Remember the whole antenna gate issue several months back? Apple had held an emergency press conference that announced Free bumpers to all iPhone 4 users who purchased their device until 30th September.

With 30th September coming, Apple has announced that its iPhone 4 Free case program is coming to an end. They added on their website that:

We now know that the iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue is even smaller than we originally thought. A small percentage of iPhone 4 users need a case, and we want to continue providing them a Bumper case for free. For everyone else, we are discontinuing the free case program on all iPhone 4s sold after September 30, 2010. We are also returning to our normal returns policy for all iPhone 4s sold after September 30. Users experiencing antenna issues should call AppleCare to request a free Bumper case.

.

Small issue they said, after all that effort attack its rivals on Antenna Attenuation. We guess Apple probably realised despite the whole Antennagate issue, its iPhone 4 sales still remained strong with or without a case included.

In Malaysia, our local carriers Maxis and DiGi have yet to release their iPhone 4 officially. We’re not sure if they are just waiting out for the free bumper program to expire considering Maxis had already start selling the iPhone 3GS 8GB which was announced together with the iPhone 4. If they launch the iPhone 4 this month, Malaysians will have to rush to redeem their free bumpers like free flight hunters on AirAsia.

[ SOURCE ]

Apple has updated its Antenna Attenuation site, removing their “how to drop signal bars on rival smartphones” content. Previously the site was focused on telling the world that other phones such as Blackberries, Nokia, Androids and Windows Mobile are just as bad as the iPhone 4 when it comes to antenna reception. Now what’s left is Apple showcasing its Antenna design and research.

So what prompted Apple to remove them? Some say Apple finally learned to hold its rival phones properly but we believed they’ve realised that they are getting more negative response than what was intended. Apple had received a lot of flak for dragging rivals to their own problems instead of addressing them. We’ve seen how Nokia, RIM, Samsung, HTC and Motorola responded towards the campaign, telling off Apple that with many years in the industry, they know better where to place their antennas.

Slashgear managed to get in touch with Apple and claims that their update is merely their drive to “constantly refresh” their content. They denied any legal action against them and no hidden message behind the move. The video contents are still available on Apple’s Youtube channel.

Looks like this is the end of Antennagate wars, or is it? Apple has pulled the plug but we’re not sure if its rivals will drop the subject.
[ SOURCE, VIA, 2 ]

After having Motorola Droid X included on Apple’s Antenna Attenuation site, Motorola fights back again with another ad. This time it disses iPhone 4′s need to wear a bumper and proudly mentions its vast experience in making phones.

This is the 2nd one after its first version that obviously made fun of phones that doesn’t allow you to hold the phone any way you liked.

If you can’t see the text above, the copy below the phone is written as follows:

At Motorola, we believe a customer shouldn’t have to dress up their phone for it to work properly. That’s why the DROID X comes with a dual antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like to make crystal clear calls without a bulky phone jacket. For us it’s just one of those things that comes as a given when you’ve been making mobile phones for over 30 years.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

Samsung has launched an advertisement showing off its full bars which is seems to be mocking the iPhone 4′s antennagate. Pretty cheeky of them to do so.

This isn’t the first time, as Motorola has done the same with the Droid X.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

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.

From Nokia‘s end, they emphasise on antenna design strategy over physical design in order to optimise its performance. This seems to be a sarcastic remark as Apple is known for its obsession for aesthetics. While admitting that gripping any device may obviously cause performance degration, Nokia has done enough research on the way people hold their phones and how to overcome them by placing antennas elsewhere.

RIM, the blackberry guys too had a shot at Apple saying that what they have done is unacceptable. Apple had simply dragged RIM to clear up their own mess. Similar to Nokia, RIM has stressed that they avoided designs like the iPhone 4 to ensure efficient and effective radio performance on blackberries over the years.

To sum it all up, the other manufacters are telling Apple “Don’t drag our names in just because you can’t design your antenna properly”. When we saw the sensitive antenna areas highlighted by Apple for its rival phones, we don’t find them a problem as you would hardly touch them during normal use.

With the current slim smartphones dimension, majority of users will be holding them by the sides which obviously a bad area to place an antenna. If Apple truly love their users, they should probably know this by now. Apple is simply desperate and they had to resort to poking its rivals to save its own reputation. Their announcement of giving away free cases is indirectly admitting that the iPhone 4 is flawed and needs additional bumpers/case to overcome its problem. Now they are getting the brunt for starting the mud fight.

[ SOURCE 1, 2 ]

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.

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.

We were informed that the free Bumper offer applies to all countries that will be getting the iPhone 4 officially. That means us Malaysian who plan to purchase the iPhone 4 when Maxis eventually makes the announcement, will also get free Bumpers, though we’re not sure if we have the option to choose a third party casing.

Anyway, that’s besides the point. We stayed up to follow the live feeds from the press conference, and the point we’re trying to make here is that Apple’s position on the whole antenna thing hasn’t changed one bit.

In our oppinion, the press conference was just a little song and dance by Apple to “address” the problem but not really solving it. Let’s face it, the Bumper is just a quick-fix. The fact of the matter remains that the antenna on the iPhone 4 is flawed. The only way to fix that is to go back to the drawing board.

Reading through the feeds, we can’t help but feel that Steve Jobs have taken a very defensive stance and Apple has worked doubly hard to downplay the issue even further. At the beginning of the conference, Steve revealed that Apple did their own testing to see if other phones are affected by attenuation. The pulled out devices like the Samsung Omnia 2, the HTC Droid Eris and the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and claim that these devices have the same problem.

Interestingly no comparison was made to the Nexus One, Motorola Milestone, Droid X and HTC Desire. One can’t help but wonder why this is so.We’ll let you make your own judgement on that.

Also, Steve mentioned how Apple has a crack team of 18 PhD scientists and engineers working on the iPhone but oddly enough in his presentation, he did not say how Apple conducted the test to show that the Omnia 2, Droid Eris and Bold 9700 also suffer same problems like the iPhone 4.

Without revealing the method, there’s no real way to replicate the results, and you can’t replicate the results, then it’s not exactly scientific. Hence, whatever Jobs just showed in the presentation can’t really be considered fact.

And even if other phones face the same problems, those devices don’t display symptoms anywhere near as bad as the iPhone 4.

So basically what’s the key takeaways from the press conference? From our perspective, nothing much has changed really. Apple and Jobs are still adamant that the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone in the market today (our opinion: although the iPhone is good, it’s not really as awesome as Apple would want you to believe).

There’s still no real fix for the antenna issue but we’re not going to expect sales of the iPhone 4 to suffer. There are just too many people out there who doesn’t understand what is really going on. Droves will still buy the iPhone 4, why? Because its an Apple product and it’s a status symbol. Many will buy the iPhone 4 just because it’s an iPhone.

Like a person, a company’s true worth (not in terms of monetary but in terms of its “conscience” or core values) is revealed at its purest in the way it handles adversities. You see a true nature of a person, when he’s pushed to his limits. And in Apple’s 30 year history, this has to be one of the most challenging periods. Apple is now being pushed to its limits, so to speak

And in response to this challenge Apple resorted to what can be considered as bribery. It is the first time we’ve heard of Apple giving away free casing for the iPhone definitely. And in terms of Apple’s values, we’re not too sure if the company is holding strong to it.

Apple is having a crisis and they are not doing enough to fix it. If you need an analogy, it’s kind of like the BP crisis of the tech world. Ok, maybe not a huge in terms of magnitude, but it sure is just as serious — if you’re a geek of course.

If you ask us will we be getting an iPhone 4. We’ll tell you maybe not. There are a number of just as good alternatives out there that we’d take a look first before making a decision and we think you should do the same as well.

[picture credit]

You might have gotten wift that Apple has called for a last minute press conference this Friday.

We may be wrong on this but never in our experience have we heard of Apple calling for a last minute press conference. Things must be running on DEFCON 5 at Cupertino. There’s a lot of speculation on what this last minute press conference is all about, though many are saying that Apple will come clean on the antenna issue on the iPhone 4.

Most of the tech blogs in the US are making a big deal out of it, speculating a eminent recall but honestly speaking we’re pretty sick and tired of it all. Seriously everyone, there’s nothing to see here and we all need to move on.

The fact of the matter remains that iPhone 4 is a flawed product. It is, essentially, a phone that doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter if the screen is so chock full of pixels that your eyes can’t even see them, it doesn’t matter that it’s made out of glass and is sure as hell doesn’t matter if it can make video calls – besides you can only do it with WiFi and even with WiFi the iPhone 4 has issues.

What matters is the fact that Apple has been trying very hard to play down the issue. Even Steve Jobs said that iPhone 4 users are holding it wrong and Apple recommends you use the iPhone 4 with a case. Apple has even deleted forum postings that highlight the antenna issue and reference the recent report from US non-profit US consumer watchdog, Consumer Reports on its official message boards. This is not the first time Apple has resorted to deleting negative posts on it forums and it goes to show how they do business.

What Apple needs to do is to stop denying that there’s a problem with the iPhone 4 and to start fixing it, and what the rest of the world needs to do is move on. There are other phones out there that are just as good if not better. In the Android camp, HTC, Samsung and Motorola have caught up with Apple. The naysayers will argue that the iPhone has more apps, a lot more. We say, so does Android. In fact has more apps that can do more things with an Android phone and apps like Swype really demonstrate how Android devices are more flexible in terms of usability.

The naysayers would argue that that the Android Market is filled with useless apps. We say, have you browse through Apple’s App Store? There’s a lot of bad, useless apps there as well. At least with Android, the choice is almost infinite, there are so much more you can do with an Android powered device.

Credit where credit is due, Apple changed the game with the iPhone, yes, they did that but everyone else has caught up. As much as Apple would like you to believe the iPhone 4 is revolutionary, the fact of the matter is it’s really just an improvement over the 3GS with a better screen, faster processor and a new UI with features that Android already has.

Please, don’t get us wrong, we’re not saying that Android is perfect but it is a great alternative. But what we’re saying is Apple and the iPhone does not have the much of a lead over the competition anymore. So everyone “relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it.”

Back to the press conference this Friday. So will Apple issue a recall for the iPhone 4? Looking at things at the moment, we doubt it very much but it’s not impossible, though a recall would cost Apple and estimated US$1.5 billion and it’s an almost inconceivable scenario for Apple. Will Apple offer free Bumpers? Yet another possible but highly improbable scenario. So what will Apple announce this Friday? Guess we all will have to wait and see.

Motorola took out an ad in the Now York Times to promote its latest Android heavyweight, the Droid X. That’s nothing out of the ordinary.

Here’s something that is. In the tail end of the body copy of that ad it read:
“And most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls.”

Sadly, Apple ain’t got nothing much to say about that.

Full size jpeg here.

[source via]

(Update 0025hrs 28061020) As it turns out the Daily Mail has removed the news piece without any explanation. the tweet the article referred to to belongs to one of the many fake Steve Jobs Twitter account out there. In this case, it was from ceoSteveJobs.

But with unhappy customers growing in numbers by the day, can Apple afford not to recall the flawed iPhone 4?

(Update 0126hrs 28061020) Another short update. Found found a screencap of the earlier report on Flickr.

“We may have to recall the new iPhone. This I did not expect.”

Steve Jobs revealed via Twitter that the recently launched iPhone 4 may be recalled barely a week into its debut, UK’s Daily Mail Online reported.

The is probably the first time we’ve heard Apple recall a product and if it is indeed true, this would definitely be the first time an iPhone is being recalled.

The culprit? You’ve guessed it, the externally antenna that we’ve talking about here, here and here.

Could this mean that there will be delays for subsequent shipments of the iPhone 4 to other countries? Most likely. Would it affect sales of the iPhone 4? Probably but maybe not.

[picture credit]