I’ll just come right out and say it: I was disappointed with Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna press conference. The outcome was exactly what I expected (after all, a complete recall is too expensive and damaging to Apple’s reputation, and having the people at the Apple stores apply some simple insulating tape would cost a fair bit in training and yield less consistent results than simply giving away bumpers that cost pennies and are already distributed), but the show was a whole different story. In case you missed it, let me summarize for you: Apple iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference continued »
Why Signal Strength Isn’t Very Useful
Published on July 15th, 2010
There’s been a lot of talk about how signal strength and its representation by bars on cellphones, especially due to the iPhone 4 having a significant problem with attenuation when held the “wrong” way. I’ve also seen a lot of people posting responses to articles asking things like, “Why can’t they just represent the strength as a percentage?” and “Why isn’t there a standard to representing signal strength?”
The iPhone 4 has a unique design that eliminates some attenuation that the antennas would face in a normal phone because the antennas are not surrounded by a casing. That means the iPhone 4 can not only receive signals at a higher level, but it can also transmit at a lower level. The problem is that the antennas are on the edge of the phone, allowing a user to directly touch them. Since our hands are capacitive, bridging the antennas can cause a problem. If the antennas were recessed, the phone would probably be fine. Why Signal Strength Isn’t Very Useful continued »
SmartQ V7 Android, Ubuntu, and Windows CE Tablet Review
Published on July 3rd, 2010
Tablets are starting to become mainstream, particularly with all the publicity the iPad has received. Cisco announced their Cius business-oriented Android tablet, and many other companies have products lined up. However, right now tablet choices are fairly limited.
There are a few different reasons for getting a tablet, most of them revolve around the same reasons for getting a smartphone but with the need for a larger screen. The two most obvious uses are probably browsing the web from a convenient device and reading. I think tablets have quite a way to go before they can adequately do both for a reasonable price, so I’m holding off buying one for regular use until we see some good innovation. Then why would I pick up this SmartQ V7 tablet? SmartQ V7 Android, Ubuntu, and Windows CE Tablet Review continued »
The Dreaded F-word
Published on June 9th, 2010
I have seen an increasing number of articles on the dreaded “F-word.” No, not the word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the F-dash-dash-dash word. I’m referring to “fragmentation.” Site after site claims that fragmentation is killing the Android platform, but I guess by “killing” they mean the same kind of killing that the Palm Pre did to the iPhone… i.e., none. More Android devices are coming out every month, pushing past technology limits, and bringing the OS to more users than ever before. But fragmentation is harming Android? The Dreaded F-word continued »
The New Apple iPhone 4
Published on June 7th, 2010
The iPhone 4 has been officially announced, and it is largely what most people expected after Gizmodo published info about a prototype they obtained. The single biggest improvement is the screen. It’s now 960×640, which is exactly twice as many pixels along each axis as the previous iPhones. This means that apps written for the previous resolution are easily scalable and won’t cause any significant load on the processor. In addition to that, it means that the display is very sharp. The New Apple iPhone 4 continued »