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Executive Summary: AT&T's service is poor in her area. The author was not able to get comfortable with the virtual keyboard. The title is link-baiting. But,

by pkaler 18y ago

Executive Summary: AT&T's service is poor in her area. The author was not able to get comfortable with the virtual keyboard. The title is link-baiting. But, the article is actually a fairly well-written short story. It is personable and does a good job of describing one person experience with an iPhone. The author also does a good job of personifying the iPhone. Generally, people who love the iPhone love it because it is a cute device that brings them joy with every shiny icon, round corner, and animation. Generally, people who are frustrated by the iPhone are tormented by things like the virtual keyboard and dropped calls on AT&T's network. The real take-away is that for a product to be successful, it has to be functional, but it also has to make the user "feel good". It has to be delightful. And what is delightful to one person may be frustrating to another person.

dhimes 18y ago
I don't think it's the network. I have an old Razr on the same network, and it far out performs iPhone 1 and 2. Same service, same location, I can make/receive calls where and when other members of my family (with the iphones) cannot. I actually got mad at my son when he didn't call me after an after-school event. I went to pick him up and chastised him. I pulled out my phone and demonstrated that I had service. He handed me his iphone and he clearly did not. It was not in his interest to remain waiting in this case (although now I think it might sometimes provide a handy excuse for him!). My wife has the same issue with hers. I simply suspect the iphone transmitter/receiver isn't as sensitive.
- cdibona 18y ago
  And by that you mean the antenna's aren't as exposed/well placed as a user would wish. Antenna placement in cell phones is a high art, and when you consider a modern phone supports a huge number of frequencies and protocols in which it has to be efficient, well, it's an incredibly hard problem to solve. Motorola, for all their recent problems, likely understands this better than Apple, with some 2 basic phone models under their belts. Modern pcs have this problem too. I have an absurdly long range for the bluetooth on one of laptops, and absurdly short on the other. So there you go....
  - dhimes 18y ago
    And by that you mean the antenna's aren't as exposed/well placed as a user would wish. Possibly. I don't know the design details of either phone, but it's also possible that the s/n sensitivity of the iphone receivers isn't as good as for the Razr. Just like some radios will tune in a weak station better than others, or some tvs will display a weaker signal more clearly than other tvs will, I suppose the same is true for cell phones. And blue-tooth hardware, as you mentioned.

by pkaler 18y ago

dhimes 18y ago

I don't think it's the network. I have an old Razr on the same network, and it far out performs iPhone 1 and 2. Same service, same location, I can make/receive calls where and when other members of my family (with the iphones) cannot. I actually got mad at my son when he didn't call me after an after-school event. I went to pick him up and chastised him. I pulled out my phone and demonstrated that I had service. He handed me his iphone and he clearly did not. It was not in his interest to remain waiting in this case (although now I think it might sometimes provide a handy excuse for him!). My wife has the same issue with hers. I simply suspect the iphone transmitter/receiver isn't as sensitive.

cdibona 18y ago
And by that you mean the antenna's aren't as exposed/well placed as a user would wish. Antenna placement in cell phones is a high art, and when you consider a modern phone supports a huge number of frequencies and protocols in which it has to be efficient, well, it's an incredibly hard problem to solve. Motorola, for all their recent problems, likely understands this better than Apple, with some 2 basic phone models under their belts. Modern pcs have this problem too. I have an absurdly long range for the bluetooth on one of laptops, and absurdly short on the other. So there you go....
- dhimes 18y ago
  And by that you mean the antenna's aren't as exposed/well placed as a user would wish. Possibly. I don't know the design details of either phone, but it's also possible that the s/n sensitivity of the iphone receivers isn't as good as for the Razr. Just like some radios will tune in a weak station better than others, or some tvs will display a weaker signal more clearly than other tvs will, I suppose the same is true for cell phones. And blue-tooth hardware, as you mentioned.