No comment on the press conference?
in [UK Mac]
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From: zoara on 20 Jul 2010 10:25 Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net> wrote: > zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> writes: > >> Pd <peterd.news(a)gmail.invalid> wrote: >>> Am I missing posts here, or has nobody made any comments on the > > > press >>> conference of 5 hours ago? >> >> Perhaps everyone was stunned at the audacity of the attempted Jedi > > mind >> trick. "There is no problem here". > > They really, really should have taken lessons from the marketing for > other products. Look at cool, stylish bicycles. Have you ever seen one > sold with fenders and lights and other ugly accessories on it (well, > at > least in the US)? They could easily have turned this naked design into > a > full success by declaring that the iPhone 4 is the first caseless > phone. > As with fenderless bikes you have to be a bit careful if you use it in > this form (looks and feels really cool though), but you have a wide > choice of third-party parts to spruce it up to your liking. Minimal > skins, robust outdoor cases, business-like black cases, mimicry cases > to > turn the thing visually into a Droid, whatever you want. It's called > freedom! > > "See, already Apple offers these nice minimal bumpers in several > colors. > The market will follow with more innovative and good-looking cases for > every need and taste. Isn't this better than buying a phone with one > ugly plastic casing fixed around its antenna which you can never > change > or remove?" -- *This* should have been the marketing for that thing. Clever. > But by what they did they actually declared this design a failure, > even > if they avoided the word. How silly is this? They certainly don't seem very good at dealing with things well when things go wrong. > Anandtech did some tests recently and found that even a single layer > of > Kapton tape on the antenna improves the signal attenuation while using > the dead grip to the same level as with other smartphones. You mean this test? http://www.anandtech.com/show/3821/iphone-4-redux-analyzing-apples-ios-41-signal-fix/3 That's another example of the “not quite getting to the conclusion” problem I moan about elsethread. See, they are comparing the with/without tape figures for their “worst-case” grip, the “Cupping Tightly” (wahey). While cupping tightly, the iPhone 4's signal drop is 24.6, but adding the Kapton Tape changes that figure to 16.6, which is in the same ballpark as the iPhone 3GS's 14.3 and the Nexus One's 17.7. Great. Problem is, Anandtech's “cupping tightly” is the (presumably unnatural) grip required to trigger the problem, rather than their (presumably natural) “holding naturally” grip mentioned in the first table [1]. If we assume that the decrease in signal drop is of the same percentage [2] when “holding naturally” then the signal drop of the iPhone 4 would go from 19.8 to 13.4. That makes it a fair bit closer to the Nexus One (10.7) but still miles away from the iPhone 3GS (1.9). It seems odd to me to compare “trying to trigger the problem” figures without comparing “trying to use the phone” figures. Particularly as “trying to trigger the problem” grips can be very unusual indeed (see the handful of videos that Gruber has linked to from daringfireball.net). Anyway. -z- [1] This page explains what Anandtech means by “cupping tightly” and “holding naturally”: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2 [2] This is not right as dB is logarithmic or something; if someone can - and wants to - work out what that means to these figures, feel free to correct me. -- email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
From: zoara on 20 Jul 2010 10:25 Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net> wrote: > Sara <saramerriman(a)blueyonder.co.uk> writes: > >> I'm right-handed so I hold the phone in my left hand and use my right > > >> hand to operate the buttons and I hold it to my left ear because > > that's >> the one nearest my left hand. Simples. > > Maybe this might help? > > http://www.etsy.com/listing/51772143/antenn-aid-for-iphone-4-6-pack > Heh, that's pretty funny... -z- -- email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
From: zoara on 20 Jul 2010 10:25 Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > > Anyway, Zoara *likes* agonising! That's very true, in a sense. Is it agonising if you enjoy it? The question of whether I buy one or not (boring, foregone conclusion) is distinct from the question of what the issue and potential solution actually are (interesting, still inconclusive). I just like a mystery. -z- -- email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
From: zoara on 20 Jul 2010 10:25 Sak Wathanasin <sw(a)nan.co.uk> wrote: > On 20 July, 00:19, zoara <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote: > >> This has been tested, but badly. It's basic science done wrong; >> variables aren't controlled. > > There has been no test - all we have so far is anecdotal evidence, > from a lot of people, it's true. We'd never get a "real" (scientifically valid) test outside of Apple releasing some verifiable figures, but we can get a lot closer than the mess that's been going on recently. At the moment it's like a playground argument; Alice saying her dad is stronger because he can push a car uphill when Bob's dad can only pick up three logs at once; so many different variables that the comparison is pointless. > Even if Apple were to go to expense > of a large-scale global trial (and were willing to publish the > results), it still wouldn't tell you whether YOU would have any > trouble with it. If it's one thing we know, it's that it's extremely > variable. Well, no, we know the opposite. A deliberate attempt to trigger it in a low-signal area almost always succeeds. The variability comes from whether people accidentally trigger it (I know I would) and whether they are in low-signal areas (I am, often). Or because they aren't comparing like for like; Alice shows a "No Signal" drop and Bob counters this by showing that he can keep a call going through the death grip... >>> Why not just wait? >> >> that's what I'm doing; in practical terms I want to know whether I > > can >> go into a shop and have a good chance of walking out with a phone > > that >> works for me. > > Jobs has offered a full refund, no re-stocking fee etc if returned > undamaged within 30 days, so what have you got to lose? Time and effort? Dealing with cancelling my new contract and going back to what I have? Why would I get something that had a 95% chance of having to be taken back? I know I trigger the problem by accident at the location where I'll use the phone the most, so why bother? > I'm not sure > what you're agonizing over: just get one and see if works for you or > not. Who's agonising? I know it stands a very high chance of not working, so why would I bother? There's no question as to the practical response to this, I'm just not going to buy it. I'm interested in knowing whether some units suffer less than others because that will point to a manufacturing issue rather than a design issue, implying that my chances of getting a phone that works for me will be more likely to increase *in the future* as Apple works the kinks out of manufacturing. The other alternative is that it's a design issue, so I will be waiting until a design change, who knows when... Either way, I'm not buying for quite some time, so there's no agonising. Just a lot of interest in a puzzle where I can't work out the answer; design, manufacturing, software? Did they notice, and if not, how did it pass them by? etc etc. -z- -- email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
From: Peter Ceresole on 20 Jul 2010 10:43
zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> wrote: > > http://www.etsy.com/listing/51772143/antenn-aid-for-iphone-4-6-pack > > > > Heh, that's pretty funny... Actually, it looks highly practical. Neat, even. Does it work, in reality? -- Peter |