post was @Michael

[Fernando @ Apr 4th 2008 12:11AM]

not at all!

[Fernando @ Apr 4th 2008 12:13AM]

yay for engadget's cute reply system!

[Gizmo @ Apr 4th 2008 12:14AM]

Yeah, I don't get all the cute comments. It'd be weird if it was just randomly mentioned in the post, but its in the headline and the post just has a weird tone to it. Calling him "cute-shy?" haha
Seems like Mr. Paul Miller has a crush

[Mark @ Apr 4th 2008 12:15AM]

You took the words right out of my mouth!

[Jesse S @ Apr 4th 2008 12:15AM]

So, we will just reproduce by accident?

[Jesse S @ Apr 4th 2008 12:16AM]

Oh great, the comment system is broken again.

[Mark @ Apr 6th 2008 11:22AM]

I was trying to reply to Seth about who cares about who likes who and such, but the comment system is really not good.

[paul34 @ Apr 4th 2008 12:22AM]

Ruh oh. Autoblog's comment system was broken for at least a month if not more. Hopefully Engadget gets their comment issue sorted out faster (Autoblog's comment system was broken in the same way - replies weren't working right).

In the meanwhile, here is a work-around (I haven't personally tested the problem so maybe it isn't exactly like this, but):
* On posts you want to reply to, hit the date/time link.
* That will take you to the thread page - enter your reply there, it should count.

[Craig @ Apr 4th 2008 1:40AM]

...testing the date/time fix.

[Shane Lloyd @ Apr 4th 2008 12:23AM]

"And when did it become acceptable for a grown man to call another man cute? I'm so confused...."

"Why did you call him cute?"

"Paul Miller = GAY!"

It's 2000-freaking-8 people. Generally if someone else finds someone cute... they call them cute. If you can't read a statement from one guy regarding the attractiveness of another (and I don't even know if Paul Miller is gay, nor do I care or think it matters) then you need to seriously introduce yourself into the 21st century.

[Bob @ Apr 4th 2008 12:36AM]

For those looking for an explanation to why matt saracen was holding the phone upside down...

He was having fun with his buddy Tim Riggin, getting his drink on during the midday at a strip club. Blur goggles were in full effect

...did I mention this is a great show haha great post engadget

[derX @ Apr 4th 2008 1:34AM]

If this lands where it was supposed to, Bob, the comment I made was in reference to a comment that appears to have been deleted.


OH yeah, your comment puts this into perspective. LOL

[linoge @ Apr 4th 2008 12:29AM]

so far the only thing i have seen is people using
the iphone upside down
until somebody uses it as a hat or a urinal is not that funny

[Pradster @ Apr 4th 2008 12:31AM]

Ditto!
i dont care which half celeb is holding the phone upside down!

[Philip Dones @ Apr 4th 2008 1:42AM]

ok, huge fan of Friday Night Lights, just for the sake of keeping the integrity of the show intact, in this particular episode and more specifically this screencap
"Matt Saracen" is drunk off his ass and at a titty bar, pretty much drinking his woes away. Seeing as how most of the time he is portrayed a "mr. do-gooder"
He held the phone upside down to show how drunk he was, what the next few screencap show you is him trying to read the phone upside down.

[elaine @ Apr 4th 2008 12:42AM]

matt saracen IS really cute. and friday night lights is awesome. so...awesome post paul miller!

[elaine @ Apr 4th 2008 12:44AM]

woops, apologies for the use of awesome twice in one comment

[Anton @ Apr 4th 2008 12:46AM]

You're cute!

[Nick @ Apr 4th 2008 1:03AM]

Who is writing these articles? wat is up with using cute to describe men? i didnt know chicks were posting engadget news. yuck

[PRP @ Apr 4th 2008 1:04AM]

I saw this episode...
I think he was supposed to be drunk at the time, thus holding the phone upside-down on purpose.
Is that a boob next to his face?

[Grant @ Apr 4th 2008 1:06AM]

I thought the iPhone screen could rotate itself according to which way the user was holding it. So does it matter if you held it upside down? I assume I'm mistaken.

[Craig B. @ Apr 4th 2008 1:07AM]

@Shane: Whoa, who ate people? Trying to confuse matters by bringing in cannibalism certainly won't make things better for the homophobes or the homophobicphobes (cite: Sheesh).

I knew the comments would be amusing!

[JAmerican @ Apr 4th 2008 1:15AM]

That's what motion-based Photoshop or Aluminum-colored tape is for.

Photoshop... $1000
iPhone...$400
Aluminum Colored Tape... $5~$15
Making an actor look like a fool... Priceless