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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.
Inside Apple's 'black lab' wireless testing facilities (update: video)
It's not surprising that after Apple finished explaining the iPhone 4 antenna issues to the press today, the company wanted to go one step further and say "yes, actually, we do test the hell out of these phones before we release them to the public." Though Steve Jobs went over the lengthy and intensive kinds of radio evaluation that goes on at Apple's headquarters, it didn't seem to be enough for the folks in Cupertino. And that, we suspect, is why we were invited (along with a small group of other journalists) to take a brief tour of Apple's Infinite Loop labs. Though we weren't allowed to shoot video or take pictures, we can tell you about what we did -- and what we didn't -- see and hear behind closed doors.
Apple affirms: no software fix for iPhone 4 antenna issue
In case it wasn't obvious enough from Apple's agitated response to our question during today's iPhone 4 Q&A session in Cupertino, there's no software fix in the pipeline for the antenna issues that are plaguing users today. A prior report in the New York Times seemed fairly confident that the troubles could (and would) be solved in the near term by a simple software update, but the company's own Scott Forstall called said report "patently false." So, there you have it -- the only thing that'll be fixed via software is how big your smallest bar of signal is. Beyond that, you'll need to grab some Duct tape, a free case or a white glove if you're looking to avoid attenuation entirely.
Nokia: 'we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict'
Nokia's looking to ride the mojo of any negative fallout from today's Apple press conference, slipping out a rather fascinating statement this afternoon. The gist of it is that Espoo's keen on letting everyone know how much blood, sweat, and tears they've poured into perfecting their antenna design strategy over the years, going so far as to say that they "prioritize" it over the physical design of the phone if they need to in order to optimize its call performance -- an opinion moderately different from the "we want to have our cake and eat it too" philosophy espoused by Jobs today. In closing, Nokia acknowledges that a "tight grip" can mess with the performance, though they say they've done a bunch of research on the ways their phones are typically held so that the antennas are placed optimally. Interestingly, there was a stink not long ago about the severe signal degradation some E71 users were seeing when they placed their hands on the lower rear of the phone -- but you can't win 'em all, we suppose. Follow the break for the full statement.
Apple posts iPhone 4 press conference video, 'smartphone antenna performance' page
Well, that was quick. Not only has Apple already posted the complete video of today's iPhone 4 presser (minus the Q&A), but it's also put up a special "smartphone antenna performance" page that offers pictures and videos aplenty of the antenna comparisons shown during the press conference. And you didn't think today could get any weirder. Hit up the links below to see for yourself. Update: We've embedded videos just after the jump of Apple's gamut of antenna tests. The iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, Samsung Omnia II, BlackBerry Bold 9700 and HTC Droid Eris are represented.
Apple to give away free cases to iPhone 4 users
Apple's not really ready to say it's sorry about the iPhone 4 antenna design, but it is willing to give all you darn squeaky wheels free cases for your trouble. Since Apple can't build its own Bumpers fast enough, it will give you a few options and let you decide, then send it your way for free as long as you purchased the phone before September 30th. Not good enough for you? Well, if you already bought a bumper from Apple you'll get a refund, and you can also return your phone for a full refund within 30 days as long as it's unharmed.This solution comes at the end of 22 days of Apple engineers "working their butts off," according to Steve, with "physics" ultimately being pinned as the main culprit. Apple claims you can replicate the left-handed "death grip" bar-dropping problem on the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, and Samsung Omnia II, and that "phones aren't perfect." Steve also claims that only 0.55% of people who bought the iPhone 4 have called into AppleCare to complain about the antenna, and the phone has a 1.7% return rate at AT&T, compared to 6% with the 3GS, though he would cop to a slight increase in dropped calls over the iPhone 3GS. For this Steve has what he confesses to be a pet theory: that 3GS users were using the case they had from the 3G, and therefore weren't met with the horrible reality of a naked, call dropping handset. Hence the free case solution, which will probably satisfy some, infuriate others, and never even blip onto the radar of many of the massive horde of consumers that's devoured this product in unprecedented numbers.Update: Our own Richard Lai just waltzed down to the Regent Street Apple Store in London with his iPhone Bumper receipt in hand. A few minutes later he left with cold, hard cash, and kept the Bumper to boot. Seems as if the refund effort is a go, at least over in the UK.Update 2: We've heard from several tipsters saying Apple no longer does Bumper refunds at its stores; customers will now have to make an online claim instead. Looks like we got super lucky.
Live from Apple's iPhone 4 press conference
The event is set to start at the times below -- so get ready! 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)
The iPhone 4 Apple Press Event metaliveblog
Apple Press Event Welcome to our iPhone 4 live press conference event! Today we'll be metaliveblogging Apple's iPhone 4 announcements, adding our traditional TUAW twist to the proceedings. Will Steve Jobs offer a $29 bounty or free bumpers to all early iPhone 4 adopters? Or will the iPhone 4 itself be recalled? (We seriously doubt it!) Or is today's announcement about new service providers for those mysterious iPhone3,2 and iPhone3,3 models that Engadget uncovered a while back? Join us as we find out! Sources for today's metaliveblog include: Engadget Ars Technica gdgt Macworld Fortune
Apple: iPhone 4 drops 'less than one additional call per 100 than the 3GS'
It's fairly obvious that the howls around the web for Apple to address this antenna issue has gotten underneath the skin of one Steve Jobs, and in a fashion that's very much unlike Apple (or AT&T, for that matter), the aforesaid CEO has actually handed out a bit of hard data surrounding dropped calls on the iPhone 4. According to Jobs, AT&T won't reveal the exact amount of call drops for competitive reasons, but they did manage to push out a meaningful delta. As of today, they've noticed that the "iPhone 4 drops less than one additional call per 100 than the 3GS." In other words, the iPhone 4 has actually been dropping more calls than the 3GS in the three weeks that the former has been on the market. Of course, Steve's also playing up the fact that just a fraction of a percent of all buyers have bothered to call in about their bout with dropped calls (and why would you, knowing there's no cure?), but it's still interesting to finally get some cold, hard facts on this disaster. Even if it's but a snippet.
Reminder: we're live from Apple's iPhone 4 press conference tomorrow, 10AM PT / 1PM ET!
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)
Join us tomorrow: Apple's iPhone 4 Press Conference
Apple Press Event Please join us tomorrow at 10AM Pacific (1PM Eastern) for a live TUAW blogging event as Apple addresses the press over its controversial iPhone 4 device. CEO Steve Jobs is expected to lead the event. The question on everyone's mind is, of course, will Apple be holding the event in the right place? Your guess is as good as ours. As the reception from the press might turn out to be a little cheeky in the proximity of such a big announcement, expect a bumper crop of interest from Apple enthusiasts. You can signal your interest by signing up for an e-mail reminder of the event from CoverItLive. What: Apple iPhone 4 Press Event Where: Here on TUAW! Except in the bottom-left-hand corner of the site. When: 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern
Senator Chuck Schumer writes open letter to Steve Jobs, world is officially doomed
Look, we get it. There's a problem with the iPhone's antenna. But was the open letter to Jobs calling for a "clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem" and a "public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge" really necessary? What, you don't have better things to do? The full press release (and the Senator's letter) is after the break.
Uh oh! Apple engineer reportedly warned company about iPhone antenna design
Apple's antenna woes continue with unabated fury today. Bloomberg news is reporting that Apple's senior antenna guru raised concerns about the antenna design planned for the iPhone, and allegedly told Steve Jobs that design could lead to dropped calls. The engineer, says Bloomberg, is Ruben Caballero according to a source cited tin the article. It's also reported one of Apple's carrier partners also questioned the performance of the antenna design. Apple has declined to comment on the report, and Caballero isn't responding to calls and emails. He might be busy checking those Silicon Valley help wanted posts. A quick check shows a Ruben Caballero of San Jose has several patent applications for antenna designs, including one that is a design for a "handheld electronic device with conductive bezels." Sounds familiar. The Linkedin site lists Caballero as a Senior Director, iPhone/iPod at Apple. He's been there since 2005. It's not unusual for a design team to have differences of opinion on technical matters. I've been through a few of those meetings myself. In light of the current storm of controversy over the iPhone design, those conversations take on added importance. You can bet Steve Jobs will be asked about all this at the news conference tomorrow at Apple headquarters.
Consumer Reports: Apple's Bumper fixes iPhone 4 antenna issue
The organization's report stated that "With the Bumper fitted, we repeated the test procedure, placing a finger on the Bumper at the point at which it covers the gap below. The result was a negligible drop in signal strength - so slight that it would not have any effect, in our judgment." Consumer Reports went on to say that duct tape would also do the trick, and that in their opinion, any fix should be done at Apple's cost and should not come out of the consumer's wallet. While this doesn't provide an answer for other reported problems such as the "proximity sensor issue" or the "Bluetooth headset issue," it does lend some strength to speculation that Apple could announce a giveaway of Bumpers to all iPhone 4 owners at tomorrow's press conference. An offer of a free Bumper to every iPhone 4 owner would be a much less expensive solution to the antenna issue than a full-scale recall of the devices. [via MacObserver]
Bloomberg: Apple engineer was concerned about iPhone 4 antenna early on
As if we needed any more drama in this situation, Bloomberg has someone "familiar with the matter" that claims Apple's own antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, told Apple management that the iPhone 4 antenna design could cause reception problems, dropped calls, and a serious engineering challenge. Caballero is a senior engineer for Apple with a large quantity of antenna patents under his belt, and while we certainly don't know the whole story -- perhaps his claims were somehow quelled by Apple's own testing -- it certainly adds a twist to this story if Steve Jobs and co. had been alerted to this very real problem during the design phase. The Bloomberg article also claims, from a different source, no less, that a carrier partner also raised antenna concerns before the release. Apple and Caballero naturally did not comment on this report. We're not really sure about the real-world implications of all this behind-the-scenes drama, but we suppose we'll see what Apple has to say for itself tomorrow.
Apple to hold iPhone 4 press conference this Friday
Headline says it all folks. Obviously the company is going to be getting out in front of this antenna drama (finally). We've been invited and we'll be there, reporting live! It all happens at 10AM PT, Friday the 16th. If you haven't caught up on the story (and if that's the case, where have you been?), here's a little background on the issue in reverse chronological order: Yes, the iPhone 4 is broken / No, the iPhone 4 is not broken Consumer Reports confirms iPhone 4 antenna problems -- and so do we Apple: iPhone 4 reception problem is a software issue, fix coming in 'a few weeks' iPhone 4's antenna problem looks worse than it is, but it's still bad Apple hiring iPhone antenna engineers for some reason Apple telling reps to smooth over iPhone 4 reception complaints, not to offer free bumpers? iPhone 4 antenna woes contextualized by dude in the know The Jimmy Fallon Test: is the iPhone 4 dropping fewer calls? Hey Apple, you're holding it wrong Apple responds to iPhone 4 reception issues: you're holding the phone the wrong way
Estimate: Full recall could cost $1.5B
The possible, yet highly unlikely event of a full iPhone 4 recall would cost Apple dearly, according to Tony Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research. He has issued a report with a US$1.5 billion price tag as his best guess. However, that's not what Sacconaghi believes will happen. Instead, he suspects Apple will relent and issue free Bumper cases to those who want them. With an estimated production cost of $1 each, the cost would drop significantly and frankly hardly disrupt Apple financially. Earlier this week, several people suggested that a recall is inevitable, while others insist that it's not really a big deal. As I said yesterday, whatever Apple's going to do ought to be done sooner than later. While Apple is silent, consumers are seeing stories like this.
iPhone 4 Bluetooth issues reported
While testing out the Jawbone Icon wireless Bluetooth headset recently, the parties I called complained of diminished sound quality on their end. They talked about overly compressed muffled sound, with decreased dynamic range. Over at the Jawbone end-user forums several threads have been discussing exactly that. Plantronics forums are reporting issues as well. Informal testing here at TUAW central with a couple of Jawbone units on both an iPhone 3GS as well as the iPhone 4 showed that the 3GS displayed none of the problems that the iPhone 4 is demonstrating.
Yes, the iPhone 4 is broken / No, the iPhone 4 is not broken
The controversy over the iPhone 4's antenna issues continues to grow, particularly after Consumer Reports confirmed yesterday that every iPhone 4 suffers from signal attenuation when the phone is held with the lower left corner covered -- a report that we confirmed with results from our own custom signal metering app. At this point, there's no longer any question in our minds that the iPhone 4's antenna can be made to lose signal by holding it "wrong" -- and we definitely think it's more than a little silly that simply holding the phone in your left hand has been nicknamed the "death grip."That said, however, it's not at all clear what the real-world effects of the antenna issue actually are for most people -- as we've repeatedly said, several iPhone 4s owned by the Engadget staff (including our review unit) have never experienced so much as a single dropped call, while others suffer from signal issues that results in lost calls and unresponsive data in a dramatic way. What's more, at this point Apple's sold well over two million iPhone 4s, and we simply haven't heard the sort of outcry from users that we'd normally hear if a product this high-profile and this popular had a showstopping defect. Honestly, it's puzzling -- we know that the phone has an antenna-related problem, but we're simply not able to say what that issue actually means for everyday users.So we're doing what we can do: we've collected reports from every member of the Engadget staff who's using the phone, as well as reached out to a variety of tech industry colleagues for their experiences. As you'll see, most of our peers seem to be doing perfectly fine with their iPhone 4s, but the people who are having problems are having maddening issues in an inconsistent way. We'd say it all comes down to the network -- particularly in New York City, where AT&T just completed a major upgrade -- but even that isn't a consistent factor in predicting experience. Ultimately, we just won't know what's really going on until Apple comes clean and addresses this issue (and the growing PR nightmare it's become), but for now we can say with some certainty that not everyone is affected, and those that are seem to be in the minority. Read on for the full report.
As Apple's PR disaster grows, some say recall
Now that the iPhone has been in customers' hands for a few weeks, the antenna issue has been demonstrated time and again to be very real. Holding the lower left-hand corner of the iPhone causes a significant loss in signal strength. Those in low-signal areas to begin with will often lose their connection entirely. As soon as that corner of the phone is released, the connection is restored. Apple issued a statement on July 2nd which essentially said that the iPhone is erroneously reporting signal strength via the number of bars displayed. Apple plans to release a patch to fix the discrepancy soon. In other words, a user whose phone says it's got 3 bars could actually have less than that. After applying Apple's fix, the iPhone would read 2 bars or 1 for that user. That's not a fix. Touching the corner will, we assume, continue to kill the signal. Users will just have a more advanced warning of the results: "I'm about to drop to 3 bars" vs. "I'm about to lose my connection entirely." This week, people are talking about a hardware recall. Professor Matthew Seeger of Wayne State University told Cult of Mac that a hardware recall is "inevitable." Meanwhile, Dr. Larry Barton can't understand Apple's slow response. "There has to be a military-like response to this issue," he told Cult of Mac. "And we have not seen this kind of urgency." A hardware recall would be a disaster, but consider the damage that's already been done to Apple's PR. Consumer Reports (CR) suggested people not buy the iPhone 4. Say what you want, but CR is the definitive guide for a huge number of consumers. A software fix that simply reports how poor the iPhone's connection to AT&T's network won't fix this issue. Apple's got to act. Fast.
