KBeat

Evan, I think the expression you were looking for was "Oh, snap!" ;)

We'll have to agree to disagree that the external antenna was a "poor choice." It allowed Apple to make a phone that gets reception and holds calls in places most phones, including the 3Gs, can not. It let them make the phone smaller and thinner than virtually every other smartphone on the market, yet with a bigger battery giving it unparalleled battery life.

In exchange, it's a bit more susceptible to attenuation than other phones, but as has been clearly demonstrated, they all suffer from it. This is of course completely negated by the use of a case, something which most iPhone users use anyway.

To my way of thinking it was a very smart choice given the compromises that all phone manufactures face when designing antennas. I'll take improved reception, better battery life, and smaller form factor any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I think the "gee, what's Apple trying to prove" card is an odd one for TUAW to play. You guys have been among the worst at jumping all over antennagate, all but proclaiming the iPhone 4 defective. Even after the press conference you summed it up as "Steve Jobs admitting you need a case for the iPhone to work," which was a far cry from his actual statement.

Clearly Apple is showing that despite claims from companies like Nokia that "you can hold our phone anyway you want" and not suffer from attenuation, that's not the case. They are showing that all smart phones suffer from attenuation. That while it's a problem, it's not unique to the iPhone 4 and not something that the press focused on before. If you're afraid to buy an iPhone 4 because of attenuation, then you should be afraid to buy most smart phones. Seems clear to me and thanks to sites like TUAW, Apple didn't have much of a choice but to demonstrate the issue.

Oh for an edit button. I guess that's too much to ask AOL. They obviously "serve" different purposes.

They server totally different purposes bla. One is for enhancing and improving the taking of standard photos with the iPhone. The other, Hipstamatic, is for taking heavily stylized photos that simulate the look of old, plastic cameras.

My method for multi-Mac backups is a little bit more expensive (maybe not much when you factor in the TimeCapsule and the four drives you bought), but very reliable and beneficial.

If we're talking one or two Macs, I simply give each it's own dedicated HD, set them up for TimeMachine, and be done with it. For more, and for those on a network, I buy one of the Mac mini servers for $999. You can use the dual internal drives for backups (I set it up as a mirrored raid), or you can attach an external FW drive for extra space and specify that at the TimeMachine drive. Then it's a very simply matter to open TimeMachine on each Mac and specify the Mini server as the Time Machine backup location. It works great, and is very, very reliable.

Plus, you get the bonus of a true server in the SOHO which is great for setting up things like shared iTunes media.

I'm glad you ran this test, as it shows what I've experienced myself. The same thing happens when you hold a 3GS in your hand, or most other cell phones for that matter with Antennas in the base.

Odd that you're seeing worse reception with the iPhone 4 in general however. I am, like others, getting much better reception and can now make & take calls in places my where my 3G was nothing more than an expensive iPod Touch.

I've also been unable to reproduce the issue in a meaningful way. By meaningful I mean I've found the iPhone 4 to be no more susceptible to signal reduction when my hand is covering the antenna than my 3G was/is. When I'm in an area with a strong signal, it makes no difference. When I'm in an area with weak signals, covering the antenna with my hands can cause a problem.

However, I find that I can actually get a signal and make and take phone calls in areas where it was simply impossible with my 3G. For me, this means the iPhone 4 is a better "phone" than the 3G and has a better antenna. FWIW, I'm not using any case. In my car I use the phone via a hands free link to my vehicle, otherwise I hold it in my hand normally.

Also, simply "touching the strip lightly" with my finger does absolutely nothing no matter where I am. The only way I've ever been able to reproduce the issue at all is by gripping the phone in such a way so that my palm is pressed and covering most of the lower left of the phone, including the antenna strip. In areas with weak signals, it's no problem simply not to do so. This is no different than Nokia and others recommending you not cover the lower portion of their phones with your hand in their manuals.

I love this app on the iPad, and was hoping they'd bring it over to the iPhone. Thanks for the heads up TUAW.

Look, if you're a big users of Google Reader, or the type that subscribes to hundreds of RSS feeds, than this app isn't for you. You'll likely hate it and won't "get" it's popularity.

However, for those of use with 10-20 favorite feeds we like to check regularly, Pulse is fantastic. It's got a gorgeous UI that's fast and simple to navigate, with great use of photos. It supports Twitter and Instapaper as well, making it a good starting point for the morning news. The only real knock I have against the app is that as of yet it doesn't support inline video.

So, if you have massive collection of feeds, understand this app isn't designed for you. Do try to understand it's appeal to those with different needs.

I've been plugging my iPhone 4 into my Acura MDX system since the day it arrived without issue. I've played videos to the back LCD, audiobooks, and music and taken/made dozens of calls through the hands free system. So far so good, it all works like it should, as it did with my iPhone 3G. Just faster, oh my how much faster.