Yes, the iPhone 4 is broken / No, the iPhone 4 is not broken
The controversy over the iPhone 4's antenna issues continues to grow, particularly after Consumer Reports confirmed yesterday that every iPhone 4 suffers from signal attenuation when the phone is held with the lower left corner covered -- a report that we confirmed with results from our own custom signal metering app. At this point, there's no longer any question in our minds that the iPhone 4's antenna can be made to lose signal by holding it "wrong" -- and we definitely think it's more than a little silly that simply holding the phone in your left hand has been nicknamed the "death grip." That said, however, it's not at all clear what the real-world effects of the antenna issue actually are for most people -- as we've repeatedly said, several iPhone 4s owned by the Engadget staff (including our review unit) have never experienced so much as a single dropped call, while others suffer from signal issues that results in lost calls and unresponsive data in a dramatic way. What's more, at this point Apple's sold well over two million iPhone 4s , and we simply haven't heard the sort of outcry from users that we'd normally hear if a product this high-profile and this popular had a showstopping defect.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: antenna, antenna-issue, controversy, engadget, industry, iphone, iphone4, outcry, peers, report, users, using-the-phone, well-as-reached, world, york
Samsung Behold II fails to fulfill Android 2.0 promise, jilted users contemplating lawsuit (video)
When Samsung launched its Behold II with Android 1.5 on board, it made something of a big deal about the fact the handset will be upgradeable to version 2.0 when that software became available. Such a big deal that it even put the promise of an OTA update into a promo video -- a video that subsequently got yanked as the company realized it wasn't going to be able to stick to its word.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: after-the-break, controversy, cupcake, eclair, expectation, handset, mobile-os, release, samsung, samsung-mobile, samsungbeholdii, unfulfilled, yitzhak
Windows Phone 7 Series won’t have copy and paste
Ready for another long, drawn-out copy and paste controversy to overtake your every waking moment for a year or two?
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: clipboard, controversy, copy paste, copyandpaste, copypaste, cutandpaste, different-talks, functionality, microsoft, Paste, windows phone 7, windows phone 7 series, windowsphone7, windowsphone7series
Android NDK hits Release 3, brings OpenGL ES 2.0 access to devs
We know from a brief spat of iPhone 3GS controversy that OpenGL ES 2.0 brings a new level of immersive realism to 3D gaming on mobile devices, so Android developers (and users, for that matter) should be delighted to hear that a new release of the official Native Development Kit exposes its capabilities to anyone targeting Android 2.0 or higher. As a refresher, the so-called NDK is a bolt-on to the standard Android SDK that gives folks the ability to write and compile critical pieces of functionality in native code, closer to the processor without that pesky Java virtual machine standing in the way -- in other words, it's exactly what gamers and game devs need to make Android a serious gaming platform, and better access to badass 3D capabilities are a fun little piece of the puzzle. The latest NDK's available for download now -- so seriously, hurry up and go wow us with your revolutionary first-person shooter.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: Capabilities, controversy, entry, functionality, gamers, iphone, mobile, nativedevelopmentkit, opengl, opengles, opengles20, pieces, realism, standard
AT&T letting SlingPlayer stream over 3G on the iPhone at long last
After all the hubbub and controversy caused by the release of SingPlayer for iPhone back in May, we knew it would take a serious change of heart for AT&T to reverse course on the issue of 3G streaming . The app's super-conspicuous lack of 3G was one of the clearest statements around that the iPhone represented a level of data consumption that AT&T was fairly unprepared for, and that certain uses like VoIP over 3G and live video streams were just not going to fly.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: 3g streaming, att, breakingnews, controversy, Heart, keep-the-app, serious-change, sling, slingbox, slingplayer