Friday, June 25, 2010

iPhone 4 News and Rumor Roundup, June 24-25, 2010

Well, yesterday was a crazy day for me, as it was for everyone else in the iPhone nation.  Mine was for different reasons though.

Consequently, I didn't get the chance to post anything yesterday, and there was a TON of news, not all white iPhone 4 related, but definitely iPhone related.  Read on for a summary of the most interesting points.

1. The Launch Was Freaking Huge!

This one probably goes without saying, but an Oppenheimer analyst estimates over 1.5 million units sold yesterday.  There were long lines, and every iPhone 4 out there yesterday is now owned (or on eBay).  Speaking of eBay, a 32 GB iPhone 4 is going for around $900.00 over there right now.  Craziness.

2. Not a White iPhone 4 in Sight

True to its press release, Apple didn't ship a single white iPhone 4.  Nobody got one.  Nobody saw one.  Nothing.  I would speculate that this was to prevent creating an excessively short supply of the stock they've likely already manufactured and an accompanying massive price-gouging on eBay.

3. iPhone 4 Has Some Issues

New owners reported that iPhone 4 has some antennae issues, along with some units having spotty screens.  Regarding the screens, there was some manufacturing adhesive that was hastily applied to some screens that remained bubbled between the glass and the screen.  Apple will likely replace these screens as factory defects, so no worries there.

However, the antenna issue is more problematic.  Essentially, if you hold the phone on the lower left "black band" in just such a way, your bars will slowly disappear.  I've been able to replicate this on the test unit I received yesterday (more on that later) if I hold the phone just so in my left hand.  On mine, it drops to two bars.  This of course is interesting regarding the white iPhone 4, as many of them are still in production, I wonder if a pre-delivery fix could be in the works?  I think we might expect a recall and a visit to the Apple store to have the geniouses unscrew the phone to fix this before to long, as a simple insulating coating might resolve the issue.  Either way, I did have to hold it just so to replicate the issue, and it's easy enough to avoid. 

The current official Apple fix?  "Don't hold it like that."

At least if I want to get off the phone, I can force calls to drop now.  "Sorry, I'm driving through a bad reception area!"  Sweetness.

4. The Haters are Running Rampant

With all the issues out there, Apple hate is as virulent as it can get right now.  Just check out Gizmodo's piece here to see what I mean.  People are bagging on everything from the above-mentioned issues to the design to the users themselves.

One blogger, whom I refuse to link to directly because of how awfully biased and terrible his article is, even went so far as to put anti-iPhone 4 jokes he's "seen around the web" in so-called "news" article about the iPhone 4's problems.  Somehow it's linked to Google's first page of "iPhone 4" news search results.  The partial address is: http://www.wikipeers.com/news/3977-iPhone-4-Problems-Shoddy-Antennae-Defective-Touchscreens-plus-IMADOUCHE.html.  If you want to view it, replace the word "IMADOUCHE" with  the word "more" in the URL.  But he might make ad revenue off of it, so before you go, be sure to get a good ad-blocker fired up.

5. The Phone is Awesome

Despite the glitches and haters, iPhone 4 is the most stunning, beautiful and capable piece of hardware I've ever owned.  I'd sooner give up my laptop, my TV, my Xbox 360 or my home than give up this piece of hardware.  And I don't even have the white one yet.  More in my forthcoming review.

6.  White iPhone 4 Might be a Glass Change Away

I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that because of the compartmentalized nature of the iPhone's glass (for easy replacement), you might be able to go into an Apple store and pay the geniouses to change your phone's color from black to white or white to black.  All they'd have to do is pull off the black glass and put on white.  What that would cost is another question entirely, but if you have a black one and take care of it, they might make a 1 for 1 trade.  You never know.

Anyway, it's been a big 24 hours, my friends.  I'll be back with a comprehensive review of the black iPhone 4 I recieved yesterday a bit later this evening.  Here's a hint: It's like the One Ring with WiFi, 3G, and a sweet, sweet touchscreen.  I'm still getting a white one, but the black one I got has definitely become "my precious."  More on that later.

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