Reality distortion field remains strong with Steve Jobs after antennagate
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Glitch, Humor, iPhone
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the Chinese just have better “dramatic reenactments” than we do.
And for the record, I would have posted this even if I loved the iPhone 4. It’s just great.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Matt for the link!
RIM responds to Apple’s “But they’re doing it too!” campaign
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Glitch, Not Cool, Opinion, design, iPhone
RIM’s Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie issued an official response to Apple’s press conference yesterday. I won’t comment on it, for risk of further angering my fanboy readers, except to say, they’re completely right.
“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.” – Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
via Crackberry
10 things we learned from today’s iPhone event
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Glitch, Opinion, iPhone
Well, today’s iPhone event has come and gone, and I think we all learned a couple very important things.
1 – We learned Apple loves its users.
2 – We learned that “all” smart phones have signal reception issues depending on how you hold them. In fact, Apple made a point of showing us all a comparison of various phones dropping reception bars as you hold them. But one thing that was conspicuously absent was a comparison between the iPhone 3G S and and the iPhone 4. You see, while I can consistently make my iPhone 4 drop from 4 bars to “SEARCHING” in my house, I can’t get my wife’s 3G S to drop below 4 bars no matter HOW I hold it (and no, it doesn’t have a case, nor would it need one, as the antenna is INSIDE the damn phone!)
3 – We learned the reason Apple charges $30 for the bumper case. It is now obvious to me that Read more
“The iPhone 4 Antenna Song” focuses a spotlight on the problem of Apple fanboyism
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Glitch, Opinion, iPhone
The infamous Song-a-Day troubadour Jonathan Mann has penned a wonderfully catchy song about the latest iPhone antenna debate, and while I can’t say I agree with him, I must admit I AM humming this tune while I write this.
Yes it’s funny. Yes, it’s catchy. And yes, Mann IS a fanboy. In fact, he’s the very definition of a fanboy. Mann admits he can cause the signal to drop by holding the iPhone in the “death grip” (and by the way, the way he is “showing the “death grip” is very exaggerated), but he claims he’s never had a dropped call. So basically he’s admitting the problem is real (as does the world) but he’s saying what many other fanboys are, which is “I appear to live near a very strong signal, so even if this cuts my signal in half, I still am good to go, so there’s no problem” instead of “Wow, I guess Apple dropped the ball here. Lucky for me it hasn’t been an issue, but they should really fix it”.
It’s interesting how all things are relative. Before starting Macenstein I thought I was the ultimate fanboy. I certainly was Read more
Oh, this is going to be GOOD!
Filed under: Glitch, Rampant Speculation, Steve Jobs, iPhone
Apparently our invite got lost in the mail, so we had to make our best guess.
In keeping with Apple’s new pattern of publicly discussing iPhone 4 issues on Fridays, TUAW reports that Apple has announced an impromptu damage control session press conference for this Friday.
Apple is inviting select media representatives to a special press conference that will be held on Friday, July 16. The company provided no information about the conference other than to say it would focus on the iPhone 4.
Now, obviously this could go either way. On the one hand (as those of us experiencing iPhone 4 reception issues may hope) Apple could announce a hardware fix and a billion dollar recall. On the other, there’s the chance that Apple is simply going to announce they finally got a new shipment of orange bumper cases in, and they’re increasing the price from $30 to $40. Either way, it’s going to be a very interesting lesson in public relations, and I really hope they don’t throw poor Phil Schiller out to the wolves. Given how Steve’s been the one sending out all those infamous “don’t hold it that way” e-mails, he really better be the one headlining this event.
Apple begins (trying) to take Pre-orders for iPhone 4
I don’t want to blame AT&T for EVERY iPhone problem, but it DOES seem suspicious that I get this error when Apple checks my iPhone eligibility with AT&T, and the new App Store iPhone app just plain crashes during the same step…
Apple’s “Back to School” program doesn’t add up
As any faithful reader will tell you, math is not my strong suit. Nor is spelling, grammar, science, or hygiene for that matter, which is why I like to leave the heavy thinking to my readers. Case in point, faithful Macenstein reader Aaron has noticed that the student pictured in Apple’s latest Back-to-School promo might be getting less than a stellar education.
“Hey Doc, Check out Apple’s back-to-school promo ad banner from their own website. Note “FIG 5.11″ on the chalk board is exactly wrong. To the left of n=1 should be n<1 and to the right, n>1. I mean, check my math (I usually do), but I’m fairly confident about this one.”
Yes Aaron, you’re correct. I just had the boys in the lab check it, and it appears that “The Bird” is equal to or greater THAN the word. Nice catch!
Who needs Calculator? The iPhone’s Mail app can do math!
I ran into an odd problem today with my Mail on my iPhone. As you can see below, one of my IMAP accounts now thinks I have “negative 1″ e-mails.
The funny thing is, it appears that Mail actually understands negative numbers, as you can see the icon shows that I only have 1 message, as 1 -1 +1 = 1.
I sent another message to myself, and yes, Mail knows that 2 -1 +1 = 2.
This seems to be an odd IMAP glitch others have experienced as well, according the Apple support discussions, so hopefully when I get home and am able to restore my iPhone all will be right with the world. (Unless after the restore Mail starts thinking I have the square root of 10 e-mails…)
