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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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?

My second issue though is a bigger one? What constitutes a smartphone? Obviously there is certain criteria such as the ability to run apps or the ability to send email etc, however the distinction seems to be pretty arbitrary. The thing is though, many of the cheaper Android phones are not really being bought as smart phones. They’re being bought as just phones. The fact that they happen to run Android is beside the point. Many of these sell for €20 and €30 so they’re being picked up by people who would never normally buy a smartphone and would more than likely never use all the features. You can argue that this is a crazy theory, but it seems to be bore out by the evidence of usage statistics .

Now I know some people will say that I’m just saying this to stand up for the evil corporation that is Apple (bad fanboy, bad) but I think those who are going by these numbers as the be all and end all measure of performance in the marketplace, are being blinded to the reality on the ground. I have no doubt that Android has been a great success, at least in terms of gaining market share for google, but there’s dozens of manufactures using the free os on dozens of different devices aimed at different segments of the market. So who is really successful and in what context? Using these numbers to show Apple faltering, as certain bloggers undoubtedly will, is misleading at best and disingenuous at worst. Especially as Apples sales numbers continue to be stellar. This isn’t really just about Apple though. How can you compare devices selling in the low twenties and thirties against devices selling in the hundreds? They’re aimed at completely different segments of the market. And, getting back to Apple, comparing the cheap android phones that sell for €30 against an iPhone that might sell for €300 (average plan here in Ireland) is a completely loaded argument. It doesn’t serve anyone except tech pundits and blogs who like to post sensational stories.

So what measure is there of success for smartphone manufacturers? Surely who makes the most money should be important? But then where does that leave Android? Google makes no money directly from android, so what about individual manufacturers. Who is successful there? HTC and Motorola undoubtedly are right now, but to what extent and for how long? Why not use that data? I know it’s out there but it receives very little attention compared to the market share numbers. That picture isn’t so rosy for the pundits though, and will get less so going forward. As more and more manufacturers that adopt Android the more fragmented the market will become and the lower and lower the margins will be. Manufacturers will try and compete with each other with little to distinguish one phone from the other as Google clamps down on manufacturers customising the look of the os. Pundits like to tout the Android numbers as evidence that Apple is making the same mistake as it did with the Mac in letting windows dominate, but the reality is that it shows phone manufacturers are making the same mistakes PC manufacturers did with Windows. By all jumping on the Android train, they might make some headlines for a few years, but the more the market place floods with Android phones, the more manufacturers there will be competing with little to differentiate their products other than price. It will end up with cell phone makers in the same situation as PC makers are with Windows, with low margins and little profits. Android may be a huge success but in the long term nobody will be that successful from Android.

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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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The analyst points out that Android phones are already trumping the iPhone on a daily sales basis, moving about 160,000 units versus the iPhone’s 95,000. Around 120,000 of RIM’s BlackBerries are being sold each day.

there’s something about these numbers that don’t add up. Google’s been trumping that number (160,000 per day) for some time now and yet they haven’t overtaken Apple or RIM in terms of sales for the last two quarters, and if these numbers are accurate they should have by now, and yet market share numbers don’t put them any where near Apple yet. So what gives?

Could it be that the 160,000 number is “Activations” and not sales. I don’t know how it works on Android, butI’ve activated my iPhone at least 5 times since I bought it. Something is clearly not right here as those figures just don’t add up.

(Read Android seen as long-term threat to iPhone | Electronista.)

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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.

Across the web blogs explode with the story that Ford has admitted that their new car has a design flaw where the car’s tyres can burst if you drive over nails. Various experts chime in to explain how the low profile tyre design with its inflated rubber tyres will in fact rupture when pierced with a sharp object. Ford customer service reportedly tells a customer who burst their tyre after driving over a nail that they should try to avoid driving over nails or else if they really need to drive over sharp objects then they should consider carrying a spare tyre. Carzomo posts this story and expresses outrage that Ford are telling people they should carry a spare tyre in case this issue happens to them.

Meanwhile several other bloggers report that if they drive over nails in their older Fords or even their Hondas their tyres also burst. Numerous blogs dismiss these reports as the rantings of Ford fanboys. At the same time the highly influential “Popular Car Magazine” reviews the new ford and finds that out on the road, despite driving for several hundred miles they didn’t once have a burst tyre. They rate the car highly. Other magazines also report that while driving out on the road they could not manage to burst their tyres, however by sprinkling their driveways with nails and driving over them they were able to replicate the issue. Ford continue to insist that all cars can suffer burst tyres if their drivers deliberately drive over nails and suggest avoiding that action.

Popular Car Magazine decides to re-test the new Ford due to the controversy surrounding the tyre bursting issue. Despite not being able to burst the tyres out on the road, they set up a controlled environment where they covered their test track in various types of nails and drove the car over it, finding out that the car does in fact loose tyre inflation when driven over sharp objects. They still give the car the highest rating for a vehicle in its class but advise customers not to buy it because the tyres can deflate when driven over sharp objects. This shock retraction leads to widespread calls for the car to be recalled.

The car continues to sell extremely well, and executives from Ford remain silent, baffled as to how to possibly respond to the situation.

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“While the support thread is getting longer, and the whining louder, the evidence is still firmly anecdotal.”

Fast forward to the iPhone 4 launch. Before the phone officially went on sale numerous publications received review units and published reviews. Almost all praised the Phone’s improved reception performance. Of course Gizmodo were noticeably absent from the list of those getting iPhones to review, after their little public spat with Apple. On the off chance you haven’t heard about it, Gizmodo acquired an iPhone 4 Prototype that was allegedly found in a bar. The site went on to publish details of the iPhone prototype including taking it apart. This “scoop” turned sour when the law became involved, and Jason Chen’s computers were seized by the police. Gizmodo execs expressed their outrage and put the blame firmly on Apple. As it turned out the case wasn’t as cut and dry as everyone had expected. It seems the person who had “found” the phone was something of a shady character and his own roommate had turned him in to the police. Most damning of all though was the letter from Gawker’s Nick denton to Steve Jobs attempting to use the iPhone Prototype as leverage to get better media access from Apple. Suffice to say, there’s some bad blood between Gizmodo, Gawker and Apple. I think it’s important to remember that because what happened next is pretty remarkable.

When the iPhone 4 went on sale Gizmodo found a you tube video on the MacRumors forums from a reader that showed the now infamous “death grip”. Once they published the video showing how to reduce the signal by holding it others started to try and re-create the problem and quickly they received lots of more you tube videos. Gizmodo and their parent company Gawker quickly realised they were on to a gold mine and began hammering this home has a “design flaw”. Despite tons of data on the nexus one’s reception problems, they only considered it “anecdotal evidence” and yet some you tube videos from random readers who’d been given instructions on how to replicate the issue were enough to damn the phone has being seriously flawed. But it didn’t stop there. After every blog and organisation seized on the Gizmodo story because of it’s sensational nature they continued to push hard. Apple issued a brief statement claiming that all phones showed some attenuation when being held. Gizmodo leapt on this comment and claimed that Apple had “admitted” the iPhone had reception issues.

For days they published story after story dredging up any possible negative comment or opinion they could find about the iPhone. They cited numerous experts who claimed to back up their assertion that the iPhone’s antenna was fundamentally flawed, while conveniently not mentioning the experts who disagreed. In the end even their readers got sick of it and one story is full of comments saying essentially, enough already. By that time though the damage was done. In fairness, lots of other sites jumped on this story with gusto, but in my opinion, none did as vigorously and as unceasingly as Gizmodo. Thanks to their tireless work, which was then built upon by others, the iPhone 4 will forever be associated with the term “Death Grip”. Even though if you read the reports of the reception issues with the Nexus one they seem equally as serious, no one really paid them that much attention or put them under the same level of scrutiny as the iPhone 4 received.

Does the iPhone 4 have a widespread, real world reception problem? Who Knows? For every expert that says it does another comes along to dispute their findings. At this stage it doesn’t really matter. Every story about the “death grip” is filled with comments from people who don’t have or can’t replicate the problem. Perception is reality. The icing on the cake is the much reported article from consumer reports about the iPhone’s reception issue. They were originally unable to replicate the problem in real world testing but, thanks to the endless round of blog posts on the issue, they went back and tested it in a Lab and were able to create the problem under laboratory conditions. That should say it all really, but this has sparked a new round of commentary with calls for a recall and it’s even had an effect on Apple’s stock price. Yet despite this Consumer Reports still rates the iPhone4 as their highest rated smart phone. As I’ve already pointed out, there is plenty of evidence of reception problems with other smart phones, and people (myself included) have replicated the “death grip” on other phones too, yet none were put under the level of public scrutiny as the iPhone 4. No one demanded a recall of the nexus one, yet the level of complaints from actual customers was probably about equal or higher per customer given the difference in quantity on the market.

At the end of the day it looks like Gizmodo and Gawker got the last laugh on Apple. Of course I’m not saying that they intentionally set out to destroy the iPhone’s reputation. After all, bloggers are journalists (apparently) and no journalist would ever do such an unprofessional thing. There were of course lots of other players involved. The media jumping on anything negative about Apple with glee without any kind of balance or context comes to mind. I’m sure for Gizmodo this is just a happy bonus.

But what do I know, this is all just my opinion on the matter.

(Of course, the iPhone prototype case has still to go to court, so the last laugh is yet to be had)

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“Apple appears to be panicking in its reaction to the widely-reported antenna issue plaguing most iPhone 4s — in its latest maneuver to attempt to ‘unthink’ the problem, company moderators appeared to delete threads which referred to yesterday’s Consumer Reports findings — only to change their mind and open these discussions again a few hours later.”

Oh dear. Where to start. Here’s another one of those things that is blown out of all proportion, but of course, it’s such a loaded topic that daring to point this out labels you an instant fanboy, or even worse, an apologist. But what the hell, I’ve been labelled worse. You see, here’s the thing about the Apple support forums. They’re for support. In other words, for solving technical problems. Apple has been pretty clear about this on many many occasions and they regularly remove threads that are not about support issues, or are irrelevant to the thread they are posted in, but instead are discussing some blog post. It’s not because they are trying to cover up some issue, it’s because it is someone’s job and they don’t want to loose it. If you actually read some of them they’re not so explosive that they would have been worth covering up in the first place. Like I said, Apple does this on a regular basis. I suspect the forum moderators did this without thinking. It wasn’t a directive from Jobs or anyone else, it was the guys in some basement somewhere doing what they’re paid to do.

So why were they put back? Again, no great conspiracy I’m afraid. I suspect it was as simple as this: someone higher up saw all the negative press and didn’t want to appear as if things were being covered up, given the explosive nature of the issue, and ordered the forum moderators to reinstate the threads. All very simple. All in a days work. But “panicking”? Really? It was actually a responsible thing to do that they didn’t really need to, but again, these days Apple can’t do anything responsible without someone interpreting ti as the devils work so, I guess it’s a case of dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.

Look, I know so many people out there want to see Apple as the illegitimate spawn of Satan, but seriously, not everything that happens at a company is because of some giant conspiracy of evil. Not everything that happens at Apple is a knee jerk reaction to what happens on blogs. Sometimes the day to day routines of people doing their jobs can explain things. It might not be as sexy as the notion of company execs running around with their hair on fire, but more often than not the simple explanations are usually the right ones.

Oh, and in fairness to 9-5 mac, lots of other blogs are exploding over this one too, including of course, the usual suspects.

(Via 9-5 MAc.)

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[Update] It didn’t work, but at least it didn’t break anything.

[Update2] Trying it again with a different plug-in. Hopefully this will work a bit better

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For many people, their mobile phone—and access to the Internet—is always within reach. App Inventor for Android gives everyone, regardless of programming experience, the opportunity to control and reshape their communication experience. We’ve observed people take pride in becoming creators of mobile technology and not just consumers of it.

Or in other words, in a couple of weeks after we release this we can claim that we have more developers and Apps on Android that Apple does on iOs. Even if they are all just glorified widgets. I think John Gruber puts it best:

“So has Google beaten Apple in the race for a HyperCard for mobile, or is this something less?”

(Read Official Google Blog: App Inventor for Android.)

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So back to You Tube. I was looking at the videos of people showing the reception issues with the iPhone 4 and I noticed that they were holding it the way I held my 3g. Gripping it tightly so that you shoved the phone into your palm. It’s a completely unnatural way to hold it because you’re deliberately trying to cover the antenna. You can tell people are holding it unnaturally because the left side of the phone is buried in the palm and the bottom part of their hand where the thumb meets the palm is edging over the screen. Here’s a few examples….

That’s just a few. Of the dozens of videos of people trying to reproduce the effect virtually all are holding it like this, with the phone buried in their palm so much that the bottom of their hand is almost or is covering the screen. “Death Grip” is an appropriate name because that’s how tightly people are holding it to reproduce the effect. Perhaps that’s why Steve Jobs said “don’t hold it like that”. In fairness I did come across one video where the guy was holding it normally and had the issue, which was, funnily enough the original video that started all this. (I’m sure there are others before you say I just wasn’t trying hard enough)

Thea’t not the only thing. Look at some of the articles about this. They’re practically giving you instructions on how to reproduce this. I read one site telling people to wet their palms to reproduce it. Another said they were “easily able to reproduce the effect by “cupping the bottom left side of the phone”. Because “cupping the phone” is how you’d normally use it.

Yet in normal use, i.e. not the “death grip” the majority of people noticed that the reception is vastly improved. Talk Show host Jimmy Fallon, who is a staunch critic of the previous generation iPhone’s reception, noted a marked improvement. Engadget noticed better reception. Even Gawker big wig Brian Lam, who’s site Gizmodo has been leading the charge to promote this issue has admitted that it get’s better reception.

“Even Brian Lam, Gizmodo’s editorial director, saw an upside to the iPhone 4, antenna problems and all. “We are paying attention to the antenna issue because it could be a big deal,” he said.

But Mr. Lam said that for years, he had not been able to use older iPhones to make calls from his home. That changed on Thursday, after he bought an iPhone 4. “I have made three hours of calls today,” he said.”

But wait, there’s more. Here’s a video of someone reviewing the iPhone at WWDC. Notice they’re holding it in their left hand normally, but not with the death grip.

Notice the bars while he was using the phone. No massive signal degradation there.

Here’s another one from an average user

Note that the whole time he’s holding the phone in his left hand. At one point the signal does drop a few bars but then it recovers it’s full signal and remains high the whole time he is using it. Again, normal use, no “Death Grip”.

Are people having issues with reception? Clearly some people are. I’m not trying to say they aren’t. But I suspect that many of those who have reproduced the “death grip” aren’t having issues in normal use. I think the reason this has spread so far is because people were shown how to do it and now everyone is trying it. As I’ve already pointed out though, you can get other phones to do the same trick if you try hard enough. I don’t have an iPhone 4 to test myself as they’re not on release here in Ireland yet, but I’ve talked to a few people who have and they all say the same thing. That they haven’t noticed this as a big issue unless you try to do it. I think this is a massive case of the tail wagging the dog. I could be wrong, hell I probably am, but sometimes the most obvious solutions to a problem are the ones staring you in the face.

(Ok, before you go flame me, just note that I’m just expressing an opinion. I’ve done my best to show my reasoning, so If you think I’m wrong or you have the problem and it is in normal use – and it’s not something you had with an older phone – then please let me know in the comments below. Just try and be civil)

[UPDATE] I’ve heard from some more people who do have the problem by barely holding the phone. What’s more is that I’ve discovered that in certain instances It happens to my 3g by just lightly holding it too, even in its case. However, I’m unable to reproduce the problem on a device running 3.x and one of the people who contacted me said the same, so it’s quite possible that this is a software issue in 4.0

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