Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Apple [AAPL] confirmed they would be giving iPhone 4 users free cases to prevent signal drop caused by holding the phone in the bottom left corner.
A company has quickly stepped up to offer antenn-aid. The new band-aids are used to stick on the bottom corner of your iPhone 4 and cover the gap where “x-marks the spot”. [Read more…]
RIM [RIMM] and HTC have both responded somewhat in terms of what Steve Jobs said about the iPhone 4 antenna problems not being unique to the iPhone 4. Samsung is the next company to push out a statement by indicating that although their antenna is on the bottom left of the device, the antenna is sufficiently pushed inside the device to prevent a hand holding it to cause the signal to drop.
‘we have not received significant customer feedback on any signal reduction issue for the Omnia II. Based on years of experience of designing high quality phones, Samsung mobile phones employ an internal antenna design technology that optimizes reception quality for any type of hand-grip use.
RIM [RIMM] has responded to the iPhone 4 press conference that was held on Friday. The statement made was released by the co-CEO’s of the company who felt Apple [AAPL] had mislead customers by indicating the BlackBerry Bold 9700 had the same antenna problems that the iPhone 4 has.
The full statement is found below… [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] held a press conference on Friday to discuss the iPhone 4 antenna problems that have been all over the internet since the launch last month. In the presentation Apple compared the iPhone 4 antenna to the likes of RIM [RIMM], HTC [TPE:2498] and Microsoft [MSFT] along with video demonstrations on how holding a smartphone from each of the above companies caused the signal to drop.
HTC hasn’t responded officially to the comments but did let the tech site Pocket-Lint know that the Droid Eris that was featured in the Apple presentation had a far lower return rate than the iPhone 4.
“Approximately .016% of customers,” Eric Lin, the company’s global PR and online community manager exclusively revealed to us before adding that “we have had very few complaints about signal or antenna problems on the Eris.”
Mixed in with the iPhone 4 antenna details today at the Apple [AAPL] press conference was some information relating to the launch date of the iPhone 4 in 17 more countries.
The next launch date is July 30 where 17 more countries will be able to get their hands on the iPhone 4. These countries include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] held a press conference today to explain the problems of the iPhone 4 specifically relating to the antenna. The company has been running tests and comparisons for the last 22 days to get to the bottom of what’s actually happening. A few numbers were shown which included that the iPhone 4 drops slightly more calls than the iPhone 3GS (ie, less than 1 more call per 100) and that all smartphones have problems when holding them. When speaking about those who have called AppleCare the numbers were just 0.55% of iPhone 4 owners with AppleCare service. Returns wise the company has seen just 1.7% of iPhone 4’s returned which is lower than the 6% of the 3GS.
So what is Apple going to do about it? As the title suggests, Apple will be giving a free case to anybody who buys an iPhone 4 right up to September 30 where they will re-evaluate where they are at.
The problem here is that Apple can’t make enough bumper cases, so instead they will be offering the bumper case for free or another case if the bumper is not available. Starting late next week you’ll be able to visit the Apple store, choose which case you want and have it shipped to you. [Read more…]
We are just a few hours away from a special Apple [AAPL] press event where it is believed the iPhone 4 antenna issues will be discussed. At least that’s what we are hoping for as Apple needs to do something to be a little more open about what’s going on.
While you are waiting for the next few hours for the press event to start, check out the video below that sums up the problems in a song. It also gives you guidance on what you can do if you are suffering with signal loss. Enjoy! [Read more…]
Mozilla has launched Firefox Home for iPhone. We have mentioned the Firefox Home application previously when it was waiting for approval in to the app store by Apple. That approval has now been granted and it is available for download.
What Firefox Home lets you do is sync up your tabs, bookmarks and history from other computers running Firefox. By installing a sync add-on on your desktop and setting up a new user account, you can then install Firefox Home on your iPhone and log in with the same username and password to sync up the features mentioned above.
For example, I have 10 tabs open on my desktop PC that I need to look over. I simply leave my desk, pick up my iPhone and load up Firefix Home. Those same 10 tabs are available on my iPhone to browse through whilst on the move. [Read more…]
The iPhone 4 antenna is expected to be discussed at today’s press event. What we and many others are expecting to hear is that Apple [AAPL] has found a problem with the antenna and that somehow they will keep the few million iPhone 4 users happy by offering a fix in terms of a case, or some sort of hardware recall.
The problem is that the iPhone 4 sold well and estimates indicate that a hardware recall could cost them in the region of $1.8 billion. The way that Apple decide to move ahead with this will hopefully be revealed later on today.
We are hearing from one analyst, Ashok Kumar, that Apple has created a design fix for the iPhone 4 that insulates the transceiver. According to the analyst (remember analysts are often way out, so take this with a pinch of salt), the iPhone 4 production process has been changed to include an internal component to insulate the antenna connection. This part has been described as an internal bumper. [Read more…]
Yesterday Apple [AAPL] pushed out a new update for iPhone owners that takes iOS 4 to iOS 4.0.1. The small update includes the fix for the formula to show the correct amount of bars which were previously misrepresented.
This is the only update listed in the update text which reads…
Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display
It is important to note here that the update does not fix the antenna issues and if you lost signal before by holding your iPhone 4, you’ll still lose it now. [Read more…]
The iPhone 4 antenna problem is expected to be addressed tomorrow at the Apple [AAPL] press meeting tomorrow. This hasn’t stopped a US senator from sending a letter to Steve Jobs asking for more transparency with the issue as well as a free fix rather than putting the emphasis on the users to hold the phone different or buy an iPhone 4 case.
The full letter is below and according to Gizmodo who posted it, it has been verified as real and should be publicly made available shortly. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has invited press to a press conference tomorrow to discuss the iPhone 4. The reason for the press conference isn’t known officially but our best guess is that they want to talk about antenna problems.
Other things that could crop up at the iPhone 4 press conference tomorrow have been speculated to include a price drop for the iPhone 4 although we doubt it would be a good move for Apple to announce that in light of all the antenna issues they have been getting recently… that of course is unless they plan to give all iPhone 4 buyers some cash back for example. [Read more…]
