New iPhone is here

[Tacitus]

Not the first time he's been that arrogant either

To elReg anything to do with Apple is always a 'cult'.  Anyone who buys an Apple product is a fanboi/cultist, or someone who drinks the KoolAid.  Apple products are always the 'Jobsian X' as in, 'It's part of a cult for worshippers.'

To the commenters, Apple products are always shiny overpriced tat.  They know its overpriced because they built one themselves for a third of the price using parts they got from that bloke down the pub.   The real killer is that MAC (I know) uses a toy operating system.....  

Part of the problem that seems to have happened in this case is that Apple is always pushing the limits of design.  As in any branch of engineering there are inevitably some trade offs.  In this case they seem to have got it wrong, or at least not thought it through sufficiently.

[Steve]

The article from Appleinsider is informative

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/25/death_grip_hysteria_may_end_monday_with_ios_4_01.html




Plus a quote from the Antenna tester who published an early appraisal of the iPhone 4 antenna

At the same time, Webb says he voted with his dollars to buy the new iPhone 4 anyway, adding, "sometimes an antenna that's not great, but good enough, is good enough."

[Glenn]

"And efficient transmission and reception while being held by a human hand are simply not design requirements!"

Surely that should be high on any mobile phone design requirements?

[pctech]

I read El Reg generally for the humourous way tech news is presented and as I support remote users I have to keep an eye on whats going on in the market.

My personal opinion of Apple and a fringe of Apple users has been mainly influenced by the sometimes rather strange exchanges I've had with them over the years.

Although the situation is changing slowly most of the software I support is Windows only and we generally advise that on the new Intel Macs it may run but does require Windows but it has not been tested.

Usually before I have got this out they are accusing the organisation of discrimination and one even tried to convince me that discrimination on the basis of computing was illegal under UK law, I replied that I do not recall that being covered and another asked how much Bill Gates was paying the organisation to practice Apple discrimination.


Do these sound like rational arguments to you?

My visit to the Apple shop where I was subjected to a 1 hour sales pitch dressed up as training conducted by a guy who had obviously had too much caffeine judging by the way he was bouncing round the room.

My request for information about possible errors and how to conduct appropriate OS diagnostics was met with the response 'we don't have any errors normally, its likely to be your software and if it isn't send them to their local Apple store' was not in the slightest bit helpful and projected a corporate arrogance that its clear comes from the top down.

Apple fans seem to forget that until 13 years ago Apple Computer was dying on its rear end and its only since they started to change the look of the case that sales have started to pick up and the platform has started to become more mainstream.

That's right, had it been left to the OS alone I doubt Apple would even exist now.

The worst thing is now that Apple seems quite happy to treat its own customers like cr*p.

I am happy to use whatever gets whatever job done and I don't doubt Bill Gates is a ruthless businessman but I've never heard him treat his customers (system manufacturers or end users) with as much contempt as Steve Jobs.

[Technical Ben]

AFAIK it's more that Apple will not let you multiplatform. Where as MS will. You can have Fire fox on windows/linux and OSX (if they make it). Windows go, "Flash? If you can make it, have it". Apple says "no flash!".

[Steve]

FF works fine on OS X and so does flash.

[Gary]

As a few people have said, the consumer demands smaller and more powerful devices and the trade off comes with form over function in the end, the intention and for me it works even with data, is that it bypassed the shrinking of the unit in a novel way, but something went wrong for some. I agree Jobs has become far to arrogant and his illness is not helping, I think its time for him to step down.

Apple make great products and design is always amazing, but if he is throttling his staff by his demands then that's an issue, as well as belittling his public, but he is a man that wanted to bring technology that was beautiful and also simple for eight to eighty year old's and with the iphone he has succeeded and the design of the new iPhone 4 is stunning and so well built. even with signal the issues some are having its getting amazing reviews for what's been crammed into that space, and the way they have tried to get it all working.

As for cell phone aerials, most are now in the bottom of the device, which is why I imagine old Nokias with them just near your brain were so good, if people want more and more in a small space with longevity of use and more function this is what will happen.  What I do not understand is why there are handsets working well, its odd  the phone for myself is great though, 720p HD at 30 fps is amazing video quality, and the screen is stunning and internet access is so much faster and above all battery life is so much improved, so I'm happy but I feel sorry for those whose handsets don't work, but I also can see this happening with more phones over time, some of the old O2 XDA's I tried had appalling signal quality just to much going on in a small space, and the aerial then becomes the odd component out almost.

On a side note, Nokia are releasing the N8 then saying its the last N series symbian phone, after that its there new MeeGo OS for all N series phones, symbian will be on cheaper handsets, how does that make sense? The N8 will be relegated almost straight away to outmoded, as it cant use the apps the new MeeGo system will have, it will be deliberately outmoded, makes you wonder why people would buy that now.  As for Apple all they needed to do was coat the stainless in resin, then it would have worked better maybe, as I said I don't know the answer, for once my new gadget works, that's good enough for me. Its about time 

[Steve]

Interestingly the iPhone shares a lot of the same hardware with the iPad so you could call it an 'iPad nano'

[Gary]

Interestingly the iPhone shares a lot of the same hardware with the iPad so you could call it an 'iPad nano'

To many i's, Steve.  and you can't fit your coffee on the iPhone, well maybe use it as an iCoaster with the iPad as the tray