iPhone 4 Band-Aid Fix

So this is their solution to the iPhone 4 reception problem? Everyone gets free iPhone bumbers or cases? I was never a fan of cases and see my phone as a disposable item, albeit an expensive disposable phone device, so I really hated the cases they offered for all the phones I've had.

I'm naturally extremely careful with my phone and never had issues with ruining it, dropping it, or scratching it. It's a tech device afterall and it's basically junk in a few years. How much would someone pay to buy my old Motorola Startac? I might actually have to pay them to take it!

However if you are one of those people that protect their phones with bumpers or cases, then this is good win for you. I really think Apple and Steve Jobs knew about it and was hoping to make a few extra bucks off you and EXPECTED you to buy their bumpers or cases. Unfortunately the backlash was too much and it didn't go their way. Oh well.

Free cases for everyone, so go get it before the September 30th deadline!

iPhone 4 Metal Case To Solve Reception Issue

The new sexy aluminum Vapor case from Element is not only stylish, it's functional. Functional in that you don't have your skin conducting interference with your phone's reception. They are getting hit with high orders right now, so they only have a few colors and slow delivery. Right now they are saying 2-3 weeks! The price is up there at $79.95, but with the iPhone's easy to shatter glass surface, it's probably a good protective case worth getting.



From ElementCase.com:

About The Vapor

Starting at: $79.95

Register to Pre-Order Now

Available in Black/Black and Black/Pink

More Colors will be Available at a Later Date

You've all been waiting patiently, and now the new "Vapor" Case for the iPhone 4 is on its way.

First of all, the Vapor's ergonomic shape is very sleek, light, and of course, beautiful. That's really all you need to know, but here's more:
Despite it's minimalist appearance, the Vapor is CNC machined from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum. In
other words, it's strong and light(25 grams)!
A CNC on/off button is designed into the case to complete the clean lines.

Next, the finish of the Vapor case is anodized to create a hard protective coating in brilliant colors. Yes, black is a
color. We love anodized black.

In true ElementCase style, the graphics are laser engraved. A "custom" option will be available soon.

The inside of the Vapor case is lined with a very high tech shock absorbing material that reduces the G-forces of an impact. It also creates
a non-conductive barrier to help maintain the iPhone's antenna signal strength.

ElementCase.com iPhone 4 Vapor case

iPhone 4 Reception Solved!

image from petermorgan.uk

So you say you have problem with the new Apple iPhone 4 reception huh? Problem solved! LOL.

petermorgan.uk on flickr.com

Hold Different - Apple Admits Issue With iPhone 4

This is just horrible how Apple is handling the iPhone 4 reception issue. I'm sure all the anti-Apple fanbois is just loving it. With Steve Jobs telling intelligent people "You're holding the phone wrong" Seriously? I didn't know we had to hold the phone in a certain way. Shouldn't we be able to hold the phone any damn way we please? I remember my sister, how she use to cuddle up with our cordless home phone as she's speaking, or holding the phone anyway she can as she was doing her hair.

So about 2 weeks after the iPhone 4 launch, Apple gives an official statement:

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple's history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by one or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop four or five bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays two more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display four bars when we should be displaying as few as two bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T's recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone's bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars one, two and three a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same- the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Apple

iPhone For Verizon Wireless In January

AT&T has taken a beating for it's horrible service. But the allure of the iPhone makes people put up with it. When Verizon Wireless came out with the Droid, it just added to AT&T's bad reputation. The "There's a map for that" ad campaign made it even worse. I remember many of my friends would mention if Verizon would only offer the iPhone they would gladly pay the AT&T termination fee with a smile.

Well, wait no longer, according to Bloomberg, the iPhone is finally coming to Verizon in January!

From Bloomberg:

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone next year, ending AT&T Inc.’s exclusive hold on the smartphone in the U.S., two people familiar with the plans said.

The device will be available to customers in January, according to the people, who declined to be named because the information isn’t public. Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, and Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, declined to comment.

The iPhone, which has been the sole domain of rival AT&T in the U.S. since June 2007, will give Verizon a boost in its competition for smartphone customers, UBS AG analyst John Hodulik said in an interview. Verizon customers, who numbered 92.8 million at the end of the first quarter, may buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, he estimates.

“Apple is going to dramatically increase the number of devices it sells in the U.S. when exclusivity at AT&T ends,” said Hodulik, who is based in New York and rates Verizon shares “neutral.” “It’s hard to ignore the quality issues that AT&T has faced.”

Verizon Wireless, which is building a high-speed fourth- generation network, plans to unveil several devices that will run on the new technology in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam has said.

IPhone Gains

Verizon Communications Inc., which co-owns the wireless company with Vodafone Group Plc, slid 9 cents to $28.62 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4 p.m. AT&T fell 49 cents to $24.46. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, dropped $12.13 to $256.17 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Peter Thonis, a spokesman for Verizon Communications, and Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, declined to comment. Tenille Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Research in Motion Ltd., didn’t return a call seeking comment.

The iPhone has helped AT&T add subscribers even as the U.S. mobile-phone market nears saturation. There are enough wireless devices for more than nine out of 10 people, according to the CTIA wireless industry association.

In the first three months of this year, about a third of AT&T’s iPhone activations came from customers who were new to the carrier. Without those 900,000 new subscribers, the company may have posted a loss in contract customers that quarter, analysts said.

Still, Dallas-based AT&T has battled customer complaints about its wireless service, especially in New York and San Francisco, and dedicated an extra $2 billion to upgrading its network this year.

continue to Bloomberg for the rest of the story

True Total Cost of iPhone 4 Versus Other Top Android Phones

Today being the day of the official Apple iPhone 4 release I thought it would be a pretty good idea to actually see what the true cost of having a new iPhone 4 would be versus having the top Android phones and their respective carriers. I checked out BillShrink and lucky me, they happen to have a comparison cost chart.

Surprisingly T-Mobile's offering is actually the cheapest with their Google phone, the Nexus One. I played around with my friend's Nexus One and it's a beautiful phone and the responsiveness is pretty quick. I'm one of those people that will click around quickly, or maybe a better label is those people that are considered powerusers and know what to do and why they are doing it. Nothing kills powerusers more than having to click something, wait for a fraction of a second longer than they have to because it breaks the flow of whatever they need to do.

I'm also one of the people that enjoy taking pictures and taking lots of pictures of the moment. Trying to take pics of the moment can be priceless. A split second delay can cause you to miss that moment. Of course it's no big deal if the subject is stationary and posing. I personally hate posed pictures. The whole point of me pointing this out is the quickness the Nexus One takes pictures and the LED flash doesn't wash out the colors of the subject. So playing around, and going crazy, snapping pics of everything and everyone during a happy hour at a sports bar, I was very impressed with my friend's Nexus One.

The reason I'm not mentioning much of the iPhone 4 is because I'm not going to camp out, and stand in line for an hour or more to get the new phone. Plus being on AT&T's new 2 gb data cap is ridiculous! I'm not sure how many people actually know they will be capped when they get the new phone and plan. It's going to suck for them! Surprise!!!!!

From BillShrink.com

The iPhone 4, EVO 4G, Droid Incredible, and Google Nexus One; when it comes to choosing a smartphone, there are several worthy competitors on the market to consider. It is important to compare the key features that each phone and its carrier offer before making a decision. By looking at the chart below, you can compare pricing, plans and smartphone features and decide which phone will best suit your individual needs.

Editor’s note: Though the category is listed as “unlimited plan,” you should note that due to AT&T’s recent data service pricing change, they’re no longer offering unlimited data plan for new subscribers. Instead, new users will have the option to a 2 GB plan for $25 or a 200 MB plan for $15. This is rather unfortunate as other carriers may soon adopt AT&T’s tiered rate for data service, and the current a la carte pricing may not really reflect what the average user needs (it’s either too much data given, or not enough).

This cost comparison is also specifically tailored for a balance mix of users. Obviously, if you’re a gadget geek, you know each phone’s specifications and dimensions by heart, but if you’re just average Joe, you may not care if the phone is powered by a Qualcomm 1 GHz Snapdragon or its competitor sports the similar ARM-based Cortex-A8 CPU packaged with a PowerVR SGX graphics chip.

Click to Enlarge



Continue to BillShrink.com for the rest of the story