Recently in iPhone Category

I'm posting this here for my own convenience. Issued by Apple PR a short time ago:

Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4

CUPERTINO, Calif., July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple's history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T's recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone's bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula.

Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Apple

The buzz around this Saturday's release of the iPad is growing exponentially, as the first previews and reviews begin to appear. I've sampled some of the best material, and gathered it together here for easy consumption.

ABC News has the distinction of being the first to have a video hands-on preview, shown Wednesday evening on World News with Diane Sawyer.

Alas, if you're viewing this on an iPhone (or iPad, you lucky dog!) it's in Flash.

At my full-time job at ABC 7 Chicago, there was a live report on our 11 am news as well.

A couple of cool things from the WN piece: We saw a Scrabble game. I imagine you'll now be able to play Scrabble online with a nice sized screen, on the same device you'll use to read the paper or your favorite magazine. They also showed a music app from the developer of the popular Ocarina that leads me to believe the iPad will be a viable musical instrument. The lack of multi-tasking on the iPad hurts here, as you won't be able to record instruments from different apps together; you'll have to record them to a music recording application like GarageBand on your computer.

One of my favorite columnists, Andy Inhatko of the Chicago Sun-Times, has deep thoughts about why this tablet will succeed where others have hardly made a blip.

"The iPad user experience is instantly compelling and elegant. It’s not every computer and every function. It’s a computer that’s designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction above all other considerations."

The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg has published his mostly glowing review of the iPad. He found reading text very comfortable. He looked at his paper's own iPad app, and in comparison with the Web or iPhone versions of the Wall Street Journal, "the iPad version blends much more of the look and feel of the print paper into the electronic environment. " Many more observations, Mossberg's review is a good read. There's a video clip, but it's just Mossberg talking on camera. No iPad demo other than a clip from Apple's own video news release.

David Pogue of the New York Times cleverly wrote two reviews of the iPad; the second one is the real gold.

"the iPad is not a laptop. It’s not nearly as good for creating stuff.
On the other hand, it’s infinitely more convenient for consuming it —
books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people,
manipulating these ...digital materials directly by touching them is a
completely new experience — and a deeply satisfying one."

Shivers

USAToday's Ed Baig has a very thorough and positive review. Annoyingly embedded in the page, USAToday's Jefferson Graham has a video preview. Or you can watch it here.

PCMag.com calls it a winner, and goes on in very geeky detail. Its a good read if you're into that sort of thing, and I am.

Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin has an interesting article that focuses partly on how the right app can make an old scientific document like the the rather dry but vitally important Periodic Table of Elements come alive. Some more screen shots from this iPad app can be seen here.

If you're the same kind of Apple geek that I am, you now have sufficient information to fill your daydreams until Saturday, or until your 3G version arrives in a few weeks. Me, I plan to go have actual dreams about it in my sleep.

Apple plans to have a suprise on store when the iPad goes on sale this Saturday. There's a reason so few developers have advance iPads, and why even the few Apple employees that have them carry them in locked cases.

They have front-facing cameras and will enable live video chats where ever you can get a wi-fi signal.

And when the 3G version ships in a few weeks, we'll find that video chats are possible on AT&T's network as well.

The handful of critics that received iPads in advance will discover the video chat service at 9 am EDT Saturday, the same time Apple issues its press release in classic Steve Jobs "one more thing" style. The cameras are already in those critic's iPads, but the software includes code that disables them until magic time.

If you hadn't noticed, by the way, today is the first day of a new month, a particular day of note among those who like to fool people. This story is false. There is no camera. I hope I fooled you.

Or did I? What if it comes true?

Follow this link for some exciting news from ABC News. This iPhone app will also display video from my fine employers at ABC 7 Chicago!

This was emailed to me by Apple:

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I've decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause -- a hormone imbalance that has been "robbing" me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment. But, just like I didn't lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I've said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

UPDATE: Apple's Board of Directors released this statement:

CUPERTINO, Calif., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- It is widely recognized both inside and outside of Apple that Steve Jobs is one of the most talented and effective CEOs in the world.

As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple's CEO, you will know it.

Apple is very lucky to have Steve as its leader and CEO, and he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board.

It was bound to happen. The writing's been on the wall for a long time. Apple announced today that its appearance at next month's Macworld Expo in San Francisco will be the company's last at that forum. Not only that, but according to CNET, Steve Jobs won't be delivering the keynote.

There once was a time when the San Francisco Macworld Expo was the center focus of the Mac community. But so much has changed. Apple now has hundreds of stores around the world, especially in the United States. People all over can touch the products, and talk to knowledgeable sales people. As Apple points out in its press release, its been pulling back from other trade shows, such as the National Association of Broadcasters show. Macintosh is no longer the only focus of Apple, and many of the most ardent Mac faithful came to resent the role the iPod and the iPhone have come to play at the expo.

Other companies have disappeared. I don't think Adobe was at the last Macworld Expo I went to. Oh yes, there's that too. The last couple of years, I haven't felt the same passion I used to, to fly to San Francisco and immerse myself in all things Mac. There's enough immersion elsewhere. Every day, I can read a half a dozen great sites covering all things Apple in minuscule detail. Although I wasn't present for the last couple of keynotes, there was nothing too surprising in them.

I suspect this will be the end of the Macworld Expo altogether. Not so long ago, there were two Macworlds; the other in Boston, then New York for a few years, then back to Boston. Apple pulled out, and after that, the Boston expo was abandoned.

One other bad thing about this, Steve Jobs' failure to participate is bound to stir up a whole new batch of rumors about his health. I expect Apple's stock price (which closed at 95.43 today) will be a bit rocky tomorrow.

Its too bad. Because Apple's decision to leave Macworld makes nothing but sense.

I saw Jerry Taft tweeting about vlingo, so I thought I'd check it out. Vlingo, available for the iPhone and Blackberry, is described on the company's website as:

a voice-powered user interface that unlocks access to mobile phone wireless data services.

Basically, vlingo is supposed to allow you to use spoken commands for a limited variety of services on your smart device. It's a great idea, but its far from perfect and has a lot of room for improvement.

I played with it for a while on my iPhone 3G. The interface is clean and attractive. In the middle of the screen, various examples of commands are shown. Below that, is a smaller button that leads to more detailed instructions. Below that, a very large button that you use in a push-to-talk manner. And an icon bar at the bottom allows you to select different types of searches.

One example of a search vlingo can attempt is a google search. Hold the button, and say "Google vlingo." It really only works with Google and Yahoo! I tried using it with Wikipedia, and it simply did the search on Google.

The real trouble is, it doesn't understand much. I've developed a newfound interest in fountain pens. But when I said "Wikipedia fountain pens," vlingo thought I said "wiki pedia elgin cams." Elgin is a town near my home of Chicago, so I give it credit for proximity! A second attempt got "wiki pedia function test," which sounds closer. A third try got to fountain pens.

The application did better with phone requests, usually successfully finding my contacts. But if I only specified a first name, the program only presents me with the first match. It would be nice if it would be able to see which contacts are on my iPhone's favorites list, and check that first.

Lastly, I tried posting a tweet to my twitter account. Twitter starts posts with my name, so to finish the sentence, I said "hates to admit it, but his Macintosh is not feeling well." Vlingo rendered it as "hate to admit it but his mcintosh is not feeling well" . So no punctuation, a dropped S on the first word, and even though this is a geeky tool, it doesn't go to the proper noun Macintosh. So I had to edit the post. It would have been easier to type the tweet in the first place.

The app is free, so if you feel like playing around with primitive voice recognition on your iPhone, the price is right. But don't expect this to become a regular part of your iPhone toolkit.

iPhone Atlas is now covering the issue I had, calling it the White Apple Logo Screen of Death!

So is Mac|Life.

Let me say at the outset: I love my iPhone. The App Store and its contents are amazing.

But I have had my problems.

Many have experienced various application crashes. They don't really surprise me. Its only been a little over two weeks since the App Store opened, and between this being a new version of the iPhone's OS, combined with the foibles of multiple developers, I think some recoverable crashes are to be expected. The situation should improve as both the OS and the apps become more stable.

But last week, I experienced an apparently unrecoverable crash. Some application, I don't remember which, froze the iPhone. Holding down the lock and home buttons caused a restart, but that restart stalled on the Apple logo. Forever. Or at least the minute or two I gave it to recover.

I tried again. Same result. After about 2 minutes, the iPhone vibrated twice, but the Apple logo never disappeared. I plugged in a cable to keep the battery going, and let it stew for about 3 hours.

I attempted to get the iPhone into Restore mode, but it was no dice. It was then that I called Apple Care.

I believe I was talking to a non-US support center, as the CSR I spoke with had an accent. But she went through the usual support stuff, having me try things I had already tried. She also had me remove the SIM card and blow into the slot. Nothing helped.

The CSR offered to make an appointment for me at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue here in Chicago; but could offer nothing earlier than 7pm. Unfortunately, my job requires that I be at work at 4am, so 7pm isn't practical. The CSR transferred me to a local human at that store, Peter. When I explained my situation to him, he offered to help facilitate getting me on the standby list, to try to get me seen in a reasonable amount of time.

I arrived at the store at 12:30 the next afternoon, after work. Peter was working the front door, and took me right up to the iPod Bar, where I was seen by Mark in about 20 minutes. We spent the next three hours together. Mark seems to be one of the smartest people in the store. Many other store workers came in him with questions, and Mark tried to help 3 people at a time with their varied iPod and iPhone problems.

First, Mark managed to get a Restore going, using a slightly different technique involving holding down the home and lock buttons for a longer period of time. The phone appeared to restore as a new phone. But when turned on, Safari was nowhere to be seen. Mark declared the phone dead, and set up a second phone.

The second phone was activated, but kept alternating between 3G and "No Service." So Mark tried a third phone.

Even before opening the shrink wrap; Mark scanned the box, and his computer reported that the SIM card was already registered! So Mark when for a fourth phone.

This one, too, scanned as already registered. So Mark broke out a new SIM card. Finally, the phone set up, it saw the 3G network good and strong, and I left the store with a new iPhone.

I took it home and synced it as a new phone, with my additional 20 or so Apps, and music, movies and photos. All was well until the next night, when I was rearranging the layout of the Apps. I moved most of them, but when pressed the home button to lock them in place, the phone froze up.

I restarted the phone... and the Apple logo returned forever.

If this were a ghost story, I'd stop there. But I now knew the alternate method of getting the phone into Restore mode; and I managed to restore it myself.

It's now 4 days since that latest restore. I have not rearranged my Apps, but all is currently working well.

I do wonder if moving too many of the Apps without saving taxes the phone's memory. I'll try rearranging again, but I think I may move only 3 or 4 apps at a time.

Just a quick note on software for those using the Treo 700p with a Mac.

I've now spent a couple of weeks with my Sprint Treo 700p, and am largely in love with this amazing phone. I've had some technical challenges, and some frustration with the hold time at Sprint techical support, but otherwise, I'm a happy camper.

I've never been entirely happy with any cell phone I've owned. I'm particularly unhappy with my current service, which originates from an AT&T Wireless account. AT&T Wireless has since become a part of Cingular.

But with any luck, next week I'll move to Sprint and a Treo 700p.