Apple's iphone hardware team - What have they been doing for 16 months?

[AIP5]

I saw that in the news and almost threw up

Seriously? I mean I know the iPhone is a great invention but to be worth more than oil companies like Exxon Mobile that are the backbone of our industrialized civilization? Wow...

I think that time has actually gone past, my friend. The world is no longer stuck in the Industrial Era. We are now (especially the Western countries and some Eastern countries like India) in a (financial) services orientated world. A very substantial amount of American GDP comes from the services sector, with the financial sector (Wall St., London, etc.) having a huge impact on world economies.

So in this financial services oriented economy, why wouldn't a company that makes an OS, computers, mobile gadgets like iPads, among other stuff be the most valuable company? It's very representative of what's been going on for the last 2 to 3 decades: the conversion of an economy based on oil and manufacturing to a services economy based on computers and $$.

Besides, with oil going to be scarcer and scarcer, and the renewed push for "green" technology, Exxon will lose some market cap value... just from a business standpoint. That really should be expected in the next few decades anyway...

 

[vitzr]

Apple makes a phone that is a terrible phone. Its awesome at anything else but being a reliable phone.

Finally !

The TRUTH... and I didn't have to say it.

Every time it's brought up, the people that live side by side in "Steve's Reality Distortion Field" go into Denial / Anger / Attack Mode.

The fact is I have five iPhone 4's just in my immediate family, and had I not pre-ordered all of them before Antennagate was revealed, we would have all kept our 3GS models that were better phones than the dreadful external antenna equipped iP4.

That said, I also agree that the iP4, is fantastic at everything else. The problem is I bought it to use as a phone as well and in places where I used to have a good strong signal with the 3GS, the iP4 is unable to make a call.

As a result I am passing on the iPhone 5, since I have now lost trust in Apple for the first time in two decades. I was very put off by the ever so egotistical Jobs speaking condescendingly "You're Holding It Wrong"

I have a very nice new Samsung SGS II which is my fifth Android phone. I've assigned it primary status with my iP4 a secondary phone for the other uses in which it _does function_.

Going forward I believe the by iPhone 6, Apple will be back on track. I've followed the A6 processor / hybrid OS rumors very closely and it looks positive. Hopefully they will build a good antenna for that one, and I can use it as a Primary Smartphone, since that would be my preference.

I'm a huge Apple enthusiast, and that's why I'm so disgusted with Antennagate. If I didn't care it would be different. Especially since my other AT&T phones work perfectly in my area. Never a problem in over 10 years with AT&T. Great coverage, great customer service, and terrific pricing as they allow me two upgrades each year. I use them since I have two lines for myself.

iPhone 6... I'm thinking positive and giving Apple the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Stealthipad]

This "team" is busy putting the notification LED on the iP5

 

[ap3604]

Great coverage, great customer service, and terrific pricing as they allow me two upgrades each year. I use them since I have two lines for myself.

How do you get two upgrades each year? Spend $100/mo on both lines and $200/mo total?

 

[vitzr]

How do you get two upgrades each year? Spend $100/mo on both lines and $200/mo total?

I have two family plans, eight lines (two are mine) and I've been a customer for 12 years.

As a big phone enthusiast I've always used two phones. I'm very mobile, travel internationally and enjoy getting new phones quite frequently. Not only from AT&T but I have a contact in Hong Kong that is a distributor for all international models and brands.

I get unlocked unbranded phones well in advance of their arrival here. I also get many that never make it to the USA. AT&T being GSM, gives me a huge advantage since so many phones run on that standard.

I use: http://www.gsmarena.com to find the phones I want, then order them direct from Hong Kong.

 

[ap3604]

I have two family plans, eight lines (two are mine) and I've been a customer for 12 years.

As a big phone enthusiast I've always used two phones. I'm very mobile, travel internationally and enjoy getting new phones quite frequently. Not only from AT&T but I have a contact in Hong Kong that is a distributor for all international models and brands.

I get unlocked unbranded phones well in advance of their arrival here. I also get many that never make it to the USA. AT&T being GSM, gives me a huge advantage since so many phones run on that standard.

I use: http://www.gsmarena.com to find the phones I want, then order them direct from Hong Kong.

Nice

Thanks for the good information vitzr, I'll have to look into that myself.

 

[EddyP]

They spent 8 of those months getting the 4 ready for Verizon.

 

[Tones2]

They are doing what hey always do - developing a brainwashing marketing campaign to make you think the iPhone 4s is much better than it actually is.

Tony

 

[cyks]

They are doing what hey always do - developing a brainwashing marketing campaign to make you think the iPhone 4s is much better than it actually is.

Tony

God I love comments like this one... or the usual "Apple can stamp their icon on crap and people would line up for miles to buy it."

It's obvious that it's just their name and blind followers that sell their products... and has nothing to do with Apple simply making some of the most user friendly and useful gadgets.

 

[kre62]

God I love comments like this one... or the usual "Apple can stamp their icon on crap and people would line up for miles to buy it."

It's obvious that it's just their name and blind followers that sell their products... and has nothing to do with Apple simply making some of the most user friendly and useful gadgets.

+100

No one in reality gives two ***** about the logo, steve jobs, etc. Its just a good phone. Deal with it.

 

[PNutts]

My question, if we are indeed about to be introduced to only a spec bumped iphone "4S", what do you think all these people have been working on for 16 months?

To be fair, Apple did release a CDMA iPhone that can be considered from an engineering perspective a new (or at least separate) phone.

Or maybe this is the start of a new pattern. Perhaps the evolutionary iPhone 4 design was in full swing after the release of the 3G so we got the 3GS. Perhaps the iPhone 5 design is evolutionary and in full swing so we get the 4S. The lead time on a new design could be staggering.

 

[Bawstun]

Working on the redesign that's still coming out in June.

 

[batting1000]

Agreed batting, especially on making sure the A5 chip doesn't overheat (hard to do for a dual core with such little space).

I try to think of this update as evolutionary instead of revolutionary so I don't get dissapointed, but if the iPhone doesn't have a near 4 inch screen I might just go with Nexus Prime...

There was even a report early on saying they supposedly had issues with an overheating A5 chipset.

 

[Tones2]

God I love comments like this one... or the usual "Apple can stamp their icon on crap and people would line up for miles to buy it."

It's obvious that it's just their name and blind followers that sell their products... and has nothing to do with Apple simply making some of the most user friendly and useful gadgets.

I didn't say it wouldn't be a good phone. But it wouldn't be much of a DIFFERENT phone, and certainly not in line with the competition in terms of feature set. But the Apple marketing team will work it's magic to make even iPhone 4 owners want to buy it.

Tony

 

[Reach9]

God I love comments like this one... or the usual "Apple can stamp their icon on crap and people would line up for miles to buy it."

It's obvious that it's just their name and blind followers that sell their products... and has nothing to do with Apple simply making some of the most user friendly and useful gadgets.

I agree to an extent.

But the iPhone 4 would've been a failed product if any other tech company was selling it, the only reason the most negatively received iPhone sold so well, was because it's an iPhone.

 

[hchung]

I agree to an extent.

But the iPhone 4 would've been a failed product if any other tech company was selling it, the only reason the most negatively received iPhone sold so well, was because it's an iPhone.

Only because it's an iPhone? Not really. Sure, the antenna wasn't so great, and the awful scaling for the bars made things seem even worse. But most of the people jumping on the antennagate bandwagon were basing it solely off these two observations and not the whole picture.

The fact is, the performance of the antenna doesn't equal the performance of the whole radio. And if the sensitivity of the receiver is higher, you still end up with better performance than a better antenna and mediocre receiver.

It sold well because it was still a decent phone compared to the other options.
It was negatively received because people all focused on one fault that, while true, falsely implied substancial failure of that subsystem.

Yes, the antenna could have been made better. But given the hardware it was paired with, it's little different in performance compared with other phones.

I'd be more inclined to say, given the other phone problems I've seen, the only reason antennagate was a big of a deal was because it was an iPhone, so people were interested more in the ad revenue from articles.

Afterall, who here heard about the Droid 2's antenna diversity problems? Yeah? Did you know that instead of holding it wrong, the problem didn't even depend on you holding it? It just happens. (btw, antenna diversity refers to the radio's ability to use 2 or more antennas in order to better analyze, filter, and process incoming radio signals, especially when the reception involves a lot of reflections)
Nobody? Well, kinda expected: the Droid 2's not even interesting even amongst the Android fans I know.

 

[ap3604]

the reason antennagate was a big of a deal was because it was an iPhone, so people were interested more in the ad revenue from articles.

Quoted for truth