“When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal,” Consumer Reports said. “Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.”Despite the…
Jeff Gamet
Jeff Gamet is the Mac Observer’s Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X” from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also hosts TMO’s Daily Observations podcast, co-hosts The iOS Show podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other shows, too. Jeff dreams in HD.
Articles by Jeff Gamet
iOS 4: Trimming Down Your Multitasking App List
Every app you launch appears in the multitasking list, which can be handy since it offers a kind of quick switching feature that lets you jump from app to app without relaunching. As that list grows, however, you’ll end up flicking through screen after screen — four icons at a time — to find the…
Tiny Touch Screen Hints at New Apple Product
Assuming the photos are legit, and that the display really is touch-sensitive, Apple could also be working on a redesigned iPod nano or iPod shuffle with touch interfaces, or possibly a new input device for the Mac.Apple.pro has previously gotten its hands on what turned out to be legit images of iPhone 4…
iOS 4: Enabling Text Message Character Count
iOS 4’s SMS Character Count feature Here’s how to enable the Character Count feature for text messages in iOS 4: Tap Settings Select Messages Tap Character Count to turn the feature on Character count in the Messages app The Character Count display turns on somewhere between 25 and 30 characters and shows how close you…
Apple: 400 iTunes Accounts Hit with Fraud
“Apple told me that an extremely small percentage of users, about 400 of the 150 million iTunes users — that is less than 0.0003 percent of iTunes users, were impacted,” he said.Concerns that Apple’s App Store had been hacked surfaced over the weekend when some users reported they were being charged for ebooks without their…
Analyst: Q3 Mac Sales to Top 3 Million
“NPD data over the past thee years indicates a meaningful uptick in sales from May to June. Month/month growth has ranged from +44 percent to +72 percent,” Mr. Um said. “Assuming only a 40 percent month/month increase for June and using a range of correlation percentages, implies June quarter unit sales of 2.9-3.5 million units.”Based…
iPhone Users Concerned AT&T may be Capping 3G Speeds
Real world 3G data upload speeds tend to be all over the board, but can climb upwards of 1000 kbps. In some cities, however, that seems to be capped at 100 kbps, according to chatter on the Mac Rumors forums.Cities that appear to be impacted by upload performance issues include New York City, Suffolk County…
HP Wraps Up Palm Purchase, Plans webOS Tablet
Palm CEO and former Apple employee, Jon Rubinstein, will run HP’s Palm global business unit.Palm was known for helping kick start the PDA industry with its Palm Pilot electronic organizer. Later, it released the Treo smartphone, and most recently it introduced webOS and the Pre smartphone. The Pre and the followup phone, the Pixi, however,…
Apple Hit with Another iPhone 4 Antenna Lawsuit
“The complaint revolves around the defective antenna installed in the new iPhone 4, and Apple and AT&T’s refusal to correct the issue or to accept returns of the phone without restocking fees or contract penalties for attempting to void the service agreement before the contractual two year period has run,” the law firm said in…
Apple on iPhone 4 Reception Issues: It’s the Software
“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,” Apple said in its statement. “Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”Some iPhone 4 owners have been complaining of…
Amazon Beefs Up Kindle DX, Cuts Price
Like other Kindle models, the DX includes free 3G wireless access to Amazon.com’s Kindle book store. The DX can hold up to 3,500 documents including books and periodicals.Kindle DX, now in graphite.The Kindle DX’s larger display and lower price may make it more attractive to consumers that want a larger screen ebook reader but don’t…
48 Days Later: Microsoft Kills Kin
“We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases.…
Apple, AT&T Hit with iPhone 4 Reception Lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs “were sold defective iPhone 4 units, which drops calls and data service when held in a manner consistent with normal wireless phone use.”The issue that some users see a degradation in the cell signal when they cover the lower left corner of the iPhone 4 with their left hand,…
Apple Hiring iPhone, iPad Antenna Engineers
Apple responded to initial complaints by stating “Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone.”Company CEO Steve Jobs later added “There is no reception issue. Stay…
iPhone 4: Finding the Hidden Hold Button
To place a call on hold on an iPhone 4, tap and hold the Mute button. Tapping the Mute button a second time returns you to the call.The iPhone 4 Mute button is also the Hold buttonWhile using the Mute button to hold a call isn’t exactly intuitive, at least the feature is still available. Hopefully…
Lawfirm Preps iPhone 4 Reception Lawsuit
“KCR is currently investigating potential problems with the release of iPhone 4,” the lawfirm states on its Web site. “If you recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you.”Some iPhone 4 users have been complaining about an issue where holding…
iFrogz Updates Cases for iPhone 4
iFrogz LuxeThe Luxe, Luxe Lean, Luxe Transition, SoftGloss, Fusion and Frosted Swerve are hard cases. The Treadz and Wrapz are softer cases made from silicone. All include access to the iPhone’s Dock and audio ports, microphones and speakers, sensors, cameras, and buttons.Pricing for iFrogz iPhone 4-compatible cases starts at US$14.99. They are currently available at…
Apple Highlights iPad Apps
Apple made its own videos to show app features instead of relying on developers to produce content. While most videos show the apps in action with just background music, the Popular Science + app also includes a voice over explaining how the app’s features work, too.Apple’s iPad app Web pageThe iPad is Apple’s tablet-like device…
Analyst: FaceTime Driving Many iPhone 4 Sales
“68 percent of respondents stated that Facetime (video chat) was the most attractive new feature for iPhone 4 while 24 percent said that new HD capabilities were the most enticing,” he said.Mr. Um added “The majority of respondents (80 percent) were upgrading to the new iPhone from either the 3G S or 3G iPhone.”About 64…
iOS 4: Keeping Track of Location Services
If an app that’s running in the background is using Location Services to find your location, you’ll see a compass pointer near the battery charge indicator on your iPhone’s Home screen. Some turn-by-turn navigation apps, for example, can use the built-in GPS to direct you to your destination even when they’re running in the background.The…
Shoppers Line Up Early in Colorado for iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 line in Boulder, ColoradoLike other Apple product launch lines, people brought along their laptops and iPhones to stay occupied while they wait for the store doors to open at 7AM. One person even brought a 32-inch flat panel TV, DVD player and some movies.The FlatIron Crossing Apple Store in Broomfield iPhone 4…
Apple: No White iPhone 4 Until July
“White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected,” the company said in a statement.Only the black iPhone 4 model was…
iPhone 4 Launch Day Survival Guide
Apple’s coveted iPhone 4 Shop Early, Shop Often Apple retail stores and and possibly Walmart will have a limited supply of iPhones on hand for launch day, so odds are you’ll want to show up early to increase your chances of getting one. Apple and AT&T stores will opening at 7AM local time on the…
iFixit Tears Down iPhone 4
The new 3.7V 1420 mAh Li-Polymer battery also takes up a substantial amount of space inside the iPhone 4 case.The iPhone 4, in piecesThe iPhone 4 includes 512MB RAM, instead of the 256MB RAM found in the iPhone 3GS and iPad. Presumably that extra memory will help with video editing and gaming performance.The new 5…