Apple iPhone Mark Papermaster Quit After Antennagate
Vice President of Engineering for iPhone and iPod, Mark Papermaster has resigned in the wake of Antennagate. His position will be assumed by VP of Macintosh engineering, Bob Mansfield. Previously Mark works at IBM and before coming to Apple, he was barred by IBM from joining Apple. The Antennagate situation is referring to the iPhone 4 issue of losing reception if a user hold the phone in a certain way.
Apple Offer Free Bumper For iPhone 4
Apple has started the free iPhone 4 bumper program only if you buy the smartphone before September 10. For iPhone 4 purchases made before July 23, 2010, you must apply no later than August 22, 2010; otherwise, you must apply within 30 days of your iPhone 4 purchase.
To take this program, you will have to download the app from the App Store to start the process.
More info: iPhone 4 Case Program
White iPhone 4 Not Available Until End Of Year
Apple has released a statement indicating the white iPhone 4 will not be available until end of this year. Is Apple fixing the antenna issue before releasing this?
Source: Statement by Apple on White iPhone 4
Apple Press Conference For iPhone 4 Antenna Issue
Apple has now done the close door press conference to the media addressing the antenna issue for the iPhone 4.
There are 3 main points from Steve Jobs in the conference:
- Apple loves its customers
- Apple “screwed up” with the signal algorithm of the phone. But there was no design problem with the antenna.
- Anyone who buys an iPhone 4 through Sept. 30 will get a free “bumper,” a rubber-and-plastic band that wraps around the phone.
Apple Press Conference For iPhone 4 This Friday
Apple has called a press conference for the iPhone 4 issue thisFriday morning at its Cupertino headquarters. We don’t think Apple will do a recall on the device rather probably offer a free fix and the release of iOS 4.1.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, in 2009, Ruben Caballero, Apple antenna expert, told senior-level managers that the exterior placement could hurt reception.
Apple iOS4.1 Beta Out – Will It Fix iPhone 4 Reception Issue?
Apple has released the iOS4.1 beta to developers. Will this new update fix the antenna issue for iPhone 4?
New Apple iPhone 4 Face Time Ads
Check out the four new Face Time iPhone 4 ads from Apple. The above is called Haircut.
Smile
Baby
Grandad
Apple’s iPhone 4 Antenna Issue All Hyped Up
Looks like all the media reports on the antenna issues for the newly released iPhone 4 from Apple are all hyped up. It is not as bad as you heard from the media. Firstly, Apple has revealed that they have used a flawed formula to calculate the number of bars of signal strength displayed on the iPhone. This can be corrected with a software update.
Apple also have released a statement to the public regarding this flaw:
To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 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 4 or 5 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.
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 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 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 4 or 5 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 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.
Apple IPhone 4 Parts Cost About $188
The staff at iSuppli did a tear down of Apple’s latest iPhone 4 and have found that the device is estimated to costs $188 to manufacture. The most expensive item in the device is its high-resolution Retina Display, with an estimated price of $28.50. The iPhone 3GS teardown a year ago revealed a build cost of $178.96.
Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s in opening weekend.
Apple iOS 4.01 Will Fix Antenna Issue?
According to AppleInsider, iOS 4.01 software update will fix all the antenna issues users are facing with iPhone 4.
Readers report that Apple’s tech support forums originally confirmed that a iOS 4.0.1 software fix addressing the issue would ship early next week (as early as Monday), before the comments were subsequently taken down along with all the other related discussion about the matter.
The fix is expected to address a issue in iOS 4 related to radio frequency calibration of the baseband. Readers who saw the original forum discussions say that the issue is believed to occur when switching frequencies; because the lag is allegedly not calibrated correctly, it results in the device reporting “no service” rather than switching to the frequency with the best signal to noise ratio.
iOS 4 introduced some enhancements to how the baseband selects which frequencies to use, so it makes sense that the error may have crept into those changes. Additionally, this explains why iOS 4 has also caused similar problems for iPhone 3GS users.
Additional readers have shared other related experiences that also corroborate the idea that the issue is related to iOS 4′s software control of the baseband, including the fact that the issue seems easily reproducible when connecting to a WWAN 3G network but does not appear when connecting to a Microcell 3G. If the problem were simply hardware related issues of the antenna design, it should only affect iPhone 4 units with that new design and should occur at all times, regardless of the tower type. That is not being observed.
