Apparently the baseline is actually about 1%. The issue we're discussing is whether or not the iPhone 4 antenna absolutely sucks. With a 100% increase in dropped calls over the 3GS, I'd say the answer is "yes."
No, we're talking about whether or not ~1.4% is a reasonably accurate number. Does your experience with dropped calls tell you it's much higher or lower than this? The number is certainly somewhere between 0% and 5% (you'd have to be insane to refute that range), which still means that what most people understood by Steve's statement (only 1% more dropped calls than the 3GS) is way off. If Steve were to get up and say that the iPhone 4 drops 20% more calls than the 3GS (based on the ridiculously high 5% number), what do you think people would have thought?
Weasel words? You mean like "the iPhone 4 only drops 1 more call per 100 than the iPhone 3GS" ? Steve knew very well that most people would interpret that as only 1% more dropped calls, or perhaps statistical noise based on the amount of available data.
Are you refuting the claims I made? I don't have statistics, but they are pretty common sense claims. Bringing additional factors into a set of statistics does exactly that.
Actually... you seem to either not understand the available facts or math in general. "http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/16/apple-iphone-4-drops-less-than-one-additional-call-per-100-tha/ ). How are you interpreting that?
Not at all, no. Dropped calls tend to affect people in certain areas more than they affect others. In this case it also affects people without bumpers more than people with them, and people who don't know to avoid the death point more than people who know about it. This means that it's likely that certain people are dropping *many* more calls than they otherwise would.
That's what he said, and there may be some truth to that, but that isn't the point. That information is available on the internet, and with it, we see that the problem is actually much more severe than he made it sound. He knew very well that most people would understand what he said incorrectly, ie, "oh, there are only 1% more dropped calls than with the 3GS."
"10:43AM Ryan from gdgt: You showed people almost covering the entire phone in their hand, but on the iPhone 4 it can happen with just a touch. Can you explain that difference? Bob: When you touch the phone, you put yourself between the signal and your phone, so when you touch that spot you can attenuate the signal, and if you grip it with your whole hand, you can attenuate it even more. We don't build phones with an antenna on top...
Hmm, that didn't really sound like an answer to us."
No matter how much you complain about the bad press Apple has been getting lately, it is certainly deserved. The iPhone 4 antenna issue is *not* the same issue that other phones experience, and is much more severe.
No, we don't need any more evidence; Steve gave us all the evidence we need yesterday that there is a serious problem with iPhone 4's antenna. It drops nearly twice as many calls as the 3GS. It required a bit more research since Steve didn't tell us the baseline for how many calls the 3GS drops per 100, but based on some AT&T statements in the past, it's probably between 1 and 2%, meaning that 1 additional dropped call per 100 *calls* is a good 50 to 100% increase.
"10:43AM Ryan from gdgt: You showed people almost covering the entire phone in their hand, but on the iPhone 4 it can happen with just a touch. Can you explain that difference? Bob: When you touch the phone, you put yourself between the signal and your phone, so when you touch that spot you can attenuate the signal, and if you grip it with your whole hand, you can attenuate it even more. We don't build phones with an antenna on top...
Hmm, that didn't really sound like an answer to us."
Apple continues to avoid the issue, and luckily the media present at the event didn't accept their lousy explanations.
Now that I think about it, the issue you're having with it not bouncing back is probably due to the audio it's trying to play. I can probably make it so it doesn't crash, but this does demonstrate one of the annoyances with HTML5... audio and video formats... I wish there would just be one format that worked in every browser. I'm pretty sure I set my game up to have several different options of formats (where it chooses automatically), so simply lacking the options probably isn't what's happening, but I'm sure it's related to the audio.
One of these days I might touch up the web version once HTML5 becomes more standardized. Getting the "ping"s to play was miserable, and still doesn't work in all browsers. Not sure what you're experiencing with Chrome 5 on Windows (that's what I'm on as well), but maybe one day I'll address the issue. It's actually a (relatively) easy game to implement with canvas, at least for being 3D. I'm not aware of any easy way to create 3D objects in it, so everything there is just done with some math and projected onto the 2D canvas (the spacing in the walls, however, is not proportionally correct... but that's just a static image). I don't plan on perfecting it (or even working on it at all) in the immediate future, so if someone wants to make a better one, go for it.
Now knowing that it works in even fewer browsers than I originally thought, it might be a good idea to move it off the front page of the site where I refer professional contacts:)
It is pretty glitchy in certain browsers. Chrome seems to work great. Last time I checked, Opera wouldn't display anything properly. The last time I checked Firefox it worked great as well, but that must have been an older version. I've kind of lost interest in it (made an android app out of it which is much more playable and entertaining).
I made a canvas remake of 3D Pong... it's mostly a demo and proof of concept, so it doesn't really satisfy your request, but it's playable and somewhat fun... http://lbarrettanderson.com/
No one was claiming that Apple's response was a lie, just that it was misleading. There is still a hardware problem that won't be fixed for the users who have these devices, unless they want to slap on a case.
Because it bothers me that Apple feels it can get away with deceiving its fanbase... er... clients. It's unethical, and I feel it's my duty as a human being to help combat the deception.
I'm replying to "The video proves the issue is exactly the same as every other phone."
I agree with everything else you're saying, but what you said there is just plain false. It's a *similar* issue, yes, but to say that it's "exactly the same" does not make sense.
Did you even watch the video? The guy tries holding the entire phone, and what happened is what would have happened if it were any other phone (nothing in this case). When he *touched* the seam with his fingertip, his data connection speed went to more or less 0.
If it were the same issue as other phones, the rubber bumper would do nothing to help the problem, but it eliminated the problem entirely (same as a piece of tape).
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/atandt-says-its-closing-the-gap-on-dropped-calls/
Apparently the baseline is actually about 1%. The issue we're discussing is whether or not the iPhone 4 antenna absolutely sucks. With a 100% increase in dropped calls over the 3GS, I'd say the answer is "yes."
Look at the first comment in this thread ( http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1723044&cid=32938534 )
No, we're talking about whether or not ~1.4% is a reasonably accurate number. Does your experience with dropped calls tell you it's much higher or lower than this? The number is certainly somewhere between 0% and 5% (you'd have to be insane to refute that range), which still means that what most people understood by Steve's statement (only 1% more dropped calls than the 3GS) is way off. If Steve were to get up and say that the iPhone 4 drops 20% more calls than the 3GS (based on the ridiculously high 5% number), what do you think people would have thought?
Weasel words? You mean like "the iPhone 4 only drops 1 more call per 100 than the iPhone 3GS" ? Steve knew very well that most people would interpret that as only 1% more dropped calls, or perhaps statistical noise based on the amount of available data.
Are you refuting the claims I made? I don't have statistics, but they are pretty common sense claims. Bringing additional factors into a set of statistics does exactly that.
50% to 100% more dropped calls is not a serious flaw? Wow.
Actually... you seem to either not understand the available facts or math in general. "http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/16/apple-iphone-4-drops-less-than-one-additional-call-per-100-tha/ ). How are you interpreting that?
Not at all, no. Dropped calls tend to affect people in certain areas more than they affect others. In this case it also affects people without bumpers more than people with them, and people who don't know to avoid the death point more than people who know about it. This means that it's likely that certain people are dropping *many* more calls than they otherwise would.
That's what he said, and there may be some truth to that, but that isn't the point. That information is available on the internet, and with it, we see that the problem is actually much more severe than he made it sound. He knew very well that most people would understand what he said incorrectly, ie, "oh, there are only 1% more dropped calls than with the 3GS."
1 more dropped call per 100 calls. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/16/apple-iphone-4-drops-less-than-one-additional-call-per-100-tha/
From engadget's transcript:
"10:43AM Ryan from gdgt: You showed people almost covering the entire phone in their hand, but on the iPhone 4 it can happen with just a touch. Can you explain that difference?
Bob: When you touch the phone, you put yourself between the signal and your phone, so when you touch that spot you can attenuate the signal, and if you grip it with your whole hand, you can attenuate it even more. We don't build phones with an antenna on top...
Hmm, that didn't really sound like an answer to us."
No matter how much you complain about the bad press Apple has been getting lately, it is certainly deserved. The iPhone 4 antenna issue is *not* the same issue that other phones experience, and is much more severe.
No, we don't need any more evidence; Steve gave us all the evidence we need yesterday that there is a serious problem with iPhone 4's antenna. It drops nearly twice as many calls as the 3GS. It required a bit more research since Steve didn't tell us the baseline for how many calls the 3GS drops per 100, but based on some AT&T statements in the past, it's probably between 1 and 2%, meaning that 1 additional dropped call per 100 *calls* is a good 50 to 100% increase.
Haha, thanks for clarifying. When I read that I thought "man, that thing must be going pretty dang fast by now!"
Um... do you mean like this one?
"10:43AM Ryan from gdgt: You showed people almost covering the entire phone in their hand, but on the iPhone 4 it can happen with just a touch. Can you explain that difference?
Bob: When you touch the phone, you put yourself between the signal and your phone, so when you touch that spot you can attenuate the signal, and if you grip it with your whole hand, you can attenuate it even more. We don't build phones with an antenna on top...
Hmm, that didn't really sound like an answer to us."
Apple continues to avoid the issue, and luckily the media present at the event didn't accept their lousy explanations.
The Q & A is epic. The people asking these questions are my heroes.
Now that I think about it, the issue you're having with it not bouncing back is probably due to the audio it's trying to play. I can probably make it so it doesn't crash, but this does demonstrate one of the annoyances with HTML5... audio and video formats... I wish there would just be one format that worked in every browser. I'm pretty sure I set my game up to have several different options of formats (where it chooses automatically), so simply lacking the options probably isn't what's happening, but I'm sure it's related to the audio.
Thanks
:)
One of these days I might touch up the web version once HTML5 becomes more standardized. Getting the "ping"s to play was miserable, and still doesn't work in all browsers. Not sure what you're experiencing with Chrome 5 on Windows (that's what I'm on as well), but maybe one day I'll address the issue. It's actually a (relatively) easy game to implement with canvas, at least for being 3D. I'm not aware of any easy way to create 3D objects in it, so everything there is just done with some math and projected onto the 2D canvas (the spacing in the walls, however, is not proportionally correct... but that's just a static image). I don't plan on perfecting it (or even working on it at all) in the immediate future, so if someone wants to make a better one, go for it.
Now knowing that it works in even fewer browsers than I originally thought, it might be a good idea to move it off the front page of the site where I refer professional contacts
It is pretty glitchy in certain browsers. Chrome seems to work great. Last time I checked, Opera wouldn't display anything properly. The last time I checked Firefox it worked great as well, but that must have been an older version. I've kind of lost interest in it (made an android app out of it which is much more playable and entertaining).
I made a canvas remake of 3D Pong... it's mostly a demo and proof of concept, so it doesn't really satisfy your request, but it's playable and somewhat fun... http://lbarrettanderson.com/
"No one has been able to make it drop a call where a previous model did not"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDtOao36Mc
This isn't an issue... all we need to do is send some blimps up to collect all of the balloons that kids accidentally let fly away.
No one was claiming that Apple's response was a lie, just that it was misleading. There is still a hardware problem that won't be fixed for the users who have these devices, unless they want to slap on a case.
Because it bothers me that Apple feels it can get away with deceiving its fanbase... er... clients. It's unethical, and I feel it's my duty as a human being to help combat the deception.
No. That's what I've been talking about the whole time.
I'm replying to "The video proves the issue is exactly the same as every other phone."
I agree with everything else you're saying, but what you said there is just plain false. It's a *similar* issue, yes, but to say that it's "exactly the same" does not make sense.
Did you even watch the video? The guy tries holding the entire phone, and what happened is what would have happened if it were any other phone (nothing in this case). When he *touched* the seam with his fingertip, his data connection speed went to more or less 0.
If it were the same issue as other phones, the rubber bumper would do nothing to help the problem, but it eliminated the problem entirely (same as a piece of tape).