Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Asterisk

Marco Arment:

The iPhone 4, by most accounts, is absolutely excellent. I love mine. It’s a huge step forward, and all previous iPhones look dated and primitive by comparison.

But there’s a giant asterisk. It has two major flaws, both of which appear to be physical and unsolvable by software updates…

Used to be that Apple’s products just worked, and if there was a problem you could count on them fixing it. iPhone 4 seems to be following the path of the Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter, where Apple stonewalls and eventually offers a fix that still doesn’t work properly.

5 Comments RSS · Twitter

I like my phone but my answer to everyone who asks about buying one is "Only if you don't mind using a Bluetooth headset or speaker phone all the time.". I seriously hope that the proximity sensor is a software solvable solution.

Something as simple as a GellaSkin solves the antenna problem however. Put the darn thing in a case already and forget about the magic spot.

@Donavan Seriously, I’d rather use the 3GS than have to use a case (or bumpers). Tape wouldn’t bother me too much, though I’ve just talked with someone for whom it would be a dealbreaker.

"Used to be that Apple’s products just worked, and if there was a problem you could count on them fixing it. iPhone 4 seems to be following the path of the Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter, where Apple stonewalls and eventually offers a fix that still doesn’t work properly."

Cupertino simply doesn't care about quality at the moment. They care about how stuff looks in the Apple Store, and that's pretty much the gamut of their concern at the moment.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: put Steve-o in a cryogenic freezer for 10 years. Bring in someone who cares about consumers, products, and refinement to run the company's excellent portfolio. And then after the 10 years are up, thaw Steve-o out and let him innovate again.

Repeat the cycle every decade, and it'd be a helluva company.

@Michael After I severely cracked my screen in my 3G by not having it in a case I'm playing it safe this time.

[…] good news is that Apple thinks the proximity sensor problem will be fixable in […]

Leave a Comment