The Telecom Digest for July 15, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 191 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
| Re: Mobile subscriptions hit 5 billion mark | (David Clayton) |
| Apple Censors Consumer Report iPhone4 Discussions | (Thad Floryan) |
| Additional iPhone 4 issues and articles | (Thad Floryan) |
| Re: I before E | (Leon Whyte) |
| Technical description and explanation of iPhone 4 antenna issues
| (Thad Floryan) |
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:43:42 +1000
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mobile subscriptions hit 5 billion mark
Message-ID: <pan.2010.07.14.06.43.39.892199@myrealbox.com>
On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:11:24 -0400, Monty Solomon wrote: ........
> Mobile broadband subscriptions are growing at similar pace and are
> expected to amount to more than 3.4 billion by 2015 (from 360 million in
> 2009).
>
> Studies show that soon 80 percent of all people accessing the Internet
> will be doing so using their mobile device.
>
That last bit has to be the greatest piece of BS I have encountered this
week, just because some people will have the capability of mobile access
to the net does not mean that "...80 percent of all people accessing the
Internet will be doing so..." using that method.
Even if you count mobile e-mail access, I seriously doubt that the ongoing
majority of Internet access will move from wired or Wi-Fi devices any time
soon.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:02:42 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Apple Censors Consumer Report iPhone4 Discussions
Message-ID: <4C3D1AC2.5010707@thadlabs.com>
Not too surprisingly, all threads about Consumer Reports'
iPhone 4 antenna and signal problems have been removed or
deleted from Apple's Support servers per:
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/12/apple-drops-consumer-reports-discussion-threads-down-memory-hole/
in reference to these threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2502559
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2502555
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11888136
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2502547
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2502553
Bing's cache to the rescue:
(Link removed: bing either doesn't alllow deep linking, or it wasn't valid - Moderator)
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:14:48 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Additional iPhone 4 issues and articles
Message-ID: <4C3D1D98.6020701@thadlabs.com>
Apple's public relations woes over its iPhone 4 - the latest
hit came from Consumer Reports, which said it won't recommend
the device - is conjuring up memories of a previously flawed
product launch. Article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/13/MNV61ED7QU.DTL
Apple has spectacularly botched the response to complaints about
the iPhone 4 antenna problem.
The simple solution to the problem was to fess up that yes,
there's a slight problem with the hardware design of the phone,
but it only affects a few people. Then slash the price of iPhone
cases that solve the problem.
Instead, Apple tried to spin the flaw as a meaningless software
display problem, which Consumer Reports and others say is bogus.
Now, even Apple's most ardent supporters, are admitting Apple
has blown it. Article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/07/13/businessinsider-apple-response-to-2010-7.DTL
It's no surprise that people are having a field day at Apple's
expense over the supposed iPhone 4 antenna problem.
The bigger and more successful Apple gets, the easier it becomes
to poke holes in the company. And the more fun people have beating
up on Apple, and the more notoriety they get, etc.
Seriously, when's the last time you thought of Consumer Reports
before this week?
But like every other tech PR calamity -- Facebook redesigns, Google
privacy, etc. -- this will be news for a few more days and then life
will go on.
The iPhone 4 antenna situation is a non-issue, and it's going to blow
over without a massive product recall.
Why? Because it's just not that big of a problem.
Simply, the iPhone 4 works better than pretty much any other phone you
can buy, and even Consumer Reports says so, calling it the best
smartphone on the market.
You can make calls, use the Internet, and do everything else you should
be able to do on the iPhone 4 all of the time, or almost all of the time.
And that's why you're buying it, right?
I've owned the iPhone 4 from the first day it went on sale, and even
though it still has the same crappy AT&T service and dropped calls
that my last iPhone had, I still would never ever think of returning
it. There's so much more to the iPhone 4 than a supposed antenna
problem -- if you carefully put your finger in a specific position --
and iPhone owners and buyers know this. Article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/07/13/businessinsider-iphone-4-non-issue-2010-7.DTL
Why all the hate on AT&T? I haven't had a dropped call since the
early 1990s (Cellular One) and also never with Cingular and AT&T
Wireless. Note that I'm in Silicon Valley, and AT&T reception and
performance is great.
Seems to me all the complaints originate from San Francisco and
New York City. FWIW, broadcast TV doesn't function well in those
two cities, either, due to all the tall buildings.
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:30:40 -0700
From: Leon Whyte <leon.whyte@shaw.ca>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: I before E
Message-ID: <YPc%n.31647$Ls1.599@newsfe11.iad>
Randall wrote:
>>> http://www.cr80news.com/2010/02/09/one-in-six-college-students-recieve-blackboard-connect-messages
>>>
>>
>> And four out of five English teachers are pulling their
>> hair out when reading that url...
>>
>> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>>
>> Repeat after me: 'I before E, except after Cee, or when sounded like
>> A, as in "Neighbor" and "Weigh".'
>>
>> Don't they even teach that at journalism school?
>
> I before E, huh? Weird ...
>
Shouldn't it be:
a b c d E f g h I ?
That shows E before I.
--
Leon
A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.
< running Linux > http://www.okv.ca/
***** Moderator's Note *****
This is the last "I before E" post. Gimme a break!
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:34:22 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Technical description and explanation of iPhone 4 antenna issues
Message-ID: <4C3E73AE.2090602@thadlabs.com>
Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area newspapers are full of
articles essentially repeating each other and it accomplishes
nothing citing repetitious after repetitious article.
AnandTech presents an article with some good information:
"
" There's been a ton of discussion lately surrounding iPhone 4
" cellular reception. Even before it was officially announced,
" the reason for the stainless steel band running along the
" outside of the phone seemed enigmatic; many called it un-apple
" and decidedly atypical of seamless apple design which eschews
" hard edges. The black strips were written off as aesthetic
" curiosities, possibly even markings which denoted a fake.
"
" Then at the WWDC announcement, we learned the truth. The
" iPhone 4's antenna is the stainless steel band that runs
" around the edge of the phone. The antenna for WiFi, Bluetooth,
" and GPS is the smaller strip beginning in the bottom left and
" running to the top, and the cellular radio for voice and data
" is the much larger strip running around almost three quarters
" of the phone.
"
" It's a design nod back to some of the earliest cellular phone
" designs which packed external whips that one could manually
" extend for improving reception. Since then, designs evolved,
" and until recently virtually all smartphones have packed
" internal antennas at the bottom of the phone. The iPhone 4's
" external antenna promises improved reception over the internal
" antenna in the iPhone 3GS.
"
" Of course, the caveat is that as with all external antennas,
" the potential for both unintended attenuation and detuning
" is much, much greater. When I first saw the iPhone 4's design
" spelled out watching the keynote online, I immediately assumed
" that Apple was going to apply an insulative coating atop the
" stainless steel. Perhaps even use diamond vapor deposition
" (like they did with the glass screen atop the iPhone 3GS) to
" insulate the stainless steel from users. We now know rather
" definitively that this isn't the case. Of course, the result
" is that anything conductive which bridges the gap in the
" bottom left couples the antennas together, detuning the
" precisely engineered antennas. It's a problem of impedance
" matching with the body as an antenna, and the additional
" antenna that becomes part of the equation when you touch the
" bottom left.
"
" The fact of the matter is that cupping the bottom left corner
" and making skin contact between the two antennas does result
" in a measurable difference in cellular reception. But as
" we'll show, RF is a strange beast.
{ article continues at the following URL }
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2
Another article in the San Francisco Chronicle is entitled
"The Saddest Part Of The Whole iPhone 4 Antenna Fiasco Is
How Proud Steve Jobs Was When He Introduced It (AAPL)" and
can be read here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/07/14/businessinsider-the-saddest-part-of-the-whole-iphone-4-antenna-fiasco-is-how-proud-steve-jobs-was-when-he-introduced-it-2010-7.DTL
and if you have a sense of humor:
http://www.dailygoat.com/2010/07/apple-recalls-iphone-4-very-fondly-announces-it-will-apply-same-rigorous-standards-new-product-launches/
:-)
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