Worries Archive

  • iPhone 4 antenna woes contextualized by dude in the know

    iPhone 4 antenna woes contextualized by dude in the know

    Posted on June 25, 2010 | No Comments
    It's the ultimate of ironies that Apple's externalized antenna array in the iPhone 4 -- hoped (and hyped up) to finally give us a phone every bit as good the rest of the device -- has become the cause of most rancor in the immediate aftermath of the handset's release. This morning you'll be rubbing both sleep and disbelief out of your eyes as you read that Apple's response to some people's reception problems with the 4 is to hold it differently. But, before we start ostracizing Apple as the singular offender here, let's hear from a man in the know.

    Spencer Webb runs AntennaSys, a company that designs tailormade RF solutions, and has himself worked on making quad-band transceivers for AT&T. As he tells it, almost all phone makers have now transitioned to locating their antennae at the bottom of the phones. This has been in order to move radio wave emissions away from the head (a shortcoming that a top-mounted aerial would incur), which the FCC has been quite demanding about with its SAR standards --
    The iPhone 4, however, moved the antenna action from the back of the phone to the sides. This probably improves the isotropy of the radiation pattern, but only when the phone is suspended magically in air.
    Another great point made here is that testing done both by the Federales and mobile carriers might include the head, but never accounts for the presence of the person's hand. Thus, although a phone's antenna could test very well, it might suffer from such issues as those experienced with the iPhone 4. Mind you, this still seems like an assembly (rather than design) problem to us, since most of our editors haven't had any reception worries and we in fact saw improved performance on that front while conducting our review testing. Spencer himself has decided to buy the phone knowing full well about this potential limitation, and concludes on the note that "sometimes an antenna that's not great, but good enough, is good enough."

    iPhone 4 antenna woes contextualized by dude in the know originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • IPhone 3GS Handsets Overheat, Turn Brown

    IPhone 3GS Handsets Overheat, Turn Brown

    Posted on June 29, 2009 | No Comments
    The iPhone 3G may, at least for some users, have an additional, undocumented feature: It can be used to toast bread. Reports are coming in that the new, million-selling iPhone is suffering from overheating issues. The handsets are getting so warm, in fact, that the plastic cases of the white models are discoloring to pink. The [...]

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  • Interview: Rob Burkinshaw, game designer and creator of homeless Sims

    Interview: Rob Burkinshaw, game designer and creator of homeless Sims

    Posted on June 18, 2009 | No Comments
    Yesterday we posted about Alice and Kev, homeless Sims that exist entirely in the world of Sims 3. They are a family. Alice is a girl with the traditional adolescent pre-teen worries but she’s saddled with a father who is high-strung, hates kids, and is generally a misfit in the orderly world of the Sims. [...]

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  • DuPont crafts ultra longevous OLED materials, which likely won’t be affordable

    DuPont crafts ultra longevous OLED materials, which likely won’t be affordable

    Posted on May 31, 2009 | No Comments

    DuPont's been dabbling in OLED advancement for years now, and while the world waits for the introduction of market-ready big-screen OLED HDTVs, engineers at the miracle-working company are toiling away to make sure those very sets last quite some time. For anyone following the OLED TV scene, you'll know that luminance longevity has been a nagging issue, but if new developments pan out, stamina will be the least of our worries. In fact, the firm has crafted a green light-emitting material that can purportedly push onward for over a hundred years... continuously. Furthermore, the same scientists have engineered a new blue light-emitting material with a luminance half-life of 38,000 hours along with a red light-emitting material with a life of 62,000 hours. Unfortunately for the laypeople out there, we can't imagine this stuff being even marginally affordable -- but hey, it's great news for the sybarites!

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    DuPont crafts ultra longevous OLED materials, which likely won't be affordable originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 07:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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