Inside Apple's Anechoic Testing Chambers

As part of Apple's press conference on Friday, they mentioned their state-of-the-art testing facilities and released a brief video showing some of their anechoic chambers. They later invited journalists on a tour of the rooms and explained some of the experimentation process. Quoting: "There are four stages. The first is a passive test to study the form factor of the device they want to create. The second stage is what Caballero calls the 'junk in the trunk' stage. Apple puts the wireless components inside of the form factor and puts them in these chambers. The third part involves studying the device in one of these chambers but with human or dummy subjects. And the fourth part is a field test, done in vans that drive around various cities monitoring the device's signal the entire time (both with real people and with dummies). ... The most interesting of these rooms was one that Caballero called 'Stargate.' Why? Because, well, it looks like it belongs in the movie/TV series Stargate. Inside this room, there's a giant ring that a human sits on a raised chair in the center of. This chair slowly rotates around as signals are passed around the entire outer circle. This creates a 360 degree test area. I was told this room is completely safe for humans. And people typically spend 40 minutes in there at a time for testing. By comparison, devices can stay in the other anechoic chambers for up to 24 hours at a time. ... We then went into a room that contained fake heads."

Comments

Re:Stargate?

[Lars T.]

Compare the following

Why don't you RTFA instead? There's a big fucking picture of a guy sitting inside a big fucking ring with article text right below "The most interesting of these rooms was one that Caballero called “Stargate.” Why? Because well, it looks like it belongs in the movie/TV series Stargate. Inside this room, there’s a giant ring that a human sits on a raised chair in the center of. "

Do I need to draw a fucking ASCII picture?

Re:Mind the gap

[macs4all]

Their testing methods aren't functional. They are just designed to look cool.

Considering that the testing lab was SECRET until last Friday, I think you're an idiot.

Oh wait, you're an AC. Nevermind.

Re:Mind the gap

[Lars T.]

Looks like somebody can't accept the fact that RIM clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw Apple into a situation that relates specifically to RIM. Namely that a BlackBerry Bold 9700 drops from 5 bars to 1 bar when held in a way that attenuates the signal.

Re:And yet the missed it.

[macs4all]

user name: macs4all

Clearly NOT an Apple fanboy.

user name: Anonymous Coward.

Name says it all.

And the antenna isn't a problem.
Really.

Actually, it's the ugly-bag-of-mostly-water in proximity to said antenna(e) that's the problem.

But seriously, Jobs admitted that there DOES seem to be "something to this". He admitted that the data doesn't lie. However, he also said that it seems that a case mitigates the problem; so, WHILE THEY CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE, they will not only give a choice of cases to everyone, but will even refund anyone who has purchased Apple's "Bumper Case".

BTW, I have read at least one blog post about someone who HAD called Apple to complain earlier, actually receiving an iFrogz Bumper Case via FedEx the same day as the Press Conference. So they are obviously being as "proactive" as possible.

Speaking of which, if they had KNOWN about this problem, and KNOWN that the Bumper Case would fix it, don't you think they would have just INCLUDED one in the box, or even better, simply shipped the thing with the case already ON it?!?!? JEEBUS!!! They well know that "reputation" is something that takes a long time to gain, and only a minute to destroy. That case isn't going to make or break Apple. They would have nipped this in the bud, if they discovered the problem late in the approval and rollout process!

That isn't "spin", or "Good PR". It's good Customer Support. Period. Why do you think that Apple consistently ranks in the top five of ALL corporations as far as "Customer Service/Support" goes?

Anyone who has participated in the design and rollout of a new product, as I have MANY times, KNOWS that "shit happens". And NO amount of testing (lab nor real-world) will EVER equal THREE MILLION PEOPLE, NEARLY ***ALL*** INTENT ON TRYING TO INVOKE YOUR DEFECT!!!

For Fuck's Sake, the VERY FIRST SLIDE in the Press Conference said simply: "We're not perfect." How much more to the point can you get?

So, this obviously REALLY didn't show up in testing, or Apple WOULD have fixed it. They simply DON'T release products that have KNOWN defects. That's one of their strong-points. It sometimes (too often, IMHO) means that they actually stand back from the latest tech fads; but when they do something, it USUALLY rulez, both as far as engineering, and from an industrial-design standpoint. Having said that, everyone has better and worse products, and better and worse versions of the same product. Sometimes (and maybe in this case), the version (or product) is BOTH better AND worse.

There is as much anecdotal evidence to support the argument that the iPhone 4 actually works RELIABLY in many situations that the iPhone 3GS, and even other smartphones, doesn't, as there is that the opposite is true. So much so, in fact, that the data approaches "noise".

There is also data from Canada and Australia that supports the argument that this problem seems largely, if not COMPLETELY, to the AT&T network. But Apple can't exactly come out and say that, can they? In fact, they can't even HINT at that. Not until they close that secret Verizon deal, at least...

So, it appears that the Bumpers fix the problem for now, and you can bet there is some Midnight Oil being burned at that ol' Antenna Lab!

Here's how I see it going down from here on out: There WILL be an iPhone 4.1, likely right about September (the fastest they could get it through the FCC approval process), and Apple will probably extend the "return" offer for anyone to turn-in their undamaged iPhone 4.0 for a 4.1, if they want. Then, those phones that get turned in will get an antenna retrofit kit (or new casing, which includes the new antenna, either way, the fixed antenna will have the same attachment points to the PCB. Apple CERTAINLY doesn't want to trash that many PC board assemblies!!!), and then those phones will be cycled back out, maybe to the refurb/return market, and/or to t