Apple Takes on Droid X With Latest Smartphone Antenna Video

[marksman]

iPhone 4 > Droid X. End of discussion.

But I may end up switching to Droid X due to wifey recently getting pissed off @ white iPhone 4 delay.

Apple. Broom. Take out.

Your wife should get a black iPhone to match the burnt Turkey Pot Pie in the kitchen. Men get white iPhones.

Not that I disagree with you, but quoting sales number isn't always the best sign of a good product. Walmart sells a lot of crap, but I wouldn't call it quality, same for McDonalds

What are you calling crap? There must be some value? Apple sells relatively high priced items and for every segment they are in except the tablet market they are premium priced. To do that and to acquire large sales numbers does mean you have to have a quality product. There is no other way to accomplish it. This is like Economics 102.

lol you just made my day Obviously Apple feels different if they even have to do this video.

Apple has made videos of many phones, none of which really compete with the iPhone 4 on any level, so why would the Droid X be any different?

Apple should be completely ashamed of themselves. How stuck up can they be? I am a beloved iPad owner but all this nonsense will diminish Apple's brand. No wonder why theres so many apple haters out there... Because of behavior like this.

Ashamed for what? Nobody puts Baby in a corner. Ignorant people on forums like this, and ignorant news media, combined with liars from other phone makers forced Apple into this position. Not defending themselves with the truth would be a huge mistake.

 

[gehrbox]

Once Apple starts caring about Macs again, I'm sure that problem will solve itself, but since iProducts are all they care about at the moment, that's what people will be talking about. Go figure.

Why do you say that? Apple has updated the OS, Macbook line and Mac line with better spec's, performance and capacity all at or around the same price point of the old models (sometimes lower price). They just released a totally new Mini.

They are in the middle of completely revamping Xcode for OS X in order to speed software development for themselves and 3rd party developers.

They have had continous and significant growth of market share in every direction that they apply themselves. This has happened in one of the worst economic times anyone can remember since the great depression.

The truth is Apple has a wider spread of products to support then just the Mac, but it hasn't stopped them from refreshing the lines. The time between releases has increased on some lines, but not stopped innovation.

The industry as a whole has shifted to mobile computing (yes the dreaded 'i' products that everyone seems to love).

Cut them some slack on the Mac, they are trying to create magic and that takes time

 

[ARF900]

It's not doctored, they are using their facilities instead of Verizon's network. Their facilities just probably doesn't provide 3G coverage.

Wouldnt that sort of be cheating anyway?

 

[KnightWRX]

Don’t miss understand me, I really don’t give a frogs fat ass if you don’t get an iPhone nor did I imply that. It sounded like you wanted an iPhone but did not get one because of the way Apple handled it and the antenna issue, so all was trying to say is for most people it’s really a non issue. I also did not understand you saying how bad i4 is when you don’t have one.

Yes, I did want one. I also wanted a Nexus One and a Motorola Milestone and a Samsung Galaxy S and a Nokia N900 and a...

You get the point. The iPhone 4 provided a nice upgrade because I did get to keep my about 30$ worth of games I purchased from the AppStore. I'm not about to cry for 30$ though.

 

[Avalontor]

And also, when did you stop beating your wife?

wtf?

 

[FuNGi]

If your mad about apple posting these videos you should be mad at other companies for jumping on the media bandwagon and making fun of the iPhone 4 for having antennas, just like every other phone on the market.

If everyone hadn't acted like the sky was falling we'd still have cute ads advertising FaceTime.

If you think this is specific to the iPhone 4, you know next to nothing about EE. If you think it's a major issue on the iPhone 4, you probably don't own one.

+1

If you mess with Apple's image, you either get targeted explicitly in adds, publicity, etc. or you are tacitly ignored during media events. I don't think this is lame on the part of APL at all, only a necessary move to try to quell people's emotionally driven response. OCD'rs need more single example data to disprove their convictions. But as I've said elsewhere, as a scientist seeing a video demonstration of a single example proves absolutely nothing. That is why Jobs dropping the data (0.55% of IP4 owners actually called Applecare) during the press conference was so nice. Although, as Obama must be realizing, we do not live in a logically driven society, instead it is emotion which drives our convictions

 

[vaguely]

Uh ? I don't quite get this. Let's ask a moderator about it.

Look it up. You will find that it is the canonical example of a complex question and is syntactically identical to your call for Apple to apologise.

Nice cry for the mods tho'

 

[KnightWRX]

Wouldnt that sort of be cheating anyway?

Not really. It's easier to replicate the "issue" when you control the transmission and reception equipment than going around in a van trying to find a dead spot in the Verizon network, which might not be in a spot where it is easy to film the phone.

Anyway, they aren't even showing the proper issue.

 

[avanpelt]

That’s teaching Apple a lesson, you got them?
Now you miss out, sometimes hatred only hurts you!

I disagree. If any company adopts a business strategy of deflecting their own glaring issues by pointing fingers at everyone else, I don't miss out by choosing not to support said company. There are plenty of other solid choices in the smartphone market today. I chose to go back to my iPod Touch for Apple apps that I "have to have" when I ditched my iPhone 4. The reality for me was that I couldn't reliably use my iPhone 4 as a phone so it was effectively an iPod Touch for me anyway.

 

[marksman]

Isn't it mountain out of mogull? Like those little bumps in ski courses?
I'm not disagreeing. In fact, I agree fully.

No it is definitely molehill, but thanks for the laugh.

Then why don't previous iPhones have the same problem?

They do.

 

[marcfogel]

Ok. What are the odds the iPhone 5 will have the same antenna design as the iPhone 4. If not, why?

 

[KnightWRX]

Look it up. You will find that it is the canonical example of a complex question and is syntactically identical to your call for Apple to apologise.

Nice cry for the mods tho'

It's an ad hominem. It shows you lack the proper counter arguments.

 

[FlyinggPenguin]

This isn't high school where you get in trouble for tattle telling. This is business. If you were in apples position, u would do it to. U guys are ridiculous. There's millions of dollars at stake here. It's more than just your little high school reputation in danger.

This is no different than creating a commercial pointing out competitors flaws. Thanks to the Internet and technology, apple just has another way of pointing this out.

Bless you, good sir

 

[vaguely]

It's an ad hominem. It shows you lack the proper counter arguments.

No, it is an explanation of the great gaping logical flaw in your argument. Go on. Look it up. The Internet is your friend.

I am still waiting for an apology for your lack of good faith (further aggravated by your failure to check a very well know logic reference which can be found on dozens of sites listing logical fallacies, including Wikipedia).

 

[marcfogel]

That may very well be, but they are not really comparable, Android being an operating system for mobile phones and Cisco's IOS being an operating system used in high end routers etc.

On the other hand, Android doesn't come anywhere near Apple's iOS that is running on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

That is because it is way ahead of iOS4

The user experience is the same. Sorry!

----------
iPhone -> iPhone 3G -> iPhone 3GS (iOS4) -> Droid X

 

[rsocal]

Yes, I did want one. I also wanted a Nexus One and a Motorola Milestone and a Samsung Galaxy S and a Nokia N900 and a...

You get the point. The iPhone 4 provided a nice upgrade because I did get to keep my about 30$ worth of games I purchased from the AppStore. I'm not about to cry for 30$ though.

Just let some of that anger go so you can enjoy a new iPhone 4!!!
I know your mad but that will pass, real fast, if you could play with an i4!!!
Good Luck and I hope you are happy with whatever phone you get

 

[Hurmoth]

Hey Apple, I don't own the Droid X, I own the piece of **** iPhone 4, so instead of wasting money on making these videos, how about fixing your damn phone and let Motorola worry about the Droid X. Hmm, okay?

Side Note: The reason the Droid X doesn't really have this problem is because it is on a network that is located everywhere in the country, whereas AT&T sucks. Get a better network and you may not actually have a problem then.

Poor petty little Apple. "Instead of addressing our own issue, let's just show our competition's problems."

They did the same thing with the PC v. Mac ads and while I enjoyed those, this is a real problem that has me pissed off. If I hadn't have sold my 3G(s) I'd be back on it in a heartbeat (never had a problem with the 3G(s)).

[edit] Apparently this isn't reproducible either: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/23/apple-keeps-antennagate-alive-with-droid-xs-kill-switch-vide/

"...unlike Apple's other videos, we can't seem to recreate this one..."

 

[bkspero]

If Apple did this, there would be no issue

I heard lots of Droid X's are so thoroughly defective from Day 1 that Motorola is having to replace them, that is, they are FUBAR out of the box.

How come the media isn't looking at this scandal?

My experience with the Droid X that replaced my iP4 is that it is fast and rock solid both in its calls and in its computer functions. That said, I can't dispute that some of them may have issues out of the box...just like you have "magically" heard that they have. They may, or they may not have had issues, but let's assume they have.

The key is that Verizon and Motorola, as you say, are replacing them with perfectly functioning devices.

IF Apple had replaced its crappy iP4's with phones that actually worked reliably as phones in weak signal areas when held normally, then there would have been no issue with the Death Tickle. Unfortunately, Apple can't do that as the flaw is inherent in their design and not a normal manufacturing defect. They can give you an ugly rubberband to try and put a bandaid over the flaw, but not do the right thing that Moto can do, which is replace the phone with a perfectly good one.

That's the difference. With the iP4 you get a pretty piece of jewelry that you are forced to wrap in a chintzy looking rubberband to get even close to reliable telephone functionality. With the Droid X you probably get a great phone out of the box, and if you don't, then it will be replaced at no cost to you with a great phone out of the 2nd box. Apple Fail in this case.

 

[GQB]

We get it already. You can choke the bars out of quite a few phones. Just let it go. iPhone sales are still strong...you would think they would leave this alone.

At the risk of pissing into the wind here, here's the deal.
Apple has spend the last month after releasing a great phone with superior reception (due to the external antenna), getting beat up over something that's a widespread issue.
Bloggers have invented a story that this is something unique to Apple, and the enfeebled MSM has picked up the story an run with it (just as it's now running with the bogus story about Macs being more prone to security issues.)
Apple is fighting back, not to self important techies, but to the general public that has been taken in by the blog whining.

 

[KnightWRX]

Just let some of that anger go so you can enjoy a new iPhone 4!!!
I know your mad but that will pass, real fast, if you could play with an i4!!!
Good Luck and I hope you are happy with whatever phone you get

Who's angry ? If I was angry, I'd be dumping all my Apple products. I'm just unsatisfied with their PR effort and thus not going to get an iPhone 4. Again, I don't see why you are so hellbent on trying to get me to change my mind.

 

[rsocal]

I disagree. If any company adopts a business strategy of deflecting their own glaring issues by pointing fingers at everyone else, I don't miss out by choosing not to support said company. There are plenty of other solid choices in the smartphone market today. I chose to go back to my iPod Touch for Apple apps that I "have to have" when I ditched my iPhone 4. The reality for me was that I couldn't reliably use my iPhone 4 as a phone so it was effectively an iPod Touch for me anyway.

What area do you live? if this is true you must be in a bad, bad signal area!!!

 

[bkspero]

Apple's strategy...a consumer service

This isn't high school where you get in trouble for tattle telling. This is business. If you were in apples position, u would do it to. U guys are ridiculous. There's millions of dollars at stake here. It's more than just your little high school reputation in danger.

This is no different than creating a commercial pointing out competitors flaws. Thanks to the Internet and technology, apple just has another way of pointing this out.

This issue is irrevocably linked in the consumer's mind with the iPhone. Apple is doing consumers a great service. Every time they raise the problem in any context, it reinforces the link between Apple, the iPhone, and antenna problems.

Then it will trigger a whole new series of stories by broader media poking holes in Apple's trumped up video, and give the iPhone another poke in its already black eye.

Android and Rim couldn't pay to get this much free promotion.

 

[gnasher729]

I'd be more impressed if Apple owned up to the issue. They gave out a fix, why not admit this is an Apple problem instead of denying, deflecting and spinning ?

A simple "big oops on our part" instead these dumb videos would go a long way.

Scott Adams thinks differently. See

http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/high_ground_maneuver/

It is _not_ an Apple problem. It is a problem for every single manufacturer in the industry. So it would be rather idiotic for Apple to say "sorry, it is our problem" when it is everyone's problem.

You can also look at the blog of a professional antenna designer at http://www.antennasys.com/antennasys-blog/2010/7/14/iphone-4-meets-the-gripofdeathinator.html . Interesting little fact that the "Vulcan Death Pinch" actually improves reception on the iPhone 4 (check it out), unfortunately that is not how people hold _any_ phone But seriously, he found that while worst case the iPhone 4 suffered more than the iPhone 3GS, it still produced better results under _all_ conditions. That's what Anandtech found as well, that the iPhone 4 can receive calls at 8 dBM less signal strength than any other phone.

 

[rsocal]

Who's angry ? If I was angry, I'd be dumping all my Apple products. I'm just unsatisfied with their PR effort and thus not going to get an iPhone 4. Again, I don't see why you are so hellbent on trying to get me to change my mind.

Get over yourself, once again I don’t care what phone you get!!!
It’s you that is “Hellbent” in convincing people i4 is no good and you don’t even own one!!! Just shooting your mouth off about something you know nothing about!!!

 

[KnightWRX]

It is _not_ an Apple problem. It is a problem for every single manufacturer in the industry. So it would be rather idiotic for Apple to say "sorry, it is our problem" when it is everyone's problem. .

Please, show us the other phone that suffers from signal loss when touched by the tip of a single finger on 1 spot only. Until then, it's an Apple issue. Other manufacturers have gone to dual antenna setups that require more digits and surface area coverage before they will shed signal in a much less pronounced way.

And btw, your article points out how the Apple spin managed to deflect the issue by Apple issuing a denial ... Not exactly what I call a glaring positive review.

Get over yourself, once again I don’t care what phone you get!!!
It’s you that is “Hellbent” in convincing people i4 is no good and you don’t even own one!!! Just shooting your mouth off about something you know nothing about!!!

I'm not hellbent on convincing anybody, just dispelling myths about this issue and preventing Apple's deflecting and spinning from spiraling out of control.