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But the central question that was in everyone's head before the press conference - "Is the iPhone 4 a dud" - has, well, evaporated. That was never th

But the central question that was in everyone's head before the press conference - "Is the iPhone 4 a dud" - has, well, evaporated. That was never the central question in anybody's head. No one thought the phone was a dud. A more common question was, will Apple own up to making an avoidable design flaw? Look around the Web at the responses to the press conference and decide just what questions have evaporated, and what new ones appeared.

deleted 16y ago
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yarek 16y ago
No, I think the perceived question in the media and in the largely non-owners of iPhone was exactly whether iPhone 4 was a dud. If Jobs didn't defuse that question, the iPhone sales had a potential of peaking much, much sooner than it will now because new customers would be willing to sit and wait.
ellyagg 16y ago
So you're suggesting that the story over the last few days was never about a legitimate gripe, but was all along just eager Apple haters slavering over the prospect of a prostrate Steve Jobs?
- jamesbritt 16y ago
  No.
- mmorris 16y ago
  This seems an odd reply to me. I don't think the parent suggests anywhere that there aren't legitimate gripes about the phone, just that it isn't a 'dud'. A dud is something which completely fails to operate - a bomb that doesn't explode, for example. The iPhone 4 has a significant flaw, but many (if not most) people have found it to operate perfectly well. If you look at the testing done at Anandtech, for instance, the new iPhone actually does a better job with a weaker signal. This translates into getting reception in places where it wasn't available before. Obviously, there is also a substantial design flaw in the antenna design, but the phone still operates properly for most people. Even Consumer Reports, who obviously had serious issues with the antenna problem, still rank the iPhone 4 as one of (if not the) best smartphone on the market. That doesn't sound like a dud. P.S. Just to clarify, I think Apple's response throughout this ordeal has been poor, and they obviously made mistakes in testing. But, like the parent post, I just wouldn't call the phone a dud.
  - ellyagg 16y ago
    I'm sure you got my point. The amount of press that this topic has generated is really only warranted if this flaw were a deal breaker, meaning the release was a dud. Given the uptake, and the fact that signal quality for the phone is higher, and the tiny fraction of users affected by this easily manageable quirk, we have to look for some other explanation for the outcry. In the forums that I visit, I've noticed that usernames I associate with being anti-Apple are far more likely to be concerned with Apple striking a suitably guilty tone.
    - mmorris 16y ago
      Ah, I see now. Apologies for the confusion, sometimes the tone of a comment goes straight over my head!
megablast 16y ago
I disagree, you must have been reading different stories to me. There was a lot of vitriol directed at Apple, and a lot of people were saying it was a huge problem for them. People are still saying it now. Check out the recent slate article posted here, or techcrunch, or response from HTC/ BB/ Nokia. A lot of people (in the media) do not see this as resolved. I am slowly learning to hate the media all over again.
- axod 16y ago
  Why? It's a badly designed phone. There's a reason every other cellphone has an internal antenna. Good on people for calling Apple out over the lousy design, failure to test properly, and so far, the failure to take responsibility. If I had bought an iPhone 4, I'd have accepted a refund. Bumpers? case? eugh come on.
  - megablast 16y ago
    The way I see it, they took a chance on a different design, that produces better results most of the time, but has an unfortunate side effect that it causes a problem when held a certain way. The reception problem when holding a phone a particular way happends on lots of phones out there, this was just never relised before. If you were using a Nexus on or bb 9700, you would lose a call and blame it on the network or the lift. Now, you might check how you are holding the phone.
  - ericd 16y ago
    If the vast majority of the people think it's overall a much better phone than the 3GS, is it really a badly designed phone? I don't own one, but the whole antenna thing sounds massively overblown by a press hungry for some controversy. Anandtech went so far as to say that the phone was better overall in marginal reception areas than the 3GS.
    - troystribling 16y ago
      Mine was delivered Friday. One of the first things I did was to try the death grip. To get the signal to degrade I had to hold it in a position essentially embedding in the lower left corner of the phone in my palm while holding it unnaturally tight. Then there was only a single bar loss in signal. Holding the phone in a comfortable left or right handed position had no effect on the signal. If there would have not been the news around it I would have never noticed it. Even the technology press seems to be degenerating to Fox.

deleted 16y ago

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yarek 16y ago

No, I think the perceived question in the media and in the largely non-owners of iPhone was exactly whether iPhone 4 was a dud. If Jobs didn't defuse that question, the iPhone sales had a potential of peaking much, much sooner than it will now because new customers would be willing to sit and wait.

ellyagg 16y ago

So you're suggesting that the story over the last few days was never about a legitimate gripe, but was all along just eager Apple haters slavering over the prospect of a prostrate Steve Jobs?

jamesbritt 16y ago
No.
mmorris 16y ago
This seems an odd reply to me. I don't think the parent suggests anywhere that there aren't legitimate gripes about the phone, just that it isn't a 'dud'. A dud is something which completely fails to operate - a bomb that doesn't explode, for example. The iPhone 4 has a significant flaw, but many (if not most) people have found it to operate perfectly well. If you look at the testing done at Anandtech, for instance, the new iPhone actually does a better job with a weaker signal. This translates into getting reception in places where it wasn't available before. Obviously, there is also a substantial design flaw in the antenna design, but the phone still operates properly for most people. Even Consumer Reports, who obviously had serious issues with the antenna problem, still rank the iPhone 4 as one of (if not the) best smartphone on the market. That doesn't sound like a dud. P.S. Just to clarify, I think Apple's response throughout this ordeal has been poor, and they obviously made mistakes in testing. But, like the parent post, I just wouldn't call the phone a dud.
- ellyagg 16y ago
  I'm sure you got my point. The amount of press that this topic has generated is really only warranted if this flaw were a deal breaker, meaning the release was a dud. Given the uptake, and the fact that signal quality for the phone is higher, and the tiny fraction of users affected by this easily manageable quirk, we have to look for some other explanation for the outcry. In the forums that I visit, I've noticed that usernames I associate with being anti-Apple are far more likely to be concerned with Apple striking a suitably guilty tone.
  - mmorris 16y ago
    Ah, I see now. Apologies for the confusion, sometimes the tone of a comment goes straight over my head!

megablast 16y ago

I disagree, you must have been reading different stories to me. There was a lot of vitriol directed at Apple, and a lot of people were saying it was a huge problem for them. People are still saying it now. Check out the recent slate article posted here, or techcrunch, or response from HTC/ BB/ Nokia. A lot of people (in the media) do not see this as resolved. I am slowly learning to hate the media all over again.

axod 16y ago
Why? It's a badly designed phone. There's a reason every other cellphone has an internal antenna. Good on people for calling Apple out over the lousy design, failure to test properly, and so far, the failure to take responsibility. If I had bought an iPhone 4, I'd have accepted a refund. Bumpers? case? eugh come on.
- megablast 16y ago
  The way I see it, they took a chance on a different design, that produces better results most of the time, but has an unfortunate side effect that it causes a problem when held a certain way. The reception problem when holding a phone a particular way happends on lots of phones out there, this was just never relised before. If you were using a Nexus on or bb 9700, you would lose a call and blame it on the network or the lift. Now, you might check how you are holding the phone.
- ericd 16y ago
  If the vast majority of the people think it's overall a much better phone than the 3GS, is it really a badly designed phone? I don't own one, but the whole antenna thing sounds massively overblown by a press hungry for some controversy. Anandtech went so far as to say that the phone was better overall in marginal reception areas than the 3GS.
  - troystribling 16y ago
    Mine was delivered Friday. One of the first things I did was to try the death grip. To get the signal to degrade I had to hold it in a position essentially embedding in the lower left corner of the phone in my palm while holding it unnaturally tight. Then there was only a single bar loss in signal. Holding the phone in a comfortable left or right handed position had no effect on the signal. If there would have not been the news around it I would have never noticed it. Even the technology press seems to be degenerating to Fox.