As a geeky tech junkie I often feel the pain of living in a comparatively small Australian market. Our population of just over 21 million people doesn’t really cut the mustard when compared to other developed nations that have anywhere from double to 10 times the population. What this usually equates to is a deprioritised release schedule, meaning we geeks have to wait on all kinds of cool stuff ranging from movies, TV shows to the latest gadgetry.
But amid all of the anguish of being forced to wait painstaking days, weeks or even months for the coolest of the cool there is a plus side; at least for gadgets. By now, many of you may have heard of the controversy surrounding the release of the fourth generation iPhone. For those who haven’t, it has a rather glaring design flaw—particularly for left-handed folk—in that gripping it in a certain way drastically affects the signal quality: y’know, that thing that’s rather essential to being able to use the ‘phone’ portion of the iPhone.
As much as Apple may like this problem to simply disappear, it has become rather apparent that this will not be the case, so they’ve had to resort to other tactics. They released a press release earlier this month that claimed that it wasn’t so much a design flaw as it was a software glitch that incorrectly displayed signal strength. But reports have come through that the 4.0.1 firmware update does not fix the antenna issues as some had hoped it would. And with pressure from Consumer Reports’ refusal to recommend the iPhone 4 and a US Senator demanding answers, Apple has had to act.
A somewhat hastily announced press conference has been called and is scheduled to take place sometime tomorrow (a Friday press conference for the American folk), but the specifics of the conference are hush-hush at this stage, so speculation is rampant. If Apple publically acknowledges the so-called “death grip” problem with the iPhone 4 then there could be some very expensive repercussions. Supplying those who’ve already bought the phone with bumper cases (a current suggested workaround) will cost tens of millions of dollars, while the prospect of a product recall has been estimated to sit in the billions of dollars.
One of the proposed fixes is for a non-conductive coating to be placed over the metal band around the phone, nullifying the “death grip” issue, which is where I return to my original point. Any measures that Apple applies to iPhone 4 units that are currently being manufactured, we get to reap the benefits of because we have yet to receive the fabled phone in Australia. As some of you would know from a previous blog post of mine, I’m apparently destined to buy the new iPhone 4 when it’s released, so this is definitely a good thing in my books.
What say the rest of you?
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I’m feeling that my choice (HTC) is more justified, in light of this new development!
Anyway, I guess it is kinda lucky that a later release date forces all those early adopters to wait! Eventually maybe they’ll realise it’s best to wait for the second version… once all the glitches and bugs have been filtered out.
Ok.
Personally the issues with the iPhone at the moment, according to Engaget as well as Cnet are non-reproduce-able on any sort of compelling level. This is to say that while they can acknowledge that this is a real issue in some phones they have been unable to verify that it is a problem affecting the stock as a whole.
A poll of every single engaget employee with an iPhone showed that a very small percentage found that it affected them even to the degree where they NOTICED it, only only a handful saying that it made them drop calls. The consensus was actually that the reception was BETTER on the iPhone4 compared to previous models and that the speed of the device made up for any minor defect.
This is not to say that a defective phone is OK if it offers good speed for gaming; i am still worried about the possibility of being ’sheepish’ and just buying it because i liked the previous iteration. Having said that tho i DO love my 3G, it is far and away the most useful gadget i have ever bought and i would love to get the next best thing. It will be a powerful magnet when it is released here in Aus, i will have to weigh up the pros and cons then.
In answer to you actual question:
Yes it is pretty cool that everything we get here is the finalised model after going through the crucible that is either Japan or US. However i think that the benefit of getting finalised models is outweighed by the fact that we pay 30% more and that they come out months and months after they are released in the US EVERY TIME!
sure it works in certain circumstances, like this one, but it doesn’t work in other circumstances, like the iPad, or computer parts, or consoles, or games or really any other thing i can think of.
@ Muffin - I am an early adopter in terms of my urges, but I’ve managed to curb my enthusiasm somewhat lately… hopefully I can continue to do that with future gadget releases!
@ Dude from Sydney - That’s interesting, because a lot of reputable websites are also saying that they were able to replicate the problem. In light of Apple’s apology at their press event on Friday, it seems that they are admitting to the fault. Hopefully we get to reap the benefits of that when it comes turn for our release.