On Friday July 16th, Apple held a press release conference concerning the iPhone 4.   To summarize what Apple had to say during the press conference they said: “No smartphone is perfect, we admit it, we screwed up.”

Steve Jobs then proceeds to show videos of other smartphones by holding them the same way as people were for the iPhone 4, showing that these phones also experience signal issues.

The irony here is no other phone has the external antenna directly exposed on the outside of the phone.  For the competing phones Apple was using for their example, the bars on the phones went down but the problem with his example is he didn’t have those phones in an active phone call as the bars dropped.

When gripping the lower left side of the iPhone 4, not only do the bars drop, the data connection stops immediately and the call will eventually drop as well.

To remedy the situation, Apple will be providing free cases to everybody whom has purchased an iPhone 4.  To those people whom already bought bumper cases from Apple’s store, they will be issued a refund for the cost of the case.

Apple also stated that you do have 30 days to try out the iPhone 4, if you aren’t completely satisfied, you may return it back to Apple or AT&T and get a full refund.

In the meantime, it would seem that Apple has its engineers working around the clock (literally, there are tents setup with Apple’s campus) to come up with a permanent fix for future batches of the iPhone 4.

When gripping the lower left side of the iPhone 4, not only do the bars drop, the data connection stops immediately and the call will eventually drop as well.

When holding the iPhone 4 with your left hand, placing your thumb over the black band on the lower left side will cause your signal to drop.

As most people have probably heard by now, the iPhone 4 has a serious issue when it comes to antenna reception.  Apple recently launched a redesigned 4th generation iPhone with some significant upgrades; however the antenna design has a major flaw.

If you look at the lower left side of the iPhone, you’ll see a black line.  That line is what separates the antennas.  When you hold your finger over that line, your finger acts as a conductor causing the signal to drop.

Apple put a PR stating the formula they were using to calculate the number of bars was inaccurate and they are going to issue a software fix to alleviate the problem.

The truth is, the issue isn’t with the software, the issue is the hardware.  It’s a design flaw and no matter what, software will not fix the reception problems with the iPhone 4.

Consumer Reports did their own testing and concluded that they do not recommend buying the iPhone 4 until the reception issues are resolved.

Apple’s response to the situation has been handled very poorly.  A “band-aid fix” to the issue would to simply apply a thick rubberband around the sides of the phone. Apple recommended users buy one of their bumper cases – essentially a thin rubberized plastic case that covers the sides of the phone.  The thing is Apple should be offering these bumper cases to users for free rather then expecting them to pay a premium price of $30 for a bad design flaw.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming weeks.  This issue will continue to bite Apple in the ass until they fess up their mistake, and offer (at no charge) replacement units with a better antenna design.

A clusterfuck of Batteries...

Batteries… They’re the one thing that nearly every portable electronic device relies upon.  And yet, they’re the one thing that nearly everybody hates (or should).

While technology is constantly advancing, it seems like their’s one thing that isn’t: fucking batteries.

Batteries are the bane of any electronic device you have.  I have several portable electronic devices: an iPod Touch, an HTC EVO 4G, Nintendo DS, PSP, Laptops, etc…  Yet, the one thing that always becomes an issue for me are the fucking batteries…

Maybe it’s just me I don’t know but I find that the battery life on my electronic devices are never near my expectations.  Whenever I’m using one of my gadgets, there’s always that thought I have where I ask myself “How much longer I do have before the battery runs out?”

That thought is like a fucking thorn to my side… It’s always something I have to worry about.

About two months ago I had to buy a new battery for my Nintendo DS because the original one couldn’t hold a charge anymore.  The ridiculous thing is I rarely even played it.  So I get my new battery, charge it up, and I get about 3½ hours worth of gameplay before it’s dead.  The FUCK?! Now I’m not an idiot, I rarely run my devices on the maximum settings.  On a scale of 1-10, my screen brightness and volume settings are usually at a 7.  So one would think the battery would last longer yes?  Not in my case.

There are all sorts of different batteries.  Some are nickel based, some are lithium based.  Every battery has a mAh setting, and the higher the mAh, the longer it should last.  But man it certainly doesn’t seem that way to me… I suppose it’s because I’m a heavy consumer of these devices.  The thing is, the purpose of these devices are to be mobile, yet more then half the time these devices are tethered to the wall while they charge.

I wish the battery technology would hurry up and get in line with the rest of the electronic industry already…  Battery technology has been around for well over 100 years now.  Looking back at the history of battery, the technology behind batteries has been evoloving every 10-15 years.  The latest type of battery that the majority of all electronic devices use now are lithium or lithium ion, which now have been around since the early 1990′s…  You would think after 15 years of using them we’d have a new battery technology by now.

I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if these devices had solar technology that could provide a constant charge to the battery.  That would make sense right?  Solar energy has been around since the early 1960′s which means it’s been around for 40 years.  You would think after it being around for so long, the technology would be mature and cheap enough to deploy but it’s not.  That’s a whole other story I can bitch about later.

All I know is with the constant release of new technology, these things are getting smaller, faster, and are including more bells, whistles, features, kitchen sinks, etc… These gadgets are becoming more sophisticated, yet it feels like the technology that keep these gadgets running are not.

I want to see batteries that can run my small electronic devices for at least 5 days straight (120 hours) without requiring a recharge.  Once we can reach that point, I’ll be a happy camper.

It wasn’t too long ago Sprint announced the HTC EVO 4G (code named Supersonic).  They had a promotional party a few weeks back in New York focusing on the EVO 4G.  The irony is that New York doesn’t (yet) have 4G.  What we got out of the party was the cost of the phone, the plan, and the release date.

The cost of the phone (subsidized) didn’t surprise many people as it was priced for $200, the same as other similar phones on different mobile networks.

Sprint did announce with this particular device that there would be a $10/month additional charge on top of its compatible plans.  This caused confusion at first because people were under the impression the $10/month charge was for 4G access.  Seeing as 4G is so limited right now, it didn’t make sense to charge people access for 4G service where there is none.

Shortly after the announcement, AndroidCentral.com posted on their site claiming the $10 fee was optional if you wanted 4G access but then after some confusion from what the Sprint execs told them, they found out the fee was mandatory.  Why you may ask?  This is Sprint’s official response explaining the mandatory fee:

The $10 per month Premium Data add-on gives the user a richer data experience on HTC EVO 4G than ever before at both 3G and 4G speeds, taking advantage of features including an 8MP auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and front-facing 1.3MP camera, superfast Snapdragon processor so navigation on the phone is quicker and apps load faster, 4.3” touchscreen for a great multimedia experience and 3G/4G capability. The combination of features and services on the HTC EVO 4G provide capabilities that were never previously available on a wireless device so customers will have a better experience and higher data usage on both the Sprint 3G Network and Sprint 4G Network.

Bullshit.  Just bullshit.  Yes I do believe this phone will access more data, but at some point, the customers data usage will plateau.  Seeing as Sprint already sells “unlimited” data plans this cost makes zero sense at all.

An illustration of a pissed off customer after listening to Sprint's bullshit $10/month premium fee explanation.

This $10 premium has sparked outrage among the community, I believe due to the way Sprint explained themselves which has zero merit.  If Sprint needed to charge more to make up for the loss they’ve had the past few years, then wouldn’t it make more sense to give this phone its own plan at an increased cost?

One user created a site called “Explain the Fee!” where he’s trying to get Sprint to give him a straight answer.   He also is encouraging users to email Sprint’s CEO, Dan Hesse as well some executives at Sprint to come clean about this premium charge.

Consumerist reported this story after several people (including myself) tipped them off. You can read their posting here: Sprint Charges A $10 Monthly Awesomeness Fee To Own The HTC EVO

It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to complain to the FTC or FCC either about this “premium” charge as well.  I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m against Sprint charging more money, it’s how they’re doing it.  That would be like your car dealer charging you a $10/month premium because you chose the red colored car which they claim give you a “better” experience…  Exactly how would it be any different from the blue or black car?

• File a complaint with the FCC
• File a complaint with the FTC

The real AT&T

AT&T yesterday announced changes coming to their 3G data plans… These changes will affect everybody on the AT&T network including iPad and iPhone users.  Below the new plans are to go into effect June 7th:

• Dataplus: 200MB per month for $15 ($15 extra charge if you exceed 200MB)
• Datapro: 2GB per month for $25 ($10 extra charge per gig overage)

AT&T was offering unlimited 3G plans for $30/month for iPad users, current customers will be grandfathered in, however any customer purchasing a 3G iPad after June 7th won’t have that luxury.

AT&T claims that 98% of their existing customers should not exceed more then 2GB per month.

I seriously doubt that is the case for those iPad users with Netflix subscriptions whom stream video over 3G.  It’s pretty crappy of AT&T to make these changes especially considering how that Steve Jobs advertised unlimited 3G as a benefit for owning the iPad.

Jobs has yet to comment directly on AT&T making these changes, but something tells me he’s not happy about it.