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iPhone 4 Video Shot in the Park

by thomasfitzgerald on 18. Aug, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

Marley Park on iPhone from Thomas Fitzgerald on Vimeo.

A Trip Around Marley Park shot with the iPhone 4. This was more of an experiment to see what the quality was like, and it’s pretty good, for the most part.

The only problem I have with it is the lack of a stabiliser, which is pretty apparent. Considering all the motion sensors in the iPhone, I don’t see why they couldn’t implement it in software if they wanted. Still, for just quick shooting without any planning, I think it came out quite well considering. What do you think?

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Are Smartphone Market Share Numbers an Accurate Representation of the Market?

by thomasfitzgerald on 02. Aug, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

With the recent publication of the latest round of smartphone market share data, pundits will be undoubtedly jumping on the statistics that show Android having overtaken the both the iPhone and Blackberry in the US. While the numbers will be good news for those rooting for Android to destroy the iPhone, I have to wonder if the numbers are a good representation of the actual state of the market. Before you write this off as rampant fanboyism or an attempt to defend Apple at all cost, bear with me.

I have no doubt that the numbers are correct but I have two issues with the context in which they are framed. First of all they are pitting an entire group of manufacturers and brands against two individual companies. Rather than compare the sales of phones from individual manufacturers the people delivering these figures are grouping all Android phones and manufacturers under a single umbrella. They are comparing the sales of dozens of companies to the sale of one (or two). However, even though I don’t think this is a fair representation of the market, I can see why you would do this. It is after all a comparison of operating systems. But then, if you’re comparing platforms based on operating systems, why leave out a huge chunk of one OS, in other words iOS devices other than the iPhone?

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iPhone Antenna Issues outside The US? Not So Much.

by thomasfitzgerald on 30. Jul, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

There are two different reports in the news today about iPhone 4 reception in real world tests on networks in countries outside the US. Both note that there are no real issues with the Phone.

From Australia:

Is the antenna an issue? No it’s not. Have I dropped calls? No, I have not.

Have I noticed an impact on the device’s performance? No.

Now it would be impossible for me to test every single mobile reception area in Australia just as it would be unlikely any iPhone 4 user will use the device in every mobile reception area in Australia.

Here’s another report from Norway (translated by AppleInsider)

Amobil writer Finn Jarle Kvalheim added, ‘Consumer Reports goes far in asserting that the problems do not have anything to with the mobile network. But it is a fact that mobile networks in Norway are much more robust than AT&T’s network in the US.’

Olsen, who helped translate the story for AppleInsider, adds “I have myself tested the iPhone 4 and tried to replicate the signal loss close to one of Norway’s major towns without being able to get even one less bar.”

I’ll test in Ireland when I get mine, but I think this just reinforces the fact that this issue was blown out of all proportion. Remember, Consumer Reports couldn’t replicate this in the field either. Then again, some reliable people did have major issues, so it could be a frequency issue, as europe (I’m not sure about Australia) uses a different GSM frequency as the US. It’s interesting though.

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If Phones Were Cars

by thomasfitzgerald on 13. Jul, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

Here’s an imaginary situation to ponder:

Imagine that some car company, let’s say Ford announces a new car. It’s a newly designed low cost sports car for the general public. It has numerous innovative designs but Ford is keen to publicise the new low profile tyre and wheel design designed to improve fuel efficiency. The car receives a generally good reception from the industry and before its release, Ford sends review models to the major Car magazines and Newspapers. The car gets a glowing report and reviewers consider it one of the best cars they’ve ever driven.

When the car goes on general release however a popular car enthusiast blog, lets for the sake of argument call them Carzomo, receives a you tube video from a reader showing that if you drive over nails the tyre bursts. Upon seeing this, other readers of the blog who have also just bought the car decide to try it for themselves, and sure enough, if you drive the car over some nails the tyres burst. Carzomo declares that this is a design flaw with the new sports car’s low profile tyre design and the story is quickly picked up by other blogs and media outlets. A newspaper contacts Ford for a comment and they respond that all cars run the risk of having their tyres burst if you drive over nails, and that customers should avoid driving over nails.

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Are So Many People Experiencing the iPhone Antenna Issue Because They’re Trying to Experience it ?

by thomasfitzgerald on 27. Jun, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

I know I’m going to get flamed for being a “fanboy” over this but anyway, here it goes. I was browsing through some of the videos of the alleged iPhone 4 “design flaw” last night and I noticed something very interesting. Before I get to that though, lets back up for a second. Before Gizmodo made this issue public all of the reviews of the phone noticed a marked improvement in call quality and reception. Then suddenly after Gizmodo posted the story, the notion of a deeply flawed antenna design it spread like wildfire. Lots of reports came in from people who were able to reproduce the problem, and quickly there were lots of videos on You Tube, which people were then using as evidence of this being a widespread design flaw. To be honest I have a hard time believing that Apple never tested the phone without a case on. Anyway, it occurred to me to check my own phone, a 3g which I did and I too was able to reproduce the exact same signal drop on my phone. Here’s the thing though, I was trying to. I was gripping the phone tightly in my hand. When I hold the phone normally like I’ve always done the reception drop is just not an issue.

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Not a Design Flaw: The Infamous Death Grip on my 3G

by thomasfitzgerald on 26. Jun, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

Here’s my two year old iPhone 3g showing the exact same reception drop as the iPhone 4. Hold it the same way people are holding the iPhone 4 and you get the exact same drop in reception. And, just like people are reporting, having slightly damp palms makes the issue worse, and putting it in a case alleviates it. I’ve had this phone for over 2 years and I’ve never noticed any problems with reception in daily use. It was only when people started posting about the iPhone 4′s problems that I decided to try it. Clearly then the iPhone 4 does not have a major design flaw, as much as Gizmodo would like everyone to think, as previous generation phones exhibit the EXACT SAME PROBLEM (as does the Nexus one and undoubtedly lots of others). Perhaps if “journalists” did a better job of doing a bit of research before jumping to conclusions we could have avoided some of the calamitous headlines over the past few days.

One caveat though. I couldn’t get my fiance’s 3g to do the same thing. She’s still running iOs 3.x so it’s possible it is a software issue. I didn’t try for very long though and I was in an area of good reception at the time.

p.s. Apologies for the shoddy camera work. I was trying to hand hold my 5D in one hand and do this in the other.

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Hang On a Second

by thomasfitzgerald on 16. Jun, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

There’s something fishy about this story on Gizmodo. They’re saying that …

” readers claim that AT&T is exposing credit cards and shipping information during iPhone 4 pre-orders. Wrong shipping information is even being used by AT&T and Apple’s websites to send units to the wrong people.”

Now I’ve no reason to doubt that AT&T could screw up like this. After all it’s AT&T. The weird thing is this only seems to be happening to Gizmodo readers. They’re even claiming an exclusive on this “iPhone 4 Disaster” story. So you’re telling me that of all the sites on the internet the only one to receive emails from customers is Gizmodo? Other sites are reporting on this story (ie quoting Gizmodo) but no one else seems to have received any emails from readers suffering this issue. Like I said, fishy.

(please feel free to add links in the comments if I’m wrong about this)

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I want choice, but only if I agree with your choice

by thomasfitzgerald on 19. May, 2010 in Apple, iPad, iPhone

Ted Landau complaining about Steve Jobs’s responses to Ryan Tate, taking issue with Jobs comment that “There are almost 200,000 apps in the App Store, so something must be going alright.”

“More to the point, suppose there was a car that offered excellent reliability and 100 MPG. With these admirable characteristics, the car becomes very popular, deservedly so. But suppose people complained that the car had practically no trunk space or that visibility from the rear view mirror was very poor. What if the company’s only response to such complaints was: ‘Our car is the number seller in its class. We must be doing something right.’ Would you consider this an appropriate and sufficient response? I hope not.”

I’m sorry, but that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. If the car had the problems he’s saying it had (poor visibility and no trunk space) it would never have become so very popular as he describes. On the one hand he’s arguing that the App store should be free and open and follow the market principles of letting the customer decide, then he presents an argument against judging a product on its success in the market. You can’t have it both ways.

I think Ted’s problem, like that of many analysts/bloggers/journalists/geeks etc on the issue is that they’re confusing fundamental flaws with not liking something. People like Ted don’t like the closed nature of the App store, but that doesn’t mean it’s fundamentally flawed, or a lack of choice. If it was fundamentally flawed it wouldn’t be a success because people would have chosen to buy something else. That success been determined by the market you so desperately want to preserve the freedom of.

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