The Smartphone Hub

These days, it seems like everyone on the Internet likes to filter others (especially TechCrunch writers) into one of two categories: Apple fanboys, or Apple haters. One man, however, stands without label, impossible to categorize: Steve Wozniak. He did, after all, help start the company. The dude may not be too involved with operations these days, but he still knows more about these things than any of us silly Internet types might — so when he says something, we tend to pay attention.

The latest thing he’s saying might not go over too well with the folks in Cupertino, though. That iPhone 4 he waited in line for? He recommends carrying a Verizon phone as a backup.

The word comes from Henk Van Ess, who had the opportunity to chat with Woz after he had some issues ordering a European MiFi unit through Henk’s site. Woz tells the tale of his first tests of the antenna issue:

The first time I tried I was able to duplicate the problem. My wife was driving me to the airport and as soon as I got a short distance from my home, and no longer on wifi, I tried it by accessing a web page (using Safari on my iPhone 4) and observing the progress bar.

As the bar started to proceed I lightly (‘lightly’) touched a couple of fingers to the trouble area and the progress bar froze. When I lifted my fingers the progress bar continued it’s rapid progress. Putting my finger[s] back down halted the progress bar again. Lifting my fingers another time allowed the web page to finish loading.

So, what would Woz do? Woz has joked before that his workaround for the iPhone’s then lack of multitasking was to simply “have two iPhones” — but in this situation, he’s recommending a different phone as the backup:

If you can afford it, carry a second Verizon phone for backup. Another option is to carry a Verizon mifi and rely on Skype on your iPhone. I have used this mifi technique to rescue my own, and others’, iPhones on occasion. If you buy a Verizon Palm Pre, you get free mifi on it so that is possible the best ‘compromise’ solution, to carry a Verizon Palm Pre along with your AT&T iPhone 4.

So there you have it, folks: if your iPhone 4’s making you angry and you’ve got a wad of cash to throw around, buy a Verizon Pre. Woz said so.

Of course, Woz also says that the iPhone 4 is “works well enough and its beauty is worth the care in holding it.”

The full interview appears to be down right now, but you’ll be able to find it here when it comes back.

Check out the rest: MobileCrunch

Mike Arrington has a post over at TechCrunch taking Consumer Reports to task over their iPhone 4 coverage. And it’s true! It feels like there’s a new Consumer Reports update every day that either repeats or directly contradicts the previous day’s. It’s well worth a read to see it all laid out like this, especially for your friends and family who may be more familiar with trusting Consumer Reports ratings than they are with gadgets. [TechCrunch] More »

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

At this point, we’ve seen all sorts of crazy ideas for fixing the iPhone 4′s antenna problems, from strapping it with a rubberband to covering it with nail polish. Steve Wozniak’s solution: just carry another phone. More »

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

Apparently, Apple is hosting a press conference tomorrow. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what it is about — the iPhone 4 and its antenna problems. And from the looks for it, the company is likely to say that the company has figured out a fix for the problems, or something to that effect. Whether the company will issue an official recall or simply provide free bumpers to iPhone 4 customers remains to be seen.

The timing of the press conference reflects the fact that the company is hosting its earnings call on Tuesday and it makes sense for it to deal with the antenna issue prior to that call. In a note to his clients this morning, Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar wrote:

Our supply chain checks reveal that Apple has instituted a design fix for the iPhone 4 that more adequately insulates the transceiver module. Apple is also likely to offer the bumper, gratis, as an intermediary solution. It is unclear if Apple will announce an official recall.

Offering a free bumper seems common sense to us. Another point to note — AT&T’s replacement policies allow you to return a phone within 30 days of buying it. I suspect Apple and AT&T are going to waive the restocking fee in this case. I am not sure how many people remember this, but Apple’s antenna problems are reminiscent of Intel’s troubles in the early 1990s with an errant floating point bug in some Pentium chips. The story first gained traction in the chip industry trade press and later was picked up by mainstream media, which led to Intel offering to replace the chips. Only a few owners stepped up to replace them, but the affair cost Intel close to $475 million.

The same is happening now to Apple. The iPhone 4 related problems were first reported in trade press but lately have been picked up by Consumer Reports, David Letterman and USA Today, prompting the company to take action. In theory, Apple may end up with a much heftier bill on its hands, since each device costs an estimated $187.51 in parts. Regardless of the total cost, Apple is right in addressing this problem, as it would remove any speed bumps in the way of iPhone sales.

Apple, according to Kumar’s estimates, should end the June 2010 quarter having sold about eight million phones, shy of his nine million device estimate, thanks to supply constraints. According to his numbers, the company may have sold about 3.2 million iPads during the quarter, roughly in line with Apple’s own estimates.

We expect Apple to report June quarter revenues that are in line or modestly above guidance levels of $13.0-$13.4 billion … Shortfall in sales of iPods will also constrain the financial results. Apple guided for margins of 36%, versus 39% in March, and we expect profitability to have a near term negative bias from new product releases.

Check out the rest: GigaOM

According to Bloomberg, one of Apple’s senior engineers raised concerns as late as last year over the potential for the iPhone 4‘s design to cause dropped calls. More »

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

From Consumer Reports to David Letterman, and USA Today to Time Magazine, everyone cannot seem to help themselves when it comes to commenting on the latest iPhone. What started out as a technical issue surrounding reception issues related to the newly redesigned stainless steel antenna system on the iPhone 4, has snowballed into a public relations nightmare threatening Apple’s well-respected brand image. Even Microsoft has found a way to make the press pay attention to them a little with it sympathetic “we know how Apple feels right now, we experienced the same thing with Vista.” This is now much more of a PR issue than it is a technical issue. And it looks like Apple has recognized this.

When it comes to perception, timing is everything; early in the week, late in the week, before market close, after market close. Just who do you want to respond to your message, and how? Hosting such an event on Friday at 10AM PT, just two business days prior to releasing its quarterly earnings report, gives everyone, especially the market, time to digest and react to whatever it is that Apple has to say before the weekend. The message that Apple is preparing to deliver is not for the bloggers, the techies, nor the Apple fans…it is for mainstream analysts, and is likely being used to diffuse this issue before announcing amazing quarterly results next week. The last thing Apple wants is for this issue to steal its thunder when it likely has nothing but positive news to report next Tuesday.

Check out the rest: GigaOM

As promised, the new iPhone system update fixes the signal display. Also as promised, it provides another “enhancement”: Taller signal bars! Free tip: If you paint flames on the back of your iPhone 4, it runs 2.3x faster. More »

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

Apparently Apple has invited select members of the press to a very special press conference scheduled for this Friday. The only bit of information available is that the event is about the iPhone 4. [Loop in Sight] More »

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

And now, to answer the question that’s on everyone’s mind: Does the just released iOS 4.1 update fix the iPhone 4’s death grip issue — or at least appear to?

No, no it does not. At least in our testing of iOS 4.1 in its current state (intended primarily for developers to use to ensure their apps don’t break), the phone appears to drop signal just as easily as it did on OS 4.0. We’ve got a video of a quick test going up on Youtube right this second — check back in about 3 minutes for that. see below for that.

Update: The video! It may take a moment for YouTube to finish processing, but here’s the embed so you can get at it the second its alive.

Check out the rest: MobileCrunch

Initial reports on Apple’s iOS 4.1 update confirm what we already knew and what AppleCare is telling to customers: The iPhone software update doesn’t fix the iPhone 4‘s antenna problems. The good news is that it fixes the bar display. More »

Check out the rest: Gizmodo