HTC echoes Apple in defense of HD7 'death grip' issue - Page 2

No one wants a crappy 'Windows Phone 7' phone, which means they wouldn't have to recall too many.

Music to my ears.Can't wait to rub my bosses nose in it.He stated he was going with one of those god-awful ugly windows phones over the iphone4 for exactly this reason.This from a guy who owns 2 Macs and an ipod touch.

Make sure you fully understand the issue before you go rubbing anyone's nose in anything.

However I guess if your boss was willing to skip the iPhone 4 because of the reception issue he's not going to be very receptive to good ideas, but at least you'll know

I agree that posts like yours cause market shifts from Apple to Android. Very eloquent in what they state as well as in what truth they conveniently hide from scrutiny.

Wrapped around highly conducive antennas boost wave sensitivities. Good for opening up new coverage areas independently from the Carrier, easier come easier go sort of signal transmission in badly covered areas; good for blogging spinmeisters to get the nobility out of competing, albeit innovating ideas.

There is some use for people like you, for they keep Innovators honest and imitators... in hornets' nest! *

Clever take, too bad you're banned and can't respond unless you come back at us with a sock puppet.

But, it's a fair question. You're stretching the ecosystem metaphor too far. Ecosystem as used to characterize the Apple world includes such related products and services as the Mac OS, non-phone Mac and Apple hardware, iTunes Store, Apple Store, etc. By your use of the metaphor the Android ecosystem would simply be other hardware running Android. More diversity within handsets, but little diversity in any other respect.

Thanks Eddie! But why is my desk chair now a potted plant?

But don't listen to Firefly7475 who is just trying to make the issue something it is not.

If the problem can't be fixed it would only be right and proper for HTC to start sending out free cases for all Windows Phone 7 HTC HD 7 customers. Hopefully they still have her address on file.

Where's the email from HTC's CEO saying "Just don't hold it that way"? Rather than acting like a prick in his email, maybe Steve should have responded to that person's email with all the info that he gave during his press conference. Then the "Antennagate" might have turned out different.

The problem for your line of reasoning is that it relies on a distinction without a difference.

That is, it's entirely irrelevant what the exact mechanism of signal attenuation is compared to the actual performance of the phones in question.

If a phone drops a call or can't make a connection, the user could care less about "antenna detuning" vs. "attenuation", because those things matter only insofar as they effect performance. So the only pertinent metric is actual real world performance.

As was frequently pointed out by satisfied iPhone owners, the antenna problem seemed to be largely one of marginal signal areas, where whatever attenuation effects in play were sufficient to drop reception below a certain critical threshold. Thus, for iPhone owners living in areas with decent coverage, the entire thing was and remains a non-issue.

You'll notice the HTC response specifically speaks of "normal conditions" and "when network coverage is adequate", which are precisely the points of contention brought up during the "antennagate" nonsense.

Bottom line: the iPhone and the HD7 both can apparently suffer unacceptable performance, when held a certain way and in areas of less than optimal cell coverage. By most reports, the iPhone 4 has better than average reception when operating in areas of decent cell coverage, so it's not even possible to say that the HD7's reception isn't worse than the iPhone, on average, "antennagate" and all.

This is pretty much the point Jobs was making, and which HTC dismissed as FUD, so it is pretty funny to see them squirm a little. At any rate, "detuning" or "attenuation" are just technical terms for "isn't connecting", as far as the user is concerned, and there's never been any reason to believe the iPhone 4 is significantly worse at that than phones such as the HD7, given the same signal strength.

#3 Unlike Apple there is not one WP7 a year, from a single vendor...even HTC will have many WP7, so the problem if true will fade rather fast.

Rubbish.
the real-world difference is:

iPhone 4 (and no other phones): touch a single spot on the phone (where it's likely to be touched during normal use) = signal loss (in a weak signal area)

All smartphones (including iPhone 4): wrap your hand entirely around the antenna (which is unlikely in normal use) = signal loss (in a weak signal area).

Care to explain where the physics he explained is wrong?

The iP4 is a great device on many fronts except this one. Its antenna is susceptible to detuning and attenuation. I can't think of another OEM since the pull out antenna days that leaves their antenna open for the user to detune with their hand.

Firefly is right. Brilliant but evil move by Jobs to make sure people like you absolutely fall for his spin and conflate two physically different problems. But at least he did offer a solution...so not that evil I suppose.

And the reason it's a big deal when Apple does it is precisely because Apple puts out one phone a year. If an Android or Windows Phone or Symbian or Blackberry handset flops for antenna issues or screen issues or battery issues or whatever, that does not mean that the sales in total for that OS are going to flop. Should something be seriously flawed with an iOS device (and at the time antennagate appeared to be heading in that direction), Apple could have suffered a year of poor iPhone sales. And that is news worthy. One Windows Phone handset from several in HTC's lineup having issues? That's not the end of the world.

Which is what happened when Consumer Reports put a "Do Not Recommend" stamp on the iPhone 4. A big and widely used review source putting "Do Not Recommend" on an Apple product?! Unheard of! And so it became big news at the time.