[Link: electronicdesign.com]

I've witnessed this problem first hand (pun intended) on several units...the issue is real. The manner in which I hold the device during a call AND while using apps/surfing/emailing, etc. leads to considerable signal drop. Michael Jackson had the solution years ago...

The first thing i did was wrap the apple goodness with a rubber cover so i never experienced it. I sure wish they would just build the damn thing out of non-shiny plastic so it doesnt look like garbage after a week. (hopefully remote and laptop manufacturers are also reading this).

I find it hilarious when people say that "In the Apple tradition, style and physical design are everything". People say this who truly don't have a clue about Apple or good interface design. I do agree that Apple sometimes errs on the side of form over function. But that is a constant battle/balance that plays out in all great design. Overall Apple does one if not the most outstanding job of balancing the form and function in the history of technology.

People aren't just running out by the millions and buying iPhones and iPads because they are stylish. That is one factor. The other is that they are eminently usable. It does look like on this one they may have made a mistake by erring on the side of form over function, but I also know that once the media hype machine starts no facts get in the way. i.e. I am going to bet that Apple is right that many other phones exhibit this behavior.

Until you update your old 3G to iOS4.... m u c h s l o w e r n o w ! ! ! ARGH @$#& !!!!!

Who said that?

Ive actually always heard people discuss their intuitiveness and exceptional GUIs. The only flaw I have every heard about the company would be similar to recently MS problems in that they prefer to have a tight control of 3rd party software (apps etc)

As designers and installers, we encounter this on every job we do....how many times have we fought with decorators on where to put speakers, tv's, etc.

"...Prefer to have tight control..."? That's an understatement to end all understatements. Apple is the most controlling pack of SOBs that I've ever dealt with.

I think Apple does a great job of User Interface Design.

This strenth of user interface design even extends into the hardware at times. The magsafe connector is a good example.

In other areas... Apple just doesn't get it. Too often they are all about a real pretty device that doesn't work in the real world. I think the iPhone 4 is a great example of this. They decided to make both sides of the phone glass that will smudge and look horrible. And the question is why. Peoples phones get bumped and dropped, so the first thing you have to do is buy a case to cover up and protect the glass which is so easily broken. This makes the device thicker, and not look any nicer than the other plastic cased phones on the market. If they were to come up with a plastic case with removable skins that would actually protect the phone from a fall, that would truly be a move in the right direction.

But... It appears that Apple is more than ever busy making a device that puts form over function: Antenna design, a Glass Back for the phone, both wrong calls by Jobs in my opinion!

Read the first post :-).

Counterpoint. Who cares if there are smudges on the back of the device? And glass seems to work quite well on the front smudges and all.


OK, but what data do you back up that criticism with?? My car has a glass windshield and seems to do pretty well at not cracking while enduring a variety of stress. I'm going to guess that Apple put the phone through a variety of tests. The iPhone 3 had a glass front and I don't remember hearing reports about the glass breaking. So why would we assume that just because it is glass on both sides it would now break?

I'm not saying that they might not reduce breakage even further by going with plastic, but it seems to me this is another form versus function decision and their decision seems very reasonable to me unless someone can produce some data or show in tests that the glass easily breaks.

It's not the smudges I care about. It's the glass cracking.


You gotta be kidding me! Obviously you don't own an iPhone, and have not talked with many people who do. You really think dropping an iPhone onto concrete does not result in broken glass! LOL The following are links of drop tests of the iPhone 4. The 3GS and the 3, etc... have all had issues with the screen breaking. I took my iPhone 3GS in recently (To a small non-authorized repair center here in Dallas) to get the power switch fixed, and the person I talked to said they fix broken screens so often, they have two people who do nothing but broken screens. If you are willing to wait an hour, they will fix it while you wait!

[Link: macrumors.com]

[Link: gizmodo.com]

If you doubt those... or want more, try googling "iphone 4 drop test". You'll see plenty of data to show that a really good case is necessary, or after as few as one, or as many as 5 or 6 drops onto a hard surface will result in damage.

With those kind of odds, and the fact that a contract is 2 years, I can't imagine anyone going 2 years without dropping the phone by accident 6 times. That would result in nearly every phone having a broken screen before the contract expires.


I'm not saying the front shouldn't be glass. But I think extending the glass to the edge where it will be hit in a drop onto a flat surface is poor design.

Also, the glass on the back serves no purpose other than to look good in a couple glamour shots, as the first thing anyone needs to do is buy a case that will cover that nice glass surface on the back. If you doubt this... try looking at the videos of the drop tests again!

The rubber cases that extend around the phone that keep the glass from touching a flat hard surface during a drop, help greatly. The person in the AT&T store was tossing the phone above his head with one of the better cases on it, and no damage. They had been doing the demo for weeks. As he said, if you don't use a good protective case, he'd be willing to take bets on how long until a phone is damaged... as he doesn't doubt if it would be damaged.

So, why didn't Apple do something that results in the phone being able to survive a 3' drop onto concrete. We all know this will happen at some point. Phones are meant to be used in a manner even more portable than a laptop. I guess Jobs answer to this would be similar to his "Don't hold the phone like that." answer... "Don't drop the phone."

I think Apple could have done some very simple things to combat these problems. I think they are just very focused on pretty glamour shots, and have become too willing to sacrifice real world performance.

I think Apple will finally get a worthy competitor with HTC and some of the new Android phones coming out. In my opinion HTC does some of the best phone hardware of any manufacturer, and the Android OS seems good. With some time it will get more support in software, and become a force in the market.

The iPhone4 is the best phone on the market. The balance of form over function is perfect. Their feature set has finally caught up.. the camera is great, texting is great and the app store is the icing on the cake. You can surf the web, you can watch movies you can listen to music and play games.

I have not had any problems with dropped calls but thats because the first thing i did was slap a rubber cover on it when i bought it. The high gloss crap has got to go. Im so tired of it on phones and remotes and laptops and you name it. I understand that half the phone is the screen now but the other half could be made out of matte plastic or aluminum like the ipad.

As far as the screen cracking or the back cracking.. the glass used is about as scratch resistant as you will ever see. I had my 3G for 1.5 years with no screen protector and there isnt a single hairline scratch on it. The plastic back was scratched like crazy and i had it in a protector for most of its life. Now that the back is glass it wont be scratched and the phone will look great forever.

Unless you drop it... Well duh.. if you drop a moto razr or a sony walkman phone the screens break and the phone looks like hell. Android phones will not survive any better. The same happens with high end remotes. So dont drop them or put them in a protective case. Them breaking after being dropped is not a reason that they suck. Its a reason not to drop them.

Actually I do. And I don't know any of them who have had the glass break. But either way it would hardly be statistically significant if I did.


Where did I say anything about concrete? I simply asked you what data you base your comments on. As an example, I just looked at youtube and saw a guy dropping his iphone 4 (4) times on concrete from about 4 feet. On the 4th try the glass shattered. But I would be scared as hell to hold my Blackeberry and drop it on concrete (4) times in a row from 4'. Maybe it would hold up, maybe it wouldn't.

But what I would really like to know, and would be meaningful, is how many iphones get cracked screens for every thousand sold and hows does that number compare to other phones.

Again, I'm not arguing it is or is not a good design. But it would help to prove your case if such statistics existed. As an example, let's say that 1 out of every 20 iphones sold gets a cracked screen in the first year versus 1 out of 100 Blackberrys. That means the BB is 5x more reliable with regard to breaking from a fall. In that case I would say that you have a good argument that it was a bad design choice. But what if it is only 2x as likely to break but people love the glass? Maybe then it's an acceptable trade-off if people love it?

Don't get me wrong, I actually agree with you that i would prefer not to have a glass back. I love my iPad and I would not want it to have a glass back. I'm just asking if anyone has actually quantified the tradeoff. Admittedly it's probably hard to do because Apple is probably the only one that has the data.

Has AT&T's service improved any? When I was in LA on the peninsula it was pretty standard that the only phone not working was from AT&T, including many an I-phone. I am now in the Rockies and I hear the same feedback, which is the same that my in-laws have said in the DC area. Not very good coverage...

And I just so happened to see a broken I-phone yesterday, owner had several break on him. I watched someone dial a number on the touchscreen and the screen cracked... Seems like most people I know have had at least one broken I-phone... So it is far from a perfect device...

And don't take this as me being an Apple hater, my wife has an Apple laptop, we have and use Apple TV, and I have owned some form of I-pod since the inception...