OT: iPhone "issues" (was Re: OT:Dell computers)

[Bill Campbell]

On Fri, Jul 02, 2010, Kenneth Brody wrote:
>On 7/1/2010 9:17 PM, Fairlight wrote:
>[...]
>> Well I'd call that poor design.  Anyone with a brain and past teenage level
>> of education and world-experience should know that adding two or more
>> points of contact between an antenna and the human body will result in
>> signal attenuation.
>
>But, but, but...
>
>Anyone who knows what "rabbit ears" are knows that the signal is always 
>better while someone's holding them.  :-)
>
>>  So it was piss-poor "engineering" that resulted in the
>> band being placed where it would come into direct contact with the hands in
>> the first place.  Then it was piss-poor QA that didn't crowd-test the phone
>> and observe user habits on how the phone is held, assuming they insisted on
>> persisting with this design in the first place even though they should have
>> known better.
>
>I'm not an electrical engineer, but wouldn't a non-conducting "skin" over 
>the antenna prevent this issue?  (Or is this one of those things where 
>proximity, and not necessarily actual contact, is an issue?)

As I understand it, it's contact with skin.

>[...]
>> Then to blame the users for their cascade of failures...  Well that's
>> just lousy customer service and poor ethics.
>
>Tough call...  Blaming the users for holding the phone "wrong", or blaming 
>the users for doing "complex computations" on their computer...
>
>[...]
>> FWIW, I don't have an iPhone, but I hold my phone in a manner where that
>> exact spot would run across my pinky finger, which I use to brace the
>> bottom of my Samsung Solstice.
>
>As much of a computer geek Laura and I are, when it comes to cell phones, we 
>use them to, you know, make phone calls.  The camera has been used on rare 
>occasion when we didn't think to bring a "real" camera.  And I changed the 
>ring tone to one that sounds like the old Ma Bell phone.

This has been my attitude since I got my first cell phone in
1987, and I currently have a pretty plain Motorola flip-phone,
and an iPod Touch that I can use with WiFi and Skype.  The phone
has a camera, but I've never used it intentionally, and wouldn't
know what to do with a picture if I took it.

I have come to depend on the iTouch, in particular the OmniFocus
App, and e-mail monitoring my alert folder when I'm not in my
office or have my laptop readily available.  The iStatd App is
also quite useful for quick tests of remote host's network
connection and activity.  Having all my contact info always
current on the iTouch is far easier than it is on the phone,
particularly since Verizon phones never seem to be compatible
with iSync so automatic updates are a hassle.

I will probably get an iPad first though as it should be far more
useful for me in my roaming sysadmin role where I can ssh into
systems with a reasonable size screen.  I have been waiting for a
client to ask me to provide iPad support so I have a good excuse
for She Who Must be Obeyed :-).

Bill
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