Symbian^4 screenshots revealed
Symbian Foundation has revealed some screenshots of Nokia’s upcoming OS, the Symbian^4. This certainly is a fresh departure over the Symbian that we’re used to. From the screenshots, it looks like a cross mix of Blackberry/iPhone/Android/Bada as you can see strong similarities in terms of UI.
It doesn’t look as polish as today’s Android but being a sample screenshot, this is just merely a pre-production sample. We would expect this to be further improved before official release as the competition is not to be ignored.The Bada OS from Samsung is pretty refined for its 1st debut release and the upcoming Blackberry 6.0 OS is looking pretty good as well. There’s no denying that today’s smartphone offerings are getting very competitive and hopefully Nokia will be able to excite us.
Nokia & RIM rebuts Apple’s Antenna Attenuation campaign
When Apple diverts the Antenna Issue on Blackberry, Androids & Windows Mobiles, the rivals obviously won’t keep quiet. Nokia and RIM had immediately hit out on Apple’s so called education of Antenna Attenuation which showed a Blackberry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris and Samsung Omnia II suffer signal loss when hold at particular spots.
Final batch of Google Nexus One for online store
We reported earlier that Google has changed its strategy when it comes to Nexus One. From an online only store, it now focuses more on telco tie up. The online store which previously was the sole purchase channel is coming to an end soon as they’ve just gotten the final batch of Nexus One for sale.
After this batch is completely shipped out, the only place to get Nexus One would be KT in Korea and Vodafone in Europe. This would be expected sooner or later considering that the Nexus One is getting dated with the arrival of more powerful Android devices. The Nexus One was an excellent device which has served its purpose and looks like its days are numbered.
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Antenna issue: Apple says other smartphones are just as bad
Following the press conference, Apple has a section on its website to demonstrate the three smartphones currently in the market that show the same problem as the iPhone 4.
The thing is, we’re used two (Bold 9700 and Omnia 2) of the three smartphones Apple has singled out and in no way have we experienced the same attenuation as the one being reported on the iPhone 4.
Also, both exhibited better reception performance compared to the iPhone 3GS that we’re using. In addition we noted that Apple does not explain in any detail how they conducted these tests. If the method is not known, then there no way of consistently replicating the attenuation Apple say exists on these devices.
In any case, Apple is using a tried and tested PR tactic to deviate attention from the real issue by putting forth an argument that the iPhone 4 is not the only phone with such a problem. From our experience with the Omnia 2 and the Bold 9700 but a lot more other phones out there, we can’t recall a phone that has such an issue with reception as the iPhone 4.
It will be interesting to see if Samsung, HTC and BlackBerry will respond to this.
By the way, if you missed the press connference earlier, here’s a link to the official video. Enjoy.
Apple, the iPhone 4, Bumper and the antenna issue
When Apple called for the last minute press conference just a day ago there was much speculation on what exactly it is that Steve will reveal.
Top on the list was an announcement to recall all iPhone 4s available today to fix the well documented antenna issue. In hindsight, we should have been able to tell you that a recall is completely out of the question.
We know that a complete re-design of the device is necessary to solve the root cause of the problem. And a re-design would almost certainly be impossible in such a short time span — the iPhone 4 is barely a month in the market.
And if there’s no replacement how can you expect a recall? What would Apple replace the iPhone 4 with if it had announced a recall? An iPhone 3GS? We don’t think so.
In our pre-conference post we also mentioned that it would be highly unlikely that Apple would give free Bumpers to all iPhone 4 users. Well, it’s unlikely but it is not impossible.
To appease its customers and to get people to deviate away from the real issue at hand, Steve Jobs announced that Apple will be giving away free Bumpers with all iPhone 4 purchased including the ones before the announcement.
This means, everyone with an iPhone 4 will be getting a free Bumper. If the user has already purchase a Bumper, then he will get a refund for the purchase. Jobs also mentioned that Apple will not be able to make enough Bumpers for everyone, so they will give you the option to choose third party cases for your iPhone 4. Apple will be giving free Bumpers until 30 September. It’s a nice gesture, but this doesn’t solve the real problem, it’s just side-stepping it.