HTC fires back at Apple antenna demo with percentage pew-pew
Apple's Friday press conference may have left a bad taste in some rival handset manufacturer's mouths, but not all of them are taking Cupertino's derision of their devices seriously -- HTC's Droid Eris was arguably the most affected by the grip of doom, its bars dropping to zilch when held, but the Taiwanese company's keeping any controversial opinions to itself for now. Instead, it's sharing a simple percentage to help clear the air. Whereas Apple claimed over 0.55 percent of customers called AppleCare with reception-related complaints, HTC's Eric Lin told Pocket-lint the Droid Eris technical support rate was 0.016 percent, nearly thirty-four times lower -- though even with a seven-month head start, we have to wonder if the Eris sold close to three million by the time Verizon brought the axe down.























OH NO THEY DIDN"T!
@wemustcontrolpeople
ahh.. i'm pretty sure they did ;-)
@wemustcontrolpeople
OH yeah Engadget did just stick up for Apple with the last sentence and put down another company
@wemustcontrolpeople
Right on, HTC. Kill that FUD.
Seriously, Apple? WTF? Can't defend your actions, so you sling some mud?
@DefPoet
Its the true though isn't it?
@DefPoet
It's called appropriation. It means that people associate with the tools they use to the extent that they become an extension of their own identity. This entails a favourable view of the tools used and a bias against the ones that aren't.
It's a fairly well understood issue in social constructivist psychology and pretty much explains fanboys.
@wemustcontrolpeople
OH YES THEY DID!
@DefPoet
Engadget is just pointing out the obvious:
Percentage says absolutely nothing about average consumer satisfaction if you don't know the absolute number of users...
@MarkAnderson
Which is why I rage against people who say "X is the best ever and nobody will ever beat it!" or "X users are stupid!".
Also, I'm certain cognitive dissonance fits in there somewhere. Surely the amount of appropriation goes up relative to the amount spent on the device. The more you spend, the more you defend it?
@Mike10010100
Put it into perspective. The population of iPhone 4 owners is greater than that of Eris owners therefore there are more owners present to make complaints. Free bumpers yes, but I don't think the rest of "this" was necessary.
@DefPoet
You do realize that HTC doesn't deal with the Technical support for the phones they sell on VzW's network? VzW handles all of the Technical support issues of the phones on their network so..... what HTC is saying is disingenuous.
@Mike10010100
Why defend? I don't think its got so bad we have to justify our purchases to random's on the internet to make our selves feel better. Surely not.
@tobsmonster2
i never said it was not the truth just that it wasn't necessary
@tobsmonster2
I agree. There was an easy way to phrase this that was both factual and non-enraging.
Something like "However, the sample size is completely different; with the iPhone spread out to a larger number of people, there's going to be more complaints regarding signal issues."
Non-flaming tone, Engadget. Learn to utilize it.
1. droid eris is a budget phone, meaning it most likely sold on par with the iphone. the iphone isnt the biggest selling phones, budget phones are.
2. 0.55% of 3 million is 15,000.
15,000 people CALLED 1 tech support , applecare, over a period of 2 weeks about the horrible design. and that doesnt count how many called at&t...
nor does it count how many people returned the phone at an apple store,
nor does it count how many people returned it at an at&t store.
@wemustcontrolpeople
This was by far the worst example for bad reception by apple. The antenna on this phone is on the very top, and the only reason it went down was because he's reaching his finger to the top. Just sad apple.... My tmo vibrant does somewhat the same thing, just not as bad. If anything comes out from all of this, it's that the companies work to have less of interference the next time.
@DefPoet
I think it was a pretty fair point to make. Only an Anti-Apple 'commenter' would even care to bring it up really.
@tobsmonster2
That's exactly my point. You won't see me defending my purchase of an HTC Hero on the intarwebs. I like it, that's all that matters. Sure, it's an underpowered, underperforming phone, but it was cheap. And it's a lot of fun!
Never have I said "Apple products are 4 idiots! ROFLROFLROFL! Heros rule!" I defend Android because I agree with the general theories behind it. I don't lambaste iPhone users for being iPhone users. I criticize SOME users of being overprotective and defensive fanboys.
@tobsmonster2
you must have an anti flamebait comment filter
People have been defending their purchases since ViolaWWW was released
@tobsmonster2.
Accualy, these are precentages reflect the number of reception issues of the total number of complaints. So out of 10,000 of all complaint to apple for the ip4, 54 have reception issues, and out of 10,000 of all complaints to htc for the eris, less then 2 have reception issues.
@MicrosoftOwns
nor does it count how many people informed them self online/TV/Newspaper/etc. and already knew what the deal was. With all that publicity it was kinda hard to miss.
@MarkAnderson
You mean like how I identify myself as a male since I associate closely with my tool, aka penis, and quickly come to its defense if anyone mocks its size?
Makes sense.
@wemustcontrolpeople there there apple don't you worry engadgets got your back
P.S. iOS is getting really lame
@7egend
SO if someone points out Fox News or Msnbc bias they are anti that stance? IF bloggers want to be considers jounalist they have to accept critisism and try to be impartial
@DefPoet
But that's not what gets them the most money! That's like Engadget suddenly saying "No! We don't want your money! Please, stop giving it to us!"
Impartiality isn't what sells. Emotion, flame-bait, name-calling, yelling: those are the things that sell.
Sad, but true.
@Ducman69
if you have to defend your penis size than we are not the ones that are uncombable with it :D besides a penis does not make you male a XY chromosome does a penis is just a indicator that you might have that. A XX chromosome person could have a penis put on but does that make them male nope.
@MicrosoftOwns infact
Nokia 1100 (200 million)
Nokia 3210 (150 million)
Motorola RAZR V3 (130 million)
Nokia 3310 (126 million)
Nokia 2100 (20 million)
LG Chocolate (15 million)
BlackBerry Pearl (10 million)
LG Cookie (KP500) (10 million)
Nokia 5310 XpressMusic (10 million)
Samsung SGH-D500 (10 million)
Samsung E250 (10 million)
Samsung SGH-E700 (10 million)
Samsung J700 (10 million)
Samsung S5230 (10 million)
Samsung T-100 (10 million)
LG Shine (8 million)
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (Over 8 million)
Nokia N95 (7 million)
Samsung F480 TouchWiz (5 million)
Original Apple iPhone (6.1 million
I can't believe a professional writer used 'effected'.
@Mike10010100 Utter bullshit.
I bought the "I Am Rich" app for my 3GS and, dagnabbit, it's the one app I can't live without!
@SimonRichards
"most effected" englierish 101
"though even with a seven-month head start, we have to wonder if the Eris sold close to three million by the time Verizon brought the axe down"
do you guys know how percentages work?
Also, remember this, the iPhone's reception issues were widely reported, blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc, not everyone that had problems cared to call in support. For the Droid, I would imagine a larger percent would call in if the issue was so great since I, for one, have never heard of it
@wemustcontrolpeople
That last sentence is pretty low. This kind of stuff is what eventually drives readers away. Please refrain from such juvenile remarks as much as possible.
@JeremyBenthem
"For the Droid, I would imagine a larger percent would call in if the issue was so great"
Why?
@Scrubs Don't bring facts and logic into this.
PC World re-evaluates the ratings of iPhone. Drops the iPhone from the best phones list: http://bit.ly/azobWj
@DefPoet Yeah, who wants facts about statistics to get in the way!
@DefPoet
What, the truth hurts....then don't take up space, by commenting to facts.
@MicrosoftOwns
The Droid Eris is NOT a budget phone. It was $100 after $100 mail-in-rebate. First, that makes it $200 out the door pre-rebate. It also required a data plan. That is HARDLY a budget phone. Budget phones are $50 or less with no strings attached.
The iPhone 3G was available at the $100 price point w/o rebate, so if the Droid Eris was a "budget" phone, so was the 3G at the time.
Second, the support calls for iPhones at AT&T are ALL routed to AppleCare. It doesn't matter whether you called Apple or AT&T, if you have an iPhone tech support question, you get routed to AppleCare.
Third, Apple already gave the return rates. 1.6% -- compared to 6% for the 3GS.
Get informed!
@tobsmonster2
because even the more savvy users wouldn't have known that it's a common problem and not their own hardware since it hasn't been so widely exposed
@wemustcontrolpeople
My video. From weeks ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh6pUNY_rv8
@LeJay
Statistics, man. Learn them.
Both samples were large enough for statistical analysis to be equal. Therefore, the percentages are EVERYTHING.
@Dreamwell
Apple didn't really think they are the only ones who can put a spin on numbers, did they? How does it feel to get the taste of their own medicine I wonder? 34 times bitter than the most bitter medicine I bet?
@wemustcontrolpeople
I just held my evo in every position and my bars never dropped. Stayed full.
Screw you Steve
@DefPoet you nailed it! but I still think Fox is filled with tea party idiots.
@wemustcontrolpeople Its really sick how engadget tries to brain wash us, THEY SAID PERCENTAGE, percentage got nothing to do with 3million or 300000million units, its percentage, at least try to brain wash us wisely.
@DefPoet Hey weren't there a couple of other models after the original iPhone?
WHY DID YOU LEAVE THEM OUT?
@joe23521 For being truthful? Nothing wrong with it if it is stating the facts
@Brt312
What facts? Percentages are percentages, and the sales don't need to be as big as the iPhone's in order to compare them via percentages. They are both statistically valid. Deal with it.
@DefPoet
Well, Apple showed Engadget as one of the sources that ranked iPhone no. 1. It took years for Engadget to beat Gizmodo to become Apple's no. 1 (Gizmodo was said to be the best blog once by Apple, but of its own folly, Gizmodo lost that title). Engadget is not gonna let go of this opportunity. Apple users ACTUALLY follow a lot of blogs, religiously, as opposed to the users of other gadgets (else the ratio here would be even more skewed). So, I can't blame Engadget for sticking up to Apple for its revenues. I would do the same.
By the way, 'effect' is an abstract noun! 'Affect' is the verb.
Oh they did, and they had all the right to "do".
I think they have solid grounds for a defamation lawsuit against Apple. You don't just gather reporters from all over the country, with national news networks having their cameras on you, then LIE about your flawed eyephone's antenna problem being the same on every other phone, complete with videos and other company names and products.