Visualized: a strange world where echo doesn't exist
By Chris Ziegler 
posted July 16th 2010 3:49PM
posted July 16th 2010 3:49PM
posted July 16th 2010 3:49PM
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But does Apple have access to Consumer Reports Magic Deprivation Chamber?
Good to see they have a shit load of expensive useless technology to develop there products.
@Psyclotr0n
This is where Steve talks to Vader via Fri-FaceTime
@n0ne
way to hijack the first post
@n0ne
What a phenomenally dumb comment. Please educate yourself before you make statements as dumb as this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber
So, everyone has access to these chambers and this is how real life signal strength is measured. Right...
apple should no longer print iphone 4 ads that show the phone naked. They should have to do what Nintendo did with their wiimote controllers and show them for what they really will look like: a svelte piece of tech wearing a rubber condom. Because the phone is useless otherwise, they should no longer show ads with the iphone 4 uncovered. It is FALSE ADVERTISING.
@a dumb cat Do you have stock invested in them? Or are you a former iPhone user that got his phone taken away because you got bad grades?
Because I'm curious why does any of this matter to you. Your now old enough to understand what the real world is
@Psyclotr0n Engadget has become an Android fanboys' world. Anything against Android/Google or anything in favor of Apple you say and it doesn't take more then few seconds before your comment disappear.
@Raytem
maybe they should lighten up then? i have some light reading i may suggest: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant
@pufflye
Irrelevant post is irrelevant. Why don't you go tip engadget instead of posting it here?
@a dumb cat How is it my is naked and haven't had a problem go get a life
@a dumb cat
Ok jackass, I don't have a case and I'm responding fine to this post on one...how about making such comments with a full factual basis. The fervant apple hate or love posts are getting old. Fanboys and haters don't change sales or win medals so give it a rest.
They should make stealth vehicle's this way.
@tobsmonster2
what absorbs becomes MORE visible
@samisax You can't be serious..... is that why Stealth aircraft are clad with radar ABSORBING materials?... so the enemy can see them better? genius.
@tobsmonster2 For stealth from reflected radar, this would work, but it would be hell for aerodynamics. For stealth from visibility, it wouldn't work, since it would block light coming from behind it.
You mean I have to sit inside the Stargate to make a call?!
@InspectorEngadget YES.
@InspectorEngadget
this also looks like that EMP room that Charles Whitmore put Desmond in
When I saw this, I immediately said, "WTF" out loud. Now... I don't work in the audio and electronics industry so excuse my nerdgasm.
Also, if Apple has 17 of these... in house, just how freakin' huge is the Apple HQ?!?!? They must have a freakin' underground base or something... pretty epic.
@Plazmic Flame Not all chambers are as big as the huge one shown in the Apple's website. The one I use is around 10x10x10 ft in the inside, like a bedroom but with really high ceilings. Between, even if it isn't made for blocking sound frequencies, it's a perfect place for SCREAMING!
@Plazmic Flame
yep. in case DC is ever compromised, national command transfers to Cupertino HQ where Apple can insure that our post-Apacalyptic recovery is aesthetically pleasing
@disjt
Can I borrow your cone of silence? :P
Btw, how can it be 10 x 10 x 10 and still have really high ceilings?
@Plazmic Flame
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1+Infinite+Loop,+Cupertino,+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.174768,89.824219&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1+Infinite+Loop,+Cupertino,+Santa+Clara,+California+95014&ll=37.332034,-122.029449&spn=0.005187,0.010965&t=h&z=17
They should build a bar for next iPhone testing.
it is obvious that the Reality Distortion Field is in a seriously weakened state if Apple has to bring the press conference to the core of the RDF generator so that all of SJs excuses sound believeable.
Game Over
if you touch anything
I've been in a smaller anechoic chamber. Those things really fuck with your mind when your inside for more than a few minutes. Its weird, feeling yourself talking loudly but hearing little but a whisper.
I have been in one, big enough to fit 3 semis with trailers. It's a funny feeling, talking in a huge hall and it sounds like you're in a pillow.
@moco
It's actually kind of cool. I've been in several myself, although really they were semi-anechoic, and not completely anechoic (floor is pretty much a ground plane instead of absorbing material).
Who cares how many of these rooms they have since they don't know how to use it?
I can't believe they(Engadget) got a story from this.
How many stories will Engadget milk out of the Apple press conference?!
@Shalabi No matter the amount, Gizmodo will top that.
Anechoic chambers are interesting and all, but what the hell does Apple need 17 of them for!?!
@OverDriven
Aside from boasting, they're probably counting any RF cages as chambers, meaning considering any 1x1 meter and above Lyndgren cage as a chamber.
The biggest EMC test labs in the world, Cetecom and TUV-R, have on average 3-4 chambers at their giant facilities, which include the 10 m. and 5 m. chambers. Some EMC labs in the Detroit and DC areas have giant chambers for vehicles. Apple is simply being ridiculous to impress nubs.
Since most cell phone testing is performed in the Far Field, and the wavelength of a GSM signal is in the centimeter range, any cage bigger than 3 x 3 m. is sufficient. Since the devices are small, azimuth and other angles are easily covered.
@OverDriven
BTW if you're wondering why does Apple need/have such a gigantic chamber, let me explain: You contact the supplier (i.e. Lindgren), have a meeting and they'll ask "how much money do you have"? If you say $100 million, instead of telling them exactly what you need, you've failed. Apple has lots of money and can afford it, no prob. Engineers love toys anyway. Do they need this excess? No, unless they plan to EMC test a Boeing 747 and not some tiny pocket device.
http://www.ets-lindgren.com/page/?i=Chambers
@shishi
I am curious about the gigantic cylindical one. What is it for? Surely not handset antenna testing.
The Stargate 64 and ETS 8600 chambers I've used before.
@Robert Thorpe
Are you referring to the gigantic chamber in Apple's press conf photo?
I've done some PTCRB/GCF testing, and Cetecom in Milpitas has a "Stargate" one (had no idea they called them like that, really?).
The biggest "normal" chamber I've used are BACL's 10 m. chamber, which has a cool door bay where you can fit a car (I saw the Tesla Roadster being driven into the chamber while I was using one of their facility). Elite Labs has some big ones for vehicles. Caterpillar has big ones as well, obviously. Haven't seen used any military ones. I honestly don't know why Apple would need such a big chamber -- but it's not the first time I've seen companies blow through cash (I used to work for a really big Mobile company and saw such behavior). You only need space to accommodate big things, like a satellite/terrestrial antenna Compact Range. Maybe they're doing something with AT&T. Maybe for link range tests. I dunno...
Haha, I love the one with just the phone on that little stand. It looks like they're feeding the phone to a hungry monster.
Yeah whatever and it tool a team of engineers 22 days to figure out the solution was a case.
BECAUSE WE ALL DIDNT KNOW THAT ALREADY.
Can you hear me now?
I've been in one of these rooms but it was white, I had some kind of restraining jacket on and people who looked just like me were telling me to kill my family.
Who are they trying to fool? It's just a level from IWBTG.
Rubber bands holding the iphone in place the "free space" test room? Seriously?
They should get a refund because with all the money they spent nobody noticed the death grip unless those rooms amplify signal hmmmm. Seriously they were using cases outside of Apple and inside they wore gloves while handling the phone but they won't make that mistake again.
Eh, most bedrooms wouldn't be 10ft tall!
BTW $100 Million invested and they failed at designing a decent antenna. Our antenna guy here can whip out a decent tuned microstrip patch in one afternoon for a six pack of beer. LMAO he was laughing so hard when he heard the story.
@shishi
Remember that the iPhone is ~9.3mm overall thickness and the antenna must cover 5 bands. That's a very difficult spec to meet.
Three bands with a 7mm PIFA high antenna is reasonably easy. But, that's 7mm antenna height, another 4mm would be need for the case and PCB.
It's not surprising that Apple haven't used a PIFA or patch type antenna.
@Robert Thorpe
You make a good point about the inherent iPhone 4's thinness. But that's a hole that Apple dug themselves into. I don't blame them for trying to make the thinnest phone in the world, but not a the expense of functionality.
I believe the iPhone 3GS doesn't use PIFA either (like most Nokia, Samsung do). Instead the 3GS has a quite clever design using the bezel, the ring around the camera lens and even the PCB traces. That's good design right there, without the added headache of having to hold it in a particular way.
There are all sorts of papers coming out on small device antennas, the field is exploding...
Cheers.