Yesterday, the Verizon iPhone was announced. Not much is different; there is a new CDMA antenna and mobile hotspot feature coined as "Personal Hotspot." This new (currently) Verizon-specific iPhone feature mimics popular jailbreak utilities like MyWi.
Personal Hotspot will be a new, pre-installed software feature for the Verizon brand of iOS. This mobile hotspot feature has been available on most Android phones for quite some time. Some more details have surfaced about Personal Hotspot...
Now that the Verizon iPhone 4 has been officially unveiled, it was only a matter of time before someone tried to replicate the infamous "death grip" which causes signal degradation to the point of dropped calls. Those issues stemmed from the way the iPhone 4's antenna was designed, which resulted in attenuation issues when holding the device a certain way.
After a few flat out denials and a misguided PR campaign, the situation was dubbed antennagate, after the famous Watergate political scandal of the 70's. Now that Apple has released a revised version of the iPhone 4 in order to meet the compatibility standards of Verizon's CDMA network, were they able to address the antenna issues along the way?
You might remember that the iPhone 4 was hit by a pretty big controversy about its antenna design shortly after it was released. Known as the antennagate, this issue could easily be replicated simply by wrapping your hand around the bottom of the phone, which is how 90% of people actually hold their phones.
It seems that Apple went back to the drawing board and came up with a slightly different antenna design for the Verizon iPhone. If you look at the 2 images below, you will see that the tiny black breaks between the different parts of the antenna are at different spots...
Apple took loads of heat earlier this year due to the issues surrounding the iPhone 4 so-called 'Death Grip' which causes the signal strength to plummet when the phone is held a certain way. Apple replied by saying that all smartphones suffer from this issue to a certain degree, a point that HTC notably took issue with.
Unfortunately for Apple, the popularity of their products put a huge red target on their backs, and the fact that they didn't properly own up to the issues didn't help them much either.
But that's not the end of this story. Now, another popular phone manufacturer, HTC, is caught in the middle of a similar controversy with their flagship Windows Phone 7, the HTC HD7...
CNN just published a list of the 10 biggest tech fails of 2010. At the top of the list, somewhat of a surprise, is the iPhone 4 antenna, also known as the antennagate, which we widely covered a few months ago.
I guess the fail in this case is not the antenna problem itself, but rather the way Apple handled the whole situation by pretty much saying there was no issue, then saying there was an issue that would be fixed with a software update, then saying there was actually no issue, but since there was no issue, they were going to give free cases to everyone. Confused?
Now that the fallout from Antennagate has all but passed, Apple is exploring future options for antenna placement. They appear to be going back to the drawing board with the latest design; can you blame them?
As you are aware, the latest version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4, ditched the previous methods of embedding the antennas in favor of a metal band antenna forming a bezel around the phone. From a design standpoint this looked outstanding, but the good looks didn't exactly translate into good functionality...
This is the first of an ongoing series of videos that will provide in-depth coverage of the iPhone. Initially we will be targeting basic iPhone usage, such as the device's anatomy, guides on how to keep the iPhone in great shape, and other essential, but basic information.
Our goal is to provide a one-stop and comprehensive resource for all iPhone users, including those of you who are new to the wonderful world of iPhone. We hope that you will find these guides, walkthroughs, and tutorials beneficial, and encourage community feedback so that you can assist new ones.
Without further ado, let's talk about the basic anatomy of the iPhone 4, shall we?
As most people are aware the next generation of iPhone, iPhone 5 will arrive sometime in 2011. There are rumors already circulating the web that iPhone 5 may be released earlier in the year than previous models for folks that were mid-term in their contract when iPhone 4 was released.
The iPhone 4 released just this summer has already raised the bar by outselling any previous model in opening sales but has had its reported problems. The first one that comes to mind is the issue with the iPhone 4's signal being hampered when the unit was held a certain way.
I personally think it was just a case of a few thousand units getting through without proper quality control inspection but whatever the issue Apple gave away free cases to resolve the issue.
Now that Apple has officially discontinued its free case program, how’s a person supposed to get a case these days? Buy one?
Well, you could, or you could just win a free one on the house! That’s right, this Friday happens to be Free Case Friday, and we’re giving away not one, but two brand-spanking-new speck PixelSkin HD for iPhone 4 cases to two of our fortunate readers. Will you be one of them?
I know when Apple announced that they would be handing out free bumpers to anyone who bought an iPhone 4 that the masses would be up in arms over the possibility of Apple deciding to discontinue the case. It wouldn't shock this bruised up author a bit if it came out someday that the cases were made strictly as a bandaid to be given out for the antenna issue.
9 to 5 Mac is reporting that the beloved protective measure is currently being sold at Apple stores. Apple just recently stopped their free case giveaway on September 30th as planned and now plans to turn a profit off of all those pesky freebies...
If you bought an iPhone 4 between its launch date and September 30th, you are entitled to receiving a free iPhone case from Apple. The company had decided to give away case to iPhone 4 owners after complaints started erupting about the iPhone 4 antenna issue.
Last month though, Apple released a statement and confirmed that the "iPhone 4 Case program" would end on September 30th. So if you bought an iPhone 4 and haven't claimed your free case, then hurry up. Here is what you need to do...
I know what you're thinking... we've had enough of the iPhone 4 antenna issue. I agree with you but I wanted to share with you an interesting video that is a proof that Chuck Norris can improve your iPhone 4 signal.
Don't believe me? Then check out the video below. Oh yes, it's for realz...