Update on the iPhone 4 reception situation.

This morning, I went to the Novi Apple Store and spoke to a technician, bypassing AT&T completely (from whom I ordered the phone on launch day).  I explained my problems, how I more or less hated the iPhone 4 and its unreliability made the phone unusable for anything other than novelty.

Karl, my tech, seemed to understand my story completely.  He ran a few diagnostics on my iPhone 4, saw my problem, and quickly offered to swap out my phone for another.  I agreed.  Truthfully, it was the only solution I was willing to accept, as I have tried a ton of other quasi-solutions that are posted all over the web.

Curiously, the phone he gave me was something he called an 'engineering' phone, one he claims has been tested very thoroughly to ensure it's a error-free device.  It came out of a hard-shelled black plastic/composite box, and Karl said each of them ship in two other padded boxes to ensure safe travels.  In his words, it's a 'known-quantity' unit.  If I have problems with this, they'll likely be a result of the AT&T network, software or a drop on the other end of the call, but ostensibly not because of this particular iPhone 4 unit.  These phones, he told me, more or less eliminate hardware issues from a diagnostic equation.  At the very least, they represent a clean hardware slate.

(The new phone also is likely a product of a later manufacturing build; i.e. it's not a day-one launch unit.  Could Apple have been tweaked in manufacturing since pre-launch?  Possible, but who knows?)

I've no idea yet if this phone will wind up being an improvement, but I'll say this: Apple has always taken care of me as a customer.  Would Motorola do the same thing?  Could they?  One might argue that a Motorola Droid X wouldn't be dropping the calls like an iPhone, so support wouldn't be necessary.  Perhaps.  But that's missing the point.  When I've needed support from Apple, I've gotten it.  Every time.

So, we'll see how this goes.  If the problem persists, I'm afraid it'll be time to move away from the iPhone and AT&T.

On any given day, I drop 2-4 calls on my iPhone 4 with AT&T service.  Today, on the way into the office, I dropped 5.  The phone was resting in my car's center console, so I can't even blame the Death Grip/Antennagate fiasco.

I can just say there's something inherently wrong with the iPhone 4 -- at least the very early production units I and a few friends received on launch day.

My mobile phone is my only phone.  It needs to work.  And I have reached my breaking point.  The iPhone 4 is the worst 'phone' I've ever used, and AT&T won't do a thing about it.  'Get a case,' they say, completely ignoring the fact that I don't touch my handset when I'm in the car.  (I use Bluetooth.)  Regardless, they'll do nothing -- not even a clean exchange of my iPhone 4 for another.  Apple just tells me to deal with AT&T, because I ordered it through them.

This past weekend, I spent some quality time at a Verizon dealer with the Droid X.  What shocked me was my immediate impression: for the first time ever, Android has become a true competitor to the iPhone.  This is a watershed moment: all previous Android versions were clunky and slow and felt built with baling wire and duct tape.  Android 2.1, running on the Droid X, was nice.  Very nice.  Not as polished as iOS, and the hardware wasn't up to Jobs/Ive snuff, but it was quite nice unto itself.  Put another way: it wasn't shit as some would have you believe.  And Android 2.2 (Froyo), announced at the 2010 Google I/O, is right around the corner.

I'm very seriously thinking of moving off AT&T/iPhone to Verizon/Droid X.  I'm an ardent Google user anyway -- cue up the lock-in drums and Skynet fears -- and the integration with Gmail, Google Calendar, Gtalk, Maps and other Google-based services is compelling.

I'm looking for real-world stories of those who have made a similar move.  Are you happy with the Android OS?  Do you have a Droid X specifically?

Any and all comments welcome.  Do share.

VentureBeat:

The app in question came from Jackeey Wallpaper, and it was uploaded to the Android Market, where users can download it and use it to decorate their phones that run the Google Android operating system. It includes branded wallpapers from My Little Pony and Star Wars, to name just a couple.

It collects your browsing history, text messages, your phone’s SIM card number, subscriber identification, and even your voicemail password. It sends the data to a web site, www.imnet.us. That site is evidently owned by someone in Shenzhen, China. The app has been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times.

Interesting parallel piece of data: 47% of Android apps access some variety of third-party data, while only 23% of iOS apps do.  I'd see this as correlational, not causal.

Nonetheless, looks like Apple is doing a better job policing its app store, but it's not fair to indict the Android Marketplace for this when 'wallpaper' apps are barely apps at all.

If anything, this is a harbinger of the app explosion mobile platforms are seeing and a call for attention to the security problems that will be in tow.

I'm not going to recap the many back-and-forths regarding the iPhone 4's reception problems.  Suffice to say there is a very demonstrable spot along the steel edge where you can place a finger and pretty much assure a dropped call or stalled pageload.  I can do it with mine consistently, and I have friends who can duplicate it just as easily.

Today, Apple released a statement in which it proffers a forthcoming software fix for the issue.  The fix, according to Apple, will adjust the algorithm responsible for the way the iPhone 4 reports signal strength (in bars), and do nothing whatsoever for the signal itself.  So the "fix," essentially, is to leave the actual reception problems unchecked while more accurately displaying how shitty your signal is in terms of bars.

Not sure how this is a fix other than Apple will finally be reporting actual signal strength instead of whatever Fantasy Unicorn Number it used before (the one that led to puzzling dropped calls when each party had five bars).  Apple made the decision to report, um, 'optimistic' strength in terms of signal a long time ago, and now, it appears, they have to reverse it.  Want to see public bitching? Wait until everyone applies the software update and starts complaining that their 'bars' aren't as good.

In my experience since activating my new phone, the iPhone 4 has considerably poorer reception than the iPhone 3GS.  My iPhone is my only phone, and I use it heavily.  I don't care about cleanroom numbers, I don't care about signal selection algorithms, I don't care about lab antenna performance.  When I'm talking to someone in a 'five bar' area and I drop SIX CALLS in the space of 10 minutes, something is up.  This was in an area that I travel daily and have held many a trouble-free call on my 3GS.  To boot, I'm noticing weird periods of voice drop-outs -- on both ends of my conversations -- and that's when I'm not even holding the phone at all.  For lack of a better descriptor, it just seems the iPhone 4 struggles to keep a solid, quality call online.  I saw no such issues on my 3GS.

John Gruber has a solid translation of the Apple press release into plain English that's good for a laugh or two.  What isn't funny is what's really going to happen: Apple is going to release this software fix that may or may not do something beneficial, while simultaneously making quiet changes in manufacturing to upcoming hardware runs of the iPhone 4.  Magically, this issue will be far less prevalent with newer phones.  I'll put money on it.

If you're experiencing reception problems with your iPhone 4, the smart solution would be to return it and then re-buy one a month or two down the road when more mature hardware is coming off the line.  It just may be what I do with mine.

From the press release:

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced a new update to Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch, which allows readers to enjoy the benefits of embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books. The first books to take advantage of this new technology, including Rick Steves' London by Rick Steves and Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway, are available in the Kindle Store at http://www.amazon.com/kindleaudiovideo.

The Kindle app for iOS devices now out-features the Kindle hardware itself.

The Oatmeal drills one out of the park.

Chris Brogan:

I think the iPad serves me well as a way to focus on writing. I think it’s a great way to “check status” on certain things. It will never replace my laptop at its current configuration. I find myself slowing down when I walk by Apple stores, thinking about the Macbook Air, but that’s adding a 13″ laptop to my 15″ Macbook Pro, and that just doesn’t make sense, either.

What the iPad represents is the nascent tip of the next generation of computing platform.  It's by no means mature, and anyone saying the iPad can replace the laptop is either seeking blog hits via hyperbole or doesn't use a laptop for much more than pure content consumption.

I also think that in order for it to appeal to laptop users as a main tool, it needs more connectivity and software polish.  You can bet a print subsystem is coming to iOS, and the applications will just get exponentially better, just like those for the iPhone did over the past three generations.

I use my iPad for mainly 'couchtop' stuff: reading Google Reader feeds, doing work on Twitter, web surfing, email.  I don't even consider it for 'real' work, as my workflows are almost purely dependent on my Mac (read: real computer).  I have written some draft blog posts on my iPad, and I have played around with some light image processing, but nothing serious.  It was more experimenting that actually getting things done.

I suspect this will change as iOS matures along with the hardware capabilities and application depth.

What about you?  How do you use your iPad?

If you hop over to Pixar's website and try to navigate its feature films, you're presented with a Flash-based menu to do so.  Given Steve Jobs's Thoughts on Flash, this is more than a little ironic.

UPDATE: John Gruber shows us how Toy Story 3's website looks on an iPad.  Again: irony.

Does Steve Jobs know about this?  If he doesn't, I guarantee he will shortly.  Somebody's milkshake will be drunk.

I mentioned in my iPad review that the machine needs a print subsystem ASAP, and what do you know? The latest rumor is that direct printing (via Bluetooth and/or WiFi) will be part of tomorrow's iPhone OS 4 announcement.

Again, as I said in my review: improvements to the iPad will move the device in the direction of today's modern laptop, not away from it.  It's 'tweener device' state is its beta state that's all about driving adoption.

Many people have been asking me for my iPad review, presumably because the glowing, over-the-top hyperbole that the mainstream outlets have gushing out their maws has been (a) read several times over already, or (b) met with some degree of skepticism, and they're now looking for a more real-world review from your average Joe on the street.

So, here goes, in no particular order.  I'm going to get a bit of cognitive dissonance out of the way first, so if it seems like I'm harshing on the iPad too much at first, read the whole thing.

(Also, I'm intentionally going to avoid the whole closed v. open debate, brought to a head by Cory Doctorow's screed, which I found to be quite off base for someone so typically astute.  I might tackle that later.)

Let's get back to the title of this post.  When I say 'caught between two worlds,' that's the overall feeling I have when using the iPad.  Some of this feeling is intentional -- remember Steve Jobs's slide that shows the iPad shoehorned in between the iPhone and laptop? -- and some of  it seems the unintended consequence of birthing a device that is simultaneously incredibly fucking good and brand new with no usage baseline whatsoever.

Examples:

I find myself wanting to get my calendar information, which is stored in Google Calendar, into the iPad's Calendar app.  But then, why?  The browser is fantastic, and its size and resolution encamp it firmly in the company of desktop browsers.  So, I fire up Google Calendar in Safari, and there she is, resplendent.

Caught.

I punch in an address in Maps and marvel for longer than I should at the gorgeous display and utterly massive improvement it represents over the iPhone's app of the same name.  I want to get some directions out of the app, but then I realize I can only email the link somewhere.  I can't print, because there are no print drivers or print subsystem.  My mind wants to do what I'd do with a 'main' machine, but I can't because the OS doesn't yet support certain desktop functions.  It's a mobile device that makes you want to work on it like a full computer.

Caught.

I took a bunch of campy pictures of my son as he tore through the house at just under Mach 1 to find his Easter eggs, and I want to get them on the iPad quickly and easily for viewing and light editing.  As of now -- with no USB ports and no commercially-available camera connection kit -- I can't, so while my mind says Yes, I want to do this work on this iPad because I enjoy it, I can't.  I have to use my MacBook Pro.

Caught.

There are other examples, but you get the point.

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