Apple thinks Droid Eris on par with iP4?
I've looked at Apple's webpage here: http://www.apple.com/antenna/, which is supposedly the page to tell consumers that the iPhone 4 has the same problems common on $50 budget phones.
The site compares the iPhone's antenna strength (AT&T) to 4 phones:
BlackBerry Bold 9700
HTC Droid Eris
Samsung Omnia II
iPhone 3GS.
Now the Droid Eris is $0.00 and known for being the "budget" droid. The Samsung Omnia II's name just screams rehashed budget phone, and retails for $49.99. and the iPhone 3GS is of course now selling for $99.99 and supposed to be the last generation, not in league with the iPhone 4.
The only phone thats in the same price range is the BlackBerry 9700 for $129.99 (T-Mobile), and BlackBerry isn't exactly know for being "Innovative" or "Easy to Use", words once reserved for the iPhone.
So why is Apple associating the iPhone 4 with 3 last generation budget phones, and an uninspiring re-hashed version of yet another BlackBerry? The only thing consumers viewing that page are thinking is "why is Apple charging premium for phones plagued with an antenna flaw common to low cost cheaper phones like BlackBerrys and whatever Omnia IIs are"?
Some background about how Apple got to be know as an innovative brand:
Apple didn't fill Macs with preloaded bloat-ware and glitch OS, then call it a "fact of life" for all computers. They provided an all in one solution, then beat every competitor's specs.
Apple wasn't lazy and didn't release the iPod with no software and extremely complicated interface and call it a "fact of life" for mp3 players. They designed it with a revolutionary interface and sync system with iTunes.
They didn't the release a tablet with no battery life, windows XP, and charge $1000s, then call it a "Fact of life." They release the iPad.
Apple was known for shattering these "facts of life" by creating innovative products that provide a completely revolutionary user experience because everything "Just Works." But now something doesn't "Just Work" and instead of actually fixing the problem, they point out publicly that its apparently a "Fact of life" for poorly made budget phones.
Its clear now, after conformation from Apple, that the iPhone 4 isn't the luxury phone its priced at, but a cheaply made knock off of the likes of the Droid eris and Omnia II. It drops more calls than the 3GS and Apple is fine with that, I guess their showing their true colors. I'm frustrated that Apple literally just wants to sweep it under the rug rather than face the issue head on and provide users with that "vision." If it was the old Apple, Apple would of worked endlessly on rev2 to actually provide their customers with something that truly does "change everything." Now in the eyes of consumers its just the same old iphone, a phone a that can't make phone calls. Great Apple..
I've been a customer of Macs for 10 years, iPods for 8, Macbooks, iMacs. But this conference just frustrates me that Apple doesn't have the same dedication to the user experience they used too. (I want to get an iPhone 4, but need 100% phone reliability) So now I'm stuck with an HTC incredible, originally an upgrade to give to a family member until I got iPhone 4, while I try to decide what Android phone to get on new company paid AT&T. At least I know all of them actually work (besides the Droid Eris and Omnia II of course).
The site compares the iPhone's antenna strength (AT&T) to 4 phones:
BlackBerry Bold 9700
HTC Droid Eris
Samsung Omnia II
iPhone 3GS.
Now the Droid Eris is $0.00 and known for being the "budget" droid. The Samsung Omnia II's name just screams rehashed budget phone, and retails for $49.99. and the iPhone 3GS is of course now selling for $99.99 and supposed to be the last generation, not in league with the iPhone 4.
The only phone thats in the same price range is the BlackBerry 9700 for $129.99 (T-Mobile), and BlackBerry isn't exactly know for being "Innovative" or "Easy to Use", words once reserved for the iPhone.
So why is Apple associating the iPhone 4 with 3 last generation budget phones, and an uninspiring re-hashed version of yet another BlackBerry? The only thing consumers viewing that page are thinking is "why is Apple charging premium for phones plagued with an antenna flaw common to low cost cheaper phones like BlackBerrys and whatever Omnia IIs are"?
Some background about how Apple got to be know as an innovative brand:
Apple didn't fill Macs with preloaded bloat-ware and glitch OS, then call it a "fact of life" for all computers. They provided an all in one solution, then beat every competitor's specs.
Apple wasn't lazy and didn't release the iPod with no software and extremely complicated interface and call it a "fact of life" for mp3 players. They designed it with a revolutionary interface and sync system with iTunes.
They didn't the release a tablet with no battery life, windows XP, and charge $1000s, then call it a "Fact of life." They release the iPad.
Apple was known for shattering these "facts of life" by creating innovative products that provide a completely revolutionary user experience because everything "Just Works." But now something doesn't "Just Work" and instead of actually fixing the problem, they point out publicly that its apparently a "Fact of life" for poorly made budget phones.
Its clear now, after conformation from Apple, that the iPhone 4 isn't the luxury phone its priced at, but a cheaply made knock off of the likes of the Droid eris and Omnia II. It drops more calls than the 3GS and Apple is fine with that, I guess their showing their true colors. I'm frustrated that Apple literally just wants to sweep it under the rug rather than face the issue head on and provide users with that "vision." If it was the old Apple, Apple would of worked endlessly on rev2 to actually provide their customers with something that truly does "change everything." Now in the eyes of consumers its just the same old iphone, a phone a that can't make phone calls. Great Apple..
I've been a customer of Macs for 10 years, iPods for 8, Macbooks, iMacs. But this conference just frustrates me that Apple doesn't have the same dedication to the user experience they used too. (I want to get an iPhone 4, but need 100% phone reliability) So now I'm stuck with an HTC incredible, originally an upgrade to give to a family member until I got iPhone 4, while I try to decide what Android phone to get on new company paid AT&T. At least I know all of them actually work (besides the Droid Eris and Omnia II of course).
Comments
INow in the eyes of consumers its just the same old iphone, a phone a that can't make phone calls. Great Apple..
In the eyes of idiot consumers. People who own an iPhone 4 seem to be making calls just fine. The reported drops are only 1% higher than the 3GS which is nowhere near 'can't make phone calls'. A number of drops might even be people testing to see if holding the gap actually drops the call.
Apple have only been making phones for 3 years. Their inexperience shows when they redesign an antenna using all sorts of high-end equipment specifically with the intention of making it better and actually make it worse but at least they come out and admit it.
This is not a different Apple we know, it's the same Apple that tries to do their best with their experience. When they fail, they hire antenna engineers.
The iPhone is not a great phone because of the calling performance but because of everything else and the calling ability is acceptable for people who actually own one, not for the people who don't and like to latch onto something to hate about it.
As explained in the conference, people love bad news. When you turn on any news channel, you don't hear about good events; if you do, they are shunted in at the end. It's death, destruction, violence, dropped calls because that's what people like to hear.
The video shown at the conference gave the right message. If you have any issue then return the phone. Returns haven't been very high so it would seem people are ok with the antenna design flaw.
Apple was known for shattering these "facts of life" by creating innovative products that provide a completely revolutionary user experience
They can only really do that with products they have complete control over. They don't control the network. If they could control the network, there would be wifi everywhere, free data and calls and video chat. It will come in time.
In the eyes of idiot consumers. People who own an iPhone 4 seem to be making calls just fine. The reported drops are only 1% higher than the 3GS which is nowhere near 'can't make phone calls'. A number of drops might even be people testing to see if holding the gap actually drops the call.
Apple have only been making phones for 3 years. Their inexperience shows when they redesign an antenna using all sorts of high-end equipment specifically with the intention of making it better and actually make it worse but at least they come out and admit it.
This is not a different Apple we know, it's the same Apple that tries to do their best with their experience. When they fail, they hire antenna engineers.
The iPhone is not a great phone because of the calling performance but because of everything else and the calling ability is acceptable for people who actually own one, not for the people who don't and like to latch onto something to hate about it.
As explained in the conference, people love bad news. When you turn on any news channel, you don't hear about good events; if you do, they are shunted in at the end. It's death, destruction, violence, dropped calls because that's what people like to hear.
The video shown at the conference gave the right message. If you have any issue then return the phone. Returns haven't been very high so it would seem people are ok with the antenna design flaw.
They can only really do that with products they have complete control over. They don't control the network. If they could control the network, there would be wifi everywhere, free data and calls and video chat. It will come in time.
Did they really admit it though? I mean they never really highlighted THEIR issue, they just gave it the Kanye shrug and said everyone else had it too. They never touched on the iphone specific attenuation issues. The whole conference seemed to dodge around how the issue specifically affects the iphone.
Did they really admit it though? I mean they never really highlighted THEIR issue, they just gave it the Kanye shrug and said everyone else had it too. They never touched on the iphone specific attenuation issues. The whole conference seemed to dodge around how the issue specifically affects the iphone.
If you check some of the footage from the Q&A session not in the Apple video on CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tec...e.mistakes.cnn
in the 'working our asses off' video, they are probably the most apologetic I've ever seen Apple staff. They all looked physically drained and Jobs was looking a little shaken throughout the event. He apparently came back from a vacation in Hawaii and has obviously been working frantically on this since then for 3 weeks.
When it's a rehearsed Apple event, it's ok but these press events are tough because no amount of superlatives take the problem away, there needed to be an explanation.
They admitted numerous times they aren't perfect, their phone isn't perfect, they said they basically painted a bulls-eye on the phone about where to touch it and Jobs even said that if people weren't happy, they'd give a full refund and they could buy another phone if they wanted and that they'd try better next time to win back their business.
In some ways, it was a bit unnerving to see how weak they looked as a company during the event. This is what happens when you run a company the way they do. Other companies are generally faceless with no personality and no passion behind what they do so if they screw up, nobody really cares.
This is perhaps why they can never be as big a company as people would like them to be.
By Jacob Friedman on July 15th, 2010
Find the Article(with pictures ) here ---> http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/07...o-hurt-iphone/
Verizon?s much-vaunted iPhone killer and follow-up to the popular Droid has blown it. Or more correctly, it has blown up.
The device, which promised to be Verizon?s most serious competitor to the iPhone, has been hamstrung with a crude hardware-based method of bootloader protection called an eFuse chip. If it doesn?t detect the standard bootloader when the phone is turned on, it is supposed to blow out a fuse. Which, in turn, essentially turns your brand-new DroidX into a very expensive paperweight. The fuse is only replaceable with Motorola service equipment.
This becomes a serious problem when you realize that if you?re going to root the phone to install Froyo or mod the device, you need to mess around with the bootloader.
In short, this is an appallingly stupid move by Motorola.
Despite the fact that the eFuses are present on the Droid and its GSM twin, the Milestone, some Android fans have asserted that they have not been used to lock the hardware until now. As many Android fans know, the Droid is incredibly hackable and the Milestone decidedly is not. It appears that Motorola has set up the Milestone?s incredibly complex security on top of the tripwire bomb that is the eFuse, which poses quite a tricky task for the Android hacking community.
More importantly, though, this represents a big chance squandered by Motorola and Verizon to take a big swing at the new iPhone4. Many iPhone competitors had fallen short in consumers? eyes. The Droid Incredible?s screen wasn?t nice enough. The HTC Hero4G had no battery life. The Nexus One was only available on T-Mobile. The Samsung Galaxy S family just didn?t quite have the sexiness of the iPhone4.
The DroidX is mean, lean, sexy, fast, and it could hold a charge for more than five minutes. However, it shipped with a clunky version of Motorola?s Motoblur Android skin. Motoblur is awful. It?s clunky, slow and doesn?t work as well as Android?s native apps.
This wasn?t an issue to many users, however. Most wanted to root the phone, load it with Froyo and have fun with it. With this issue, though, Verizon has completely lost those customers.
You can hold this phone any way you want, but that doesn?t matter if it blows up when you try to get rid of Motoblur.
Thanks to Gizmodo for the images.
About the Author
Jacob Friedman
Jacob is a tech blogger and IT professional living in Chicago, IL. Follow him on Twitter here, like him on facebook here, or email him here.